4-09. "Saeculum"
Written by Daniel Abraham & Ty Franck
Directed by Breck Eisner
First aired 12 December 2019
SYNOPSIS
Murtry orders the Israel to launch a shuttle wired to explode at the Rocinante. Alex destroys it, but the debris damages the Roci and knocks Lucia into space; Naomi saves her.
Now able to overcome the Protomolecule's control over him, Miller leads Holden to an artifact that can shut down all Protomolecule activity on Ilus. Murtry and Wei follow Holden, then Amos and Okoye follow. Wei confronts Amos, who kills her; Murtry shoots Amos and cripples him, then confronts Holden. Okoye is left with Miller, who occupies a mechanical device and asks her to help him. After being attacked by the Protomolecule, Miller is crippled, Okoye drags him to the artifact, and they both fall into it.
ANALYSIS
"Is there something we still need to do?"
Many of the previous episodes began with a brief bit of "ProtoMiller" POV... stuff; this time, since the "dual ProtoMiller" is the focal plotline for the entire episode, the sequence is longer. While it's an interesting visual effect, one problem is Miller's voice is often so distorted that he's unintelligible (although it's crystal clear when he snarls, "I'll reach where I fucking want to reach, motherfucker!"). So, fire up those subtitles for a bit more insight to these bewildering bits.
The good news is a few decent bits here and there make it worth our time slogging through it. One of them is Murtry and Holden's thought-provoking discussion about civilization. Naturally, in the end, Holden succeeds—with ProtoMiller's help—at fixing everything, leading at last to a reasonably satisfying wrap-up on Ilus.
Best Scene: Lucia's accidental Gravity-like uncontrolled spacewalk, followed by Naomi's rescue, is well done.
Best Line: Murtry overhears Amos' message to Wei, warning her he's coming for Murtry. "Your boyfriend has an economical way with words."
Technobabble Alert: The whole "dual ProtoMiller" subplot is an exposition-heavy, technobabble-laden quagmire we just have to endure to make it through the episode; it also has a vague Déjà vu feeling courtesy of a brief bit between Holden and Miller inside the Ring Station ("Dandelion Sky") when we get a foretaste of "dual ProtoMiller" but without the hat difference. Confusing? I hear you.
Hard Media "After Show": Steven Strait; Executive Producer Naren Shankar; Co-Executive Producer/Writer Ty Franck; Dominique Tipper (Naomi Nagata); Wes Chatham (Amos Burton).
SCORE: 