4-10. "Cibola Burn"
Written by Daniel Abraham & Ty Franck
Directed by Breck Eisner
First aired 12 December 2019
SYNOPSIS
Okoye re-emerges from the artifact without Miller, but he managed to successfully shut down all Protomolecule activity on Ilus. Engine function is restored to the ships in orbit. The Belter settlers elect to remain on Ilus, and the RCE scientists choose to stay as well to continue their research. The Rocinante and the Barbapiccola return to Earth with Murtry, who is to stand trial. Holden destroys a piece of Protomolecule remaining on the Roci.
On Mars, Bobbie and associates are ambushed; Detective Esai and most of the rest are killed. Bobbie sends word to Avasarala about the potential of Martian arms trafficking, and asks for her assistance.
On Earth, Gao becomes the new UN Secretary General, and Avasarala leaves her a concession message.
Ashford tracks down Marco Inaros and boards his ship. After a firefight, Ashford is taken prisoner by Filip Inaros, Marco's son. Ashford records his conversation with Marcos before being sent out an airlock. Marcos launches stealth-coated asteroids at Earth.
ANALYSIS
"To the execution block I have come, Tili go, Tili go, to the execution block for to sail..."
As is usually the case with The Expanse, the end-of-season wrap-up is well done, delivering action, suspense and a good solid yank on the heartstrings. I suppose having to wrap up a rather lackluster season got the writers to sharpen their pencils a little more this time.
During his quest to track down Marco, Ashford interrogates a Martian suspected of supplying Marco with weapons; these scenes are particularly effective on multiple levels, concluding with a clever twist involving physics in zero-G and a lethal pair of pliers. Later, Ashford executes a kick-ass, guns-blazing assault on Marco's ship. Classic. Sadly—very sadly, actually—Ashford's story comes to an end at the hands of Marco and son. Cue Clinton Shorter's most poignant score.
We also finally get to see that the presumed red herring about Bobbie's new career was actually a very long setup. As she stumbles into something much bigger than anything she'd imagined, things come a thrilling conclusion. Finally, Holden's touching farewell to Miller is well worth our time; Alex suggesting to Naomi that they leave Holden alone while the missile carrying the last bit of Protomolecule heads into the sun will have some reaching for the tissues. There's so much depth in Steven Strait's subtle expressions that it's hard to avoid getting choked up.
Best Scene: The destruction of the massive Marian dome is seriously impressive; they pulled out all of the stops on the effects work.
Best Line: After leaving Nancy Gao a gracious concession message, Avasarala reacts to Bobbie's call for help: "Bobbie, your timing sucks."
Technobabble Alert: Okay, so now we have two ancient alien races: the Protomolecule-inventing race which was apparently wiped out by a second, even more mysterious alien race, this one manifested by yet another ring motif. But thankfully we sort of skim over that to tie up the loose ends from the season.
Hard Media "After Show": Steven Strait; Executive Producer Naren Shankar; Co-Executive Producer/Writer Ty Franck; Frankie Adams (Bobbie Draper); Wes Chatham (Amos Burton).
SCORE: 