6-04. "Redoubt"
Written by Dan Nowak
Directed by Anya Adams
First aired 31 December 2021
SYNOPSIS
On Laconia, Admiral Duarte, settlement leader, consoles Cara at her brother's funeral. He is then informed by Paolo Cortázar that a means to reactivate the orbiting Protomolecule structures. Later, Cara takes her brothers body into the woods.
On Ceres, protests erupt over the presence of the Joint Fleet, who have their hands full with fallout from the explosion.
On the Rocinante Amos and Naomi confront Holden over his disarming of the missile that struck the Pella, although Clarissa offers Holden support.
On the Pella, a furious Marco orders officers who failed him in battle to be spaced. Rosenfeld calms him down and attempts to get Marco and Filip to reconcile.
On the Tynan, Drummer captures a Free Navy supply depot. Drummer then broadcasts a System-wide message accusing Marco of being a coward, and taunts him over what he's done to Ceres, and the fact that he's yet to break her.
ANALYSIS
"Stop treating me like I'm broken."
Admiral Duarte is the focus of the Laconia bit, as he "comforts" Cara with an adult, philosophical monologue that only serves to demonstrate his disconnect with his audience and his appropriate replacement for Admiral Sauveterre.
Aside from doing without the Laconia bit, this would have been a better episode if Filip's buddy-buddy scenes were just a bit tighter and less contrived-feeling. You just know you're being set up by them. But that's not to say the episode is anything less than good: there are some outstanding scenes with brilliant dialog.
It was nice seeing Krista Bridges reprise Sandrine Kirino, originally Captain of the MCRN Hammurabi, and also nice to know she's now an Admiral. Sad, however, to later learn she'll join the long list of characters who died.
Then there's Rosenfeld, who I'm beginning to suspect is potentially more powerful than Marco. Certainly more confident, level-headed and focused.
Best Scene: Holden and Naomi have it out in an awesome, gripping fight over him disarming the missile that hit Marco's ship. The back-and-forth, the shifts in tone, it's just brilliant.
Best Line: It's a tie: There's the gut-punch from Holden and Naomi's fight, the one that defined the whole exchange: "I can't be the one who killed your son." And then there's Clarissa advising Holden, "Don't ever feel bad about not killing someone." Surely one of the most moving statements by any character.
SCORE: 