6-06. "Babylon's Ashes"
Written by Daniel Abraham & Ty Franck and Naren Shankar
Directed by Breck Eisner
First aired 14 January 2022
SYNOPSIS
On Laconia, Cara's parents do not respond well to their son's reanimated corpse, and lock him in a closet. Cara releases him and they escape into the woods.
On their way to the Ring, the Joint Fleet and Drummer's followers engage Marco's Free Navy. Marco's disguised Pella inflicts heavy losses, but Walker rams his ship into Marco's, causing significant damage. Meanwhile, Holden attempts to capture Marco's railguns on the Ring Station, but heavy resistance forces Holden to destroy them instead. Naomi determines a way to force the entities that had been destroying ships transiting Rings to destroy Marco's ship. Moments before the Pella is consumed, Filip leaves in a shuttle.
Earth, Mars and the Belt form a Transport Union, and elect Holden as its president. On condition that Drummer is his vice-president, he accepts, then immediately resigns, leaving Drummer president.
ANALYSIS
"You are very wise."
It all comes down to this. Once again we get to enjoy some spectacular writing, as well as an epic space battle to end all epic space battles. Indeed, the battle consumes most of the screen time. And Holden's brilliant end-game afterward is the perfect way to conclude the series. ("More coffee.")
Then why didn't it get full marks? I found Holden's assault on the Ring Station railguns too complicated, too drawn out, and too confusing to fully appreciate. Too much of Amos and Bobbie flying around in jet packs, exchanging fire with someone—couldn't tell who, lots of pretty lights, screaming and yelling, and then a great big WTF explosion. Plus, a technobabble solution to get rid of Marco. But, things improve, significantly and quickly.
Holden comforting an anguished Naomi after the (presumed) death of her son Filip is heartbreaking. But then, we
have that neat little secret Filip Inaros Nagata is still alive to sustain us through the end of the
episode series and on toward an imagined joyous reunion. Can't get more satisfying than that!
Best Scene: The crew of the Roci enjoys a home-cooked meal, a pleasant, sorely-needed break from all of the chaos—for both them and us. The scene recalls that most-enjoyable lasagna dinner in "Safe," both positively radiating comfort and contentment.
Best Line: Amos offers up some last words on entering the fray. "No one dies with a full bladder."
SCORE: 
I hated not giving the episode five out of five, but the score is not meant to suggest it wasn't great. Because, after it ended, I cried, and cried, and cried. Which is a testament to just how important this series has been to me. True, I can't enjoy seeing anything new, but at the very least I can enjoy what we have over and over as often as I like.