The Expanse season 5 is finally here with the first three episodes available to watch on Amazon Prime Video — here is my recap and review.
The Expanse has been one of my favorite shows since the very first episode. The story itself is unique and intriguing, making this show hands down one of the best sci-fi shows of all time. There are so many great characters and storylines that it keeps you entertained season to season. I actually purchased the books after watching season three, but am holding onto them until the series ends so I can avoid major spoilers.
The Expanse season 5 is finally available to start watching on Amazon Prime Video, with the first three episodes dropping today. In this article I am going to recap the major events that happened, and give my spoiler review and thoughts.
Warning: Spoilers for the first three episodes of
The Expanse season 5!
The Expanse Season 5 Episode 1: Exodus
Synopsis:
Holden tries to convince Fred Johnson to destroy the last sample of the protomolecule. Naomi gets an important lead to her son. On Luna, Avasarala begins to hunt for Marco Inaros.
Recap:
The first episode of The Expanse season 5 starts off with a science team that gets attacked by pirates, including Filip Inaros (Marco and Naomi’s son). They steal information about a rock that has broken up in space and kill the whole crew.
Cut to Naomi on Tycho where she mentions that both Amos and Alex are off station doing their own thing (personal matters). Fred tells her that he has found her son, Filip, and shows her a photo.
Meanwhile, Holden is watching the news and we learn a lot of people are going through ring gates, which he is not a big fan of, as we know. Holden tries to convince Fred to get destroy the last sample of the protomolecule, but without success. He explains how dangerous these rings are, and that every time he goes through them he sees the builders, and they are getting angrier and angrier.
Amos is traveling to Earth and of course, proves himself to be badass as he gets in a major fight on Luna while awaiting transfer. At least he was doing it to be nice and protect his bunk mates. While on Luna, he speaks briefly with Avasarala, who warns him not to kill anyone when he is on Earth as they catch up over a drink.
Alex is going to Mars to visit Bobbie Draper, who we see is still on the hunt for the head of the arms dealer who is selling Mars weapons to Marco. When Alex gets to Mars he stops to see his wife, well ex-wife, and she is not having any of it. She basically tells him that herself and their son deserve better than him, and for him to leave.
At the end of the episode, Naomi tells Holden about her son, but that she is going to see him alone. Bobbie has a lot on her mind and is clearly distracted and angry. Amos arrives on Earth, heading “home” to Baltimore. Alex realizes that Mars is in big trouble, as there are lots of jobs lost, stores closing, and places for rent. We also get a quick glimpse of Marco.
Review:
The first episode of The Expanse Season 5 does a great job of catching us up on what all of the main characters have been up to. It will suck you in and have you waiting for more. Luckily, three episodes dropped together so there is plenty more of The Expanse season 5 to watch.
What I enjoy most about this episode is that the characters all go off to do their own thing, and you know that eventually they will all come back together as their stories connect. This is a great introduction to the season, even though there is not that much action.
The Expanse Season 5 Episode 2: Churn
Synopsis:
Holden and Fred deal with infiltrators on Tycho. Drummer’s past comes back to haunt her. Amos returns to Baltimore. Alex and Bobbie’s investigation on Mars leads to rogue soldiers.
Recap:
The Expanse Season 5 Episode 2 starts right off with Drummer, which I was thrilled about. She is one of my favorite characters and I loved her connection with Ashford. I was very much wondering how she was doing after he was sent out the air lock, and to see she is with a band of pirates, looting ships, doesn’t surprise me one bit.
A lot of this episode covers Amos in Baltimore, which I absolutely loved. I was excited to get to know more about his past, which is something we really start to uncover in this episode. He shows up at a house where an old man named Charles answers and calls him Timothy, saying that Lydia was always waiting for him to come visit.
Turns out that Lydia is someone who helped him out of the brothel he worked at when he was younger (and it seems he was forced to do some truly awful things). She has now died of natural causes, and left Charles behind in her house. Well not her house, someone named Eric owns the house and has been letting her stay. They are kicking Charles out but Amos has something to say about that.
He goes to see him, and Eric is clearly TERRIFIED of him. Amos says he just wants to make sure that Charles will stay, and Eric agrees. During conversation we learn that Amos was hired to kill Eric, and turned on the person that hired him instead. He tasked Eric with making sure Lydia was happen and taken care of while he was gone. He just wants to deal to extend to Charles now. We also learn that Amos’ real name is Timothy, and he took the name Amos when he killed the man and left Earth.
Meanwhile Bobbie and Alex are investigating who is selling the Mars weapons. Bobbie shows Alex who her potential leads are, and he recognizes one of them as a former commanding officer of his. He says he will speak to him and that this information cannot be correct.
Monica, the reporter, knows too much and is in big trouble. She calls Holden, wanting to talk, but then ends up getting herself kidnapped and locked in a cargo container. Then the container is shot into space. Holden and Fred discover this because she is transmitting, but she cannot hear them. She tries to break out before she knows she is in space and ends up letting her air out. It seems like she might die if Holden and Fred cannot get to her in time — but of course they do.
Review:
This is one of my favorite episodes of the season because we get to know Amos a lot more. His past is becoming clear, and it is becoming obvious how much he has changed. I am kind of loving everyone being separated and doing their own thing, it is making for several great story lines and plot points. I know that eventually they will all (or most) come back together, which I am excited for.
The Expanse Season 5 Episode 3: Mother
Synopsis:
Naomi comes face to face with Filip. Holden and Fred turn the tables. Avasarala closes in on Marco’s plot.
Recap:
The Expanse Season 5 Episode 3 starts off with Avasarala meeting with a private sector scientist to discuss some rocks that the scientists from the first episode had detected. They are parts of a very large asteroid that had broken up. Avasarala asks this scientist about the impact on Earth, should an asteroid that size hit Earth. Of course he states that would never happen because it would be detected, but theoretically the blast could be one to four megatons — which translates to REALLY bad.
It becomes clear to her that Marco used Martian stealth tech to hide the rock and then threw it at Earth. But they got lucky when it broke up. She is concerned that this is not the only one he shot towards Earth, and wants to retask the watch towers that can see through stealth tech. But they are always pointed at Mars, and it is going to be hard to convince the military to move them.
Meanwhile, Drummer has discovered Ashford’s ship, which has been completely gone over already by Marco and his pirates. Drummer knows that the salvage has been left as a message to her – come after me, and you die. However, after a lot of work, she is able to find a backup data core. This data core has conversations of Ashford and Marco discussing throwing rocks where it will do the most damage to the Inners — it has to be assumed that is Earth.
Back to Alex and Bobbie on Mars. While Alex is trying to get more information about Mars selling warships and weapons to Marco. He is tricked by a woman who gets him drunk and tries to figure out what he knows. She sends people to attack him in his room, but Bobbie bursts in and saves him, shooting those that had broken in.
Meanwhile on Tycho, Holden and Fred realize that whoever was going to pick up Monica in the container, still think she is in it. The ship, the Zmeya, is still inbound. Their plan is to let them come in and load up the container, so that they reveal themselves. They plan to put a crew of soldiers in the container so that when they open it up, they will be ambushed. Whoever is on the Zmeya, their ultimate plan is to steal the protomolecule, and they can’t let that happen.
Naomi comes face to face with her son, Filip, but it doesn’t really go according to plan. She tries to convince him that she knows what he is going through, but he is too far in with his father at this point. He tells her that he doesn’t need her and that everything Marco has ever told him about her is true. A little later, he betrays her, and kidnaps her.
At the very end of the episode, the asteroid hits Earth, and it looks like they are going to have caused a LOT of damage.
Review:
The ends of The Expanse Season 5 episode 3 is a great place to stop and make people wait a week for more. There is a ton of action, drama, and suspense. Many of our characters have been left in peril and there are likely to be some major consequences.
We are left with more questions than answers for sure. How much damage was done to Earth? Luckily Amos is still on Earth and hopefully he can help — hopefully he wasn’t hurt. What is going to happen with Naomi? And will Holden and Fred’s plan work?
About The Expanse Season 5
Season five of the series picks up as multitudes of humans leave the solar system in search of new homes and vast fortunes on the earth-like worlds beyond the alien Ring, and a heavy price for centuries of exploitation of the Belt finally comes due and a reckoning is at hand.
For the crew of the Rocinante and the leaders of the Inner Planets and the Belt, the past and present converge, bringing forth personal challenges that have wide-reaching repercussions throughout the Solar System. Amos (Wes Chatham) returns to Earth to confront his past and the legacy of the life he fought to leave behind. Naomi (Dominique Tipper) reaches out to her estranged son in a desperate bid to save him from his father’s toxic influence.
Bobbie (Frankie Adams) and Alex (Cas Anvar) confront the collapse of Mars as they chase a shadowy cabal with ties to terrorists and criminals. Holden (Steven Strait) wrestles with the consequences of his own past with the Protomolecule, the aliens who built it, and the mystery of what killed them.
Drummer (Cara Gee), with a new crew, fights to escape who and what she used to be. And Avasarala (Shohreh Aghdashloo), refusing to be relegated to the sidelines, fights to prevent a terrorist attack unrivaled in history.
The first 3 episodes of The Expanse Season 5 drop on Amazon Prime Video December 16th.
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Tessa Smith is a Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer-approved Film and TV Critic. She is also a Freelance Writer. Tessa has been in the Entertainment writing business for ten years and is a member of several Critics Associations including the Critics Choice Association and the Greater Western New York Film Critics Association.
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