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The Expanse 5x4 Uncut Reaction (Patreon)

Published:
2025-11-30 20:34:16
Edited:
2025-12-25 00:20:55
Imported:
2025-11
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Content

| Gaugamela |

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/spartanandpudgey/DISCORD: https://discord.com/invite/aPbnMXbYkMP.O box: Spartan & Pudgey P.O Box 8017 Oakleigh East, VIC 3166

---------------------------------------------------------------------------Full Length Reaction GuideWe take copyright law very seriously, so you will have to sync up our reaction to your own version of the show/movie. To help, we have a range of guiding tools throughout the reaction to help you sync up with us, including a small snippet of the scene to ensure you are in sync.  Any instances in which you see the screen cut, this means we’ve had technical difficulties or have skipped a potential disruptions/bloopers. This means you will need to sync up your copy of the show again, if we are unable to edit these cuts seamlessly into the next scene. An updated timecode will be provided on the screen.  Anytime we pause, there will be timer/countdown on screen to prompt you. So if we’re about to pause, there’ll be a countdown, and you are expected to pause as the number reaches 0. The same will happen when we press play after pausing. You will press play as the number reaches 0.  Here are some popular ways people sync up the reaction with their own copy of the show:

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We hope you enjoy the video!Love,Spartan & Pudgey ❤️

Files

The Expanse 5x4 Uncut Reaction

Full Length Reaction Guide We take copyright law very seriously, so you will have to sync up our reaction to your own version of the show/movie. To help, we have a range of guiding tools throughout the reaction to help you sync up with us, including a small snippet of the scene to ensure you are in sync. Any instances in which you see the screen cut, this means we’ve had technical difficulties or have skipped a potential disruptions/bloopers. This means you will need to sync up your copy of the show again, if we are unable to edit these cuts seamlessly into the next scene. An updated timecode will be provided on the screen. Anytime we pause, there will be timer/countdown on screen to prompt you. So if we’re about to pause, there’ll be a countdown, and you are expected to pause as the number reaches 0. The same will happen when we press play after pausing. You will press play as the number reaches 0. These reactions DO NOT include our intros and discussions. You will have to refer to the original edited version of the video. We hope you enjoy the video! Love Spartan & Pudgey

Comments

Golladan

Oh snap! We're early with the best episode of the show today! Opening changes: -On the ISS flyover clip, the rock can be seen entering the atmosphere. -And we follow this by a clip of the impact by Dakar (Western Africa). This replaces the clip of the nuke on South America from season 3. -The clip of Lovell City is updated to remove the rocks that were approaching Earth. -On Mars, the Razorback is seen taking off.

Mo

Here we go with one of the best eps of the series!! reading this in the books gave me goosebumps. It was insane

Hans Engelen

[Comment = Obvious] Yep ... That just happened.

Golladan

Sometimes actors aren't available to reprise their roles.

Shawn Anomaly

FINALLY you two have reached "Gaugamela", for me one of the best episodes of tv ever! Folks don't leave this episode without having their jaws dropped by the absolute insanity that was packed in 43 minutes of tv!!! The amount of, "OMG" was just about right for those who go through this episode!

Freja Corbinne

This show does an incredible job of portraying the causes and effects of colonization, oppression, resistance, radicalism, extremism, and terrorism. If you can understand why Marco Inaros did what he did, you can understand how marginalized people around the world feel against the power and cruelty of the Global North's capitalist empire.

Joel Quinn

Makes you respect Ashford so much more, a Belter who could let go of his hate to try to create a better future for his people.

Sheri

Yep, I said this previously when Spartan was upset at Dawes's absence. Unfortunately the actor simply wasn't available so they had to write around it. It's a shame but in the grand scheme of things it doesn't change the story much.

Joel Quinn

Understanding is not the problem here. What Marco Inaros did is very easy to understand - pure hate from a psychopath. No amount of pain or injustice will turn something like this into anything else than genocide on the biggest scale.

Joel Quinn

Nah, I always thought that speech had its flaws for anyone who was able to think. Preaching about a future without blood and suppression while doing the exact same thing. I mean, you added "makes sense for those it was meant for", which makes it hard to respond to. Of course it caters to people like him, willing to hate rather than build. That much is true; people who lost the ability to differentiate, but anybody else should just shake their head. That was the weak part of the speech; a lot of good and charismatic things in it. Great speech, except for that part. But if you argue his goal was to rally fanatics, well, certainly, but I'm not sure it's a big deal to rally those.

Varun Laks

That's the point. The episode even pans to the blood on Fred Johnson's comm exactly at that point of the speech to demonstrate the hypocrisy of Marco's words. There was likely a time where Marco actually believed in what he is saying, but I don't think that lasted much past the Augustin Gamarra incident. I think once he got a taste of that type of glory and fame, that became the biggest motivating factor for him. Even to this point, that's how we've heard Naomi describe him. But someone taking actions like this was always inevitable. It's easy to say that the Belters, who are not even a unified front, should turn the other cheek and build. But there is only so many times someone can be punched before they punch back. And that's what Marco did. His actions are not something that should be justified, nor are they something that the series justifies, but it is something that was inevitable with how the Belters have been treated through the events of the show and prior. They have historically been treated as sub-human and never allowed to have the means to survive or thrive on their own. The tragic thing is that it's someone like Marco doing this and making himself the face of the Belt. Someone who seemingly cares much more about himself and those who follow him, than the overall cause he says he's fighting for. The system likely did need a wake up call for the status quo to ever change, but the system is worse for Marco being the bringer and means of that message.

Freja Corbinne

No, I don't think you understand, Joel.

Freja Corbinne

Joel you aren't a marginalized person are you

Freja Corbinne

it was never going to happen with the Inner hegemony still in place.

Max S

Regarding Dawes’ absence, the actor was simply unavailable. He also became much more expensive/ in demand once he did high profile roles in The Crown, Chernobyl etc. and instead of recasting they decided to write around it for the most part. Not to mention the last two seasons being affected by covid

Amber A

Yeah, Marco has a way with words. As Ashford said, he "has that gift". In the airlock in S4, he only spoke the truth. Earth and Mars gave the belt a 'seat at the table' in exchange for security, knowing they could still outvote the belt 2 to 1 on anything, the belt would weaken itself by policing their own pirates and scavengers (made such by the neglect and oppression by the inners), and then they could be safely ignored when the UN and Mars recovered from their brief war. And in his speech, if taken objectively and in a vacuum, it's again honest and fair. The UN and Mars have maliciously oppressed and exploited belters for generations and have shunned and undermined any attempt at reconciliation, measures for equality, and reparations. At this point, the UN and Mars governments have only proved that they are unfit both morally and diplomatically to lead the solar system forward. The belt, while quite varied, does tend to uphold a more communal focus that is objectively more moral than the cold, ruthless dehumanization and oppression the inner planet leadership have been engaged in. The belters have spent decades and decades trying to gain equality, and with each liberal (working within the established corrupt system) effort denied, often violently despite the meager requests ("even our dreams are small"), it only leaves more radical (dismantling and building anew) options moving forward. We saw this hubris and malice with the destruction of Anderson Station in S1. We saw them focusing on their own profits, power and egos over the destruction of Ganymede rather than prioritizing support. They refused to take on refugees from the station they are responsible for destroying and continuing to wreck and oppress in the blockade afterwards, resulting in attempting to shoot down belters just trying to find a place to survive before they run out of food and air because they've been denied a berth (and then giving a private corp the rights to the planet, and renaming the planet, after the surviving belters made contact and made plans to sell the lithium there). Ever since Mars developed the Epstein drive and broke off into their own nation, the UN (and Mars to a lesser extent) took that opportunity to deny citizenship of the prospective space-bound labourers' children, leading to the creation of the marginalized belter class. It was all greed. And every step along the way, their greed and malice towards the belters, their indentured servants from birth, wage slaves stuck in floating exploitative company towns in a vacuum they can't effectively leave...the UN and Mars have had generations to make it right and have actively refused. And then the ring gates happen, and now there are jobs for all the people on Earth, and habitable planets with breathable air and drinkable water for people on Mars, and the belters are facing down an existential obsolescence, where their labour won't be needed anymore (corps can prey on the newly spacebound earthers who are more naive to the futures ahead of them, less disruptive/violent than belters, healthier, and just as desperate), the companies they're tied to have greener pastures elsewhere (and would likely dismantle or move most existing stations), and they by and large can't live on those new worlds (which the UN and Mars are claiming rights to unilaterally). They're facing down extinction, one that the UN and Mars are incentivized to permit happening, and given their track records, would likely enforce as colonization plans roll out in the coming years. So what Marco did was monstrous and horrible, but it was made inevitable by the UN and Mars' efforts to hold onto their exploitable labour force to the benefit of their own. Marco pulled the trigger, but the inner planets gave him the proverbial gun and all the ammunition he needed, gleefully so, because they didn't expect him (or anyone like him) to actually do anything but toil in the corner and fade out of existence. In that context, Marco sounds generous. Even in the actual current context of the asteroid attack, refraining from further attacks and allowing UN and Mars freedom within their own gravity wells is relatively generous. After all, even if the UN and Mars don't want to accept it, they have been at war with the belt for generations, it's just been incredibly lopsided until now to where the inner planets will likely perceive what happened as some initiating assault in need of payback, rather than an assault in response to everything the inner planets have done and all the countless belter lives lost at their hands. Any attack on Marco's fleet and/or belters from here on out will be an escalating incident, not a retributive one, and it would be primarily about the pride and power the UN and Mars feel entitled to rather than the betterment of their own people. Marco's terms, if taken at face value as honest and not just words made to make him look more reasonable and righteous, are fair in the context of what the UN and Mars have made of their system up until now. The only moral and ethical option for the UN and Mars is to engage in diplomacy. We'll see whether they take that approach when they're faced with so much senseless death. That doesn't make what Marco did any less atrocious, and it doesn't clean off the blood on Marco and his crew's hands, but the UN and Mars took all moral and just options off the table and share that same blood as well as the blood of the belters. When all non-violent options for revolution are ignored because the powerful refuse to give up power to those they've violently marginalized, only violent options remain. This is their bed, they have to live in it now, literally. And for the first time, the citizens of Earth and Mars have to unfortunately live with the consequences of their governments' actions towards the belters.

Freja Corbinne

the Inners didn't let the Belters have enough resources to build much of anything. Fred Johnson isn't an real exception here because he wasn't even a Belter. Dawes is shown to be highly influential on Ceres, but he embraces socialist ideals in sharing resources equally among his people, which means the Belters of Ceres at least had some power there. The Belters on Ganymede probably had it the best out of anyone in the system, given how important the agricultural station was there and the research that Belters were contributing to, not to mention the gravity and magnetic field of the moon would help keep them healthier there. But even then, they had basically nothing. Contrast that to Mars with its incredible resources but frightening ultra-nationalism, and Earth with its extreme wealth inequalities. All Martians have to serve in some capacity, whether it's through the military or the terraforming project or some ancillary support role. Earth can't find enough work for most of its people, and they're often lucky just to have the government taking care of their basic needs, while they have no resources to obtain anything beyond those. The people of Earth and Mars are too busy being focused on their respective issues to care about Belters in any capacity. Earthers are mostly just aimless, and Martians are constatly paranoid about Earthers. Belters can't even have the guarantee of air or water. And this all gets even worse when the ring gates open up. Suddenly the belt's resources aren't even important anymore. Suddenly the Belters lose the only thing justifying their existence to the Inners at all. I think the show does a good job of showing how the Belters were angry at the Inners, but I think it could've done more to sell the sudden fear of what would happen to them.

Freja Corbinne

Is it weird that I read a comment like this from someone and wonder what kind of life you've had? I mean, you don't arrive at this level of understanding of the system when you're shielded by privilege. You understand the show because you understand how this works in real life.

Shawn Anomaly

Make sure here that I clarify that his speech obviously doesn't make sense to us nor is it perfect. To those he spoke to it did given the context of THEIR PoV. Unfortunately logic gives way to emotions so to many Belters his speech made sense and was nigh flawless.

Freja Corbinne

Shawn, have you been watching the same show as us? Have you been paying attention to what the Inners have been doing to the Belters? What part of his speech did not make sense to you?

Shawn Anomaly

One thing I love about Marco as a villain is the fact that he is not introduced as an evil person just bent on being evil with some estranged love for just doing evil deeds. Of course his actions are not justified in any way! His speech (as illogical as it truly is) is dangerous because it's one that breeds radicals. Folks tossing logic to the side through emotions (oppression by the inners) would easily be swayed just as people IRL are despite how nonsensical the things they follow.

Bill B.

Daaaammnnn ….

Varun Laks

I'll push back a little bit on the take that Naomi's plan was stupid or that she was acting overconfident, since it's an opinion that appears online somewhat often that I think is pretty off-base. Remember her sole plan was to go to Pallas Station to try and make one last ditch effort to Fillip to leave Marco before inevitably the bounty got Fillip killed along with his father. There wasn't really any reason to expect getting kidnapped. She knew Marco wouldn't be on Pallas because of the bounty, and that made it her best chance to speak to Fillip alone. Even if there was only a 1% chance that it would work, I think any parent would take those odds for their kid. That being said, I think Naomi was still very aware of the risks and went into it with her eyes completely open. So I don't think it's correct to say she went into it overconfident. She knew things might go bad and was willing to take that chance in order to possibly save her son. That's why we see her write out a message to Holden that says "If Something Goes Wrong." Ultimately, Naomi holds a lot of guilt for leaving Fillip and, as she said, this was likely going to be the only chance she ever had to speak to him. Holden wasn't wrong for trying to be there for Naomi, but him being with Naomi would only have made the situation worse and made Marco's crew react even more negatively towards Naomi. This was a very personal mission for Naomi, and her best shot was to go at it alone.

Paul

Agreed on Fred and Dawes being absent, unfortunately something that was out of the hands of the show runners. Damn shame that is, but still, makes you enjoy the parts you do get even more. Marco is such a good antagonist. My favorite of probably any show (with maybe one exception). His speech has my soul swelling up with righteous zeal every time I hear it. Of course, only if you divorce it from the actions he took, to kill millions of people, the single greatest act of inhumanity ever perpetrated, while he preaches a more human future... What terrifies me so much is exactly how realistic this kind of bloody hypocrisy is to the core of humanity. We are exceptional at rationalizing acts of evil for a cause we believe strongly enough in.

Beat Conductor

"What he's (Marco) doing is good depending on your point of view." No. Evil is evil. No matter who is doing it or what the perspective is. You guys are right in thinking that you can't escape oppression by becoming the oppressor. That's just continuing the cycle.

Beat Conductor

"Make Dawes make sense in my head" Well, in real life the actor that plays Dawes was extremely busy when The Expanse S4, 5, and 6 were being filmed. In the show, the dude's just been chilling on Ceres, taking care of his people, like he promised. We've had no reason to go back to Ceres, and Dawes has had no reason to leave.

Joel Quinn

Two wrongs do not make things right. The Belters have plenty of reasons to hate, and they have given plenty of reasons to hate them. An attack like this is understandable from a hateful position; the endless shades of grey are also showcased in the show. Ashford is probably the best example of it if you dislike Fred Johnson. But even Fred, with the limitations of his being an Earther, achieved and could have achieved more for the Belt.

Joel Quinn

Why would it end the justification for the Belters? With the ring gates open, the possibilities to work, travel and live in space become so much bigger. The "Inners" get new planets the Belters can't use, true, but they could finally use the resources they get from space for their own. They could even venture into being a facilitator of humanity with the advantages they have in space.

Freja Corbinne

you're incredibly ignorant and have no understanding of how this works. I don't think you took a single thing from what I said.

Freja Corbinne

Joel you clearly don't seem to have the will to listen to what I'm saying, and for that reason you're never going to have the level of understanding that someone like me has.

Joel Quinn

"you're never going to have the level of understanding that someone like me has." That's the way to sell an argument ;)

Freja Corbinne

"Belters have plenty of reasons to hate, and they have given plenty of reasons to hate them" Until Marco's attack what reasons exactly do you think Earthers and Martians have exactly? If they stayed in Earth and Martian space, they were completely untouchable to Belters. That's why Marco's attack shocks them so much. It's only ever Earthers who venture out and get involved in exerting Inner resources over Belters that they get targeted for it, and rightfully so.

Freja Corbinne

I can't give you my life experience buddy. If you haven't been marginalized, no amount of well-crafted arguments will make you understand what it's like. This entire show is a well-crafted argument to that effect, and look how much it's failed you still.

Joel Quinn

Slow down a bit; it seems like you have a different argument going on here. Why am I ignorant with my statement about the future possibilities? With all the space opening up, I just don't see why the Belters can't have a future. For the first time ever they could just work for themselves, keep the resources they farmed and build a dozen Ceres. Earth and Mars will be busy settling new systems with new resources. They would not need the ice from the belters anymore or the miners in the asteroids. The scarcity came from the fact that Earth had not enough to supply their people, so the Belters were forced to work for the benefit of Earth and Mars. That changed, and on top of that, so much more space, the place the Belters excel in, became available. And I took the things I thought were worth mentioning. You already described how Dawes managed to build something, even in the hostile and scarce old environment, and Fred as well. Ganymede to an extent as well. And I also do not disagree with the greed of Earth and Mars - my understanding just follows the idea that now the limitations and the scarcity are gone.

Joel Quinn

You assume a lot simply based on your flawed and biased opinion you have of someone you know nothing about. Let me quote a cabaret artist from my country, where I'm from. He had a show criticising the American foreign policy and ending with something along the lines of "They wonder why bombs are being shoved under our ass … but when will you start wondering why we’re getting so few bombs shoved under our ass?" I completely share this assessment and agree; I just don't make any excuse for it. So you will believe whatever you want to believe. You instantly jumping to assumptions and taking away the validity of other people's thoughts already showed how able and willing you are.

Joel Quinn

Absolutely, and he has a way with words that makes it even harder to disagree, in comparison to the typical hatemongers we know all over the world when they start rallying their troops. The logical parts get covered by the pain, loss and hate and the latter part even works if there was not much pain to begin with.

Bill B.

Ok the title “Gaugamela” was familiar, with a quick google search now it all makes sense. The show is setting up Marco as Alexander the Great. Gaugamela was the final battle between Alexander and the Persians. The Persians had been constantly attacking the Greeks for 100+ years, (surely Spartan knows some of this history!), and Alexander dealt the final blow to the Persians at that battle. Yes Alexander was from Macedonia, but half Greek, and it’s the story of a once powerless people getting picked on by a big bully and then suddenly lashing out wildly. Alexander is known as “the Great”, a hero to some, and a homicidal maniac by others. Checked into it further and confirmed that the writers modeled Marco Inaros after Alexander. Young, charismatic, coming from seemingly nowhere poised to deal crushing blows to the major powers. This has been an incredibly fun rewatch. I must have binged S4 and S5 way too fast because all I remembered about S4 was the thing with the eyes and that Murtrie was a bad guy. And the killing of Fred Johnson took me totally by surprise. Going forward I remember a grand total of 3 scenes, and it’s fun to rewatch like this because I honestly have no idea how this will all turn out!!

Freja Corbinne

Are bombs the only aspect of American foreign policy that causes suffering?

Paul

I think in spirit, I agree. Fighting back against your systemic, century-length oppressors is commendable. But doing so by massacring millions of innocent people? That is evil, regardless of how pure your cause is.

Paul

Besides, she's a mother. Mothers would risk everything for their children. I don't blame Naomi for that at all. Even though I agree that it was extremely risky.

Freja Corbinne

The Belt was facing an imminent and permanent economic collapse that they could never hope to recover from. The human population suddenly gained access to the untapped natural resources of 1,300 habitable planets that Belters struggle even to survive more than a few days on, and we saw that the Belters were essentially going to see none of the wealth from the new planets. Whatever value that could still have been extracted from the Belt disappeared overnight. Just look what happened to Mars. So much time and work was spent and even literal blood was spilled over defending the effort to terraform it. Yet the instant the ring gates opened and revealed the new worlds, Martians started to abandon en masse any hope of seeing that plan to its completion.

Freja Corbinne

Belters had NO way to survive going forward this way except to rely on the Inner Planets to be generous, and the entire show by now should prove that the Inners, like all oppressive colonizing empires, cannot be trusted. Nor is this even in the best case scenario such a situation that one can accept peacefully.

Paul

I agree with everything you said, but none of it can justify the mass murder of millions of people on Earth and Mars who had no part in any of the decisions involved in excluding Belters from colonizing new planets and establishing themselves as a legitimate third faction of humanity. Very important when fighting an enemy, to know who the enemy is.

Beat Conductor

Just for some reference, but Columbia University, where Arjun works, is in New York City right next to the sea wall.

Amber A

Yeah, it was objectively an evil act, even if it was made necessary and was arguably the correct decision. Oppression doesn't stop if you somehow flip the balances of oppressor and marginalized (not that that's what's happened here, one assault does not immediately flip an institutionalized power structure, no matter how impactful), the entire system has to go. The UN and Mars weren't going to willingly stop being oppressors, and their populace are either too ignorant or too bought into the institutionally orchestrated belter "subhumanity" to be amenable to that kind of change when it'll materially impact them negatively if at all (especially since Marco's out there claiming the ring gates/systems, when Earthers and Martians have been clamoring to go colonize). So what's a belter revolutionary to do aside from wait in the dark to die? You can't exert financial pressure. You can't exert traditional military pressure. You can't exert pressure via protest (or win over the widespread populace of Earth and mars to their revolution). You can't get into a battle of attrition. Standard guerilla warfare and piracy can be useful in spots but altogether won't move the needle. Fred's plan of "building" the belt would take decades if not centuries that they don't have to spare anymore. If Marco somehow found a way to only target the government officials and kill them off instead of a planetary assault, there would just be more in the UN/Mars brought up in that same system and same perspectives that will be feverishly pleased to wrest power for themselves and use it an excuse to continue their ongoing oppression of belters (if not kick it up a notch to put them in their place). You need a meaningful threat for the purpose of leverage/mitigation, and you need to fracture the system wholesale by damaging/undermining pretty much every possible avenue it exerts power and influence, and you need to get people emotional because that's when they're most likely to consider change (even if that change is less deliberation-led, that was never going to be an option, so best to lean into the mindsets that are less rational, more gut-instinct as a means of facilitating change). In this case, with the belters so institutionally marginalized (and that marginalization so widely accepted and supported by non-belters) and widely considered disposable and inherently lesser, that means you can't play to sympathy for change from within, you have to play to anger and fear. It's a gamble that they'll either hate their own governments for letting it happen and shattering their worldviews they've lived relatively safely within, or hate you for hurting them, or both. ideally, it's both, and Marco's smart (and/or full of himself) to name his group the Free Navy, the "military wing of the outer planets", rather than be affiliated with the OPA specifically, since it allows for some degrees of separation, even if the odds are slim that the difference will be heeded after such a colossal strike and belters being an easy demographic to paint with a broad brush. Instill anger and fear in the populace, and use your looming threat (protomolecule, and to a lesser extent the stealth weapons) as a way to stifle/restrict action from the UN/Mars, and that opens possibilities that the populace will destabilize their own governments and power structures as a reactionary response. It also can make the governments desperate enough to make decisions they never have in the past, for good or ill (for example, look at the USA after 9/11 and how they responded in one of the worst ways imaginable). What Marco did was absolutely evil. At the point of where they were at in fighting for their freedom, it was probably the most (or perhaps only) effective option they had available out of a handful of horrible and largely inconsequential options, so after generations of freedom and reconciliation efforts being rejected or sabotaged/undermined by the inner planets, it makes absolute sense that someone like marco would get a foothold of popularity and support, and he'd break the safety glass and press the big red button that no one else before him was willing or able to do. It also creates opportunities for different trajectories and outcomes for the belt as a result, and for changes to the existing power/political structure in the system. A just UN government and Mars government would take this opportunity to focus on healing their world, protecting their people, re-connecting with the populace, repatriating belters, and rebuild their government's relationship with corporations and wealth before determining the next form their government would take (you cannot have the same hierarchical group of people in power and expect different results). Ego, privilege, and entitlement will almost certainly ensure that won't be on anyone in the UN or Mars' agendas even if it is the only justifiable response to the asteroid attack. The UN and Mars need to stop the violence finally. Marco can't break the cycle on his own, the belters certainly can't. It IS well within the ability of the UN and Mars, so it's their responsibility to clean up the mess they made for once.

Beat Conductor

Your argument collapses under several major logical errors. You claim Marco’s strike was objectively evil while simultaneously calling it necessary and the correct decision, which is a direct contradiction. You also treat “oppression” as if it can magically convert an evil act into a justified one — that’s moral relativism disguised as analysis. On top of that, you assume peaceful change was impossible (something the show repeatedly disproves) and then use that assumption to justify mass murder, which is classic ends-justify-the-means extremism. You’re also conflating explanation with justification: describing why Marco did something doesn’t mean it was right for him to do it. And when you shift responsibility to Earth and Mars for provoking the attack, you’re engaging in outright victim-blaming by removing agency from the person who actually committed the atrocity. Finally, you rely on narrative constraints as if they’re moral constraints (“Fred’s plan would take too long, therefore terrorism becomes correct”), which isn’t coherent moral reasoning. All of this boils down to treating an evil act as both condemned and justified at the same time — which doesn’t work. Evil is evil.

Joel Quinn

You misunderstood that quote; it is not about American bombs but rather the response.

Etta Eskridge

This is an amazing episode, it never lets up. The writers (both books and show) are very skilled at showing the grey of both sides of an argument. We have examples of this in our own world of course! As pure entertainment, however, this episode never disappoints, Alex and Bobbie talking about grief, Amos realizing he wanted to "help" Clarissa/Melba/Peaches even though he had not really thought that plan through, Chrisjen suffering through the attacks on Earth and being devastated by possible losing Arjun!, the Zmeya attacking Tycho to steal the protomolecule and also the murder of Fred in specatcular fashion and before you recover from that the machine going into Fred's room to finish the job, Monica saving Holden, not once, but twice in a few minutes on screen! And of course Naomi meeting Marco again and finding out the horrors he has unleashed. As a Belter she clearly represents the more peaceful side of the Belter POV and is horrified and what her son has been complicit in. Dom Tipper is showing off her powerful acting skills this season. Looking forward to the rest to come!

Ryan

Sounds eerily similar to something that happened not so long ago in real life.

Robert

This episode is the culmination of one of the longest seeded plot points on TV. S1E01 Christen interrogates a belter caught with Martian stealth tech. The belter is fanatical but also very well spoken. That pushes the story in the direction of the stealth ships, but we later learn that the ships were built on Earth and the plot point disappears for five seasons as the story rockets in another direction. Also since no one has mentioned the quote S1E04. 'I worry about people who throw rocks' - Christen Avasarala After watching this episode it's hard to look back at the scene of Marco in the airlock and not think that it was also part of a larger plan. Marco is dangerous, patient, ruthless and his planning skills are on another level. Maybe he didn't plan on getting caught, but equally its hard to see someone with that kind of strategic brain not having some contingencies in place. He could easily have already paid off a couple of the factions to rig things in his favour.

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You cannot fight evil with evil. You cannot fight the opressor by becoming one etc etc. As a general rule we shoud follow ? Yes. Does it always apply? Opinions can vary here. Imo there is a point where you have to accept the high way does not work. I dont know the world and history of the Expanse that well, but at times it feels reasonable to me why someone like Marco Inaros would emerge. It is possible that the Inners killed more Belters over decades, than Marco did with those 3 rocks. It is possible that over decades, Belters tried politics, peaceful solutions, maybe some protests - all the things that would be considered "the high road". My question is - if someone is bent that we should always follow those platitudes and Marco is an evil man and what he did should never happen - what if Belter situation did not improve over a century ? over two centuries ? What if it will never improve? Its like somone sits right next to you and is punching you in your arm over and over again, and you keep telling them to fuck off. You will hit them back at some point if nothing else works. Marco hit them back and told them to stay on their planets and leave belters alone. An evil act, but i still get it (with the limited knowledge I have about this world). The best thing that can happen now is - Marco gets removed but the act serves as a catalyst that actually helps belter situation long term (which might not have happened otherwise).

Beat Conductor

I mean, the show repeatedly enforces that change doesn't have to come through violence. The belt was already on their way there. If anything, Marco actually set them back substantially.