The Expanse 4x1 Reaction | New Terra | Review & Breakdown

[@anonymouszebra1239]

Ashford was already cool with drummer by the end of last episode. they disagreed on how to handle the station, to put it mildly, but Drummer (and everyone else) recognised that Ashford acted with the best interest of the system in mind. He was willing to sacrifice his own life to protect the system, and it wasn't strictly unreasonable of him to not believe holden after holden was exposed to the protomolecule-builder's technology. As far as ashford believed, holden was a crazy man acting on hallucinations, and destroying the ring gate was the only way to stop the human race being annihilated.

[@quegs]

Ding ding ding! To very loosely paraphrase Anna: Everyone is doing what they think is right - if we get out of this alive, we have to find a way to see each other without hate. Ashford was trying to protect the whole of humanity with the best knowledge he had at the time. The Ring Station was building up to hypernuke the Sol System and time was running out - he had to act. If he chose to believe Holden, powering down the Behemoth would have lost too much time and would have forfeited what he thought was the only shot he had to save the human race.

[@obelisk21]

Think of the protomolecule as a tool almost like a nanite. The protomolecule that was sent toward Earth was instructed to build a new gate in our solar system by the civilization that built the gates. In order for it to complete the work of building a new gate it needed to gather raw materials that it could repurpose into the gate itself which is why it was kind of consuming everything it came in contact with. Once the gate was completed the protomolecule no longer needed to acquire new materials so its behaviour has changed.

[@RaoulKunz1]

The protomolecule is essentailly an automated railroad laying machine, it might be quiet a bit eldritch but it still is but a machine for a purpose, like all the AIs we have floating around currently - a "smart programm" nothing else. A very lovecraftian thing, especially in it's "eldritch banality".😂 Best regards Raoul G . Kunz

[@MattNolanCustom]

@@RaoulKunz1 a bit like a variation on the Von Neumann Probe concept really

[@charly03090309]

@@RaoulKunz1 The protmolecule is progammable, so its not just a gatebuilder. I assume it can build anything given enough material. It seemed to up its game after it stripped the Aborghast and started integrating more mineral and technology when it started with only biomatter, so it has a certain amount of latitude in fulfilling its programme, and can learn. It also stopped doing stuff after the gate was built, so it doesnt sound like it will go rogue. The final part of its programme was to report back in, which is why Miller didnt go dormant after the gates opened. The protomolecule is trying to finish the last line of code but nobody is home. Problem is the protomolecule can commincate with itself over long distances, so reprogamming it (by humans for example" is really hard as we can only work locally, and it can update or patch itself by linking back up with other protomolecule which is why the hybrids were all unstable shortly after being activated, but useful as a WMD delivery system.

[@LeeCarlson]

You have seen Holden's patch before. Season Two, Episode One, after he was super-saturated with hard radiation on Eros and Naomi told him that he would be on anti-cancer drugs for the rest of his life.

[@Im4gi]

Don‘t be so hard on Ashford, he did what he thought was the right thing to do, not to trust Holden was understandable, he was willing to sacrifice his life to make a safer future for all mankind, he invited all other factions to the behemoth to save a lot of lives, he saved Drummers life… I understand skeptisim when he was introduced, he maybe had a motive to be captain over Drummer, but that was justified, he has a lot more experience in commanding. However, he always gave her good advice and never tried to start a mutiny, he even threatened Diogo when he said that he should be captain. I hope you can see all these points that speak for him. The Expanse likes to play into suspicion, sometimes it‘s hard to change a view on a character even if he got a redemtion or similar. I hope you enjoy season 4, there is a lot of subtle scenes which pay off greatly in the future!

[@remliqa]

Yes, it is rational to not trust Holden after seeing how crazy he was .

[@rudewalrus5636]

Murtry is played by Burn Gorman. I don't know where you might have seen him, but I immediately recognized him (he's a pretty distinctive actor) from the Doctor Who spin--off series Torchwood, where he was one of the central characters.

[@iDuckman]

Burn is in half the shows produced in UK. A terrific character, and even a compelling lead in the right things. He has a high Q factor.

[@remliqa]

I alway remember him from Pacific Rim and Game Of Thrones. He's fooking legend !!

[@LeeCarlson]

Earlier in this episode Amox told Holden he knew a guy that could outfit the Roci for planetary landings. All of the exteriors were shot on location in a quarry in Central Ontario and they used wide-angle lenses for those scenes. And Amos Burton's preferred weapon is an automatic shotgun, hence the large shells strapped to it.

[@anonymouszebra1239]

everyone has their own favourite, and i like them all, but season 4 is special for me. no spoilers about why, but i think you'll enjoy it!

[@gregdesouza17]

For me season 4 has the best writing. It's a single contained plot that explores the characters and just makes everything works.

[@Notric]

Loved it. Spring here at the bottom half of the globe.

[@quegs]

@15:16 RCE's landing craft here represents the first "legal" charter of exploration into the ring worlds. No one from Earth, Mars, or the Belt has gone through the rings and successfully landed on a Ring World until this point - except the Belter refugees on the Barbapiccola. Unmanned probes have been the only thing sent through the Rings before that. Nancy Gao is angry with Avasarala precisely because no Earth ships have been allowed to attempt colonization. The Belters as a whole are definitely at a political disadvantage still, but it is NOT the case that Earth and Mars have been able to go colonize as they please - precisely because Avasarala (and her Mars/Belt equivalents) wants to exercise the utmost caution in that exploration.

[@jamesholland5761]

Great reaction! Ashford abd Drummer are working together for the OPA to police ring station. There is a truce between the inners and the Belt. But things aren't as they seem. Chrisjen is the new SG of earth and has to make tough decisions. She has the weight of trying to keep everyone safe. Sometimes when you hold on to tight you make it worse! Looking forward to the next one!

[@quegs]

@13:42 S2E1, "Safe." Holden and Miller got those medical ports for their anti-cancer treatments after getting off Eros. Holden needs to take oncocidals for the rest of his life to keep his 100% guaranteed cancers from rearing their heads.

[@drummertp12]

Yeah the protomolecules job was basically to build a door to the ringspace to give the makers of the protomolecule acces to our solarsystem and then report back. It has done that, i took what it found (mainly human bodies and such as the previous seasons can attest lol) and finnaly build the gate but there seems to be noone to report back to now, as the makers of the gates are gone. Thats why we have "Miller" who is now searching for clues as to what might have happend. But the protonolecule structures on Ilus/new terra might be active, so we gonna send Holden cause thats what we do. Also Chrisjen once said that she didnt wanna be secretery general because she likes to get shit done and keep her head; well now shes secretary general and i dont think she likes that she has lost all her freedom as under-secretary, that might be why her temper is short rn.

[@LeeCarlson]

Roberta Draper's story during this season is the plot of the novella "Gods of Risk" and gives us a good look at what has happened on Mars as a result of the Ring gates opening.

[@kidgforce1]

Some basic names: The Behemoth (formerly Navoo) is now named Medina Station, because it´s no longer a flying space ship but a stationary station in the ring bubble. The planet, the Belter refugees from Ganymede landed on was called by them Illus , who was the brother of Ganymede in Greek mythology. The guys from earth, sent by a company to explore and exploit this planet just call it New Terra.

[@LeeCarlson]

The Belters who settled Illus (only Inners call it New Terra) had to endure the same regimen that we see Naomi going through to build bone density and muscle mass. However, there are still a lot of issues.

[@rodentnolastname6612]

The ship Ashford was chasing dumped their core. Basically they dumped the superheated plasma from the fusion reactor core through the engine, causing a big burp of plasma to shoot out. It's a last ditch effort to avoid capture. The ship can restart its reactor but it takes a while to reheat up to fusion temperature.

[@LeeCarlson]

At least Holden's family is making a valiant attempt to speak to their son's partner in her own language.

[@LeeCarlson]

Illus has a sun, which is why it has a ring. The atmosphere was provided by evolution and did not vanish when the Ring builders did. And Belters, being Belters, did not crack the outer hatch of the airlock until they knew that there was breathable air at tolerable temperatures on the other side of it.

[@C76Caravan]

Basic situation regarding Ring passages: UN, MCR, & OPA have an agreement to blockade the ring passage to anyone (regardless from where) that isn't cleared (like the Roci, Ashford on the Tynan on pirate clearing duty, and the RCA mining research company with the Edward Israel).

[@LeeCarlson]

Mars and Earth are patrolling the Sol-ring and saying who can (and cannot) enter it. And The Investigator (Miller) disabled the velocity-limiter when xe reset the whole station at the end of Season Three.

[@no_no_just_no]

those anti cancer drugs and that thing in his arm are from Holden and Miller got irradiated on Eros.

[@philipturner9087]

Holden got it with, ‘Another blood soaked blood bath.’

[@MattNolanCustom]

blood soaked gold rush

[@ThePharaz]

You don't think the Belters wouldn't want their own planet? You don't think Martians are tired of trying to make Mars habitable and could go to another star system of their own without dealing with Belters or Earthers? You need to expand your thinking and the inherent need or desire for power and wealth. Did you skip all history courses? Like nobody ever explored the world or the Americas? When the West opened up for new opportunities no one ever chose to travel to new territories to stake out land of their own? If you were asking about Burn Gorman then you might know him from Game of Thrones as Karl Tanner, Forever as Adam, Torchwood as Owen Harper, or Halo as Vinsher Grath.

[@remliqa]

Don't forget Dr. Hermann Gottlieb from Pacific Rim.

[@LeeCarlson]

The protomolecule absorbed everything that it touched in order to aggregate enough materials to instantiate the Sol-ring. Once it had done what it was supposed to do, it became inert. However, neither Holden, nor Avarsarela are blindly expecting it to remain inert, or even to be inert on other worlds.

[@Sinewmire]

Earth and Mars ships are both military and no civilians are being allowed through the gate. Note the difference between the treatment of the Roci and the Tynan - one was calm, the other was warned repeatedly and target locked immediately. The belters on Ilus/New Terra are mostly from Ganymede, and used to higher (though weak compared to Earth) gravity.

[@rodentnolastname6612]

Of note; when on the planet, the filming aspect ratio changes to letterboxed widescreen 😲

[@garrettsharpe1464]

Imagine being constantly pestered by the hologram of a dead friend who is constantly begging you to do something you can't do. Yeah, Holden is tired out.

[@CodyTaylor115]

With the end of last episode Miller basically disarmed the bubbles alarm system basically free and clear for use by humanity

[@YouHaventSeenMeRight]

The proto-molecule that was sent to our solar system had one purpose: build a ring gate. It didn't care what it needed to repurpose to achieve this goal. This should tell you something about the type of civilization the ring builders were part of. The second the ring was complete it had achieved that goal. The ring space (the place where al the ring gates connect to, was already there. It acts as a sort of clearing space for connecting all the systems with rings in it. When Miller got control of the station in the center at the end of season 3, he switched off the security measures that the station had put in place, such as the speed limit. So now you can move through this space at a decent speed (since it is very large this is needed if you want to go from gate to gate). The Behemoth was put in place as a human space station (which given its ability to generate gravity through spinning the drum makes sense), so they renamed it to Medina station. A medina is typically the old part of a city in the Arab world, but in this case stands as a term for a city. So Medina station acts as a meeting point and way station for people who travel across the ring space.

[@janmortensen9314]

Both Holden and Miller got their medical "port" after their little radiation incident in S1:10. There is restricted access to the Sol Ring because the proto molecule is still there. They did manage to calm down the control/gate keeper inside the ring, but what else is out there in the 1300 solar systems

[@pacio49]

Hi Anna! Might help to think of the Protomolecule as multi-purpose organic nanites. They are given programming to build something or make something, they are sent out, and anything they come across which is useful to their programming (a/k/a the Work. Can't stop the Work!) they disassemble into component parts and figure out a biochemical way to make it serve their programmatic purposes from the beings that invented and deployed it. Building intergalactic highways is just one such deployment for something as versatile as the protomolecule. My theory is that given enough time to study it, humanity absolutely could have 'controlled' it to make major scientific advances through reverse engineering, leapfrogging to staggering new technological capabilities.

[@LeeCarlson]

Yes. Something did inhabit all of the habitable worlds. The Ring Builders, who were wiped out a couple of million years ago, and left the worlds at the mercy of evolution again.

[@LeeCarlson]

Correct. The entity that was the LDSS Nauvoo, and became the OPAS Behemoth, is now called Medina Station, and provides a human presence in the alien space that is the hub of 1300 alien star systems with planets that are habitable for humans.

[@remliqa]

I'm surprised you don't like Ashford, one of the most beloved character in the series. . He was very heroic in season 3 . The Belt should give him a medal for how he was in command in season 3.

[@remliqa]

Furthermore. Ashfords action were based on incomplete information. He knew that the Ring Station was about to destroy humanity and no sane person would trust Holden based on how erratic he was. He did what he think needed to be done to save humanity.. If you think Ashford should be in jail for being heroic leader who tried to save humanity , then there might be something wrong with you. I can't sugars coat that.

[@serralinda73]

Ashford was never trying to kill everyone - he wanted to save humanity. He chose the wrong way to do it, but he couldn't know that and there was nothing to say Holden's plan would work. Yes, Ashford got a little out of hand about it, but things were tense and confusing and no one really knew anything. All three (yes, the OPA is a legit gov't now) factions agreed to send out scientific researchers first, one made of the best scientists, no matter which faction. They were planning to assess one of these planets to see what's going on there - is there any life or structures or chemicals or technology? Can humans live there safely? Is there active Protomolecule waiting to grab some people-fuel for new tech? Whatever, they were still getting everything organized and keeping everyone/anyone from going through Earth's Gate to another Gate until some kind of risk assessment and study had been done. But there are a lot of displaced or desperate Belters (and Martians, and Earthers) who thought waiting was stupid. A group of them decided to run the blockade. Only one ship got through (the Barbapiccola) and now we're meeting them on Ilus/New Terra. The Behemoth has a new name - Medina Station - and it is now sitting in the Ring Bubble as a sort of guard dog. Drummer is in charge of it, Ashford is the head of the...Ring police force? Miller turned the Ring Station off - there's no more speed limit other than "try not to crash into any other ships" - not that there are any other ships yet. Each solar system through each Ring Gate has a planet that is Earth-like in orbit around a star. The PM Builders deliberately chose these systems the same way they chose Earth as the target in our solar system - a planet with the capability to produce some sort of life/already has the beginnings of life (amoebas or algae or some other kind of primordial soupy goo that will eventually evolve into more). They sent out a seedpod with the Protomolecule to each system, then eventually those pods hit the target planet. The PM uses biological compounds as...building blocks and fuel to reproduce itself and then build a Gate (or whatever piece of tech it was programmed to build, like the Central Station in the bubble). Then the Gate goes off the planet to a stable orbit around the local star and whatever PM was leftover would likely start to build...something else (houses? factories?) maybe. Or it just went dormant if any was left over. So, the Barbapiccola's people chose a planet (eenie meenie money moe) and have created a settlement. The official science delegation just arrived to do the scanning and studying they were supposed to do on a pristine planet but it's already been contaminated by the settlers. Then their shuttle exploded on the way down. Now our Roci crew is added to the mix of defiant settlers determined to claim the planet as their own and the "Stamp of Gov't Approval" science crew who just wanted to study everything.

[@jamesa.m.ritchie413]

Ganymede is large enough to have gravity and a magnetic field, so people born and raised there have some "gravity legs". Naomi, raised on smaller asteroids does not have this advantage and so requires more medical treatment. Ganymede was not only the breadbasket for this reason, but was also where women went to have their babies. Hence the pediatrics clinic too.

[@djin81]

Part of the reason Ashford and Drummer's situation is a bit confusing is they combined 5 or so book characters into 2 TV show characters (that's why Naomi is very temporarily their head of engineering, because she's there to hit story beats needed between Drummer and her girlfriend Samantha Rosenberg, Fred Johnsons chief engineer, who has been combined with Drummer into one character for the most part).

[@cheryljohns7541]

The actor playing Murtry was on GoT…he was one of the Nights Watch mutineers.

[@pieterbroersen8488]

9:34 Bobbie works on breaking down Donnager class warships. The war is over, and they don't need them anymore/deals around disarmament between earth and mars. 11:42 The pirate ship dropped core: The inertial confinement fusion reaction is held in a magnetic bottle. By dumping the reaction they can no longer produce fusion power until a new fusion reaction has started. In effect it equals surrendering.

[@MattNolanCustom]

not really surrendering. More a last desperate attempt at trying to escape by catching Ashford's ship in the plasma blast

[@kosmokenny]

You just missed out on getting the one of the actual uniforms, the set auctions with all the costumes and props closed a couple weeks ago.

[@jubronaljoan]

Amos calls Clarrissa Mao aka "Melba", "Peaches", because of the desert Peach Melba.

[@evilvolts]

That man is familiar because he was on Game of Thrones and drank out of a mans scull after they rebelled on their commander from the wall

[@Ugnutz]

They use different aspect rations for the different shots its in a wide angle when they are on Illus also this season is the first season on Amazon and they had a bigger budget

[@pssthpok]

Season 4 is a different sort of animal than the ones that preceded it, stylistically. In an episode or two you will get your bearings and be as confused and enlightened with each episode, as always! LOL!

[@rodentnolastname6612]

In the books, Illus has a more lush, Precambrian forest-ish ecosystem. There's a minor subplot about humans and Earth microbes contaminating the biome and the ethics involved. They just didn't have the budget to do the alien plants and animals so filmed it desolate.

[@peccatumDei]

We can't really explain much yet without spoilers, but you can trust that most of your questions will be answered as the season progresses. One thing that fairly evident already, is the colonial attitude of Earth and Mars, believing they have the authority to pick and choose who gets to settle on the 1,300 new, uninhabited planets.

[@Dizzyruptor]

If you didn't like Ashford in the last series you will certainly love him in this one. Great character.

[@remliqa]

I doubt it Anna would change her mind on Asfordse. SPOILER Nothing he did in season 4 was as heroic as in season 3.

[@brucer2152]

Grin...."habitated" them before.....inhabited Anna....grin. :)

[@richb313]

Stick with it all will become clear.

[@ducktape160]

Do you think Ashford should die or just be jailed.

[@remliqa]

Why? He should have been given a medal intead.

[@rnkelly36]

The show is doing the best it can. Between books there are huge time jumps. The crew would be much older now than from the beginning. By next season they would be close to retirement. However they chose to not really do the time jumps. The story is not more of a political mess and mystery. There are too many different sides that are easy to explain. Just know The Belt is split into factions. Mars is split into factions. Earth is having a political crisis. Ashford is our friend, sorry but he was doing what he could to protect all of us. The fact that was the wrong choice does not make him a criminal. We love Ashford!

[@quegs]

I dunno about "huge time jumps," except for the big one - between the start of book 1 and the end of book 6 is about a decade of earth time, including the weeks and months of space travel between locations in each book. So like 1-2 years between each book. So, significant time between each story, but not gigantic leaps. Assuming Holden is in his mid-30s in book one he'd be around 45 by book 6. Alex is older than the rest of the crew so maybe he'd be pushing retirement age, but I don't think anyone else would.

[@madux42]

_"By next season they would be close to retirement."_ That is not correct at all. Holden is in his late 20s at the beginning of the series. He left home at 18, served 7 years in the UN and then some years on the Canterbury. There aren't "huge time jumps", not until the later books. Books 1-6 happen in little over 10 years. In the show, generally less time is passing. So Holden is about 40 at the end of book 6, and even younger than that in the show. Neither in the show nor in the books anyone of the Roci crew is anywhere near retirement at that point. Amos and Alex are up to a decade older than Holden, but life expectancy in The Expanse is way over 100, nobody will retire at 50.

[@GoodOldGamer]

I hate Naomi's hair this season. Her mohawkish thing from earlier was so good on her!

[@kirkdarling4120]

Naomi's hair was a big deal to her in the books. She had a psychological quirk of hiding behind it. Fortunately, they didn't bring that to the series, but they gave it a nod by having her change her style each season.

[@billross7245]

What's cool is we get to see life on Mars for the first time in the series. Think of the consequences of the rings opening to hundreds of habitable planets for a planet whose main economy is based on terraforming their own planet to make the surface habitable.

[@SoshiMECH]

I think Clarissa must have had a shocking lawyer. She saved the human race when she took out Ashford but is still facing a lifetime sentence? Holden couldn't have let her go? Meanwhile Ashford who nearlly killed the entire human race and is responsible for numerous people being killed on the Behemoth is still in his original position on the Behemoth? This is one of the few examples on The Expanse of when they do something to progress the story in a direction they wanted it to go in rather than it making sense.

[@johnniequinn3215]

Clarissa Mao was a fugitive due to her Father's actions. She supported those actions by remaining hidden and using what resources she had to get illegal military grade fighting modifications, change her identity, sabotage a space ship, and attempt to frame Holden to start another war between in the system. That set up the whole situation with Ashford having to take control of the Behemoth. Clarissa is subject to Earth law. Ashford is subject to Belter law, And was acting Captain. What he did in reacting to the crisis they were in made sense to other belters; which is why Drummer drank with him instead of having him spaced. And I got the impression that she voluntarily surrendered to the authorities in the end to make up for the deaths she caused. Ashford's "punishment" is to dedicate his service to the OPA to help preserve the new peace.

[@SoshiMECH]

​@@johnniequinn3215 But Clarissa's actions on the Behemoth saved the human race and the entire solar system as well as Holden and Naomi, surely that makes up for the bad things she did and then some? Who actually knew what she did and passed that on to the powers that be? Did anyone actually know she was responsible for blowing up the UN ship. As far as I can tell all the people that could have connected her directly to the ship blowing up were dead and was she really responsible for Tilly's death and how do you prove that? It looked like Tilly had been impaled when the ship was stopped by the protomolecule and Anna didn't look like she was pressing charges at the end of Season 3. But primarily saving the human race should have trumped all of this and Holden at the very least should have let her go or brokered a deal for her. Life in prison after you single handedly save the human race? How bad of a lawyer do you have to be to not get her a get out of jail free card after she saved the human race?

[@johnniequinn3215]

@@SoshiMECH I haven’t gotten that far into the books yet. It’s my understanding that Peaches is a combination of other characters from the books. But it’s my impression that she confessed to a good deal of what she did.

[@pieterbroersen8488]

​@@SoshiMECH In the books Clarissa felt guilty for Ren's death which was a mayor reason for giving herself up. Perhaps Ren's wife and son weren't as forgiving as Holden. And you can't escape a murder charge by saving people in an unrelated event.

[@johnniequinn3215]

@@SoshiMECH cont… We know that her actions on the Behemoth saved Holden and Naomi. The other ships had already powered down. She stopped the laser from firing, but I think it’s a stretch to claim that she alone saved humanity. AND no matter what she did at the end Avasarala would insist she be brought in to find out what she might know about her father’s business operations