Screenshot: Amazon Studios
The Expanse season five has somehow already reached episode six with “Tribes,” a somewhat calmer installment that’s still packed with action and incredible character work, especially for Cara Gee’s Drummer and Wes Chatham’s Amos. Tensions are sky-high as the season enters its second half.
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If you haven’t watched “Tribes” yet, stop right there and go see why Amos’ surprised face and naked torso are covered in blood. You won’t be sorry! Then we can talk all about it below.
It’s time to check back in with Avasarala (Shohreh Aghdashloo), who wasn’t in last week’s episode but is still worried sick about her husband, who hasn’t responded to any of her messages since the asteroid strike near New York. Her vigil is interrupted when a visitor bursts into her office: Minister of Transportation David Paster (Sugith Varughese), who is now, thanks to a lot of dead people in the line of succession, acting in the late Nancy Gao’s stead as UN Secretary-General. It’s his first time off-planet, he’s having trouble adjusting to Luna’s gravity, and he awkwardly blunders around Avasarala’s obvious anguish—but at least he knows to ask her to join his team of advisers. She agrees, of course, but before she heads into the meeting, we get a rare glimpse of Avasarala at her most vulnerable (in a lovely moment from Aghdashloo) as she adjusts her giant, bejeweled necklace with trembling hands and gathers her composure. It’s time to compartmentalize her grief, however temporarily, and get back out there to fight for Earth.