After the shocking cliffhanger
The Expanse delivered last week, the series did not lose any momentum as everyone in the system felt the fallout and Belter terrorist Marco Inaros rose several notches to become the series’ arguably most compelling villain. Everything about ‘Gaugamela’, from the tense action, multiple stories, direction and character work was firing on all cylinders. Even though we’re not even halfway through the fifth season yet, the episode may go down as not only the best of the season, but one of the best episodes
Expanse has ever produced.
Rather than jump into the devastating events of the asteroid hitting Earth right away, ‘Gaugamela’ instead built up the tension a little more as it followed characters who were somewhat on the periphery of the main storyline. Alex and Bobbie shared a nice moment together on the Razorback – now renamed The Screaming Firehawk – as they followed Martian warships and discussed the dying dream their people had of terraforming Mars. Alex’s disbelief versus Bobbie’s realism created an interesting conversation between the two on how to cope with what Martian officials were doing. Frankie Adams gave a nice performance as she related a story from Bobbie’s childhood while back on Earth Amos visited the incarcerated Clarissa. Nadine Nicole’s return showed a very different Clarissa and she displayed her newfound vulnerability well. Nicole and Wes Chatham had some very nice chemistry together. It’s not very often Amos opens up about his feelings or philosophy, but when he does Chatham knows how to channel that side of the character and make it authentic.