Ricky Church reviews the second episode of The Expanse season 6…
After the premiere spent most of its time catching fans up on the changes with the characters and Belt, ‘Azure Dragon’ had quite an intense action sequence while the rest of the episode raised the stakes and move character arcs along nicely. For the shortened final season of The Expanse, things are building very well toward the finale.
Let’s get the most memorable part of episode out of the way first since it is one of the series’ most intense action scenes. The Rocinante chasing the titular Azure Dragon may have begun as an ordinary space chase, but it went to a whole other level as Bobbie jumped out of the Roci mid-chase to board the Dragon’s hull. It was certainly exciting and spoke to how desperate and dangerous the war with the Free Navy is going for Earth that they would dare take that risk. The tension only rose as the small crew of the Dragon attacked the Roci crew in a brief gunfight atop the hull.
Even within the action, there was still emphasis placed on the characters as Naomi froze at the airlock with fear, clearly traumatized by her events in space last season. Clarissa, or ‘Peaches’ as Amos and even Holden calls her, also got a moment as she stepped up to protect Bobbi and help the crew. It was quite revealing once the mission was over and she got lightly “chewed out” by Holden that she was taken with how it was the first time Holden ever referred to her as a member of the crew while Holden and Naomi know each other so well that she didn’t have to say any more to let him know something was deeply wrong to talk about later. It not only an example of the show’s strong writing, but how well the chemistry is between the cast.
Outside of the action was plenty of build-up for the conflict between Earth and the Free Navy. Drummer recognized an opportunity to really strike at Marco Inaros’ supply chain with some disgruntled Belters who were Free Navy in name only. Cara Gee continues doing fine work as she balances Drummer’s compassion, hard edge and intelligence together. The way her eyes light up at the possibility to hit Marco where it hurts and her pitch to the Free Navy pirate showed how Gee captures all those qualities in Drummer. Meanwhile Keon Alexander is doing a great job making Marco more manipulative and arrogant, especially with how he is treating Fillip now.
The only part of the episode that seemed a little out of place is the beginning scene with the little girl on the strange planet beyond the Ring. It picks up where the opening scene last episode left off and is building toward something as the planet is where the faction of Mars – and apparently Earth – defectors have gone with the Protomolecule, but since we don’t have the larger context at the moment it seems odd when the conflict between Earth and the Free Navy is just heating up, especially with so few episodes this season. We’ll just have to wait and see what is going on with the girl and their society and how it will fit in with the Protomolecule and Free Navy narratives. Aside from that, ‘Azure Dragon’ was a great episode that pulled off its action sequence perfectly while still taking time to examine relationships and develop characters across the board.
Rating: 8/10
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