THE EXPANSE: The Plot, It Thickens in BACK TO THE BUTCHER

Season 1 Episode 5: “Back to the Butcher”

On Anderson Station, a group of protesting miners finds themselves on the receiving end of ire of the UN military, raising the question of who, if anyone, is innocent in the universe of The Expanse, and setting into motion the apparent change of heart of the man who came to be known as “The Butcher of Anderson Station”.

Unfortunately for the survivors of the Canterbury, that man may be their only hope.

On Ceres, Detective Miller starts to see the patterns emerging in his hunt for the missing Julie Mao, but the offer of information on the whereabouts of the man who almost killed his partner opens a door that Miller may not want to go through…

It’s SPOILERS all the way down for “Back to the Butcher”, the 5th episode of Syfy’s The Expanse!

Some backstory of the world our heroes are living in comes in the form of the mass murder of the men, women and children of Anderson Station by UN forces, and indeed, it paints the Earth authority with the kind of brush that makes the tensions with Mars and the rising call for independence from the Outer Planets Authority a lot more clear. As it so often true in the “real” world, the demand for resources and power leads to death and destruction of the innocent, and the wounds simply do not heal.

It’s uncertain yet how much the wider system knows about the slaughter of the miners and their families, but certainly the Outer Planets have not forgotten Colonel Fred Johnson’s actions, based on the title they have given him. This history appears to have led him to become the leader of the Outer Planets Authority and fight for the rights of the Belters, but trust… ah well, that seems to be lacking, at least in Holden’s engineer, Naomi Nagata. Which matters, since Johnson’s offer of help to the survivors of both the Canterbury and the Martian ship Donnager is about the only option they have at this point. Nagata’s distrust is hardly surprising under the circumstances, but after a tied vote, the wounded Amos’ need for proper treatment pushes her to make the choice she really doesn’t want to make. It also leads the crew to change the transponder ID for their acquired Martian corvette — one of those things the manual says DO NOT DO — to avoid detection by the Martian and Earth navies, leading to the christening of the ship as the Rocinante.

Interestingly, while Amos likes the name because he “knew a woman named Rocinante… she was good to me”, Holden’s saying the name means “work horse” in Spanish isn’t exactly accurate. Rocín in Spanish means “work horse”, but the name seems to come from Cervantes’ famous novel Don Quixote, and means something closer to “becoming the work horse” which, despite the obvious explanation of that meaning, signified Don Quixote’s broken down steed “becoming” the “foremost steed”. In the context of the show, our heroes have just named their ship the best little gunship in the System, which I’m sure will cause no problems for them in the future.

On Ceres, Holden’s obsession with the mystery of Julie Mao has led to some interesting and disturbing clues as to the scope of the mystery, specifically the involvement of a ship called the Anubis and a mysterious research station. It appears that Julie’s ship rendezvoused with the Anubis, and shortly after, all the hell broke loose, kicking our story into action. Meanwhile, his partner Havelock has survived his assault, and the station police have essentially issued a kill-on-sight order for the OPA radical who stabbed him. Holden’s visit to Havelock’s hospital room doesn’t go all that well, as Holden doesn’t care for the company he keeps in his off hours. It’s an interesting look into Holden’s own biases and bigotry, as the “working girl” friend of Havelock’s genuinely seems to care for him.

And then OPA man Anderson Dawes comes with a devil’s bargain, offering the man who tried to kill Havelock to Holden on a silver platter. Of course there are no strings but the ones that Dawes will want to pull later, or at least that’s what Holden sees, and he turns down both the “freedom for Belters” pitch and the information, before being abducted by persons unknown off the street.

Chad Coleman joins the show! Well, OK, he’s made some brief appearances before, but here we get our first real look and feel for his Fred Johnson, a man both loved and reviled for his actions. (One hopes he is better served here than he was on The Walking Dead.) Johnson seems to be a leader of the OPA, turning his back on the UN and Earth after Anderson Station, but Naomi’s reaction to him makes it clear that all is not forgotten or forgiven.

And after saying that I was less interested in the storyline of the Canterbury survivors than the Holden and Avasarala ones, I must confess that I am now on board with Holden and crew. Yes, I still think that Steven Strait’s Holden is more square-jawed hero-type than I like, but he’s grown on me, and Dominique Tipper’s Naomi is quickly becoming my favorite of the crew, with her mix of cynicism and skill. I’m also liking the layers of the seemingly simple Amos, which Wes Chatham performs excellently, giving us a man who is more than just a loyal follower of Naomi’s.

On the Ceres side of things, Thomas Jane’s Miller continues to be a neo-noir Sam Spade, and if you don’t see that, especially in his encounter with Jared Harris’ Anderson Dawes, then I recommend going forth and watching all the Bogart movies you can. You should do that anyway, actually. Miller is an interesting character in the tradition of those Noir detectives: deeply cynical, deeply flawed, and possessed of a dangerous vein of nobility running under the surface.  Traditionally, this gets those characters killed, and Miller is setting up quite the list of enemies for himself at this point, both close to home and potentially among whoever is behind the Scopuli incident.

If you’ll notice, the three-part story structure continues here, with Holden/Miller/Johnson replacing Holden/Miller/Avasarala. I’m curious if this a structure that we’ll continue to see, as it really does flesh out the world of The Expanse in an organic manner that avoids the infodump trap quite effectively. The backstory of Anderson Station doesn’t feel like backstory, but instead like a glimpse into another part of that world, and is the more powerful for it.

So we’re set up for some interesting questions next episode, aren’t we? Who grabbed Miller? The OPA? The people behind whatever this all is? And what does Johnson want? Is he seeking redemption? Can he be trusted?

I’m looking forward to finding out.