Please be aware of spoilers!

2022/11/10

Season two for me is definitely an uptick from the first, great additions to the cast with characters like Bobby Draper (Frankie Adams), Cotyar (Nick E. Tarabay) and Prax (Terry Chen) who all enrich the story. More politics, ever expanding stories, great characters evolvement.

Episodes:

Holden and Miller are recovering on the Roci after their ordeal on Eros. The Roci crew have a container on board with the protomolecule. They decide to hide it in abandoned asteroid belt. Mars sends ship to Phoebe station, Mars Marine Bobbie Draper is leader of the ground troops, she wants a green Mars and is not opposed to a war. Mao suggest to Errinwright that Earth also should send a vessel to Phoebe station because Mao fears that Mars knows something more. For Errinwright this is not a problem because he wants a war with Mars. The Martian ship fires missiles but are not intended for the Earth ship but for Phoebe station itself. Chrisjen needs security because she was almost killed in an explosion. Miller and Amos are having problems because Amos killed Millers’ friend Semi. The episode end with the crew having a dinner together.

Chrisjen gives Errinwright a target which is small enough for Mars not to go to war over, highest Military officer, Admiral Southern, steps down because of it. According to this military officer Johnson was framed by his masters. Holden and his crew go to Tycho station to look for the responsible persons for what happened on Eros, Holden says he had a lead. They find him, Antony Dresden, on a station, the one who took samples of Julie. He tries to convince Holden and Johnson to let him proceed, but Miller cannot hear a second longer and kills him.

Holden is angry with Miller because he killed the scientist. Johnson / Holden / Amos are speaking to a guy who worked for the scientist, they think he is glad he’s free but he is not,  he revered the scientist but also the protomolecule. He isn’t cooperative until he gets more info about what happened on the Anubis and Eros. Chrisjen gets her connection with Johnson and asks him for help. He sends her a data stream with on it a stealth ship. Miller has an idea how Eros can be destroyed, with the Nauvoo!

After Holden hears Miller’s plan, he agrees to work with him again. Chrisjen sends a team to investigate the stealth ship, she wants to “pull” the ship into the open so it no longer can be a secret. Mao is linked to this, his assets are still frozen, he comes to talk to Errinwright and Chrisjen, but she is brutally honest. Mao knows for sure she knows of his involvement. Errinwright doesn’t believe this. Bombs on Eros have been placed, one bomb needs to be manually activated because debris damaged it. Miller volunteers but the Nauvoo passes Ceros! The ship’s course hadn’t changed, but Eros did!

Eros accelerates, it is right going for Earth! Earth sends missiles but at a certain point Eros is no longer visible on the radar. Even the Roci cannot keep up with it. Miller who is still on Eros, tries to plant the bomb inside Eros. Suddenly it becomes clear that Miller is back in that hotel where he found Julie. She has become a part of the protomolecule, she wants to go home, wants to go to Earth, she is in control. Miller convinces her to change course to Venus. She doesn’t have to go alone, he will go with her!

Fred Johnson has about 30 guidance weapons that Earth sent to Eros before it veered away to Venus. The Roci crew decide they want to destroy the hidden protomelecule, but one member has another idea what to with that protomolecule. Chrisjen tells Errinwright that he has to ask Mao to come in, to let it be clear, he has no choice. Bobby Draper is on the surface of Ganymede with her team sees UN Marines comes closer but they are not shooting on Bobby’s team but at a weird blue-ish thing who is chasing them. Next moment you see Gunny’s men dead, Gunny opens her eyes and sees that creature before her. Meanwhile the Martian ship gets into a fight, her Captain gets killed.

Dawes arrives on Tycho, Fred Johnson wants him to become the front man in peace talks between Earth, Mars and the Belters. Dawes however has different views and thinks Johnson is no longer the one to be followed by Belters. Gunny is unsure what she has seen on the surface but after an enhancer pill she realizes the Earthers weren’t shooting at them but at a being that was chasing the Earthers. Errinwright wants to go to war with Mars because of what happened at Ganymede but Chrisjen convinces the Sec. General that there must be peace talks between Mars and Earth on Earth. While visiting the Roci, Dawes makes it clear he has not much faith in Holden and Johnson. The locked up scientist on Tycho, deduces that there is more protomolecule. Holden wants to kill him because he thinks the scientist is too smart and might uncover more protomolecule which could fall in dangerous hands. Dawes however kidnaps him from Tycho station.

Prax is on a refugee ship after Ganymede is destroyed where he worked. He fears his daughter, who had a doctor’s appointment, is dead. Refugee ship, run by a Belter, space the Inners, among them a friend and colleague of Prax. Dawes no longer considers Johnson an ally because Johnson wants peace. Dawes stole the protomolecule when he escaped with the scientist he kidnapped. Belters want to take over Tycho, they get onto the bridge, wound Drummer. Johnson refuses to give up the codes for the long range missiles from Earth. Noami finds out there was more protomolecule on Ganymede. Holden & Naomi find out that a dr. Strickland knew more of the protomolecule but he was also Mei’s doctor, Prax’s daughter. He left with her an hour before the fight at Ganymede.

Holden’s crew hijack the ship Somnambulist which is on its way to Ganymede, because they need to find dr. Strickland. Mars and Earth are at peace talks after Mars started the incident above Ganymede. Gunny speaks about what happened on the surface but first leaves out the creature without a suit. Chrisjen feels there is more and forces Gunny to tell them about the creature without a suit. Chrisjen has a spy onboard the Arboghast, dr. Iturbi, which is entering the Venus orbit. There is also a Martian vessel matching Arboghast course. Holden’s crew arrive at Ganymede after angering Melissa Suputayaporn, the owner of the ship. Collectors come onto the ship but Holden notices they have weapons. When they come back, to try and help the owner of the ship, they make matters worse for Melissa as Santichai Suputayaporn, Melissa’s husband, is killed in the crossfire.

Errinwright seems to be turning over a new leaf when he comes to Chrisjen and confesses his involvement with Mao and the protomolecule. Holden’s crew are on Ganymede trying to find Strickland and Mei, a shady character Roma helps them after Amos beats him up heavily, which Noami has a problem with. Even more so because Holden stops her from interfering. Martians are angry with Bobby for telling what about the creature without a suit. She will be sent back to Earth and isn’t allowed to go to the beach before she goes, so she escapes. Cotyar informs Chrisjen about this and she urges Cotyar to find her before the Martians do. Bobby confirms that it indeed was an alien lifeform as the date suggests Chrisjen got from Errinwright. Roma finds evidence that Mei has been (or still is) in a very old, abandoned part of the station on Ganymede. Great banter between Chrisjen and Cotyar. Cotyar is a great addition this season, enriches the show.

Holden and his crew enter the abandoned part of the station in search for Strickland and Prax’s daughter Mei. Errinwright can no longer save himself, it looks like he is going to fall. Bobby gets to hear she will no longer be a marine. Bobby knocks out the captain responsible for her, and takes off from the Martian embassy to ask for asylum on Earth. She tells Chrisjen it (alien creature) was a test performed by Mars. Holden and his crew find out that children on Ganymede were tested with the protomolecule. Holden’s crew encounter people in the abandoned part of the station, a shoot-out follows. A dying scientist says they made the protomolecule into our own image, why? Because they could! Noami does not return with Holden, she needs to help Melissa Suputayaporn and the other Belters to try to get off the station. Amos joins her. Holden, Alex and Prax see the alien creature! The Arboghast finally get a successful probe into Venus and see lots of Protomolecule!

Holden, Alex and Prax going to hunt for the alien creature while Naomi and Amos are back on the Somnambulist, because of airfiltering problem only half of the stranded Belters can come with. A rebellion starts, Naomi speaks to them, and gets them to stand down so that 52 of them can go with them. When they try to break orbit a Martian vessel fires on them. Roci ceased their pursuit of the alien creature to help the Somnambulist from the Martians. Mao invites Chrisjen for a talk, she, Bobby and Cotyar go to the coordinates given by Mao. Once there a message comes in from Errinwright saying that he believes Chrisjen betrayed Earth and that he sent a missile to the coordinates to where this message was sent. Before that, Errinwright also killed his Martian counterpart from the peace talks. In the final moment of this episode we see the alien creature on board of the Roci. Again great banter between Chrisjen, Cotyar and Bobby, almost comic relief which of course is not the intention but for me it is the icing on the cake. Again it makes me think about Londo and G’Kar of them bickering all the time on Babylon 5.

Holden is thankful Naomi survived and is honest when he tells her that Alex convinced him to help the Somnambulist. Alex and Naomi are checking for damage and see the alien creature in their cargo bay! Amos and Alex are trying to kill it, but Holden gets stuck and Amos cannot help. Meanwhile Chrisjen, Bobby and Cotyar are defending themselves but Cotyar has been shot. He tells Bobby to get her suit he has brought with him. The Arboghast is dropping onto Venus, the Martian vessel passes them with speed. Dr. Iturbi affirms that there is no doubt that the Eros crater is active, and he convinces Janus to descend to get a better reading. Then the ship and everything in it has no longer cohesive, becomes one with what’s on Venus. Prax has an idea to get the alien creature onto the hull of the ship, with an energy source, a warhead. Prax throws the warhead into space, the creature jumps after it. They kill the alien creature with their afterburn. Bobby comes back and saves Chrisjen and Cotyar just when they are about the give themselves up. Noami tells Holden she gave the hidden protomolecule to Fred Johnson because both Earth and Mars already had some. In last moment we see Prax’s daughter in a cryotube, Strickland wishing her sleep well.

Final Word:

The 2^nd and the 3^rd seasons are my favorite seasons, at least with my last (re)watches, I don’t think it will change for me but who knows, perhaps with rewatches of seasons 5 & 6, I will feel differently. One thing is for sure, I find season 4 the weakest season, still entertaining though.  I don't think I will ever get bored with this TV show, very interesting characters, Holden is typical anti-hero, he really doesn't wanna be in this role, doesn't see himself like that but time after time he acts like that, he acts like a hero. I am really enjoying this again!

Screencaps: Kiss Them Goodbye