The Expanse - Naomi on the sidelines
I’m hoping that anyone and everyone is watching this awesome show. Maybe it’s because I love me a good scifi show (cue Battlestar Gallactica and Star Trek theme songs...). My only issue with the show is that I can’t watch this in one go like my other faves on Netflix.
I’m sure everyone that loves the show have probably gone back and rewatched the episodes before season 3 started (amirite? Or is it only me?). This second time around gave me a lot to chew on when thinking about how the crew - mainly Holden - is treating Naomi.
Now, I haven’t read the books and am actually planning to, so I don't know what’s to come in the series (if they stick mainly to the book plot) apart from they supposedly are still together 6 books in? But for right now, Naomi is getting a rough handling by her family.
Yes, yes... we all know that she gave a sample of the protomolecule to Fred Johnson. Was she right? I’m not sure if she should have given it to him (better him than Dawes?) but we do know that he was manipulated in to killing those people on the Anderson Station and we saw that he had guilt and regret over it, so he may not be the biggest worst monster out there? Will he do the right thing with the protomolecule or will he really live up to his reputation as the Butcher of Anderson Station?
Anyways, back to Naomi... so one of the last sweet scenes we see between her and Holden is where he promised her “he’d love her through it all” but when she confesses what she’s done - he, along with one of the other most important persons in her life - Amos, turn on her vehemently. In the last episode, we see Holden basically telling her to leave. That certainly isn’t loving someone through it all.
What grinds my gears is that Holden, in his well placed mistrust of Fred Johnson, could not or would not see Naomi’s point of view or at least understand that her fears for the Belt and the Belters is warranted. Neither he nor Amos (who are both Earthers) nor Alex who is a Martian seemed to even bother to see the Belters as worthy as needing protection - preferring to lean towards a more wholistic approach to dealing with the war. All this even though Mars has a big hand in the events that have unfolded - even going as far as unleashing a hybrid on their own Martian Marines.
And another thing - yes, Fred Johnson using the protomolecule as a weapon against Earth and Mars would lead to more death something that everyone on the ship now including Chrisjen are furious about - but were they equally furious at the possibility of even more Belters being killed with it by Earth and Mars’ hands? Weren’t the Belters experimented on first?
Right, so having said all of that, and understanding that Holden does feel betrayed by Naomi for misleading him all this time AND bearing in mind that the sample that was supposed to be hurtled in to the sun was thought to be the last bit of it at the time (but subsequently finding out that it was indeed was NOT), can we truly say she has done the worst of the worst among this group of deeply flawed individuals? I say not. Case in point - some of the things these guys have done:
Holden - responds to the distress beacon against orders which in turn gets the whole thing rolling ever so much faster. He got everyone left on the Cant killed and Naomi covered for him until he was ready to reveal it to Amos, Alex and the guy who died fairly early on (forget his name!). I do wonder though, would Holden have covered for Naomi when Chrisjen was ripping in to them for allowing Fred Johnson to get his hands on the sample? At least Naomi gets a few reasons out for her actions without anyone shutting her up... again.
Miller - when presented with the opportunity to learn from one of the crazy scientists who was responsible for the protomolecule experiments, what does he do? He shoots him clean in the head - no real compelling reason apart from he was one of the dudes who killed Julie - a woman he’d never met while she was alive. The doctor could have helped - he made sure that didn’t happen. And wasn’t he considered to be a traitor to the Belters? Did Naomi care about that?
Prax - when presented with a room full of unarmed doctors who might have been able to lead them to his daughter and the location of more of the protomolecule, what does he do? He opens fire on them leading to yet another sh*t show. Uh, how do dead doctors help you find your daughter Prax? Yeah, thought so.
Amos - he doesn’t really do anything that I can remember that sets them back significantly but he’s guilty of not trying to see Naomi’s side and easily ignores and dismisses her. He who seems to be barely holding on to his sanity most episodes and he does this knowing Naomi’s got his back. No loyalty.
Alex - he also hasn’t done anything with regards to the mission that sets them back, but he is a lousy father and husband and has failed them on a deep level but Naomi doesn’t seem to judge him for it (luckily, he redeems himself by being anxious when he sees her looking at the path to Tycho while on the Razor Back and then reaching out to her through food - yay Alex!)
So these guys really aren’t blameless. Even Chrisjen is a manipulative person and sometimes you can hardly tell what her real agenda is - she has so many subplots going she’s always ten steps ahead. But Naomi sees clean through her though.
Bobbie is a defector - yes, she did what she did for what she thought were the right reasons. I didn’t get the impression she was going to be killed back on Mars, rather stripped from her rank as a Marine. Her people consider her a traitor but she’s being cheered for doing the right thing.
I’m going to close this dissertation by saying, I know that for the sake of the story and plot and in order not to turn the whole thing in to a space soap opera, there needs to be this conflict and some time taken to resolve it in order for it to stay true to what kind of show it primarily is. Doesn’t mean that it doesn’t suck though. Maybe we’ll see some steps closer to resolution in the next episode.
