Rock Bottom is the sixth episode in the first season of The Expanse. It premiered on January 12, 2016 on Syfy.
Synopsis[]
Miller discovers revealing information on a hidden data cube. Holden and crew arrive at Tycho Station, surprised by their host’s hidden agenda.
Recap[]
On Earth, Chrisjen Avasarala asks her ex-colleague Carlos Davila for access to his spy on Tycho Station in order to keep an eye on Fred Johnson. When Davila refuses, she persuades him with talk of his imprisoned son, Esteban, who's up for parole.
After Davila goes crying to him, Errinwright disciplines Chrisjen for her actions. Chrisjen insists she only "politely asked" Davila about spying on Johnson, whom she considers to be a potential threat due to him building the Nauvoo, the "largest spacecraft in history" … and the fact that he's OPA. Errinwright points out that the OPA killed Chrisjen's son and Johnson turned his back on Earth … is she sure this isn't a personal vendetta? "Of course it's personal," she replies, after which Errinwright gives in and grants her permission to use Davila's spy.
Speaking of Fred Johnson, he's given the crew of the Rocinante safe harbor on Tycho Station … though he's somewhat taken aback when he discovers that he's harboring James Holden, the poster boy for all the Belter unrest on Ceres. After some initial tension, Johnson recruits Holden, Naomi, Amos and Alex to find Lionel Polanski, the sole survivor of the Scopuli … a ship that Johnson himself commissioned for an OPA recon mission.
Johnson's crew disguises the Rocinante as a simple gas freighter and the gang is off on their rescue operation … whilst Johnson retrieves some sort of data cube found on the body of Lt. Lopez.
Elsewhere in the Belt, we catch up with Diogo, the "gutter punk" whom Miller busted for stealing water on Ceres earlier. He's assisting his bitter, cranky Uncle Mateo, a working-class 'rockhopper' who explores asteroids looking for precious ore.
Soon, their ship, the scrappy Xinglong, is intercepted by the MCRN Scipio Africanus, a Martian border patrol vessel. Mateo is busted for an expired transponder and ordered to impound his haul.
Enraged by how Martians treat Belters, Uncle Mateo kicks Diogo off the Xinglong and goes after theScipio Africanus. "A man has to stand up!" he drunkenly exclaims as he unleashes his haul of rocks upon the Martian ship, pummeling it with an impromptu asteroid field. The Martians destroy the Xinglong as Diogo is left floating in space, hoping that someone will find him.
Back on Ceres, Miller is being interrogated and tortured by Anderson Dawes, who demands to know what the detective knows about Julie Mao. During their "talk," Dawes tells the tale of his sickly younger sister, whom he had to leave for dead in order for the rest of his family to survive. Disgusted with what he perceives to be Miller's lack of loyalty to his own people, Dawes leaves him to be murdered by his two goons … though luckily Octavia Muss comes to the rescue.
Based on the information on the data cube he found in Julie's mechanical hamster, Miller presents his now rather epic conspiracy theory about the disappearance of Julie Mao, which involves some sort of bioweapon that was being developed on Phoebe Station. Captain Shaddid rewards his impressive detective work by firing him. "Dawes got to you, too," Miller snarls as he's escorted out of the Star Helix offices by security.[1]
Cast[]
Main[]
- Thomas Jane as Josephus Miller
- Steven Strait as Jim Holden
- Cas Anvar as Alex Kamal
- Dominique Tipper as Naomi Nagata
- Wes Chatham as Amos Burton
- Florence Faivre as Julie Mao (credit only)
- Shawn Doyle as Sadavir Errinwright
- Shohreh Aghdashloo as Chrisjen Avasarala
Guest Starring[]
- Chad L. Coleman as Fred Johnson
- Lola Glaudini as Shaddid
- Athena Karkanis as Octavia Muss
- Greg Bryk as Lopez
- Elias Toufexis as Kenzo
- Daniel Kash as Dresden
- Jared Harris as Anderson Dawes
Co-Starring[]
- Alex Karzis as Mateo
- Andrew Rotilio as Diogo
- Bruno Verdoni as Carlos Davila
- Caleb Olivieri as Hustler
- Felicia Simone as Thug #1 (Lida)
- Jason Weinberg as Crew Cut
- Kevin Vidal as Fred's Asst./Space Tech
- Phillip Samuel as Bug Eyes
- Tig Fong as Thug #2 (Kaipo)
- Yatharth Bhatt as Avasarala's Grandson #1
Transcript[]
Mmm.
you're building out there.
wouldn't be impossible.
with Julie Mao.
to be boarded.
does Fred Johnson.
m the fan,
clean of you.
set-up in the first place.
about the Scopuli?
up in this mess?
ever-lovin' mind
trust that guy.
to crew me up.
Tycho till all this blows over.
back to your lives.
You're using his crew?
you the second you get out there?
so it only responds to my command.
trust Fred Johnson.
to each other's head.
for you is more trouble.
so hell-bent, Holden?
call on the Cant.
cleared this up.
right thing.
said something.
because she believed
fighting for is just.
forced her to do your dirty work.
Asked me to help her.
make a sacrifice for us.
in your hands
see the blood on 'em.
let her die out on the Belt?
you like to leave out.
that story.
kids, right?
on the Belt.
magboots or something?
to keep her safe.
tell you the real story?
so many lies about it
remember what happened.
the hand of God.
all the Belt, the smartest.
lifetime in zero-g.
going to recover.
dirt-poor family of rock-hoppers.
too ill even to travel...
sisters to think about.
scrip to bury her,
that we discovered together.
that I have millions
sisters in the Belt.
an Earther.
for the cause,
the truth about Julie.
if she's alive.
she despised,
on his own kind.
every drop of water on Ceres
and tears and spit,
be a thousand times more.
never comprehend this.
the hail of stones
through their precious blue skies.
Sir and Madam and grovel,
second-class citizens.
days in...
belong to Belters,
belong to Belters...
Uncle, what are you doing?
What are you doing?
Get out!
I'll try harder!
I'll work harder!
wowk mo gut!
round us all up... Please!
in a nuclear fire,
I'm sorry!
What are you doing?
year on the job,
tell you in basic,
pull the trigger or you ain't.
iron smell of it that got me.
girl in the window
lever killed.
you remember something,
just a little,
your worst memories,
biggest illusions.
just forget it.
Oh, spare us the speech.
here in a sec.
on some coffee.
a hard bargain.
statements.
home if he's out there.
help me find someone.
to you with a name.
reactions,
all across the spectrum.
am I looking at?
know, some kind of bio weapon?
recording come from?
where'd you get it?
from a data broker.
this black-bag ship
all souls aboard.
ends up dead
the strings?
it through.
discover something,
tip the balance of power.
to steal it.
anything to keep it quiet,
he holds the key.
are off the charts.
the next phase.
sample off Phoebe,
about this?
and cancel all his clearances.
a whole police force?
Undying loyalty?
speaking to a child.
of smelling this shit.
find the door.
feel free to shoot him.
is gas freighter Rocinante
for departure.
Media[]
Trivia[]
- The opening scene with Avasarala and Davila was filmed at the Ripley's Aquarium of Canada in Toronto.
- "Rock Bottom" was the intended title for this episode, but due an issue in SyFy's listings grid, the episode was mistakenly titled "Retrofit". Ty Franck believes the title "Retrofit" was taken from a very old draft of the script.
- The Xinglong takes its name from the Chinese term 兴隆 (xīnglóng), meaning "prosperous."
- According to the script for this episode, Mateo's ship Xinglong is described as a "crappy two-person ship that looks like a Winnebago."[2]
- The conflict between Scipio and Xinglong was taken from the single paragraph in Leviathan Wakes. Chrisjen previously mention this in the episode "CQB".[2]
- The Nauvoo, the massive ship being constructed by Fred Johnson and his team, has the most powerful sensor and communication array ever built. Johnson used it to spy on what was happening during the Donnager battle. .[2]
- In September 2017, it was noted that credits shown for streamed episodes on Amazon Instant Video were revised to include more stunt performer credits especially those stunt performers supporting major roles. In the case of Rock Bottom, that was Miller's stunt double. Also added were stunt wire team credits. These additions were included in the Amazon Instant Video Ultra HD 4K stream.
References []
Cast credits on-screen[]
External links[]
"Dulcinea" • "The Big Empty" • "Remember the Cant" • "CQB" • "Back to the Butcher" • "Rock Bottom" • "Windmills" • "Salvage" • "Critical Mass" • "Leviathan Wakes" |
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