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"Safe" is the first episode of the second season of The Expanse. Overall, it is the eleventh episode. It aired on February 1, 2017 on Syfy as part one of the show's two-hour season premiere.

Synopsis[]

Unlikely allies Joe Miller and the crew of the Rocinante led by Jim Holden uncover more about the conspiracy to release the Proto molecule on Eros station.

Miller, Holden and the rest of the crew deal with the aftermath of their narrow escape from Eros; Martian Marine Gunnery Sergeant Bobbie Draper and her platoon witness the growing tension between Earth and Mars.

Recap[]

At a base on Mars, MMC Gunnery Sergeant Bobbie Draper and her squad, Privates Hillman, Travis and Corporal Sa'id, undergo training, before getting orders that they're about to be deployed. Bobbie takes one last look at the crater around her, then looks at a projection of what it will look like after 100 years of terraforming.

In sick bay on the Rocinante, Holden and Miller are still recovering from the radiation poisoning inflicted on them on during the Eros incident. Holden has a nightmare about the blue protomolecule and dreams that it infects him and Naomi. Amos opens the safe recovered from the Anubis and discovers a cryogenic chamber inside. Alex tests the survivors from the Eros incident for protomolecule infection and gets resistance from a Haggard Belter. However, all are clear. In sick bay, Holden and Miller watch a news broadcast about Eros. Although Holden still believes in justice for the massive crime committed there, Miller wants revenge. Amos discovers the chamber contains a protomolecule sample.

On Earth, after speaking on television and placing the blame for the Donnager attack on Fred Johnson, Chrisjen Avasarala is nearly killed in an explosion on a transport she was about to board, but she is saved by a phone call.

The Rocinante crew watch Dresden's video notes about the protomolecule and learn it is the first evidence of life from beyond the Sol system. They decide to place the protomolecule sample that they found on the Anubis onto a missile and, then, hide that missile in a debris field near a former asteroid mine, so they can get it back if needed.

On the MCRN Scirocco, Draper and her squad get their mission: to secure Phoebe Research Station, which had been reported by the Donnager as having been attacked. Draper is loudly hoping for payback against Earth, but her commanding officer, Lieutenant Sutton, cautions her about the grave danger of a war between Mars and Earth.

On the Rocinante, Miller, finally sprung from sick bay, runs into Amos in the kitchen, and Amos thinks they ought to work out their conflicts sooner rather than later, specifically, the issue of how Amos shot and killed Miller's pal Sematimba. Amos explains his good reasons, but Miller isn't convinced, remains wrathful and punches the ship's engineer. Amos retaliates and nearly kills Miller before Naomi arrives and stops Amos.

At the UN meeting, Errinwright strongly pushes to have Earth ships head off the Martian vessels that are currently mobilizing, such as the Scirocco. Errinwright had previously been secretly visiting with Jules-Pierre Mao at the Mao estate. Mao warns Errinwright that if he still wants the weapon Mao has been developing, he had better eliminate any evidence at Phoebe Research Station. That means not letting the Martians get there first so as to discover any clues. This explains why Errinwright so vehemently pushes for a UNN intercept of the Martian naval ship en route to Phoebe and why he proliferated the false Martian war theory. At the meeting, dissenting voices say that de-escalation is the way to go, but when a silent Chrisjen is asked, she says she concurs with Errinwright.

Convinced that she is being set up as a scapegoat by Errinwright, Chrisjen recruits an old friend of her son's, Cotyar, for her security detail and to be her spy inside the UN.

As Naomi and Holden work outside the ship to prep the rocket that will shoot the protomolecule out into an abandoned asteroid field, they go off comms to have a heart-to-heart about how freaked out Holden seems by what they saw on Eros. Upon returning to the airlock, they help each other remove their spacesuits. While in a state of undress, their passion yields to sexual congress. [1]

The Scirocco fires their missiles (a surprise to the soldiers onboard), while back at the UN, Errinwright presses that UNN ships, such as the Nathan Hale, should fire back at the Martians. Chrisjen speaks up, though, and says this sounds like saber-rattling, not an actual attack. It turns out that she's right; the Martians weren't firing on the Hale: the missiles strike and destroy Phoebe Research Station.

Figuring that the Rocinante crew needs something good, Alex cooks them a proper lasagna dinner. One by one, they all show up and break bread and tell stories and enjoy themselves, including Amos and Miller, who seem for the time being to have put aside their mutual distrust.

Sutton explains to Draper that they didn't fire on the Nathan Hale because the Hale had them massively outgunned. Draper wonders if the mission to avoid a war with Earth isn't a backwards way of thinking; she is clearly full of contempt for Earth and eager for war.

Cast[]

Main[]

Guest Starring[]

Co-starring[]

Notes[]

  • In the United States, this installment of the show was part of a two-episode broadcast premiere. When the broadcast was broken up into its constituent parts, apparently, some scenes were cut, such as Avasarala first meeting with the free-lance Intelligence Operative Cotyar, in the season. The cut footage appears in the video clip on Syfy's YouTube channel labeled "THE EXPANSE Season 2 Premiere &lsqo;Spy for Hire&rsqo; Syfy". A smaller bit appears in the flashback scenes starting the second episode.[Citation needed]
  • If you look closely, in the scene where Avasarala was in the line of fire of the transport explosion, the Old Toronto City Hall building is just off to the left-hand side. Based on the line of sight, it seems like this scene was filmed at Toronto's new City Hall.
  • Incidentally, the UN building as built in the twentieth century, and Toronto's New City Hall share the same architectural style, Modernism or the International Style.

Media[]

Cast interviews
Other

Cast credits on-screen[]

References[]

  1. In a later conversation with the rest of the crew which Holden expects to be uncomfortable, he "officially" declares their relationship but the crew already figured it out. His anxious concern over the others' opinion resulted in only awkwardness and mirth.

External links[]

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