The Expanse Review: Tribes (Season 5 Episode 6)

The Expanse Season 5 Episode 6, “Tribes,” hits a particularly sensitive nerve. 

We see the depth of damage a group of zealous rebels led by xenophobic rhetoric can do.

It feels personal this time. 

It is certainly not the first time that the allegory of The Expanse has come mighty close to present day reality. Every time it does, it is a reminder that the power of science fiction should not be ignored or relegated to some lesser kind of storytelling. We all should be paying attention.

Chrisjen’s costuming has always been an important and active element to the show. 

On “Tribes,” the image of the leader’s chunky statement necklace dead on the table in the foreground of a shot of her eye’s filling with desperate grief is profound. 

Not only does this “undressed” moment speak to where Avasarala is emotionally, it also symbolizes the fall of a privileged planet.

Nothing is okay. 

Shohreh Aghdashloo is flawless on The Expanse, all five seasons. Even with the many episodes of excellent performances, her work on “Tribes,” stands out as a pinnacle. 

It is all about her face. 

Aghdashloo can deliver a line of cantankerous dialogue with the best of them. She is endlessly GIF-able as Avasarala. 

Here, though, we see a humbled, vulnerable alpha experiencing a quiet and sincere moment of sadness. 

There is little dialogue, and less action. The great power is really from this fine actor’s expressions and body language.

The scenes at the top of the episode set the tone for the whole episode.

Where The Expanse Season 5 Episode 4, “Guagamela,” is so explosive it knocks the wind out of us, “Tribes,” delivered on the foundation of Aghdashloo’s searingly emotional scenes, so exquisitely tightens a fist on our hearts that we can’t help put gasp from it as well. 

She has long deserved recognition for her portrayal of Chrisjen Avasarala and I posit that this is the episode to submit to the Emmys for her win. 

The costume department deserves like recognition!

Drummer’s spitting insult  “No throne?,” ties us back to Chrisjen’s lost reality because Earth’s now-lost prominence is what Marco truly hopes to gain. 

Yes, he spits a big game about Belters and their collective need for justice and reparations. 

But, this episode makes clear that Marco is interested in a tribe of one. He wants the crown and won’t back down until it is his. 

“Tribes,” is really impressive for how it quickly unpacks and unravels how Marco is an abusive leader. 

He coerces and controls the other factions of the Belt. 

BERTOLD: We have to join. There’s no choice. Marco says it’s a choice. And we’re all acting that that’s true. But, it’s not.  

Like a vicious pimp, Marco pretends like Drummer and her family can choose to leave. But, it’s a ruse. He controls their fate and forces them into complicity with his war.

Naomi recognized that abuse long ago and she got out.

The fact remains that she left her son there and he is now under Marco’s thumb; except Filip is just a boy and doesn’t have the same ability to fight back or flee. 

It is really complicated.

The Expanse smartly lets Filip and his mom’s relationship stew in that dense emotional conflict. It is not as if he forgives her, or even that he understands how wrapped up in his father’s control he is. 

However, Filip’s blind fold is lifting.

The look in his eyes as he see Cyn stand up to his father is a lightning bolt. Filip is suddenly realizing that Marco is not a god. People can and do stand up to him and he can be wrong. 

NAOMI: I know he wouldn’t die for you. But he would let you die for him.

The amount of development Filip has gotten already this season in remarkable.

For me, Jasai Chase Owens steals every scene he is in, which is really saying something considering the caliber of talent he is acting beside. 

As Filip continues to grapple with what family really is, he will find people who accept him and deserve his loyalty.

He will find his tribe in this churn.

Drummer’s family is a stark contrast to the false family Marco has built. (Can’t they adopt Filip, pretty please!!)

Even with the cool lighting and the tech heavy setting of the space ship, a pervasive warmth wafts off of the scenes between Drummer’s Polyam Fam on the episode.

I have said it before: these people give amazing hugs. 

When they have to make a decision about joining Marco or leaving, they talk about it together. They stand in a circle, each person equally free to speak their mind and equally heard. 

This squad (and Filip kind of lurking on the periphery) is the best part of Season 5 so far. They provide a new understanding of Belters and of Camina. 

In addition, they are cunning. 

They add a needed intrigue and softness to the show. When any of them face violence, pain or death it is going to shatter us. 

Bring it on?

Amos and Clarissa become a little family of two on, “Tribes.” 

Finally, Amos has found someone who speaks his love language! 

Yes, of course I ship these two. But, more than a good romp, this pair has the potential for the best kind of romance, one borne from friendship and built on trust.

Amos doesn’t talk about himself. Yet, two minutes walking in the woods with Peaches and he’s an open book. 

Okay, maybe not an open book. But, he’s at least willing to show some of his Table of Contents!

They talk about their dads and an interesting philosophical take on whether a person exists if they’ve never shown up. 

When the time comes, Amos gets to do his favorite thing; he protects Clarissa. 

And then a shift happens when she saves him back.

Amos’s mother figure showed up for him and taught him to survive. But, she never saved him. As he says, she taught him how to save himself. 

Damn, that’s a lonely way to live. 

Clarissa offers him something else, she offers him something more. 

It’s not exactly family, although it’s something kindred adjacent. They are curious about each other, but not in order to use what they learn. There’s nothing manipulative about it.

Throughout the episode, Amos and Peaches get to know each other. They see each other and if that isn’t falling in love, I don’t really know what to tell you. 

AMOS: Are you okay?

CLARISSA: You keep asking me that.

AMOS: I keep wondering it.

They aren’t carbon copies. Clarissa is consumed by her guilt. She has to convince herself over and over that she isn’t a monster because she is afraid. 

Amos doesn’t really do guilt and he doesn’t really do fear.

Amos does seem to flinch or at least question the fact that Clarissa links her feelings of fear to not being a monster.

But, Amos isn’t the type to have such a simple understanding of humanity that Clarissa’s mantra means he is the same as her and is therefore a monster. 

Amos knows who he is. And he seems willing to begin to show that openly to Clarissa.

Neither one judges the other for who they are. It is really nice to see her simply point out the problem with killing the doomsday guy and to have Amos be insightful and recognize that he needs his Roci crew to help him be ethical. 

This new pairing is ripe because t is really important that Amos finds a loving relationship.

In the past, we have seen Amos separate sex and love. People who are neurodivergent, as Amos is coded as, aren’t robots or incapable of love. 

It is time for the physical and the emotional to occur within one relationship for him. 

Otherwise, the message can become that people like Amos aren’t able to have or deserving of the “full package” relationship like Naomi and Holden. 

“Tribes,” is another five-star episode that ends way too soon and leaves us screaming for more.

Stray Asteroids 

• Wearing the UN Flag as winter capes? Wow, I am not okay.
• It makes me so uncomfortable to see these newbies on the Roci. Monica is kind of okay, I GUESS. But, sue me, I’m territorial.
• Naomi’s cry that Marco has made Filip a murderer brings me to tears. 
• Alex just floating in space is an actual nightmare.
• How is Bobby the strongest person in the solar system? She must share her arm day workout.
• Keon Alexander’s delivery of, “We were already at war. You just couldn’t see it cuz they were killing us slow,” is, oof, GOOD.
• Namoi sharing stories of the Behemoth with little Filip is one for the scrap book. Truly adorable. Protect Filip at all costs!
• Who wouldn’t have asked Amos to strip down, for, ah, yes, yes, security reasons. Yep.
• What’s going on with the protomolecule? Shrodinger’s alien?

What did you think of this episode of The Expanse? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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The Expanse airs Tuesdays on Amazon Prime.

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