The Expanse Review: Winnipesaukee (Season 5 Episode 9)

Even though The Expanse Season 5 Episode 9, “Winnipesaukee,” is full of tense moments and character parallels, it fails to satisfy. It leaves us wanting much more.  

The main issue is that this is sky we have traveled through before. In fact, nearly every character is on a repeat arc.

The Expanse is not at all a procedural. 

So, the redundancy feels like stalling out before ever shifting to high gear. 

All our characters are still in separate little pods and it is honestly just a shame that this penultimate episode didn’t get them together. 

Still, it is a good hour of storytelling. 

Avasarala has learned the hard way that diplomacy is worth the effort. But her wisdom is rebuffed by the misogyny sitting the room. 

SECRETARY GENERAL: We can’t let emotion make these choices. 

Newsflash, gentlemen, fear and pride are emotions too!

Even if the Secretary General was correct and was using pure logic absent from emotion, that is not sound leadership. 

Empathy is the only thing that will let them survive.

Empathy is what the Roci crew has always had with them on their missions and that is the biggest reason they’ve able to succeed. Holden literally felt what happened in the past. Without that insight, they surely would have failed. 

The ladies in the war room clearly get this as each of them resigns after Avasarala.

It is exhilarating to see and I loudly shout like a Belter when all the Secretaries defect.

Not only does Avasarala lead by example, honoring Arjun in the process. She also gets to be surrounded by women. 

That she then goes to Delgado to bring him into her confidences, rather than surrounding herself with people who are eager to follow her, is a testament to her political acumen. 

Avasarala is a political master right down to her bones. 

Throughout the episode, the characters deliver epic lines that apply to others in different places, or an different seasons. 

Amos’s take on the past is directly relevant to Avasarala, Naomi and Drummer’s arcs. 

AMOS: No one starts over because nobody really leaves anything behind.

It is a clever use of the separated groups, but not as powerful as if we could just see them actually together. 

Season 6 better have the Roci crew together, with some new friends in tow, or I will lead the next rebellion myself. 

Speaking of Amos, Avasarala takes her place as the head of Earth right in time for him, Peaches and the gang to port in at Luna. Excellent timing indeed. 

The pieces are there for the escape Earth story, but other than Amos and, at times, Erich, it falls flat.

Clarissa has seen tribalism up close and we have seen her see it. So, her naivete is off-putting.

If she was at her limit and just needed to stop killing, if she needed less death, that would make sense. 

But, what she seems to be doing is screaming “let’s give peace a chance,” to a group of people whose experiences have told them that they do not have the luxury of such a simple morality. 

The churn is not about choosing violence or peace.

The churn is about survival. It is about holding your breath through muck and mire, shoving past rotten limbs, and stepping on corpses to get your next breath. 

It could be that, though Clarissa has seen some brutal stuff, she led such a life of privilege that she is still learning to crawl when it come to understanding survival. 

If that is the case, the performance didn’t pull it off. Not only that, Peaches doesn’t need to be a beginner to be compassionate and help guide Amos’s morality. 

Mercy and nonviolence can be calculated choices.

Avasaral gets how compassion and diplomacy can be the shrewd choice, irrespective of its kindness. 

AVASARALA: For every partisan we killed, we made five more. 

Side note, the shot cuts to women’s faces right after this line and it makes the moment even more powerful. Brilliant editing.

How much more interesting would this entire season have been if Avasarala was stranded on Earth with Amos and Peaches, rather than on Luna doing the same-old, same-old? Just sayin. 

In any event, Amos’s growth as a character means that he doesn’t need a Holden stand-in to make more empathetic choices. 

His gaze out at Earth as the sun comes up, directly after securing the body of another friend he’s had to see die, is proof that Amos hasn’t left the lessons he learned about himself and friendship behind on the Roci. 

Give this man a love interest! Erich is RIGHT THERE. Peaches is RIGHT THERE. Come on now. 

Oksana is so dang soft with Drummer and it is heart shattering. 

Every single one of the Polyam Fam shows that Belters can be hard core fighters and hard core lovers at the same time. Love is strength, not weakness. 

Camina still has this bursting rage that is trapped inside her. 

CAMINA: How much shit do I have to eat so you will treat me with some respect.

Season 5 hasn’t provided Camina many opportunities for action. She chooses her new family and then gets roped into pledging allegiance to Marco rather than fighting him.

Camina doesn’t know anything but fighting.

In many ways, this season has been hers. It has allowed Cara Gee who plays Camina Drummer to explore how someone can find a new way to heal when they only coping skill they’ve used is fighting. 

She is being forced to work through it, in the midst of danger, and it is making her a stronger, more interesting character. 

There simply aren’t enough episodes left to really do that internal exploration justice. 

That is true for all the characters, actually. They are only half way through their growth for the season.

The Expanse has shown us the impossible before, though. So, perhaps the finale will take each of our beloved leads the full stretch of their arcs. 

I’m not holding my breath like Naomi on a hard vacuum, though. 

Stray Asteroids

• The costuming is, once again, flawless. The cinematography is, once again, flawless. An endless feast for our eyes. 
• Amos quietly walking through powder snow set my parts aflame. This man is so very hot. 
• Marco continues to abuse Filip with his manipulation. It is painful to watch. 
• We get the punchline! It really isn’t as funny now, but that makes it better.
• Amos and Naomi figuring it out when they give themselves a chance to kick-back for a second is real satisfying. 
• The whiskey in Luna gravity is rad. 
• Bobbie and Alex have done exactly one thing on this season. Pretty sad sidelines, although it may be understandable in Alex’s case given the controversies with the actor. 
• Stressed Holden is so sweet. But also, this sweet stressed man is about to erupt. I’m here to see the showdown. 

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

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The Expanse airs Wednesdays on Amazon Prime.

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