The Expanse - S05 E06: Tribes
AMAZON/SYFYFor the first time in a long while, The Expanse sidelines the system-wide war in favour of humanising the players on the chessboard. Although there are the usual table-setting sections, Tribes is what the majority of the audience will deem as filler. It’s not, however, unreasonable for them to criticize as such. Not much has happened for audiences to talk about and digest for an entire week. And with the series back on its system of releasing the episodes weekly, the seventh entry shows how detrimental a seven-day wait can be towards a viewer’s investment.
The episode opens strongly with the return of Avasarala (Shohreh Aghdashloo) after her absence last week is greatly felt because of how vital her role in the grand narrative is. She hasn’t changed much from when we saw her last in Gaugamela, grieving at the loss of millions. It is possible her husband, who hasn’t returned her calls, is among the perished. However, the now-acting UN Secretary-General has invited her back to the Provisional Table after the successful disintegration of the final asteroid from Marco’s assault (Keon Alexander).
The Expanse isn’t always a show with strong performances. Admittedly, there are times throughout its run when certain cast members come across as stilted in their line delivery. However, Aghdashloo is among the series’ best performers with Chrisjen’s breakdown serving as the lightning-in-a-bottle acting showcase for the actress, grounding the usually formidable character with layers of vulnerability when her attempt to restrain and reinstate her composure barely holds as loss and defeat overwhelm and leak in spades.
The rest of the episode is business as usual. Drummer’s (Cara Gee) faction is faced with a conflicting crossroads between joining the Free Navy and becoming a free target of the Inners in the forthcoming war. Suddenly, Alex (Cas Anvar) and Bobbie (Frankie Adams) have already replaced the Screaming Firehawk’s fusion core offscreen and turned the tables on their pursuers. Onboard the fixed Rocinante, Holden (Steven Strait) and the gang have embarked from Tycho Station to follow their latest lead in the case and rescue Naomi (Dominique Tipper).
Naomi is still locked in Marcos’ ship. It’s too early to say that her story arc is the weakest before it has reached its climax. However, it keeps retreading old ground that previous episodes have established and hasn’t advanced to new and more captivating territory. Tipper hasn’t given a whole lot of material to work with for a handful of episodes this season. We’ve already watched her former comrades disown her multiple times and her being powerless over her situation as Marcos continues to torment her. The most interesting development so far is learning that Filip (Jasai Chase Owens) genuinely cares about his estranged mother when he turns down a cruel suggestion against her from his father and eventually finds the empathy and time in getting to know her more. This doesn’t make him any less one-note, but it’s a nice change of pace and, hopefully, these last four episodes will provide the required level of urgency and growth to the storyline and its characters involved.
However, a large portion of the episode is reserved for Amos and Clarissa’s journey towards Baltimore with mixed results. On the good side, the episode is ridden with interesting interactions between the pair as they walk across the withered forestry. Director of photography, Jeremy Benning captures a handful of frames of this desolate and deceased landscape with surprising beauty, casting a ruminative atmosphere in an otherwise grave circumstance. However, their minor side-quest introduced in the middle could’ve been improved immensely, if the strangers they encounter and interact with were better thought out. The storyline should’ve used the opportunity to tell a devastating personal account from a survivor of the asteroid blast. Instead, it resorts to an uninspired sequence where a random stranger warns the pair of a crazy doomsday-prepper-stereotype cabin in the woods, in which the couple decide to infiltrate. It seems unnecessary and intended for a quick burst of tension to keep the audience engaged. The resulting action sequence is neither impressive nor consequential, with bizarrely choppy editing and sound effects rendering the moment incomprehensible and unintentionally silly to view. Ever since The Expanse has made its home on Amazon, this is a rare moment of the series where an amateurish technical choice doesn’t match its usually high and polished production values.
In the end, the filler doesn’t always mean a waste of time. Hallie Lambert’s teleplay boasts plentiful of great character moments that strengthen the characterisations of most figures while still moving the plot forward, even if it seems like an inch forward. However, the time devoted to inessential story beats could’ve been of greater use in unraveling more character arcs, as there are still creases that need to be straightened out.
