The Expanse - S05 E07: Oyedeng
SYFY/AMAZONFamily drama takes centerstage in the seventh episode of The Expanse. The back half of the fifth season has been a little light in terms of story development, but not when it comes to the characters, at least for this moment. This time, Dan Nowak’s teleplay explores one of its weaker character arcs to a better extent.
Oyedeng’s opening moments show snippets from the life Naomi (Dominique Tipper) had with Marco (Keon Alexander), when it was still pure and full of love. Much of its forty-seven-minute runtime takes place on The Pella, where Naomi continues to deal with Marco and Cyn (Brent Sexton). The former maintains authority over their son, Filip (Jasai Chase-Owens), while the latter is conflicted about his involvement with the once-passionate couple.
By this time, the storyline shows signs of redundancy, which can be too wearisome for audiences who view the same information and scenarios being relayed all over. A few new details are revealed, but they’re spaced out. Splicing these previous conversations into fewer sequences would’ve been reasonable. It could’ve reduced repetition, maintained its effectiveness and allotted some time to more pressing matters, later in the episode.
Despite these issues, the intense poignancy within these interactions remains, boasting some of the best character work the series has ever done so far. There is strength in the performances of Chase-Owens and Sexton, embodying a child in need of a moral compass and support, and a friend whose personality is torn between political allegiances and friendship, respectively.
However, massive credit goes to Dominique Tipper who faces a challenge in this season, as the material demands the actress to be emotionally defenseless yet sedulous, over her character's situation. She succeeds in communicating the pain and uneasiness of a loving yet absent mother, trying desperately to approach her child, and the rage and trauma of an abuse survivor, confronting her past with raw sincerity. Marisol Adler keeps these notable one-on-ones front and center. Rooted in dramatic prowess, they let these moments simmer in extended lengths, finally letting us into these characters’ mindsets rather than exchanging fleeting words between them.
Marco’s past abusive behavior isn’t explicitly portrayed, as the episode doesn’t provide any flashbacks on the issue, but there is no reason to deny its credibility either. After all, the audiences see his Machiavellian narcissism in full display quite frequently. Throughout the season, what sells the idea is how firm his psychological hold on Naomi really is, with his dominance threatening to blip the Rocinante crew from existence and lead their son to irredeemable doom. But the most blatant example happens near the episode’s final stretches, when Marco purposefully humiliates Filip in front of the entire faction. Marco falsely builds him up with the intention of supporting his ambition, instead of Filip’s own initiative. His cruel and manipulative outburst – made even more effective by Keon Alexander’s piercing gaze and commanding voice – brings Filip back to his side and away from Naomi’s grasp.
Naomi's realization that she will never truly win her son’s trust compels her to carry out an escape off the Pella in a haunting cliffhanger that will leave anyone either gasping for breath or dumbstruck in its perplexity. Some will argue that this is when The Expanse “jumps the shark” or jumps into space without a vac suit and survive in the show's context. For a series that thrives on keeping its science as straight and accurate as possible, this climactic event provokes some skepticism and it is easily concluded that it’s the moment of plot armor for Naomi at the expense of factual believability the series has grounded itself of.
However, reading into the science behind it, there isn't any large error in Naomi's great leap from ship to ship in the hard vacuum. Although this review will spare any more particulars about the science at hand, as this is something that can be more thoroughly explained elsewhere, those details show how meticulous The Expanse is. From the extensive amount of research – including ones about vacuum exposure – the James S. A. Corey duo have committed to arrive to this story beat, to the many minute details – those spot-on sunburns and broken capillaries on Naomi, the visual effects team have inserted in that very sequence – it’s abundantly clear that the crew aims to balance the series’ most outlandish elements with theoretically verifiable facts. The end sequence is admittedly uncanny for audiences, since certain myths of outer space are in the general knowledge; it is believed that they should be applied in this scenario, but it’s far from being a misguided and moronic plot point.
Oyedeng isn’t always dealing with family matters and challenging science, as it takes some time to deal with the larger battle at hand. When the seventh episode reverts its attention away from the Pella, many of the character arcs have started interweaving. Alex (Cas Anvar) and Bobbie (Frankie Adams) have passed on the knowledge of Mars’ involvement with the Free Navy to Avasarala (Shohreh Aghdashloo). Holden (Steven Strait) has reached contact with the Martian duo as well, and they have informed each other’s dilemmas, while half of the Rocinante are now working together. In addition, The Expanse is back in delivering TV’s most exciting and intricate space combat, which was dearly missed for a long time, with a sequence between Holden’s Martian frigate and the Free Navy’s Zmeya that will sit amongst the series’ most elaborate and fiery battles.
