Redoubt is the first episode of The Expanse season six where I think the show has had a serious misfire because with only six episodes in the season, you’d expect them to be firing on all cylinders. Instead, the story feels almost like a clip show as everyone spends the episode discussing the events of the previous episode. The problem was that the previous episode didn’t actually have that much happen.
In the previous episode, Marcos Inaros (Keon Alexander) was almost killed by Holden and the Rocinante. The plucky heroes of the ship managed to come within inches of ending the biggest mass murderer of all time. Unfortunately, Holden pulled back at the last second and disabled the missile that would have killed Inaros but also Naomi’s son Fillip.
Needless to say, a lot of the Rocinante crew is less than pleased that Holden (Steven Strait) chose to potentially let the end of the war slip through their grasp. Even Naomi (Dominque Tipper), the person who Holden did this for, isn’t grateful because defeating Inaros is something she intellectually knows is more important than her son’s life. As she tells Holden, he’s put every life that Inaros takes on her shoulders whether he wants to or not.
Drummer (Cara Gee) continues to try to undermine the Free Navy and build up a coalition of Belters who hate what he stands for. Inaros benefits from the fact that all of his actions seems to be against the Inners (Earth and Mars) so that no matter how heinous, they will always look like those of a freedom fighter to certain groups. Fighting against his own people, though, will undermine everything that he stands for.
Her speech to Inaros is something that almost justifies the existence of the episode by itself as we see that he is a weak and cowardly man who isn’t the epic leader he’s set himself up to be. Indeed, Drummer is the kind of leader the Belters need and would have been if Fred Johnson had turned power over to her or another Belter earlier in his carer. This is a big change from the book but the series has done well in giving the actress much more to do.
We continue to get material about life on Laconia and the weird protomolecule technology present there, setting up something similar to Pet Semetary. We also get to finally meet the absolute dictator of Laconia in Duarte. I’m increasingly of the mind the Expanse will not end at the end of this season but perhaps be continued in television movies or some other medium.
In conclusion, with only two episodes to go, this episode felt extremely padded and suffered for it. We really should have been exploring the characters more and the events around Inaros’ Free Navy but it seems like we’re just killing time until the end.
