It’s the Wild West, With Parts of an Ancient Alien Civilization Waking Up and Wreaking Havoc For Good Measure
Much of the season takes place on a newly discovered ring planet, a dusty-yet-habitable piece of rock named Ilus or New Terra, depending on whether you’re talking to the Belter refugees who settled there or the Earth-funded research group who have legal claim to the land. These two groups, as you can imagine, aren’t getting along very well, and so the OPA and Earth send Holden and the rest of the Rocinante crew to act as mediators. I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say things go terribly for everyone; things going from bad to worse is another constant of the show, after all. And then there’s the protomolecule, represented by Holden’s constant companion, the proto-reconstruction of Detective Miller, who wants to wake up Ilus’ ancient alien tech in order to phone home, even though there might be disastrous consequences for the humans trying to settle there. But even without the protomolecule’s help, humans—as we’ve done time and again throughout history—do a decent job of creating violence and death all on their own. There’s wrongdoing on both sides, and the show does a decent job exploring what drives good people to do horrible things.For those not looking for nuance, however, the show also provides us a straight-up villain, one that is deliciously delightful to hate.
By Vanessa Armstrong/Dec. 4, 2019 8:00 am EST
It’s the Wild West, With Parts of an Ancient Alien Civilization Waking Up and Wreaking Havoc For Good Measure
Much of the season takes place on a newly discovered ring planet, a dusty-yet-habitable piece of rock named Ilus or New Terra, depending on whether you’re talking to the Belter refugees who settled there or the Earth-funded research group who have legal claim to the land. These two groups, as you can imagine, aren’t getting along very well, and so the OPA and Earth send Holden and the rest of the Rocinante crew to act as mediators. I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say things go terribly for everyone; things going from bad to worse is another constant of the show, after all. And then there’s the protomolecule, represented by Holden’s constant companion, the proto-reconstruction of Detective Miller, who wants to wake up Ilus’ ancient alien tech in order to phone home, even though there might be disastrous consequences for the humans trying to settle there. But even without the protomolecule’s help, humans—as we’ve done time and again throughout history—do a decent job of creating violence and death all on their own. There’s wrongdoing on both sides, and the show does a decent job exploring what drives good people to do horrible things.For those not looking for nuance, however, the show also provides us a straight-up villain, one that is deliciously delightful to hate.
