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Recap: The Expanse – The Seventh Man

By: Miclpea

Season Two – Episode Seven: The Seventh Man “We’re All in this Together”
SPOILER ALERT-Do not read if you have not seen Episode Seven of The Expanse season two.

Episode six, Paradigm Shift, left us with a lot of questions. What was looking at Bobbie at the end of episode six? Who or what destroyed the Martian ships? What is happening with the crew of the Rocinante? Unfortunately, we did not get definitive answers to these questions in episode seven and the situations on Mars, Earth, and the Belt became more complicated.

THE EXPANSE — “The Seventh Man” Episode 207 — Pictured: Frankie Adams as Bobbie Draper — (Photo by: Rafy/Syfy)

Episode seven, The Seventh Man, opens where episode six ended. Bobbie lies injured amid debris and dead marines on the surface of Ganymede. As she is being rescued, it is clear she is the only survivor of the devastation. We don’t know what happened and apparently neither does Bobbie. Bobbie shows all the signs of PTSD. Her initial questioning by Martian Intelligence only gives us a hint at what happened. Later, Bobbie is given a powerful drug to help her recall the events. She remembers that the six UN marines were not firing at the Martian marines, but at something chasing them: the seventh man. Whatever was chasing the UN marines was not wearing a vacuum suit. Unfortunately, Mars does not want this story told, and so created their own depiction of the event : Mars fired at the UN marines due to the communication blackout and the UN marines charged the Martian marines.

Meanwhile, the attack on Ganymede has caused a humanitarian crisis. Refugees are flooding into Tycho. The Belter leader from Ceres, Dawes, is there handing out relief packages to the refugees. The crew of the Rocinante is also there distributing food to the refugees. Amos has a strange encounter with a woman trying to take more food than she is allocated. A little boy comes to her rescue. This causes a flashback to Amos’s childhood when he had to protect his mother. However, it is how Amos deals with the flashback that is strange. Instead of talking to Naomi or the other crew members, Amos discusses his flashback with Cortazar. The exchange between the two reveals a great deal about Amos and Cortazar. It is almost frightening how well Cortazar truly understands Amos. They share a background they both want to forget. There are many references to Amos’ childhood which a viewers can find in the novella, The Churn.

THE EXPANSE — “The Seventh Man” Episode 207 — Pictured: Andrew Rotilio as Diogo — (Photo by: Rafy/Syfy)

On Earth, Avasarala is trying to keep Earth out a war with Mars. As Mao’s lapdog, Errinwright naturally wants war. Avasarala is able to convince the Secretary General to set up a peace conference with Mars on Earth. The Belt has been invited to this conference as well.

The Belt has not been quiet. Fred Johnson wants Dawes to represent The Belt at the conference, however, Dawes has his own ideas. Dawes knows Eros had more secrets than Fred made public. Dawes, in a truly Machiavellian fashion, seduces both Drummer and Diogo into giving him knowledge about Cortazar and the Protomolecule. He kidnaps Cortazar, possibly with the help of Naomi. A ship leaves Tycho Station. It appears to be Dawes escaping with Cortazar. However, it is only Diogo leading Naomi and Alex on a wild goose chase. The writers used classic misdirection when the Rocinante disabled Dawes’s ship. This is The Expanse at its best. It never lets us take a breath and always gives us more questions without providing answers to previous ones.

THE EXPANSE — “The Seventh Man” Episode 207 — Pictured: Steven Strait as Earther James Holden 

It seemed with Eros crashing on Venus, Earth avoided an Extinction Level Event and the Solar System avoided war. The scene was set for peace in the system. We were wrong! Errinwright continues to be Jules Mao’s mouthpiece by pushing Earth into a war with Mars. We don’t know who destroyed the Ganymede sun mirror and the Martian ship. Bobbie is suffering a severe case of PTSD. We still do not know what she saw on Ganymede. How was she injured? Who or what was the seventh man? Amos is having an identity crisis and is missing in action. Dawes, in one swoop, has undone the work Fred set into place to give The Belt a place at the bargaining table. Dawes also kidnapped Cortazar, but not before Cortazar told Fred that the Protomolecule is still talking to him. We have no idea what Dawes plans to do with Cortazar. Did Naomi and Drummer betray Fred and help Dawes? The only “bright” spot is that Bobbie gets her wish to go to Earth, although not in the manner she wanted; she is going to Earth to testify at the peace conference about what happened on Ganymede. Of course, we don’t know if she will tell the truth or even if she fully knows the truth about what happened on Ganymede. Will we find out more questions or will we get answers next week? My bet is on more questions.

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Miclpea

I love going to conventions around the US and Canada. I'm an ardent fan of all things science fiction and especially The Expanse. I'm a senior writer for Friends of CC and I have co-written a science-fiction script called Punctuated Equilibrium.