Seeing the notifications pop up on Twitter and Amazon Prime was… I don’t even know how to describe the joy my fellow #ScreamingFirehawks and I felt. The Expanse is so, so special to us and, a year and a half ago, we didn’t think we’d be seeing new episodes again. Ever.

Through the efforts of the fans, the cast, the crew, and the writers, though, we Saved The Expanse and were rewarded most heartily by Amazon, who dropped Season 4 a day early. Happy winter gift-giving occasion to all!

And a special thanks to Meg Humphrey, who let me steal her The Mandalorian recap format.

When last we left our intrepid crews and sweary diplomat, the ring gates had opened, sparking a migration James Holden predicted would be a “blood-soaked gold rush.” He is not wrong: S4E1 opens with both the United Nations and OPA navies firing on a refugee ship from Ganymede, turned away from every other port, trying to make transit through the Sol gate.

Things I Loved

Proto-Miller: he’s so very Miller and also… not. Thomas Jane has this way of changing his voice and posture in the moments when real Miller shakes free of his programming that is downright eerie (anyone else get chills in that campfire scene where he suddenly says, “I wonder what this rain tastes like?”). Of course, psychopomps should be eerie and bizarre so…

Amos and Clarissa’s vid call: the scene is only a couple minutes long, but it is masterfully written and, in that short span, we see how much both characters have changed since the end of Season 3. Clarissa has accepted responsibility for what she’s done, and Amos has started developing compassion based not on modeled behavior but on signals from his own conscience. Also, he finally called her “Peaches.”

Avasarala: Just when you think you can’t worship Avasarala any more, she moves from network television to streaming and is finally allowed to fully embrace her powerful, majestic, colorfully idiomatic self. SyFy was always a little too careful not only with her language but also with Avasarala herself. We wouldn’t want her to wield her authority too commandingly over the menfolk, now would we? Of course we would. On Amazon, Avasarala is 100% off the leash and my goddess, is it a beautiful thing to behold. Only she could tell Holden not to “stick is dick in it” and still be so damn regal.

I was proud of Holden when: He didn’t try to talk Naomi out of going down the well to Ilus and when he let her take her first steps on the surface on her own, knowing how difficult it would be for her. Allowing her to do so showed not only how much he loves her but how well he knows her and that he’s willing to shove his deeply ingrained white knight syndrome, the aspect of his personality that boots his ego, aside, and put her first.

Conflict between Belter factions: societies are not homogenous and governments can only make one choice at a time, even when they’re bothering to do what it actually thinks is right. Is the peace worth the price? one news feed asks when the OPA has to shoot down refugee ships carrying their own people to maintain their treaty with Earth and Mars. We’ll find out.

The return of the beanie: That’s it. Just the beanie.

Most Relatable Moment

Carmina Drummer: “Only because my friend had a boyfriend with an imaginary friend who told us how to power that station down.”

Because that’s life. A series of weird-ass things that happen at weird-ass times with no explanation whatsoever that you just have to roll with.

Serious Talk

My understanding is that Bobbie’s uneven return to civilian life, after having spent her adult years in the military, is very accurate and it’s something we don’t talk about nearly enough in the States. A 2019 report from the VA sets veteran suicide statistics at 6,000/year between 2005 and 2018. Veterans are 1.5 times as likely to take their own lives as non-veteran adults, and the number of veteran suicides rose from 15.9/day to 16.8/day in only 12 years.  If the way you see our Gunny being treated on The Expanse makes you furious, then start a conversation or offer support because there are thousands of folx right here, right now, who need help.

Next up is S4E2: Jetsam