TV Recap & Review: ‘The Expanse’ Season 5, Episode 8 – “Hard Vacuum”

January 20, 2021

the expanse season 5 recap — Courtesy of Amazon Studios

There are a lot of themes running through season five of The Expanse and none are as powerful as that of redemption. To illustrate this point, you can look no further than Naomi Nagata, who continues to be the focal point of the show, with actress Dominique Tipper showing a great range of emotions, and sometimes without the need for words to convey her struggles.

Naomi, last seen inside the Chetzemoka after her insane escape from Marco’s (Keon Alexander) ship, struggles with both her physical and mental state as she realizes the predicament she is now in. She has done some damage to her body, but what’s worse, as she looks around for a way to defuse the ship, which is now a bomb waiting to go off if a ship gets too close, she is thwarted at every turn, making her lose hope and despair. The mental ups and downs she goes through, like a demented emotional yo-yo, is impressive to watch.

It was also interesting to see how Naomi affected other story arcs in “Hard Vacuum.” Holden (Steven Strait) and the Rocinante, Alex (Cas Anvar) and Bobbie (Frankie Adams), all have business to take care of, but Naomi is always there, affecting them and tying certain story threads together. Besides redemption, the idea of family casts a large shadow over The Expanse, especially this season. Whether it’s The Belters, the crew of the Rocinante, or Naomi, Marco, and Filip (Jasai Chase Owens), it is a big part of this episode.

Speaking of The Belters, Drummer (Cara Gee) continues to struggle with the new order of things, knowing the deal she struck with Marco to keep them alive was necessary, but also knowing at her core it is so very wrong. Not only that, her own crew has begun to take sides, arguing about the way Marco has handled things, choices, and so on. What is going on aboard Drummer’s ship is a microcosm of what is happening to all Belters, being forced to choose sides within The Belter community, and in Marco a leader who treats many as simply a means to an end.

Meanwhile on Earth, the new Secretary-General of the United Nation David Paster (Sugith Varughese) sits down with his new council and is immediately greeted with numerous opinions on how to proceed in terms of dealing with Marco Inaros. Most notably, Avasarala (Shohreh Aghdashloo) and Admiral Delgado (Michael Irby) butt heads about what is the proper response. I don’t envy the position that Paster now finds himself in, trying to tend to the needs of the people affected by the asteroid strike and at the same time, figuring out how to deal with Marco and those loyal to him. There is no doubt Avasarala will have a big part to play in this when all is said and done.

Amos (Wes Chatham) and Clarissa (aka Peaches, played by Nadine Nicole) get to Baltimore, with Amos hatching a plan with some familiar faces to get them out of the city and to a ship. With the kind of people involved, not to mention the overwhelming feeling of desperation driving them all, this whole scenario looks to be a giant disaster waiting to happen.

While the driving force of “Hard Vacuum” was again Naomi, the episode on a whole manages to fully encompass the high anxiety and stress felt by all involved, in all story arcs going on right now. The Expanse continues to juggle characters, politics, action, and sci-fi very well, and with only two episodes left in the season, has left many possibilities on the table, many of which with anything but happy endings.