Errinwright, Mao, Korshunov (RIP) and the other political players all see the protomolecule as just another technology, like atomic power. A few episodes back they even explicitly compared it to the Epstein drive in terms of the power dynamic between Earth and Mars. They are so very, very wrong — which makes for a…

Which is very good, since that was a core relationship in the book which is clearly translating well to the show.

The Eros hearings were about to start. It was even announced on the PA during the establishing shot just before Errinwright and Avasarala had their last face-to-face meeting.

Zack asked whether Melissa was in the book. Short Answer: Yes.

Put this in the wrong place

I THOUGHT that looked familiar…Thanks!

When? Between Star Wars, the MCU and Disney we've all got front-row seats.

Fair enough. The midseason change in "High Castle" showrunners did have an impact, but now that they've exhausted the source material I have some hope (and reduced expectations) for Season Three.

At least this way we skipped Soren and the mystery of the never-delivered thumb drive. That was some pretty weak sauce, although Avasarala's takedown of her traitorous assistant was very satisfying.

And what better place to make his pitch than the Guanshiyin…which by itself demonstrates Mao REALLY doesn't know Avasarala at all.

In the book, Mao's yacht couldn't have been more pretentious if it had the word "TRUMP" emblazoned across the bow in 40-foot gold letters.

I finally read an article from two years ago describing how "The Expanse" came to be as a book series — and it started out as Ty Franck's MMO pitch, followed by a period where he was running a play-by-post online RPG. It was his players who created Holden, Naomi, Amos, Alex and Shed — and when Shed's player had to…

Interesting on that last part. I'd wager Ty and Daniel did the same research when they were naming that character. And you're probably right in that "Marco Inaros" was not his birth name — but he probably hasn't changed it since Naomi left, either.

Of course, the other part of Marco's deal was how he constantly defined "it" downward, from "I'm the Father of the Belt as a viable independent society, with Belters as the new species of Man" to "DAMMIT, why can't James Holden fucking DIE already?!?"

It's been years, and Marco himself never revealed Naomi's existence to anyone who didn't know them when they were together, like Cyn. She was the one who got away — which didn't fit his personal "I'm the inevitable savior of the Belt" narrative.

Naomi had to rub elbows with OPA types whenever the Canterbury docked. If…

Marco is way too self-absorbed to ever change his name. He wants the universe to know he did it, how he did it, and that ultimately there was no way to have stopped him from doing it.

30 years ago: "I don't think Denise is an interesting enough character to base a spin off around."

Was just saying it's Venus we need to be watching….

Valid points.

Jules-Pierre Mao thinks he's above the petty politics of the solar system. Sure, UN sanctions are hurting his business, but his message to Avasarala was still brimming with condescension and hubris.

It was one of the best portrayals of a subtly different biosphere evolving on an Earth-like planet I've ever read. Ilus may have been "Class M" (to borrow the old Star Trek term), but it was far from Human-friendly. And that's before they blundered into the billion-year-old ruins.