Strap yourself in tight. This is one action-packed ride.
Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.
“CQB” rounds out the mystery of who or what destroyed the Canterbury and introduces a new mystery group that seems to want everyone to believe that Mars was behind it. Most of the episode takes place on the Martian warship Donnager and events pick up right where they left off last week with Jim Holden on the bridge.
I have to say the design work on the Martian ship is exceptionally well done. The bridge layout is sparse and functional. It’s a rather small bridge when you consider the size of the ship and there are no exterior windows but when you consider it they really don’t need a large size or windows since all of their navigation and weapons are done on computer terminals. There is one large curved display that they are using that I wouldn’t mind having for my entertainment setup.
There is a considerable use of red in their design philosophy, which is appropriate as they represent the Red Planet. The red visors on the Martian battle suits looked fantastic as did the rest of the armor. Visually this show has been great so far but the work on the Martian ship and in particular some of the set pieces this week, stood out. They may have burned their budget on some of the stuff they did here, especially in the hangar bay sequence, but it was worth it even if we are saddled with a bottle episode somewhere down the line.
Another great visual moment was the death of Shed Garvey who had his head blown off by a projectile that ripped straight through the hull. The entire sequence was beautifully handled with his head gone and the blood being slowly sucked through the hull breach into the vacuum of space. It’s just phenomenal to watch. Watching all that blood come splashing down with the engines are restored was nasty but the whole thing was worth it. It’s just a beautiful scene. If you’re going to be killed off on TV, that’s the way you want to go.
The suspense during the entire Donnager fight with the mystery ship was top notch. It really starts with the arrogance of the captain who thinks they are going to wipe the floor with their unknown enemy. Holden isn’t so sure but considering he doesn’t seem to have any combat experience, well, it was hard not to believe what the captain was saying.
Things fall apart quickly for the Donnager and her crew and everything culminates in boarding parties from the mystery ships landing. Well, at least we know they’re human. At least I think their human. That one guy’s arm did seem to heal a wound unexpectedly fast. It took Holden by surprise but the Martians referred to it simply as advanced tech.
The hangar bay sequence leading straight up to the escape was another fantastic moment. The bit with Holden using inertia to propel himself and Naomi into the corvette was well thought out. Alex was a lot of fun too adding some comic relief, which the series could use a bit more of at times. A bit of levity during a heavy action sequence can work well and I thought Alex’s moments did that without becoming annoying or overbearing.
While most of the action takes place on the Donnager, there were a few scenes on Ceres station with Miller continuing his quest to find Julie Mao. I’m not sure what a ‘sneakshot club’ is exactly but Miller seemed to have found himself in one during this episode. That lead to his discovery that the body they found isn’t Bizi Betiko as they originally thought.
What I loved about the mystery body was that it gave some insight into what body modification may entail 200 years from now. Having extra memory storage in your leg could come in handy I guess but it seems to be more of a criminal activity used by data brokers in the future.
It was really surprising that Havelock survived his attack from the end of last week’s episode. I imagine he’s going to pull through at this point but maybe Miller should keep better tabs on his constantly disappearing partner.
We’re introduced to a new set piece and a new character this week. Fred Johnson (The Walking Dead's Chad Coleman) is revealed to have heavy ties to the OPA and this seems to make his Mormon friend a little nervous considering all the nasty stuff they’ve been doing back on Ceres station. Johnson makes it clear that the OPA is an upstanding organization and makes comparisons between the OPA’s issues and that of organized religions in Earth’s history.
As a complete aside, and I’m not sure it means anything yet, but the Mormons commissioning the construction of a generation ship so they can leave the for another solar system, which will take about 100 years, is a great built of world building. Will they call it Planet Mormon? I looked this up but the ship is named the Nauvoo in reference to Nauvoo, Illinois, which is the home of a temple built by Mormon settlers. Are all the major religions eyeing their own extra-solar planet? Do all the major religions still hold the same power 200 years from now?
The Verdict
“CQB” is action packed and full of suspense. It also highlights the beautifully designed look of the Martian fleet ships and uniforms. This is a great looking series and with four episode in the bag the story is shaping up quite nicely with a new mystery enemy to keep us hooked until next week.
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