The action is again slowed down for Episode 5 but the tension and mystery grow exponentially. “Back to the Butcher” focuses on the interpersonal relationships between some of the main characters. It also delves into a bit of history and background in The Expanse universe.
Ceres Station
Though he’s pissed off, Detective Miller is visiting his wounded partner in the hospital. He’s mad that Havelock went into a dangerous area of Ceres Station without him. To top it all off, Gia, the prostitute from EP. 1 is at the hospital, too.
Havelock attempts to explain that Gia is teaching him the language, but Miller doesn’t care. After a huge argument, Miller storms out of the hospital room.
Miller takes the rapid transit from the hospital. While in close quarters with other Belters, he becomes very aware of the tension on Ceres Station. The Belters are still angered by the destruction of the Cant.
Meanwhile, at the Star Helix Security station, the Captain is showing footage of the attack on Havelock and inciting the security team to go after Havelock’s attackers. Octavia notices Miller isn’t there, so heads to his apartment. When she arrives, she’s disappointed to find Miller has become even more obsessed with the Julie Mao case. She doesn’t know about Miller’s and Havelock’s argument earlier that day.
Miller details what he’s found so far. He thinks there’s a connection between Julie Mao and all of the ships that have been attacked, he just can’t put his finger on the connection. He’s stumbled across the name of a ship called the Anubis, but can’t find anything else out about it.
Octavia feels Miller is getting too deep into the investigation and advises him to take what he’s found so far to his superiors.
Miller doesn’t want to take her advice. After Octavia leaves, he continues researching. He revisits footage of the fight Mao had in the shipyard where the Scopuli was docked. He figures she must have known the man she was fighting. Meanwhile, Dawes finds Miller and admits he does, in fact, know Mao. He also admits that she was important to the OPA and that the OPA is in control of more of Ceres than Miller originally suspected.
Dawes wants information on the Julie Mao investigation. In return, he offers up Havelock’s attacker. Dawes is pretending to keep him in a safe-house.
Still needing more clues, Miller finds the man Julie Mao beat up in the video. It turns out he, too is affiliated with the OPA. He’s also Julie Mao’s ex-lover. He corroborates that Mao was involved with Dawes and the OPA and is shocked when Miller explains her disappearance. In the end, he tells Miller the name of the bar where he can find the man who’s ID was really embedded in the corpse.
At the bar, Miller utters the password given to him and he’s taken to a secret room. Random pieces of tech are scattered throughout. Miller searches but doesn’t find much in the clutter. Then, he notices the parts to a mechanical hamster similar to the one he saw at Julie Mao’s apartment.
Ceres Station: Back at Mao’s apt. Miller finds the hamster and takes it apart. He finds the data chip he’s been looking for and hides it in a secret compartment in his hat. As he leaves the apt, he’s kidnapped.
He heads back and inspects the hamster. Inside it, he finds a data drive. Luckily, he hides the drive in his hat because as he’s leaving the apartment a sack is thrown over his head and he’s kidnapped.
MCRN TACHI
The Tachi is the name of the ship that Holden, Naomi, Alex, Amos, and the now deceased Lopez escaped the Donnager on. They’re floating somewhere between Jupiter and The Belt trying to figure out what to do next. Currently, no one knows they survived the attack. As they begin to discuss what to do next, they’re alerted to an incoming message.
The message is from Fred Johnson. Somehow, he knows they’re alive and need a place to go. He’s suspicious but offers to help. Holden and crew are suspicious of Johnson, too. They know his past and that he worked with the OPA.
Holden and Alex decide they want to take up Johnson on his offer. Naomi doesn’t trust Johnson. Of course, Amos sides with Naomi. With no one in agreement, they decide to just wait where they are.
As they wait, they all explore the Tachi. They also receive news of the protests and riots on Ceres Station. They’re surprised to find that one reason for the rioting was anger over the destruction of the Cant, and the Holden has become a hero of the movement. Amos also talks Naomi into agreeing to accept Johnson’s offer to head to Tycho Station.
Johnson sends them instructions on how to get to Tycho without being detected. As a part of the process, they have to rename the Tachi. They choose the name, Rocinante (Spanish for “workhorse”). No doubt this will have significance later.
The four finally have a feeling of hops. It seems their ordeal may be over.
Anderson Station
Throughout the episode, we’ve been given small flashbacks to events that took place on Anderson Station, an ore refinery located in the belt.
Anderson Station was the site of a peaceful protest where the workers refused to continue working until they were given better conditions to work under. They were kept in low gravity and low oxygen levels constantly and this was causing disease among their children.
Apparently, there were some accidental casualties on the station during the protest, but the UN (Earth’s Government) refused to accept them as accidental. The UN labels the protesters as terrorists and proceeds end the protest violently.
We find out that it was Fred Johnson who was in charge of ending the protest. At the time, he was a Colonel in the UN Marine Corps. History remembers him as “The Butcher of Anderson Station.”
Stay tuned for S1: Ep. 6 coming soon.