When all else fails – Donkey Balls!
Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.
It’s anything but smooth sailing for the Rocinante this week as they discover an unexpected guest sending signals from their ship. Chrisjen’s spy turns out to be the culprit and is quickly apprehended. To make matters worse the Martians are extra guarded due to the attack on one of their vessels by a couple of belters, which we saw last week.
By this point it seems like everyone has bought into Holden as the leader on board the Rocinante. He’s not always the best guy for the job but he has been pretty good at defusing situations and does a decent job of keeping people working together. He’s put to the test this week by Amos who, for some reason, is becoming more and more unhinged. With a lot of focus on Holden’s character this week we see him put to the test as a leader.
Holden wants to be the type of hero who sees everyone through a tough situation without ever really having to make those ugly decisions that leaders sometimes have to deal with. While Amos was out of line, his observations of Holden were fairly spot on. At some point Holden is going to have to make a decision he doesn’t want to have to make when it comes to Chrisjen’s spy. This character anaylsis is really intriguing and brings together what is going on onboard the Rocinante with the conversation between Chrisjen and Holden’s mother.
The meeting between Chrisjen and Holden’s mother was simple yet at the same time quite complex. The complexities have quite a bit to do with the backstory of Holden’s heritage. We’ve heard discussion prior to this episode in regards to family co-ops but it’s a concept that doesn’t mean much at this point without some sort of context. We don’t really get that here. Instead, we’re presented with the simplest and easiest to understand scenario a concerned mother who is worried about her son. That’s probably for the best. I’m not sure we’re expected to know or really need to know where the rest of the co-op is but for now it’s probably not important.
What I do think is important, and doesn’t quite receive the detailed attention it deserves, is the importance of Holden to the co-op and whatever political stance they were grooming him for. It’s immediately important to what we’re seeing of Holden on the Rocinante and the way he chooses to handle the situation with Amos. It seems they groomed Holden to be a natural leader who would further their political agenda. It would have been nice to have been given a little more understanding of the intricacies of the co-ops political agenda but from what I understand they weren’t and still aren’t big fans of Earth leadership.
For now though, as I mentioned earlier, the importance right now is an upset mother and a son who was groomed to be something greater than what he ended up being. The story is definitely working up to a point that is going to test Holden’s understanding of morality and he’s going to have to do something that goes against what he was taught back on Earth. For now, he’s playing it safe and trying to be the good guy to everyone. The Martians who are trying to board his ship and the spy. The one guy he’s harshest on is Amos who bluffs at threatening to kill, poorly. Amos sees right through it and I think everyone else will as well. Then he proceeds to dump the issue on Naomi.
The rest of the crew on the Rocinante is focused on getting those codes to keep the Martians from boarding. The bit about the donkey balls being a previous passcode was hilarious. Who better than Alex, who has the best comedic delivery on the show, to finally unlock the codes and deliver the abort message to the Martian ship in a hilariously awkward fashion. Alex has emerged as my favourite character so far.
Meanwhile, Miller is stewing in a mix of feeling sorry for himself and his continued obsession with the disappearance of Julie Mao. For the most part we see plenty of self-loathing from the former detective this week who is desperate for anything to set him back on course or to end whatever it is he’s feeling. Finally, a chance message from one of his contacts sets him on course to Eros.
The way Thomas Jane handles Miller’s self-loathing is a lot of fun to watch. He’s desperate and emotionally unstable. Also, the character seems to naturally be a little bit awkward in generally. It’s going to be interesting to see if the potential of finding a renewed purpose on Eros will energize the character and help escape the path of self destruction he appears to be on. I definitely think there is a transformation for both him and Holden to be found on Eros, if they really do make it there at the same time that is.
“Windmills” challenges the two lead protagonists to rediscover themselves but quickly gives them an out when the going gets tough. They probably won’t be so lucky in the future. All roads lead to Eros and a black ops team waiting to eliminate Holden.
