Weapons of The Expanse – S1-E5-7

After the intensity of episode 4, episodes 5-7 show our heroes taking stock, licking their wounds, and reacting to recent events – in other words, lots of footage from medbays and hospitals, intense conversations, lots of looking at maps and video screens. For the time being, it also means less weapons action, though there are a few interesting scenes.

Episode 5 – Back to the Butcher

This is a classic after-battle episode, with hospital scenes, serious frowns, and people going «wtf just happened» and «what do we do now?»

But beyond brooding looks and tense encounters, nothing much happens in the weapons department until Miller begins chasing down some new leads. Climbing down into a ship docked at Ceres, he pulls out his Star Helix standard issue side arm again, and reveals that it has another useful feature – a built-in light. On a side note, I am reading the book in parallel with the rewatch, and there some weapons, particularly handguns, that are specifically mentioned as recoilless, specifically firing «self-propelled rockets» which sounds like a reference to gyrojets or something similar. Given the way Miller handles his weapon, seemingly unconcerned by any recoil, it seems like this could be one of those weapons (though my analysis leads me to think that the guns we see on the show are more likely to be a gauss/coil gun).

The next weapons action we see is during the aftermath of the «Anderson Station Massacre» which in the series is described as happening 11 years earlier. It is described more thoroughly in a separate short story (many of the characters in The Expanse have their backstory presented that way) but it involved the massacre of a large number of Belters who had seized control of the station they worked on, and who were attacked by UN Marines led by Johnson.

During the CGI shot showing us (and Johnson) the terrible consequences of the attack, we get a good view of one of the railguns of a UN Leonidas-class battleship, and for once we also get a sense of the immense scale of these weapons by comparing it to Fred Johnson standing in an airlock. If we use him for scale, assuming he is around 1.8 meters tall (though the books describe him as being huge) the gun on the left is about 70 meters long from the back of the turret to the muzzle of the barrel! This fits with descriptions of the overall length of a Leonidas-class ship of 270 meters (more on that in another excellent Spacedock-video below).

We also get a close-up of Fred Johnson himself, carrying a standard UN assault rifle, the same weapon that was carried by Amos when he and Holden boarded the Scopuli in Episode 1.

And finally, it seems tasers are still a thing – and that on Ceres, no one will intervene if someone is pulled aside and tasered in broad daylight(!).

I guess that goes to show is that when «there are no laws on Ceres, just cops», that doesn’t go so well for the cops!

Episode 6 – Rock Bottom

This is where the setup for the next climax really begins. Avasarala continues scheming on Earth, and our heroes arrive at Tycho station in the belt. In the process, we are treated to some additional beautiful CGI environment shots of New York and Tycho station respectively.

The first weapons we see are from their first meeting with Fred Johnson. Holden and Amos greet their potential rescuer in the air lock, Amos weilding a Martian assault rifle, while Holden has dug out a Martian standard sidearm (based on another airsoft gun, the WE X-series IPSC. More on that here.).

They are faced by a stone-cold Johnson, backed up by five of his own crew carrying assault rifles and holstered side arms. While the rifles look like those used by both UN Marines and by Amos in episode 1, the handguns seem to be Star Helix-issue (note the Star Helix logo on the holster. In a show this detail oriented, that is not a coincidence…)

We also get another look at a Martian PDC, or more accurately, a Tycho station crew member does when apparently trying to sabotage the Rocinante…!

The next weapons appearance is from the shakedown of a Belter by a Martian Border Patrol skiff – no attempt at hearts and minds here…! The gun is the same that Holden carried when confronting Fred Johnson. The confined environment again shows why assault rifles would not be practical in most situations.

And last, but not least for this episode, we get another demonstration of the anti-personnel properties of the Star Helix pistol, when Muss saves Miller from being spaced by a couple of OPA thugs. Complete penetration of their torsos, but not enough energy to be a risk to the outer walls of the docks.

And that’s it for «Rock Bottom» where many weapons were pointed, but few were actually fired.

Episode 7 – Windmills

This is a transit episode where our heroes are moving to the locations where the next part of the story will go down. Not much weapons action, but we get a few more details that both show the kind of environment they have to be used in, and how they are operated – both involving Amos.The first is when Amos hunts down the spy hiding between the bulkheads on the Rocinante. As we can see, the environment is extremely cramped, and more a question of hand-to-hand combat than anything else. We also see that Amos doesn’t need weapons to do some damage, but if he did use one, it would have to be a compact, low-recoil weapon to be effective.

The only real gun action we see is during a tense standoff between Amos and Holden as they are about to be boarded by a Martian patrol. We get our first glimpse at how a Martian assault rifle is loaded, as Amos appear to be entering a magazine into the buttstock (not the most logical place, would have to flip the rifle to reload during combat…!) Alternatively, if the rifle is an electrically powered gauss or coil gun, which uses electricity to power the projectiles, he could be inserting a power pack of some sort, which presumably would have to be replaced less frequently than a magazine. More on that here, in my profile of the Martian Assault Rifle.

We also get another closeup view of a Martian sidearm/pistol – and a closeup of how Amos´ mind works – which rightly terrifies Holden…!

All we can say to that is…

So what did we learn about the weapons of the Expanse from these episodes? Well, not much new – but it confirms the impressions from the first four – massive, heavy long range weapons for ship-to-ship combat, large number of medium caliber weapons for close-in defense, and light handguns and rifles for surface or onboard encounters.

More in the next, very exciting episode of The Expanse…!