Season 1 concludes with two episodes where the various sub-plots are brought together to a (bloody) conclusion. And yes, there is plenty of weapons action as well! This post covers the first of the two, S1-E9, “Critial Mass.”
The episode begins with lots of flashbacks, showing us the events Miller has helped us piece together – but now from the perspective of Julie Mao/Lionel Polanski. We see the OPA going after the Anubis, not knowing what it is.
With predictable results. The triangular breaching pod launched by what Julie Mao correctly identifies as the Anubis is visible in the right end of the frame, after as it has lodged itself into the hull of the Scopuli, creating the hole that Amos identifies in Episode 1.
And among the boarders – a dude I suspect we have already seen earlier/later on the Donnager, still sporting the weirdest BDSM-outfit ever.
And after some spacing action…
We get the famous last words…
«Does it feel like hot in here to you…?»
Nono evil lady, no need to worry…! (Not that you could have done anything about it by now anyway…!)
Oh, and one of the Protogen thugs carries the weapon I thought we would be spared further exposure to – the “one grenade launcher on top of another”-abomination from Episode 4, CQB. Still want to see what they have in those holsters…!
Next we see the Canterbury ambush from Julie Mao’s vantage point. First we see her sending the message that would reach Holden.
Then we get some more detailed shots of the missile launches from the Anubis. Apparently during the soft launch the missile uses its own thrusters to build sufficient distance from the launch bay and position itself for main engine start.
Once Julie breaks out of her little compartment and realizes she is alone (and that something reeeally bad is happening in the engine bay…)
… she parks the Anubis at an asteroid, and sends a message to Mr. Trustworthy himself, Anderson Dawes.
She then of course does the responsible thing, and avoids spreading whatever contagion is on the ship to the rest of the system.
Just kidding, of course she jumps a shuttle and heads to the nearest major population center – Eros.
But at least once there, she self isolates, spending some quality time alone, waiting for her rescue.
But enough flashbacks, back to the present!
Miller, Holden, Naomi, Alex and Amos return to the lobby where the first of Eros’ finest has shown up to see what is happening. Miller’s old pal Sematimba says what every proper cop would when faced with a room full of bodies: “I cannot clean this up!”
Next we get a brief close-up of Semtimba’s gun – seems more or less identical to the Star Helix pistol.
Next, after our heroes have departed the scene, we meet another fine fellow, Dr. Dresden, accompanied by more CPM personnel and some of the Protogen rubber suit baddies we have seen already – now sans blue helmets. Oh, and the abominable gun returns, which is odd since its really not the most logical weapon for a confined spaces scenario (if it really has a logical use scenario), but apparently – as we will learn later – it has a secondary role firing non-lethal riot control rounds, so perhaps it makes sense anyway (somehow).
The episode then spends some time allowing new friends to get acquainted…
And on Avasarala doing some detective work…
And Fred making his case to the system.
But we are here for the guns, and we are about to get some. First we see Miller trying to get at Dr. Dresden, who first checks his newly acquired gun. This one is definitely not a gauss gun – these are clearly individual cartridges, though of unknown configuration.
This one is a bit of an oddity, because there is no logical reason for this type of weapon in space. As we will see after Miller’s close up assassination of one of the two CPM-thugs who try to get them to shelter…
… this weapon has quite a lot of force up close, which makes it unlikely that this is some kind of self-propelled round. The problem with self-propelled rounds (such as gyrojets) is that they avoid recoil by sacrificing the the instant acceleration of a traditional bullet. Instead of exploding, the propellant in a self-propelled bullet burns like a small rocket, releasing the stored energy more gradually. Hence, it is extremely unlikely self-propelled round would have time to build up enough energy for a close-up kill like this.
For more on gyrojets (at least until I have time to write about it myself) see this great video from Forgotten Weapons on the subject.
Instead this becomes an example of a gun that quite clearly is a “slug thrower” using some form of chemical propellant to get instant acceleration – i.e. it is very close to the kind of gunpowder and bullet-guns we have today. There are some references to this kind of guns in the books, and if you can find a way to manage the recoil it does offer a lot of brute force/stopping power, but I would honestly prefer one of the low-recoil designs.
Speaking of low-recoil designs – after Miller disarms the other CPM-thug, we get to see Holden dual-weilding a CPM/Star Helix gun and a Martian equivalent – one of the few times we get to see them side-by-side.
Meanwhile, outside, things have gone from bad to worse. It seems even Sematimba has some professional integrity, and tries to stand up to the thugs nominally working for CPM. That doesn’t end well at all, and instead we get one of very few examples of a UN Assault Rifle being fired.
Things very rapidly go downhill from there… Note that here seems to be slightly more aiming going on this time, perhaps because there are so many non-combattants in the area.
And things aren’t going so well for our other friends either. Holden and Miller should have listened to their hapless CPM-thug (who they helpfully dumped inside the chamber with the rest): when it is shut it stays shut.
Otherwise this may happen…
Ok, so what did we learn about the weapons of The Expanse from this episode?
- Most Earth weapons are based on similar, presumably 3D-printed weapon designs, both for handguns and long-arms.
- Symbols on the weapons, the way they are used and how it looks when they are fired, suggest most are gauss/coil-gun designs (or at least have the ability to fire in that mode – more on that later.)
- Slug-throwers, that is, hand guns firing bullets using some form of gunpowder still exists, but they are rare.
- As seen in past episodes, we see a preference for volume of fire rather than aimed shots, likely a reflection of the fact that most firefights happen at very close ranges. You do not need to aim much, you instead try to saturate your target with fire.
More on this in the next, very exciting episode of The Expanse.
The Weapons of The Expanse 
One thought on “Weapons of The Expanse – S1-E9”