We have no idea what the protomolecule can do, other than eat radiation/power, grow crystals out of your eyes and mouth, cover strategic locations, put on a light show, and grow an arm on demand. So basically it could do anything at all. So it's a horribly stupid plan, yes.
It seemed like they were forcibly breeding more and more generations of the molecule to get it to evolve quickly.
and at the end
it probably attained sentience of some kind
I don't remember if this was explicitly mentioned in the episode, but here's a very vague spoiler (nothing that hasn't already happened by the time of the season finale) about what they're doing:
They found organic goop on Phoebe, discovered that it was artificial, fed on radiation and did Nasty Things to complex organisms and tried to organize itself into some sort of structure, but it didn't have enough biomass for whatever it was trying to do.
So they decided they needed more biomass to let it do its thing and then see what happened. And infected a million people on Eros Station with it.
As someone who knew nothing about this show going in. I'm kind of delighted by all of the story beats. This most recent episode threw me for a huge spin but it didn't feel forced or unbelievable. That's really cool.
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jefe414"My Other Drill Hole is a Teleporter"Mechagodzilla is Best GodzillaRegistered Userregular
Hey book readers, I just want to say thanks for being so judicious with your spoilers. Seriously. We needed separate book/show threads for Game of Thrones because people couldn't keep it in their pants. As a non-book reader (in either case), I appreciate what's being done here.
Adaptations without really hard core fans of the original work always make for better threads.
It really helps that this is far more an adaption than a translation. What's gonna happen next? Well I can guess but I'm not gonna be 100% because they're changing quite a bit so who knows? I could probably hit broad strokes but exactly what's happening next episode? Nope.
As someone who knew nothing about this show going in. I'm kind of delighted by all of the story beats. This most recent episode threw me for a huge spin but it didn't feel forced or unbelievable. That's really cool.
We have no idea what the protomolecule can do, other than eat radiation/power, grow crystals out of your eyes and mouth, cover strategic locations, put on a light show, and grow an arm on demand. So basically it could do anything at all. So it's a horribly stupid plan, yes.
It seemed like they were forcibly breeding more and more generations of the molecule to get it to evolve quickly.
and at the end
it probably attained sentience of some kind
I don't remember if this was explicitly mentioned in the episode, but here's a very vague spoiler (nothing that hasn't already happened by the time of the season finale) about what they're doing:
They found organic goop on Phoebe, discovered that it was artificial, fed on radiation and did Nasty Things to complex organisms and tried to organize itself into some sort of structure, but it didn't have enough biomass for whatever it was trying to do.
So they decided they needed more biomass to let it do its thing and then see what happened. And infected a million people on Eros Station with it.
That seems like a horribly thought out science experiment. There have to be greater stakes than that for any organization to sacrifice that many people. Are we supposed to know why they are doing this? I mean one of them says something like they think that doing this is going to "save us all". Was that supposed to make sense at this point?
We have no idea what the protomolecule can do, other than eat radiation/power, grow crystals out of your eyes and mouth, cover strategic locations, put on a light show, and grow an arm on demand. So basically it could do anything at all. So it's a horribly stupid plan, yes.
It seemed like they were forcibly breeding more and more generations of the molecule to get it to evolve quickly.
and at the end
it probably attained sentience of some kind
I don't remember if this was explicitly mentioned in the episode, but here's a very vague spoiler (nothing that hasn't already happened by the time of the season finale) about what they're doing:
They found organic goop on Phoebe, discovered that it was artificial, fed on radiation and did Nasty Things to complex organisms and tried to organize itself into some sort of structure, but it didn't have enough biomass for whatever it was trying to do.
So they decided they needed more biomass to let it do its thing and then see what happened. And infected a million people on Eros Station with it.
That seems like a horribly thought out science experiment. There have to be greater stakes than that for any organization to sacrifice that many people. Are we supposed to know why they are doing this? I mean one of them says something like they think that doing this is going to "save us all". Was that supposed to make sense at this point?
Book spoilers
An organization of literal psychopaths who think that the proto-molecule can maybe solve all problems has no problems sacrificing that many people, no.
We have no idea what the protomolecule can do, other than eat radiation/power, grow crystals out of your eyes and mouth, cover strategic locations, put on a light show, and grow an arm on demand. So basically it could do anything at all. So it's a horribly stupid plan, yes.
It seemed like they were forcibly breeding more and more generations of the molecule to get it to evolve quickly.
and at the end
it probably attained sentience of some kind
I don't remember if this was explicitly mentioned in the episode, but here's a very vague spoiler (nothing that hasn't already happened by the time of the season finale) about what they're doing:
They found organic goop on Phoebe, discovered that it was artificial, fed on radiation and did Nasty Things to complex organisms and tried to organize itself into some sort of structure, but it didn't have enough biomass for whatever it was trying to do.
So they decided they needed more biomass to let it do its thing and then see what happened. And infected a million people on Eros Station with it.
That seems like a horribly thought out science experiment. There have to be greater stakes than that for any organization to sacrifice that many people. Are we supposed to know why they are doing this? I mean one of them says something like they think that doing this is going to "save us all". Was that supposed to make sense at this point?
Book spoilers
An organization of literal psychopaths who think that the proto-molecule can maybe solve all problems has no problems sacrificing that many people, no.
When I read that in the book, I laughed so hard.
I would love to be a fly on the wall of Protogen's HR department, what with their "sociopaths only" employee policy.
Yes basically it is an organization that sees some alien hyper biotech and wants to play with it and study it for their own use. They needed a big enough test case to see what it would do but one that was still basically a sealed habitat that could be blown if needed. They wanted to get a feel for what the protomolocule was trying to do without giving it so much it could actually fully complete it or if it did fully complete it would be in a location that could be destroyed if necessary and far enough away from earth so cross contamination would not be a problem. So yes really arrogant psychopaths wanted to play god and got the expected results from that
We have no idea what the protomolecule can do, other than eat radiation/power, grow crystals out of your eyes and mouth, cover strategic locations, put on a light show, and grow an arm on demand. So basically it could do anything at all. So it's a horribly stupid plan, yes.
It seemed like they were forcibly breeding more and more generations of the molecule to get it to evolve quickly.
and at the end
it probably attained sentience of some kind
I don't remember if this was explicitly mentioned in the episode, but here's a very vague spoiler (nothing that hasn't already happened by the time of the season finale) about what they're doing:
They found organic goop on Phoebe, discovered that it was artificial, fed on radiation and did Nasty Things to complex organisms and tried to organize itself into some sort of structure, but it didn't have enough biomass for whatever it was trying to do.
So they decided they needed more biomass to let it do its thing and then see what happened. And infected a million people on Eros Station with it.
That seems like a horribly thought out science experiment. There have to be greater stakes than that for any organization to sacrifice that many people. Are we supposed to know why they are doing this? I mean one of them says something like they think that doing this is going to "save us all". Was that supposed to make sense at this point?
Book spoilers
An organization of literal psychopaths who think that the proto-molecule can maybe solve all problems has no problems sacrificing that many people, no.
When I read that in the book, I laughed so hard.
I would love to be a fly on the wall of Protogen's HR department, what with their "sociopaths only" employee policy.
One of the Novellas actually goes into this.
Vital Abyss:
Yeah, they chemically alter those folks so they become sociopaths. It's sorta with consent but they aren't really clear about what they're doing. Of course, once they have become sociopaths they find that whole emotional attachment thing from old memories weird and confusing and certainly don't want to go back.
It's times like these, when it's been ten really great 40 minute chunks that leave me wanting more, that I'm happy there's 5 books for me to reread. Starting over with Leviathan Wakes tonight.
I thought the Blue Falcon (AND DYNOMUTT AWAY!!!) Hotel group were the hit team the UN sent?
Nope those guys weren't even close to Fred Johnson, these were another group available. And based on what we saw in the show it was the private gangster army that the evil corp had on hand.
I would like some money because these are artisanal nuggets of wisdom philistine.
jefe414"My Other Drill Hole is a Teleporter"Mechagodzilla is Best GodzillaRegistered Userregular
That doesn't sound right. Spy guy used his cybernetics to contact someone - with the photo of the hotel - and it said local enforcement wouldn't respond.
Xbox Live: Jefe414
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ObiFettUse the ForceAs You WishRegistered Userregular
That doesn't sound right. Spy guy used his cybernetics to contact someone - with the photo of the hotel - and it said local enforcement wouldn't respond.
Right, and there was a scene where some UN dude was telling the UN Lady that they were sending people to kill the group.
In the books iirc it specifies that they're some sort of gray market hit squad that was hired because they just need some quick muscle hired with plausible deniability.
In the show they mention sending a squad, and spy guy calls them in. No reason to believe that they're not The Squad.
A trap is for fish: when you've got the fish, you can forget the trap. A snare is for rabbits: when you've got the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words are for meaning: when you've got the meaning, you can forget the words.
In the books iirc it specifies that they're some sort of gray market hit squad that was hired because they just need some quick muscle hired with plausible deniability.
In the show they mention sending a squad, and spy guy calls them in. No reason to believe that they're not The Squad.
It implies that spy guy is no longer working for Chrisjen but is instead now directly controlled by her boss.
jefe414"My Other Drill Hole is a Teleporter"Mechagodzilla is Best GodzillaRegistered Userregular
edited February 2016
The UN secretary said a black ops team was being activated and that Holden wouldn't be leaving Eros alive. The UN warship was going to Tycho station to check for stealth tech or something? What's weird is, the black ops team was being sent because contact with "the asset"/spy was lost. When he was the one who re-established contact, they kept going with the plan?
I'm going to look up a synopsis of the episode and see who those people in the lobby were.
That doesn't sound right. Spy guy used his cybernetics to contact someone - with the photo of the hotel - and it said local enforcement wouldn't respond.
Right, and there was a scene where some UN dude was telling the UN Lady that they were sending people to kill the group.
But we see that particular UN dude was working for the Evil corp, and the dudes who showed up looked very much like a gang and not at all like an actual squad. Including using that hand cannon Miller took.
I would like some money because these are artisanal nuggets of wisdom philistine.
That doesn't sound right. Spy guy used his cybernetics to contact someone - with the photo of the hotel - and it said local enforcement wouldn't respond.
Right, and there was a scene where some UN dude was telling the UN Lady that they were sending people to kill the group.
But we see that particular UN dude was working for the Evil corp, and the dudes who showed up looked very much like a gang and not at all like an actual squad. Including using that hand cannon Miller took.
The UN secretary said a black ops team was being activated and that Holden wouldn't be leaving Eros alive. The UN warship was going to Tycho station to check for stealth tech or something? What's weird is, the black ops team was being sent because contact with "the asset"/spy was lost. When he was the one who re-established contact, they kept going with the plan?
I'm going to look up a synopsis of the episode and see who those people in the lobby were.
It became pretty obvious the UN guys plan the whole time was to have them arrest Johnson who was going to be their fall guy for the whole thing.
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jefe414"My Other Drill Hole is a Teleporter"Mechagodzilla is Best GodzillaRegistered Userregular
edited February 2016
Here is the description of the episode from wiki (so take that into account)
The Rocinante examines the asteroid at the coordinates given by Fred Johnson before moving to Eros to find a survivor of the Scopuli codenamed Lionel Polanski. Independently, Miller is also tracking down Polanski, identifying her as Julie Mao. Holden and his team are ambushed at the hotel where Polanski is staying by a UN black ops team (signaled by the spy Kenzo, and authorized by Errinwright), but are saved by the arriving Miller. After joining up, Holden's team and Miller go to meet Julie Mao only to find her dead.
I'd guess since they were black ops, they were dressed as locals. Which spec ops do today.
UN dude and evil dude having an association is hardly surprising (nor for evil dude to know the admiral). he's a weapons/tech company owner so being in bed with the defense department (or whatever) makes sense.
EDIT: That was all episode 8 right? I'm going to re-watch it and the finale this weekend . Maybe on a second viewing it will make more sense.
Posts
I don't remember if this was explicitly mentioned in the episode, but here's a very vague spoiler (nothing that hasn't already happened by the time of the season finale) about what they're doing:
So they decided they needed more biomass to let it do its thing and then see what happened. And infected a million people on Eros Station with it.
Also I have to wait a year for season 2? Curses.
It really helps that this is far more an adaption than a translation. What's gonna happen next? Well I can guess but I'm not gonna be 100% because they're changing quite a bit so who knows? I could probably hit broad strokes but exactly what's happening next episode? Nope.
That seems like a horribly thought out science experiment. There have to be greater stakes than that for any organization to sacrifice that many people. Are we supposed to know why they are doing this? I mean one of them says something like they think that doing this is going to "save us all". Was that supposed to make sense at this point?
Book spoilers
When I read that in the book, I laughed so hard.
One of the Novellas actually goes into this.
Vital Abyss:
So he retweeted a joke I made about the Expanse. Then he made this joke.
I sincerely hope he uh. Is just a little blue.
But hey it looks like he finally got those augs
Yo listen up here's a story
About a little guy that lives in a blue world
and blue and stuff and then there's some blue...
Inquisitor77: Rius, you are Sisyphus and melee Wizard is your boulder
Tube: This must be what it felt like to be an Iraqi when Saddam was killed
Bookish Stickers - Mrs. Rius' Etsy shop with bumper stickers and vinyl decals.
Those guys in the Blue Falcon Hotel, though - they couldn't have been less subtle if they'd been peeking through two holes cut in a newspaper.
The Division, Warframe (XB1)
GT: Tanith 6227
Could it be because they are gangster and not the usual security group? Gangster aren't known for subtlety.
pleasepaypreacher.net
Nope those guys weren't even close to Fred Johnson, these were another group available. And based on what we saw in the show it was the private gangster army that the evil corp had on hand.
pleasepaypreacher.net
Right, and there was a scene where some UN dude was telling the UN Lady that they were sending people to kill the group.
In the show they mention sending a squad, and spy guy calls them in. No reason to believe that they're not The Squad.
It implies that spy guy is no longer working for Chrisjen but is instead now directly controlled by her boss.
I'm going to look up a synopsis of the episode and see who those people in the lobby were.
But we see that particular UN dude was working for the Evil corp, and the dudes who showed up looked very much like a gang and not at all like an actual squad. Including using that hand cannon Miller took.
pleasepaypreacher.net
ahhhh good point
It became pretty obvious the UN guys plan the whole time was to have them arrest Johnson who was going to be their fall guy for the whole thing.
I'd guess since they were black ops, they were dressed as locals. Which spec ops do today.
UN dude and evil dude having an association is hardly surprising (nor for evil dude to know the admiral). he's a weapons/tech company owner so being in bed with the defense department (or whatever) makes sense.
EDIT: That was all episode 8 right? I'm going to re-watch it and the finale this weekend . Maybe on a second viewing it will make more sense.
I don't know if he's shown up yet in TV. I was referring to Errinwright who definitely has and is listed as such on IMDB.
edit: the Secretary-General being Esteban Sorrento-Gillis, the head honcho.
Because this amuses me I shall translate into West Wing:
Errinwright = Leo
Chrisjen = Josh
I was disappointed that they didn't have a big revelation on that name. It was mentioned, but it didn't have the same impact the book had.
About half of the first book.
i'm going to end up buying all of these aren't I?
They're pretty great. I burned through the whole series on audiobook in under a month.