The Expanse Book vs. TV Recap: Windmills
The latest episode of The Expanse, “Windmills,” takes another departure from the pages of Leviathan Wakes, providing what is probably the tensest episode of the series to date. But never fear, faithful readers: plenty of the book is still up there on the screen.
As we left off, the Roci and her crew were headed off to Eros. If we’re still keeping track by the pages, we’re on Page 222: the journey from Tycho Station to Eros isn’t covered at all in the novel, so what we’re seeing could conceivably have happened—it’s just that nobody mentioned it afterwards. Sure.
Back on Earth, Avasalara heads out to Montana to meet Holden’s family, who I don’t think we’ve ever met in the books. She’s trying to get a read on the man, and speaks with one of his mothers, who tells her they raised him to take over the family farm, an impossible task. When he was 18, the woman told him to get as far away from that life in order to be free. This addition gives Holden a bit more shading and complexity, and explains his motivations in a way that I don’t think was ever really examined in the books. It’s interesting, but ultimately, a minor addition to the ongoing story.
Back in the Belt, Miller’s coming to terms with being fired from Star Helix, and wanders through a couple of bars, contemplates suicide, and trashes Julie’s apartment. While this is happening, he gets a call from a friend: the ship that he is looking for? It’s still missing, but one of its shuttles appeared on Eros. He tells Miller to keep his head down: Ceres Station is looking like a bad place to be at the moment.
The real meat of this episode comes with the Roci and her crew. Remember that random story from last week about the Belter ship taking out a Martian patrol? That little incident set off a bunch more Martian patrols, and the Roci is headed right for them. As the ship is a stolen Martian cruiser, the crew doesn’t exactly relish being boarded. Even worse, they discover a random radio signal coming from the ship. When Amos goes to check it out, he finds a stowaway on board: Avasalara’s mole. He’s trying to get away from Fred Johnson, and his messing around attracts the attention of the Martian patrols. Amos wants to shoot the prisoner, putting him at odds with Holden. They’re pinged, and flagged for inspection.
The crew begins to panic, but the new guy tells them that sometimes, Martian covert ops fly around in disguised ships. If they can find the right codes, they can get the patrol to go away. They begin searching for the codes, and Alex thinks he might know where to find them. They get to work opening up a locked box, and eventually find the codes. While they’re free to head off to Eros, Holden wants Amos off the ship, and there’s more to the spy than meets the eye.
Miller’s had enough with Ceres, and based on the communique from his friend, he’s books a flight to Eros. We’re now back at page 222, and it looks like our two storylines are threatening to converge. One of the neat easter eggs this episode is another reference to one of the shorter Expanse works, this time The Churn, a story about Amos and his history.