A blockade of the wormhole ring is ordered, but a group Belters, settlers of the asteroid belt, manages to go through, enter a new Solar system on the other end and start a colony on the habitable planet Ilus. Later, Earth sends an expedition to Ilus, but gets into an argument with the Belters, who want the planet’s lithium reserves. Holden has visions of Miller who tells him to remove a root from a panel of the building of the extinct alien race, but this triggers an explosion and a tsunami that will flood a third of the continent in ten hours. Belters and Earthers hide in the building. They get an eye infection from microorganisms, but Holden’s cancer medicine neutralizes them. Miller orders the destruction of a power ring, which turns off all protomolecules. On Earth, Gao is elected the new UN Secretary General, replacing Avasarala.
The 4th season of “The Expanse” improved some issues by condensing the overstretched standard 13 episodes per season to 10 episodes in this edition, yet it once again failed to perceive the most obvious omission, namely to be even shorter: it only should have focused on the exploration of the habitable planet Ilus, a former base of an extinct alien race, since all the other subplots of ploys and schemes on Earth, Mars and space station Rocinante have only a tenth of an engagement power compared to it. They are simply uninteresting. The long, arduous dialogues are again tiresome. If they still need so much exposition, at least make the lines fun or interesting. Here, only three work (“Bad news again? They must be contagious!”; the political debate between Avasarala and Gao, when Avasarala says to the public: "How would I have saved Earth from an asteroid threat? The same as last time!"). Since the only subplot that matters is the exploration of Ilus on the other side of the wormhole, it should be mentioned. And it has some fascinating moments, a sense of mystery as the human colonists encounter unusual things on a planet that is supposedly uninhabited. For instance, an abandoned alien building, that looks like a brown pyramid; Holden accidentally activating a panel that starts a lightning bolt hitting the ground and moving forward in equal intervals; swathes of cubes from the ground moving towards the settlement. The best part is the mysterious detonation on the other side of Ilus, seen from the orbit, while the settlers are informed that the shock waves and a giant tsunami will reach them in 8-10 hours, so they have to hurriedly evacuate and find a shelter. Indeed, the most suspenseful and successful achievement of the season, reminiscent of the problems of colonists experiencing a foreign land. Sadly, the rest is too grey, monotone and too slow. One wonders how they have made such a tantalizingly imaginative story so underwhelming at times.
Grade:++
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