‘The Expanse’: Naomi’s Family Troubles Have Her (Literally) Hurtling Through Space (RECAP)
Spoiler Alert
[WARNING: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for The Expanse Season 5, Episode 7, “Oyedung.”]
It feels like the whole of Naomi’s (Dominique Tipper) storyline on Season 5 of The Expanse — her anguish about Filip (Jasai Chase Owens), her rage toward Marco (Keon Alexander), and her frayed connections with the rest of her Belter friends — was building toward “Oyedung.”
The Truth Comes Out
While not as intense or thought-provoking as the previous entries, “Oyedung” lays the groundwork for what’s almost guaranteed to be a breathtaking final stretch of episodes.
Naomi’s suffering aboard Marco’s ship continues. Stuck in isolation, her only visitor is her ex-lover, who wants to know why she opted to come back to Filip. She argues that he’s doing “the same thing to Filip that he did to [her],” but Marco reminds her she doesn’t know Filip: he does. They argue, and Naomi makes a good point: Marco hasn’t killed her because he feels threatened. Marco takes her out of isolation, but not without a threat: “Filip will know you for who you really are.”
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Naomi goes to Filip’s quarters and finally gets to tell her side of the story: Marco manipulated her and how shattered she felt in the aftermath. “I realized I was nothing to your father,” she says, “just another piece of him.” Filip breaks down in tears and allows his mother to hold him. He asks why she left, and she tells him Marco hid him from her and even after months of searching, she couldn’t find him. She came close to committing suicide via airlock, but she stopped herself, having realized her death wouldn’t change anything for her son.
The Truth Comes Out, Yet Again
That conversation impacts Naomi’s storyline for the rest of the episode, as does her later chat with Cyn (Brent Sexton). It’s revealed that he saw her walk into the airlock, and tried to find her the next day, but she’d left. “If I’d known it would have come to that,” he said, “I would’ve helped you.” Turns out, Cyn knew where Filip was the whole time: He helped Marco hide him. Feeling guilt for his misdeeds, he agrees to help her now.
Cyn tries to convince Marco to let Naomi go, which, as one might guess, doesn’t go well. In fact, it just might have inspired Marco’s latest horrible plot. As he tells Naomi, he’s agreed to let her go — he’s going to allow use her ship to lure the Rocinante and destroy it. All seems lost; Filip doesn’t stand up for her, and neither does Cyn. As Naomi’s led away, she screams at Marco that she hates him.
Unexpected Reunions
Aboard the Roci, Holden (Steven Strait) and crew continue searching for the protomolecule aboard the Zimeya. He and Bull (Jose Zuniga) have a chat about the late, great Fred Johnson (Chad L. Coleman), but their conversation is interrupted by a transmission from Alex (Cas Anvar). There’s not much of a transmission delay, which alerts Holden to the fact that they’re close (and definitely not on Mars). “What the hell are they doing out here?” he wonders.
Meanwhile, “out there,” Bobbi (Frankie Adams) and Alex make contact with Avasarala (Shohreh Aghdashloo), and send over the ship profiles. She thanks them for the info and says they’re hunting the ships as they speak. They then get the profiles sent to Holden. Still dedicated to the protomolecule mission, he tasks Alex and Bobbie with tracking Naomi down.
Holden and his crew locate the Zimeya, and a harrowing chase ensues. But at the last moment, Holden changes the plan; they’re to board the ship, and “deal with” the protomolecule after they’ve checked the ship’s logs for any info about Naomi. Ultimately, they don’t even get the chance — the ship self-destructs.
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A Final, Desperate Plan
As it turns out, Naomi’s not out of ideas. As the episode ends, she hatches a final, desperate plan — to go out the airlock, again, sans suit. “Don’t do this, Naomi, please,” Cyn begs her
“You shouldn’t have followed me,” she says, revealing a syringe in her hand. The airlock opens, Cyn dies, and Naomi is cast out into the void of space, hurtling toward her ship. As Filip watches in horror, she makes the journey… and she (just barely) makes it to her destination.
The Expanse, Wednesdays, Amazon Prime Video
