The Expanse Season 5 finale recap: Did the Roci save Naomi?

It was a race against time to save Naomi without getting killed on The Expanse Season 5 finale. It’s time to recap the events of the episode.

One of the downsides of the finale was that we knew we would say goodbye to one of the Roci crew members. While the actor is leaving under negative circumstances, the writers had to find a way to make the exit matter. After all, you can’t do a character dirty.

That character was Alex, and we did say goodbye to him. Would it be through death or would he just return to Mars and we’d just hear about him? That was always the question considering Season 5 had finished filming when the investigations into Cas Anvar’s actions finished.

At the same time, we needed to see how Holden, Alex, and Bobbie would be able to save Naomi without dying. It’s time to break down The Expanse Season 5 finale.

Camina makes her move

The first part of the episode was spent on two big problems. Alex and Bobbie had to get to Naomi while Holden had to lose the Belter ships that turned up to fire against him. Those Belters were Camina’s lot, but Holden had no way of knowing that.

Karal says she’s going to take over the firing of the torpedos, and Camina looks to agree to that. In the end, she holds a gun to Karal’s head to stop Karal firing the torpedos.

There’s a fight on the ship but Michio ends up killing Karal. Camina also makes it clear to Holden that she is the one in charge. There will be no more firing on the Roci.

However, it’s not over for Camina. Marco is understandably angry and he decides to make Camina pay for her actions by killing Serge, who had been left behind on Marco’s ship. Everyone is devastated, and it leads to Oksana deciding that she’s leaving Camina’s crew.

Bertold also leaves. Is there a chance the unit can make up? It’s going to be difficult, and I get the sense that we’ll see a Camina and Oksana standoff during The Expanse Season 6 as they end up on opposite sides. Or maybe Oksana and Berthold will be killed by Marco too.

Naomi takes a leap of faith on The Expanse Season 5 finale

Meanwhile, Naomi is doing everything she can to prevent Alex and Bobbie getting close to her loaded ship. She manages to get one of the thrusters going, making the ship turn in space. It’s not enough to stop Alex, as he just thinks it’s a malfunction.

Naomi decides to do the only thing she can. She jumps out of the ship in her suit, using Belter emergency hand signals to get a message to Alex.

Fortunately, Bobbie spots her on the cameras. Alex is able to work out what the hand signals mean, and Bobbie gets out just in time to save Naomi, connecting oxygen to her suit.

All good, right? Everyone saved?

Sadly not, just as Bobbie and Naomi are getting back on the Razorback, Alex’s comms to silent. We see that he’s died after that hard burn to Naomi.

Later, Holden explains that Alex suffered a stroke, something that The Expanse has always told us is a risk of hard burns. Naomi feels like it’s her fault though. She was the one that made the mistake of going to see Filip.

In the end, Alex’s ex is going to take care of the funeral arrangements and he’ll get full military honors. Naomi tells Bull to blow up her bomb-riddled ship.

It’s time to move on with the rest of the story.

Amos has a new crew member

The Roci heads to Luna, where they can meet up with Avasarala and figure out what they’re doing next. They can’t stay out of this war against Marco and Naomi has useful information to help figure out a way to stop it.

That’s where we meet up with Amos and Erich. Erich wants Amos to stay on Luna with him. They can work together again, but Amos isn’t doing that. He needs to get back to his family, and he has a new crew member.

He wants Peaches to join the crew. It’s not going to be easy for Holden considering everything that happened on The Expanse Season 3, but it looks like Holden isn’t going to have an excuse. Plus, Peaches knows how to fly ships and the Roci now needs a pilot. I think that problem is solved and Peaches saying she could fly the shuttle was foreshadowing of this.

It will be nice to have another woman on board the Roci full time.

What about Bobbie? She’s staying on Luna to be Avasarala’s adviser.

It’s not over yet

The Expanse Season 5 finale was never going to end with a somewhat happy ending. Marco is still out there, and there are Mars fleets still working with him. Avasarala has her work cut out for her.

To make matters worse, Monica shares that they missed one of the torpedoes from earlier in the season from the Zmeya. That torpedo was likely never aimed at the Roci. What if that torpedo had the protomolecule on it?

Naomi certainly thinks it’s possible. That torpedo is heading for the ring gates to where Mars is colonizing a planet. Uh oh!

Speaking of Mars, we find out that Admiral Sauveterre of the Martian Congressional Republic, who Bobbie had suspected was involved with the black market Mars tech, is definitely in league with Marco. The admiral wanted the protomolecule, which has been let loose on the Sol Ring.

The admiral makes it clear that there is no room for infractions anymore as they enter through the ring. This is certainly setting up for a big storyline in The Expanse Season 6.

What did you think of The Expanse Season 5 finale? What are your predictions for The Expanse Season 6? Share in the comments below.

The Expanse Season 5 is now available in full to stream on Amazon Prime Video.