Season two of The Expanse got underway with a two-episode premiere on 1 February, 2017 with Safe and Doors & Corners.

Safe was written by Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby and plunges us right back into the realm of the Rocinante and the protomolecule, and the possibility of system-wide war.

While Chrisjen (Shohreh Aghdashloo) begins to realize that those in the UN are working against her and peace. This included her compatriot, Sadavir (Shawn Doyle) who is working with Jules-Pierre Mao (Francois Chau), the billionaire who is very aware of the protomolecule, and okayed its test on Eros. Chrisjen struggles to stay ahead of the curve and make sure cooler heads prevail, even as they send a ship to Phoebe Station in response to a Martian team already on the way., and attempt to maneuver her into the position of scapegoat.

Aboard the Martian ship, commanded by Sutton (Hugh Dillon), are a number of gung-ho marines, including Gunnery Sergeant Bobbie Draper (Frankie Adams), all itching for payback for the Donnager. But Sutton won’t be led to war, he wants a full understanding of the situation, even as they destroy Phoebe Station so that neither they nor the UN can claim it.

On the Roci, Alex (Cas Anvar) finds a place to hide the protomolecule sample that they found on Eros, and Amos (Wes Chatham) and Miller (Thomas Jane) try to work out their differences.

We also see the beginning of a romance between Holden (Steven Strait) and Naomi (Dominique Tipper).

Lots going on for a season opener, maybe that’s why they gave us two episodes to start!

Doors & Corners was written by Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham (collectively known as James S.A. Corey, the authors behind the series). Fred Johnson (Chad L. Coleman) orders an OPA team with Holden and company as backup to a remote spin station, protected by a familiar stealth ship, in search of more information about the protomolecule.

As Chrisjen works to keep the peace, escalation continues, and it seems war is becoming impossible to avoid.

The assault on the spin station is a fantastic sequence, shows how spatial combat may take place, and also leads Miller, Holden and Johnson to Dresden (Daniel Kash) the scientist Mao has put in charge of the protomolecule project.

But before Dresden can tempt others with his knowledge, and amidst his suggestions that the protomolecule is extra-solar and was sent here deliberately in Phoebe, he won’t get a chance to reveal any more secrets as Miller makes a decision for everyone.

And like that, season two of The Expanse is off to a helluva start, and shows us that its upping the stakes, while still taking us through the events of the first book, Leviathan Wakes.

The Roci and her crew are in for some rough times ahead. Let’s see what happens next time.