I’m not sure I can take the tension of The Expanse continuing to ratchet itself higher and higher. Oppressor, written by Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck (collectively known as James S.A. Corey, the author of The Expanse novel series), this episode like the rest of the season dropped on Amazon Prime on 13 December, 2019.

Things are escalating on Ilus as Murtry’s (Burn Gorman) Inner forces continue to clash with the Belters who have tried to settle on the planet. Amos (Wes Chatham) is still being held by Murtry’s forces, allowing for some fun moments between him and his romantic (?) at least sexual interest, Chandra (Jess Salgueiro).

On the Roci, Alex (Cas Anvar) and Naomi (Dominique Tipper) are able to tend to Dr. Lucia (Rosa Gilmore) who is having a lot of guilt over her involvement with the landing pad explosion that opened the season and escalated the conflict on Ilus.

Holden (Steven Strait) is able to confront Murtry and get Amos released as he continues to argue for a peaceful settlement.

Back on Earth, Chrisjen (Shohreh Aghdashloo) is having issues in her campaign as acts of piracy near the Rings escalate, and calls for some serious action to be taken.

But all of it is going to be put on pause when it seems some alien tech on Ilus not only overheats, but ends up releasing a nuclear explosion that Amos witnesses from orbit, and sets up some serious problems for those below.

Damn, what an ep! And the tension gets amped some more!

Displacement picks up moments after the end of the previous episode. Naomi informs Holden about the explosion and couples that with some more bad news, there will be a shock wave hitting the contested settlement in an hour, and about seven hours after that, a massive tsunami triggered by the explosion will hit.

The settlement has to evacuate now!

Written by Halli Lambert, Displacement offers a quick look at ongoing events in Bobbie’s (Frankie Adams) life as she continues her work with the corrupt cop, Martin (Paul Schulze) and his organization, as well as Drummer (Cara Gee) and Ashford (David Strathairn) on Medina Station.

What’s going on Ilus? Well, everyone realizes that for the time being, they may have to work together if they want to survive, though Murtry is reticent to allow the settlers to use his ship’s shuttles to escape.

That may be a moot point anyway because the artifacts on Ilus appear to have done something to the ships in orbital space, they aren’t going to be any help getting people off the surface at all.

Holden and Amos advise that everyone take cover in the alien structures. They’ve stood for millions of years, weathering the years and the environment, perhaps they can shelter this small sliver of humanity.

Working together, Belters, UNN and Amos and Holden are able to find shelter in the structures, just as the wave hits, wiping out the settlement, and sealing them in the artifacts…

This show just isn’t letting up this season!

With four episodes left in the season, I can’t wait to see what happens next!