Chaos at Home: The System-Wide Impact of Marco Inaros in The Expanse Season 5

Season 4 of The Expanse ended with Marco Inaros, having committed a mass killing on the Sojourner and murdered Ashford, sending a stealth-cloaked Asteroid towards Earth.

It’s only appropriate if The Expanse Season 5 also opens with a team of Belters sent by Inaros (and led by his son, Filip), attacking a science vessel near Venus and killing everyone on board. Avasarala, who is now on Luna, investigates the incident and Inaros’ possible involvement in the attack. The former Secretary General of the United Nations also expresses concerns about the likelihood of Inaros drafting a bigger assault plan; this time, she worries the target is Earth.

Meanwhile, Drummer discovers Ashford’s body and confirms his death. But somehow there’s still a glimmer of hope in the otherwise erratic traces of the murderous Marco Inaros. After finding out that Ashford is indeed deceased, Drummer extracts a recording in which Inaros claimed he was aiming for a target even bigger than Ceres or Tycho. She sends the recording to Fred Johnson, who then forwards it to Avasarala. While there is no telling what this target might be, Avasarala is convinced that Inaros is planning (and probably has launched) an attack on Earth. Drummer, who saved Inaros from execution for his crime on Sojourner, eventually decides to hunt down Inaros as well.

And Avasarala is correct all along. While she’s trying hard and failing to persuade UNN Admiral Felix Delgado (stationed on Luna) to re-task the satellite defense system in a way that the watchtower might detect an assault on Earth, multiple large asteroids cloaked in Martian stealth technology are heading towards the planet. In fairness, it’s actually one asteroid that has broken apart into about half a dozen parts. The trajectories send one rock towards off the coast of West Africa and another on a direct collision course with Pennsylvania in the continental United States.

West Africa takes the first hit. The asteroid makes an impact off the western coast of Dakar and obliterates just about everything within the blast zone and then some. It also triggers a massive tsunami that travels across the Atlantic and floods New York City.

Philadelphia falls victim to the second asteroid. Even before the initial impact (of the second strike) subsides, it becomes clear to all the authorities throughout the Solar System that Earth is under attack. The combination of the shockwave and seismic effect destroys everything as far as the eye can see. Even underground facilities, including a maximum security prison, within the impact zone are reduced to ruins. Nancy Gao, the current Secretary General of the United States, along with principal military and government officials was successfully evacuated aboard the UN One.

As the UN One is flying over the Bay of Bengal, Avasarala (still on Luna) contacts Nancy Gao. The former advises the latter to issue an order to reconfigure the watchtower satellites in case there are still other asteroids hurtling towards Earth. And indeed several others are racing to hit the planet. Before anybody can do anything, everybody on UN One witnesses another asteroid make a ground impact about 800 km south of present-day Bangladesh. The shockwave knocks the UN One out, killing everyone, including Gao. It’s unclear who is in charge of the government on Earth.

The watchtower defense mechanism detects most of the remaining asteroids and destroys them with a series of attacks using torpedoes and rail guns. Two asteroids miss the Earth, but no one is really sure whether the attack is over. Everybody is scrambling to make a defense plan and mass evacuation to Luna. Both the UNN Jupiter and the UNN Saturn fleets are redeployed and ordered to return home. Following the three asteroid impacts, millions of people are presumed dead. Besides the mounting casualties, the strikes cripple the government. Luna is now home to the United Nations, where the remaining officials and Avasarala embark on a joint effort to restore order.

Earth is a chaotic mess, and Inaros is still at large. And then there’s still one big problem lurking around the corner; The Expanse Season 5 ends with a glimpse of how the unknown entities, which supposedly killed the Ring Builders billions of years ago, are reactivating. As if that’s not terrifying enough, a blooming protomolecule appears on a strange superstructure currently orbiting Laconia.

We think The Expanse Season 5 features some of the most intense action sequences in the series so far. If the season is indeed intended to showcase the murderous nature of Marco Inaros, it really does a great job at portraying him not only as a radical but also a cold-blooded sadist at the same time. You probably thought that the UN-MCR War was as terrible as it could get, but Inaros has single-handedly showcased that the worst is yet to come.

Do you think Avasarala will ever become the Secretary general again now that Gao is presumed dead? Who has the best chance of killing Inaros? We’d love to hear from you.

Other Things You Might Want to Know

Does the asteroid impact end with the impact on the Bay of Bengal?

No, far from it. The Free Navy, under the command of Marco Inaros, continues to send hundreds of asteroids towards Earth following the third impact. But he eventually runs out of the stealth material, allowing the satellites to detect every attack more easily.