Everyone gathers for a last-ditch attempt to stop Marco before he can fortify behind the ring.
Tropes:
- Aborted Arc: Filip salvaging the disabled (but still serviceable) Rocinante nuke seems to be foreshadowing for it playing a role in the final battles... but it is not even mentioned again.
- And the Adventure Continues: The series ends with the Rocinante flying out into space with the crew optimistic about a new chapter for the system.
- Armor Is Useless: Averted. The Roci's new armor actually deflects a railgun round, albeit barely. Meanwhile, Bobbie and Amos survive a hail of bullets thanks to their armor, even though it's noted the Belters have armor piercing rounds.
- Better to Die than Be Killed: As the Ring Station assault goes wrong, Amos and Bobbie come to the joint conclusion that they'd rather be shot in the front rather than the back.
- Blasphemous Boast: Duarte boasts that he has "gods to kill" when writing off Marco as not worth his time.
- Book Ends: The series began with the crew of the Rocinante aboard an ice hauler, and now they use the same type of ship to attack Marco's railguns.
- Creepy Child: Poor Xan. While his personality is clearly intact, the changes to his body (black eyes and grey skin) do nothing to make him less frightening to his parents who had just held his funeral. Xan's return was portrayed as eerie but heartwarming in the previous episode, in the dark of the forest at night. In the full light, Xan's appearance is startling and understandably frightening, especially his robotic gait as he begs his parents for a hug.
- Extra-Long Episode: As the Grand Finale (at least for now), the episode clocks in at over 60 minutes.
- Foreshadowing:
- External shots of the Pella show the maintenance skiff anchored to the hull and burning along with the ship. In the final shot before the Pella enters the ring, the skiff is no longer there.
- When the strike team lands on the railguns, they learn less than half survived. Amos's response (knowing Naomi's projections had them at 80% strength) is a grim "Naomi is usually better with the numbers than that." Later, while reviewing data from the crate drops, Naomi realizes that a ring event was triggered during their approach — that's what swallowed up the other 30% of the strike team, and it gives her the know-how to use the rings against Marco's fleet.
- Godzilla Threshold: The final plan to stop Marco involves intentionally antagonizing the entities that wiped out the Ring Builders, potentially waking them permanently given they're trying to create a much larger ring event that will swallow an entire fleet, but the alternative is dying and giving Marco yet another chance to escape justice.
- Go Look At The Distraction: Marco splits his force into three groups and masses them to avoid long-range scans. The largest group is assumed to be running cover for his ship, but Marco is in fact hiding among the supply convoy, pulling a Rocinante-like move of mocking his ship up like a normal hauler before ejecting the disguise and ambushing the weak Belter fleet sent to intercept.
- Gunship Rescue: After Bobbie destroys the railgun reactor, the Rocinante is able to maneuver to the ring station to knock out members of the Free Navy attacking the raiding force.
- Heel Realization: As Filip argues with his father about the lives lost in the war, Marco complains that Filip can't see the gift he's been given by being Marco's son. Filip simply replies, "I do now."
- Hoist by His Own Petard:
- Attempted, but ultimately subverted. The plan is to capture the Free Navy railguns and turn them on Marco when he passes through the ring, but Bobbie is ultimately forced to destroy the reactor because the volume of fire is too great to make headway without air support.
- Whenever they've met previously, Avasarala has chided Holden for being too idealistic and failing to get with the program of politics and underhanded tactics. After she has Holden put in charge of the Transport Union — supposedly as a neutral fourth party to prevent any of Earth, Mars, or the Belt from getting control of the Rings — he uses some sneaky political maneuvering (appointing Drummer as his VP, then immediately resigning to make her President) to give the Belt control of the Rings and their own power base, while all Avasarala can do is seethe in mixed anger and admiration.
- Human Shield:
- To avoid getting cut down by the railguns, Holden maneuvers the Roci to put Medina Station between himself and the railguns, knowing the Free Navy won't fire through the only port in the ring space just to hit him.
- With Bobbie knocked out and unable to move, Amos covers her with his own body to try and keep her alive long enough for reinforcements to arrive.
- Hyperspace Arsenal: Holden is briefly amazed when he observes that Bobbie's armor can somehow hold an entire crate of ammunition.
- I Reject Your Reality: Marco's Free Navy has been kicked out of the Sol system, much of the Belt has turned on him for abandoning Ceres and switched to Drummer's OPA, then a combined three-pronged large-scale counter-attack from the Earth/Mars/Drummer alliance reduces his fleet from about 50 ships (according to displays) to only eight, and his own flagship is damaged. Medina station's railguns are inoperable, and the allied fleet will catch up with them long before they can be repaired. Finally, Duarte sends Marco a blunt message that Laconia has abandoned him. Nevertheless, he boasts to Filip that his victory is at hand, then gives one of his signature Rousing Speeches to the crew claiming that they've been "bloodied" but the Inners are "broken" — right after he just got his ass handed to him by an Inner fleet composed of new ships that their still-intact military shipyards have been cranking out since his asteroid attacks, while he just lost whatever real infrastructure he had. It will take years to build up the extra-solar colonies to the point that they can have their own shipyards, a chance lost now that their railgun defenses are down.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: Clarissa suggests retreating when Marco is about to enter with what's left of the fleet, since they could flee through any other ring. This is rejected because they'd have to board Medina for fuel to even get that far, which would require fighting the Free Navy crew still holding the station, and no one feels like running anyway.
- Loophole Abuse: Holden reluctantly agrees to be first President of the new Transport Union, but only under the condition that Camina Drummer is his vice-president and that all the terms of the Transport Union are put into writing. The moment he and the powers-that-be have a system in place and everyone is ready to inaugurate him, he resigns to get what he wanted in the first place — an honorable Belter in a position of authority. Avasarala is understandably pissed, but Holden talks her into rolling with it for everyone's good.
- Needle in a Stack of Needles: To disguise the Boarding Pods, thousands of shipping containers are shot into the ring along with them to confuse the railgun sensors. About a third survive the trip.
- No MacGuffin, No Winner: Unable to capture the railgun command center, Bobbie instead obliterates the reactor with a missile strike so the Roci can provide cover for them. The alliance won't have access to the railguns, but the damage is so severe that Marco will never manage to repair it before the main alliance fleet can catch up.
- Now You Tell Me: After a surprise battle against the Pella which ends with Walker performing a Heroic Sacrifice, Drummer gets a message from the UNN that Marco may be flying disguised. She's too exhausted at this point to even snark about it.
- Offing the Offspring: Naomi detonates the reactor of the ice hauler with the full knowledge that she has just doomed her son. It's later subverted, as a flashback shows that Filip had actually left the Pella before it entered the ring.
- Oh, Crap!:
- When Marco sees the red distortion in the ring, he yells in vain to change course before his ship is devoured.
- Played for laughs when Holden realizes he's just volunteered himself as the new President of the Transport Union, though he's just acting the part and knew it was coming.
- Avasarala has this reaction seconds before realizing that Holden played her in getting Drummer installed as the President of the Transport Union by resigning during his acceptance speech.
- P.O.V. Shot: A shot from Xan's eyes shows how he can see the electrical energy moving through her and everything else.
- Ramming Always Works: Drummer plans to ram the Pella to stop Marco, but Walker gets the same idea and moves ahead of her. His charge doesn't quite work because a Free Navy escort manages to cut his ship in half, but the forward hull still smashes into the Pella and causes considerable damage. With the Tynan too damaged to close the distance, Drummer retreats.
- Rousing Speech: Marco gives one to his crew after the battle, boasting that they're on the verge of winning despite the shape they're in. This contrasts with Filip realizing just how delusional such an assessment is.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After the Pella is eaten, a flashback shows Filip leaving in a maintenance skiff and changing his last name to "Nagata" in defiance.
- Sequel Hook: The Laconia subplot is left open-ended to allow for the possibility of a revisit, the final scene on Laconia showing that the orbiting ship is now active.
- Ship Tease: The way Amos interacting with Clarissa and Bobbie gets a reaction from Holden and Naomi could be interpreted in this manner.
- Shout-Out: The strike team roster is filled with names from various sci-fi films, games, books, and shows, including G. Ackbar, K. Thrace, D. Idaho, S. Connor, J. Cooper, R. Deckard, J. Nesmith, E. Ripley, D. Hicks, J. Vasquez, W. Hudson, C. Shepherd, W. Riker, D. Bowman, K. Flynn, J. Rico, D. Quaid, R. Neary, A. Rogan, L. Starr, J. Anderton, R. Stone, L. Banks, E. Buck, and J. O'Neil.
- Smug Smiler: Duarte can barely contain a smirk as he tells Marco he was just a pawn and is cutting him off.
- Soundtrack Dissonance: When Marco gives his final, delusional, I Reject Your Reality speech at the end, it's another one of his trademark Rousing Speeches, laying on his performative charisma for all it's worth. But this time, the soundtrack plays depressing, mournful music to highlight just how much of a break from reality Marco is having. The rest of the crew join in cheering Marco, but not Filip: the scene (and thus the music) are to show his perspective, as he finally realizes what a delusional narcissist his father is.
- Summon Bigger Fish: Bruised and about to face Marco's forces with no hope of winning, Naomi figures their best bet is to trigger the hyperspace aliens and have them devour Marco's armada. It works.
- That Thing Is Not My Child!: Cara's parents react with horror when Cara returns with their son, revived by the protomolecule. When he heals instantly from being cut, his father resorts to shoving him into a locker.
- Throwing Out the Script: Holden finishes his scripted speech as the new head of the Transport Union... then keeps talking and announces his resignation in favor of Drummer leading the organization.
- Why Isn't It Attacking?: When the main UNN force fires upon what they presume to be the Pella, Avasarala notes that it isn't shooting back and the other Free Navy ships aren't moving to assist. Then they're able to get a drive signature scan and realize it isn't the Pella.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Duarte bluntly tells Marco that he was a useful distraction, but now he doesn't need Marco anymore and has no intention of helping, even sarcastically signing off in Belter creole to drive the point home.
- Your Days Are Numbered: After a migraine, Clarissa does a med-scan and the system informs her she has five years to live with no recommended treatment to extend her life.
