• Home
  • Movies
  • Music
  • TV
  • Video Games
  • Wrestling
  • Topics
  • Latest Comments on Cult of Whatever
Search
Cult of Whatever logo
  • Movies
    Featured
    • The Living Daylights: Timothy Dalton as James Bond

      The Living Daylights is still awesome, thirty-five years later

      By Matthew Martin
      | March 28, 2022
      Movie Blogs
    Recent
    • Nope: Keke Palmer and Daniel Kaluuya

      REVIEW: “NOPE” wants to be more than it is, which is just good enough

      By Matthew Martin
      | July 22, 2022
    • Brave: Kelly Macdonald voices Princess Merida

      Ten years later, BRAVE remains Pixar’s most underrated film

      By Matthew Martin
      | July 21, 2022
    • A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Heather Langenkamp as Nancy

      A Nightmare on Elm Street 3 is still awesome, thirty-five years later

      By Matthew Martin
      | July 20, 2022
    • Where The Crawdads Sing: Daisy Edgar Jones and David Strathairn

      REVIEW: Where the Crawdads Sing deftly blends genres to good effect

      By Matthew Martin
      | July 19, 2022
    • Thor Love and Thunder: Natalie Portman and Chris Hemsworth as The Mighty Thor and Thor

      REVIEW: THOR – LOVE AND THUNDER is an adventure of mirth and sadness alike

      By Matthew Martin
      | July 9, 2022
    • Elvis: Austin Butler

      REVIEW: ELVIS beautifully mythologizes the King of Rock and Roll

      By Matthew Martin
      | June 25, 2022
  • Music
    Random
    • Elvis Stamp

      Elvis's 40 Year Reign (1976-Tomorrow)

      By Matthew Martin
      | November 29, 2017
      Music Blogs
    Recent
    • The Beatles: Get Back

      What GET BACK reveals about the Beatles

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 15, 2021
    • Simon And Garfunkel at Feyenoord Stadium in Rotterdam1982

      The Boxer is a song about being conned

      By Matthew Martin
      | July 4, 2021
    • Lady Gaga: Chromatica Album Cover

      Lady Gaga’s discography is totally out of order

      By Matthew Martin
      | June 3, 2021
    • Michael Jackson Thriller Album Cover

      Thirty years ago music fans said “Nevermind” to Michael Jackson

      By Matthew Martin
      | March 21, 2021
    • Queen II Album Cover

      On Queen’s The Miracle, and the importance of track ordering

      By Matthew Martin
      | February 16, 2021
    • Linda Paul Mccartney 1976

      50 years ago, McCartney dropped “Lennon” and went solo…

      By Matthew Martin
      | June 5, 2020
  • TV
    Featured
    • Nancy Drew S03e01: Kennedy McMann as Nancy

      Nancy Drew S03E01 Review: The Warning of the Frozen Heart - Uh-oh!

      By Salome G
      | October 10, 2021
      TV Blogs
    Recent
    • Roswell New Mexico S04e08: Michael Vlamis as Michael Guerin

      Roswell, New Mexico S04E08 Review: Missing My Baby – The truth hurts

      By Salome G
      | August 3, 2022
    • Riverdale S06e22: Madelaine Petsch as Cheryl Blossom

      Riverdale S06E22 Review: Night of the Comet – Ambitious…

      By Salome G
      | August 2, 2022
    • Evil S03e08: Katja Herbers as Kristen Bouchard

      Evil S03E08 Review: The Demon of Parenthood – Gold star ding-dongery

      By Salome G
      | August 1, 2022
    • American Horror Stories S02e02: Gabourey Sidibe as Jaslyn Taylor

      American Horror Stories S02E02 Review: Aura – Home sweet home?

      By Salome G
      | July 31, 2022
    • The Orville S03e09: Jessica Szohr, Adrianne Palicki and Anne Winters as Talla Keyali, Kelly Grayson and Charly Burke

      The Orville season 3 review part four (feature-length epics!)

      By Matthew Martin
      | July 31, 2022
    • Roswell, New Mexico S04e07: Jeanine Mason and Heather Hemmens as Liz Ortecho and Maria DeLuca

      Roswell, New Mexico S04E07 Review: Dig Me Out – Mystifying

      By Salome G
      | July 31, 2022
  • Video Games
    Featured
    • Arkham Knight

      Batman: Arkham Knight - A fitting end to a trilogy

      By Tom Farr
      | July 18, 2015
      Video Game Reviews
    Recent
    • Legend Of Zelda

      Can a Legend of Zelda movie work?

      By Matthew Martin
      | April 6, 2022
    • Super Mario 64

      Which system had the better launch: A battle of four Nintendo consoles

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 1, 2021
    • Luigi's Mansion

      Happy twentieth to Nintendo’s underrated gem, the Gamecube

      By Matthew Martin
      | November 18, 2021
    • Metroid Dread

      Metroid Dread – Post Game analysis and sequel needs

      By Matthew Martin
      | October 29, 2021
    • Mario Headphones

      The SNES Turns 30: A look at some of the system’s best soundtracks

      By Matthew Martin
      | October 22, 2021
    • Metroid Dread Poster

      REVIEW: Metroid Dread reawakens the old gamer in me

      By Matthew Martin
      | October 11, 2021
  • Wrestling
    Featured
    • Wwe Payback 2017 Poster 2

      Your SO OF COURSE preview of WWE Payback 2017

      By Matthew Martin
      | April 30, 2017
      WWE Blogs
    Recent
    • AEW Forbidden Door 2022: Claudio Castagnoli

      ROH Death Before Dishonor 2022 kickstarted a new era with a bang

      By Matthew Martin
      | July 25, 2022
    • Vince Mcmahon Stone Cold Podcast

      Vince McMahon is out as WWE chief. First reactions here…

      By Matthew Martin
      | July 22, 2022
    • AEW Double or Nothing 2022: CM Punk vs Adam Page

      REVIEW: AEW Double or Nothing 2022 delivered an up-and-down show

      By Matthew Martin
      | May 30, 2022
    • MJF on AEW Dynamite 17th November 2021

      Getting AEW to the next level…

      By Matthew Martin
      | May 29, 2022
    • Raw 210501: Triple H and Stephanie McMahon

      May 21, 2001 – A (forgotten) date that will live in WWE infamy

      By Matthew Martin
      | May 20, 2022
    • WWE WrestleMania 39 Logo

      Your WAY TOO EARLY predictions for WWE WrestleMania 39!

      By Matthew Martin
      | April 20, 2022
  • Topics
    • site logo
    Latest
    • Roswell, New Mexico S04E08 Review: Missing My Baby - The truth hurts
    • Riverdale S06E22 Review: Night of the Comet - Ambitious...
    • Evil S03E08 Review: The Demon of Parenthood - Gold star ding-dongery
    • American Horror Stories S02E02 Review: Aura - Home sweet home?
    • The Orville season 3 review part four (feature-length epics!)
    • Roswell, New Mexico S04E07 Review: Dig Me Out - Mystifying

    The Expanse S05E07 Review: Oyedeng – The long goodbye

    By Ethan J
    | January 13, 2021
    TV Blogs

    The Expanse S05e07 Keon Alexander Dominique Tipper Marco Inaros Naomi Nagata Baby Filip

    I was going to open the door, and then I  realized that pressing that button wouldn’t change anything for you.  Either way, alive or dead, you were going to grow up without a mother.  I never wanted to leave you, but walking away was the only choice I had left.  Walking away is the only choice anyone ever has.

    – Naomi to Filip

    Walking away is the only choice anyone ever has.  And that’s certainly true of Naomi in this episode.  Her arc has a tragedy to it that really is heartbreaking, and emotionally raw, and just beautifully executed – especially in this episode.  She really has had two goals this season: escape Marco and save Filip.  Along the way, she’s made some hard choices – knocking out her old friend Cyn to warn the Roci about the malicious code was just the most obvious one.  This episode brings her arc to a shocking and tragic conclusion.

     

    The Expanse S05e07: Keon Alexander and Jasai Chase Owens as Marco and Filip Inaros

    The Expanse S05e07: Dominique Tipper and Jasai Chase Owens as Naomi Nagata and Filip

    It’s not just that Marco’s manipulative hold on Filip is stronger than anything Naomi can possibly break, or that Filip is, at his heart, a coward who gravitates toward the strongest force in the room, and that he lacks the self-assurance to make the hard choice.  It’s also that Naomi is so damn determined to get Filip back, and she beats on that wall so hard, and for so long, and with such raw, boiling emotion, that when she finally breaks, the tragedy is bigger than any of them.  It’s not just the final scene that rips into the viewer with visceral horror – Cyn trying to save Naomi like he did the last time she walked into an airlock – “You shouldn’t have followed me,” she says, and leaps out – soaring toward her ship.  That scene is brilliantly executed, from the suspense of whether Naomi would make it, to the ultimate tragedy of Cyn’s death.

    The Expanse S05e07: Jasai Chase Owens as Filip

    The Expanse S05e07 Brent Sexton Cyn

    The Expanse S05e07 Dominique Tipper Naomi Nagata

    But it’s also the scene before that when Marco reveals his plan to use Naomi’s ship to lure the Roci and destroy it, and Naomi sees that all of her efforts to turn Filip and Cyn against Marco have failed, that she has no allies, and she is truly, utterly alone.  That scene bites hard, and once again, Dominique Tipper is more than up to the task – I’m not ashamed to say I got misty here, just feeling for Naomi’s rage and tragedy and heartbreak and all of it.  But so is the actor who plays Cyn, whose moral uncertainty has been very well illustrated throughout his arc.  And here.  He knows that Naomi’s on the edge, and he tries to save her again – and then…

    The Expanse S05e07 Dominique Tipper Naomi Nagata

    The Expanse S05e07: Jasai Chase Owens as Filip

    Filip’s flipping back and forth between maybe moving toward Naomi and then pledging his undying allegiance to his father is a little ham-handed, and as I said in my review of the last episode, Tribes, I don’t quite buy the whiplash, but it’s not enough to take me out of the episode.

    Those of us who have read the books pretty much know where Marco’s rebellion is going to end up, and seeing the pieces beginning to line up for…ah, but that would be spoilers, wouldn’t it?

    But entire gunships?  Those don’t just disappear

    – Monica

    Someone way up the MCRN food chain must be backing him

    – Holden

    If you’ve read the books, you have the same knowing nod that I do.

    The Expanse S05e07 Anna Hopkins Steven Strait Monica Stuart James Holden

    But the real tragedy of Holden’s arc here is that it’s the sample that was on the Roci that became the sample that Fred had, and now that Marco has.  And Holden can’t help but blame himself for literally everything, and to try to fix literally everything.  And he’s conflicted – he knows he needs to destroy that sample, but the Zmeya might have info on where Naomi is being held, so Holden tries to thread a needle he doesn’t actually have, and loses the Zmeya in the process.  Does that mean the protomolecule isn’t on the Zmeya? But when it explodes, we see blue shards.  Hmm…

    The scene where the Rocinante engages the Zmeya, and the Zmeya throws a “shitload of incoming” at the Roci…it’s beautifully done as usual, the tension of the Roci trying to destroy the missiles before they hit it, the sheer bloody realism of the space battles in this show as compared to Star Wars or Trek or anything else on TV. Nothing wrong with Trek or Wars or anything else – The Expanse is just different in a way that, when it works, it really works.

    A quibble.  There’s kind of a funny scene between Alex and Bobbie near the beginning of this episode.  Bobbie is picking something out of her uniform – bullets.  “You got shot?” Alex asks.  “Yeah, a lot,” Bobbie answers.  I laughed at this line – it’s good.  But then Bobbie does something very, very stupid, that nobody in the Expanse would ever do.  She throws the bullet away.  She throws a loose bullet onto the floor of a spacecraft.

    The Expanse S05e07 Cas Anvar Frankie Adams Alex Kamal Bobbie Draper

    Um, the first time they go for a hard burn, one of the two of them is going to get shot with that bullet.  Am I missing something here, or was there not a major scene in an earlier season where some unsecured tools nearly kill some of the crew?

    The Expanse is heading toward its endgame this season, and it’s going to be a big one.  And I can’t wait to see what happens next.

    9/10 – One point off for the bullet thing.  Best actor for the season award goes to Dominique Tipper, and it’s not even close.  Her range of emotional acting ability is just astounding, and this episode brings out the best and most heartbreaking of Tipper’s talents.  

    Share this article:

    Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit

    Tags

    The Expanse

    COMMENTS

    Please read our Commenting Policy before you join in with the discussion.

    Note: If you have email notifications enabled, please check your email spam folders to ensure emails are not missed.

    Subscribe
    Connect withD
    I allow to create an account
    When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
    DisagreeAgree
    Notify of
    guest
    Connect withD
    I allow to create an account
    When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
    DisagreeAgree
    guest
    2 Comments
    Inline Feedbacks
    View all comments
    RockyNBullwinkle
    RockyNBullwinkle
    1 year ago

    Naomi could be the weakest, whiniest, most cringe protagonist ever.

    0
    Reply
    SilverkingD
    Silverking
    1 year ago

    WOW! Those final few minutes were absolutely jaw-dropping! I’ve talked previously about how good the writing, acting and special effects are but they deserve credit for the music too. It felt like a Hans Zimmer score from a big movie!

    1
    Reply

    You might also like

    • The Expanse S05E06 Review: Tribes – Monsters aren’t afraid

      By Ethan J
      | January 6, 2021
    • The Expanse S05E05 Review: Down and Out – Darkness and light

      By Ethan J
      | December 30, 2020
    • The Expanse S05E04 Review: Gaugamela – The pit and the protomolecule

      By Ethan J
      | December 23, 2020

    FIND THE TOPICS YOU WANT...

    TV Topics

    Recommended for you

    • Roswell, New Mexico S04E08 Review: Missing My Baby – The truth hurts

      By Salome G
      | August 3, 2022
    • Riverdale S06E22 Review: Night of the Comet – Ambitious…

      By Salome G
      | August 2, 2022
    • Evil S03E08 Review: The Demon of Parenthood – Gold star ding-dongery

      By Salome G
      | August 1, 2022
    • American Horror Stories S02E02 Review: Aura – Home sweet home?

      By Salome G
      | July 31, 2022
    • The Orville season 3 review part four (feature-length epics!)

      By Matthew Martin
      | July 31, 2022
    • Is Rick C-137 our original Rick from the Rick and Morty series, does it really even matter?

      By Jason Collins
      | July 26, 2022
    • Breaking down Time Lord biology one heart at a time

      By Jason Collins
      | July 24, 2022
    • Dark Winds S01E06 Review: HózhóoNaasháa – Satisfying

      By Salome G
      | July 21, 2022
    • Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – Episode 10 review (season one ends with a whopper)

      By Matthew Martin
      | July 9, 2022
    • REVIEW: Obi-Wan Kenobi had a good season and little else

      By Matthew Martin
      | June 22, 2022
    • Stranger Things S04 Part 1 Review: Almost perfect!

      By Salome G
      | June 5, 2022
    • Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Every episode ranked! (Part 5/5)

      By Matthew Martin
      | May 30, 2022
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Affiliate Disclosure
    • Cookie Policy and Settings
    • Terms of Use
    • Photo Credits
    • RSS
    All Cult of Whatever articles, logos, illustrations and graphics are copyright CultOfWhatever.com. All other trademarks, logos and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. © 2021 CultOfWhatever. All Rights Reserved.
    • facebook
    • twitter
    wpDiscuz