This article contains The Expanse spoilers.
In the latest episode of The Expanse, Bobbie Draper reminds the Rocinante crew that they’re harboring a convicted felon, Clarissa Mao, and it’s easy for the audience to forget that she was in a maximum security prison on Earth for blowing up a ship full of innocent people in season 3. The forgiveness she earned from Amos in the intervening seasons has now been extended by Holden in this week’s most touching scene, and saving Bobbie’s life was a big part of her redemption arc.
Co-creator of The Expanse Ty Franck enjoys exploring the new dynamics that Clarissa, played wonderfully by Nadine Nicole, brings to the show. “More than anything it’s nice to see Amos have a friend… and Amos really likes [Clarissa]; they’re obviously growing much closer as friends, and that’s all nice,” he says. “But the other thing that it does is it just gives us a little shakeup of the crew… it makes everybody realign in new ways.”
The Expanse showrunner Naren Shankar thinks that it’s still important to remember that she was motivated by revenge for her family’s downfall. Her father, Jules-Pierre Mao, was the first to attempt to weaponize the protomolecule until Holden and the others stopped him. “When you think about the redemptive aspect of what’s going on here, it’s actually really quite lovely,” says Shankar. “She tried to murder these people! She tried to kill them, and Amos has held out the chance to repair it in the way that Amos can do.”