In this week's episode of The Expanse, our gang wants to get to Ganymede, but the Rocinante is a little too recognizable. Pretending to be a Martian Navy boarding party, Holden and Amos commandeer a Belter freighter, the Weeping Sonambulist, which was transporting relief supplies to the crippled agricultural outpost. Things get worse for the Sonambulist's owners when the local cops on Ganymede decides to alter the terms of their bargain, taking all the relief supplies instead of a smaller cut. It's a tough life out there among the asteroids for the little person.

Bobbie Draper finally gets to ride a dropship down Earth's gravity well, but it isn't the ride she always pictured. The Martians are visiting Manhattan to attend the peace conference. There's obviously little good faith between the two delegations, and there's plenty of posturing from both sides. Much to Gunny Draper's disgust, the Martians accept responsibility for causing the Battle of Ganymede, offering up the late private Travis as a scapegoat. But Avasarala isn't buying it, and even though Draper was told to keep it quiet, she spills the beans about the man without the pressure suit.

The show does a good job this week of conveying just how alien Earth is to the Martians. Bright sunlight, oppressive gravity, and vast horizons would surely be disconcerting to someone used to life in the subterranean tunnels of Mars. It also gives you a good sense of how much contempt the Martians feel for Earth, filled with disgust at a civilization they think has squandered its resources and lies around in idle poverty.

Oh, and I hope no one forgot about the protomolecule down on Venus. The massive impact of crashing Eros station into Venus hasn't destroyed it, and neither have surface temps above 700 Kelvin or an atmosphere of dense sulfuric acid. As readers of the books know all too well, the protomolecule is about to change everything. And happily, we'll get to see the next book on-screen, because Syfy has renewed The Expanse for a third season.

In this week's episode of the podcast, I'm joined by Wes Chatham. Wes plays Amos on the show, and we chat about his character, research scandals and the need for ethics in science, and which version of Bladerunner is best, among other topics.

I'll be analyzing, debating, and dissecting The Expanse every week with a different guest, and we'll post the podcast on Fridays throughout the season. New episodes air on Wednesdays in the US, so you have time to watch before we get into major spoilers. The Expanse season 2 will air in the UK on Netflix, although possibly not for another month or two.

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Decrypted is Ars Technica's weekly podcast about the TV that obsesses us. Currently we're dissecting The Expanse. Listen or subscribe however you please above and let us know what you think—ideas, questions, and so on—through the comments section, on iTunes, or via e-mail.