My my, wasn’t that a lot of palace intrigue in this week’s episode of The Expanse? With season two rapidly drawing to a close—just one episode left—Errinwright has finally made his play, as has Jules-Pierre Mao. I’ll admit that I didn’t think Errinwright had it in him. We got to see a much more human side to his character this week, followed by a lovely bait-and-switch by the writers. “Earth first” indeed.

With Bobbie Draper and Coytar in tow, Avasarala went to meet Mao on his orbital gin palace—spaceships look pretty good if you’re a gazillionaire. Again, the show has done an effective job of visualizing the kinds of small details that the books can only tell you about, part of the world-building that keeps me so engaged. Will Mao’s ultimatum work? After Errinwright’s actions this week, I wouldn’t bet on it. But who couldn’t love the needling between Draper and Coytar?

The tone was quite different for the scenes with Naomi on the Weeping Somnambulist. With only enough air for 52 people and more than 100 refugees trying to get off Ganymede, it turned into quite a tear-jerker, particularly Champa’s exhortation to his fellow belters to remember who they are and how they live (and die).