Being a Belter means being out. I think his experience of it is more about being marked to be demoted than it is about being a culture. Alexander told io9 that he thinks he understands that the culture that has developed amongst the Belters has become intertwined with their oppression. I think that he believes that they are not thriving and that they are surviving. He isn't precious in those terms. He doesn't have the same markings as the others. He isn't bound to follow that tradition. He is committed to breaking those traditions to allow and unleash what they are capable of and not hold on to the traditions of what they have always been.
Marco had a good season. He struck an alliance with rogue members of the Martian military to help build up his Free Navy, knocked off other Belter leaders who threatened his standing, and was able to maintain control over his teenage son. Marco is definitely in his element when season six begins.
When we find him at the top of season six,Marco is his own dream come true. I like to joke that he has occupied the throne, but the question is how he has built his being to be able to accomplish this, from nothing, from childhood architecturally designing exactly what he needs to be to accomplish this. Alexander said that he has everything invested in that one basket of being the warrior that can lead us to victory. When the battle is over, what happens? It is a different set of tools. We are meeting him at the beginning of this and when he is in his full glory, but also sitting in a crisis of identity, wondering what now, who am I, now that I have actually won this battle? I am not interested in bureaucracy. The cracks in his psychology begin to become apparent when he switches to another facade. We are meeting him at a time when things are about to change. Throughout the season, that happens. Everything changes for him.
One of the things that changes for Marco in season six is his relationship with Filip, whose encounter with Naomi still hurts him, and whose questioning of his father's methods becomes a real problem. Marco has a vision and Filipp is at the center of it. It is the experience of a single father being responsible for this new life and vow that this child will not have the same experiences of injustice, oppression, and the violation of humanity that he has experienced, and being willing to do whatever it takes in his life to make sure that this kid doesn The root of this is love in his heart. The level of investment and the level of stakes placed on a child makes it difficult. A teenager is developing their own idea of what their parent is.
The relationship is already very complicated, and the growing rebellion of Filip makes things even more shaky. The process of Marco's control being loosened and the source of all his stifled love and the person he is willing to sacrifice everything for is what we are watching. He is the closest person to him and it feels like a loss. He can't express how much he loves him, even though he does. Alexander said there was too much in the way for him to articulate any of that. It is really messy. I think it's a relationship between sons and fathers that we see around us. The gap is between generations. The emotional intelligence is missing in order to build those bridges. The writers and the producers did a good job of setting up that scene.
During The Expanse's sixth season, we can see Marco's public persona, which involves a lot of rhetoric-spewing and satisfied smiling while his fans chant his name, and the slightly less confident self he shows behind closed doors. Alexander explained that Marco is still nursing some deep emotional wounds after the events of last season.
I think the most devastating experience he has ever had is with Naomi, and that is the most vulnerable he has ever had. Alexander thinks that if he had succeeded in overcoming his own hurdles in meeting her again, we would be in a different place. The meeting of poles is what I think has to do with this. When Marco and Naomi meet, they have a magnetism that pulls them together, but in this instance that did not work out, because they are both repelled by each other. If there is anything that he might consider calling a regret, it would be not having that experience in his life because there is no one else left.
Alexander said that he will miss the opportunity to work with actors like David Strathairn, who played the legendary Belter leader turned Marco foe in seasons three and four of The Expanse. But also? He admitted that the speeches were fun. I might not be speechifying for a while.
The sixth season of The Expanse is on Amazon Prime. We will have more Expanse coming up on io9 this week.
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