The Expanse (Spoilers)

[Zaukrie]

Everyone should feel some guilt about killing, even when justified. Even though I think 1000% it would have been the right thing to explode the Pella, I would expect Holden to feel terrible about it still.

This. Anyway.....it is only one part of a much bigger story.

All in all, I liked the show very much, and recommend it to people. Like Holden, it wasn't perfect, but it was good.

 

[Ryujin]

Marco is the leader of your enemy, his continued existence is an imminent mortal threat. And there is no suspect here, you know the second Marco gets back on his feet he will kill again, they know this man. And of course....he does, the first chance he gets.

I can absolutely respect why Holden couldn't pull the trigger, it was a very human reaction. But it was also, 100%, the wrong thing to do, and there is no need to justify it. Holden just f'ed up, plain and simple.

"I was just playing my alignment. It's what my character would do."

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

"I was just playing my alignment. It's what my character would do."

Well, he is the paladin. His player is playing to type.

 

[ko6ux]

James Holden is a classic example of a guy falling upwards through life.

 

[Ryujin]

Well, he is the paladin. His player is playing to type.

The walking definition of "Lawful Stupid"

 

[payn]

The walking definition of "Lawful Stupid"

 

[RangerWickett]

James Holden is a classic example of a guy falling upwards through life.

He successfully investigated an interplanetary conspiracy that could have wiped out all life on earth. He bluffed his way through a blockade, managing to save dozens of people who otherwise would have suffocated and died on a dying base. He rescued the UN Ambassador and captured a man who was perhaps the chief motivation for a war between Mars and Earth. He deescalated a crisis at the ring gate and prevented the whole solar system from being annihilated. He then again successfully investigated alien ruins and brought back evidence of an existential threat to all civilized life in the galaxy. And he led the crew that defanged the Free Navy's asteroid attacks, then outwitted the defenses of a seemingly impregnable fortress within the ring gate, and then used his superior positioning to defeat Marco Inaros and most of the Free Navy fleet.

He maybe gets lucky by stumbling upon situations where he can make a difference, but then he chooses the right response to save a bunch of lives. And that response, most of the time, is to not try to win by killing people, but by exposing villains and understanding complex threats so we aren't vulnerable to them.

I think he's my favorite space captain in all media.

 

[Horwath]

I agree with Clarissa: never feel bad about not killing someone.

Yes, it was strategically short sighted, but ethically? In that moment Marco no longer posed an imminent mortal threat, so it isn't actually justified to kill him and everyone on his ship. It's a real quandary how you should deal with someone you suspect will hurt others, but whom you don't have the ability to detain.

Do you kill someone, assuming that you're preempting harm? Or do you refuse to kill them, because it's a punishment you cannot take back, and you can't know they'd do something in the future that would need to be stopped with lethal force.

Marco Inaros and everyone on his ship were all guilty of war crime/genocide.
Nuke to the face would be simple justice.