WARNING: The following contains spoilers for the first three episodes of The Expanse Season 5, available now on Amazon Prime Video.

Season 5 of The Expanse has premiered on Amazon Prime and the first three episodes released have already significantly raised the stakes for all parties involved. One fan-favorite character who has already been dealt a blow in fortunes is former U.N. Secretary-General Chrisjen Avasarala. Season 4 saw her losing her re-election campaign to her former subordinate, Nancy Gao, and while her bad fortunes haven't stopped Avasarala from her ardent attempts to maintain peace, her influence has been greatly diminished.

Season 5 reveals to audiences Avasarala has been exiled to a desk job on Luna, a punishment from Gao. Still wary of the uneasy political tensions between Earth, Mars and the Belt, Avasarala has been outspoken in advising caution regarding the colonization of other worlds beyond the alien Ring Networks. Season 4 saw her contending with OPA extremist, Marco Inaros, even giving the go-ahead on a mission attempting to apprehend Marco. The military operation ended in disaster, however, causing the deaths of innocents with nothing to show.

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This failure was the final nail in the coffin for her campaign and also put a severe strain on her marriage and relationship with her daughter. Despite these failures, she is still determined to see Marco brought to justice, believing that Gao is not taking the threat he represents seriously enough. The end of Season 4 saw Marco declare all-out war on Earth and Mars in the name of the OPA, despite the other factions attempting to form a legitimate Belter government willing to work diplomatically with the two major planets.

The finale of Season 4 saw her still dedicated to finding out and stopping whatever Marco has planned next. With her contacts and resources severely depleted, she has hired Martian ex-marine Bobbie Draper to act as her spy. Bobbie came forward with the revelation that Martian tech is being smuggled to unknown buyers. Avasarala is convinced that the buyers are OPA associated with Marco, but she lacks the hard intel required to back her statements.

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She has been funding Bobbie's investigation, sending her large sums of money for her to buy smuggled goods and attempt to work her way up her chain of contacts, hopefully finding the source on Mars who is facilitating the arms sales. During a video conference, she attempted to sway Gao to listen to her but was summarily shut down. The only ally within the government she had was Navy Admiral Delgado, but even he was wary.

She called in an independent scientist to help convince Delgado, with the scientist examining the data from a research vessel destroyed by a shattered meteor. The scientist, at Avasarala's urging, was able to theorize that the irregularities in the data could have stemmed from the use of Martian stealth technology covering the outside of the meteor before it cracked, leaving the inside visible to scans. However, this was not a certain enough piece of evidence and Delgado withdrew himself from Avasarala's efforts, leaving her hanging.

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Despite her correct instincts that Marco is sending cloaked meteors to Earth, she lacked both the clout and the proof to act on her feelings. But at the end of Episode 3, she was handed a smoking gun via OPA leader Fred Johnson. He sent her the final recorded conversation of OPA veteran Klaes Ashford, uncovered by Camina Drummer. This audio recording has Marco, in his own words, admitting that he's planning to attack Earth before venting Ashford into space.

People may listen to her now that she has concrete proof, but the damage is already done. Just as she received this information, the first of Marco's planned bombardments has struck Earth hitting the East coast of North America and wiping out Boston. She may be able to help prevent further damage to Earth, but Marco has struck his first blow for the OPA and the results were devastating.

An adaptation of the novel series of the same name by James S.A. Corey, The Expanse stars Steven Strait, Cas Anvar, Dominique Tipper, Wes Chatham, Shohreh Aghdashloo and Frankie Adams. New episodes of Season 5 premiere Wednesdays on Amazon Prime Video.

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