[Drummer] "But a Belter opened it. We are the Belt! We are sharp and we don't feel fear. Hey guys, Pete here. I've got a new expanse video for you today. But real quick,
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Talk about one of my favorite characters in The Expanse
TV show Camina Drummer. I say the show because while there is a character
named Drummer in the books, what we've seen so far has been a combination
of several characters that were cut when they adapted
the story for the screen. This has made her a bit of a wild card for
people who've read the novels and Cara Gee's amazing performance
has elevated the character to being a whole that is truly
greater than the sum of her parts. I'm going to talk about the character's journey
and why I think she has turned out to be the most interesting
example of what it means to be a Belter. As far as spoilers,
I'll be talking about things that happen through the fifth season of the TV series. If you're not caught up to the end of that,
then this video might not be for you. And with that out of the way, let's get into
it. I think the clip I opened the video with is
the most memorable Drummer moment, but it was probably when she executed
the two Black Sky, Belters on Tycho that I realized what an absolute
scene-stealer this character is. She rose to be the captain of the Behemoth
and later Medina station, but over the seasons Drummer has
taken on a number of roles. When we first met her in season 2 she was
working under Fred Johnson as his second-in-command at Tycho station. Right off the bat,
in her first couple of scenes, we learned that she's competent,
she has a presence, and that Fred Johnson trusts her to the point of
making her his Security Chief. She's involved in the raid on Thoth station,
and then she oversees the repairs on the Rocinante afterward. She also starts to form a friendship with
Naomi, who is the only Belter on the Roci and in
one of their early scenes together we learn that she likes to hydrate
with beers. We also pick up details about her background
throughout season 2. She was born and raised on Ceres. She worked the docks where she eventually
came into contact with Anderson Dawes. Over time
It sounds like she worked her way up to become a high-ranking member
of his faction in the OPA and she was there when Dawes found Fred
Johnson who in a low point after Anderson station, basically came to
the Belt to commit suicide by Belter. She played a role in convincing Dawes to save
Fred rather than killing him, which is what led to him staying in the
Belt, and creating his own OPA faction as an earther. At some point, Drummer broke with Dawes and
decided to follow Fred to Tycho station where we meet her. She plays a role in launching the Nauvoo in
an attempt to push Eros into the Sun and helps take control
of the nuclear missiles that were launched at it by Earth. Those along
with her, loyalty to Fred earn her, a bullet in her belly, but she
does even the score there before it's all said and done. the attempt to
take control of the missiles, was instigated by Dawes, who had
approached her earlier where he came on strong, hinting that there is
more than just a working relationship in their past. And it became clear that he was trying to
get close to her, trying to learn about the secret weapon that Fred had
alluded to All of this caused tension when Fred got ahold
of the Protomolecule sample through Naomi. he made the decision
to tell Dawes about it because he wanted access to Cortazar,
which Drummer couldn't believe because he had kidnapped the Protogen
scientist right out from under him. This causes Drummer to reconsider things in
relation to Fred, but later she still takes a belter fleet to
recover the Nauvoo and start the process of retrofitting it into
the OPAs first warship. So the seeds are planted for a
very complicated story at this point. Drummer is now the captain of the Behemoth. She's reunited with Naomi who has come on
board to be the chief engineer, and they take on Ashford, who is associated
with the Anderson Dawes faction. For all appearances
He doesn't show her the respect that she thinks that she deserves as
the captain, and he does several things that seem to undermine her Authority. Things take a turn when Clarissa Mao launches
her plan to try to destroy Holden. She destroys the Seung-Un and transmits the
video of Holden taking responsibility in the name of the OPA and
declaring that only the belt has legitimate claim to the ring. even
though Naomi tries to assure them that Holden would never do that
they're in a position where they have to do something before the UN
retaliates. not just against the rocinante but also their
ship the Behemoth. So drummer has to make the tough decision
to take a shot at them to make it clear that they're not working
together. that forces the Roci to become the first ship
to transit the ring successfully after Holden talks to
Proto Miller. They do survive but unsurprisingly Naomi is
upset and that leads to her coming to the conclusion that she belongs
on the Roci. Which over time we came to realize as a big
loss for drummer who had developed deep feelings for her. And in respect for that
she just has to let her go. when the Martians decide to go into the
Slow Zone after the Roci they warned the other ships not to follow,
but Ashford and Drummer realized that this will create a situation
where the belters are shut out completely. So they decide to Transit the ring with the
Behemoth. And this is where she delivers that incredible
speech with Ashford starting the beat and everyone chanting by
the end. and they do Transit, which earns the belt a seat at the
table. There's some tension over drummer, letting
Naomi go, which in a roundabout way leads to Drummer and Ashford
finding themselves pinned against some farming equipment after the speed
limit changed again. This is another amazing scene where we get
to see them talk about their pasts and then eventually realizing
that there's nothing else that they can do Drummer allows herself to
be crushed So that Ashford could get free. that crushes he spine and leaves
her without feeling in her legs. This doesn't stop her though
because when Ashford takes over and gets the dangerous idea of
shooting the ring with the Behemoth's communication laser, she
puts a Mech together that allows her to walk again. She helps Naomi and Holden get back together
and in their effort to try to reach the bridge. when they're pursued by Diogo,
who now has some power armor, she plans to sacrifice herself to take him
out, but is saved at the last second and doesn't have to go through
with it. The crisis in the slow Zone comes to an end
and when you next see Drummer she's healing and has become the
captain of what is now called Medina station. And we'll get to the next chapter in her life. After a quick mention that,
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or domain. So now drummer is the captain of Medina, which
is parked inside the Slow Zone. because she got the ship through
the ring they were able to leave it there. They changed the name and are now in a great
position to coordinate things Once the blockade is lifted by the UN. Colony ships will be able to
pass through the ring Gates and access The worlds Beyond and Fred Johnson's faction
of the OPA will be at the center of it. And even though her role is toned down in
the fourth season. I think this is where things get really interesting. I mean her scenes from the end of season 2
through season 3 had pretty much been a highlight reel, but here she has
to try to work with the inners in the new peace treaty that Fred and
Dawes negotiated and in a conversation with Naomi
she also lays out her feelings about belters going through the Rings
and transitioning to living on planets. She believes that belters belong in space,
within two generations on a planet They'll be inners and will have forgotten
their culture and Roots Naomi counters this
with everyone has the right to decide for themselves. And while she agrees, you can see how much
the idea bothers Camina. she reconciles what's Ashford and they investigate
an incident where everyone on board a Colony ship are spaced. There are factions of the OPA that are against
the peace treaty with the inners and they're carrying out attacks
to send a message. Marco
Inaros is brought to them for a reward and they try to get answers out of him. They learned that he has something going on
with somebody on Mars, but he shuts things down when he figures out what
they're doing. They give him a trial with the leaders of
three other factions there to judge, and it comes down where they're
split, and Drummer has to use her deciding vote to let Marco live. She explains that she did actually want him
dead but understood that a civil war could break
out if she went against the Black Sky, and golden bough. This turns out to cause her real problems
and eventually brings about the end of her time working for Fred Johnson. Marco make some moves
that provoked the UN, they take a more active role in the Slow Zone
and then Fred works out a deal that she doesn't approve of. She makes some good points that Fred can't
really counter, but he's able to pull the card about her letting inaros
live. And in the end she quits. before she leaves,
Ashford comes to try to talk her out of it and they talk about the
inner planets history of imperialism and violence while looking at the Mormon paintings. She says she believed in Fred's vision of
a free and independent belt, but now that they have reached that point
They're painting the same picture. They're playing with the lives of Innocents
in exchange for peace. She expected Ashford to take over her job
but learns that he's going out to try to kill Marco
and he offers her the job of XO on the Tynan for the mission if she wants it. She decides against it and tells him that
she's getting away from all of it. She gives him a bottle of liquor as a present
which he gives back saying that they can share it together when
he returns. And then they say goodbye. And it's the last time that they'll see each
other because Ashford is killed by Marco in the season four finale. The fifth season starts out with drummer in
a much different place. She managed to leave your old life behind
and became the captain of a small group of ships that get
by through scavenging. The crew is more than that
There are polyamorous family, which had been led by Oksana before they
brought Drummer in. It's a tight-knit group with that added emotional
connection, and she seems to care deeply for her partners. He see that they're getting by trying not
to resort to violence, but we'll protect the territory they've carved
out. When they come across a pirate that attacked
a colony ship. That doesn't want to cut them in. They attack and disable the ship. They Eventually locate Ashford ship the Tynan
and discover is backup data core. When she goes through it
he hears the recording he made of Marco. As his life was ending, this puts her on the
path of Revenge and she tells her family that she wants to kill Marco
so they can collect the Bounty. They can see through this though and know
that it's personal and that it's extremely dangerous and they are able
to talk her out of it after Marcos attacks on Earth and Tycho station
neutrality isn't an option her family is forced to make a decision. Join the free Navy or risk being hunted down,
which isn't really a choice after all and to make things more complicated. They have to do a crew exchange which puts
one of Drummer's family members on the Pella and brings Karal who
is pretty much hostile onto the Tynan. This is where Drummer really becomes the embodiment
of the Belter struggle. There is no where she can go to get away from
this. On the one side. She has a man who is an extremist,
who has committed atrocities against humanity and is responsible
for killing people. She was close to on the other side. You have the imperialist powers that have
subjugated her people and culture the literal boot on their neck. It would go against the fabric of her identity
to side with the inners. And if she were to go that way, she might
just get herself in her. Family killed in the process. When said atrocities guy makes it explicitly
personal and orders her to kill her good friend's
crew and destroyed their ship She reaches a Breaking Point. She turns against the free Navy. She turns the battle in the Rocinante's favor
and she knows she's risking everything while she does it. In retaliation
her husband is killed on the Pella, half of her family leaves her in
response, and she's left with nothing and nowhere to go at the end of
season 5. It's just a tremendous character Arc from
start to finish a Belter's Belter through and through. a dockworker
rising through the ranks as a verifiable badass, a competent Commander
with a moral compass. And one that understands the game enough to
wonder if she wants to play it at all. An existence that's built on trying to decide
between the lesser of two evils. I think that scenario in the books where the
corporate boss wants to cut pay by 3% because that will improve their
bottom line and it's not a lot of money, right? And the belters are just barely getting by
as it is. So they say, what do you want us to do? Eat three percent less food? Breathe 3% less air? and then the reality
is, what are they supposed to do about it? We also get to see real humanity, intimacy,
and depth in her connection with her family
only to see that tested by the reality around them. She was there to make sure the belt would
be involved when the ring Gates opened. And when she saw what that looked like she
walked away from it. She had a chance to take out Marco personally,
but thought at the time that it would lead to more violence. If she did, she worked closely with
Anderson Dawes and Fred Johnson both of whom rose to powerful positions
but in the end she felt they lost their way once they got there. I've watched and re-watched
This series more than any person should and I'd be hard-pressed to
come up with a more interesting individual story. Drummer is the belt. She's the belt. And while there are other great belter characters
like Miller and Naomi, they're somewhat disconnected from
where they came from and that isn't a case with Camina and I think
that's a great place to leave things. I didn't really get into it because the show
character took on a life of her own. Because the creators like Cara Gee's performance
so much. She just kept getting more stuff. She just sort of kept absorbing different
aspects of characters. They had to cut as she was becoming her own
thing. One detail
that's pretty funny as that Bull is one of the characters she replaced in season 3. And when he was introduced in the show in
season 5, he basically took over the role of the original Drummer when
she was first introduced in the fifth book, they switched
places. Mostly She's a combination of Sam, Bull and
Michio Pa, but the show's version of Ashford got some of their stories as well. beyond working for Fred Johnson,
She doesn't really have any of the book drummer. Let me know what you think about this character,
what you like about her. Why her story so great and if she's not the
best belter character Who is? please like this video If you enjoyed
it, please subscribe to my channel if you haven't already and thanks for watching. I'll Talk to you soon.
