Is anybody else watching The Expanse?

watch out, there’s a series summary clip (maybe that 00 thing) narrated by... Kevin Smith

I can report that I have watched it and it summarizes the series thus far reasonably well but the attempts at humor are bad

thank fuck for the expanse.

it will be weird not having to wait a week in between episodes.

they’re going a different direction with the planetary hijinks than the books and it’s working pretty well so far! (watching episode 2)

I’m wondering how many hours of sleep I absolutely need to be able to work semi-productively tmrw.

Wife is out at her Christmas party tonight so wondering how many episodes I can cram in

i managed to do four before the cold medication took me out.

It's okay (minimal spoilers):

We won't hear more talk of unlimited Bezos money, as several scenes called for an Emmerich production and got a non-premium TV budget. "A" plot adapts the (by consensus) weakest book in the series. Burn Gorman plays to type, the red shirt death counter ticks up, but it all feels stakeless compared to prior seasons. Of the three "B" plots, "OPA self-policing" is good (esp. Inaros casting); "Bobbie Breaks Bad" is rote, but usefully presages the Martian existential crisis, and has the best action scenes to date; and the "UN West Wing" plot is dire (Pres. Roslin couldn't save it).

Aside: those with subwoofers and downstairs neighbors will need to turn it down. So many doom WHOOMPs and drones that that Zimmer might be embarrassed.

I’m enjoying it a bit more than that!

The subtext is made clear where I’m at, 2/3rds of the way in, in a monologue by the bent cop Bobbie’s fallen in with. The promise of terraforming Mars seems hollow when there are new planets already capable of life beyond the gates, Earth is feeling the pinch — and it’s likely going to be worse by season end I’m guessing — and the OPA is at war with itself. Meanwhile, the Roci crew are seeing what happens when those promised new worlds backfire.

I’m feeling the tension! And I don’t mind a lack of large scale effects when the smaller sets and the camp work pretty well. It’s a very claustrophobic show, tbh

There's tension in the pileup of Blackwater 2350, biblical disasters and afflictions, to be sure. We need two hands to count the ways our heroes are imperiled to certain death by Ep 8. But until the final scenes, these only endanger the Roci crew and a few dozen mostly extras, which is a pronounced reduction in stakes compared to prior big-bads...

Going out tonight, planning to start watching this over the weekend.

i'm going in!

(actually went in 10 mins ago so no one could stop me)

"It's good advice"

god i love these guys

Not even close to being Amos's best line this episode.

"What was she wearing?"

“I’m just going to see if it works”

loved the first episode - boom, straight in, let's go

pvmic but I didn't realize how much I'd missed Amos' upper arms <3

on episode 3 - Amos is basically playing out Justified in Space which I am thoroughly into

Thought "What was she wearing?" was a swing and a miss. Only "I'm free right now" rises to join the Hall of past Amos one-liners.

They’ve skirted around the edges of Amos’s morality a bit, possibly from lacking more of his backstory... but they’re catching up

He’s such a singular presence in the books, because the idea that killing someone who needs killing could affect his mental state or karma? Absolutely not an issue. It’s a sidecar to the Holden narrative logic — if he kills them they needed kill in’, if he saves them then he’s right

I didn't get into this season until episode 7/8, but once it clicks, whoa.

Really like the way that they interweaved the setup for the next book into this season.

Shohreh chewing the scenery is fun.

I've been thinking about how Naomi speaks noticeably slower when she's switched to Belter (as opposed to when she's talking to her Roci crewmates), I figure that's because when you have to communicate over transmissions, going at a measured pace probably helps with comprehension.

Also goddammit the arc for that one character who is hateable in the books but isn't on the show...

i love everyone

I forgot to rewind and check -- was that Filip that set off the bomb that Bobbie escapes just in the nick of time?

Oh the Bobbie stuff... some of it is kind of "What were they thinking?" I mean, I get she's a marine and maybe that's why her tradecraft probably sucks...?

It was a little clumsy but I get where they're coming from -- extricating her nephew from the drug cartel is pulled straight from a short story, and putting her in the middle of the equipment smuggling places a main character in the plot to set up exactly where all that material's going

It'll be interesting to see how far they lean into making Marc the anti-Holden

fuckin' Marco

It was a little clumsy but I get where they're coming from

Oh I get why they did it (beats having her being on the dole for a whole season), I just wish she didn't try to be so naively chummy with the other folks in that criminal conspiracy ("Hi, I'm Bobbie Draper, you may know me from all those times I betrayed Mars"). OTOH I liked how they adapted Leelee, whose characterization in the short story is problematic (granted the misogyny could be ascribed to the viewpoint character, but I kind of felt the weight of authorial intent too).

i wish that every actor in everything was as good as drummer and ashford are in this show. those two make me really feel like i'm on a spaceship.

just watched the first season; i liked it, but the sheer commitment to making miller and alex as corny as possible is exhausting

also lol at how every minor guest actor was also in orphan black or bsg or discovery -- a canadian mafia is controlling our sci-fi series

an actor in one of these three? based in toronto, they be

i've been trying to get on it as their version of a red shirt for a while now.

Oh and I'm not a fan of this character but another highlight of the season, described in two words: bloody smile.

Kinda amusing in S3E04 when Zeph and Pippin from Killjoys stage a mutiny aboard the Roci.

"Well, if I'm not, I'm acing my Turing Test."

Oh and I'm not a fan of this character but another highlight of the season, described in two words: bloody smile.

"Thank you"

Finished up last night. I liked the stuff on Illus, but the belter, Mars and UN election subplots were pretty weak. She has a cool voice, but Shohreh Aghdashloo is just not a good line reader. And her husband was such a weird, sort-of condescending character. Zero ZERO chemistry with those two.

Other thoughts:
I can’t believe they didn’t throw Murtry off that bridge to “fall until he died.” Chekhov’s bridge!

I haven’t read the books, but it seems like Miller and then Dr Okoye both experienced some kind of interactions with some kind of super AI(s)? Not sure how you should film stuff like that, but in SF books, that’s often some of the most thrilling material. On this show, it seemed kinda vague and they didn’t really discuss it.

Amos is still the MVP. Bobby was also good in parts but I didn’t really understand her moral journey.

Still looking forward to the next season!

On ep 6 or so and the Ilus plot is really feeling like a 3- or 4-episode story stretched out to season length

I'd have loved for this to be another bifurcated season, s3-style. I thought that was a great format for them.

Simon: that's the experience of reading book 4 (Cibola Burn), which covers the Ilus plot. The books are split between 8 (and soon 9) novels considered "obligatory", and 8 (soon 10?) "optional" novellas restricted to world building and character background. The parts of book 4 that advance the series arc are limited; one could safely cntl-F for "Miller" to find them. Otherwise, its Western-genre gold rush town novella, padded to novel status with a litany of plagues, biological descriptions from Elvi, etc.

Contrary, I thought the S4 Belter arc was the best of the 4. David Strathairn, Cara Gee, and (now) Keon Alexander are the best actors left in the cast, and this arc elegantly pulls forward/reshapes Nemesis Games background, though I thought the last scene showed too many cards.

I kind of figured they do they’d do the dual plot arc thing this season due to the slow book 4, but I think they want to give us maximum Marco next season

alex stops being corny and becomes tremendous

miller's status i am disinclined to call currently

lol bobbie: "at least now i've got something to do"

Finished S4 and then started binging Lost In Space S2 on Netflix. It is hilarious how one show is basically the adult version of the other

- how did we get here? dangerous alien precursor technology we don't understand
- what is happening to us? a series of discrete crises, almost like chapters in a story
- why? because alien planet OK

then they diverge

- what can we say on tv? (LIS: not even "asshole")
- who is having sex? (LIS: no one, I don't think mom and dad even kiss)
- what are the stakes? (LIS: they don't even kill the NPCs)
- do we even get to punch the smarmy awful villain in the face? (LIS: nope)

Just parachute Amos into LIS to take care of business.

i haven't seen S4 yet nor finished S3 but had one of the biggest lols in a show in awhile when Amos was hanging out with the rescued little tykes from Doc Strickland's Io project, turns to the TV to see the protomolecule thing emerging from the atmosphere of Venus, and says "What...the fuck...is that?"

top-tier show, shockingly consistent in terms of quality.

Finally finished S4 - really excellent. But now we have to wait for next season which is not excellent :(

Almost noped out with the eye bugs & then the paralysis slugs. YUK NOPE GROSS NO

They finished filming S5 a couple of weeks ago but imagine there's a lot of work in post to do

*loud sigh*

I got a little bored with the "trapped in alien cave" story line that just had manufactured crises until the other characters' plot lines could catch up with their timeline. Very excited for the Bobbie-Chrisjen development.

otm, bobbie/chrisjen is the best outcome of the whole thing :D

Bobbie's my favourte character I think (find Chisjen a bit annoying though).