Is anybody else watching The Expanse?

The casting for this show is so weird -- "you give off bible camp counselor vibes -- you're perfect for dystopian Baltimore crime boss!"

why are there so many canadians in baltimore

it does seem like they have really fucked up the pacing for naomi’s story. this week’s episode ends almost exactly like last week’s. the inaros family psychodrama stuff is interesting only insofar as it gets you to big moments of decision or conflict and those have been thin on the ground.

absolutely phenomenal escape from earth. what started as a slightly shonky low-budg children of men homage became surprisingly stressful and the last gasp where amos goes back for the gang member (who had earlier helped him out of a similar scrape!) was bananas - at first i was like omg amos, you’re not rescuing them only in order to use them as a human shield??! but then they came up firing with a backup handgun as amos dragged them back towards the ship!! a+ teamwork

xxp Erich was more physically frail in the book! Part of the history was that he was the more frail, but very hackerish, of the duo. Timmy (Amos) was the one who protected him as the muscle

yeah if anything he should be skinnier. mostly I just don't like how canadian he sounds lol

i'm finally caught up and I've pretty much adopted Avasarala's "whereever I goddamn like" whenever anybody asks where I'm going or what I'm getting at.

her screen career is really something

What was Amos doing to Hutch's (Erich's enforcer) body at the end? Sealing the bullet holes so blood wouldn't get everywhere?

possibly, I guess due to lack of gravity?

wonder what Havelock is up to rn

Yeah was wondering of she'd totally had it or could recover at all.

Some amount of destruction left in their wake though. I thought those vehicles were like holiday hoppers so suppose that can't have been the normal effect. Every time they take off the owner has to rebuild the family pile.

the ship’s computer had said that the blast doors weren’t closed yet and Erich (?) said fuck it and took off anyway

oh right, thought it might be a little expensive otherwise

Yea he incinerated the pursuers, the homes and everything else were collateral damage.

Weirdly the Amos/"Peaches" of that ep felt reminiscent of the end of the movie Wind River to an extent. The atmosphere of the shootout in the dark was well done.

Pacing is nuts -- does Avasarala's reclaiming the iron throne take more time in the books?

She doesn't lose the election in the first place in the books, from memory.

since we didn't see the plane go down, i'm sure Gao will return looking like Toxie from Toxic Avenger and reclaim her right to the throne

that was it? all the naomi stuff was just timekilling bullshit?

yeeaaaahhh not a great back half overall

i think it was undone by the expectedly awkward handling of Alex due to having to fire Cas Anvar. a lot of it felt very holding pattern.

though WTF happened at the end?

omg it's the Unknown Aggressors that killed the Builders innit?

one season to go, it'd have to be

I know they were in a shitty situation but was that really the best solution they could find? makes me think the call was made pretty damn late in production

I'm sure that's what happened. It's just weird because of how it was executed. It was a Chekhov's stroke. Also considering all of the adventures they'd been on together and how they usually reacted when one of their own was in danger, they were surprisingly disaffected by Alex's death

I guess my question would be what would this chunk of season have been like "according to plan"? does it explain stranding naomi wordlessly on a ship for three full episodes? what would have been the endgame and how did having to kill Alex off ruin it?

anyway, the first five episodes were some of the best they've ever done and there was still lots of great stuff in the other ones, but it's a shame they didn't knock this one out of the park like it seemed they would. I will say that technically the show's never been better- loved the sound design on Bobbie's rescue of Naomi, and the wonderful "fucked up digital video artifacts" effects in the ending scene. also laughed very hard at Amos' little speech to Holden and the reveal that followed

makes me think the call was made pretty damn late in production

based on this photo, i would say so

don't really understand why there was *so much* stranded naomi and then such a rush at the end, tho. did no one even bother talking to drummer?

his arc about losing his family would have played in nicely with amos and james saying they were family now.

yeah I get the sense they were finally going to pay off all that stuff next season. oh well lol

the existence of that photograph is extremely funny to me

they should have just said Alex was 'visiting family' for two seasons

anyway on balance I think this was still the second best season (behind s3)

but this whole situation epitomizes poochie.png

i'm majorly excited about next season.

sad that Freddie Lounds is dead now

The polycule was such a missed opportunity for some actually interesting interpersonal drama, oh well.

next year introduces the fartmolecule

there are some really attractive people in this series (canadians)

laughed very hard at Amos' little speech to Holden and the reveal that followed

Best scene in the whole episode, especially the end with Holden just staring off into space like he'd been hit between the eyes with a hammer.

haha yeah it took me a moment when I realized what he was setting up.

also how does Peaches trigger her mods? they always show her like closing her eyes and biting down and her eyes dilate and suddenly she's ripping people's limbs off

there are some really attractive people in this series (canadians)

― mookieproof, Wednesday, February 3, 2021 7:18 PM bookmarkflaglink

otm

i think Drummer is my favorite character, wish we'd had more of her this year. though her playing off of Ashford was the best

Drummer is a tv series invention/concatenation -- and yeah she's rad. ... There is a lot of deviation from the books at this point, and I am behind a couple episodes

my friend keeps giving me the "this is how it went in the books" spiel, which I would read, except I am currently reading Bruce Dickinson's autobiography so

interesting to know she's a series-specific character!

my friend also said he was shocked by the ending because it sets up things that are 30-some odd years away in the books

i also wonder at what point they learned that they'd been renewed

haha i'd kind of wondered if drummer's expansion into a regular was a response to fandom

that scene where her and Ashford were trapped and singing old Belter songs to each other to comfort each other was a great scene

I am currently reading Bruce Dickinson's autobiography

Oof. I read that a couple of years ago (if it's the one I'm thinking of; he may have written another since).

interesting to know she's a series-specific character!

― Wrong Screamed Barney (Neanderthal), Wednesday, February 3, 2021 4:27 PM (fifty-six minutes ago)

she's partially based on a character in the books and her story is kinda combined with that of another character, who actually does exist in the show now but his earlier story was allocated to drummer

i also wonder at what point they learned that they'd been renewed

iirc the s5/s6 renewal happened at once

also they're saying they consider the s6 ending a "pause" which scares me