Today I introduce to you one of the best TV series I've caught over the past decade -- a sci-fi epic that takes on the universe.
The Expanse is the TV series version of the popular book series (which is up to nine books -- and perhaps finished now?). The TV show spans the first six books in six seasons.
It begins with the stories of James Holden and Detective Miller.
James is just your everyday XO on the Canterbury. His job is to extract ice from Saturn in order to deliver water to the colony in Ceres (yeah -- it's inside of the asteroid). But everything goes south when a group of fast and mysterious ships attack.
Meanwhile, in Ceres, Detective Miller picks up a job -- find a missing girl -- a seemingly easy task, but he runs into surprising amount of friction.
On top of this, we have a colony on Mars that wants to be independent. We have overpopulation on Earth where only the wealthy can live comfortably. The "Belters" are tired of being pushed around by "Inners" and so they have their own terrorist groups.
And yes -- it's all connected.
And the science is as real as I've seen in any shows. Just in the first episode, the producers go to great lengths to show a Coriolis effect on coffee as it's poured inside the spinning Ceres.
The original trailers attracted me to the show back in 2015. It looked a lot like the newer rendition of Battlestar Galactica, so I had to give it a try.
The first episode was very confusing, as I complained back then. This is because they introduce all of the main places across the solar system, so it's easy to get lost. Just remember: Earth, Mars, Ceres, Saturn, and a few places in between.
I was also disappointed because the trailer (above) led me to believe that Jonathan Banks (Breaking Bad) was going to be a regular character, but after the first episode it was clear that it was all a big lie -- kind of like Emilio Estevez in Mission: Impossible.
The first few episodes also felt like a space noir flick, like Outlander, but it was starting to get on the slow side for me and I was about to give up. It's definitely on the gritty side -- people living terrible lives, swearing, and so on. But it has Mormons -- so I stayed an extra episode or two just to see how they treated our peeps (kind-of okay, but still got some things wrong). And just as I was to quit, something big happened, introducing a cool horror element. It hooked me in for the rest of the six seasons.
You may have caught my review of the first book, and so far, I'm liking the TV version more than the book. Maybe because it feels more like a script than a literary novel. I'll continue reading through the series and see if the writing gets better. On the most part, the TV version kept most of its energy going to the end, though it seemed to decline slightly.
The first three seasons were released on SyFy and the last episode of the third season was by far my favorite of the whole bunch. I was disappointed when SyFy announced the cancellation -- especially when it had gotten to its strongest point. To make matters worse, SyFy did not have any new shows coming to replace it to catch my attention. (Should I mention that right now there isn't a single show that I'm watching on SyFy? They've certainly allowed themselves to go downhill.)
Jeff Bezos, himself, worked to obtain The Expanse for Amazon Prime. But I have to admit that the later episodes, while good, weren't as strong as during the SyFy era. There was a gigantic increase in F bombs, perhaps slightly more grit, slightly less consistent pacing, and a little more overacting by some of the characters. Yet, it was still the best show on TV.
BTW, for those concerned about the language, this show is available on VidAngel. I used it myself, as these characters aren't really the most organic cussers.
The show comes to a mostly satisfying conclusion at the end of Season 6, but I'll be honest -- I didn't know it was the series closer while I was watching it, and when it was over, I was still wanting more. I mean -- all these threads were being tied off, but many were left open, and yet the good guys were flying off into the sunset ... and I was like -- really? There were only 6 episodes in that last season and the last one felt rushed. I think it could have been stretched out effectively.
Some complain that the show was "cancelled" again, but this time it was planned, as Book 7 starts a couple of decades later with different people. There are rumblings of another series in the future to finish off the last three books, but evidently that story is very far reaching -- sounds expensive to produce. I hope someone can pull it off -- I'd watch it. Who knows? I may finish reading the whole series by then, though.
Anyway, overall it was a good experience. Good plot. Good characters. Believable special effects. Good music. Good science -- real science. A possible future, and none of that Star Trek, Star Wars made-up stuff. And lots of action.
I highly recommend it. All 6 seasons are on Amazon Prime -- give it a try.
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