So The Expanse.
A show I basically only started watching because of The Escapist staff and Darren putting out two videos this year on it with it looking interesting enough to try. I've hammered through all 5 seasons on it quite quickly but for all the media comparisons to Game of Thrones, It's argue that's a bad comparison. Yes there are ideas and techniques shared between the two with set ups leading to much later pay offs in both shows and a few shared elements between them, The Expanse for all its seeming ambition comes off, at least in terms of trying to be a show about political machinations, as the dime store novel political thriller compared to the near genre classic of Game of Thrones. That's not to say The Expanse is bad it's a very enjoyable show but it's more in the easy watching area for me alongside shows like Stargate that do dip there hand into more heavy subject matter but don't ask for too much thinking. The thing being with The Expanse it seems to want to be more and quite a lot of stuff seems to feel like pale attempt at capturing something like the impact and idea of Babylon 5 but never really reaching that kind of level ideas and thought. With some characters coming off as almost cartoonishly villainous rather than a more tragic flawed character like Londo Mallori in Babylon 5
Most of the Expanse revolves around a core idea of the protomolecule. A substance from outside of our solar system and the best breakdown I can give without too many spoilers is this.
Season 1 - What is the protomolecule?
Season 2 - what can the protomolecule do?
Season 3 - What can it be used for and what does it want?
Season 4 - What happened to those who made the protomolecule?
Season 5 - What protomolecule? No really forget about it for a while ok?
While there is a 6th and final Season planned it's not yet aired and so far it's a fairly uneven journey with season 4 feeling like more of a side story which will have ramifications later and season 5 feeling like downright filler with it being used mostly for characters to have their own little stories and adventure and mostly moving pieces round the board to set them up for bigger things in Season 6. As is if you're going to watch it you're best stopping at the end of Season 3 and waiting for the show to finish it's run so you can have a clear run through the last 3 seasons where 2 of them seem mostly to exist to set up the final one.
I mentioned Stargate before and that's really what the show feels most like with each Season existing to expand an overall set of lore and plot but unlike Stargate where a lot of episodes were self contained The Expanse opts for a each episode to be part of an ongoing story that often spans the season then somewhat wraps up with only some threads let to carry over into future seasons and just serving to contribute to the larger arc of the protomolecule and what it's about.
Part of the problem I have with the series is just how Cartoonishly villainous some of the characters are such that they feel like they exist more as stock archetypes rather than fully rounded character no matter how much the show may go out of it's way to show us the villains have families etc. With stock archetypes warmongering politicians or somewhat egotistical terrorists without much morality but a belief their actions are some great moral fight it gives the impression the villains really only exist like Saturday Morning cartoon villains just to be oppose the heroes who for the most part are all noble and normally morally right with few slip ups. I mean one of the villains is so cartoonish they're experimenting on children only for his boss to go "Maybe we're going a bit far look what we're doing" then immediately snap back to "We're making progress we should experiment on children more" essentially.
As the The Expanse goes on I really grew to dislike the main lead Alex Holden because he just felt so self righteous and has the Superman problem of being very much the good boy scout. The problem is Superman can get away with that because he can back it up but Holden so often seems to take the moral high road but be reliant on others to do a good portion of his dirty work while he comes out clean and gets most of the credit for the work. He never has to face the dirty side of doing what's right a there's always another person there to do what's needed and get the dirt on their hands. It's why as the series went on I found myself more and more enjoy Amos as character because he's not some beacon of noble ideals but a highly flawed character wants to do good but his moral compass is seriously broken due to his traumatic life before the show starts meaning he's often very much a realist too willing to do what is needed to survive. It's Amos who generally tends to suffer for trying to do the right thing regularly in the series often seemingly taking the proverbial bullet for Holden's plans and actions. Holden just feel too goody two shoes and even in moments when he seems to be going down a bad path he seems to snap back quickly with no real consequences for it.
The show's bigger stand out stuff and more impressive elements for me are the space battles that feel like major cues were taken from the recent-ish Reboot of Battle Star Galactica with bullets filling the skies and missiles flying about as ships roll and weave about. The effects and textures on things are impressively detailed with ships very much looking quite distinct in design and appearance on screen. Also the impressive effects work to show Zero gravity on the ships with liquids floating round in clumps or spots of blood drifting past when a person is injured.
The Expanse is fine enough but it doesn't manage to be as fun as the recent Sci-Fi show Killjoys and while the Expanse thinks it's tacking big ideas and themes somehow Killjoys still manages to pose bigger more profound questions. While The Expanse is interest in what human do, Killjoys asks what humans are and what makes us who we are. The Expanse presents the idea of clear bad guys and then deals with them, Killjoys ask if we even know if we're actually fighting the right thing or if we're too busy focussing on the obvious enemy to miss more going on.
My recommendation, Watch The Expanse if you want a passable Sci-Fi show that is good enough to somewhat turn off your brain to and let it wash over you. If you've not watched it already you'd be far better trying Killjoys if you want more fun or Babylon 5 if you want more complex politics being played out on a galactic scale.
A show I basically only started watching because of The Escapist staff and Darren putting out two videos this year on it with it looking interesting enough to try. I've hammered through all 5 seasons on it quite quickly but for all the media comparisons to Game of Thrones, It's argue that's a bad comparison. Yes there are ideas and techniques shared between the two with set ups leading to much later pay offs in both shows and a few shared elements between them, The Expanse for all its seeming ambition comes off, at least in terms of trying to be a show about political machinations, as the dime store novel political thriller compared to the near genre classic of Game of Thrones. That's not to say The Expanse is bad it's a very enjoyable show but it's more in the easy watching area for me alongside shows like Stargate that do dip there hand into more heavy subject matter but don't ask for too much thinking. The thing being with The Expanse it seems to want to be more and quite a lot of stuff seems to feel like pale attempt at capturing something like the impact and idea of Babylon 5 but never really reaching that kind of level ideas and thought. With some characters coming off as almost cartoonishly villainous rather than a more tragic flawed character like Londo Mallori in Babylon 5
Most of the Expanse revolves around a core idea of the protomolecule. A substance from outside of our solar system and the best breakdown I can give without too many spoilers is this.
Season 1 - What is the protomolecule?
Season 2 - what can the protomolecule do?
Season 3 - What can it be used for and what does it want?
Season 4 - What happened to those who made the protomolecule?
Season 5 - What protomolecule? No really forget about it for a while ok?
While there is a 6th and final Season planned it's not yet aired and so far it's a fairly uneven journey with season 4 feeling like more of a side story which will have ramifications later and season 5 feeling like downright filler with it being used mostly for characters to have their own little stories and adventure and mostly moving pieces round the board to set them up for bigger things in Season 6. As is if you're going to watch it you're best stopping at the end of Season 3 and waiting for the show to finish it's run so you can have a clear run through the last 3 seasons where 2 of them seem mostly to exist to set up the final one.
I mentioned Stargate before and that's really what the show feels most like with each Season existing to expand an overall set of lore and plot but unlike Stargate where a lot of episodes were self contained The Expanse opts for a each episode to be part of an ongoing story that often spans the season then somewhat wraps up with only some threads let to carry over into future seasons and just serving to contribute to the larger arc of the protomolecule and what it's about.
Part of the problem I have with the series is just how Cartoonishly villainous some of the characters are such that they feel like they exist more as stock archetypes rather than fully rounded character no matter how much the show may go out of it's way to show us the villains have families etc. With stock archetypes warmongering politicians or somewhat egotistical terrorists without much morality but a belief their actions are some great moral fight it gives the impression the villains really only exist like Saturday Morning cartoon villains just to be oppose the heroes who for the most part are all noble and normally morally right with few slip ups. I mean one of the villains is so cartoonish they're experimenting on children only for his boss to go "Maybe we're going a bit far look what we're doing" then immediately snap back to "We're making progress we should experiment on children more" essentially.
As the The Expanse goes on I really grew to dislike the main lead Alex Holden because he just felt so self righteous and has the Superman problem of being very much the good boy scout. The problem is Superman can get away with that because he can back it up but Holden so often seems to take the moral high road but be reliant on others to do a good portion of his dirty work while he comes out clean and gets most of the credit for the work. He never has to face the dirty side of doing what's right a there's always another person there to do what's needed and get the dirt on their hands. It's why as the series went on I found myself more and more enjoy Amos as character because he's not some beacon of noble ideals but a highly flawed character wants to do good but his moral compass is seriously broken due to his traumatic life before the show starts meaning he's often very much a realist too willing to do what is needed to survive. It's Amos who generally tends to suffer for trying to do the right thing regularly in the series often seemingly taking the proverbial bullet for Holden's plans and actions. Holden just feel too goody two shoes and even in moments when he seems to be going down a bad path he seems to snap back quickly with no real consequences for it.
The show's bigger stand out stuff and more impressive elements for me are the space battles that feel like major cues were taken from the recent-ish Reboot of Battle Star Galactica with bullets filling the skies and missiles flying about as ships roll and weave about. The effects and textures on things are impressively detailed with ships very much looking quite distinct in design and appearance on screen. Also the impressive effects work to show Zero gravity on the ships with liquids floating round in clumps or spots of blood drifting past when a person is injured.
The Expanse is fine enough but it doesn't manage to be as fun as the recent Sci-Fi show Killjoys and while the Expanse thinks it's tacking big ideas and themes somehow Killjoys still manages to pose bigger more profound questions. While The Expanse is interest in what human do, Killjoys asks what humans are and what makes us who we are. The Expanse presents the idea of clear bad guys and then deals with them, Killjoys ask if we even know if we're actually fighting the right thing or if we're too busy focussing on the obvious enemy to miss more going on.
My recommendation, Watch The Expanse if you want a passable Sci-Fi show that is good enough to somewhat turn off your brain to and let it wash over you. If you've not watched it already you'd be far better trying Killjoys if you want more fun or Babylon 5 if you want more complex politics being played out on a galactic scale.