The Expanse (Season 5)

[NoSleep]

They could have paced it better though. Sometimes there is an episode where, basically, everyone is just moved into position and there's no major plot move; release that with the next episode where something actually happens.

[druss]

Hmm. Not entirely sure how I feel about that episode. The first half was incredibly exciting but as soon as

Spoiler alert

Alex died

[close]

if fell off the wheels a little for me.

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Felt like we were due some retribution for Marco Inaros, the actor isn't good enough for me to watch another season with him as the main threat but it looks like that's what we are getting.

I'd rather they just replaced Alex with a different actor as well. If everything about Cas Anvar is true then whatever, fuck him off, but the character deserved better than to just die from a stroke.

[close]

[NoSleep]

I think the problem (and it happens often on Netflix and Amazon 10-episode seasons) is that it feels like we've reach the halfway point in the season and now we must wait for at least a year for the next half.

I say "feels like" because the best series often have a culmination point both mid-season and in the finale (or penultimate), it just keeps your interest better overall.

[Ant Farm Keyboard]

Seasons 4 and 5 basically match the novels they're adapted from in the series, and there's no reason to assume they'll do otherwise with the final one, as books 7 to 9 take place decades later.

[NoSleep]

Understood, but it would have at least been better to have not strung out the individual episodes as they did. Tied as they are to the books (

Spoiler alert

although I bet Alex did not die of a stroke

[close]

) it would have made more sense to carry the momentum from the point we find ourselves (by releasing book 5 and 6 together as a single season).

It must have been

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an underwhelming end to book 5

[close]

similarly (

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unless book 6 quickly followed

[close]

).

[Bently Sheds]

So,  have I got this right:

Spoiler alert

The thing floating in the sky on the planet beyond the ring (and in the end credits) is one of the devices that the aliens used to destroy planets in the vision Holden had in S3?

[close]

[Mobius]

What happened with that Martian general guy and the woman at the end there, did they just get killed by the weird redness when going through the gate?

Pretty boring season I think but at least the gang is back together and there's more weird ring stuff ahead by the looks of it.

[NoSleep]

Pretty boring season I think but at least the gang is back together and there's more weird ring stuff ahead by the looks of it.

After the first season it seemed they managed to minimise the amount of time that Naomi appeared onscreen and this was unfortunately impossible this season; made worse by putting her in the same room as Filip and Marco, collectively three of the weakest actors in the series. And then her alone in that ship.

Drummer said in the 2nd to last episode something to the effect that Naomi was the most brilliant person she had met, which, unfortunately, isn't how she's been portrayed to the audience.

Have I missed something from previous seasons or was Drummer's buddies/crew brand new to us all this season? It really hard to give a fuck about them either way and now they're dismissed.

The whiny new pilot on the Roci all season: it seems like he was due to be dumped/killed off by the end of this season but has been given a reprieve (and even a change of attitude) due to the demise of Alex.

[Mobius]

I think Drummer's crew was pretty new yeah. One of them looked exactly like a Belter Russell Kane which was distracting. The woman one she was in a relationship with was awful. There's a lot of dodgy acting on the show IMO.

I think my favourite part of the episode was when Drummer turned on the Belters and then patched through to Holden "Holden, this is Drummer" was a definite fuck yeah fistpumper. Drummer's voice is ace.

Alex' death was pretty hilarious, like they'd obviously just CGI's that bloody nose scene after he got #cancelled but at least they namedropped him a few times later in the episode. To be fair I think they did make a point of mentioning earlier in the season that repeated jumps and using that juice shit to go through space can give you a stroke

Just felt like a lot of the season was filler and treading water. All the stuff with the temporary leader replacing Averasarala, was it really necessary? We didn't even see their revenge attack. The bloke was in a handful of scenes, and then just gone.

I suppose it's all just based off of books so they're only doing what the original story does. But there's a protomolocule and space gates and all of this cool stuff, did we need that much of the Naomi family drama. I think that was a solid 3 episodes of her on that ship just doing the same thing over and over.

[NoSleep]

All the interesting stuff could have been crammed into half that number of episodes. We shall have to wait and see if the final season will be a little more epic.

[Small Potatoes]

Definite can't-be-arsed Poochie vibes from THAT moment.

[NoSleep]

Looks like season 6 won't be the last we hear of the Expanse:

The Expanse authors say the show's only on pause, not canceled, after season 6
https://www.polygon.com/2020/12/10/22167489/the-expanse-season-6-canceled-or-season-7-beyond-plans

[surreal]

Alex' death was pretty hilarious, like they'd obviously just CGI's that bloody nose scene after he got #cancelled but at least they namedropped him a few times later in the episode. To be fair I think they did make a point of mentioning earlier in the season that repeated jumps and using that juice shit to go through space can give you a stroke

They've moved a few characters around and merged some since S3, the standoff on the Behemoth was different in the books and

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Ashford was a massive asshole who was

[close]

killed off earlier, rather than

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a fan favourite given a good death

[close]

.  Drummer

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has taken the place of Michio Pa I think

[close]

, and Drummer's character and Bull's character have had their involvement mixed together.  They

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killed off Fred Johnson earlier so they could give his original book death to Alex in the show

[close]

.

[dregj]

So,  have I got this right:

Spoiler alert

The thing floating in the sky on the planet beyond the ring (and in the end credits) is one of the devices that the aliens used to destroy planets in the vision Holden had in S3?

[close]

no,but I can give you book spoilers if you really want ?

[Bently Sheds]

no,but I can give you book spoilers if you really want ?

I'm reading the books at the moment, so thanks but no thanks.
I'm currently on book 3, the first book is a lot less confusing than the first series. I mean, what was the point of all that crap with Jonathan Banks in a dress?

[mothman]

*runs into thread with eyes closed, bolts for the Quick Reply at the bottom of the page*

I haven't seen s5 yet, frankly I found s4 a bit of a chore, it felt like the central story had massively diminished in terms of scope and ambition, virtually every plot line was soap operatic - none more so than Bobbie's which just reeked of "We have nothing for this character to do but we want to keep her, let's bung her in a hackneyed falls-into-organised-crime plot". I couldn't give a damn about Naomi's ex or her son, all I can say there is I hope the kid hasn't inherited his dad's lack of any discernible acting ability. And, the show did quite well for three seasons without any one central baddie (unless you count the protomolecule; Mao snr or Avasarala's boss, not so much), don't see a) why we need one now and b) why he had to be played by Burn fucking Gorman.

Sooooo... not feeling enthused nor inspired to start on s5. Should I be?

[druss]

The first few episodes are great but then it tails off a bit.

[Bently Sheds]

Picks up a bit towards the end though...

[NoSleep]

Last episode culminates well but ends just as we get a glimpse of the promise of what we'll now have to wait a year for. Can't believe there wasn't some thread from the book that must be completely missing; anything that would have made the season feel more complete in itself.

[Sonny_Jim]

S5 gets massives pluses from me for two things:

1.  Getting to know Amos's backstory more
2.  The Klav Kalash Simpsons reference.

There's a shit load of minuses though, mostly centered around Naomis plot line.  I swear the dude who plays Marcus is playing it like a video game character.

[Poobum]

I assume they were going for A Che Guevara vibe with Marcus, but I imagine Guevara would have had a certain mad charisma about him, rather than whispering bug eyed petulance. Filip was a bizarre void of a character that I don't understand at all. I was also disappointed that

Spoiler alert

the ring battle involved the Earth ships

[close]

being tactically moronic, the kind of contrived stupidity the show is usually good at avoiding. Overall it's six episodes of story stretched out, and that's maybe generous. Still worth watching though.

[druss]

I assume they were going for A Che Guevara vibe with Marcus, but I imagine Guevara would have had a certain mad charisma about him, rather than whispering bug eyed petulance. Filip was a bizarre void of a character that I don't understand at all. I was also disappointed that

Spoiler alert

the ring battle involved the Earth ships

[close]

being tactically moronic, the kind of contrived stupidity the show is usually good at avoiding. Overall it's six episodes of story stretched out, and that's maybe generous. Still worth watching though.

Definitely worth watching, as much as I was overall a little disappointed this season, it's still the best sci-fi on TV.