The Expanse (Season 6)

It has been six months since the Free Navy last hit the earth with an asteroid.  Mostly, this is because the UN Navy had been reassigned to asteroid protection rather than hunting down Free Navy ships.  As such, the Free Navy has had free reign in the belt and beyond.  Though independent, the Rocinante had also been on asteroid patrol when it encountered an asteroid with a rocket engine.  Interesting.  Naomi (Dominique Tipper) reverse engineers the receiver signal and soon locates a Free Navy ship that is orbiting earth and launching these self-propelled asteroids at weak spots in the screen of ships.  Plans are hatched to capture the ship.  Avasarala (Shohreh Aghdashloo) sends Bobbie Draper (Frankie Adams) to the Rocinante to oversee the operation.

Meanwhile, Marco Inaros has challenges with his Free Navy.  His son, Filip, has a breakdown; that his mother and father are trying to kill one another has been hard on him.  The Inners (Earth & Mars) have built new ships and are starting to turn the tide against him.  However, Marco hasn't been idle.  His alliance with the Martian separatists has provided him some surprises for the Inners.

In a tenuously related storyline, Cara is a girl on Laconia, the Martian separatist colony beyond the ring gates.  While exploring, she has encountered some strange dogs that seem to have the ability to fix things that are broken, even reviving a dead bird.  Well, that's interesting.  There was a definite Pet Cemetary vibe to this.

The inclusion of Cara's tale on Laconia is really a distraction.  Yes, this would be important background for the next three novels, but superfluous if this is the final season.  The time and expense would have been better spent on the story back in the solar system.  I would rather have seen the cameos of Anna Volovodov, Elvi Okoye, and Praxidike Meng expanded.  Those were major characters from previous seasons who each had maybe a minute or two in this finale.

It is unfortunate that Kas Anvar, who played Alex Kamal, didn't get to remain with the show for this final season but his character is fondly remembered by the crew in more than one episode.  Every character had an opportunity to reflect on his absence.  Holden (Stephen Strait) has taken over as pilot and proves to be every bit as good as Alex because the plot requires him to be that good.  In the novels, Alex survives to the final book.

At only 6 episodes, this season goes by fast.  Though well-handled, it does feel rushed compared to previous seasons.  Problems don't get to percolate for a couple of episodes before they get resolved.  Nope, this season, we spot a problem at the beginning of the episode and overcome it by the end.  It moves toward the standard episodic pattern of TV rather than the ongoing space opera from previous years.  Nonetheless, it is great.  The whole series is highly recommended.

Leviathan Wakes

Julia Mao has been locked in a closet, seemingly forgotten.  She floats in zero-G.  Mostly fearful, she quietly suffers captivity.  Eventually, she calls for help but no one comes.  She kicks the door from its hinge and searches the empty ship.  Where is everyone?  In engineering, she finds a strange goo on the reactor.  She recognizes a crewman reaching zombie-like from the goo.

 

The ice hauler Canterbury makes regular runs from the dwarf planet Ceres in the belt to the rings of Saturn where it collects ice.  A distress call is received from the freighter Scopuli and the Canterbury is the nearest ship.  Executive Officer James Holden, an Earther, is dispatched with a small crew on the shuttle Knight to rescue any survivors.  No sooner have they boarded the derelict freighter than they discover it is a trap.  The Canterbury is destroyed and the five crewmen aboard the Knight are now the only survivors of some Martian plot!  Moreover, the flagship of the Martian fleet is en route 'rescue' them.

 

Meanwhile on Ceres, Detective Joe Miller has been given a side job: find the missing daughter of a wealthy industrialist and send her home.  It's a kidnap job.  During his investigation, the destruction of the Canterbury and belief that the Martians were responsible creates a riotous atmosphere.  He soon learns that Julia Mao had joined the Outer Planets Alliance (OPA), generally considered a terrorist organization by the inner planets (i.e. Earth & Mars).  He tracks her to the Scopuli.

 

The story takes place in a future where humanity has spread throughout the Solar System but has yet to reach another star.  There are no gravity generators, phasors, transporters, disintegrators, or other sci-fi magic.  The story is told from the points of view of Holden and Miller, slowly revealing the underlying plot and the fate of Julie Mao.  The political situation is well-developed, with Earth, Mars, and OPA factions.

 

The first 15 episodes of The Expanse TV series are fairly faithful to the book.  There is some time compression and minor changes.  Also, Avasarala is never mentioned in the first book; her part was either taken from later books or created to introduce the character immediately.  The most obvious difference is that Belters are tall.  Naomi towers over Holden in the book though not in the TV show.  Seven foot tall skinny actors are not plentiful enough for casting this series.

 

Thumbs way up!

The Expanse

This new SyFy series takes place in the 23rd century, after humanity has managed to colonize the moon, Mars, various outer planetary moons, and the asteroid belt.  The story opens with a woman stuck in a cell in a weightless environment.  She manages to breakout and explore.  When she sees something inexplicable, she screams!

The story resumes on Ceres, a dwarf planet in the asteroid belt, where Detective Joe Miller is given an off-the-books assignment to find a missing rich girl, none other than the woman in the opening scene.  Elsewhere, the ice hauler Canterbury is returning to Ceres from Saturn where it collected giant blocks of ice from the rings.  They receive a distress call, which they initially ignore but later investigate.  A team of 5 take a shuttle to board the stricken ship.  It proves to be a trap!

 

Solar politics is a big theme in the series, mostly explored through Chrisjen Avasarala, a UN bigwig who has no qualms about being ruthless despite her apparently affable facade.  The UN governs all the moons and outposts through the solar system except for Mars, which is independent.  There is a movement among the 'Belters' to likewise become independent.  Belters appears to be anyone who is neither an Earther nor a Martian, the largest population of them being on Ceres.  The Outer Planets Alliance (OPA) - a group that claims to represent the Belters - is generally viewed as a terrorist organization.  There is a lot of tension between Earth and Mars as well.

 

The setting feels very real.  The technology doesn't seem quite advanced enough but still beyond what currently exists.  Ships have gravity by accelerating, not by some magical artificial gravity machine; there are times when characters are weightless.  It felt a lot like 2001: A Space Odyssey without the psychedelic light show at the end.

 

If the first 4 episodes are indicative of the first season, this is going to be an awesome show.  Highly recommended, so far.