Momma Made An Oopsie... | The Expanse Ep 4x5 Reaction & Review | Prime Video
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Lithium is used as fusion fuel. Look up what happened with the Castle Bravo test - they didn’t realize the lithium would fuse too and it was a much bigger explosion than expected (15 megatons instead of 6), causing a lot of environmental damage.
It’s not unobtainium, but it’s fairly rare on earth.
Basic in The Expanse is not Universal Basic Income. UBI just gives you money to spend on whatever you want. Basic isn't that. With Basic Assistance you get food, shelter, clothing and medical care. That's about it.
Housing in government complexes
Food in the form of Gray-tasting textured protein and enriched rice.
Medical care is minimal in government clinics
The clothing is made of recycled paper dispensed from automated kiosks.
People on Basic are also subject to mandatory contraception and cannot legally have children, apart from a regular "baby lottery" allowing for a small number of births each year.
Right, there's no actual "cash," they can spend on anything they want.
They have stipends they can spend only on necessities.
They do get some sort of vouchers they can spend on basic services. I remember from the books that Amos paid for a tea (or coffee) in one of the poorest part of Baltimore, and the cashier was surprised he was paying with actual money, not with whatever the government gives to people on Basic. And the bank trasfer and currency exchange fees for the electronic payment cost more than the drink itself because his account was held by a bank in The Belt.
Not to mention the high crime rate
Sounds like the only solution if humanity keeps doing what it's currently doing. And people should be able to find peace as long as they have shelter and perfectly nutritious food anyway, that's more than a lot of people have access to even today.
@@hoon_sol Oh, it's not a *bad* system; it's just *not enough* for a lot of people, in the setting.
As presented, Earth has tremendous human capital, and lots of wealth, but what it lacks is resources. That's why it has squeezed the Belt so hard, for so long.
To an Earther, what's more important?
Maybe 10 or 20 million lives in the Belt, or 30 *billion* lives on humanity's home planet; the *only place* in the entire universe that's perfect for us?
I can understand liking this season a bit less, as it feels less grandiose and connected to the wider universe at large, but I personally adore the planetary huis-clos atmosphere of it all, it's claustrophobic, grim and yeah, stressful as fuck, both in book and in show. I really have a soft spot for it. Yes it's more contained, but it still tells the larger story of space exploration and of its pioneers.
I enjoyed series 4 at the time, but having seen all of the show I appreciate it even more, a nice reprieve before the heights it reaches in 5 and 6! And it all does fit together.
yeah, from mid-season 2 to the end of season 3 it just keeps ramping up and fiding new gears. No show could mainatain that, Season 4 is a "smaller slower" story which as a viewer i needed before.. the events.. of season 5.
Nah, I really didn't like this season. It's still better than pretty much everything that was out at the time so it has that going for it.
I didn't like this season at all on release, but on rewatch, and after reading the books, I appreciate it a lot more. It's just a big tonal shift from the story before and after it, so feels weirdly disjointed in ways.
The reason people like Gao are pushing to explore the ring planets isn't just human impatience. They are in a competition for resources with Mars and the Belt, racing to find the most viable systems to exploit/settle. The initial explorative mission isn't just there for scientific reasons--it's also to establish a foothold in new territory.
"What cant Naomi do?"
"She cant live on a planet" was so unexpected, hilarious, yet true. 😂
It's hilarious how meta the show went by giving Burn Gorman the line, "Maybe I've got that kind of face!"
Maybe he improvised it.
Murtry is the chief of the security detail. When the actual mission chief was killed in the shuttle crash, Murtry just grabbed the bit in his teeth and took off with it. Even to the point of having his security people on the Edward Israel bully the science crew and block all further contact with Earth through the Ring.
Just for clarification of roles, Murtry is in charge of the security for the scientific team, He is not a member, or in charge of the scientific team
The funny thing is the stuff on Earth, Mars and the Belt is more important moving forward than what is happening on Ilus, but you don't realise that until you get to seasons 5. A good comparison is season 1 and how it laid the foundation for season 2 and 3. The Ilus stuff is probably the most stand-alone storyline the show ever had. The Earth, Mars and the Belt stuff regularly gets tied to each other.
Like the last 3 seasons on Episode 5 (more or less)...
Nerdy: "I don't realy know how this all is connected"
I love how on-point the after-episode discussion was. Claroos with the "It's not a planet" (it is, but also not), Nerdy with "The show is pivoting to a different story" (like the MCU, the Expanse has phases, this is phase 2). The Avasarala and Bobbie storylines were not in the book, but given their own short stories, hence the disconnect. They are important, which is why they were included in this season, but not directly connected with each other (like in Lord of the Rings after Frodo and Sam bunk off with the ring and leave everyone else to play with the Uruk-hai).
it's spelled out in the book much more explicitly but Murtry goes in basically looking for a fight and would have even if the accident at the landing pad hadn't happened. Think of it more as a claims issue where the belter's ran through the ring and went full homestead on the planet naming it Illus vs New Terra which is what the expidition is naming it. The expidition that Murtry is on is official(they were permitted passage instead of illegally running the guanlet) but the "squatters" there are laying claim to the planet, he is incetivised by bonuses and payouts to whatever family hje has if he succeeds even while getting killed.
Think of Murtry more like some ambitious trader from the British East India Company where he will make his fortune no matter how much of the native population has to be killed.
I mean in a later episode Murtry does lay it all out on the table. They just wait to tell us so that we start out at least thinking he might be motivated with overzealous righteous fury vs a calculated self-interest.
Its very "space Western".
Basically, it's Blazing Saddles, and the RCE bosses are Hedly Lamarr and Murtry is Taggart.
I think it´s in another book, but my favorite Holden quote seems pretty appropiate right about now: "Just once, I'd like to see my faith in humanity vindicated".
Pretty much sums up his character, this season, and honestly just about the whole of human history, show included.
Klaroos needs to write her own books. Her insight is firing on all cylinders.
WRT the debate: All of the stories of S4 are connected, there's just no way to see how they do until the story plays out. Illus is a single data point in a (literal) galaxy of information. The characters have no way to judge how much risk they are in until it hits them.
With an automated medical system like the Roci has, you don't really need any expertise, just be awake. It's one of the prime examples of where all the AI is in the setting.
A great many (if not most) consider this the "weakest" season (and book) of an otherwise powerful saga. I think the insertion of Bobbie's novella makes the series season a bit better than the book. I think there is a bit more pleasure to it, however, if you see it as its western genre. Also, Elvie had the hots for Holden in the book, and removing that was another improvement of the series..
I think Holden made a mistake not officially taking control (in Avasarala's name) of the camp. He continued to let Murtry run around with authority when he knew Murtry was a problem. There is a lesson to be learned from a different series. Earth has tyrannized the Belt for a century, but the problem with tyranny is that it's brittle, and the violence of tyranny is the mask of fear. The situation of Ilus is _emblematic_ of how Earth has always treated Belters and the resources they discover, and how Earth intends to continue to oppress Belters despite the discovery of 1300 new star systems.
That explosion at the end was like the size of Iceland.
Nerdy is right that at this point you haven't seen the state of most people on Earth. What Bobbie saw were the "undocumented" who were not even on basic assistance (there was a PA announcement in the background that urged the people to use a current amnesty window to get themselves documented). For whatever reasons, many people refuse to come under the government control of documentation. We haven't yet seen what life looks like for the documented, although one person we met, Nico, must have been documented because he'd been on the employment roles for decades. We don't know how many billions of people wanted more than basic assistance.
You may have missed Nancy Gao mentioning earlier that they had already sent out hundreds of probes to the other planets that had found nothing of Protomolecule activity. There might have been more patience with Avasarala's reticence if Avasarala showed a lot more active research displaying a real intention of immigration instead of just stonewalling. Avasarala should be running a "Ring Race" similar to the 1960s Space Race. Even at Gao's level, all she sees is Avasarala stonewalling instead of understanding the need to immigrate as a pressing matter for the majority of Earthers. Avasarala is happy with the _status quo_ because she's at the top of it, but the majority of the population is hungry like Gao. With a chance for change staring them in the face, they're no longer accepting the _status quo._
I love when the themes of great shows like The Expanse and Andor run together.
I haven't read the books but it seems Nerdy's complaints seem focus only on the 'story' and not the Expanse Universe as a whole. The Expanse tries to be realistic about the consequences of living in space, space travel AND exploring alien & infinite possibilities.
We know so little about the proto molecule yet it's OK to go barreling into other galaxies w/ no worries about things such as disease, infection and plagues? Heck, even on Earth, there are places like the UK that require quarantining if you want to bring pets into their country. What happens if belters return from another galaxy carrying devastating diseases or parasites? That's not even mentioning that the existing economy relies on the manual labor of the belters. We've already seen Mars dying as people give up on terra forming for space exploration, what happens when all the belters leave and there's no one left to mine for resources, collect water?
There are definitely consequences to letting anybody that wants to, enter potentially disastrous territories w/o even a little bit of research/exploration to determine how safe it is for OUR galaxy, and definitely something the government should be concerned about and tackle.
My bf is re-watching Game of Thrones and just watched the episodes where Burn Gorman was the bad Crow. I had totally forgotten about that storyline. I was like, 'Hey there's Murtry!'
Going to space doesn’t mean escaping human nature. Fear-response, being overwhelmed and rushed, self-other dynamics, and such-these all go with us along with goodwill, exploration, and curiosity. The best thing about this show is that it generates really good conversation. We are able to find a part of every character, good and bad, that we can connect with. Every character holds up a mirror that we can all see ourselves in, even in small ways.
Illus is with protomolecule building tools resurfaced planet used like storage for rare elements and materials like Lithium. It's also used as a energy production facility.
Lithium is also used in production of Tritium which in combination with heavy water is used for hot fusion reactors in producing energy.
We have no idea how Illus initially looked like and what species lived there but the proto species resurface the whole planet with protomolecule technology, bring new bioengineered and also synthetic new species that are not of biological nature.
So this planet is used as a storage facility for rare elements needed for energy production and as a energy production facility and transmit station to other regions of space.
My theory: Maybe i'm reaching here but it could be also one of the places where the Antimatter was produced in larger quantities for particular reasons i can't tell because book 7,8,9.
Claroos is nailing it this time. Good insight. You should have a point system for when you perceive the shows direction.
She's so good at this.
As they have been showing and even in this episode is that they have a line of communication back with our Sol system and Avasarala is trying to slow down the mass exodus of humanity to these new Ring systems and she has Holden there on Ilus to find issues with the Proto-molecule or the next big scary thing, while the lady that Christin is running against (Nancy Gao) wants to open the Rings open for everyone, regardless of the unknown. And all of this is setting up the story arc for the rest of the series. The Proto-molecule has changed everything for humanity.
Thank you guys for working hard during the holidays to provide us entertainment. Lots of reaction channels seem to be taking a break now.
Just a reminder that Murtry is Chief of Security on the mission.
The people on Ilus are living out what the politicians are debating in abstract back on Earth. That's how it ties together.
I love how Holden walks into the settlement with the not so subtle subtext of "I'm the Captain of the only warship in the system. I don't give a fuck about what your leader says"
No Nerdy, it's "Die Expanse" not "Das Expanse".
Expanse translates to "Ausdehnung" and that is preceeded by the article "Die". ;)
Probably more fitting in the context of expanse (of space) is "Die Weite". Doesn't change your notion of "Die" being the more correct article.
We, as viewers, supposed to like Avasarala, and we do. As one of the main characters, and the character that was introduced in s1e1. But the matter is, she is the political status-quo elite who basically inherited some of her political capital from her father, and who was never elected by anyone and never ran for anything. High-profile bureaucrat who prefers, as she said, to "get shit done". The thing is, people want to explore, they want opportunity at least, and she is literally gatekeeping and denying, while being top of top on the premise that "people are dumb, I know best".
20:25 Even if the people knew the dangers, they would still want to go explore the other worlds because they're there. Dozens of dead bodies are on Mount Everest because people wanted to climb it fully knowing the danger. Freedom means having the choice to go on a journey you may not come back from.
Avasarala thinks she knows better than everyone, and maybe she does, but that's not going to stop people from going through those rings even if there's a 90% chance of dying. Her thinking she can keep people from going through the gates forever is incredibly short sighted.
Some of the bodies on Everest are now used as waypoints, too. So, y’know … legacy!
The Avarsarela/Gao plotline did not exist in the books and is only in the season to keep Shohreh Aghdashloo from being hired away from the show, as what happened to the original actor who played Arjun in the first season.
Murtry is not the boss of the science team. They are separate components of the mission. The scientists don't work for the security team.
Not true. They even say in a previous episode that "chief Murtry took over operation of the mission". On any expedition like this, the military (or in this case security) are automatically in charge. You don't send a team to a potentially hostile planet and then say "okay science team security is no longer paramount so you don't have to listen to the security team" lol
Part of the issue with Season Four is that the writers attempted to tell "Cibola Burn" and the novella "Gods of Risk" while also shoehorning in the Avarsarela/Nancy Gao political race (which never happened in any of the books).
The books are like a trilogy of trilogies, the show does much the same. so yes season four is much like season one in that it is building the world and everything you need to know for the remaining seasons, but boy is this season stressful! you think its tense now?
This truly is the season of "and then, things got worse."
Most of us book fans wanted Clancy Brown for Murtry. We petitioned for it but he was busy at the time and the scheduling didn't work.
Burn Gorman was good, but Clancy fit the description in the book to a tee.
The motivation of the voting public seems pretty clear to me. There are millions of people living with the bare necessities and no prospects, just waiting for death. Mobilizing to explore hundreds of worlds would require enough labor and produce enough resources to lift them _all_ out of that situation.
You have ten billion people staring at enough wealth to make every last one wealthy beyond measure, and the person in charge is asking them to sit tight.
No, it's time to start building thousands of ships and mass training crews and laborers. You're stuck on how long it'll take them to get there, but the jobs could start flowing tomorrow with the stroke of a pen.
So Nancy Gao is right
@@kidgforce1 Can't say for sure she was right, but I probably would have voted for her. Avasarala's messaging just doesn't do enough to acknowledge why Gao's resonates so well. She appears indifferent and fearful.
I like how Holden brings The Investigator to the planet, and The Investigator spends the entire season fucking things up by pushing buttons (no wonder he and Holden get along) and Holden just really tries not to accept any role in that the whole time.
Also yes, the show really never properly showed what life is like on Earth for the typical people on Basic. They showed the undocumented living under the bridges of NYC, and they show the working world, and maybe the political elite and the moguls and the military. They never actually show what the majority of folks on Basic actually live like at all, so that whole plot element really does miss for the most part. I could buy that maybe Holden's family is from that Basic background but I'm pretty sure their Montana commune was itself a pretty atypical setup.
In the books there are a few scenes where during Bobbie's experience on Earth for the first time she first encounters people who come from Basic, or who are just finally leaving basic to try their hand in the workforce if I recall (one literally is a young barista). And so we at least get some glimpse into that dynamic vs the undocumented. The show never really gives us that moment in season 2, and so I think they robbed the rest of the show that context and baseline.
One thing that makes easier to understand how the books are layed out is that they're kind of three trilogies
It's more three duologies and a trilogy. 1-2: The Protogen War, 3-4: The Ring and first Colonies, 5-6: FN conflict, 7-9: Pretty obvious
The non-Illus content is laying the groundwork for what comes next. Illus is monster of the week, non-illus is longform narrative.
To Nerdy's comment on Illus having no effect on the Mars storyline...Mars storyline is totally upended by the opeing of the gates, Illus being the most of obvious example of the colonization that is drawing Martians away.
Lithium is also used in nuclear technology, both weapons and in components for producing power, particularly in nuclear fusion reactions (vs fission; we are trying to develop fusion power generation and the first prototype fusion reactor for producing power is being built in France; right now power production uses fission; modern nuclear weapons use both fission and fusion).
Thank you both for having reactions to post through the holidays.
I agree that everyone needs a Naomi. Having a Naomi would help so many people become better versions of themselves. I enjoy this side of her character so much.
Thanks again for watching these guys. Look forward to the next reaction.
The actress who plays Nancy Gao also played Ada Wong in this year's Resident Evil 4 Remake and the Separate Ways DLC.
This season amazingly is the darkest season for me and that's saying something because this show has incredibly dark seasons previously. In S3 and especially the 2nd part, humanity is in difficult situations and even though they struggled, tried their best to solve the problems together. Ashford was an antagonist, the head security dude is an idiot, and guys the rest of season gets even super darker.
“The show is just so stressful now”. Hahahahaha. Just wait. Famous last words. This show needed this break and the next two seasons are bangers. I can’t wait. One of the best shows with fully developed characters. We don’t get shows like this often but when they do they’re awesome.
You’re not supposed to care as much about what’s going on back on Earth right now though it’s setting up for future developments. It doesn’t matter now but it does matter later. There’s always a payoff plot wise. It just takes time to get there. Payoffs in the future are built on stories being told now. The show does that well and keeps you going while constantly moving the plot forward.
I will say season 4 is kind of the like a penultimate season. It’s a set up for what is happening and you’re right, it is a set up for the next phase of the show. However, taken as a whole, it’s needed for what comes next.
When you look back at Naomi in the first 2.5 seasons, she became very irritable when the crew didn't agree with what she wanted. (For example, she was content to let them float in space without any plan when they first got the invitation to Tycho. She hid the Protomolecule sample, and later gave it to Fred Johnson, when the others were united in wanting it destroyed.)
The events over the last season have her a little more forgiving, a little less controlling. She gave that advice to Holden (to tell the truth, and give them a choice), not because she thought it would solve the situation, but because she knew that Holden would be wracked with guilt and responsibility if he tried to make all the decisions by himself.
At the very least, Lucia blew up the landing pad before that shuttle was on it, which would have killed everyone.
Also, how is the whole thing Murtry's fault? The belters literally killed a quarter of his people before they even landed dude.
My initial reaction was the same.
Maybe it would be fair to say that it was ALL Murty's fault (the escalation wouldn't happen without him), but not ONLY his fault (OPA bombers, and the other Belters willing to turn a blind eye to their violence).
they shot dow attacking space forces
Exactly! I can tell just from that comment (as well as other things) that he and probably she have victim mentalities. In his mind he most likely rationalizes it by saying because the belters have been oppressed they can do anything to anyone and it is justified.
Nerdy, that was a pretty decent Peter Cullen "Optimus Prime" voice there.
I don’t think it’s ever explicitly said in the show or the books, but my head-canon is that the Belt was settled centuries ago as a quick way of giving jobs to Earth’s unemployed without considering the long term consequences. Now Earth is in a similar situation with the Ring, and Avasarala is afraid of repeating history.
I don't think that's a good assumption / deduction. I'd say the Belt was settled primarily because of a desire (possibly even a need) to mine the resources. Avasarala was at the pointy end of seeing Eros nearly wipe out Earth because of the protomolecule. She also knows from Holden and crew how the Ring Station nearly destroyed the solar system. She is acting out of a sensible abundance of caution because the third time poking the big alien thing they don't understand might not turn out so lucky.
The authors have admitted that there's no practical reason the Belt would have needed human labor instead of automated drones-an old UN jobs program would patch that hole. And Avasarala is weighing the protomolecule risk against the potential benefits, but part of that equation is that the benefit side might not be as great as it appears in the short term either.
Please please please PLEASE rearrange your Expanse playlist to it's in order again.
Also, this episode is missing from the playlist.
It amazes me how someone like Murtry can be speaking absolute facts about something that happened and people will still say he's wrong even after they just watched it all happen lol. And the reactors know he was speaking facts because they went so far as to cut out his explanation lol.
Any plans to review the books on the channel? I’d love to hear your thoughts on the similarities/diffs between them and the show
Love the expanse series you are doing. Also loving (Arrielle’s)clarus’s fringe :-)
My friend actually likes this season the most, because he was drawn to the aliens as his fav plot element. Most other folks seem to prefer the politics and character conflicts.
+1 for the Wicked lyric.
"this show's so stressful..... right now" 😆
Great reaction!
Murtry is the bad guy, but he isn't completely wrong!
Naomi's talk with Lucia is super important!
Looking forward to the next one!
I always find this season interesting to watch with reactors and see the comments especially for the Lucia/Murtry thing some give full blame to Murtry some say Lucia and the other Belters started it and what about all the ppl that died on that ship some even say its not her fault at all its just fun to read lol. Also for me this season is ok i enjoy it not the best but not the worst.
Some say, the Belters occupied the planet first,so it´s their right to defend it from incoming earther forces.
@@kidgforce1 but in that case they don't get to complain when Murtry defends his people.
@@kidgforce1 it wasn't earth forces, half of them were scientist there to study the planet and the other half were corporate security there to protect the scientist. You can also make the argument that because the belters ran a blockade operated by the OPA (belters) that the belters are there illegally.
should try putting this in your playlist
and while your at it you could try putting them in the correct order too
Seems like this is a great show. You've all had a great time watching it.
This season is setting things up for the next two seasons.
One problem with the Ilus vs Earth (plus Mars) story is that the only people that we see on Earth are the people with no immediate, personal stakes in what's happening at ground-level around them. Without some character whose ongoing experiences are depicting what the politicians are talking about, there's never going to be the same connection. We're getting something closer to that with Bobbi, except that what's happening to Martian society currently has nothing at all to do with what's happening either on Earth or Ilus.
Fair, but the whole Earth election argument and Mars situation are because the ring gates opened up access to places like Ilus. They are the ramifications back home to the general change, even if not to the specifics of Ilus.
Nerdy doesn’t understand that Murtry would gladly steal the planet if he could, but the violence was started and only happened because of the bombing.
The weakness of the season is related to the structure of the plot lines. The situations are dramatic and a moderately dire, but the possible resolutions are a bit too binary. The Belters are either going to stay or they are going to leave. Chrisjen is going to win her election or she's going to lose. Morty is going to kill or he's going to be stopped. Binary resolutions don't delight us deep in our brain. The advantage of the first three seasons is we could not see any situation well enough to contemplate binary resolutions. The story made sense but remained enough of a mystery, sometime literally a 'who dun it?' that we were to busy guessing for three seasons running. Maybe this changes before the end of the season. Maybe not. It's good. But it's not Season 3 'great' up to this point.
As Miller would have told Holden, and does quite a lot in book 1, sometimes telling people the truth with all information available doesn´t magically lead them to do the right thing or reach the correct conclusion, who would have guessed......
Now you can see why many call the expanse the most `depressingly/harrowingly realistic future` of pretty much all popular science fiction. Ty and Daniel are optimistic in some ways, but they are very very firm nihilists when it comes to human nature. It´s why the story feels so real, they´re all very much still human, just more advanced.
Illus never blonged to Earth jurisdiction, so the Belters who set foot on the planet first have all right to defend it from earth invasion
“Can’t live on a planet.”
Harsh… but factual.
What if you can't ensure it's safe to expand? Many will want to take the risk.
There is no goal like we need 3 years to do sg.
Those who are careful simply state we don't know.
But they also state we cannot take risks if Earth, Humanity might be destroyed.
Huge dilemma.
If you think this episode is stressful, wait until seasons 5 and 6! 😈
Connections are there. You just aren’t seeing them yet
Okay! You finally made meta commentary on how 'good' this season is (so far) compared to others. Overall, I agree - S2/S3 are special, among the best seasons of any series of all TV-time. That said...
S4 Expanse is a little shaky for me with the way its main story (all things Ilus), but it also has some of my favorite stories, scenes, and character moments - especially among those that take place elsewhere (like Draper on Mars, Drummer/Ashford duo, and Avasarala's reelection campaign). I'll be curious to see what ya'll think by the end of the season... I know you will =)
Your perceived lack of clarity is exactly the feeling the writers want you to feel because it’s what everyone else does except Murtry and Amos of course.
Lol Clarus always knows what's up
32:56 Well Worded Nerdy! the first three seasons up to the point of the gates opening was a more clear linear path than we get after and I think I agree with you that I wasn't ready for how the show was gonna change after that. Don't worry though, I feel season 5 and 6 will have a clearer narrative. it's sad I dropped the show for a while after season 4.
Love the reactions to this show! Personally i think this is the weakest season (even with having some amazing moments) but I am really looking forward to your opinions on season 5 & 6. 👌😊
You ain’t seen nothing yet 😅
I get it now. I complain that Nerdy is to siloed in his thinking about plots not connecting but I think is more that he has an idea of where it should go and the plot may actually be different than what he is expecting. So yeah he is getting ahead of the show too far. The way they had to incorporate all the stories from the books to this show is interesting. Instead of being just a Sci Fi show this is a serious attempt at being a political thriller. I would argue to say with the plots coming the most important stories are often the least interesting current plots. In most political thrillers you lay down all the puzzle pieces but as a writer you are careful not to link them so the reader is surprised when things come together at a later time. Nerdy seems like a reader that gets frustrated with that type of storytelling. That seems to also be the case with most people in Fantasy/Sci Fi viewing is the story telling is too slow for modern viewer. I really blame streaming and taking too many stories from comics and video games that people already know.
I can see that for sure.
I know that the weakest plot in this season was definitely the Avasarala stuff since it had to all be invented from whole cloth, with Avasarala being needed so early and late in the series it was difficult to give her new stories that don't feel like the filler they are. At least the writers did a good job making those filler stories at least pull some weight in the larger plot vs being totally useless. Still, in many ways I wish maybe they could have done a bit more showing vs telling, and given us a view of the actual situation for people on Earth, with Avasarala traveling to the corn farms we saw later in Season 6, and interacting with constituents directly. Scenes of her meeting people on Basic to understand what their lives were like and why so many were deciding to leave for the rings. We saw that for Mars, and it makes sense for Mars. We never got that for Earth.
Maybe it requires more than one viewing, but this season is not about Illus.
It is about the effect of the Ring (and the access to more planets) on the human societies.
Illus will get the most attention, because it has the core crew and provides more information about the Protomolecule civilization. But we also have the "side-stories" about:
- Belters, with Drummer and Ashford
- Mars, with Bobbie
- Earth, with Avasarala
If Nerdy wanted everything cut out that wasn't directly connected to Illus, a lot of world-building goes away, as well as what is going on with those other characters.
@@scottwatrous if I were in the writers room I would probably argue to not have too many scenes on earth now knowing where we are going. It has been important to make Earth seem like the bad guys in the system without spoiling too much of the reality of politics and life without hinting to later reveals. It hurts in telling a complete story up front but it preps the viewers to question how they see everything later.
Clarus' description of the explosion as looking like an atomic bomb, I was tickled. Just think about what happens when you are attempting to turn on massive fusion reactors after they have been offline for a billion years.
this may be a point where the authors were off with their science though. Fusion reactors don't go boom. Unlike fission, fusion is not a chain reaction. But, they have established the show canon that fusion reactors and dumped cores do go boom, so I give them a pass.
Basically, think of a lot of jobs being taken by AI on earth and there are not enough jobs left for majority employment or something like that.
oh, the proto-molecule is the least of their problems.
Well the Earth and Mars plotline are basically created for the show, which is why they can feel disconnected from the rest.
The Mars thread is book canon from a novella
@@samanthaa.6055the Bobbie plotline is almost all new. Gods of Risk is based around David and the Drugs. The tech/weapons black market doesn't feature.
In the Avarsarela/Nancy Gao debate I guess it matters a lot how you read into it by what you as an individual bring to the table. I am pro Gao/anti Avarsarela. For me, it is very important to remember that people who intend to rule with - compassion, wisdom, whatever- intend to RULE. That is not the way we work. That leads to good people doing bad things and bad people to destroy millions. That is our history. Is going through the rings dangerous, of course, so what. The only ones it puts at risk are people like Avarsarela. The people Gao represents are risking nothing. they have nothing to risk. Even their very lives are so precarious they risk as much doing nothing. But by going they at least have the opportunity to improve their lot. Why does anyone (Avarsarela) think they have the right to deny that to them?
You do NOT have place to put anyone one yet. See: All the bad shit happening. That was always a problem with the rings. The risk reward was always skewed the wrong way for it to make total sense.
The arc is like, you know how you make all these plans for your future and then you get cancer? It's like that. Everything falls apart.
The center cannot hold, and everywhere the ceremony of innocence is drowned.
Mere anarchy?
I mean the OPA kinda?
My issue with this season was it just felt like an entire season of filler. Bits and pieces connect to the later seasons but overall it just felt pointless.
fwiw, this season is based on the book that was the least well received of them all. People complained that it felt like a Western more than a space opera.
"Space opera" first popped up as a way to describe the Star Wars films, all of which are childish stories with ever diminishing logic to them as the series progressed. As such, I'm offended by anybody who describes The Expanse as a "space opera". It is a brilliantly written and produced show aimed at the highly intelligent. As a term, "space opera" has value, but mainly as a warning to ignore and TV show or movie that gets labeled as such.
@@Yesquire0 k. Be offended.
@@Yesquire0 You should read up on what "space opera" means.
In the equivalent book. Murtry comes a bit too close at times to being a moustache twirling villain. I think the show suffers from that a bit as well
My wager is that you'll like season 5 more.
So you are saying that we need to start shipping millions of untrained persons through the Rings to settle on the planets that we find on the other side so that they have fulfilling lives if they are not killed off by whatever happens to be on those 1300 worlds. At least it will reduce Earth's surplus population. However, do not let the Belters (who are used to risking their lives every day) go through and settle where Earthers don't want them.
Humans never stopped exploring and settling just because it was dangerous. The whole American west was settled by people ignoring the danger of indian tribes living there
Yeah, Murtree wasn't in charge of the earther team, he was I think head of security and the leader and upper echelon died in the impact so his role in providing protection with his security team became understandably more important to him. Don't agree with his views on pretty much anything and he's a cold ruthless prick, but I understand the importance he placed on his job, especially after a suspected attack. I would have been as committed to ensuring no further harm comes to anyone but he also treated it like he could throw away justice and act like he was fit to hand out death sentences. Those terrorists belonged on a belter prison barge for mass murder the committed, as nice as she is even Lucia belongs on a prison barge.
The belters need to start acting akin to the standards of the inners like Ashford said, only then will equality be even remotely on the horizon.
Belter forces have every right to defend their planet from Earther invaders
It's not their planet, they didn't have THE RIGHT to cross the ring station. Their rights are voided by illegally being there in the first place. Argue pedantics all you want but they broke the laws by going there. The representatives of the belt told them not to cross, warned them they were in violation of a treaty and they chose not to listen. They didn't act with the belts representation and they murdered innocents, you're defending terrorists. The real belters are back home and in the Behemoth in the ring station, working to prove Belters can work alongside Inners, not ignoring rules that Belter leadership agreed to. If the belt doesn't stop acting like these terrorists, they'll never be taken seriously, that's just facts.
@@kidgforce1 half the people coming to the planet were scientist and the other half were security for them. How is that an invasion?
More than meetz the eyez!
Naomi doesn’t start acting until next ssn. Stuff 2 look frwd 2.
With that eruption things change for the worse.
They’re already at worse.
It’s turning into German - the Wurst.
And Schadenfreude.
Holden = Blue Goo Jesus
I think this video is not in the playlist.
Omg if you're stressed about this episode.. Ilus still has at least 3 major clusterfucks to pile onto the settlers before the end of the season. Can't wait.
Everyone all together now: "It's you. You're the problem; it's you."
No. Even the books don't explain what life is like on Earth at this point. Bobbie getting the difference between money and Basic explained to her was the most detail we had. The Churn is the next best detail we get with Amos' backstop but we get almost none of that in the show.
Season 4 is the weakest of all 6 seasons. Though many in the comments will defend it, most fans agree that season 4 isn't the strongest. @NerdyNightly+
Thank you guys for working hard during the holidays to provide us entertainment. Lots of reaction channels seem to be taking a break now.