TL;DR – This is Naomi’s episode from start to finish
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4.5 out of 5.
Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime subscription that viewed this series.
Oyedeng Review –
The world of The Expanse is dramatically shifting under the feet of everyone in the Solar System. It is a dangerous time, a churn, with everything being up for grabs. It is in this chaos where we find our characters as the threat of death is very real.
So to set the scene, Naomi (Dominique Tipper) is still trapped on-board Marco’s (Keon Alexander) the Pella. While she was able to save The Roci and its crew from blowing up Tycho Station, it was at the cost of her freedom. But as she remembers better times, Marco comes in to let her walk free, of at least the ship. For there is something, he wants her to witness. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.
TL;DR – Across the Solar System, everyone is trying to find their place in this new world
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime subscription that viewed this series.
Tribes Review –
When the rocks fell on Earth, the world of The Expanse changed forever. There are obvious things like the death and damage, and the fact that more death and damage are yet to come. But in the sense of things, how the Solar System works just shifted like pulling a rug out from underneath everyone’s feet.
So to set the scene, the carnage from Marco’s (Keon Alexander) attacks in Gaugamela have continued to reverberate across the Solar System. However, in last week’s Down and Out, we found the first wrinkle in his plan. He expected the Roci to explode and take Tycho Station with it. Marco is on the back foot for the first time, but maybe it won’t be long as he tries to bring Camina (Cara Gee) back into the fold. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.
TL;DR – For every disaster, there is an aftermath, and we start to see some of that this week
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4.5 out of 5.
Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime subscription that viewed this series.
Down and Out Review –
Last week’s episode Gaugamela was the culmination of three build-up episodes (well more than that if you count Season 4). An episode where you spent the whole time holding your breath not wanting to see what would happen next. But there has to be an aftermath, and this week’s episode is all of that and more.
So to set the scene, we open with the aftermath of the asteroid impacts on Earth as Amos (Wes Chatham) and Peaches (Nadine Nicole) wake up in a damaged and failing room. They were at the bottom of The Pit when the Pennsylvania asteroid hit. Which meant that Amos stayed on the planet one day too late, but it probably saved their lives. But surviving the impact was one thing. Getting out of a fortified prison when the prison guards don’t know the world has changed is an entirely different matter. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.
TL;DR – Everything so far this season has led to here, and it did not disappoint.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime subscription that viewed this series.
Gaugamela Review –
When you have set up a narrative to hit an inevitable crescendo, it can be dangerous because it becomes make or break. If you fall flat, all that hard work was for naught, and you can sink your whole narrative. This meant that I came into this episode with a little trepidation as everything from Exodus, Churn, and Mother led to this moment, and well, I am glad to say that it did not disappoint.
So to set the scene, during last week’s episode, Amos (Wes Chatham) decided that this was the last time he was ever going to come back down the well, which meant if he had any unfinished business now was the time to fix it. A couple of favours later and he found himself in The Pit, the place where the UN keeps its most dangerous criminals. He is here to meet Clarissa Mao (Nadine Nicole) or as he calls her Peaches. However, as Amos is down The Pit, everything gets put into lockdown, and the room begins to shake. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.
TL;DR – An episode where we delve into Amos’ past, and my heart breaks a little
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime subscription that viewed this series.
Mother Review –
This season the show has done something a little different compared to the last season. Instead of dropping all the episodes at once, the show is giving us the first three episodes and then doing a weekly release after that, much like the last season of The Boys. Which means this is the last of the three opening episodes that we will look at today.
So to set the scene, everything is coming to ahead as forces move throughout the Solar System with carnage on their minds. Here there becomes a race to find out the information in time and get it to the right people. But none of that matters to one person because Naomi Nagata (Dominique Tipper) just wants to save one person, her son Filip (Jasai Chase Owens). Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.
TL;DR – An episode where we delve into Amos’ past, and my heart breaks a little
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime subscription that viewed this series.
Churn Review –
We dive straight back into the second episode of the season which continues to build the tension for the potential coming disaster. However, this episode is more of a character piece as we get to see what motivates many of our cast of characters.
So to set the scene, in the first episode Exodus we focused on all the crew going their separate ways as they flew to different parts of the Solar System. Amos (Wes Chatham) landed on Luna and after chitchat with Chrisjen (Shohreh Aghdashloo) made the trip back to his home on Baltimore. Alex (Cas Anvar) arrived on Mars and faced a frosty reception from everyone including Bobbie (Frankie Adams), and Naomi (Dominique Tipper) made her way to Pallas Station. This departure left James (Steven Strait) all alone on Tyco Station, which was the perfect time for Monica Stuart (Anna Hopkins) to arrive with tales of intrigue. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.
TL;DR – An episode that moves everybody and more importantly everything into place
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime subscription that viewed this series.
Exodus Review –
To be honest, 2020 has not been the best of years, and that might be an understatement. However, there was one ray of light on the horizon for me, and that was a new season of The Expanse, and well now it is here, it has so far not disappointed.
So to set the scene, it has been about 100+ days since the end of Season 4 and all the drama that happened on Ilus. In that time the crew of the Rocinante, James Holden (Steven Strait), Naomi Nagata (Dominique Tipper), Amos Burton (Wes Chatham), and Alex Kamal (Cas Anvar) have made their way to Tyco Station for refit and repair. Only it is time for reflection, and for many, it is time to close some personal demons. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.
TL;DR – With the new season of The Expanse coming out in less than a week, we will catch you up on where all the characters are before the show explodes back onto our screens.
The Expanse: Season 5 Primer –
With the next season of The Expanse coming out in under a week, I thought I would stop fretting and counting down the time until release and put that energy into something productive. With that in mind, below you will find a primer for the new season to catch you up on everything you need to know before Friday. For the sake of spoilers, we will be covering everything that has been released in the show so far, and the couple of early clips that have been released from the season but no more. To make this easy, we’ll first give a general overview before explore where each of the main characters are at the start of the season.
Overview:
The general overview is that the new season of The Expanse will drop on Amazon Prime this Friday/Saturday depending on your particular timezone. However, this season, not all the episodes will go live at the same time. The Expanse will be following the lead of The Boys earlier this year that released the first three episodes at once and then weekly from thereon. Personally, I found this to combine the best features of both binging and weekly release, and it worked great with The Boys, so I am looking forward to it here.
TL;DR – Here we explore the many wonderful women that make up the world of The Expanse.
The Women of The Expanse Article –
We are living in the age of prestige television and among that rise has been a Golden Age for Science Fiction on TV. In that rise, The Expanse has been one major standout and has some of the most rounded and best characters on TV at the moment. Today we are going to explore a facet of The Expanse that has been one of its best factors which is its representation of women. While there have been some great female characters across modern science fiction, in The Expanse we get so many examples throughout the series that it is a prominent part of why the show works as well as it does.
Just one note before we dive in, The Expanse is both a TV series and (first) a series of novels. While the TV series has been a faithful adaptation of the books, there are some character differences between the two. So for the sake of clarity, we will be focusing on the representation in the TV show, this also helps in regards to where we fall with Spoilers. With this in mind, at the time of writing four seasons of the TV show have been released covering Leviathan Wakes, Caliban’s War, Abaddon’s Gate, and Cibola Burn. With that, we will be focusing on those stories, but as Season Five (Nemesis Games) is coming soon, we may make some allusions to content there.
TL;DR – This series continues to be the benchmark for modern Science Fiction, the benchmark for novel adaptation, and the benchmark for great TV.
Score – 5 out of 5 stars
Review –
Last year I wrote an article about how we are in a new Golden Age of Science Fiction and at the heart of that theses was the joy that was The Expanse. At the time Season Three had come out, and we still were not sure if that would be the end of the TV show. It would have been sad if the show’s story had ended there, but at least we still had the books, which was a little consolation. However, I was overjoyed to hear that it got a last-minute pick-up for Season Four on Amazon, ecstatic when I discovered that it was already greenlit for Season Five, and over the moon now that I have watched Season Four and have discovered the joy that it is.
So to set the scene, at the end of last season, disaster had been forestalled and new opportunities have arrived when thousands of gates to thousands of new solar systems opened up. Fearing the new disaster that could come for an out of control gold rush, or worse a new proto-molecule infection, the powers at be, the new alliance of Earth, Mars, and the OPA work together to set up a blockade at the Solar System side of the network. But before they could get it set up a bunch of Belter refugees took the gamble and broke through the blockade. Months later and somehow the Belter have survived, which is causing Chrisjen Avasarala (Shohreh Aghdashloo) all levels of grief because the Royal Charter Energy (RCE) Company has legal claim to the planet and has sent their ship the Edward Israel to what they call New Terra, but what the Belters call Ilus. So who better to go and meditate, well that would be the crew of the Rocinante James Holden (Steven Strait), Alex Kamal (Cas Anvar), Naomi Nagata (Dominique Tipper), and Amos Burton (Wes Chatham). Now from here, we will be looking at the season as a whole so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.
TL;DR Movie Reviews and Analysis 