The Expanse

I've always been a big fan of The Expanse, and still am because it's one of those rare sci-fi series that stays true to its genre throughout. Sure, there were moments where the creators veered off into tear-inducing melodrama, a trend particularly popular in the States, but they always managed to find their way back. After the second-to-last season, I wasn't expecting any redemption, but it came, and boy, was it worth it. / Lesson learned: In unity there is strength, but how to maintain that unity? (24/02/2024)

A sci-fi detective movie that gets off to a promising start, strong in details and the world/worlds where it takes place. New York looks fantastic! Thomas Jane rocks in that hat. “What’s the hat for?" “So my head doesn’t get wet." Season 1: Now I’m beginning to understand why it’s been called Game of Thrones in space. The hunt for the spaceship Anubis with its special cargo is accompanied by political intrigue and disruption of the fragile peace between Earth, Mars and the colonized asteroids between Jupiter and Saturn. There are dead bodies at every turn and if it had been bought by a more gutsy station than SyFy, there could have been more swearing and sex, but as it is, the creators sometimes have to look the other way. Season 2: Probably the best space series available right now. The quality has is improving and the second season is way better than the first. The detective storyline is somewhat lacking, but the mysterious discovery of blue butterflies makes up for that. Both Ganymede and Mars are given sufficient space and Venus is a pleasant surprise at the end. Just awesome. I hope it retains its qualities. (28/08/2018)

A nice surprise. Despite the initial impression that it will be a B-movie amalgam of Blade Runner, Total Recall, Alien, Mass Effect and other legends, The Expanse quickly begins to show its own style, which mainly depicts the dirty and mundane futuristic Society of the Rings and the ruthless climate of impending war. Sympathetic and ambiguous characters greatly help to overcome the loss of tempo and content in the middle (one simply keeps watching, because one is interested in Miller, Holden, Nagata and co.). The biggest snag is the screenplay, which tries to include as much detail as possible, and a person unfamiliar with the books a) has no idea what is going on, and b) sees that the logic is sometimes sloppy. The genocidal finale and biomechanical cancer are great, but for me the sweeping of the asteroid in the eighth episode remains the highlight. Anyway, its meaty, hard sci-fi, that has been missing from the screen for years. I will saddle up my Rocinante and set out for the second series. P. S. Formally more than above standard, I haven’t even mentioned the solid tricks and nice scenography and shots that someone obviously took the time to think about. (19/03/2017)

The best space opera of recent years. Which might not mean that much, as there have not been/are not many shows like this lately, let alone the good ones. We must admit that even if they had been some good shows, this one would have been able to keep up, which can be taken as a compliment. This is the "Battlestar Galactic in the best period 2.0". Three sides of impending conflict, three levels of narrative from different perspectives across social strata, no good or bad sides, dirty looks, civility of it all, believable technologies, well-thought-out political and social environment, intrigue, hypocrisy and despite all the sci-fi aspects it´s based mainly and above all on ambivalent characters. On top of that, the plot is constantly nicely progressing (although it's true that sometimes in small steps), it's more holistic than episodic and… And it's just exactly what one wants from a successful black-and-white space opera in all respects. It has only two snags. While the underfunded expedition can still be accepted (it is the "Cimrman's Hamlet effect", where the characters talk about something, but there are no means to show it adequately or in the necessary numbers), because it is mainly about characters and political plots, but the cast is not acceptable. The main parties are fine, but all the "second-rate" characters are performed by C-rate non-actors you would expect from the SyFy production. Which is an even bigger issue because they are the type of "actors" who are tragic even in one-dimensional characters, let alone in such multi-layered segments. In other words, despite all the undeniable qualities, it is still impossible to get rid of the feeling "how much better it could have been if made by HBO / Netflix / god-knows-who". However, it is still a true sci-fi quality that has long been missing on screens. Sorry, I meant thanks to this series, it is fair to say that it was missing and not missing any long. (13/02/2017)