Great season!

There was a lot to love this year. Great pacing on a story arc that remained interesting and constantly moving through the 13 episodes.

The protomolecule remained the focal point as Earth and Mars power clash with the Belters stuck in between. Part political gamesmanship and sci-fi actioner, The Expanse covers a lot of aspects of mankind stretching past its home planet. There were a lot of factions at play this year so the cast this year was varied. People come in and out as necessary and once a character reaches an end they go off with purpose and meaning. The show makes a large pivot around the half way point, offering more extensive looks of off planet locals (ships and stations mostly). As the protomolecule turns into more than just glowing blue stuff, the stakes and interest are raised at each step.

I really liked the story arc of Holden and Naomi this season. Holden getting more reckless and justifying more and more extreme acts in the name of doing it for the greater good. He gets tunnel vision and Naomi reacts to it, going as far as separating from their group to make a difference in her own way when she sees people in need. The crew of the Roci aren’t nobodies flying around the galaxy. What they do and how they do it has great repercussions. That all comes together in the finale in great ways, one of the most effective season finales this year.

The cast goes a long way in making this show so great with my only outlier being Cas Anwar who plays Alex. Whether he’s playing the character like he is in the book or his own take on him I don’t know, but they let him ham it up in every scene. While he can work as the comic relief it often comes off as being phony and at worst, inappropriate to the point where it’s distracting. Near the end, he has a reaction to seeing something on a monitor that is delivered so poorly it mars the scene. While everyone is selling realism, Alex often comes off like he’s from a different show.

Otherwise, The Expanse is amazingly well made. Great cast, I think Thomas Jane as Miller is great (yes, he’s playing a clear character type like Alex, but he keeps it together much better) and the new characters of Bobbie Draper and Dr. Meng are very well done and great additions. I don’t know who does the CGI on this show but they put every dime they get on screen. Some truley impressive work for a cable show, I think it sets the standard for sci-fi visuals on TV. Miller’s opus scene is stunning and the full scale reveal of the protomolecule project is phenominal. With such quality work from the special effects, the set designers and the sound work, it makes believing what’s going on screen very easy.

Great storytelling this year. I’m looking forward to what happens next season.