Want to help support this channel? Check out my books on Amazon: www.amazon.com/Will-Jordan/e/B00BCO7SA8%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share Subscribe on Patreon: www.patreon.com/TheCriticalDrinker Subscribe on SubscribeStar: www.subscribestar.com/the-critical-drinker
Bruhhhhhhh.❤️❤️❤️ I was asking u to do this from quite sometimes.... Thankyou for Covering The Expanse... Love you bruhh This is my favourite SciFi series... 🔥🔥
“Why can’t more shows be like this?”, the drinker asks. The answer may well be in his preamble. He literally took years to come around to countless recommendations to watch The Expanse, worried that he would be wasting his time on an unknown franchise. However, he will religiously watch every instalment of ever diminishing mega franchises, vainly hoping they will rekindle a spark of the lost magic they once had. We are all guilty of this, drawn to the safety of known brands and less willing to take chances with our time and money on “risky” unknowns. If we, as customers, are not willing to take risks on something different, why, then would the studios take even bigger risks producing it? It is worth noting that, while a critical success for its original network, The Expanse was to be cancelled for financial reasons 2 seasons ago. It is only because Amazons Bezos was a fan of the series that it got resurrected on Prime.
Yes, it sadly show state of medias and viewers when one of the best shows on TV must fight for survival and stupid shows - that doesn´t have any potencial, or anything interesting and are only to teach audience about identity politics - are renewed almost always.
I'm not, you won't get me to pay to watch a single other Super Hero movie, no more Terminator movies. No more rehashing good films from our youth and stomping all over them with trash.
It's the fault of the streaming services. They fund shovelware and just fill up their services with a ton of crap instead of saving up for fewer but better programs.
The viewers/readers haven't seen any alien life forms yet (aside from the eyeball parasites and toxic slugs on Ilus). The protomolecule and everything made from it is just a very advanced biological technology. AFAIK the characters have no idea what the aliens even looked like, unless Duarte's people on Laconia have found something we haven't been told about.
@@O1OO1O1 Whatever build/made the protomolecule had nothing common with humanity, zero common values, lived on a different time scale, probably would even differentiate between you and a rock. Disassembly Reveals Useful Pathways- everything is just stuff to poke around with. It's just does it's thing with complete disregard to what is going on in that star system. It just keeps building stuff for someone who does not exist for billions of years. This is something we could realistically meet.
@@damirelsik4996 theoretically, not realistically. Realistically, none of the evidence of contact of any kind resembles this. You're theorising, I'm referencing evidence.
Aaaand he gets by far the most funny/suprising/shocking lines of the entire cast! " I didn't start it and they were all alive when I walked away!" XD XD XD
the entire disney's starwars combine. damn that new char in starwars (I even forgot her name), is so shallow next to amos (the dark past lead to indifferent brutal man). and amos is not even main character here
I've watched every episode of every season so far of The Expanse and until 7 minutes into this video it never once occurred to me that there was a diverse cast, and I think that alone is a testament to how well this show does it. They weren't hired because of the colour of their skin, they were hired because they're bloody good actors.
Well they were hired for these roles because they were from specific racial and cultural backgrounds. The books go into the characters a bit more. For example, Alex family were Pakistanis that lived in Texas (huge population there) that moved to Mars generations earlier. So they did hire people to portray these characters accurately.
I think the more important point is that it's a story with diverse characters - the cast matches the characters and that's fine because the characters are awesome. You don't notice it because the worldbuilding is great, there's no ulterior motive to telling a great story and the demographics of the characters aren't important. As should be the case everywhere really.
@@nrXic They cast to the characters(where possible), not the checkboxes. The only one where the casting didn't really match is Naomi Nagata, but that's because it's really hard to find a well over 6' asian/african woman who is absolutely scrawny. The actress they did cast does an excellent job in portraying the character.
Chrisjen Avasarala is honestly one of, if not the best "strong female protagonist" I've seen played in the last decade. She doesn't need super powers or a dark past. She doesn't need proficiency points in firearms or martial arts. She is simply an intelligent, often ruthless woman who is amazingly adept in politics with a willingness to use that power to achieve her goals. It doesn't come across as artificial at any point. She has moments of weakness and disadvantage. Times when she is vastly out of her depth and knows it. But through it all, you know she is a major player without being bludgeoned over the head by a socio-political message.
"Diverse casting done right" Yep that was my experience with this show, no character/actor feels like diversity hire. Good and simple example is that gay ambassador, yes he has a husband, yes the show shows, but its just a small part of that character, like in real life, your sexual orientation isn't your personality.
I didn't pick up that detail until I rewatched S1. It's that mature and smart, the man's a character, not a token who exists to check off a box on the representation list.
The books handled this so well. Because it basically made all of our own concepts of diversity fall apart. I mean what mattered was which planet or station you were born on. But it didn’t matter what color someone’s skin was or really anything about them. So well done.
Dude now imagine that the narration in the books is from a 1st person perspective and you are switching from one character to another. Riding with Amos and reading his inner monologue and stream of consciousness is wild... He is absolutely bonkers and he knows it. He is also aware that times he can spot much more than anyone else so he thinks of them as sort of naive kids that he has to take care of so that later on they can guide him in matters he is clueless about. All I'm trying to say is check out the books. They are worth it. I'm about to read all of them again from the beginning.
@@MrGreenAKAguci00 His ability to sense danger and prepare for it is almost on par with Rick Sanchez. He's broken and he knows it, but he can see stuff nobody else does. "Get down. That guy's about to shoot everyone." (or whatever I can't think of a specific example) When he talks about The Churn you know he's the only one who can get you out of this mess.
Unfortunately, the only reason we can have a show of this caliber in this day and age is because there was an author who did the leg work of a well thought out storyline, rather than modern screenwriters.
Actually, I think the show is actually written even slightly better than the books. More polished. But of course the bulk of the credit goes to the gentlemen behind the story.
Fun fact: The screen writers and show runners are the same people who wrote the novels. James S.A. Corey is the pen name for the authors Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck who are Executive Producers of the show. I also think that the TV show surpasses the novels, maybe it is because the writers can use their novels as first drafts and refine them in the show. Looking forward to season 6.
It should've been up there with the biggest in terms of popularity. It was just horribly marketed, same thing happened recently with Andor. People are so tired of mediocrity they can let gems like this slip past them. It's a damn shame.
Everybody loves the Expanse and Andor. Is "underated" now to mean even the Amish must watch? I can't figure out how universally praised and underrated go together.
Because it requires you to watch the show instead of be on your phone because of its complex story. It also take time developing characters instead of just being action action action. I’m actually amazed that shows like westworld and game of thrones ever took off because the attention span of the average TV watcher is that of a gold fish.
It's imho similar to Star Trek in that regard. I "grew up" on Voyager, TNG, DS9 and Enterprise. I never really "noticed" that there was a female captain, a black commander, a female warrior, a female computer, a male computer, a native american, asians, a black alien and a buttload of other diverse choices for the cast. Because it was just... "part of it", it didn't feel forced. Same goes for the Expanse. Do I feel a headache for Drummer being female? No. Do I feel Klaes is being demonized because he's an "old white man"? Not really. Is Chrisjen a bad woman because she's "part of the establishment?" No, because she'll go wherever the fuck she wants. Does it matter that Amos is white? No, would the character work the same way if he'd be black? Yep. Does it matter that Naomi is black? No, because I have more issues that she's actually not tall enough for a belta. Can one say the same about the cast of - for example - STD? Batwoman? Dr. Who? Ghostbusters? Birds of Prey? The latest SW-trilogy? MIB International? Charlies Angels? Most people on the conservative side of social justice have little issue with diversity if it's not for the sake of diversity. OTOH, most people have issues with "x for the sake of x" in general. People like action movies, but there's a reason why Michael Bay has a reputation of doing it "too much", because it's just action for action's sake.
@@Psycorde I mean, one _could argue_ it also makes sense in STD. Tbh, I'm not too good of a writer to be able to precisely say why things like STD feel forced and Voyager (to keep a "female protagonist" in the comparison) feels fine. A few things are obvious (Janeway isn't strong because the male characters are either evil or weak, but because she is actually strong. Holden or Amos or anyone really isn't a Mary Sue (or Gary Stu), whereas Rey clearly is, etc). But even if you remove those obvious things, there's still... differences I can't put my finger on. But I don't really have to either. I understand I don't enjoy Supergirl, Charlies Angels or STD while I did enjoy Ripley in Aliens, the girls in The Boys beating up Stormfront and Janeway (and B'elana and Seven XD) in Voyager.
@@barelyfree9427 Why do you need to ignore diversity and feminism if it's done organically and not in a preachy manner? Unless you are ideologically opposed to a world filled with people from various ethnicities? Is it so hard to contemplate that a few hundred years later, humankind will be a mishmash of different cultures and women will have opportunities? The thing about The Expanse is that gender and race/ethnicity are no longer the hot issues. The division lines are between Earth, Mars and the Belt and of course, the eternal socio-economic status
Lmao it's TRUE when I see people nervous around her I actual believe she must of done some crazy sh#t, when sjws make a character like that its always laughable
“You’re not that guy! I am that guy!” Amos is just fabulous…his subtle cues and glances speak volumes……Way to go Wes! ALL the actors in fact are really great.
The actor actually went to a psychiatrist with the novel to ask how amos would behave given what he went through in his formative years, superb attention to detail
Amos reaction when Prax tells his daughter he’s his best friend in the whole world. From that second onwards, Prax is the safest person on that station 😂
@@merlyworm Yeah, due to lower gravity. I also heard that in the books, Naomi basically towered over Holden (only heard, since I haven't read the books yet), though it's understandable why they didn't do that in the show
The thing I love about Amos is that he KNOWS he's sociopathic, and uses that knowledge to avoid becoming too much of a monster. He uses that aspect of himself to protect people, such as "I am that guy." He didn't want that man living with a murder on his conscience, whereas Amos will kill someone who he thinks is in the way without a second thought. He knows he's broken. He knows what's broken. He deals with it. Love that show.
Amos is my favorite character of the show. The way he deals with problems and conflict with a completely rational method with him and his crew in mind is great to see portrayed. His emerging from the hired muscle to someone who has some actual character depth was a nice breath of fresh air
@@SMCca Seriously. The muscle character is frequently the least interesting member of a team. Bravo on the writers for making him pretty much the most interesting character on the show.
This shows is the best example of how to add strong female characters in the story. Not to humiliate men. Show partnership, working as a team, support and respect
nor lose their femineity while being strong = Chrisjen Avasarala in her sari inspired clothing.....Also just my fave character. When she was all...........Savior of Mother Earth. I was like YES!!!! admittedly I have an earth bias
They DO have some woke nonsense, like how Naomi is a damn expert in EVERYTHING, such as when she LITERALLY says shes "not a medic" before perfectly using all the med supplies and healing Amos' broken leg... BUT The Expanse is better than 99.999% of everything else modern.
'Belters' had spread out to the Kuiper Belt when they formed the Outer Planetary Alliance (to represent everyone outside the asteroid belt). Without knowing what they meant by 'Outer Planets' the name would imply the outer belt.
@@differous01 judging by the description in the books, once you go past Saturn, colonies becomes extremely sparse. the only people who live around Uranus and Neptune are scientists in reasearch centers and the pretty much no one lives in the actual Kuiper belt
@@shapesnatch1341 When reading the books I had to check Tycho was in the asteroid belt because of it being an OPA base. I can understand others making the mistake.
@@ArchangelChi There is at least one episode with a ship ensnaring an icy asteroid with a net and hauling it to a colony to process into water and fuel. Iron asteroids are so plentiful, they're considered junk, but metals are still produced in the belt, of course.
Just watched the first episode and was not impressed at all. Seems like a political drama that takes place in space... I'm sure the show is well written but why ruin space with political crap?
@@fixvble1237 Push forward. They’re character/world building. If you don’t like it by the end of QCB (E4) then you just might not like it. There has to be some form of politics/story to base events around. They’re all the politics of THAT world, though.. not the one we live in. Works well.
Man, Drinker, did you see the final season? It shows competent people that actually know what they’re doing can stick the landing, even with fewer episodes. It’s like the inverse of what happened with Game of Thrones. Lol.
Oh yeah and the fewer episodes actually worked, as it allowed for a tighter narrative with some extra long episodes to compensate. It closed things out wonderfully that left people satisfied but 100% left the door open for more down the line. Which I am really hopeful for 😁
@@gwell2118 Season 6, maybe. But Season 5 REALLY needed those extra three episodes to really do the book justice. Seriously, read Nemesis Games. They left out half of the best stuff.
@@jaffarebellion292 Debatable and perhaps 5 was the weaker season but still it was enjoyable overall with a solid season finale. Though I am probably somewhat biased however as Nemesis Games was my least favorite book in the series so the cut stuff didn't effect me that much.
@@gwell2118 Fair. My problem with season 5 was that they cut out a lot of the Alex/Bobbie storyline. The attack on the Martian fleet, Alex meeting Duarte, and Bobbie's missile ride. Sure, what was there was good, but what wasn't there was painful. There was this huge dead spot in the middle of the season where they could've slipped it in, along with more of the destruction in Baltimore depicted in the book. Good season, but book to screen, I'd say it's the weakest adaptation. Though I will say, season 6 changed a LOT that they didn't need to, so I'd still put it in the running for the weakest adaptation. Again, good stuff, but it could've been way better. The show peaked in season 3.
Expanse has one more ace in sleeve. It based on books. And oh my god it’s perfect adaptation, changes are made exactly where make sense to get most of different medium.
I’ve watched various episodes throughout the five seasons on average four times. While I eagerly await season 6 with the podcasts, I started the books in January 2021. Almost halfway through Cibola Burn and hope to finish Nemesis Games by the end of the year before S6 drops
Because the book's authors are also working on the show. They know exactly what they can change while still keeping their original vision alive. I think that's also why Invincible is so good
"Even Characters like Amos, who seems like a big dumb bruiser stranded deep in Naomis friendzone, turns out to have more layers to his personality and backstory, than the entire cast of disney star wars combined" Punchline OF THE YEAR my dude! Glad you like it, Expanse is without doubt one of the best scifi shows ever. ;)
Amos is my favourite he starts bland, almost psychopathic in his lack of emotions but Wes Chatham does an amazing job of subtly hinting emotions that appear buried deep below a stoic emotionless exterior as his story unravels and you learn why he is the way he is.
I just saw this, and I was so amazed, entranced and shocked that I immediately replayed it, clipped it and sent it to my friends in recommendation to watch the show.
@@neosildrake Yep... Actually, he was "killed" because some "me too" jerky morrons had decided to cancel the actor (harassment or kind of shit). He is alive and doing well in books...
@@Nickel41279 I've only at book 2. Thank's for making me happy about Alex fate in the books. I think the "me too" stuff might actually be responsible for shortening the 6th season and ending the show. As I've only recently, as of 4 weeks ago, started the show and books, so I had no idea about the "me too" accusations. As a woman I can say that it is good that people speak out, but it is bad form to judge without proof. Innocent untill proven guilty is the base of our justice system in the west. If that get's thrown out of the window and companies preemtively "judge/punish" people because of possible social media fallout, then we might as well throw due.process away and go on to start lynching and burning on the stakes again. So... was he proven guilty at the time of the making of the show or any time after? I've heard the books after that continnue with a time skip of several years, so maybe we will get more. But they would have to severely rewrite stuff to continnue without Alex character, if he is still alive in the books.
I have much to say about this show, I'll try to be concise 1: It's a masterpiece, I have never seen such a faithful adaptation of page to screen 2: It's scientifically literate the entire time, books and show, the logistics/reality and speculative technology never stop. They don't fall to the wayside in favor of dramatic scenes with no thought like late GoT 3: There is a definite direction of where it's going, they don't make up anything as they go along, nothing is filler or just gratuitous action trying to hold up a weak or fragmented storyline that's running out of good ideas 4: People act realistically, their skills, abilities and experience allow characters to react to sudden changes, or use their expertise to save the day, unlike other stories which have players behave inconsistently or make really stupid choices as an excuse to build drama even though the characters should know better than to do this or that. People discover ambushes or traps and INSTANTLY warn other expendable side characters, saving them 5: The world building, even more impressive than presenting true science-based technology, but the cultures and societies within vary wildly depending on where their from. Annoying lies and falsehoods don't plague the story forever, people falsely accused and vilified in the public eye are in fact often exonerated as innocent, misunderstandings are eventually straightened out on a galactic scale, such things become public knowledge 6 having rewatched it again since, another very important approach is the pacing, they do not pad the runtime with BS until the season finales, major events occur naturally based on all the above. I remembered some of these as the finale, but going back over it all, I was remembering wrong. Some of the largest and most important reveals and happenings occur not even halfway through a season, significant enough events that I assumed it was the centerpiece of that season's finale. Thus, nothing is a waste of time, and there's reason to always pay attention
I don't think I've worked on a project where every department is as committed to their roles. We went through belter dialect training and zero gravity training to prepare for the show. Glad you enjoyed it. Much love and thank you for sharing.
Serge!!! That comes through for sure! I think a lot of us, myself included, really appreciate the level of detail that you can only really get by just putting in the work! I hope you guys are getting to enjoy this, cause you're putting out something top notch that I truly believe is going to stand the test of time. Thanks!!
Keep it real brother. Yall are the best show smokin right now hands down. My wife and I both were talking and we think all sci fi shows need to look at the expanse for inspiration!
Showrunner Naren Shankar started out as one of the staff writers on Star Trek: TNG. He is a physicist. I.E. the sort of person who should be running Star Trek if there was justice.
No, clearly the best person to be running Star Trek is the guy who wrote 'Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,' 'The Amazing Spider-Man 2,' and 'Tom Cruise meets The Mummy'
I mean, it's based on a series of books that all had the same tech described in them. It's not like the physicist showrunner is the reason why the world makes so much sense. The writers, Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, are also involved inthe show and some of the best and most surprising deviations from the books were championed by them. All around A+ for those guys and how they approach their properties.
@@MegaCityGhost Good to know! Read the first three a few years ago and loved them enough that I wanted to leave the series for a bit to let it breathe, have been thinking about picking it up again after watching the TV show, I guess I should.
I agree with your statement saying The Expanse is a show written by adults for adults. It's a complex and believeable bit of world creation and it's diverse without being forced. It's a clever and thought provoking and feels like the creators actually read the novels.
@@throwbackthursday680 Revolutionary War? More like Civil War. Everyone in this country would sooner eat each other alive than topple their own government, whom might I add has been toppling shitloads of foreign governments.
My biggest appreciation for the show is that it gets the fuck on with it, there is hardly any filler every scene has a purpose for the overall narrative. Climaxes you expect to be at the end of the season happen mid season like Eros and finding Mei so the plot can continue on.
While I agree with you *mostly*, I found myself getting bored at a trapped-underground storyline with two opposing factions, green shit in eyes, etc. It was clear after an episode and ⅓ that they were just going to draw out all that BS until some magic solution to everything was found, so I FFWD through most of the BS. And look at that! A magic solution was found! Yay. Moving along in the story, now...
Totally this, I remember literally the first 2 min of this show knowing that it was gonna be my thing. There’s such a lack of good sci-fi right now and this scratched the itch so hard
Mars is Jesus aka halo around head . . Jupiter was here before the Sun swap . . it' was probable another 'marriage' by Sol current Sun . . the salty old devil
I just cheered at the fact that this video even exists. The Expanse is the most underrated show on TV and genuinely one of the best Sci Fi series ever.
@@StreetLugeNetwork Yes. Every episode is full of little details that cement the realism. So every time the true sci-fi plot shows up and does something even slightly physics-defying it's always a *holy shit* moment.
@@DerelictusAnima I've only ever seen J K Simmons in the Spiderman movies (where he was awesome, but a rather comical character) and in The Tomorrow War (and he stole the show in that, despite being a side character). He has a very strong presence. He kinda reminds me of Charles Dance, he just has that way about him. Thanks man, I am going to check that out.
Now that the last season is done, I am shocked that the show had to struggle with funding. Star Trek went on for like half a century, and I’m confident that 80% of the people who like Star Trek will like this. At least even with the tight budget the Expanse team pulled off one thrilling show
I guess that because the networks want every year MORE and more money, to prove themselves to shareholders. In the past they could keep something that made even if quality was good, but not now. Also, the CGI costs every year more and more. Like cell phones. You would think that with all that tech evolution, they would get ....cheaper... but we pay more for anything technological if you check.
While I agree with you, Star Trek was a remarkably cheap show to produce. There were minimal special effects, and the majority of every episode took place on the same set throughout the entire series.
I love 90s Star Trek, but I watched something like 2-3 episodes of The Expanse and honestly it ran me down so much, I've been putting off watching more for over a year. It seems like 100% of the time the show is just *DARK, GRITTY, HARSH MISERY* without a moment's reprieve. Does it ever balance out?
@@Durzo1259 Yes, it does--it just takes time. The first season and a half are based on the first book, so everything moves carefully, but the plot threads will all come together eventually. It's realistic in that not every subplot has a happy ending, every hero has flaws, and every villain has redeeming qualities. Makes me laugh at Trek's magical science bullshit and think Star Wars is for 8-year-olds. One of the best sci-fi shows of all time.
I've always found star trek to be mind numbing pap. Polystyrene sets. 2 dimensional characters. Clichéd episodic stories. Techno babble. A veneer of preachy utopianism.
Another great thing about this show is that even some of the single-episode cameo characters are well-written and memorable. My favourite has to be Maneo, the horny slingshot racer out to impress his girlfriend. First human to attempt entering the Ring Space and responsible for activating the Ring and its Slow Zone, while ending up as a big squirt of ketchup on the cockpit.😄 He was on screen (no pun intended) for less than a third of an episode but EVERY Expanse fan remembers him. Also, his scenes gave us a fantastic Belter version of Deep Purple's "Highway Star".
Yes! Funny, I watched the Drinker's review of Alien Covenant, because I thought I had never seen it. Turns out, apparently I did see the movie, but forgot the entire thing because it was so unmemorable. But Slingshot racer? Yes I remember that guy from a single frame.
One of my favorite things about the show is that the writing doesn't shy away from punishing characters for being well-intentioned idiots. In the worlds of _The Expanse,_ it's not enough to want to do the "right" thing: if you don't think about consequences, doing the "right" thing is more likely to make things _worse,_ not better, for the people you thought you were helping.
One of my favorite things about the show. The upstanding moral characters often fail, but not simply for shock value as in shows like game of thrones. they fail because the world they're trying to live in is more complex than they are prepared for at times, so every character is constantly struggling to reevaluate their own beliefs in the face of a rapidly changing political landscape and power balance.
It's like the original Star Trek in a way. It tackles moral issues in a grown up way not just writing lazy ciphers for Trump like the one on Dr Who from the NYE show. The answers aren't just spoon fed to the audience and we are expected to think.
@@derek96720 Agreed. It's something I didn't think about, because, well, I just don't think about _Game of Thrones_ much. But you're right - _The Expanse_ handles it in a better, smarter, more mature way. I think a big part of that is that in _The Expanse_ it really is just a matter of mistakes "making things worse," as opposed to "Instant Murder" in GoT. One of those things accurately reflects reality across most of human existence, the other mostly doesn't.
THIS is the show with strong female leads: smart, tough, and flawed. In fact, all of the characters are so well developed and portrayed, I don't even think about their gender, race, or age; and thankfully the story never makes those irrelevant characteristics relevant.
I agree fully. When I first saw Drummer I thought they had cast the ugliest female on earth, as her arc progressed, I found myself genuinely attracted to her as a person despite her looks.
Overall, One of the best things i've seen on a screen in my entire life. The closest other show that's that believable and felt, simply put thoroughly engaging, is game of thrones. The main thing is that It leaves this impression that most of "cinema" is actually way more cartoonish than how you always perceived it.
This series (I am at season 2) just reminded me why we are fighting a loosing battle. Baldurs Gate 3 is degenerate woke garbage but people LOVE it. The beastiality, forced inclusivity, gay sex, etc. The people behind Expanse HATES white people. They just reigned it in? What do you mean you ask? They are doing a simple dialectic process. You smash to opposite viewpoints into each other and find a middle ground. Then again... and again until you carefully nudged the narrative toward your end goal. It' s looooong drawn out process but it works. The end game? Something like the acceptance of MAPs. This is a multi-faceted strategy between school indoctrination, government power and company policy. They are purposefully destroying or eliminating the old guard so that the next generation can stomp on their ashes create a world that these elitist wants.. New kids are programmed to follow the narrative. Either through schools or weak parenting. The powers that be will keep this up until they have your children marching outside of the white house with banners protesting the wost degenrate things you can think of. And they can afford it.
Well, Drinker, bingeing on your channel for entertainment purposes really paid off. I watched one minute of this review a few weeks ago before opening up Season One, Episode One of The Expanse, a show I had never even heard of. I just finished watching all six seasons in one gulp with no breaks, absolutely riveted. As you say, the cast is diverse at no one's expense. And Shohreh Aghdashloo is magnificent, I hope she works nonstop forever. I hope this series goes on, and I hope it gets a perfectly huge audience. It's a real gold standard for SciFi. Thanks for pointing it out.
It is by caffeine alone that I set my mind in motion. It is through the juice of the Java that the thoughts acquire speed. The hands acquire shaking. The shaking is a warning. It is by caffeine alone that I set my mind in motion.
Hehe, I found this show late last year (pre-season5) and binge-watched it in a matter of days. Then I had my mind wiped so I could binge it again. Now I'm watching it for the fourth time with my ma, one episode a day, hoping all of season 5 will be out by the time we get there.
Coming from someone who grew up on TNG and the Star Wars OT… it feels weird to say that The Expanse is my favorite Sci-Fi show of all time. You’re absolutely right; it’s Sci-Fi written by adults for adults. I want more Expanse. I want books 7,8 & 9. I want more shows that are in the Expanse universe (as long as Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck are involved).
Reading the books and knowing Amos is there to just fuck shit up is so satisfying. Perfectly cast, although a lot different than I imagined in the books.
I really like that character. He’s a sociopath that knows he’s a sociopath and knows he doesn’t understand morality so he needs a compass. The actor plays that so well
He isn’t cold blooded though, he’s desensitized and only respects those he’s loyal to and At the beginning he’s only loyal to Naomi and the book is from Holdens POV so he seems cold blooded.
The crazy thing about this show, i can genuinely re-watch it every year and it has me on the edge of my seat everytime. I re-watch of loved shows like Fringe and they suffer from diminishing returns each time but never this show. Its too smart, fast paced (from season 2 onwards), gritty and thrilling. Incredible show
I discovered it by searching "top scifi shows on TV" and The Expanse happened to be on that list. I was unsure whether to continue watching after the first few episodes of season 1 started really slow and sometimes confusing, but eventually it paid off.
Sadly I had never heard of this show till it hit Amazon. And even then was just kind of looking at random stuff, was like "eh, I'll give this a try. So glad I did
I've read all the available books and novellas. The show was created by the authors, and you can tell. In many ways, the show actually improves upon the books, tightening up plots, fusing characters together to save time, but actually coming up with better motivations and depth for them. My favorite sci fi show in ages
@@mrsteve4569 Oh, definitely read the books. They're excellent. No matter how good the adaptation is, it will always fall short in one particular fashion - exploration of the state of mind of characters. The only semi reliable way to do this on film is narrators, and they're almost always bad. You can give hints through how they interact with the world, minute changes in expression of actors, etc... but it's no replacement. Rather than think of one or the other as better, I think they're mutually beneficial! Some things are done better in the books, and others, the show.
I only found the expense through this review and I'm hooked, one of the best programs Ive watched in a long time. 4 seasons in and it just gets better.
One of the few shows I can watch guilt free. Doesn’t hit you over the head with any message, just good quality entertainment with a respectable level of attention to details.
It does have messages, but they aren't hyper political rubbish, its all about the human condition (We see this in the different factions of humanity and the many types of people spawned from these factions) and how we fare when encountering the unknown (Shown mostly though the proto-molecule), its just smart enough to show you many different perspectives and show you that its never simple or straightforward nor is it black and white.
I have watched this SHOW TO DEATH and still go back for more. To me this is "Clearly " the best show of it's kind out there in the past 50 yrs. Now I will say it does not finish the books that it's based on but it does it in style and I'm sure we will see more in the future.
@@adam_mawz_maas Drummer/Ashford's dynamic was some of my favourite character content in the whole series. She was amazing, but in truth, not one member of the cast wasted their time on camera.
@@Blisterdude123 What amazed me was how fantastic Ashford was in the show. In the books he was a pretty one-dimensional villain with no redeeming qualities.
@@am19228 It was like the writers were literally like "We can do better for this buccaneering chad, let's make him the best character in the show for a brief period of time" lolol
This is one of my favorite shows of all time. Avasarala was the role Admiral Chainsmoker was born for. Amos was a musclebound beefcake who seemed like a loyal sociopath at first, but was later revealed to be a highly nuanced character. Thomas Jane nailed the world-weary detective archetype, while Jared Harris was both charismatic and terrifying as the leader of the OPA. But my goodness, I have to give props to Cara Gee. Her Drummer was a workshop on how to make a bad-ass female character.
The Expanse is easily the best Sci-Fi I've seen in two decades. I recommended it to my 75-year-old father, and he thought he could half watch it, wasn''t impressed and kept trying to second guess the outcome. Eventually, he figured out that you actually have to pay attention, and now he raves about how good it is.
Battlestar Galactica takes the top spot for me. The expanse seems to be too grounded in reality, for my taste. I could be wrong though. I only watched the first few episodes.
The first few episodes are a bit slow and harder to watch because its laying the foundation of the characters and universe setting. It's like that with most good stories. Watch a few more episodes.
I am 65 years old and so remember the original Star Trek. I have the same feeling about this smart and mesmerizing show. A highly intelligent friend of mine that is skeptical of sci-fi watched the first episode with me prepared to launch into a running critique. In the scene where they board the ship and find blood on the walls from the battle before they got there, she says to me, " How did the blood run down the wall if they're in zero-g?". I didn't answer just waiting for the characters to figure out the battle had taken place while the ship was still under full gravity. I have now watched 4 seasons with her and she has never questioned another thing in this series and is a massive fan like me. Also, i love the 1940's feel of the Detective juxtaposed against a 23rd century backdrop. What a great touchstone for the audience as we become familiar with this complicated world. Thank you Drinker for reviewing this!
There is one mistake, just one, scientifically, where they change course using the gravity slingshot from Jupiter, and the experience “G” forces, which you wouldn’t as it’s gravity doing the turning.
@@SvenTviking There are a few others, nothing is perfect, but you notice them because they make such a huge effort to get it right and 99% of the time they do. One of my favorite touches is at one point when Miller is up "high" in Ceres (meaning relatively close to the spin axis) and pours a drink and the liquid falls in a little spiral because that near the spin axis the spin-G is relatively weak and the Coriolis is relatively strong. They did start adding external sounds to the space battles at one point, it may have been when they went to Amazon. IIRC in the first couple of seasons when your viewpoint was on a ship in space you only heard sounds made by that ship or things that hit it and everything else was silent.
The 'Belt' at 2:18 actually doesn't refer to the Kuiper Belt. It refers to the asteroid belt roughly between Mars and Jupiter, where the gas giants in the outer Solar System are considered the 'outer planets' (hence the name Outer Planets Alliance). Great video though, cheers.
The detail that always stuck with me in this serie is that the crew actually think of depressurizing the ship and donning their space suits when they expect to be shot at and have the hull take a beating or be punctured. Shows how much the writers care about making the world believable and coherent.
Well to give credit where credit is due, most of those thanks should go to the authors. The writers deserve credit for sticking with the books and realizing 'its sometimes the small things' that helps make all the difference.
That barely even scratches the surface. If you look at the small, really technical details, the show still shines brightly. I can't seem to poke holes in it. Couple of examples: If you look at the railgun trajectories during the UN meeting leading up to the attack on the Martian missile platforms, you can see that they accounted for the gravitational pull of celestial bodies, especially the sun itself. But for me, what probably really sold me on the show being hardcore focused on the details was a blink-or-you'll-miss-it moment during the first season, when the _Tachi_ escaped the _Donnager._ It was at this moment (But you can see it long before that, during the initial part of the battle.) that I noticed that each PDC doesn't just have muzzle flashes out of the barrels, but also out of the rear. When I noticed this, I realized that the PDCs must employ caseless ammunition so they can behave like real-world recoilless rifles, using the explosion from the cannon round being fired to counteract the recoil by venting it at both ends. A clever, simple fix for how the recoil would affect the course of the ship in zero-g. Every attempt I've made to find flaws in the science of the Expanse has fallen short, and the few areas which aren't adequately explained are acknowledged as being "maybes" which are plausible but not guaranteed based on known science, such as the limb-regrowing gel or the anti-acceleration drugs meant to loosen up your blood vessels so they don't pop during high-g maneuvers. The science is also seamlessly woven into every aspect of the worldbuilding. A great example of this is how they influence in-universe politics. At first, I got the impression that a flaw in the show's writing was how too many characters seemed to have a black-and-white "Us vs. them" mentality and just bought into all the stereotypes about outsiders. The Martians especially seem to have this problem, but the Belters certainly don't lack it, either. Only the Earthers seem to try to understand the other two factions, but it doesn't change their behavior much because the lot of them are too cynical or corrupt to care. It's not an understanding borne out of a well-intentioned desire to find common ground or at least maintain peaceful coexistence. It's only there so they can size up the other groups and figure out what they can and can't do with or get out of them. It makes the factions seem kinda stupid and two-dimensional, but when I thought about it a bit more closely, I realized that this is actually the result of long distances and communication times caused by light lag between Earth, Mars, and the Belt. Messages have to be sent one-way and can take upwards of a couple of hours to reach their destinations, making real-time conversations impossible unless someone visits in person. The communications equipment used to send the messages are usually large, centralized pieces of infrastructure which are no doubt heavily monitored and filtered by whichever faction is controlling them, as well. I was thinking about the story in 21st-century terms, when the internet connects all of humanity with electronic infrastructure within at most a couple of seconds of delay time. Such conditions do not exist in the Expanse's Sol system, which in turn completely explains why so many people in all three major factions have next to no understanding or empathy for people from the other two. They aren't really real, or human, to them. They've never met them, or only met a handful who were probably hostile or just indifferent. The main takeaway is that the show never explicitly states any of these things or even draws attention to them, it just puts the results in the world and _has faith_ in the audience to be intelligent enough to notice them and put the puzzle pieces together to gain a deeper understanding of the setting and its characters and politics if they want to, but still delivers enough explanation, often by showing instead of telling, to give the more casual observer the information they need for the plot to make sense. I've heard it said that worldbuilding is like an iceberg, and 90% of it isn't shown onscreen or otherwise pointed out, but many modern shows don't remember this. The things you see onscreen lack that kind of careful thought and research behind the scenes. What you see is pretty much what you get. The Expanse, however, doesn't just have the iceberg, it lets you peek below the waterline to watch the wall of ice vanish into the deep blue. The result is a 21st-century sci-fi show that doesn't spoonfeed a cut-and-paste narrative to you over an unsubtle line or a blatantly obvious camera shot while employing hamfisted, boring, one-note villains or uninspired heroes. Imagine that.
I wish they (the producers and effects staff) would try just a little harder. There have been a couple of scenes of doorways sliding to open space (example, a character being jettisoned by the main antagonist), which should result in explosive decompression (water vapor in the atmosphere should immediately condense into fog and swirl out the door, for example, and eyes would promptly freeze, etc. but it never happens). I guess that level of realism is just too expensive and time-consuming to do, or they don't care for that level of accuracy.
"The belt" isn't the Kuiper belt, it's the Asteroid belt that lies between Mars and Jupiter. "Belters" in The Expanse are generally accepted to be anybody from any place beyond Mars, including the various moons. The fight in seasons 4 & 5 is over who has the right to colonize beyond the borders of the solar system.
Kind of a pointless fight since Pluto is 40 AU from the Sun (40x more than the earth of course) and a light year is 63,000 AU, and there's 4 of them to the nearest star. There's no way anyone's colonizing another planet soon enough to make war over it logical, unless this has to do with that wormhole they discovered (haven't seen the show, just saw a trailer and that's what it looked like)
@@elucid07 Drinker said they were sublight speed, so I didn't need to know any more to know that it's not logical that there would be fighting over who would get to leave (as if anyone could control that). If your reference is to the plot about the wormhole thing, then I guess you're saying I'm right that it's about that. I don't know why you're being pert. *shrug*
@@horrificpleasantry9474 Drinker said also he won't tell you everything about show. Aliens they've discovered basically open portals to different uninhabited worlds, so humans now argue who gets rights to colonize them. But the show is simply awesome, even when I said "portals" don't take them as Hollywood-trope-portals. Just watch the show :-)
I always recommended this show and everyone that I told about it had never heard of it. Very surprising seeing as how great the show is. I guess it never really got a lot of promotion. The awesome graphics, great story telling and thought out characters that actually have character devolvement is great especially for a show now a days. I wasn't sure about Amos when I started watching but he slowly became my favorite character. Dude is loyal as Fu@k once he considers you family and will do anything to protect his family/friends even if it means dying. He's got some of the best lines in the show. Great video as usual drinker! Keep up the good work man.
One of the refreshing things about Amos is how bluntly honest he is. He just tells the truth, doesn't play mind games, doesn't hid meaning under layers.
Cause the ones in charge does not watch their own product? They just have a list: add in right amount of skin tone add in right amount of genders add a famous enough IP Mix together with a high budget and then sit back waiting for the cash to flow in Oh,if it's a CW show then even the budget part can be ignored.
That's one thing that never made any sense to me, though. Whatever force slows the ship is acting on the whole ship and everything in it. It's not just some resistance the front of the ship runs into - you don't see the drive cone coming smashing through the ship, or the fuel in the tanks smash through them because it's still going 1000 miles per second when the ship stops. So the same force should act on the pilot as well - he should decelerate instantly and harmlessly just like everything else on the ship does. It should have been like when Eros did its little juke to avoid the Nauvoo and then accelerated faster than the Roci's crew could follow and still survive - the massive acceleration had the Roci crew pinned in their couches and ready to stroke out even with the juice, but inside Eros, Miller, proto-Julie, and everyone and everything else was completely unaffected because the force that was accelerating Eros was accelerating them along with it, acting on them directly and not just on the structure of the asteroid.
The believability of this show really hooked me. Even though there’s some fantastical elements, they are very starkly contrasted to the practicality of spaceships and travel. The fact that ships have to rotate to decelerate is such a cool little feature
You're so right about the diversity. I never cared about Bobbi Draper being a woman. She was a strong, smart, resourceful, and capable leader who sucked it up and did the job and put her people first. I didn't give a shit about her gonads or melanin.
I really like the character - I think she was horribly miscast though. The acting skills, particularly early in her run were ropey to say the least. She's obviously got better, but I think the show would really have benefited from a different actor
There’s also two gay couples in the show who are characters that play major rolls during their appearances, but it isn’t forced in any way. Them being in a same sex marriage or homosexuality isn’t the center point of their characters or personalities, just a background aspect of them. They shine in their personality traits and intelligence, not their sexual preference. That’s “diversity” done right.
@@gmiller4165 "I live for the day my children will be judged not by the color of their skin (or gender, or sexual orientation, etc.), but by the strength of their character." -MLK
@@Narapoia1 Well according to the books, Bobbie was really tall and well built because of being a martian and a marine, so I think the actress fit the bill with regards to the physical appearance
@@starliner2498 I'm not criticizing her physical appearance or physical suitability for the role (though she's not exactly believable as a marine killing machine in the way she handles herself - not like Amos or Drummer) My comment was purely based on the acting in her first season, which has got better though I still wouldn't call it good. However she has been a relatively major character outside of the core 4 and my preference would have been someone with better range / ability. Can't complain too much though - as I said, I like the character but if they had someone as good as David Straithern who played Ashford it would have been a better fit for her role in the story.
Most shows I can always pick my favorite characters, but this show's characters are all good and very complex, even those with small roles are interesting. The whole cast are very talented and believable, it's the best sci-fi show that I've seen in decades.
@@modisp I've not been upset at a character SPOILER Death For a long time... Probably not since early to mid Game of Thrones when it was good! Ashford was absolutely incredible.
I read the books I know the fate of Cyn and I couldn't give a f**k about him because he is with Marco. But the show Cyn, man I didn't want him to die. Show Ashford is also the most badass space pirate ever.
I stumbled across this as background to working at night. The first season didn't grab me immediately, but in season 3, I found myself on the edge of my seat, with my jaw gaping. A lot of people who have come to love this show have similar comments.
I watched the whole program from start to end. I’ve always been a serious si fi nut from way back, let’s just say early 1960s on. Yes I’m that old. It’s one of the best series I’ve seen. It’s like you take the earth and spread it out, with all with all its cultures and traditions and then restrict supplies. They had all of characters, from militaristic, to fanatic, to religious Zealot, to isolationist, to scientist who just wants to be left alone. All actors were spot on and not once hinted at diversity because they were diverse. I was so sad when they stopped, wish they would start a new episode. 😢😢😢
One of the greatest aspects I enjoy about this show is that the belters have a language and dialect of their own. It's a small detail but it really helps the world-building.
@@PunksterOS Belter creole is not based on any existing creole language on Earth, like the Creole spoken in the Caribbean f.ex., but is a creole language which can be any language developed from a mixture of different languages. The Belter creole in the show was specifically created by Nick Farmer, a polyglot Ty Franck met working as G.R.R. Martin's assistant. It is based on real languages of Earth, like germanic, romance, indic, chinese and niger-congo, but no creole language like that presently exists IRL outside of the show.
@@Marvee78 And here was me thinking it was supposed to be South African, and the actors were just fucking up the accent. Thanks for that man, I am glad I read that.
I always said Babylon 5 is best space opera on live screen. But damn Expanse is basically on equal level. If they manage to land full story it will come on top. Expanse just has more polish, less fillers and basically no dialogue slips.
Parts are amazing. But then you get bits where 2 ppl who don't like each other, are stuck in a room, inside a spaceship and trough contrivances can't communicate with the rest of the ship. Where they learn to get along with each other. Or the magic space stuff which does whatever the plot seems to want it to do. And cartoon vilians that want to appear deep but are not. I don't understand how one person is responsible for the good and the bad parts. The good parts are 100% worth it but god it can feel like it is going to do a got season 8 every few episodes.
"I learned a lot about myself that day, I learned that I can hold my breath for two minutes while doing strenuous exercise. I wonder how much damage I can do in two minutes before the knockout gas gets us. I'm betting it's a lot."
Probably because people who would like the show, read a couple of the books and said, "This is WAY too Woke for me". Seriously, the show is so much less Woke than the books -- it's why the show is praised so much, but it didn't have a reading fanbase that liked it enough to make it popular.
It's not underrated at all, if rotten tomatoes was actually decent it'd be on front page with 100% rating. It just hasn't been accepted by the masses yet, and the first 1-4 episodes of the show hurt it a bit in that regard.
@@jimluebke3869 the books are what? are you serious? where the fuck would you get that idea? the show is a very close adaptation of the original material, I am not aware of any preachyiness or wokeness in either
Let it stay underrated! Can’t have the jocks get their grubby little money grabbing, demographically targeted hands on it just yet! Because they will, one day.
Expanse is the example that you can make a very good show without the wokeness garbage and still write women and minorities in without talking down to the audience and with no agendas, it’s called treating everyone as equals and not making a big deal about it
I actually started watching The Expanse about a week ago and I'm already caught up. It has been literally years since I found a show so good I watched 4& 1/2 seasons in like 6 days.
The good news is that it's really re-watchable too. I hardly ever watch the same show again, I've watch The Expanse twice now, and will probably start it all over again before season 6.
I really hope someone on The Expanse crew watches this and shares it about with their other team members, as it's such a nice and hopefully motivating video that they are doing a fantastic job in a genre that, for the most part is being torn asunder.
I hope so as well (I mean the production heads and the studio leadership if they are [unlike Trek and Wars] actually seeking honest commentary instead of condemning it out of hand).
You realise that Cas Anvar isn't in the next season because he's being investigated for sexually intimidating and harassing other women? So many people don't realise.
Want to help support this channel?
Check out my books on Amazon: www.amazon.com/Will-Jordan/e/B00BCO7SA8%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share
Subscribe on Patreon: www.patreon.com/TheCriticalDrinker
Subscribe on SubscribeStar: www.subscribestar.com/the-critical-drinker
sounds good!!
Bruhhhhhhh.❤️❤️❤️ I was asking u to do this from quite sometimes.... Thankyou for Covering The Expanse...
Love you bruhh
This is my favourite SciFi series... 🔥🔥
What did you think about Babylon 5
This is like the best sci-fi show ever.
Well done
@@aokhoinguyenang3992 the Techno Mages were cool.
I even read a Babylon 5 based novel about them
“Why can’t more shows be like this?”, the drinker asks. The answer may well be in his preamble. He literally took years to come around to countless recommendations to watch The Expanse, worried that he would be wasting his time on an unknown franchise. However, he will religiously watch every instalment of ever diminishing mega franchises, vainly hoping they will rekindle a spark of the lost magic they once had. We are all guilty of this, drawn to the safety of known brands and less willing to take chances with our time and money on “risky” unknowns. If we, as customers, are not willing to take risks on something different, why, then would the studios take even bigger risks producing it?
It is worth noting that, while a critical success for its original network, The Expanse was to be cancelled for financial reasons 2 seasons ago. It is only because Amazons Bezos was a fan of the series that it got resurrected on Prime.
Yes, it sadly show state of medias and viewers when one of the best shows on TV must fight for survival and stupid shows - that doesn´t have any potencial, or anything interesting and are only to teach audience about identity politics - are renewed almost always.
Everything should be for everyone because money and creativity is "risky"
Well said. Same goes for The Orville and such.. just a little more drive for exeriments, and more good series good come up
I'm not, you won't get me to pay to watch a single other Super Hero movie, no more Terminator movies. No more rehashing good films from our youth and stomping all over them with trash.
It's the fault of the streaming services. They fund shovelware and just fill up their services with a ton of crap instead of saving up for fewer but better programs.
You forgot to mention a very important detail. "Alien life" in expanse is actually >alien
The viewers/readers haven't seen any alien life forms yet (aside from the eyeball parasites and toxic slugs on Ilus). The protomolecule and everything made from it is just a very advanced biological technology. AFAIK the characters have no idea what the aliens even looked like, unless Duarte's people on Laconia have found something we haven't been told about.
@@brucetucker4847 The Protomolecule like thing is what we are to most likely encounter.
@@damirelsik4996 There's basically zero evidence of that, and substantial evidence of something far less removed.
@@O1OO1O1 Whatever build/made the protomolecule had nothing common with humanity, zero common values, lived on a different time scale, probably would even differentiate between you and a rock.
Disassembly Reveals Useful Pathways- everything is just stuff to poke around with. It's just does it's thing with complete disregard to what is going on in that star system. It just keeps building stuff for someone who does not exist for billions of years.
This is something we could realistically meet.
@@damirelsik4996 theoretically, not realistically. Realistically, none of the evidence of contact of any kind resembles this. You're theorising, I'm referencing evidence.
"Amos is more complex than the entire Disney cast" 😆 true
I'm on season 5 now. Watching his character arc has been fun.
Aaaand he gets by far the most funny/suprising/shocking lines of the entire cast!
" I didn't start it and they were all alive when I walked away!" XD XD XD
the entire disney's starwars combine. damn that new char in starwars (I even forgot her name), is so shallow next to amos (the dark past lead to indifferent brutal man). and amos is not even main character here
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Hell the credits are more interesting than Disney these days.
I've watched every episode of every season so far of The Expanse and until 7 minutes into this video it never once occurred to me that there was a diverse cast, and I think that alone is a testament to how well this show does it. They weren't hired because of the colour of their skin, they were hired because they're bloody good actors.
It's a concept that a disturbingly high number of people seem incapable of grasping.
Well they were hired for these roles because they were from specific racial and cultural backgrounds. The books go into the characters a bit more. For example, Alex family were Pakistanis that lived in Texas (huge population there) that moved to Mars generations earlier. So they did hire people to portray these characters accurately.
I think the more important point is that it's a story with diverse characters - the cast matches the characters and that's fine because the characters are awesome. You don't notice it because the worldbuilding is great, there's no ulterior motive to telling a great story and the demographics of the characters aren't important. As should be the case everywhere really.
@@nrXic I need to read the books. Alex's accent was confusing.
@@nrXic They cast to the characters(where possible), not the checkboxes.
The only one where the casting didn't really match is Naomi Nagata, but that's because it's really hard to find a well over 6' asian/african woman who is absolutely scrawny. The actress they did cast does an excellent job in portraying the character.
Critical Drinker: Like
The Expanse: Like
Critical Drinker recommends The Expanse: Like squared
Talk to me when you able to "like" twice from same acc...
Like times like to the power like.
like²
Double like neat with water on the side.
Like "likelike" like
This show is honestly such a breath of fresh air in the SciFi world!
*universe :P
It was cancelled from Sci Fi Channel to make room for more Reality Shows and WWE
@@jameymikels1886 It's on Amazon Prime
I’m almost afraid to have people talk about this show, because the sjw’s might hear us and set their sights on it.
@@jeffgrey3335 ditto
Chrisjen Avasarala is honestly one of, if not the best "strong female protagonist" I've seen played in the last decade. She doesn't need super powers or a dark past. She doesn't need proficiency points in firearms or martial arts. She is simply an intelligent, often ruthless woman who is amazingly adept in politics with a willingness to use that power to achieve her goals. It doesn't come across as artificial at any point. She has moments of weakness and disadvantage. Times when she is vastly out of her depth and knows it. But through it all, you know she is a major player without being bludgeoned over the head by a socio-political message.
She also curses to make a sailor blush, which is just perfect.
To put it in her own words: We have no time for this bullshit, I will do whatever the fuck I have to.
Ellen Ripley vibes. 🤠
"So an Earther, a Martian and a Belter walked into a bar..."
She and Camina Drummer is the best example of "strong female characters"
"Diverse casting done right"
Yep that was my experience with this show, no character/actor feels like diversity hire. Good and simple example is that gay ambassador, yes he has a husband, yes the show shows, but its just a small part of that character, like in real life, your sexual orientation isn't your personality.
Lol it was so natural I forgot that dude was even gay XD
I didn't pick up that detail until I rewatched S1. It's that mature and smart, the man's a character, not a token who exists to check off a box on the representation list.
The books handled this so well. Because it basically made all of our own concepts of diversity fall apart. I mean what mattered was which planet or station you were born on. But it didn’t matter what color someone’s skin was or really anything about them. So well done.
well not untill the last seaon.
@@NineSun001 Wdym? I just watched it and didn't catch any woke bs.
"Amos? Where did you come from?"
"I'm staying next door."
"Next door is a brothel."
"*Yeah.*"
Dude now imagine that the narration in the books is from a 1st person perspective and you are switching from one character to another. Riding with Amos and reading his inner monologue and stream of consciousness is wild... He is absolutely bonkers and he knows it. He is also aware that times he can spot much more than anyone else so he thinks of them as sort of naive kids that he has to take care of so that later on they can guide him in matters he is clueless about. All I'm trying to say is check out the books. They are worth it. I'm about to read all of them again from the beginning.
@@MrGreenAKAguci00 the audio books are the best I've ever listened to.
@@MrGreenAKAguci00 His ability to sense danger and prepare for it is almost on par with Rick Sanchez.
He's broken and he knows it, but he can see stuff nobody else does.
"Get down. That guy's about to shoot everyone." (or whatever I can't think of a specific example)
When he talks about The Churn you know he's the only one who can get you out of this mess.
I'm doing this for you Miller
Amos has some great lines.
"They were all alive when I left the room."
Unfortunately, the only reason we can have a show of this caliber in this day and age is because there was an author who did the leg work of a well thought out storyline, rather than modern screenwriters.
This is my fear as well.
Actually, I think the show is actually written even slightly better than the books. More polished.
But of course the bulk of the credit goes to the gentlemen behind the story.
My question is why we can't have more good adaptations like this.
@@DanielLopez-ob9jz $$$
Fun fact: The screen writers and show runners are the same people who wrote the novels. James S.A. Corey is the pen name for the authors Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck who are Executive Producers of the show. I also think that the TV show surpasses the novels, maybe it is because the writers can use their novels as first drafts and refine them in the show. Looking forward to season 6.
How is a show so well reviewed by critics AND fans so underrated? It's insane how this show never got the attention or awards that it deserved.
It should've been up there with the biggest in terms of popularity. It was just horribly marketed, same thing happened recently with Andor. People are so tired of mediocrity they can let gems like this slip past them. It's a damn shame.
Everybody loves the Expanse and Andor. Is "underated" now to mean even the Amish must watch? I can't figure out how universally praised and underrated go together.
@@Conorp77 nah, Andor just isn’t Star Wars so it’s not worth watching. Fucking bore fest man.
@@cowsagainstcapitalism347 “underrated” in this instance means far too few people are watching it for how good it is.
Because it requires you to watch the show instead of be on your phone because of its complex story. It also take time developing characters instead of just being action action action. I’m actually amazed that shows like westworld and game of thrones ever took off because the attention span of the average TV watcher is that of a gold fish.
Tom Jane is such an underrated actor. Loved his portrayal of Miller.
Just watched a newish show called Troppo and he was so amazing in it.
I was thinking about how good of an actor he really is the other day. Hell, I love him in the Punisher as well given what he had to work with.
and even better as the Investigator
He did a perfect job bringing the character from the book to the screen. I really enjoyed watching him.
You’ve gotta see him in 1922, he was fucking awesome
Until he mentioned diversity, I honestly didn't even notice it. That's when you know it's done right.
Diversity, feminism, it's huge in the show. If you can ignore that it is pretty good.
It's imho similar to Star Trek in that regard.
I "grew up" on Voyager, TNG, DS9 and Enterprise. I never really "noticed" that there was a female captain, a black commander, a female warrior, a female computer, a male computer, a native american, asians, a black alien and a buttload of other diverse choices for the cast.
Because it was just... "part of it", it didn't feel forced. Same goes for the Expanse.
Do I feel a headache for Drummer being female? No. Do I feel Klaes is being demonized because he's an "old white man"? Not really. Is Chrisjen a bad woman because she's "part of the establishment?" No, because she'll go wherever the fuck she wants. Does it matter that Amos is white? No, would the character work the same way if he'd be black? Yep. Does it matter that Naomi is black? No, because I have more issues that she's actually not tall enough for a belta.
Can one say the same about the cast of - for example - STD? Batwoman? Dr. Who? Ghostbusters? Birds of Prey? The latest SW-trilogy? MIB International? Charlies Angels?
Most people on the conservative side of social justice have little issue with diversity if it's not for the sake of diversity.
OTOH, most people have issues with "x for the sake of x" in general. People like action movies, but there's a reason why Michael Bay has a reputation of doing it "too much", because it's just action for action's sake.
It just makes sense in the setting
@@Psycorde I mean, one _could argue_ it also makes sense in STD.
Tbh, I'm not too good of a writer to be able to precisely say why things like STD feel forced and Voyager (to keep a "female protagonist" in the comparison) feels fine.
A few things are obvious (Janeway isn't strong because the male characters are either evil or weak, but because she is actually strong. Holden or Amos or anyone really isn't a Mary Sue (or Gary Stu), whereas Rey clearly is, etc).
But even if you remove those obvious things, there's still... differences I can't put my finger on.
But I don't really have to either. I understand I don't enjoy Supergirl, Charlies Angels or STD while I did enjoy Ripley in Aliens, the girls in The Boys beating up Stormfront and Janeway (and B'elana and Seven XD) in Voyager.
@@barelyfree9427 Why do you need to ignore diversity and feminism if it's done organically and not in a preachy manner? Unless you are ideologically opposed to a world filled with people from various ethnicities? Is it so hard to contemplate that a few hundred years later, humankind will be a mishmash of different cultures and women will have opportunities? The thing about The Expanse is that gender and race/ethnicity are no longer the hot issues. The division lines are between Earth, Mars and the Belt and of course, the eternal socio-economic status
Drummer is perhaps the most Intimidating 100 pound woman ever
Her and Ashford were the best parts of the best season
Lmao it's TRUE when I see people nervous around her I actual believe she must of done some crazy sh#t, when sjws make a character like that its always laughable
I like how she just kills 2 ( think it was 2) prisoners who recently took her station hostage.
@@leerman22 I like that scene too. Even though she is hurt from the gunshot, she doesn’t forget to get her revenge in.
And oddly shagable !
“You’re not that guy!
I am that guy!”
Amos is just fabulous…his subtle cues and glances speak volumes……Way to go Wes!
ALL the actors in fact are really great.
The actor actually went to a psychiatrist with the novel to ask how amos would behave given what he went through in his formative years, superb attention to detail
That is my favorite line from the whole show. Season 3 ep 6.
That it the payoff of the century!
That is my favorite line from the whole show. Season 3 ep 6.
That it the payoff of the century!
Amos reaction when Prax tells his daughter he’s his best friend in the whole world. From that second onwards, Prax is the safest person on that station 😂
"I am that guy" is probably the best line/payoff of the whole show (or any show)😅
Bobby Draper is how you write a badass female character. She's great without having to tell us.
shes a big girl
Another Ellen Ripley...I chuckled when she was referred to as "The Big Girl"
In the books, she's 6'7" tall! Thats a big girl for sure.
@@merlyworm Yeah, due to lower gravity. I also heard that in the books, Naomi basically towered over Holden (only heard, since I haven't read the books yet), though it's understandable why they didn't do that in the show
@@widmo206 And she's also very hot. ANyone that hasnt read the books, should. Theyre very good.
The thing I love about Amos is that he KNOWS he's sociopathic, and uses that knowledge to avoid becoming too much of a monster. He uses that aspect of himself to protect people, such as "I am that guy." He didn't want that man living with a murder on his conscience, whereas Amos will kill someone who he thinks is in the way without a second thought.
He knows he's broken. He knows what's broken. He deals with it. Love that show.
You get Amos.
Prax was not "that guy".
Amos is my favorite character of the show. The way he deals with problems and conflict with a completely rational method with him and his crew in mind is great to see portrayed. His emerging from the hired muscle to someone who has some actual character depth was a nice breath of fresh air
@@SMCca Seriously. The muscle character is frequently the least interesting member of a team. Bravo on the writers for making him pretty much the most interesting character on the show.
Agree! He’s a great character to watch develop.
the critical drinker is the only credible critic we have left
It's good, not completely unsullied by the woke but the good parts so damn good👍
I'll drink to that!
bit of a overstatement but yeah sure
Sad but true ...
Rotten tomatoes turns to flat lager
@Agent W Enjoy it while its lasts. In current climate I feel that even fictional reviewers will eventaly be deplatformed.
This shows is the best example of how to add strong female characters in the story. Not to humiliate men. Show partnership, working as a team, support and respect
nor lose their femineity while being strong = Chrisjen Avasarala in her sari inspired clothing.....Also just my fave character. When she was all...........Savior of Mother Earth. I was like YES!!!! admittedly I have an earth bias
and none of them are mary sues.
And Camina Drummer, the Belter Goth Queen 😩
They DO have some woke nonsense, like how Naomi is a damn expert in EVERYTHING, such as when she LITERALLY says shes "not a medic" before perfectly using all the med supplies and healing Amos' broken leg...
BUT The Expanse is better than 99.999% of everything else modern.
@@KA24DERACER oh yeah it does. She reminded me of Iris in the TV show The Flash, it always about her, her and her.
Just one small correction drinker. The "Belt" in the show is actually the asteroid belt (between mars and jupiter) not the kuiper belt (past neptune)
'Belters' had spread out to the Kuiper Belt when they formed the Outer Planetary Alliance (to represent everyone outside the asteroid belt). Without knowing what they meant by 'Outer Planets' the name would imply the outer belt.
@@differous01 judging by the description in the books, once you go past Saturn, colonies becomes extremely sparse. the only people who live around Uranus and Neptune are scientists in reasearch centers and the pretty much no one lives in the actual Kuiper belt
@@shapesnatch1341 When reading the books I had to check Tycho was in the asteroid belt because of it being an OPA base. I can understand others making the mistake.
@@differous01 Are they mining ice? The Kuiper Belt is full of chunks of ice that sometimes become comets - the valuable metal is in the asteroid belt
@@ArchangelChi There is at least one episode with a ship ensnaring an icy asteroid with a net and hauling it to a colony to process into water and fuel. Iron asteroids are so plentiful, they're considered junk, but metals are still produced in the belt, of course.
When the worst thing The Drinker has to say about the show is Miller's haircut, you know it's good - BossMan
Bosmang
aye beratna.
Just watched the first episode and was not impressed at all. Seems like a political drama that takes place in space... I'm sure the show is well written but why ruin space with political crap?
@@fixvble1237
Push forward. They’re character/world building. If you don’t like it by the end of QCB (E4) then you just might not like it.
There has to be some form of politics/story to base events around. They’re all the politics of THAT world, though.. not the one we live in. Works well.
@@fixvble1237 why does it ruin it? It's part of the story. Politica doesn't mean bad...
Weirdly enough, my girlfriend suggested that we watch this show a day after the Drinker. Clearly, they're banging
Is her name Tatyana?
well, can you blame her?
I’d be honoured
LoL
Well at least your parents didn't recommended it...
Man, Drinker, did you see the final season? It shows competent people that actually know what they’re doing can stick the landing, even with fewer episodes. It’s like the inverse of what happened with Game of Thrones. Lol.
And that finale was just delicious.
Oh yeah and the fewer episodes actually worked, as it allowed for a tighter narrative with some extra long episodes to compensate. It closed things out wonderfully that left people satisfied but 100% left the door open for more down the line. Which I am really hopeful for 😁
@@gwell2118 Season 6, maybe. But Season 5 REALLY needed those extra three episodes to really do the book justice. Seriously, read Nemesis Games. They left out half of the best stuff.
@@jaffarebellion292 Debatable and perhaps 5 was the weaker season but still it was enjoyable overall with a solid season finale. Though I am probably somewhat biased however as Nemesis Games was my least favorite book in the series so the cut stuff didn't effect me that much.
@@gwell2118 Fair. My problem with season 5 was that they cut out a lot of the Alex/Bobbie storyline. The attack on the Martian fleet, Alex meeting Duarte, and Bobbie's missile ride. Sure, what was there was good, but what wasn't there was painful. There was this huge dead spot in the middle of the season where they could've slipped it in, along with more of the destruction in Baltimore depicted in the book. Good season, but book to screen, I'd say it's the weakest adaptation. Though I will say, season 6 changed a LOT that they didn't need to, so I'd still put it in the running for the weakest adaptation. Again, good stuff, but it could've been way better. The show peaked in season 3.
Expanse has one more ace in sleeve.
It based on books.
And oh my god it’s perfect adaptation, changes are made exactly where make sense to get most of different medium.
I’ve watched various episodes throughout the five seasons on average four times. While I eagerly await season 6 with the podcasts, I started the books in January 2021. Almost halfway through Cibola Burn and hope to finish Nemesis Games by the end of the year before S6 drops
Because the book's authors are also working on the show. They know exactly what they can change while still keeping their original vision alive. I think that's also why Invincible is so good
I still think we should have got a closer adaptation of cibola burn. I was hooked on the orbit storyline and the books did it even better.
"Even Characters like Amos, who seems like a big dumb bruiser stranded deep in Naomis friendzone, turns out to have more layers to his personality and backstory, than the entire cast of disney star wars combined" Punchline OF THE YEAR my dude! Glad you like it, Expanse is without doubt one of the best scifi shows ever. ;)
Amos is my favourite he starts bland, almost psychopathic in his lack of emotions but Wes Chatham does an amazing job of subtly hinting emotions that appear buried deep below a stoic emotionless exterior as his story unravels and you learn why he is the way he is.
Fully agree! That was the best line from Drinker in the whole vid, & all he said in it was right.
Amos: Now you just walk around like you're in pumps
Chrisjen:How do you know what it's like to walk in pumps?
Amos: I didn't always work in space.
Amos is a hidden social genius in my view!
"You're not that guy...... I am that guy" one of the best space opera scenes ever. AMOS is the best
The space combat in Expanse is hands down the best I've ever seen.
I think it is the only space combat I have seen.
all the rest are fireworks in china
watch Battlestar Galactica
@@patriksedivy6818 bsg is dated still amazing but the expanse wins bsg 2nd.
@@catdogthing yea, totaly agree with you, expanse is amazing but BSG has something extra,, also some spinoff or reboot of galactica is a thing
It's the only best space battles that I I remeber and is less ridiculous and more tense
Rocinante beating the Pella was hands down the most clever maneuver I've ever seen in space combat.
180° 'no scope' with a rail gun while out running the bigger ship was badass.
I just saw this, and I was so amazed, entranced and shocked that I immediately replayed it, clipped it and sent it to my friends in recommendation to watch the show.
I was sad when Alex died. It's like ripping out a beloved family member.
@@neosildrake Yep... Actually, he was "killed" because some "me too" jerky morrons had decided to cancel the actor (harassment or kind of shit). He is alive and doing well in books...
@@Nickel41279
I've only at book 2. Thank's for making me happy about Alex fate in the books.
I think the "me too" stuff might actually be responsible for shortening the 6th season and ending the show. As I've only recently, as of 4 weeks ago, started the show and books, so I had no idea about the "me too" accusations. As a woman I can say that it is good that people speak out, but it is bad form to judge without proof. Innocent untill proven guilty is the base of our justice system in the west. If that get's thrown out of the window and companies preemtively "judge/punish" people because of possible social media fallout, then we might as well throw due.process away and go on to start lynching and burning on the stakes again.
So... was he proven guilty at the time of the making of the show or any time after?
I've heard the books after that continnue with a time skip of several years, so maybe we will get more. But they would have to severely rewrite stuff to continnue without Alex character, if he is still alive in the books.
I have much to say about this show, I'll try to be concise
1: It's a masterpiece, I have never seen such a faithful adaptation of page to screen
2: It's scientifically literate the entire time, books and show, the logistics/reality and speculative technology never stop. They don't fall to the wayside in favor of dramatic scenes with no thought like late GoT
3: There is a definite direction of where it's going, they don't make up anything as they go along, nothing is filler or just gratuitous action trying to hold up a weak or fragmented storyline that's running out of good ideas
4: People act realistically, their skills, abilities and experience allow characters to react to sudden changes, or use their expertise to save the day, unlike other stories which have players behave inconsistently or make really stupid choices as an excuse to build drama even though the characters should know better than to do this or that. People discover ambushes or traps and INSTANTLY warn other expendable side characters, saving them
5: The world building, even more impressive than presenting true science-based technology, but the cultures and societies within vary wildly depending on where their from. Annoying lies and falsehoods don't plague the story forever, people falsely accused and vilified in the public eye are in fact often exonerated as innocent, misunderstandings are eventually straightened out on a galactic scale, such things become public knowledge
6 having rewatched it again since, another very important approach is the pacing, they do not pad the runtime with BS until the season finales, major events occur naturally based on all the above. I remembered some of these as the finale, but going back over it all, I was remembering wrong. Some of the largest and most important reveals and happenings occur not even halfway through a season, significant enough events that I assumed it was the centerpiece of that season's finale. Thus, nothing is a waste of time, and there's reason to always pay attention
I don't think I've worked on a project where every department is as committed to their roles. We went through belter dialect training and zero gravity training to prepare for the show. Glad you enjoyed it. Much love and thank you for sharing.
Serge!!! That comes through for sure! I think a lot of us, myself included, really appreciate the level of detail that you can only really get by just putting in the work! I hope you guys are getting to enjoy this, cause you're putting out something top notch that I truly believe is going to stand the test of time. Thanks!!
The Expanse really puts other scifi shows to shame, not just the writing and characters, but the consistent high quality of the work.
you're an actor on the show?
in case you are; good job! keep it up!
Keep it real brother. Yall are the best show smokin right now hands down. My wife and I both were talking and we think all sci fi shows need to look at the expanse for inspiration!
It's as epic as robotech and gritty as breaking bad.
Showrunner Naren Shankar started out as one of the staff writers on Star Trek: TNG. He is a physicist. I.E. the sort of person who should be running Star Trek if there was justice.
I think he's better off where he is. Star Trek sinks under the weight of its own mythology.
no wonder this show makes so much sense.
No, clearly the best person to be running Star Trek is the guy who wrote 'Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,' 'The Amazing Spider-Man 2,' and 'Tom Cruise meets The Mummy'
I didn’t know that but it absolutely makes sense now!
I mean, it's based on a series of books that all had the same tech described in them. It's not like the physicist showrunner is the reason why the world makes so much sense. The writers, Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, are also involved inthe show and some of the best and most surprising deviations from the books were championed by them.
All around A+ for those guys and how they approach their properties.
I very much hope that one day the final three books in the series will be adapted for television.
I'm in the middle of book 8 right now and omg it's so good.
@@MegaCityGhost Good to know! Read the first three a few years ago and loved them enough that I wanted to leave the series for a bit to let it breathe, have been thinking about picking it up again after watching the TV show, I guess I should.
I think they're looking for bigger funds for movie on the last 3 book
I agree with your statement saying The Expanse is a show written by adults for adults. It's a complex and believeable bit of world creation and it's diverse without being forced. It's a clever and thought provoking and feels like the creators actually read the novels.
yeah, "space lesbian priest savior" bs is a super believable and adult stuff :D
@@MgelikaXevi There is no priest saviour in The Expanse, have you actually watched it?
@Heki Laon
I’ve watched this series start to finish multiple times and I have no idea who you’re referring to..
@@milanondrak5564he's talking about volovodov
@@milanondrak5564i think it's refer to Anna, UN Secretary General advisor.
*EPSTEIN DIDN'T KILL HIMSELF*
... he just turned off the voice command.
Actually it was in Chinese I think
LOL that is gold!
@James Stewart
The joke
Your head
Epstein did't die . . get a grip
@@benwinter2420 he on an Israeli beach?
“One guy even asked me to review American politics. There is literally not enough beer in the world mate”
Critical Drinker
👏👏well said.
Try living it Cuz.....
Ha yeah even though I am 16 I can tell when a revolutionary war is going to happen.
@@throwbackthursday680 I don't think there's enough mobility scooters in the U.S to make that war viable.
@@throwbackthursday680 Revolutionary War? More like Civil War. Everyone in this country would sooner eat each other alive than topple their own government, whom might I add has been toppling shitloads of foreign governments.
@@Dizzyruptor Considering 40% of us or more are fatasses, you'd need the production capability of the US and Russia combined to cover all that. XD
My biggest appreciation for the show is that it gets the fuck on with it, there is hardly any filler every scene has a purpose for the overall narrative. Climaxes you expect to be at the end of the season happen mid season like Eros and finding Mei so the plot can continue on.
While I agree with you *mostly*, I found myself getting bored at a trapped-underground storyline with two opposing factions, green shit in eyes, etc. It was clear after an episode and ⅓ that they were just going to draw out all that BS until some magic solution to everything was found, so I FFWD through most of the BS. And look at that! A magic solution was found! Yay. Moving along in the story, now...
I'd fantasized about a show like this for years, and it's absolutely incredible
Totally this, I remember literally the first 2 min of this show knowing that it was gonna be my thing.
There’s such a lack of good sci-fi right now and this scratched the itch so hard
Correction: The Belt refers to the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, not the Kuiper Belt which starts out by Neptune.
yup
I had to do a freeze frame, I was like, really?
I mean, technically "the belt" in the show refers to practically anything beyond mars. so... technically the kupier belt too?
That's what I was thinking. What? The belt past Neptune? You know how far away that is from Mars? LOL
Mars is Jesus aka halo around head . . Jupiter was here before the Sun swap . . it' was probable another 'marriage' by Sol current Sun . . the salty old devil
I just cheered at the fact that this video even exists.
The Expanse is the most underrated show on TV and genuinely one of the best Sci Fi series ever.
i like to call this show a more "Sci- Plausible" or "Sci-Likey" show. The Science Fiction moniker just seems to insult the intelligence of the series
I can't describe how pissed off I was when they cancelled the show, and then how happy I was when Amazon revived it.
@@StreetLugeNetwork Yes. Every episode is full of little details that cement the realism. So every time the true sci-fi plot shows up and does something even slightly physics-defying it's always a *holy shit* moment.
You also need to check out "Counterpart" with J.K. Simmons, it's also one of the best sci-fi shows ever made, a masterpiece in my eyes.
@@DerelictusAnima I've only ever seen J K Simmons in the Spiderman movies (where he was awesome, but a rather comical character) and in The Tomorrow War (and he stole the show in that, despite being a side character). He has a very strong presence. He kinda reminds me of Charles Dance, he just has that way about him. Thanks man, I am going to check that out.
Now that the last season is done, I am shocked that the show had to struggle with funding. Star Trek went on for like half a century, and I’m confident that 80% of the people who like Star Trek will like this. At least even with the tight budget the Expanse team pulled off one thrilling show
I guess that because the networks want every year MORE and more money, to prove themselves to shareholders. In the past they could keep something that made even if quality was good, but not now.
Also, the CGI costs every year more and more. Like cell phones. You would think that with all that tech evolution, they would get ....cheaper... but we pay more for anything technological if you check.
While I agree with you, Star Trek was a remarkably cheap show to produce. There were minimal special effects, and the majority of every episode took place on the same set throughout the entire series.
I love 90s Star Trek, but I watched something like 2-3 episodes of The Expanse and honestly it ran me down so much, I've been putting off watching more for over a year. It seems like 100% of the time the show is just *DARK, GRITTY, HARSH MISERY* without a moment's reprieve. Does it ever balance out?
@@Durzo1259 Yes, it does--it just takes time. The first season and a half are based on the first book, so everything moves carefully, but the plot threads will all come together eventually. It's realistic in that not every subplot has a happy ending, every hero has flaws, and every villain has redeeming qualities. Makes me laugh at Trek's magical science bullshit and think Star Wars is for 8-year-olds. One of the best sci-fi shows of all time.
I've always found star trek to be mind numbing pap. Polystyrene sets. 2 dimensional characters. Clichéd episodic stories. Techno babble. A veneer of preachy utopianism.
Another great thing about this show is that even some of the single-episode cameo characters are well-written and memorable.
My favourite has to be Maneo, the horny slingshot racer out to impress his girlfriend. First human to attempt entering the Ring Space and responsible for activating the Ring and its Slow Zone, while ending up as a big squirt of ketchup on the cockpit.😄 He was on screen (no pun intended) for less than a third of an episode but EVERY Expanse fan remembers him.
Also, his scenes gave us a fantastic Belter version of Deep Purple's "Highway Star".
Yes! Funny, I watched the Drinker's review of Alien Covenant, because I thought I had never seen it. Turns out, apparently I did see the movie, but forgot the entire thing because it was so unmemorable. But Slingshot racer? Yes I remember that guy from a single frame.
Another great scene is Boobie and the electrician?
I rewatched him splattering into the ring so many times. It was so well done and totally unexpected.
One of my favorite things about the show is that the writing doesn't shy away from punishing characters for being well-intentioned idiots. In the worlds of _The Expanse,_ it's not enough to want to do the "right" thing: if you don't think about consequences, doing the "right" thing is more likely to make things _worse,_ not better, for the people you thought you were helping.
One of my favorite things about the show. The upstanding moral characters often fail, but not simply for shock value as in shows like game of thrones. they fail because the world they're trying to live in is more complex than they are prepared for at times, so every character is constantly struggling to reevaluate their own beliefs in the face of a rapidly changing political landscape and power balance.
It's like the original Star Trek in a way. It tackles moral issues in a grown up way not just writing lazy ciphers for Trump like the one on Dr Who from the NYE show. The answers aren't just spoon fed to the audience and we are expected to think.
@@derek96720 Agreed. It's something I didn't think about, because, well, I just don't think about _Game of Thrones_ much. But you're right - _The Expanse_ handles it in a better, smarter, more mature way. I think a big part of that is that in _The Expanse_ it really is just a matter of mistakes "making things worse," as opposed to "Instant Murder" in GoT. One of those things accurately reflects reality across most of human existence, the other mostly doesn't.
Make your characters suffer is good writing advise for an engaging story arc.
Very well put.
THIS is the show with strong female leads: smart, tough, and flawed. In fact, all of the characters are so well developed and portrayed, I don't even think about their gender, race, or age; and thankfully the story never makes those irrelevant characteristics relevant.
I agree fully. When I first saw Drummer I thought they had cast the ugliest female on earth, as her arc progressed, I found myself genuinely attracted to her as a person despite her looks.
@@johngaltspeaking213 She's an awesome character, but ugly? really? I think she's beautiful.
If you pay attention though the female characters all get 2020'ed somewhere along the line by the time you hit season 4
@@johngaltspeaking213 i think she had a bit of angry bitch face, but it was also well warranted
All the characters in this show feel...for lack of a better word, REAL. It is truly an excellent show.
Every sci-fi fan needs to watch this show.
Overall, One of the best things i've seen on a screen in my entire life. The closest other show that's that believable and felt, simply put thoroughly engaging, is game of thrones.
The main thing is that It leaves this impression that most of "cinema" is actually way more cartoonish than how you always perceived it.
It's not just a diverse cast, it's a diverse cast that can act.
Exactly. Also the fact that they are diverse is not forced in any way, they just are because of the story and the universe they live in.
You know when is right done when you would not even noticed till someone mentioned "diverse cast" in the show
Also well-written characters with believable pasts.
This series (I am at season 2) just reminded me why we are fighting a loosing battle. Baldurs Gate 3 is degenerate woke garbage but people LOVE it. The beastiality, forced inclusivity, gay sex, etc. The people behind Expanse HATES white people. They just reigned it in?
What do you mean you ask?
They are doing a simple dialectic process. You smash to opposite viewpoints into each other and find a middle ground. Then again... and again until you carefully nudged the narrative toward your end goal. It' s looooong drawn out process but it works. The end game? Something like the acceptance of MAPs. This is a multi-faceted strategy between school indoctrination, government power and company policy. They are purposefully destroying or eliminating the old guard so that the next generation can stomp on their ashes create a world that these elitist wants.. New kids are programmed to follow the narrative. Either through schools or weak parenting.
The powers that be will keep this up until they have your children marching outside of the white house with banners protesting the wost degenrate things you can think of. And they can afford it.
Thomas Jane was phenomenal. He owned that role.
I liked Miller in the books, and i loved Jane's portrayal on the show. I miss his Miller.
@@Caddoan he did such a great job of inhabiting Miller's character. Especially given how much of Miller's perspective is internal monologue
yes!! Thomas Jane as Miller is a magnificent achievement!
Season 1 is still my favorite.
He was awesome in the Punisher movie too.
Well, Drinker, bingeing on your channel for entertainment purposes really paid off. I watched one minute of this review a few weeks ago before opening up Season One, Episode One of The Expanse, a show I had never even heard of. I just finished watching all six seasons in one gulp with no breaks, absolutely riveted. As you say, the cast is diverse at no one's expense. And Shohreh Aghdashloo is magnificent, I hope she works nonstop forever. I hope this series goes on, and I hope it gets a perfectly huge audience. It's a real gold standard for SciFi. Thanks for pointing it out.
Most underrated series ever - loved every minute.
“Right,” Holden said. “No coffee. This is a terrible, terrible planet.”
Holden's a NavyBoi, after all. Coffee is love, coffee is life.
...Holden vs Gibbs. Battle of the caffine.
Could be fun.
It is by caffeine alone that I set my mind in motion.
It is through the juice of the Java that the thoughts acquire speed.
The hands acquire shaking.
The shaking is a warning.
It is by caffeine alone that I set my mind in motion.
@@maingun07 May the Caffine Flow.
@@maingun07 The Caffine Haderach
I envy anyone who just discovered this show and get to binge watch it. This is the best scifi show on right now.
The best since BSG, easily
It's easily one of the best sci fi tv shows. Ever. Top 3 no doubt.
Hehe, I found this show late last year (pre-season5) and binge-watched it in a matter of days. Then I had my mind wiped so I could binge it again. Now I'm watching it for the fourth time with my ma, one episode a day, hoping all of season 5 will be out by the time we get there.
@Fuhe Yu same I'm just about to start it right after I finish this video!
I accept your envy in the spirit in which it was given. Thanks!
The expanse is probably the best science fiction anything I have ever seen.
Coming from someone who grew up on TNG and the Star Wars OT… it feels weird to say that The Expanse is my favorite Sci-Fi show of all time. You’re absolutely right; it’s Sci-Fi written by adults for adults.
I want more Expanse. I want books 7,8 & 9. I want more shows that are in the Expanse universe (as long as Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck are involved).
Has one of the best supporting characters ever, Amos Burton, because he is that guy!
Reading the books and knowing Amos is there to just fuck shit up is so satisfying. Perfectly cast, although a lot different than I imagined in the books.
I really like that character. He’s a sociopath that knows he’s a sociopath and knows he doesn’t understand morality so he needs a compass. The actor plays that so well
Absolutely. I never seen a show grow a cold blooded killer into someone wanting to do the right thing.
He isn’t cold blooded though, he’s desensitized and only respects those he’s loyal to and At the beginning he’s only loyal to Naomi and the book is from Holdens POV so he seems cold blooded.
@@jamesasimmons Well... there was Dexter... it had some good moments.
The only show where I never skip the intro.
That title theme is absolutely amazing.
And it changes with the season. It's kind of like the space equivalent of the Game of Thrones intro.
Westworld also has a great intro. Too bad that show went down hill.
Its appealing to the eyes and ears. Added a nice breather between the mind blowing events lol
The theme is on par with TNG, DS9, VOY... amazing stuff that can really get you in the universe.
I love this show. I watched all 6 seasons last weekend in a binge watching, and I will do so again next weekend for a 2nd time.
The crazy thing about this show, i can genuinely re-watch it every year and it has me on the edge of my seat everytime. I re-watch of loved shows like Fringe and they suffer from diminishing returns each time but never this show. Its too smart, fast paced (from season 2 onwards), gritty and thrilling. Incredible show
And honestly this is such a underrated show and a LOT of people still have never heard of it.
I discovered it by searching "top scifi shows on TV" and The Expanse happened to be on that list.
I was unsure whether to continue watching after the first few episodes of season 1 started really slow and sometimes confusing, but eventually it paid off.
The Expanse and Bojack Horseman are the two shows I will endlessly recommend to everyone in earshot.
Same with Dark.....if you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it....it's a masterpiece!
Sadly I had never heard of this show till it hit Amazon. And even then was just kind of looking at random stuff, was like "eh, I'll give this a try. So glad I did
Also, I'd say,Snowpiercer (the Tv show) and Dark Matter are criminally underrated.
I've read all the available books and novellas. The show was created by the authors, and you can tell. In many ways, the show actually improves upon the books, tightening up plots, fusing characters together to save time, but actually coming up with better motivations and depth for them.
My favorite sci fi show in ages
Best Book to Show adaptation I've ever seen.
Completely agree Brian.
I need to read the books, but this comment makes me think otherwise.
@@mrsteve4569 oh, if you enjoy the show, reading always adds a lot. I wouldn't have read the whole series if it wasn't worth it
@@mrsteve4569 Oh, definitely read the books. They're excellent.
No matter how good the adaptation is, it will always fall short in one particular fashion - exploration of the state of mind of characters. The only semi reliable way to do this on film is narrators, and they're almost always bad.
You can give hints through how they interact with the world, minute changes in expression of actors, etc... but it's no replacement.
Rather than think of one or the other as better, I think they're mutually beneficial! Some things are done better in the books, and others, the show.
I only found the expense through this review and I'm hooked, one of the best programs Ive watched in a long time. 4 seasons in and it just gets better.
Season 5 has some of the most brutal Amos moments, and Season 6 is short but the tension is incredible. U won’t be disappointed
We need an update Drinker, now that the show is finished. It was really something.
Update please. Still waiting,
I started watching The Expanse just after finishing Star Trek Picard. No bullshit, this show literally saved my interest in sci-fi.
Picard isn't really sci-fi, though. Not really. It should be, but it's more of a drama set in space with sci-fi characters.
One of the few shows I can watch guilt free. Doesn’t hit you over the head with any message, just good quality entertainment with a respectable level of attention to details.
for me its a problem, its a great show about nothing, it goes nowhere - i quit after they landed on a planet for a season - they are losting now
@@rusalkin the Ilus stuff was the weakest part of the books but it is building to something major
It does have messages, but they aren't hyper political rubbish, its all about the human condition (We see this in the different factions of humanity and the many types of people spawned from these factions) and how we fare when encountering the unknown (Shown mostly though the proto-molecule), its just smart enough to show you many different perspectives and show you that its never simple or straightforward nor is it black and white.
@@cyborg_v271 right it’s a lot more allegorical like the way Trek use to be, not “picking a side” but just showing people dealing with life in space.
You are so right!
I have watched this SHOW TO DEATH and still go back for more.
To me this is "Clearly " the best show of it's kind out there in the past 50 yrs.
Now I will say it does not finish the books that it's based on but it does it in style and I'm sure we will see more in the future.
Amos doesn’t just have some character development. He probably has the best character development in the last 20 years
Yep, the only other character who gets anywhere near as much is Drummer (and unsurprisingly, she's also a fan favourite)
@@adam_mawz_maas Drummer/Ashford's dynamic was some of my favourite character content in the whole series. She was amazing, but in truth, not one member of the cast wasted their time on camera.
@@Blisterdude123 What amazed me was how fantastic Ashford was in the show. In the books he was a pretty one-dimensional villain with no redeeming qualities.
@@am19228 It was like the writers were literally like "We can do better for this buccaneering chad, let's make him the best character in the show for a brief period of time" lolol
The last time I was this early, Star Wars was still good and the Expanded Universe was still canon.
That was a long time ago in a Galaxy far far away
"Legends"
I'm pretty sure our history books will be similarly "corrected"
I got into Legends aka true canon after TLJ pissed me off so hard
@@alfredlear4141 one day our history books will call the Sequels "myths"
@@luckykennedy7364 welcome to the real Star Wars universe
Drummer, Miller, and Amos are space legends now
Drummer is bae
Drummer freaking 😍. Nasty yet Sexy!
yes!
Drummer is one of my favorite characters of any genre.
And Ashford
This is one of my favorite shows of all time. Avasarala was the role Admiral Chainsmoker was born for. Amos was a musclebound beefcake who seemed like a loyal sociopath at first, but was later revealed to be a highly nuanced character. Thomas Jane nailed the world-weary detective archetype, while Jared Harris was both charismatic and terrifying as the leader of the OPA. But my goodness, I have to give props to Cara Gee. Her Drummer was a workshop on how to make a bad-ass female character.
This is easily my favorite show of all time
The Expanse is easily the best Sci-Fi I've seen in two decades.
I recommended it to my 75-year-old father, and he thought he could half watch it, wasn''t impressed and kept trying to second guess the outcome.
Eventually, he figured out that you actually have to pay attention, and now he raves about how good it is.
Yep the best story arc driven Sci-Fi series I've watched since Babylon 5.
Same happened to me, first few episodes took me 6 months to watch, but when the protomolecule story started I was totally hooked.
Battlestar Galactica takes the top spot for me. The expanse seems to be too grounded in reality, for my taste. I could be wrong though. I only watched the first few episodes.
The first few episodes are a bit slow and harder to watch because its laying the foundation of the characters and universe setting. It's like that with most good stories. Watch a few more episodes.
@@JustNobodyButME yeah I'm seriously considering it, now.
I am 65 years old and so remember the original Star Trek. I have the same feeling about this smart and mesmerizing show. A highly intelligent friend of mine that is skeptical of sci-fi watched the first episode with me prepared to launch into a running critique. In the scene where they board the ship and find blood on the walls from the battle before they got there, she says to me, " How did the blood run down the wall if they're in zero-g?". I didn't answer just waiting for the characters to figure out the battle had taken place while the ship was still under full gravity. I have now watched 4 seasons with her and she has never questioned another thing in this series and is a massive fan like me. Also, i love the 1940's feel of the Detective juxtaposed against a 23rd century backdrop. What a great touchstone for the audience as we become familiar with this complicated world. Thank you Drinker for reviewing this!
Live long and prosper
Very Blade Runneresque with the detective, or?
There is one mistake, just one, scientifically, where they change course using the gravity slingshot from Jupiter, and the experience “G” forces, which you wouldn’t as it’s gravity doing the turning.
noir was basically a whole genre long before blade runner
@@SvenTviking There are a few others, nothing is perfect, but you notice them because they make such a huge effort to get it right and 99% of the time they do.
One of my favorite touches is at one point when Miller is up "high" in Ceres (meaning relatively close to the spin axis) and pours a drink and the liquid falls in a little spiral because that near the spin axis the spin-G is relatively weak and the Coriolis is relatively strong.
They did start adding external sounds to the space battles at one point, it may have been when they went to Amazon. IIRC in the first couple of seasons when your viewpoint was on a ship in space you only heard sounds made by that ship or things that hit it and everything else was silent.
The 'Belt' at 2:18 actually doesn't refer to the Kuiper Belt. It refers to the asteroid belt roughly between Mars and Jupiter, where the gas giants in the outer Solar System are considered the 'outer planets' (hence the name Outer Planets Alliance). Great video though, cheers.
I f’ing love this show. Right from episode 1 it nailed it. Sadly it doesn’t get the recognition it deserves.
The detail that always stuck with me in this serie is that the crew actually think of depressurizing the ship and donning their space suits when they expect to be shot at and have the hull take a beating or be punctured. Shows how much the writers care about making the world believable and coherent.
It is a far cry from not having seatbelts on the enterprise.
Well to give credit where credit is due, most of those thanks should go to the authors. The writers deserve credit for sticking with the books and realizing 'its sometimes the small things' that helps make all the difference.
@@macrumpton : Ah but inertial dampening fields, aka it was made in the 60s whadaya want? Realism?
That barely even scratches the surface. If you look at the small, really technical details, the show still shines brightly. I can't seem to poke holes in it. Couple of examples: If you look at the railgun trajectories during the UN meeting leading up to the attack on the Martian missile platforms, you can see that they accounted for the gravitational pull of celestial bodies, especially the sun itself. But for me, what probably really sold me on the show being hardcore focused on the details was a blink-or-you'll-miss-it moment during the first season, when the _Tachi_ escaped the _Donnager._ It was at this moment (But you can see it long before that, during the initial part of the battle.) that I noticed that each PDC doesn't just have muzzle flashes out of the barrels, but also out of the rear. When I noticed this, I realized that the PDCs must employ caseless ammunition so they can behave like real-world recoilless rifles, using the explosion from the cannon round being fired to counteract the recoil by venting it at both ends. A clever, simple fix for how the recoil would affect the course of the ship in zero-g. Every attempt I've made to find flaws in the science of the Expanse has fallen short, and the few areas which aren't adequately explained are acknowledged as being "maybes" which are plausible but not guaranteed based on known science, such as the limb-regrowing gel or the anti-acceleration drugs meant to loosen up your blood vessels so they don't pop during high-g maneuvers.
The science is also seamlessly woven into every aspect of the worldbuilding. A great example of this is how they influence in-universe politics. At first, I got the impression that a flaw in the show's writing was how too many characters seemed to have a black-and-white "Us vs. them" mentality and just bought into all the stereotypes about outsiders. The Martians especially seem to have this problem, but the Belters certainly don't lack it, either. Only the Earthers seem to try to understand the other two factions, but it doesn't change their behavior much because the lot of them are too cynical or corrupt to care. It's not an understanding borne out of a well-intentioned desire to find common ground or at least maintain peaceful coexistence. It's only there so they can size up the other groups and figure out what they can and can't do with or get out of them. It makes the factions seem kinda stupid and two-dimensional, but when I thought about it a bit more closely, I realized that this is actually the result of long distances and communication times caused by light lag between Earth, Mars, and the Belt. Messages have to be sent one-way and can take upwards of a couple of hours to reach their destinations, making real-time conversations impossible unless someone visits in person. The communications equipment used to send the messages are usually large, centralized pieces of infrastructure which are no doubt heavily monitored and filtered by whichever faction is controlling them, as well. I was thinking about the story in 21st-century terms, when the internet connects all of humanity with electronic infrastructure within at most a couple of seconds of delay time. Such conditions do not exist in the Expanse's Sol system, which in turn completely explains why so many people in all three major factions have next to no understanding or empathy for people from the other two. They aren't really real, or human, to them. They've never met them, or only met a handful who were probably hostile or just indifferent.
The main takeaway is that the show never explicitly states any of these things or even draws attention to them, it just puts the results in the world and _has faith_ in the audience to be intelligent enough to notice them and put the puzzle pieces together to gain a deeper understanding of the setting and its characters and politics if they want to, but still delivers enough explanation, often by showing instead of telling, to give the more casual observer the information they need for the plot to make sense. I've heard it said that worldbuilding is like an iceberg, and 90% of it isn't shown onscreen or otherwise pointed out, but many modern shows don't remember this. The things you see onscreen lack that kind of careful thought and research behind the scenes. What you see is pretty much what you get. The Expanse, however, doesn't just have the iceberg, it lets you peek below the waterline to watch the wall of ice vanish into the deep blue. The result is a 21st-century sci-fi show that doesn't spoonfeed a cut-and-paste narrative to you over an unsubtle line or a blatantly obvious camera shot while employing hamfisted, boring, one-note villains or uninspired heroes. Imagine that.
I wish they (the producers and effects staff) would try just a little harder. There have been a couple of scenes of doorways sliding to open space (example, a character being jettisoned by the main antagonist), which should result in explosive decompression (water vapor in the atmosphere should immediately condense into fog and swirl out the door, for example, and eyes would promptly freeze, etc. but it never happens). I guess that level of realism is just too expensive and time-consuming to do, or they don't care for that level of accuracy.
"The belt" isn't the Kuiper belt, it's the Asteroid belt that lies between Mars and Jupiter. "Belters" in The Expanse are generally accepted to be anybody from any place beyond Mars, including the various moons. The fight in seasons 4 & 5 is over who has the right to colonize beyond the borders of the solar system.
Kind of a pointless fight since Pluto is 40 AU from the Sun (40x more than the earth of course) and a light year is 63,000 AU, and there's 4 of them to the nearest star. There's no way anyone's colonizing another planet soon enough to make war over it logical, unless this has to do with that wormhole they discovered (haven't seen the show, just saw a trailer and that's what it looked like)
@@horrificpleasantry9474 40 AU is an 18 day trip assuming they don’t need to refuel.
*Edit: That is at 1G. It would take belters longer.*
@@horrificpleasantry9474 Watch the show, then comment.
@@elucid07 Drinker said they were sublight speed, so I didn't need to know any more to know that it's not logical that there would be fighting over who would get to leave (as if anyone could control that). If your reference is to the plot about the wormhole thing, then I guess you're saying I'm right that it's about that. I don't know why you're being pert. *shrug*
@@horrificpleasantry9474 Drinker said also he won't tell you everything about show. Aliens they've discovered basically open portals to different uninhabited worlds, so humans now argue who gets rights to colonize them. But the show is simply awesome, even when I said "portals" don't take them as Hollywood-trope-portals. Just watch the show :-)
This is one of those shows that you gotta watch every ten or so years so you can forget the details and experience it almost for the first time again.
I always recommended this show and everyone that I told about it had never heard of it. Very surprising seeing as how great the show is. I guess it never really got a lot of promotion. The awesome graphics, great story telling and thought out characters that actually have character devolvement is great especially for a show now a days. I wasn't sure about Amos when I started watching but he slowly became my favorite character. Dude is loyal as Fu@k once he considers you family and will do anything to protect his family/friends even if it means dying. He's got some of the best lines in the show. Great video as usual drinker! Keep up the good work man.
One of the refreshing things about Amos is how bluntly honest he is. He just tells the truth, doesn't play mind games, doesn't hid meaning under layers.
"Goddammit, why can't more shows be like this?"
Best blurb ever.
If one line sums up the entire Expanse community, it is _definitely_ that.
Cause the ones in charge does not watch their own product?
They just have a list:
add in right amount of skin tone
add in right amount of genders
add a famous enough IP
Mix together with a high budget and then sit back waiting for the cash to flow in
Oh,if it's a CW show then even the budget part can be ignored.
I nearly spit my drink out when that kid got juiced from the ship coming to a dead stop.
Dude, and the Belter version of "Highway Star" that was playing in that scene was beyond awesome.
BEST...MOMENT...EVER in sci-fi.
Me!
Maneo!
Jung!
Epsi...SPLAT!
That's one thing that never made any sense to me, though. Whatever force slows the ship is acting on the whole ship and everything in it. It's not just some resistance the front of the ship runs into - you don't see the drive cone coming smashing through the ship, or the fuel in the tanks smash through them because it's still going 1000 miles per second when the ship stops. So the same force should act on the pilot as well - he should decelerate instantly and harmlessly just like everything else on the ship does.
It should have been like when Eros did its little juke to avoid the Nauvoo and then accelerated faster than the Roci's crew could follow and still survive - the massive acceleration had the Roci crew pinned in their couches and ready to stroke out even with the juice, but inside Eros, Miller, proto-Julie, and everyone and everything else was completely unaffected because the force that was accelerating Eros was accelerating them along with it, acting on them directly and not just on the structure of the asteroid.
It was a really fantasyic opener for one of the books!
The believability of this show really hooked me. Even though there’s some fantastical elements, they are very starkly contrasted to the practicality of spaceships and travel. The fact that ships have to rotate to decelerate is such a cool little feature
Yes it seems almost like hard scifi. Very nice to watch.
This was the best scifi show ive seen in recent years. The charcter development is by far the best in the genre! Its sooo gotdam good!
You're so right about the diversity. I never cared about Bobbi Draper being a woman. She was a strong, smart, resourceful, and capable leader who sucked it up and did the job and put her people first. I didn't give a shit about her gonads or melanin.
I really like the character - I think she was horribly miscast though. The acting skills, particularly early in her run were ropey to say the least. She's obviously got better, but I think the show would really have benefited from a different actor
There’s also two gay couples in the show who are characters that play major rolls during their appearances, but it isn’t forced in any way. Them being in a same sex marriage or homosexuality isn’t the center point of their characters or personalities, just a background aspect of them. They shine in their personality traits and intelligence, not their sexual preference. That’s “diversity” done right.
@@gmiller4165 "I live for the day my children will be judged not by the color of their skin (or gender, or sexual orientation, etc.), but by the strength of their character." -MLK
@@Narapoia1 Well according to the books, Bobbie was really tall and well built because of being a martian and a marine, so I think the actress fit the bill with regards to the physical appearance
@@starliner2498 I'm not criticizing her physical appearance or physical suitability for the role (though she's not exactly believable as a marine killing machine in the way she handles herself - not like Amos or Drummer) My comment was purely based on the acting in her first season, which has got better though I still wouldn't call it good. However she has been a relatively major character outside of the core 4 and my preference would have been someone with better range / ability.
Can't complain too much though - as I said, I like the character but if they had someone as good as David Straithern who played Ashford it would have been a better fit for her role in the story.
The Expanse is so well rounded its hard to even root for one character. They're all good, even the baddies.
Damn Ashford stole S3. Best character in show so far.
Most shows I can always pick my favorite characters, but this show's characters are all good and very complex, even those with small roles are interesting.
The whole cast are very talented and believable, it's the best sci-fi show that I've seen in decades.
@@modisp Badass grandpa beltalowda!
@@modisp I've not been upset at a character SPOILER
Death
For a long time... Probably not since early to mid Game of Thrones when it was good!
Ashford was absolutely incredible.
I read the books I know the fate of Cyn and I couldn't give a f**k about him because he is with Marco. But the show Cyn, man I didn't want him to die. Show Ashford is also the most badass space pirate ever.
I stumbled across this as background to working at night. The first season didn't grab me immediately, but in season 3, I found myself on the edge of my seat, with my jaw gaping. A lot of people who have come to love this show have similar comments.
I watched the whole program from start to end. I’ve always been a serious si fi nut from way back, let’s just say early 1960s on. Yes I’m that old. It’s one of the best series I’ve seen. It’s like you take the earth and spread it out, with all with all its cultures and traditions and then restrict supplies. They had all of characters, from militaristic, to fanatic, to religious Zealot, to isolationist, to scientist who just wants to be left alone. All actors were spot on and not once hinted at diversity because they were diverse. I was so sad when they stopped, wish they would start a new episode. 😢😢😢
One of the greatest aspects I enjoy about this show is that the belters have a language and dialect of their own. It's a small detail but it really helps the world-building.
@@PunksterOS Belter creole is not based on any existing creole language on Earth, like the Creole spoken in the Caribbean f.ex., but is a creole language which can be any language developed from a mixture of different languages. The Belter creole in the show was specifically created by Nick Farmer, a polyglot Ty Franck met working as G.R.R. Martin's assistant. It is based on real languages of Earth, like germanic, romance, indic, chinese and niger-congo, but no creole language like that presently exists IRL outside of the show.
@@Marvee78 You are correct, I misspoke.
I love the accent
The accent is strong enough to make it hard to understand, but not impossible. Great touch. And outstanding work from the actors involved
@@Marvee78 And here was me thinking it was supposed to be South African, and the actors were just fucking up the accent. Thanks for that man, I am glad I read that.
best space show, movie, whatever. Huge book nerd for them, the show doesn't dissapoint - this is one i'll go back to for the rest of my life.
I always said Babylon 5 is best space opera on live screen. But damn Expanse is basically on equal level. If they manage to land full story it will come on top. Expanse just has more polish, less fillers and basically no dialogue slips.
I'm pretty sure the critic would be opposit if Naomi had a more central role than Holden =).
certainly the best sci-fi show I have ever seen, on top of that its one of the best political dramas as well. its so good in so many ways
Parts are amazing. But then you get bits where 2 ppl who don't like each other, are stuck in a room, inside a spaceship and trough contrivances can't communicate with the rest of the ship. Where they learn to get along with each other. Or the magic space stuff which does whatever the plot seems to want it to do. And cartoon vilians that want to appear deep but are not. I don't understand how one person is responsible for the good and the bad parts. The good parts are 100% worth it but god it can feel like it is going to do a got season 8 every few episodes.
One of the few series based on books that is just as good as the books. Different but just as good.
The Expanse is hands down the best show I've ever seen. It was a joy to watch from start to finish and I'm down for three more seasons.
Amos's line "I'm that guy" is so good.
Getting him to sign that but instead he signed my name with "You are that guy" was great.
@@JnEricsonx That's sik!
"I learned a lot about myself that day, I learned that I can hold my breath for two minutes while doing strenuous exercise. I wonder how much damage I can do in two minutes before the knockout gas gets us. I'm betting it's a lot."
This a great and criminally underrated show
Probably because people who would like the show, read a couple of the books and said, "This is WAY too Woke for me".
Seriously, the show is so much less Woke than the books -- it's why the show is praised so much, but it didn't have a reading fanbase that liked it enough to make it popular.
It's not underrated at all, if rotten tomatoes was actually decent it'd be on front page with 100% rating.
It just hasn't been accepted by the masses yet, and the first 1-4 episodes of the show hurt it a bit in that regard.
@@jimluebke3869 the books are what? are you serious? where the fuck would you get that idea? the show is a very close adaptation of the original material, I am not aware of any preachyiness or wokeness in either
@@Setep2k I agree. The show and books are almost dead on with each other.
Let it stay underrated! Can’t have the jocks get their grubby little money grabbing, demographically targeted hands on it just yet! Because they will, one day.
Star Wars: "All your money belong to us!"
Star Trek: Still getting lost.
The Expanse: This is the way.
He has spoken.
So say we all!
This is the way.
Real shame its being canceled for a second time
Expanse is the example that you can make a very good show without the wokeness garbage and still write women and minorities in without talking down to the audience and with no agendas, it’s called treating everyone as equals and not making a big deal about it
Best SciFi since 1977.
And it has probably the best line ever....."I am that guy."
I actually started watching The Expanse about a week ago and I'm already caught up.
It has been literally years since I found a show so good I watched 4& 1/2 seasons in like 6 days.
Firefly is well worth catching up on if you've not seen it, but it was screwed around with by Fox and is only a shadow of what it could have been.
I'm rewatch the Expanse currently- 3rd time. it holds up over multiple viewings.
@@debstherottie472 definetly!
The Miller and Julie story was underdeveloped, but "that scene" in Eros brought it all together. Beautifully shot.
The good news is that it's really re-watchable too. I hardly ever watch the same show again, I've watch The Expanse twice now, and will probably start it all over again before season 6.
The Expanse is awesome. The Episode when the Detective runs around the space Station, talking to the nuclear warhead is just sooooo good
Agreed
yes incredibly moving , when hes talking to alien version of Julie Mao
You mean... TOM WAITS IN SPAAAACCCCE
"I'm gonna take my pet nuke for a walk."- Joe Miller. XD
My favorite episode
Years later this is by far the best ever syfy story I have ever watched. Whish more shoes were like this
I just binge watched it... DAYMMM
i forgot how amazing it feels to dream about the future again
I really hope someone on The Expanse crew watches this and shares it about with their other team members, as it's such a nice and hopefully motivating video that they are doing a fantastic job in a genre that, for the most part is being torn asunder.
I hope so as well (I mean the production heads and the studio leadership if they are [unlike Trek and Wars] actually seeking honest commentary instead of condemning it out of hand).
One of if not The best show on TV right now no doubt
You realise that Cas Anvar isn't in the next season because he's being investigated for sexually intimidating and harassing other women? So many people don't realise.
@@JohnnyZenith innocent until his guilt is proven?
@@JohnnyZenith and what? I’m supposed to let that derail my opinion of the whole show and it’s team?
Also, innocent until proven guilty.
It is almost worrisome how happy it makes me, to hear a stranger whose opinion I value, praise a show that I love.
When people find something they can unite over, it can be a beautiful thing.
Same! Drinker's been drowning in shit and this feels like a god damned life saver.
The Expanse is probably the most underrated show ever