Don't Let the Drill Out in the Expanse

Last night's new episode was classic Expanse, doing one of the things it's best known for, incorporating relatively realistic physics into the story for very effective suspense. We were also introduced to an interesting new character and familiar characters were shuffled about again. A real nice episode.

Spoilers after the screenshot

You know, I thought that storage locker thing didn't look secure when Prax (Terry Chen) shut it. I so love the fact that this show, in the middle of a very dramatically effective rescue, indulged in a scene involving power tools flying all over the room just because of one simple little mistake. It's that kind of thing that makes this show feel truly human in a way a lot of other shows don't, let alone Sci-Fi shows.

And that was a dramatic rescue. I liked how we were left hanging, wondering whether Prax was going to break the tie vote on whether or not to respond to the distress signal. I felt pretty sure were were going to see the Pinus rescue Avasarala (Shohreh Aghdashloo) and Bobbie (Frankie Adams) but it was still a great pleasure when they got there just in the nick of time.

I love those weird gyroscope seats Bobbie and Avasarala are in, they added greatly to the sense of their physical momentum, as did their dialogue about dealing with g force. The shots at the end from Avasarala's point of view were really nice--incidentally beautiful while serving as a cap to a whole sequence that clearly communicated her physical discomfort. I felt bad for her when she said she thought she was getting used to it as blood came out of her nose and Bobbie informed her they'd actually slowed down.

Meanwhile on Earth, the show brought on another decent actress, Elizabeth Mitchell as someone called Reverend Doctor Anna Volovodov. She's a doctor and a reverend? With the Mormons in space building some kind of temple/ark, I like the tertiary details on this show that suggest just how much old religions have evolved.

The Reverend Doctor seems like a nice lady, not as colourful as Avasarala, but I don't need everyone to be. Her standing up to the riot cops felt a little awkward and forced but was basically a nice scene. Mostly, though, I wondered at the special effect used to make the crowd size bigger. I'm not knocking them for it--it's a lot better than I expect from a low budget show, but there's something just kind of off about it that made me compulsively go back and look at it. It's not quite like it's the exact same clump of people repeated twenty times but they clearly don't seem to all actually be occupying that space together. Looking at it makes me feel slightly cross-eyed.

But I wouldn't call it a flaw, this was a good episode all around.

Twitter Sonnet #1105

A useless green, anomalous reclined.
Unsought, a coat collects a linty dust.
All other hangers thus to fore aligned.
Unchosen garment fits a ghostless bust.
Upended giant arches smote the land.
A thickened soup absorbed the breathing air.
The sky rehearsed its movie deal with sand.
The secret passage moved the open dare.
Beside the bottle pictures placed deny.
A portrait put in paths to paint the way.
Unending strips in second D retry.
Dimensions flattened dressed by light of day.
The barking speaker cracks the savage song.
The forest floor continues right along.