The first episode of the sixth and final season of The Expanse premiered on Friday and it was certainly the most underwhelming premiere of the series.
The two conspicuous problems are the absence of Alex and the presence of Marco. Cas Anvar, who played Alex, was the subject of allegations of sexual misconduct last year. Although he apparently has not been charged with any crime, he was awkwardly written out of the show at the end of last season. Anvar was by far one of the best actors on the show but, if he really did have to go, I would have advised recasting Alex rather than killing him off. His character, as the "heart" of the team who made the effort to make the crew like a family, was too essential to the ensemble dynamic. Now it really just feels like people on a ship who'd all rather be doing something else.
Meanwhile, the main villain from the previous season, Marco (Keon Alexander), is still up to his dastardly schemes, and is still just as bafflingly cartoonish. He barks his motivational speeches like an orc wearing a hair shirt. He's so over the top on a show that's usually famed for its realism, you wonder why anyone, let alone almost all the Belters, would follow this guy. When you look at video of Osama bin Laden or Adolf Hitler, they don't come off like Snidley Whiplash.
It is nice to see Shohreh Aghdashloo, Dominique Tipper, and Cara Gee again and I'm happy that Nadine Nicole has joined the crew. But the show is definitely at a low ebb.
The Expanse is available on Amazon Prime.
No comments:
Post a Comment