The Last Pants

Last night's season finale of The Expanse was supposedly the series finale but it clearly wasn't meant to be. There are at least three unresolved subplots from the season, plus the overall series plot about the protomolecule doesn't feel done. Even as a season finale, it didn't have quite the impact of previous seasons.

Partly I wonder if it's the absence of actors like Thomas Jane or David Strathairn. And, of course, the absence of Cas Anvar continues to feel wrong, for the absence of his performance but more for the absence of his character, Alex. It's like if Scotty died in the second season of Star Trek and no-one made a big deal about it.

Spoilers after the screenshot.

There was a lot of awkward moral clean-up in this season, too, like Avasarala (Shohreh Aghdashloo) expressing regret about torturing the Belter in season one or Clarissa (Nadine Nicole) feeling sorry about killing the mechanic she worked with. Maybe they both do feel sorry about these things but their confessions came at awkward times and felt artificially injected.

The episode also did that thing Chris Chibnall has garnered criticism for doing on Doctor Who--showing the protagonist about to sacrifice herself only for a minor character to step in and do the sacrifice at the last minute. Drummer (Cara Gee) had that cool line, "Leave the Pella to me!" before she set up her suicide run only for someone else to do it. Bobbie (Frankie Adams) made like she was going to sacrifice herself to take out some gun defenses but her special suit ended up surviving a hail of bullets. That's a little more plausible, at least, but the moment felt deflated anyway.

And, of course, Filip managing to sneak off and survive felt like bullshit. The show would've been better off letting Naomi's (Dominique Tipper) grief remain legitimately earned. That's war.

Well, the action sequences were nice. But this show is definitely a long way from its heyday and, if this truly was the final episode, it's going out on a weak note.

The Expanse is available on Amazon Prime.

Space Secrets

Friday's nice new Expanse, the penultimate episode of the series, was called "Why We Fight" and a lot of characters do seem to have been asking themselves that question, particularly Amos and Drummer. But the episode might also have been called, "Whose side are you on?"

Spoilers after the screenshot

I wonder if we're ever going to see Drummer (Cara Gee) with her hair down. Or have we and I just don't remember? I found myself wishing there'd been a few helpful clips of past episodes in this one. Drummer's inner turmoil over her decision to side with Earth would have been more interesting if I could remember how, exactly, Earth had oppressed the Belters. Avasarala (Shohreh Aghdashloo) mentioned pinning that Belter to the wall in the first episode, which I do remember, but the torture of one prisoner, however egregious, doesn't illustrate generations of oppression.

The drama around Drummer's crewmates was better and more immediate. It's interesting seeing the technology for regrowing body parts so vividly at work.

I also liked the conversation between Amos (Wes Chatham) and Bobbie (Frankie Adams) and I'm glad their sexual tension hasn't resulted in a fight. I'm a little annoyed Amos told Bobbie about Holden (Steven Strait) disarming the warhead, though. Now everyone on the Rocinante crew knows. I've complained about this before but I hate how no secret can ever be kept on The Expanse. It cuts into the sense realism quite a bit.

I'm liking the scenes between Marco (Keon Alexander) and Rosenfeld (Kathleen Robertson). She's smarter than him and more in control of her emotions but I suspect her confidence in being able to contradict him and instruct him from time to time is going to get her killed pretty soon.

The Expanse is available on Amazon Prime.

Another Bad Day for Belters

I did get some Wrath of Khan vibes from Friday's new episode of The Expanse. I'd be surprised if Keon Alexander isn't basing his performance of Marco Inaros on Ricardo Montalban. But while I can believe Khan as the leader of a group of genetically engineered radicals, I still don't buy Marco Inaros as the leader of the whole Belter civilisation.

Even Filip (Jasai Chase-Owens) stood up to him after his embarrassing failure to destroy the Rocinante. I'll admit, that was pretty satisfying, but I still remember when this show's big selling point was its realism.

The whole trap Inaros set up for Ceres station doesn't quite make sense, either. Sure, it is now the responsibility of Earth and Mars to care for the people Inaros abandoned, and this looks again like allegory for occupying U.S. forces in the Middle East. But once again, the analogy doesn't quite work. There's no religion tying the people on the station to Inaros' mission so he's just going to look like what he is, a madman who promised them victory and then scarpered. Even if Avasarala (Shohreh Aghdashloo) can't get supplies to the people, the Earthers will have to work extra hard at being assholes for Inaros' PR plan to work.

It felt a little out of place, but I liked Peaches (Nadine Nicole) expressing remorse for the mentor she murdered a few seasons back. And Bobbie (Frankie Adams) and Amos (Wes Chatham) eating together was cute. I still don't want to see them fight.

The Expanse is available on Amazon Prime.

Twitter Sonnet #1506

Departing feathers speak of frozen birds.
Beyond a veil of static crawled the sky.
Assorted lights reflect in liquid words.
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To step beyond a sleigh we need a boot.
We never ask the snow to win a fight.
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Our stars engaged the liquid fabric coat.
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Beneath the douglas fir a cup was born.

Super Space

Although the absence of Alex continues to be a problem, I mostly enjoyed Friday's new episode of The Expanse.

I like the sub-culture of piracy among the Belters which borrows from romanticised visions of the golden age of piracy. The code of personal freedom extends to Drummer's (Cara Gee) crew being a dysfunctional polygamist family. Friday's episode saw a therefore tearful farewell to one of the members while they meet a pirate captain.

Meanwhile, Peaches (Nadine Nicole) is being slowly accepted among the Rocinante's crew. Even Holden (Steven Strait) calls her Peaches now. The scene where she and Bobbie (Frankie Adams) worked together was one of those cool, comic-bookish moments when two characters improvise coordinating their superpowers in a creative way. Holden chewing Peaches out for taking initiative didn't really make sense, though, which cut into the intention of the scene, which was to have Peaches glowing over the fact that Holden referred to her as a member of the crew.

I'm a little intrigued by the cattiness between Amos (Wes Chatham) and Bobbie. I can't remember if they had any kind of relationship before. I feel like they're being set up as lovers. I hope that doesn't mean they have to have a physical fight because there's no way the writers are going to be able to make it realistic (Bobbie would be required to win).

The Expanse is available on Amazon Prime.

The Shrinking Expanse

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.

The Expanse Short a Man

Last night's finale of The Expanse, season five, was mostly disappointing, shifting from bad tonal choices to odd tonal choices. It did have bright spots, though, and even a disappointing episode of The Expanse is still better than the average TV series.

Spoilers after the screenshot

So we finally know how they handled the departure of Cas Anvar--they killed off Alex abruptly. Having a stroke after rescuing Naomi (Dominique Tipper) is a nice way of reminding the audience of the constant danger involved in the crew getting juiced up to handle g forces. Aside from that, though, it really didn't feel like the right time from a storytelling perspective. Alex had some good episodes at the beginning of the season that seemed like they were just the start of a new chapter for him.

In addition to that, the reactions of the rest of the crew, particularly Bobbie (Frankie Adams), who'd been teamed up with him all season, seemed peculiarly bland, which makes sense if the episode was shot before the makers of the show decided to edit Alex out. The banquet scene at the end feels particularly bizarre.

After all the bitterness and struggle of the season, now everyone's kicking back, getting their drunk on, and dressed in red and black. It felt like a dream sequence--part of me seriously expected it to be. Marco isn't even dead. Which is another disappointing thing, considering he was such a weak, uninteresting villain.

The two bright spots of the episode were Drummer (Cara Gee) and Naomi (Dominique Tipper). The drama between Drummer and her crew as they decide to take the painful steps of parting ways with Marco was great and the conclusion of Naomi's already gripping survival story was terrific.

I don't know the exact nature of the allegations against Anvar but I'm inclined to think he shouldn't have been fired unless he'd been convicted of a crime. But, oh, well, it's just a TV show. It kind of feels like the heart's gone out of it, anyway.

The Expanse is available on Amazon Prime.

A Brief Expanse

The winning subplot this season on The Expanse is Amos and Clarissa on Earth with Naomi coming in second. I liked Bobbie and Alex early on but they've been stuck in that little ship flying back and forth for a few episodes now. Shohreh Anghdashloo is wonderful as always but her plot is a little too much like a coded message about the U.S. wars with Iraq and Afghanistan. Holden, as always, is a drip, though the stuff about Fred Johnson and the reporter in his subplot was nice. But nothing holds a candle to Amos and Clarissa, especially not after last night.

It began as a story about a former gangster returning home. Then it became a sci fi prison escape film. Then it was a wilderness survival film. And finally, last night, it became a household siege film. Through it all, Amos (Wes Chatham) and Clarissa (Nadine Nicole) are an unlikely duo of murderers, each one complementing the other's strengths and flaws. Amos is the durable tank without empathy, Clarissa is the vulnerable, occasionally super powerful, and overly passionate slasher. It's a classic comic combo.

All in all, though, this hasn't been an especially strong season. I really miss David Strathairn and Thomas Jane. I feel like the first three seasons were the strongest.

The Expanse is available on Amazon Prime.

Twitter Sonnet #1437

The absent lemon boosts the wooden car.
For coffee spilled the milky air absorbs.
The very space was split to make a star.
The eyes were white and dark within the orbs.
The chipper mouse was lost amid the gloom.
A leading thread arrived before the shirt.
Construction stopped beside the rusty loom.
A gear contracts a case of coffee dirt.
The talking blobs were pudding words in mouths.
The quiver aced the arrow quizzing gel.
The varied norths reflect the waving souths.
The brainy sea assumes propellers well.
A heap of masts divert avenging ships.
The fire sauce absorbs the salty chips.

Space Politics and Hot Wires

Wednesday's new episode of The Expanse almost felt like it'd become a survival series. With the story about Amos and Clarissa trying to survive on an Earth devastated by massive rocks and Naomi just trying to jury rig a radio on a booby trapped ship it almost felt like The Walking Dead.

Avasarala's plot, though, feels a bit more like an Iraq War allegory as she seems to be the only one of the acting leader's advisory team not advocating attacking Belter stations with civilians. Considering the scale of destruction caused by Marco, it's no wonder some Earth brass start thinking "It's us are them." It got me wondering just how big the Belter population is.

I feel like they should be spending more time figuring out if Marco is capable of another attack like the one he pulled off. The Belters seem so scattered and small that going nuclear on them seems odd.

But the episode's centrepiece was really Naomi struggling to warn people against following her phony distress signal.

We watch her struggle to connect and cut wires properly in oxygen free corridors while still suffering from exposure to a vaccuum is captivating. The show's renowned predilection for exploring science possibilities in a true old fashioned Sci-Fi way is served well by another good performance from Dominique Tipper.

The Expanse is available on Amazon Prime.

Twitter Sonnet #1435

The boiled yam was never drawn as fresh.
To chop the cabbage brings the green to dine.
With steamy metal, food o'rwhelmed the mesh.
Connexions caught the taste of Jerez wine.
The floating trunk creates the elephant.
The drinking nose returned an eyeless stare.
The eating man rejects the applicant.
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Selective hands were spider shades at work.
The timing clicked before the watches wound.
We count the song as Lisa's seventh perk.
The falling leaves support the floating ground.
There's drifting planet people swimming late.
The island name implied a lonesome wait.

Why Him, Naomi?

Last time I wrote about The Expanse, I wondered why in the Belt Naomi would be attracted to Marco Inaros in the first place. Last night's new episode sort of gave me an answer, or at any rate it had a flashback to when they were young and in love and Filip was just born.

She looks so mature, not fifteen or sixteen, as I guess her age would have to be. I can't find the age of Jasai Chase Owens, who plays Filip most of the time, anywhere on the internet but considering he has a history of aiding in terrorist attacks I figure he has to be at least seventeen by this point. Dominique Tipper, who plays Naomi, is listed as being 32 or 33 (weird seeing such imprecision about someone in a major TV series). I guess Naomi's meant to be older than Tipper or maybe Belters have accelerated pregnancies.

Still, I don't find Marco (Keon Alexander) or Filip very interesting but I like the story of Naomi's struggle. Tipper's performance makes the scenes really work when she's talking about nearly committing suicide. And I liked how the episode came back to that story in the climax.

I was sorry not to see Amos or Avasarala this week but an episode focused on Naomi is always a good idea.

The Expanse is available on Amazon Prime.

Human Organisation

Amazon Prime is releasing episodes of The Expanse on a weekly basis, on Wednesdays, which should make it easier for me to blog about. But I seem to get sidetracked every Thursday, first by New Years, then by the U.S. Capitol mob. But last week's Expanse, an episode called "Tribes", is certainly not irrelevant to current events, though the terrorist depicted on the show commits a far worse series of crimes.

Marco Inaros (Keon Alexander) is kind of disappointingly one dimensional, coming off as just simply a madman. How did he get anyone to follow him? Why did Naomi (Dominique Tipper) have a son with him? Still, I like how the aftermath of him destroying several Earth and Martian cities has been handled with the other characters. Drummer (Cara Gee), coming to the grim decision that she has to ally herself with Marco for now, is a nice subplot and makes you wonder how often that happens, how often people who aren't 100% onboard with the party line are forced to support it in the interest of survival, not just for themselves but for their people.

Amos (Wes Chatham) has the key line in the episode; "The thing about civilisation is, it keeps you civil. Get rid of one and you can't count on the other . . . People are tribal. The more settled things are, the bigger the tribes can be. The churn comes and the tribes get small again. Right now, you and I are a tribe of two." He's talking to Clarissa Mao (Nadine Nicole) with whom he's trekking through the wilderness in the wake of the attacks. Introduced in season three, Clarissa mostly sat out season 4, in prison for the crimes she committed. Now the prison's destroyed along with the rest of the city and, as she and Amos encounter crazed survivalists and harsh weather, the legal system that says she should be incarcerated indeed doesn't seem to be very relevant anymore.

One of the advantages of studying history is that it provides perspective on human behaviour. Old history books and the events themselves weren't created under the shadow of current attitudes or prescribed morals. It's a way of getting your head above the trees for a moment. Science Fiction is kind of a way of manufacturing this perspective--it has the disadvantage of the writers inevitably being influenced by the current climate but, to bold writers, that can also be an advantage. Anyone nowadays worried about censorship, and there are legitimate concerns on that front, should be reminded we still have access to art and history. In many ways, better access than at any time in human history. The amount of work a controlling power would have to do to truly shut off all avenues of independent thought may be beyond any currently existing human entity.

The Expanse is available on Amazon Prime.

Comic Con Report, volume 5: Moon Edition

This year was the 50th San Diego Comic Con and it happen to occur on the 50th anniversary of the Apollo moon landing, the latter landmark receiving a lot more attention, or so it seemed to me. The moderator at the panel for The Expanse made a point to note that, while the new season trailer was being shown, we hit the exact moment on July 20th in 1969 the Eagle landed. It was not an inappropriate trailer for the moment, featuring as it does the crew of the Rocinante setting foot on an alien world for the first time.

And here are the clips I got from the panel:

It's a good thing my camera has a good zoom but you can probably tell I was pretty far back in the Indigo Ballroom. The Expanse was the only panel I saw in there this year, which was kind of strange after the past couple years in which I've found myself in that room for most of at least one day. But I barely made it in for The Expanse because the panel preceding it was for The Good Place, which seems to be pretty popular.

On Sunday I was in a smaller room, room 32AB, inside the convention centre itself to see the panel for NASA and JPL. I think organisers underestimated the panel's popularity--the room completely filled up and time seemed to run out pretty quick.

Comic Con Prelude

Here a giant Picard poster grimly holds vigil across the street from the San Diego Convention Centre as though to say, "So. It begins." By which he'd mean Comic Con. Preview night was last night, Wednesday night, and to-day's the first official day. I feel like I'll probably be wandering the floor a lot this year, there are only a few panels I really want to see--the Farscape panel for certain. I'm going to have to choose between the Expanse panel and the Orville panel--they're both on the same day in different rooms. Both are also competing with the Star Trek panel, which wasn't much competition at all last year. Hardly anyone seemed interested in Disco. This year might be different with Picard since Patrick Stewart will be here.

If there's something you would like me to check out and report on and/or take pictures of, let me know.

More Expansive than Ever Before

I completely forgot what day of the week it was on Wednesday so I didn't get around to watching the season finale of The Expanse until Thursday night. Comprised of two episodes, it certainly was glorious with lots of nice character moments.

Spoilers after the screenshot

If there was any doubt about Drummer's (Cara Gee) badass credentials, I think they were put to bed when the woman with a crushed spine rigged herself up a new pair of legs just to make sure Ashford (David Straithairn) didn't get out of hand as captain. She was right to be worried though he is a lot more complex than a two dimensional villain.

He has the natural reaction to Holden's (Steven Strait) story--this guy's nuts--but he's open minded enough to remember it when the protomolecule blob reacts to the test bomb. He's smart enough to take in even improbable data, he's experienced enough not to discount anything as impossible. I'm glad Clarissa (Nadine Nicole) didn't succeed in killing him.

Her switching sides was plausible and satisfying. Though it's another moment in her life of looking for cues from other people to decide what she needs to do. At least she listened to the right person this time.

Meanwhile, looks like Amos (Wes Chatham) has found himself a new idol. I've noticed the teleplays have kept Anna (Elizabeth Mitchell) from mentioning her wife to Amos, but, then again, that didn't affect his fixation on Naomi (Dominique Tipper).

Amos had some subtly intriguing development this season. That sort of dead eyed performance Chatham gives actually makes sense now after Amos explained his inability to feel strong emotions a couple episodes back. No wonder he's always looking for a surrogate moral compass. Is he the true "high functioning sociopath" to use the phrase Sherlock made so popular?

Of all the characters, I felt like Anna was the only one really short-changed by the finale. She was wrestling with the fact that she didn't seem to have any compassion for Clarissa so maybe Amos will turn out to be as much a useful model for her as she is for him. Two ships passing in the night. But I miss the line of character development for Anna that seemed to end a couple episodes back. Her mind isn't as much on the meaning of this mission and how her personal life reflects on her involvement in it. Maybe there'll be more of that next season.

The travel rings set up by the protomolecules kind of seem like they're pointing the show in a Deep Space Nine direction--it's like the wormhole to the Gamma quadrant. Now all the factions have to come to some kind of agreement about who gets to use the rings and how and when.

It was a well put together finale, better than last season's, and I look forward to season four.

Twitter Sonnet #1129

The copper hid between the watching stones.
A bristling grass conducts the string aloft.
Abandoned warps observe about the bones.
For wind a battered hatch discreetly coughed.
Computers slip a clicking mortal grip.
A final tick confirms the clock in time.
A portal's fate consumes the match's tip.
An ember holds his pipe in space to climb.
In cactus blurs the questions drop the heat.
Extending suns replace the blue for sky.
The guest became a soft and boiled beet.
The solace of a cape secured the pie.
A late finale moved to early days.
A walking sign creates the newest ways.

Styrofoam in the Expanse

A decent new episode of The Expanse last night though it mainly felt like filler. Still, even a filler episode of The Expanse is better than a lot of other shows and one or two things did develop. It could've been worse.

Spoilers after the screenshot

Ah, the old Trapped in a Basement Together Telling Stories plot. At least there weren't flashbacks to previous episodes. At least when Ashford (David Strathairn) and Drummer (Cara Gee) swapped stories of narrow escapes neither ever said, "I don't know how we got out of that one!"

The other reason to use this plot device, of course, is to show the characters bonding in ways that won't matter if you missed the episode. But it was nice listening to the two talk. Maybe Drummer is dying but I doubt it. If anyone's going to die I bet it'll be Ashford. The way he was relishing his moment calling himself "Captain" felt like he didn't expect to have the pleasure for long.

Drummer and Ashford became trapped in the cargo bay when the big protomolecule blob put some kind of purple membrane over all the ships, slowing them down. This is Sci-Fi without inertial dampers, it's nice writers can explore the possibilities now.

Anna (Elizabeth Mitchell) was lucky enough to have been strapped down during the incident. She goes to help out because she's a trained nurse--her doctorate is in something else as a commenter pointed out in one of my previous entries. I'm guessing everyone stopped calling her "Reverend Doctor" after her first episode to avoid confusion. You'd think basic nurse training would include basic information about how injuries are different in zero gravity but it provided an opportunity to explain it to the audience.

It felt like Anna almost became a completely different character in this episode. I suppose all the security officers were busy, injured, or dead but it felt weird seeing her rush off with a nightstick to take care of business all on her own. No reference at all in this episode to her internal conflicts. Her sudden appearance at the end to save Naomi (Dominique Tipper) from Melba (Nadine Nichole) was a little cheesy.

It was nice seeing Naomi's reunion with Alex (Cas Anvar) and Amos (Wes Chatham). I liked how no-one even mentioned the fork stuck in Alex's arm.

Twitter Sonnet #1126

Impatience shaves the screws to thickened pipes.
On yellow bits the friendly fishes stand.
Slowly rain in glimmered torrents wipes.
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Predicted drums surprised the running car.
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A mirror hall produced an extra pair.