General / Off-Topic The Expanse, Season 5 :: December 16th 2020

Craith · Feb 4, 2021

I enjoyed season 5 more than season 4, which I stopped watching 2 episodes before the end (watched them just before I started with 5) - less horror-movie, more space-action. Could've used even more space action and a bit more condensed family reunion IMO.

I did like this scene:

nice coriolis station, Madame Avasarala

LeoBartlet · Feb 4, 2021

I enjoyed enjoyed it but not as much as I thought I would. The Mars mystery arc was nowhere to be seen until the last three minutes of the show and the Drummer arc felt rushed when really they could have built that up in season 4 if they had removed the entirely superfluous UN election arc.

I also felt they severely toned down the destruction of earth to the point where I was wondering what if any destruction was caused given they were pretty vague about it other than Amos saying the churn every 5 minutes and Avasarala trying to give her estranged husband a ring.

LeoBartlet · Feb 4, 2021

metatheurgist said:
Ironically the Syfy seasons seem to be more entertaining atm.

Book 4 and 5 were always going to be the hardest to translate to screen and its little surprises Syfy passed on it.

Rubbernuke · Feb 4, 2021

LeoBartlet said:
I enjoyed enjoyed it but not as much as I thought I would. The Mars mystery arc was nowhere to be seen until the last three minutes of the show and the Drummer arc felt rushed when really they could have built that up in season 4 if they had removed the entirely superfluous UN election arc.

I also felt they severely toned down the destruction of earth to the point where I was wondering what if any destruction was caused given they were pretty vague about it other than Amos saying the churn every 5 minutes and Avasarala trying to give her estranged husband a ring.

What I found most distracting was the dialogue when Peaches, Amos or someone would pop up with forced sounding lines about Tribes, theories etc. It just sounded contrived, and in stark contrast to the earlier series that just had much more natural sounding characters like Miller.

Its why I like Bull so much this season- hes like "F that, lets get on with it".

Factabulous · Feb 4, 2021

LeoBartlet said:
I also felt they severely toned down the destruction of earth to the point where I was wondering what if any destruction was caused given they were pretty vague about it other than Amos saying the churn every 5 minutes and Avasarala trying to give her estranged husband a ring.

yeah, that puzzled me too. I know the author was clear they didn't want do add 'disaster-viewing' about the attack, but they talked about 'millions' dying - I thought it was far more in the books. And I thought sometimes the Amos shots were going for 'nuclear winter' darkness, but other times it seemed it was just 'we film in Canada, so it is snowy'.

LeoBartlet · Feb 4, 2021

Rubbernuke said:
What I found most distracting was the dialogue when Peaches, Amos or someone would pop up with forced sounding lines about Tribes, theories etc. It just sounded contrived, and in stark contrast to the earlier series that just had much more natural sounding characters like Miller.

Its why I like Bull so much this season- hes like "F that, lets get on with it".

I didn't mind the Amos/Peaches back and forth even if it was a little bit cliche because I was far too busy hating the Eastenders like plot with Naomi and her moody son.

Rubbernuke · Feb 4, 2021

Factabulous said:
yeah, that puzzled me too. I know the author was clear they didn't want do add 'disaster-viewing' about the attack, but they talked about 'millions' dying - I thought it was far more in the books. And I thought sometimes the Amos shots were going for 'nuclear winter' darkness, but other times it seemed it was just 'we film in Canada, so it is snowy'.

Think back to season 4 with the island exploding and the effects it had! We had multiple strikes but it was blink and you miss it.

LeoBartlet · Feb 4, 2021

Factabulous said:
yeah, that puzzled me too. I know the author was clear they didn't want do add 'disaster-viewing' about the attack, but they talked about 'millions' dying - I thought it was far more in the books. And I thought sometimes the Amos shots were going for 'nuclear winter' darkness, but other times it seemed it was just 'we film in Canada, so it is snowy'.

Yea in the books they made it more easily understood that the planet was essentially fracked for decades to come and the only good place to be was off world.

Edit: Plus they took the time to explain that the destruction on Earth had a knock on effect for Mars and the belt given Earth was the only planet in the system with soil and complex biologics. In the show we had a 30 second scene saying essentially we're gonna starve because Earth will cut us off.

Factabulous · Feb 4, 2021

Rubbernuke said:
Think back to season 4 with the island exploding and the effects it had! We had multiple strikes but it was blink and you miss it.

I was wondering if people who know Baltimore were saying 'great effects, that is a huge field IRL, but it's all flooded now'. Probably not

Rubbernuke · Feb 4, 2021

LeoBartlet said:
I didn't mind the Amos/Peaches back and forth even if it was a little bit cliche because I was far too busy hating the Eastenders like plot with Naomi and her moody son.

This is what did my head in- too much time spent on the wrong things. EP 10 crunched in what should have been across the latter half of the season IMO.

LeoBartlet · Feb 4, 2021

Rubbernuke said:
This is what did my head in- too much time spent on the wrong things. EP 10 crunched in what should have been across the latter half of the season IMO.

I really hope in season 6 they delve into what is driving Inaros besides arrogance and blind hatred of earth. That was essentially he knows that the ring planets will not support all belters given the gravity issues and what is a belter then if he isn't living and dying on an airless rock.

Rubbernuke · Feb 4, 2021

LeoBartlet said:
I really hope in season 6 they delve into what is driving Inaros besides arrogance and blind hatred of earth. That was essentially he knows that the ring planets will not support all belters given the gravity issues and what is a belter then if he isn't living and dying on an airless rock.

To the shows credit they have drip fed Inaros in the background (belters caught smuggling stealth tech, background speeches, threats of rocks etc) but they have left him in the flesh very 2D, unlike someone like Anderson Dawes who really had depth to him.

LeoBartlet · Feb 4, 2021

Rubbernuke said:
To the shows credit they have drip fed Inaros in the background (belters caught smuggling stealth tech, background speeches, threats of rocks etc) but they have left him in the flesh very 2D, unlike someone like Anderson Dawes who really had depth to him.

In season 4 they build him up to be someone with the charm and charisma to unite the belt against the Inners but in season 5 they couldn't wait to out him as nothing more than a jealous moody git much like his son.

Dawes was amazing in season 1 and im hoping they bring him back for season 6.

Factabulous · Feb 4, 2021

LeoBartlet said:
Dawes was amazing in season 1 and im hoping they bring him back for season 6.

Dawes and Ashford both seemed very well acted, which helped raise the level of others. Sadly I'm not sure Marcos is as capable. He has enough speaking time to make his case, but none of it seemed to stick to me. Maybe it is the writing though.

"They hate us because we shame them. They hate us because they think we are weak, and they hurt us anyway! We make them feel ashamed! And men always gonya hate the thing that shame them. But we can teach them to fear us… to hate us… to hate us because they fear us! Because when you are weak, you can be surprising."

I mean ... what? I don't see that motivation from the inners at all.

Rubbernuke · Feb 4, 2021

LeoBartlet said:
In season 4 they build him up to be someone with the charm and charisma to unite the belt against the Inners but in season 5 they couldn't wait to out him as nothing more than a jealous moody git much like his son.

Dawes was amazing in season 1 and im hoping they bring him back for season 6.

You sort of see it though. For example when Earth stops the latter stealth rocks, he does his "one rock is..." speech where you see him course correct (and try to keep the narrative 'his'). But these flashes are few and far between where you see his political side. I really wanted Inaros to be the justified rage of the Belt, but as you say he's just someone to hate and not someone who has both good and bad in them.

Jared Harris is amazing as Dawes though, and in BK 6 (if I recall) has a bit of an epiphany with Inaros which is a nice twist. I hope thats in the season.

Mu77ley · Feb 4, 2021

I loved the whole Season. Was nice to see Babbage's bracelet come up on the Barkeith before it's unfortunate demise at the end. That's straight from the epilogue in the Nemesis Games novel.

Para Handy · Feb 4, 2021

LeoBartlet said:
I didn't mind the Amos/Peaches back and forth ...........

... but did we REALLY need to see them both having a pee?

Ralph Vargr · Feb 5, 2021

Para Handy said:
... but did we REALLY need to see them both having a pee?

No. We. Did. Not.

Rade Konn · Feb 5, 2021

Honestly this was the worst season with the back and forth scenes, The SyFy expanse was so much better, none can argue that S1 was the best and just fell off from there.

With so many good shows failing at or towards the end nowadays im not surprised this happened with Expanse.

Cas Anvar is 54?! What?! Meh the rest of the cast will find decent new roles elsewhere after the final season, especially Amos since the girls LOVE him. Time to work out!

Morbad · Feb 5, 2021

Episode 4 of this season was possibly my favorite episode of the series, but after that the pacing and editing were all over the place. Some stuff felt rushed or omitted, while huge swaths of the Naomi arc just dragged on.