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The Expanse #6: better to go down swinging than rolling over


AncalagonTheBlack
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1 hour ago, Werthead said:

Simon never really planned six seasons for The Wire. After Season 3 HBO asked him what he wanted to do before wrapping it up and he said two more seasons, one about schools and one about the media, and they agreed a set number of episodes to do that in, plus a political spinoff. When the spinoff was cancelled, they had to transfer one episode from Season 5 to Season 4 to pay off Carcetti's election storyline.

Season 5 was the first season to air after the show's critical reception had really started to rise, so apparently there were very loose conversations about a potential sixth season, and they raised the idea of the growing Latino population in Baltimore and how they were interacting with the established players, but Simon realised he didn't know enough about the subject to really delve into it, plus so many of the actors had moved on and Season 5 had wrapped up so many arcs starting in Season 1 so well, that it seemed pointless. Also, he'd mentally moved on and started planning Treme by that point.

I always heard a 6th season of the Wire was planned and at least part of the story would involve Wee-Bey, Chris and Avon breaking out of prison. I don't know much of the story beyond that though, since it was never made. 

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3 hours ago, sifth said:

I always heard a 6th season of the Wire was planned and at least part of the story would involve Wee-Bey, Chris and Avon breaking out of prison. I don't know much of the story beyond that though, since it was never made. 

In The Wire: Truth Be Told (an excellent insider's account of the making of the show), Rafael Alvarez (who worked on the show) goes into it in some detail, with interviews with the other principals. They did throw ideas around when the critical plaudits for the show started really pouring in (which was only after Season 4) and HBO floated the possibility of some kind of continuation, and Simon suggested maybe doing something with Latin American immigration to Baltimore, just as they'd tapped former teacher Ed Burns to take the lead on Season 4's school stuff. But the discussions never really went anywhere, as Simon had already really committed to making Season 5 the last one and he knew they were losing a whole bunch of characters either being killed off or leaving the police, and they'd really be carrying on for the sake of carrying on. They also didn't have someone with inside knowledge of that storyline like Rafael had been on the docks (he'd worked on the docks as a kid) and Simon with the newspaper stuff.

Edited by Werthead
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On 1/11/2022 at 9:34 PM, Caligula_K3 said:

I'm enjoying this season a lot. The MVP is without a doubt Drummer. She's a wonderful and interesting character, and Cara Gee's performance has been next level this season. Marco's actor could really stand to tone it down, and he's become a pretty boring villain, all in all. But I'm liking the rest of the characters and performances. The cut down to six episodes has some downsides - not every character and plotline can get their due, unfortunately - but it's also made the show much tighter, with a pace closer to season 3, imo the best season. Season 5's pace really dragged it down at the end, especially once we had multiple episodes that were nothing but Naomi trying to survive on a ship and everyone trying to rescue her.

I loved season 5, and the episodes with Naomi on the ship with Inaroses and escaping were among my favorites. The show finally managed to make me invested in Naomi, and that was such compelling, claustrophobic family character drama.

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15 minutes ago, Larry of the Lake said:

Naomi's suitless vacuum jump was probably the thing I was most looking forward to in the show and it did not disappoint.  Have watched that so many times 

And Bobbie saving her? Holy crap was that good film work and Foley work. 

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Well it's over. A bittersweet moment.

A great final episode, with ridiculous nerve-wracking action, and a good ending for the Inaros arc, season 6 and a status quo change. And the music was so good. It pisses me off even more that not even season 5's soundtrack has been released even now.

No X-Ray short but there is this. I would think the main show has been deserving of more accolades across its run.

 

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13 minutes ago, Kalibuster said:

And Bobbie saving her? Holy crap was that good film work and Foley work. 

Yeah absolutely nuts.  Reading it was probably the most 'cinematic' experience in the series for me, seeing well executed in the show was hugely rewarding 

Eta: yes the sound was A+++

Edited by Larry of the Lake
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When they showed the screen of Bobbie's assault team - everyone catch all the names?  It was Bobbie, Amos...and then a ton of names from other sci-fi shows/movies - Hicks, Hudson, Vasquez and Ripley from Aliens, Riker from Star Trek, Ackbar from Star Wars, Connor from Terminator, K. Thrace from Battlestar Galactica, Deckard from Blade Runner, D. Idaho from Dune, O'Neil from Stargate, Flynn from Tron...and a bunch of others that I'm not placing right away, but I'm guessing they're from something...

Edited by HokieStone
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11 hours ago, HokieStone said:

When they showed the screen of Bobbie's assault team - everyone catch all the names?  It was Bobbie, Amos...and then a ton of names from other sci-fi shows/movies - Hicks, Hudson, Vasquez and Ripley from Aliens, Riker from Star Trek, Ackbar from Star Wars, Connor from Terminator, K. Thrace from Battlestar Galactica, Deckard from Blade Runner, D. Idaho from Dune, O'Neil from Stargate, Flynn from Tron...and a bunch of others that I'm not placing right away, but I'm guessing they're from something...

Den of Geek covers them all, mostly. I liked seeing Johnny Rico (Starship Troopers).

All in all, pretty excellent finale, I thought. 

Spoiler

I knew Filip didn't die with Marco, just because they failed to show him on the deck. I did wonder if that's how Marco ended in the books, and I see it's pretty much spot on, though Filip's escape is a little different.

The railgun assault sequence was pretty cool, though it did feel like Bobbie's suit had crazy levels of armor given that armor-piercing rounds that went through crates and men weren't able to crack it. Also, admittedly, it felt a bit unlikely that Amos wouldn't have taken dozens of rounds and died there, but it was an exciting moment never the less.

I see, also, that they gave Holden a more direct role in the Transport Union by making him the first president as a compromise choice, rather than Michio Pa/Carina Drummer... but then they have him be Holden and hand it to her immediately. That worked pretty well. (I do, however, think they should have shown Hopkins or some other journo videoing that hand shake and hints that the Martians were pissed off because they think Avarsarala and Holden were in cahoots with Drummer... Realistically, there ought to have been some sort of fall out from that fiasco, but they have only so much time.)

 

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7 hours ago, Falcon2909 said:

What was the point of showing Laconia if nothing actually came of it

I think the point was Marco was assuming their help and didn't get it.  They were allies of convenience until it wasn't needed any more.  That Marco's death was inevitable after that.  You can't cut out Laconia and still have that all happen the same way believably.

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Quote
Spoiler

Holden had better Great Council than Brandon Stark.

 

Is there any other novella that are adapted to series like Stranger dogs? Because I remember a lot of unrelated refugee stories in the show.

Spoiler

Also Boss scene reminded me Alex-Nagata shipping of the first season although I forgot everything about it. And no Miller cameo? Seriously?

 

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15 minutes ago, sifth said:

Yea, I just don't understand what the point of showing us Laconia was, if nothing was going to come of it. All it basically did was tease us for what would come, if the show got more seasons.

Or if you decided to go read the rest of the story after having put them off because you had the TV show.

I really think it's that simple. I am puzzled by people being puzzled by this. It's like a comic book telling you that the events continue in some completely different comic book series, and go check that out for the continuation. 

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18 minutes ago, Ran said:

Or if you decided to go read the rest of the story after having put them off because you had the TV show.

I really think it's that simple. I am puzzled by people being puzzled by this. It's like a comic book telling you that the events continue in some completely different comic book series, and go check that out for the continuation. 

I mean you'd be really confused on why Alex is both alive and well in the novels, if you went from season 6 to book 7. I mean heck he gets entire chapters told from his POV. 

Drummer is also a completely different person in the novels. Nothing at all like her tv show counter part. TV show Drummer is sort of a weird combination of book Drummer and Pa; not that it's a bad thing, but when you get to Drummer chapters in novel 7 and she basically acts like a completely different person, with a completely different back story, it is something that stands out. 

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19 hours ago, Corvinus85 said:

Well it's over. A bittersweet moment.

A great final episode, (skipped)

 

I read the beginning of Corvinus' post and skipped over the rest of the page to say:

Wait, what? There's only 6 episodes this season? And that's the end of the whole show, right? Ok, I need to go watch, but how the hell are they wrapping everything up in one more episode?? 

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3 minutes ago, Myrddin said:

I read the beginning of Corvinus' post and skipped over the rest of the page to say:

Wait, what? There's only 6 episodes this season? And that's the end of the whole show, right? Ok, I need to go watch, but how the hell are they wrapping everything up in one more episode?? 

What do you mean by everything?

7 minutes ago, sifth said:

I mean you'd be really confused on why Alex is both alive and well in the novels, if you went from season 6 to book 7. I mean heck he gets entire chapters told from his POV. 

Drummer is also a completely different person in the novels. Nothing at all like her tv show counter part. TV show Drummer is sort of a weird combination of book Drummer and Pa; not that it's a bad thing, but when you get to Drummer chapters in novel 7 and she basically acts like a completely different person, with a completely different back story, it is something that stands out. 

In terms of personality, show Drummer is closest to book Michio, I think.

In terms of what she goes through in the show she is: Rosenberg + Bull + Michio + Drummer. 

Speaking of Bull, I wonder why that actor didn't come back. Same for the actor who played Admiral Delgado. He had left his posting to go hunt down Marco. If any character could have easily been killed off screen, it would have been him, but at least mention it in the show.

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27 minutes ago, Ran said:

Or if you decided to go read the rest of the story after having put them off because you had the TV show.

I really think it's that simple. I am puzzled by people being puzzled by this. It's like a comic book telling you that the events continue in some completely different comic book series, and go check that out for the continuation. 

Does Amazon really have a motive to use time on their TV show to push people to the books?  Do they think they'll make a ton of money on people buying the books through Amazon?

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Just now, Corvinus85 said:

What do you mean by everything?

Just feels like there's so much open ended at the end of episode 5. The war, the new alliance between Dummer and Avasarala, the weird alien that fixes thing for the girl, the protomolecule thing being built above the planet, etc. Last episode didn't feel like a penultimate installment. Especially for the series finale.

Ok. Not risking any spoilers. Be back tomorrow after I've watched it.

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