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

[sifth]

So what's the point of even hinting at the coming threat of the Goths, if they're not even going to adapt the final 3 novels?

[Corvinus85]

Well that remains to be seen. I suspect the season will end very close to the end of book 6, but (book spoilers)

Spoiler

for Laconia, instead of simply them cutting off comms, something happens that makes everyone else believes that Laconia died, killed by the Goths maybe, and good riddance. Happy ending, with the shadow of what killed the protomolecule builders in the background.

 

[sifth]

18 minutes ago, Corvinus85 said:

Well that remains to be seen. I suspect the season will end very close to the end of book 6, but (book spoilers)

  Hide contents

for Laconia, instead of simply them cutting off comms, something happens that makes everyone else believes that Laconia died, killed by the Goths maybe, and good riddance. Happy ending, with the shadow of what killed the protomolecule builders in the background.

 

Yea, but on the show, does anyone in the Sol System, even care about Laconia? Heck even in the books no one seemed to care about them for a very long time. So I'm not sure if I'd like the ending you have in your spoiler tag.

[Werthead]

They've only got four episodes left to wrap the whole thing up in, so I'm not surprised they're slamming down the accelerator after last week's very slow opening.

A much better episode than last week, although I think they undersold how incredibly hard it is to match your ship to another one which can do almost ninety degree burns without warning and is equally maneuverable.

[Spockydog]

Everything feels too rushed. Sure, in a ten episode season we probably would have got an entire, semi-tedious episode, where the crew of the Roci wearily get at each other's throats while they travel to the rendezvous point with the Azure Dragon. I'm glad we didn't have to put up with that, but, like Poobah, I feel as if something is missing.

 

 

 

[horangi]

22 hours ago, Poobah said:

I think this isn't helped by how much I dislike Filip and find him and his daddy issues to be uninteresting and not at all compelling when so much time is being given to it. I'd much rather see more of Marco, or Avasarala though she feels rather less interesting now she's Secretary-General and has all the power and resources than when she was in the trenches facing adversity and intrigue.

This was my take too.  Overall a good episode, and while the scenes with Filip were fine production wise, I just see it as a zero sum game with the last season where we could have spent more time with the more interesting plot lines.  That said, I am assuming that this is a setup for some eventual double-cross that needs a motivation.

[karaddin]

I don't know this source to have any idea if this is potentially legit or not, but it would certainly fit the way they've consistently talked about the series ending up being ambiguous about the rest of the story

https://thathashtagshow.com/2021/12/22/exclusive-the-expanse-sequel-series-movie-amazon/

Summary for those not clicking through - the claim is that the contract when Amazon picked up S4-6 includes SyFy as one of the parties and they would need to be included in a contract for further series of this show, but that a 'sequel' series covering the rest of the books and a movie would allow essentially a clean contract negotiation. It would also require redoing all the other contracts as well, actors etc.

[Corvinus85]

Well I enjoyed the hell out of that episode. Coming from my disappointment with The Wheel of Time finale to this, what a difference. This episode is why they were never going to rush the finale to include the final books. A lot of great character moments + the kick-ass space battle with good drama at its end.

Loved the cameos, too, I wish there could have been more.

And then there is the web short. What a treat. We many never get the darker fight from book 7, but this more humorous one was fun too watch. 

[Ran]

@karaddin

Interestingly, they deleted the page, though it's still archived. I admit, it sounds a bit plausible.

@Corvinus85

Yeah, it's obviously a much more self-assured show. I can still feel how much of a rush they're in to get things done in six episodes, things are moving at a furious pace, but they're managing some great moments like Holden disarming the torpedo.

I do question the fact that Ceres could have been rigged with explosives without anyone having realized it despite their explicitly searching and securing the area. Did no one think it might be booby-trapped? Seems a bit convenient. I also wonder if that's the end for Monica Stuart? Hard to tell.

I did like the short, which Wes Chatham co-wrote.

Edited December 24, 2021 by Ran

[Werthead]

On 12/23/2021 at 12:23 PM, karaddin said:

I don't know this source to have any idea if this is potentially legit or not, but it would certainly fit the way they've consistently talked about the series ending up being ambiguous about the rest of the story

https://thathashtagshow.com/2021/12/22/exclusive-the-expanse-sequel-series-movie-amazon/

Summary for those not clicking through - the claim is that the contract when Amazon picked up S4-6 includes SyFy as one of the parties and they would need to be included in a contract for further series of this show, but that a 'sequel' series covering the rest of the books and a movie would allow essentially a clean contract negotiation. It would also require redoing all the other contracts as well, actors etc.

Ty and Daniel have already shot that story down as being pure horseshit the writer pulled out of their arses. So nope.

[Corvinus85]

4 hours ago, Ran said:

I do question the fact that Ceres could have been rigged with explosives without anyone having realized it despite their explicitly searching and securing the area. Did no one think it might be booby-trapped? Seems a bit convenient. I also wonder if that's the end for Monica Stuart? Hard to tell.

There was something like that in the book, too, but less damaging. So yeah, Marco's people must have done a good job. Maybe they weren't explosive but some equipment sabotaged to fail. I also wonder about Monica. 

[Werthead]

Solid episode but a bit Expanse by the numbers? Cool zero-G space battle, a Sudden and Inevitable Betrayal, Belters getting antsy with Inners, Inaros being a dick. It's all competently executed, but I get the complaint about this feeling like an epilogue that should really have been part of Season 5.

[sifth]

18 hours ago, Corvinus85 said:

And then there is the web short. What a treat. We many never get the darker fight from book 7, but this more humorous one was fun too watch. 

What is this web short you're talking about?

[Ran]

2 minutes ago, sifth said:

What is this web short you're talking about?

Check the X-ray and the Bonus Content section. Each episode so far has had a 3-5 minute short featuring groups of characters. This latest one was Amos and Bobbie focused.

[sifth]

1 hour ago, Ran said:

Check the X-ray and the Bonus Content section. Each episode so far has had a 3-5 minute short featuring groups of characters. This latest one was Amos and Bobbie focused.

Thanks for the info.

The mini episode for this weeks episode, was indeed pretty good.

[Kalbear]

Note that the web shorts are not available on anything other than, well, the website or app - so if you have it on an xbox or something like that, you'll be out of luck. 

Incredibly stupid way of doing it, IMO, but so be it.

[mcbigski]

So Christmas Eve broke up early this year, since we had about 1/3 the regular crew.  So got to watch this tonight.  Below are my thoughts as I recorded them during the episode, with a bit of extra details now that I'm done.

Had subtitles on last week, and learned that the opening credits are in Norwegian.  Always kind of thought of them as akin the BSG opening credits, but just curious what's Norwegian for "faith of the heart"?

"The name we share"

Spoiler

This is totally book spoiler right?

Have we seen that martian admiral before?  Pretty sure we have, but possibly the Donager captain was basically her Asian twin with the same military hair cut.

Subtle thing but when filip gets the guns, did the graphic remind anyone else of millenium falcon after leaving the death star?

amos/bobbie is getting weird.  

And wow, natural 20 when Filly was 95%+ for the kill.

Not really sure what the very end meant.  Might be a lot wine, a martini and a couple of Ice Cream Man IPAs  (#notinnerplanetalliance)  But what was that big ship?

Also, super annoyed that amazon won't put the mini eps/extra scenes on their TV app.  How hard is that really?  <up arrow> what Kal said.

Edited December 25, 2021 by mcbigski

[Corvinus85]

1 hour ago, mcbigski said:

Have we seen that martian admiral before?  Pretty sure we have, but possibly the Donager captain was basically her Asian twin with the same military hair cut.

If you're referring to the admiral lady talking to Avasarala, that was the captain of the MCRN Hammurabi from the early part of season 3.

1 hour ago, mcbigski said:

Not really sure what the very end meant.  Might be a lot wine, a martini and a couple of Ice Cream Man IPAs  (#notinnerplanetalliance)  But what was that big ship?

That would be a book spoiler so

Spoiler

It was a massive rail gun. Laconian design. They install a bunch of them on the ring nucleus to defend the ring space.

 

[Kalbear]

Actually no

Spoiler

At least in the book it's the proteus, the first ship that was built by Laconia. 

Dunno if that's what they're doing but I think it likely is given the design. 

 

[Corvinus85]

7 minutes ago, Kalsandra said:

Actually no

  Hide contents

At least in the book it's the proteus, the first ship that was built by Laconia. 

Dunno if that's what they're doing but I think it likely is given the design. 

 

I thought the guy talking to Marco said if this one works like the others it will be fun.