The Expanse (SyFy)

The good news is that there can be no book spoilers when discussing Episode 07… I don’t believe that a single thing shown in the episode actually occurred in the book with the exception of Miller leaving Ceres Station. Otherwise, it seemed like a “filler” episode meant to explore Amos and Holden’s psyches… which seems odd given that they only have three episodes left in the first season.

But overall, I enjoyed the episode. I do like where they may be going with the Earth spy; new character he might be, but I think I know his ultimate fate. I really liked Amos’ cheery reaction to the standoff with Holden: all’s well that ends well, I guess.

The scramble for the codes plus Amos and Holden’s standoff was fun and tense. Love this loads, particularly that everything about the space goings-on gives a sense of the vastness and danger of space (it’s everyone’s enemy, regardless of the human-on-human conflict). I enjoy the glimpses of future Earth too.

I don’t believe that a single thing shown in the episode actually occurred in the book with the exception of Miller leaving Ceres Station.

That scene made me think of Anachronox, and Boots.

I thought this week’s episode was a fantastic hour of television - best yet, or at least since the premiere. Loved the exploration of the stealth ship and all the related actions of the characters, the hidden agenda of the spy, Miller arriving and kicking ass, and the apartment discovery. Great stuff.

I thought that some of the drone-exploration of the ship moved along a little slowly… but that’s about the worst thing that I can say about an otherwise spectacular episode.

I really, really liked the spy-guy over the past two episodes. The contact-lens computer and all the information that it showed was just wonderful way of conveying information to the audience without a lot of exposition. Amos’ perception of the hit-team was likewise well-done: the audience was easily led to the proper conclusion with no words whatsoever.

You know what else I liked? The Mormon. Not only did the show treat the guy with some respect by not making him into the stereotypical door-to-door evangelist, but it nicely provided more information about the Nauvoo. A great, quiet scene that should pay dividends down the line.

I’ve been a bit on the fence about the show, but that was brilliant TV.

I love how restrained that scene was.

Agreed. None of that is from the book and while I won’t say I disliked it I also don’t see why it was needed. I have to think the show planners gambled on this going for several seasons (whatever you call a 10 show run) as they cannot possibly wrap up the first book in this one.

And I don’t consider that a spoiler in any way as it gives away nothing.

Fantastic episode this week. As mentioned above, I really liked the way they used non-verbal cues and information to convey what was happening in a lot of the scenes this episode, from the discovery of the stealth ship to the lobby of the hotel, it was all super tense and exciting. I am sad there are only two hours of this show left (next week is 2 hour season finale already).

I assume I can talk about the show without spoiler tags. I have not read the books, and comments upthread seem to indicate the show is moving away from book plots anyway…so:

Am I right to think that at this point we are supposed to understand that the stealth ships DO NOT belong to Earth’s navy, the Martian navy OR the OPA movement (as none of them seem to know what the hell is going on)? This is some outside party who has been purposefully trying to get Earth and Mars to fight one another and possibly get the belters mixed up in it as well, or maybe get both Earth and Mars to blame the OPA? The OPA leader on the Mormon ship project seemed to recognize someone or something in the Martian data they decoded…I’m very curious to know what.

So right now we know the Martian outpost at Phoebe went dark and it looks like they might have been a testing ground for whatever the Stealth Ship people are up to. We know the Martians are clueless, as the Donnager was attacked and boarded by the Stealth Ship folks. We know Earth is mostly clueless (unless it’s a non-government faction doing everything) as they were convinced it was Mars, then the OPA, causing trouble. We know the OPA knows something, but is not at the root of what is happening. Finally, we know that the Stealth Ship folks probably killed the OPA crew of the Scopuli (except for Julie), spaced them, and tried to make it look like Mars did it (then destroyed the Canterbury when they responded). Then the Stealth Ship guys on the Anubis at least seem to have run afoul of something…possibly whatever it was they were testing at Phoebe when everything started. Juile is somehow the only survivor of both the Scopuli and now the Anubis, and we assume it is her who discovers what is happening on the Anubis, parks it hidden on the asteroid, possibly signals the OPA guy (or maybe her suit form the Scopuli could be tracked), powers everything down and vents the airlocks to kill/dispose of whatever she’s found. She then takes the Anubis’s shuttle on to Eros. Once at Eros whatever happened on the Anubis begins to happen to Julie, and she ends up in the condition the main characters find her at the end of this episode (poor Miller).

Now whatever happened at Phoebe and on the Anubis is going to begin happening on Eros. We still have no idea who the Stealth Ship people are, do we? Their agenda seemed to be to create chaos so everyone would fight one another, but now whatever they were doing seems to have killed at least a few of their own people (the Anubis), and may be out of control. Or maybe that was the plan all along, and once the chaos starts at Eros, and people begin to flee in dozens fo ships for other locations, they will take whatever that stuff is with them…

In another show the cracked helmet would break, or the heroes wouldn’t be smart enough to avoid the toxin. I also loved how Amos picked up on the ambush in the hotel.

Beautifully done.

I liked this episode, too. Moved the story forward. Made some worldbuilding. Was tense and saucy at times.
But I like long story arcs, and this serie has one to deliver.

Agree with everyone here, this was an excellent episode - real, proper s-f with a thriller aspect to it.

It’s been a while since I read the first book, but you’re generally on the right track in terms of the current state of affairs and open questions.

Ive enjoyed the show so far and the most recent episode was definitely the best one so far. I was a bit skeptical that Syfy could pull this series off but so far they have done a really good job with the material. I really liked the lobby scene and how the built the scene by conveying info with subtle things. You had the goofy lobby music trying to set a cheerful tone and all the while theres just little things that tell you nothing is right here. I also like how they have portrayed space so far. Its dark, empty, silent and foreboding. Living out there is dangerous and the smallest of mistake will cost you dearly. Based on the pace of the plot development vs the book, its looking like they are going to leave season 1 with one helluva cliffhanger.

I really enjoyed episode 8 and for the most part they were back on line with the book. I know that doesn’t matter but for some reason making a 10 hour show on a book series and then inventing things just bugs me. Episode 8 put everybody where they belong for the plot and it was done in an intelligent and entertaining way.

Thanks Thierry! For awhile the plot seemed like it was starting to come apart, but last week’s episode tied everything back together nicely and in a way that didn’t feel contrived (well, other than the Cants crew and Miller showing up in that hotel lobby at nearly the same time despite completely separate arcs to get there…). I am very curious to know where this is all leading, and I suspect we won’t get all the answers in the season finale, so I may en dup trying to read the book(s) between seasons.

Game of Thrones is still my fave, but – dayum – The Expanse is turning out to be my favorite SF series. I can’t believe how damned good this show is.

I have purchased Book 1: Leviathan Wakes off of Audible and and will start to listen now (I think I’m safe that even if I start now, I won’t spoil the ending before its telecast. I’m a fast listener, but not that fast!)

I do fear that the one thing I am enjoying most about this show will be ruined itself by the plot of this serties sooner or later: I have found myself hugely satisfied that the show is this good and there are no aliens. Humanity alone is providing the drama and it’s good enough for me.

I know it’s only a matter of time before that ends and I will be very disappointed when it does. So far, this is a Future History within the Solar System that has turned out to be second-to-none. As soon as some damned aliens show up, that vibe is going to be lost. and I fear the series will be the worse for it.

Really still blown away by how good this show is. And the production values are awesome. CGI is the best thing that ever happened to television and the movies. The Golden Age of TV we are living in right now is the product of cable budgets that have not yet died, combined with long form non-episodic story telling, and production effects with CGI now permits writers and directors to tell stories set in times and places and situations that no TV budget could ever permit before. It’s frikkin AMAZING.

I think I have seen more believable Zero-G on camera in The Expanse than I have seen in any just about any major Hollywood motion picture, ever. Maybe more than in Gravity, FFS. And this is a god-damned TV show filmed in my home town.

Loving it.

Yeah, the exterior space shots are some of the best stuff I’ve seen. The zero-G effects as well. I remember thinking how good the latter looked during that first scene with Julie Mao escaping the cell she was in.

So it ends with a 2-hour episode tonight?

Season one ends tonight, but it doesn’t cover the entirety of book one. The time it took for them to get the Rocinante was already indicating that book 1 would span two seasons.

Which, I might add, is just fine. I think that Game of Thrones (for example) suffered a bit when trying to (mostly) match seasons to books.