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The Expanse (Seasons 3 and 4)
The show continues to be excellent. I'm very impressed of how natural it feels when characters who in the previous seasons were in the background with perhaps two lines, like Drummer, get developed into main characters, while other characters fade in the background for a season (or permanentl?). Reminds me of The Wire. The one character who didn't really work for me was Melba/Clarissa Mao, whose tie to the main story was just too soap operating for me. Speaking of the Maos, otoh in s3 I was ready to complain, oh, come on, you want me to believe Jules-Pierre Mao sees the error of his child experiementing ways because of one cute kid? The man who went right on after his favourite daughter turned into a field for mushrooms? But no, instead, the series went another way and instead showed that Mao might have a sentimental moment, but then when it's business vs sentiment, he doesn't even hesitate.
While we're at complaints I had while watching which partially got soothed by what later happened, given how glaringly obvious it was to yours truly that Errinwright was going to screw Avasarala over and frame her for his crimes, I kept muttering she should have seen it coming instead of believing he'd turn himself in. In retrospect, she does have a few blind spots and one of them is believing she's always the smartest person in the room and thus can predict everyone else. Also, in s4 she was horrid to her two election campaigners, with the marvel being they didn't quit a dozen times over long before she lost the election, and I was wondering whether or not the show was aware of this, but yes it was, and it was entirely ic for a woman who until this point had all her offices by appointment, with this the first campaign so late in life. On the bright side, her almost managing to turn the tide around by using the story of her son fit with her well established tactic in an ironic way - on other occasions, she invented stories about people she hardly knew in political speeches and they always worked, here, she said the truth, but because she did it, her husband was appalled. I appreciate that her opponent, Nancy Gao, wasn't written as evil but as a plausible rival whose victory was a logical conquence of everything that went before.
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andraste stopped with the Multiverse ficathon years ago, because now I want to read the crossover where Chrisjen Avasarala meets BSG's Laura Roslin.)
When Elizabeth Mitchell showed up as Anna in s3 and the first half of s4, I must admit my first reaction was "so that's what Juliet does now!", what with being a Lost veteran. :) She was a good example of how even the most "moral" characters aren't shown as perfect (she utterly misses the suicidal officer needing her help in her excitement about the Ring) without this ever going into a grimdark direction (having realised her mistake and taken responsibility, she's even more determined to help people instead of going into a morose breakdown).
Having now watched four seasons, I must say this is that rare thing, a series with great stakes and much darkness going on where the characters who really qualify as if not Big, then Little Bads tend to end up in captivity instead of getting killed (either by the Disney friendly cliff or our heroes). (So far, this has happened to Errinwright, Jean-Pierre Mao, Clarissa and Murtry.) This has become a rare thing on tv outside of strictly kids aimed fare, and I applaud it, especially since both on a Doylist and Watsonian level it's a conscious decision. As for the Big Bad, I'd say it's a combination of social unjustice - usually not due to anyone's evil design, i.e. the unemployment on Earth, Mars when going from a war footing to a peace state starting to have unemployment as well, the further away colonies being furthest in the food chain - and the Unknown Civilisation-Wiping Aliens, the mysterious creators of the protomolecule and their enemies, who provide most of the body horror and physical menace. But even there it's the combination with the human little Bads that does it - the terrible human experimentation of s1 wasn't the "fault" of the protomolecule itself, it was all the humans' idea, for example. And yet the big solution of the season isn't built around "let's kill X!" but "let's save ABC from doom!" For all that awful things happen, it's a very humane show. And because its characters are developed so well, one regrets when they go, like in the most recent finale I watched Ashford, whose relationship with Drummer was fantastic, and yet finds the death entirely fitting and appropriate within the story it tells.
When a character takes a decision you disagree with, it usually happens for good ic reasons - like Bobbie Draper not accepting Avasarala's offer right at the start of the season, instead going through first a frustrating and then a light criminal job. She's always self defined as a Mars patriot (PATRIOT with capital letters, even), and she would try as much as she possibly can to live on her home planet. Even her final change of mind is as much driven by wanting to stop the Mars-damaging weapons trading as having run out of alternatives. Incidentally, the actress playing Bobbie really does look like she could be a Marine, not like a thin waif, go you, show!
Speaking of Bobbie, her s3 story contained one great example of the show making a visual point via perspective change. When Bobbie finally sees the ocean on Earth for the first time, we first experience it with her, it's a magical moment, the lightining of the scene and the way the ocean is depicted all makes it look that way. Then Avasalara arrives with her bodyguard, and we see the same scene from her pov; the ocean is dirty because Bobbie has just emerged out of a waste disposal tunnel. They have their dialogue, and the scene ends in Bobbie's pov again; the ocean and the beach look beautiful once more. It brings home what several characters have observed about Earth taking its natural resources for granted not just in the show's universe in an amazing way while also furthering the story.
Lastly, I'm a bit sad Naomi has cut her hair, though it's probably more practical this way, and do not approve of all the beards - the only one who really looks better with one than he would without is Alex. Also, does Burn Gorman ever get to play a non-villainous character after Torchwood? On that shallow note, I shall end these musings on seasons 3 and 4 and am curious what 5 and 6 will have in store.
While we're at complaints I had while watching which partially got soothed by what later happened, given how glaringly obvious it was to yours truly that Errinwright was going to screw Avasarala over and frame her for his crimes, I kept muttering she should have seen it coming instead of believing he'd turn himself in. In retrospect, she does have a few blind spots and one of them is believing she's always the smartest person in the room and thus can predict everyone else. Also, in s4 she was horrid to her two election campaigners, with the marvel being they didn't quit a dozen times over long before she lost the election, and I was wondering whether or not the show was aware of this, but yes it was, and it was entirely ic for a woman who until this point had all her offices by appointment, with this the first campaign so late in life. On the bright side, her almost managing to turn the tide around by using the story of her son fit with her well established tactic in an ironic way - on other occasions, she invented stories about people she hardly knew in political speeches and they always worked, here, she said the truth, but because she did it, her husband was appalled. I appreciate that her opponent, Nancy Gao, wasn't written as evil but as a plausible rival whose victory was a logical conquence of everything that went before.
(Shame
andraste stopped with the Multiverse ficathon years ago, because now I want to read the crossover where Chrisjen Avasarala meets BSG's Laura Roslin.) When Elizabeth Mitchell showed up as Anna in s3 and the first half of s4, I must admit my first reaction was "so that's what Juliet does now!", what with being a Lost veteran. :) She was a good example of how even the most "moral" characters aren't shown as perfect (she utterly misses the suicidal officer needing her help in her excitement about the Ring) without this ever going into a grimdark direction (having realised her mistake and taken responsibility, she's even more determined to help people instead of going into a morose breakdown).
Having now watched four seasons, I must say this is that rare thing, a series with great stakes and much darkness going on where the characters who really qualify as if not Big, then Little Bads tend to end up in captivity instead of getting killed (either by the Disney friendly cliff or our heroes). (So far, this has happened to Errinwright, Jean-Pierre Mao, Clarissa and Murtry.) This has become a rare thing on tv outside of strictly kids aimed fare, and I applaud it, especially since both on a Doylist and Watsonian level it's a conscious decision. As for the Big Bad, I'd say it's a combination of social unjustice - usually not due to anyone's evil design, i.e. the unemployment on Earth, Mars when going from a war footing to a peace state starting to have unemployment as well, the further away colonies being furthest in the food chain - and the Unknown Civilisation-Wiping Aliens, the mysterious creators of the protomolecule and their enemies, who provide most of the body horror and physical menace. But even there it's the combination with the human little Bads that does it - the terrible human experimentation of s1 wasn't the "fault" of the protomolecule itself, it was all the humans' idea, for example. And yet the big solution of the season isn't built around "let's kill X!" but "let's save ABC from doom!" For all that awful things happen, it's a very humane show. And because its characters are developed so well, one regrets when they go, like in the most recent finale I watched Ashford, whose relationship with Drummer was fantastic, and yet finds the death entirely fitting and appropriate within the story it tells.
When a character takes a decision you disagree with, it usually happens for good ic reasons - like Bobbie Draper not accepting Avasarala's offer right at the start of the season, instead going through first a frustrating and then a light criminal job. She's always self defined as a Mars patriot (PATRIOT with capital letters, even), and she would try as much as she possibly can to live on her home planet. Even her final change of mind is as much driven by wanting to stop the Mars-damaging weapons trading as having run out of alternatives. Incidentally, the actress playing Bobbie really does look like she could be a Marine, not like a thin waif, go you, show!
Speaking of Bobbie, her s3 story contained one great example of the show making a visual point via perspective change. When Bobbie finally sees the ocean on Earth for the first time, we first experience it with her, it's a magical moment, the lightining of the scene and the way the ocean is depicted all makes it look that way. Then Avasalara arrives with her bodyguard, and we see the same scene from her pov; the ocean is dirty because Bobbie has just emerged out of a waste disposal tunnel. They have their dialogue, and the scene ends in Bobbie's pov again; the ocean and the beach look beautiful once more. It brings home what several characters have observed about Earth taking its natural resources for granted not just in the show's universe in an amazing way while also furthering the story.
Lastly, I'm a bit sad Naomi has cut her hair, though it's probably more practical this way, and do not approve of all the beards - the only one who really looks better with one than he would without is Alex. Also, does Burn Gorman ever get to play a non-villainous character after Torchwood? On that shallow note, I shall end these musings on seasons 3 and 4 and am curious what 5 and 6 will have in store.
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Bobbie is played by Frankie Adams, a Samoan New Zealand actress who is at least six feet tall. They try to hide it in blocking, but she towers over some of the men! I love her desperately (as another tall girl, it'feels rare to see them onscreen, really).
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(I didn't spot your S1 and S2 related entry until it was already several days old and all discussion already finished.)
"Humane" is an excellent word to describe The Expanse, especially when it comes to characterisation and character motivation, I believe. Btw, one of the moments that really had me floored in this regard was in S3 when Ashford announces that the Nauvoo/Behemoth will take up *all* wounded, regardless of faction.
As for Clarissa/Melba: my initial reaction to the character was exactly the same, however I warmed up considerably during S5. (This is about as much as I can say without accidentally spoilering you ;-))
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and I love how the show loves Avasaralah, but keeps itself grounded by having a lot of her problems rooted in her own faults and mistakes