THE EXPANSE (S1E09-E10): "Critical Mass";"Leviathan Wakes"

Season 1 of The Expanse ends with a double feature of the last two episodes entitled "Critical Mass" (Episode 9) and "Leviathan Wakes" (Episode 10). The Season 1 finale aired on February 2, 2016. The Season 2 premiere will air on February 1, 2017.

S1E09: Critical Mass.

The title of episode 9 refers to the situation one needs to detonate a nuclear weapon. In "Critical Mass," the number of various elements of the story are starting to come together in order to reach a critical mass that will presumably explode in the final episode of Season 1.

Some of the elements which start to be revealed include:

• What happened to Julie Mao and how a billionaire's daughter ended up dying in alone in a hotel room on Eros infected by what appears to be an alien entity called the "protomolecule."
• Fred Johnson of Tycho Station reveals who was responsible for the creation of the ships which destroyed the Martian flagship Donnager (in Earth-based shipyards).
• That Eros is becoming a scientific test site for the human incubation and experimentation with the protomolecule.
• Crisjen Avarasala discovers that her boss, UN Undersecretary Errinwright, had her friend, the former Ambassador to Mars, killed in order to hide his connection to the mystery ships that killed the Canterbury and the Donnager

S1E10: Leviathan Wakes.

The title of episode 10 has the same name as the title of the first book in the Expanse series written by James S.A. Corey. Much of this episode takes place on Eros, as the Amos, Naomi and Alex make their way through the tunnels (using information only an OPA terrorist should have access to) to reach the Rocinante at the docks. The other main story in this episode is Holden and Miller trying to get to the docks but they have to do so by making way through an entire mercenary army who are attempting to enforce a genocidal lockdown.

HIGHLIGHTS

• The look on Holden's face when he realizes that he and Miller have been exposed to fatal doses of high-energy radiation as he says "We're dead."
• The chemistry between Holden and Nagata becomes palpable in the final scene they have in the episode (and season) as he realizes that since she did in fact wait for him to get back maybe there is some kind of (romantic?) connection there after all.
• The deadpan way Amos "cleans up the mess" after he prevents Sematimba from forcing Naomi to give him access to the controls of the Roci so that he can escape Eros (and leave Miller and Holden behind) is absolutely chilling.

LOWLIGHTS

• Why does Holden waste all his ammunition by shooting at Kenzo to scare him off and leave him to die on Eros instead of actually shooting and killing him himself? They have already made it clear that Holden is a wuss when actually pulling a trigger to kill someone but this scene literally doesn't make any sense in the context of the life-and-death situation finds himself in.

GRADE: 9/10. ("Critical Mass").
GRADE: 9/10. ("Leviathan Wakes").

WATCH: New Trailer for Season 2 of The Expanse

Season 2 of SyFy's The Expanse, based on the bestselling space opera series of the same name written by James S.A. Corey returns with new episodes available February 1, 2017! The third trailer for the second season is out now. These are some of my favorite books and I have previously blogged about most of the episodes of Season 1 and intend to do so again for the upcoming season (although I will try to do so in a more timely fashion!)

THE EXPANSE (S1E07): "Windmills"

The seventh episode of Season 1 of The Expanse is called "Windmills." It first aired on January 19, 2016. I saw it on my DVR a few days later.  Here (finally!) is my reviews of this episodes.

S1E07: Windmills.

The title of the episode is clearly another reference to Don Quixote ("tilting at windmills") and one of the primary sequences in the episode involves finding out more about James Holden's homelife (directly from one of his eight(!) parents, including his birth mother, played by Frances Fisher). Avarasala goes to the farming collective in Montana where Holden was raised to see if she can suss out whether Holden is the intentional source of the political instabilities which appear to be inexorably pushing Mars and Earth towards a war in space. She decides that he is not, but when she informs her boss Errinwright of this, he tells her that he has already approved a black ops team to assassinate Holden as soon as he reaches Eros. 

Back on the Rocinante the crew discovers a stowaway (who happens to be the spy who is giving Errinwright his information about the whereabouts and future destination of Holden and company) and there are several tense moments as Holden and the crew have to decide whether they are the kind of people who toss people out into the vacuum "just to be safe." Happily, they are not, and the spy repays their trust by helping them figure out how to get out a jam when they are able to (barely) avoid being boarded by a Martian Congressional Republic Navy (MCRN) ship and expose Rocinante's status as a former MCRN vessel.

Meanwhile on Ceres, Miller makes his move, deciding to cash in his chips (literally) as he takes what may be years of ill-gotten gains and bribes as a morally flexible law enforcement official to buy a ticket to Eros. A buddy tells his that even though there's no sign of Julie Mao's ship, a shuttle from the ship that ran into her ship, the Anubis is currently at Eros, so Miller takes the plunge.

HIGHLIGHTS

• The sequence on the Rocinante when the MCRN is approaching and they have to figure out the key words ("Donkey balls!") was amusing and thrilling simultaneously
• There are actual windmills out on Holden's homestead in Montana and they are quite visually compelling

LOWLIGHTS

• The farewell scene with Miller and his ex(partner? girlfriend?) didn't work as well as it should have. They never seemed to have much chemistry, so even though she saved his life this season it's not that surprising he rebuffs her request to go with him to Eros.

GRADE: 8/10.

THE EXPANSE (S1E06): "Rock Bottom"

The sixth episode of Season 1 of The Expanse is called "Rock Bottom" and was first aired Tuesday, January 12th. Since that date was my 25th anniversary I did not see the episode until I got back from my Hawaiian vacation this week so that is the reason my recap is delayed.

S1E06: Rock Bottom.

The episode begins with a showdown at gun point between Fred Johnson and Holden & Amos on Tycho Station. Eventually,  we learn that Holden is willing to barter his safety for the safety of his crew by agreeing to do an errand for Johnson: take a ship out to Eros Station and investigate what happened to the Scopuli (Julie Mao's ship). 

Back on Ceres, Miller is being tortured and interrogated by Anderson Dawes and OPA muscle to find out what he knows about  Julie Mao and the Scopuli. Dawes figures out that the source of Miller's obsession with the Mao case is that he is in love with her.

Out in the belt, an MCRN ship finds a Belter ship crewed by an uncle and his nephew who are mining space rocks. The MCRN Marines board the ship and harass the Belters and we begin to see the source of the mutual animosity between Belters and Martians. There's something "off" about this scene, however. The acting of the Marines or the dialogue just simply doesn't work. After the Marines leave, the older Belter suddenly kicks his nephew out of the airlock and takes his ship on a suicide mission to hurl his space rocks at the Martian ships, and gets his ship blown to smithereens. The scene ends with the nephew whimpering all alone out in space, in a suit, with a beacon and a limited amount of air. We don't really understand why the older Belter decided to kill himself, and we are wondering if he also killed his nephew, and his reasons aren't completely clear.

On Earth, Avasarala is doing what she does best, bullying someone into giving her what she wants. This time it is access to someone else's spy on Tycho Station. While ostensibly out with her grandson at an aquarium, she threatens some dude that she can make his son's parole go away if he doesn't help her.

On Tycho Station, we see Amos and Alex having a drink in a dive bar and Amos reveals that he "grew up in places like this" while Alex reveals that flying the Rocinante was the best feeling he has ever had. We also see Holden and Naomi having a drink together (in a much nicer bar) where they toast their former crewmate, the recently deceased Shed. However, the scene ends with a guy recording Holden and Naoimi with a pretty nifty camera embedded in his pupil and we're pretty sure we've discovered who Avasarala's spy is.

On Ceres, Miller barely escapes a painful death by being dumped into an airlock when his ex-girlfriend shoots the OPA muscle who were trying to kill him. He finally was able to access the information that Julie Mao obtained from the data broker and now he knows that some kind of bioweapon was involve din the incident at Phoebe Station. As soon as he confronts the head of Star Helix with his big news she cancels all his access accounts, deletes his files and fires him, demonstrating that she was completely under the control of Anderson Dawes' faction of the OPA.

Overall this episode was significantly less coherent than the previous episode and the direction of certain scenes (Especially the one where the MCRN Marines bully the Belters, the private tete a tete between Holden and Johnson on the Roci and the interrogation scene between Dawes and Miller) were all problematic.

HIGHLIGHTS

• The interactions between the crew were highlights (we discovered pieces of the backstory of both Amos and Alex; saw Naomi and Holden enjoying each other's company and saw the crew really start to gel together

LOWLIGHTS

• The scene on the ice hauler was puzzling (only after I read recaps did I realize that the nephew on the ice hauler was the same kid named Diogo who was busted by Miller stealing water back on Ceres but then sent packing with a warning.
• There was something really wrong with some of the spoken dialogue in this episode (especially the scenes I mentioned above) which lacked authenticity in the acting, I felt.

GRADE: 7/10.

THE EXPANSE (S1E05): "Back to the Butcher"

I previously reviewed the first four episodes and am planning on blogging every episode of the show this season. The Expanse is a television adaptation of the science-fiction space opera books written by James S.A. Corey, one of my favorite authors.

The fifth episode of Season 1 of the Syfy's The Expanse's is called "Back to the Butcher." 

S1E05: Back to the Butcher.

The episode again starts soon after the previous one ended, with Havelock in a hospital room, which is quite surprising since we saw him get a meter-long spike through his chest. His survival is not explained and we see a confrontation between Holden and Havelock's girlfriend, the Belter hooker Gia, in his hotel room.

Back on the Martian ship MCRN Tachi we see that Lopez is dead and that Amos has a horrible fracture with a piece of his bone sticking out of his leg. They appear to magically fix Amos's leg and even though no one in the Solar System should know where they are somehow they receive a message from Fred Johnson of Tycho Station. In a series of flashbacks, the episode depicts events from 12 years before in Colonel Fred Johnson's career when he was a United Nations Marine and ended up responsible for the deaths of hundreds of civilian Belters after a tense standoff over resources on Anderson Station. For this Johnson is known as "The Butcher of Anderson Station," (This explains the title of the episode; a significantly different version of the events of Anderson Station was told in a novella written by The Expanse author Corey that was released between the publication of the first two books, Leviathan Wakes and Abaddon's Gate.)  

Back on the Tachi, the crew is very impressed with how clean, sleek and powerful the ship is. However, Alex and Amos learn how famous Holden is throughout the system by tapping into a video feed from Ganymede which depicts news reports of the rioting on Ceres Station and shows images of Holden with the now-famous battle-cry "Remember the Cant!" In fact, that is exactly the phrase which the guy who put the spear through Havelock said in another viral video.

Meanwhile back on Ceres, Miller continues to track down Julie Mao instead of trying to find the person who attempted to kill his partner. In fact, he gets tempted by OPA bigwig Anderson Dawes who has the guy who did it in an OPA safe house, whose location he will give to Miller if he agrees to an exchange of information in the future, because he also wants to know Julie Mao's location, since "she was one of ours."

Back on the Tachi Naomi confidently follows Col. Johnson's instructions on how to change their ship's transponders and the entire crew sighs with relief when MCRN Tachi becomes Rocinante. For book readers this is an important moment because we know that the Rocinante becomes the space ship that our crew of four principals uses for the next five books.

Overall this episode was much more low key than previous episodes (but in a good way, since for once the crew was not in mortal danger).

HIGHLIGHTS

• The interior design of the Rocinante is incredibly impressive!
• The decision to include the back story of Fred Johnson was a nice one, since he will become an integral part of the story moving forward
• The set dressing and all the little details on Ceres Station (which we see as Miller tries to trace the whereabouts of Julie Mao) are really amazing
• The look on Holden's face when he finally gets to have a cup of real coffee!

LOWLIGHTS

• No Chrisjen Avasarala :(
• The lack of explanation of how Havelock survived
• I think they could have done a more nuanced job in depicting the events which led to Johnson getting his name as the Butcher of Anderson Station.

GRADE: 8/10.

THE EXPANSE (S1E01-E04): "Dulcinea";"The Big Empty";"Remember The Cant";"CQB"

The Expanse is a new show on SyFy based on the series of space opera books written by James S.A. Corey. They have rapidly become some of my favorite books, and happily, since 2011, the authors have released a new volume in the series annually, with the sixth book Babylon's Ashes set to come out in June 2016.

So I have been very excited about the news of the adaptation of the books for television, which I have been following relatively closely. The first episode in the show is titled "Dulcinea" and has been available online at SyFy.com and other outlets since November 23rd. The official broadcast premiere of the show was Monday December 14.

Here is my review of the first four episodes of The Expanse, with episode 5 "Back to the Butcher" scheduled to air at 10pm PST on SyFy tonight.

S1E01: Dulcinea.

The primary take-away I have from the very first episode of The Expanse was wow! But the wow was the exclamation of glee at my first look at Steven Strait's taut muscled body playing the lead character James Holden. The setting of the story is tripartite: On Earth we see Chrisjen Avasarala (well-played by Shohreh Agdashloo) torturing a very tall skinny guy who we are told is a Belter; On the Canterbury we see Holden having an improper sexual relationship with the ship's navigator and unsuccessfully avoid being named the new Executive Officer of the old space trawler; On Ceres we see Detective Joe Miller (played laconically by Thomas Jane) pick up the case of a missing heiress named Julie Mao. Overall, the episode looks amazing and ends with a bang (literally) as the Canterbury is blown to bits by nuclear missiles launched by a mysterious spaceship while Holden and the rest of our main cast members Naomi Nagata (Domonique Tipper), Amos Burton (Wes Chatham), Shed Harvey (Paolo Costanzo) and Alex Kamal (Cas Anvar) watch mouths agape from the interior of a small shuttle.

GRADE: 8/10.

S1E02: The Big Empty.

The episode starts seconds after the last one ended, with the crew reacting to the news that dozens of their friends, lovers and colleagues have just been obliterated by the Canterbury’s destruction. Holden immediately wants Alex to follow the mystery ship that fired the missile but he is thwarted by Naomi turning the engines off (and is seemingly undaunted by the very large gun Amos points at his head). The surviving crew of the Cant has bigger problems though because they are pummeled by the massive amount of debris and space rubble their former ship has been converted into.  Back on Ceres, Miller is learning that his missing heiress was a lot more complex than just a spoiled little rich kid with daddy issues. This is a very taut episode where we learn much more about the main characters as they go to extraordinary measures to get themselves rescued before they run out of air. Holden is a hothead but is also very brave. Naomi is extremely resourceful, scary smart and an engineering wizard. Amos does anything Naomi says but is also brave. Shed and Alex are both goofy, but Shed saves Alex’s life by sharing his air with him. This episode ends with the crew being “rescued” by the one ship they would have least liked to see: the Donnager, the massive and mighty flagship of the Mars Congressional Republic Nacy (MCRN). However, before they are boarded Holden creates some insurance by recording and broadcasting a message with his suspicions that a Mars ship was responsible for luring him and his crew to the Scopuli and probably destroyed the Canterbury.

GRADE: 8/10.

S1E03: Remember The Cant.

The episode opens with multiple shots of screens depicting Holden’s face with the audio coming from his recorded message that was broadcast essentially accusing Mars of destroying the Canterbury. The surviving crewmembers are put into holding cells on board the Donnager by some very militaristic looking MCRN Marines. Everyone, that is, except Alex, who we find out spent twenty years in the Martian Navy and is therefore treated differently than his fellow crewmembers. This episode is where we learn even more about the crewmembers and discover how much they don’t know about each other. Curiously we are only shown Naomi’s and Holden’s interrogations and we see that the Martians (especially the Donnager’s Captain Yao) believe that Naomi is an OPA terrorist and are wondering why (and how) the rest of the crew are going along with her plans when none of the rest of them (Shed, Amos, and Holden) are Belters. We also learn that Holden was given a dishonorable discharge from the Earth military for attempting to strike a superior officer for asking him to fire on a ship smuggling Belters. Back on Ceres we follow Miller’s partner Dmitri Havelock (Jay Hernandez) as he links up with a hooker, not for sex, but to learn Belter hand signals. By the end of the episode it becomes clear to Holden’s crew on the Donnager and Avarasala on Earth that Mars actually did not kill the Cant and it might have something to do with those mysteriously nonresponsive ships that are approaching Mars’ largest warship without hesitation. However, the Belters on Ceres are starting to riot as conditions are getting worse since the ice the Canterbury was hauling would have provided much needed water for the station and the chant “Remember the Cant” becomes a rallying cry for enraged (and violent Belters), one of whom shoots what looks like a meter long stake through the unfortunate Havelock at the very end of the episode. Yipes!

GRADE: 9/10.

S1E04: CQB.

This episode features one of the most graphic scenes in the elimination of (what we thought) was a major character ever seen on television. I don’t want to spoil what happens, but suffice it to say, Shed picked the short straw. And what is so amazing is that this scene happens very early into the episode and just leads to another near-death experience for our Canterbury crew. Naomi, Amos and Alex are left in an enclosed space with limited air while the mysterious ships from the previous episode engage in a close quarter battle (hence the eponymous episode title) with the Donnager. “What kind of ship would take on a CQB with the Donnager?” asks Alex, unbelievingly. We don’t actually find out because we never see the ships that attack the huge Martian warship but we do know they get boarded by soldiers wearing quite advanced tech. Holden was in the command center (on Star Trek it would have been called the bridge) of the ship with Captain Yao when she realizes he (and his crew) are the reason her ship is being attacked and sends him away with Lopez (Greg Byrk) the guy who was previously interrogating Holden and Naomi. Before that happens we are introduced to Fred Johnson (Chad Coleman) on a huge generation ship being commissioned by the Mormon Church called the Nauvoo. The Mormons are nervous about Johnson’s OPA ties but he threatens them with the collapse of the entire project and they give in to him. Back at the Donnager the MCRN Donnager is getting its butt kicked and Holden (with Lopez in tow) barely manages to find Amos, Alex and Naomi in time before they run out of air. They all fight their way through a hail of bullets to what looks like a speedy ship in the docking bay of the huge Martian ship and literally blast their way out of the ship and get away only seconds before the entire ship self-destructs (“The Captain has initiated Condition Zero” Lopez tells Holden tersely). Meanwhile back at Ceres, Miller has tracked down Julie Mao’s last hookup but the guy whom he thought it was is in the morgue but he is carrying a lot of tech which spoofs the identifying software. The episode ends with Havelock (the guy who was impaled by a spike in the previous episode!) waking up groggily as someone tries to rifle through his pockets. Whaaaaat?

GRADE 10/10.

The Expanse First FOUR Episodes Available Free At SyFy.Com!

I am crazy busy this week with grades being submitted and a quick trip to the East Coast but I must pause for a minute to let you know that The Expanse, the SyFy television show adapted from my favorite space opera series written by James S.A. Corey premiered on Monday and Tuesday. But there's even better news! The first FOUR episodes (of the 10-episode first season based on the events in the first book Leviathan Wakes) are available for free at SyFy.com! Go watch them and let me know what you think via Twitter @maprofessah.

CELEBRITY FRIDAY: Cast Picture and New Trailer from SyFy's The Expanse

As ComicCon is happening this week SyFy is using this occasion to ramp up promotion for the new television show called The Expanse based on the series of books by author James S.A. Corey debuting on the cable network this December. At the top of this post is a picture of the cast representing the crew of the Rocinante: (from left to right) Dominique Tipper as Naomi Nagata, Wes Chatham as Amos Burton, Steven Strait as James Holden,  and Cas Anvar as Alex Kamal.

In addition to this cast photo, the show also revealed a kick-ass new trailer hosted exclusively at Entertainment Weekly.

UPDATE: The Expanse Is Premiering On SyFy In December 2015!

I found other rabid fans of James S.A. Corey's books at Reddit and from there discovered that there's a second version of the trailer for the upcoming SyFy television adaptation and someone has grabbed  a bunch of screen captures from it.

Check it out! There are signs that SyFy has already approved Season 2 of the series even before the show has premiered. If true, this would be great news, although I'm a bit worried about the December premiere for the show. The big question for me will be whether The Expanse will premiere from the other big Science fiction show coming you this year, Jonathan Nolan's Westworld starring Sir Anthony Hopkins among others. Either SyFy is just trying to stick to their promised (and probably contractual 2015 premiere date and trying to take as long as possible to get it right, or they are not completely sure abut the show and have picked a time when most people are not paying attention to launch My Next Favorite Television Show.

The Expanse cast has Shohreh Agdashloo, Steven Strait, Thomas Jane and Chad Coleman in key roles.