The Expanse
Epic space opera meets hard sci-fi meets crime noir alien mystery meets political drama
The sci-fi-fantasy genre is having a bit of a hard time right now. Star Wars has gone from 'meh' to 'oof', Star Trek is getting worse with each new episode, and Game of Thrones went full Hindenburg on us. Between the mess on screen, the screaming of hard-core fans, and the slowly dwindling mass markets there is a single flickering light of originality. The Expanse, the TV series based on the book series of the same name written by Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck under the pen name James S. A. Corey has been resurrected from the grave and is getting its well-deserved second chance to go from being the best niche sci-fi series to become the new game changer. In this piece I invite all of you to watch and read it. Very minor spoilers.
The Expanse is best and worst characterized as a hard sci-fi. Set in the 24rd century, humanity has spread throughout the Solar System developing the technology to travel efficiently and quickly in our system and sustain large populations on its barren planets and moons.
The main factions are a large and decadent United Nations of Earth, an independent and militaristic Mars, and the oppressed working class of the Asteroid Belt who have no nation of their own but are rising up against the rule of the two Inner Planets. The locations of the early seasons and books are the planets, moons, and asteroids of the system. By far the most interesting of the three locations is the Belt, where the A-story is taking place. Claustrophobic space stations the size of cities where any malfunction leads to the collapse of the whole patchwork ecosystem and the deaths of millions, an economy where wood is more precious than gold, and an adolescent, angry society which is just developing its own identity and realizing its power.
Other than efficient space travel (and the ability to cure all types of cancer), human technology is grounded in realism. Instead of magic artificial gravity, ships and stations rely on acceleration and spin. Instead of lasers, space battles are fought with guided missiles and machine guns. No energy shields, no hyperspeed, and no aliens fluent in English, and (I must stress this again) no artificial gravity, just an overpopulated, overstreched human race with a penchant for aggression trying to survive in an extremely adverse environment.
The series relation to space technology is captured in a single beautiful metaphor: As Epstein, the Martian who had invented his space drive a century before the series started, first turns on his creation, he is glued to his seat by the massive acceleration and is unable to turn it off. He rides his spaceship out of the solar system and the story in a glorious blaze of fire and high-g-force-induced stroke, leaving the world of the show and his plans behind.
Honestly, when I first read about the synopsis, I wasn't impressed. I lacked vision and never thought the Solar System could offer enough variety to make an interesting space fantasy world, but, boy, I was wrong. It took a couple of episodes but the world of the expanse won me over completely. Once you dispense with faster than light travel you realize just how huge the Solar System really is, and every piece of rock lends itself to a different story. Combine this with interesting and well-written characters and you have yourself a remarkably rich world. And that's just the start, before the true "expanse" happens.
From sci-noir to epic space fantasy
The story begins as a classic mystery told through two viewpoints. Miller, a Belter-born detective on Ceres, the largest planetoid in the Belt, and Holden, an Earth-born officer on a Belter ship transporting ice from the rings of Saturn to the Belt. The first season is a the very personal story of these two characters: Miller is a middle aged beat cop, introverted, and nihilistic, his soul destroyed by decades of policing the system's sleaziest settlement. Holden is an ex-soldier, an idealist and a classic hero in the making. Laser-focused, the first season places the focus on how these two cope as everything goes to shit. And to shit, everything goes. As it does, the series transforms from a neo-noir crime thriller set in a sci-fi world to a space adventure of epic proportions.
Like the world, the characters took few episodes to win me over and, again, they succeeded completely. The contrast and the interplay between the two main characters is what carries the show for me but the rest of the cast is just as interesting, if not more. Naomi is the Hermione of the group but with a personality, Amos is someone I want as my best friend in the whole world but should probably really avoid for my own sake, and there's a poster of Alex hanging on the wall by Han Solo's bed. And that's just the main crew. Every single side character is a tightly written three dimensional person. Not one of them is wasted and not one of them overstays their welcome. This is something that GOT couldn't achieve even at its height.
I've read many reviewers making the point that the series is the Game of Thrones of sci-fi, meaning that it's a grittier, more realistic, more adult take on Star Trek's bright, optimistic view of the future just as GOT was for Lord of the Rings-style romantic medieval fantasy. And indeed there are reasons to think so, both thematic and visual. Instead of smooth and clean enviromnents we have patchworks of barely working ships and space stations, or functional, downright barren designs. Instead of heroes we have naive idiots whose every decision backfires spectacularly, people deep in mid-life crisis, and tortured souls. However there are two key tonal features by which The Expanse goes beyond A Song of Ice and Fire. First is the metahumor: ASOIAF and GOT are both very serious, almost grim in their subtext. The Expanse, deep down, is a glorious and intelligent celebration of dark humor without turning into overt satire at any point. For instance, it's not enough to show that playing the hero is a bad idea, no, if you rush in headfirst to try to save people you literally get cancer. Got one character too many? He's going to get fucked up in the most random, horrific, ridiculous way. The second is the grand tone: ASOIAF, by telling the real version of events that in the future will pass down as legend, shows how much we rely on fiction to make sense of the madness that surrounds us. The Expanse is the opposite: It is about how powerful our fictions can be in motivating people. No matter how futile, how many times they screw up, or how much cancer they have, Holden and the crew of the Rocinante will always try to do what's right, and through it all they do become the heroes their world needs. It's an epic story that somehow manages to be darker yet more uplifting than even the great work of our Lord and Savior Martin.
New Terra Incognita
Another key reason while The Expanse is unlike anything out there is its extraordinary ability to stay fresh from book to book, season to season. It's almost magic, really, the writing and the dramatization is so tight that the show is able to go from one big event, big storyline, big location to the next without a break in its narrative momentum. The world is continuously being created, explored, and expanded and each new story flows from the resolution of the previous one. The ability to do this over and over and do it well gives the viewers variety without putting familiarity with existing characters and locations at risk. In four seasons the show has seamlessly developed from a suffocating mystery thriller, to epic war drama, to a quest of religious discovery, to space western. We're only four seasons in of a book series of nine novels but my hopes are high that it's going to keep hitting the home runs.
The show's freshness is not only felt from season to season but also between the books and the TV. While the story is pretty much the same in both media, there are enough differences to keep the show interesting for even the most purist of book readers. If anything, the show is a more nuanced, yet tighter version of the books with much, much more drama. Although, while I applaud the show runners for their ability to actually improve upon the source material, it needs to be said that some of the few downsides of the show do stem from these changes. For instance, one of the reasons the show doesn't start strong early in its first season is because the creators insterted a lot of superficial conflict between the main characters. These decisions do pay off later on but for the first-time viewer it just seems like a bunch of unknown characters hating on each other for no understandable reason. The show also introduces some characters much earlier than the book does, which is a real hit-and-miss. It kind of works for Bobbie and Anna but not so much for Avasarala as much as I love Shohreh Agrsogirjdkloo in the role . However, I really, really love what they did with Ashford and Drummer in seasons three and four. If you start watching this show, please stay through season three. Not only is it the best of the ones that are out at this point, but David Strathairn and Cara Gee are an absolute masterclass in their roles.
The resurrection of The Expanse
There are two reasons why I'm writing this recommendation. First is because I think it's awesome and gives me pleasure to write and tell people about it. Second is because the show has been canceled once. As cerebral hard science fiction without a pre-existing brand to build on the franchise is having a hard time getting mass exposure. It did collect a small but very loyal and very powerful fan base who, with the leadership of Cas Anvar, one of the stars of the show, and Lord Martin himself, brought it back into existence through sheer force of will.
After spending three seasons in relative obscurity at Syfy, the show was unexpectedly canceled last year only to become the second best resurrection in the 3000 years entertainment history. After a massive campaign, the series was bought by Amazon. I cannot stress how extremely rarely that happens to TV shows, just think about what happened to Firefly once it got the axe. You can fume on forums, threaten with boycott, and sign all the online petitions you want, these things just don't happen. It speaks to an extreme amount of devotion of the fanbase and a savvy business strategy by Amazon (who also happen to sell the book series for kindle) that the series got a second chance.
For this reason, there was a lot riding on season four. The future seems safe for now as Amazon renewed it for a fifth season even before four was out, but the book series has eight volumes with a ninth set to arrive next year. If we want to see all of that on screen (and we should), season four has to be a success. I was worried that Amazon won't invest enough money on what to them must be an unsafe bet and just phones in this season without the visual and technical care that it deserves. I was equally worried that they overinvest and try to win the mass market over by flashy spectacle. I'm happy to report that neither of my fears came to pass. The show still delivers on the writing and acting, and yes, the production quality did get an upgrade, the show never looked better. Hell, the music sounds better than ever before. My only gripe is that season four's A-story is just so much more interesting than any of the other storylines it makes me half-want to skip over the otherwise decent plot on Earth and Mars to return to the Rocinante crew's adventures. After season three's perfect integration of all storylines in a single location, the sudden divergence feels awkward. Other than Drummer and Ashford's plotline, I don't see any of the others having a lasting effect on the world. Nevertheless, the show arrived on its new platform in style and can't wait to see what the future holds for it.
Here be dragons
Reviews should end with recommendations and as you can guess I can't recommend this show enough. But that doesn't mean I recommend it to everybody. Chances are that if you're into sci-fi and you liked GOT, you'll like this one as well. Even if you don't care for sci-fi the themes are general enough that you'll enjoy this.
On the other hand, if you're not into heavy, dark themes, you'll have a hard time. Terrorism, national identity, PTSD, religious abandonment, colonialism, the punches just keep on coming. It's good, heavy stuff but it's certainly not for everyone. There's also not much levity to compensate, instead there's dry, character-driven humor which requires investment to appreciate.
December 22, 2019.
Couple notes.
If someone can explain what's the reason behind the continuous change in the aspect ration in season four, I would greatly appreciate it.
You might think that I'm referencing Game of Thrones too often wait for the authors' bio which literally starts by their relation to George R.R. Martin.
Funnily enough, the idea of the show came from a Dungeons and Dragons game chaired by one of the writers. The early hilarious character death in the show is due to one of the players quitting the game early on.
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