Television The Expanse (TV Show)

Van Piorsing

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The second half of the season has been pretty dreadful in all honesty
Yup... Amos carrying single handedly show on his back now.

Not that phased about Naomi, but really can't stand Camina sulking through majority of time, this season is not her gig at all.
 

RedSky

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It's basically been Amos and Naomi for the last 4 episodes. Really odd pacing, feel like they had the content for 6 episodes and stretched it out for 10.
 

Pagh Wraith

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Really feels like it is going nowhere. It is paced like a 24-episode season, not like one with only one left to go. Don't even know what could be happening in the final episode as nothing is building up. The Naomi and Drummer arcs are cures for insomnia, half of the cast seem to have nothing to do anymore and only appear for contractual reasons. Killing off Ashford and Johnson didn't help either. Also Inaros looks and moves like a 80s action figure. Amos is the best thing about the show right now and the shoot-off scene was great (one continuous shot).

On a side note: I do enjoy the Ty & That Guy aftershow podcast that is released after each episode on YouTube. Really insightful and they are going to continue it revisiting the previous seasons:

 

afrocentricity

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Definitely redcafe syndrome happening in here, it's been fine. Obviously the book is better, more fleshed out, more expansive, etc. But as a TV show this season has been good so far.
 

Massive Spanner

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Yes it is. Worse is relative, it's 7/10 at the lowest...
the last two episodes are the show's lowest rated ever on imdb apart from the first episode of season one, which says it all really.

Sure not everyone thinks it's "garbage" but most agree that it has been poor by the show's standards.

Personally I think everything after episode 4 has been crap but I was never a massive fan of the show so I'm a bit harsher than people who are will be. Not sure how anyone could argue the second half of the season has been anywhere close to as good as the first half, though.
 

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I don't think it's been awful, it's still had good moments, but I checked out a bit after Filip's awful line to Drummer. That was painful.

I couldn't care less about the Drummer plotline either. Such a contrast with the last two seasons where she had great stories.
 

AltiUn

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Feels like this season would've benefitted from being released all at once. The last few episodes have been so slow compared to the first half of the season. Right now it's feeling like the show may have peaked at seasons 1-3, Bobby and Alex's story is arguably the worst in the show's entire run, I feel like the antagonists aren't as engaging as the previous seasons and having one central, one-note villain has been detrimental to the overall plot. The side characters aren't much better, I'm usually good with naming every character in a show but I couldn't name probably 2/3rds of the cast at this point, they're quite lifeless.

I think the biggest issue is that it's not set anything even remotely as exciting up in the previous seasons, there's a lack of the gates, protomolecule, anything about potential alien civilisations that I thought season 4 was building into, and pretty much all the air of mystery that surrounded the show has vanished. We're now at a really bland good vs bad conflict with little ambiguity.

Hopefully finds its way in the finale, I've found most of Amos's story to be very interesting and probably would've enjoyed it even if the whole season was just about him. Maybe I'm just missing the main cast being on screen together.
 

afrocentricity

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I think that they should have had a one off episode about Amos
Timmy on the BMore streets
backstory. I found the book interesting and I think y'all would have enjoyed (redcafe caveats apply) the TV version.
 

Stack

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Definitely redcafe syndrome happening in here, it's been fine. Obviously the book is better, more fleshed out, more expansive, etc. But as a TV show this season has been good so far.
Im a huge fan of the show but the last 3-4 episodes have been dreadful.
 

afrocentricity

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Im a huge fan of the show but the last 3-4 episodes have been dreadful.
Opinions... The ratings posted above tell a different story. It's ok to use words like disappointing... dull...

Pet peeve of mine when people exaggerate unnecessarily, although maybe you genuinely mean dreadful. In which case, I disagree.
 

Rooney in Paris

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Definitely redcafe syndrome happening in here, it's been fine. Obviously the book is better, more fleshed out, more expansive, etc. But as a TV show this season has been good so far.
I really don't think so. It's never been one with amazing acting performances, but at least there used to be quite a bit going on. Really not the case at the moment, it's boring and the little that they're focusing on is pretty shit. Naomie is awful, Inaros family have as much charisma as a bunch of oysters, Amos is the only good thing going on. The UN stuff is really basic plotting and scheming, the general the Iranian woman who can't act keeps having conversations with looks like he'd be more suited as an extra in a The Shield episode than in a military suit. Eurgh seriously, writing this out has actually increased how much I'm hating the current string of episodes. :lol:
 

afrocentricity

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What can I say guys, me and mine are still enjoying it. It is what it is...
 

Van Piorsing

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Perhaps for an average sci-fi show it's still high level, but for Expanse standards it's a huge miss and even lack of cult characters like Miller and Ashford has nothing to do with it.

Something jammed after season 3. Pacing radically changed, I guess they tried going for more emotional storytelling with having established characters. Sometimes it can work...
 

Rooney in Paris

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Perhaps for an average sci-fi show it's still high level, but for Expanse standards it's a huge miss and even lack of cult characters like Miller and Ashford has nothing to do with it.

Something jammed after season 3. Pacing radically changed, I guess they tried going for more emotional storytelling with having established characters. Sometimes it can work...
You need decent actors for that - they progressively phased out the good actors (for various reasons I'm sure) and the poor ones remain. I mean, for a big TV show, the overall quality of acting currently on show is pretty bad. Holden, Naomi, Avasarala, Camina, Alex, The Inaros's, that general dude, the new UN GS... these are all really poor actors. The guy playing Amos is charismatic and his chemistry with "Peaches" is working very well, but beyond that, I'd be hard pressed to find an acting performance I've been enjoying this season.
 

Van Piorsing

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You need decent actors for that - they progressively phased out the good actors (for various reasons I'm sure) and the poor ones remain. I mean, for a big TV show, the overall quality of acting currently on show is pretty bad. Holden, Naomi, Avasarala, Camina, Alex, The Inaros's, that general dude, the new UN GS... these are all really poor actors. The guy playing Amos is charismatic and his chemistry with "Peaches" is working very well, but beyond that, I'd be hard pressed to find an acting performance I've been enjoying this season.
On their defense I can say, the actors are working with the script they got and when characters have to sulk majoity of time during longer scenes throughout long awaited season, I'm almost not surprised. Cara Gee who plays Camina got some great scenes in previous seasons like getting crushed and trapped by a somekind of a crane and trying to get out with Ashford. This season she's sitting there like a plant... yeah, she just sits there on her ship and that's it.

I definitely agree on Alex, the guy is a brilliant voice actor... quite average on a TV screen. The Holden dude is more like a model than actual actor if I remember correctly.

I'm torned on Avasarala, because right now I have serious problems on finding better actress who could play her, guess I'm probably used to her voice and manner on the screen.
 

Rooney in Paris

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I'm torned on Avasarala, because right now I have serious problems on finding better actress who could play her, guess I'm probably used to her voice and manner on the screen.
I've always thought that actress is terrible and I feel there's tons of actresses, whether high profile or not, who would do a better job than here.
 

Massive Spanner

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Yeah she really is awful. I don't get it, it seems the general consensus amongst book readers is that she's perfect for the character, but .. why? Cause she curses a lot and has a husky voice? I mean are they all blind to the fact that she is a really bad, wooden actor? She's impossible to take seriously. And fecking hell she must've smoked 100 a day when she was younger.
 

George Owen

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Bunch of moaners. :lol:

Avasarala is perfect. She is supposed to be a Hillary Clinton type of bitch. A impossible to trust cnut, and she does it perfectly. If I would be living in that universe, I wouldn't believe a thing she says.
 

Van Piorsing

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Bunch of moaners. :lol:

Avasarala is perfect. She is supposed to be a Hillary Clinton type of bitch. A impossible to trust cnut, and she does it perfectly. If I would be living in that universe, I wouldn't believe a thing she says.
She just appointed a guy who bombed a space station without remorse. That bitch too realistic for a TV show. :lol:
 

Organic Potatoes

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Bunch of moaners. :lol:

Avasarala is perfect. She is supposed to be a Hillary Clinton type of bitch. A impossible to trust cnut, and she does it perfectly. If I would be living in that universe, I wouldn't believe a thing she says.
Ah, now she would’ve been perfect. Don’t think they could’ve afforded her though.
 

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Filip’s a bitch, his scene “she left us again” with Marco in the last episode was painfully bad. Naomi’s current predicament is immensely uninteresting. Alex, Bobbi and Holden add nothing to the show at this point. Amos/Timmy is still the best thing about this. I’m generally annoyed by all the belters and their wank accents.
 

Pagh Wraith

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I wouldn't put Avasarala in the bad acting drawer either, think she's perfect for the character. But even her arc feels more like "we gotta give her something to do" at the moment.
 

AltiUn

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I've also never been aboard the "Avasarala's a bad actress" train, I have no idea what people are on about when they say that. They've given her some dull arcs though, when she's with the other main characters she's very entertaining.
 

afrocentricity

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I've also never been aboard the "Avasarala's a bad actress" train, I have no idea what people are on about when they say that. They've given her some dull arcs though, when she's with the other main characters she's very entertaining.
I like her tbh. I liked the interaction between her and Bobby.
 

Rooney in Paris

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She's an awful actress. Just to clarify what "people are on about". She is wooden, her elocution is awful and her acting is one note. She brings no complexity or nuance to the character. In fairness, she might be doing a better job than a cardboard cutout, but even that is debatable.
 

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I am honestly not flexing, but holy hecks space looks fantastic on a large OLED here.

On a quick peruse of reddit, they are far more excited about the finale than me. I’ll have to give it another watch I suppose.
 

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I am honestly not flexing, but holy hecks space looks fantastic on a large OLED here.

On a quick peruse of reddit, they are far more excited about the finale than me. I’ll have to give it another watch I suppose.
Yeahhh I'm not that pushed about it this time, but now I've seen @Hammerfell 's comment :D
 

Hammerfell

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That was excellent ending. They have set up the next season very well. Just not sure how it can be wrapped up in one season.
Apparently they’re looking at three movies to finish off the books.