Please be aware, spoilers!

2022/10/08

The Expanse, first aired in 2015, after a period of drought in regarding of TV shows set in space! Stargate Universe was cancelled after its 2^nd season in 2011 and it took 4 years before we got a new SCI-FI show set in space. In fact, we got three! The Expanse, Dark Matter and Killjoys. The Expanse if definitely my favorite of these three, although I really Dark Matter also. I have to admit when I first started to watch The Expanse the first time round, I had to really get used these characters. But this didn’t took a lot of episodes before I embraced this show. What is also a joy to watch are the scenes set in space, since the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica, which had fantastic CGI, there hadn’t been a show which looked that good in space. With The Expanse however, the bar was set even higher, perhaps logical because it was been 6 years since Battlestar Galactica ended.

(Lead) Characters:

James Holden (Steven Strait), he doesn’t want to have responsibility but he gets it because he obviously can handle it, as the story starts, he is the second officer on the Canterbury, a remote ice hauler. Naomi Nagata (Dominique Tipper), a Belter, suspected O.P.A., an engineer on the Canterbury. Amos (Wes Chatham), also working on the Canterbury (aka the Cant), he is an Earther, like Holden. He is close with Naomi and basically does everything she says. Alex Kamal (Cas Anvar), a pilot on the Canterbury, original a Martian, was in the Martian Navy for a time. Joe Miller (Thomas Jane), he works for Star Helix Security on Ceres. He is not overzealous or something. His former girlfriend also works as a police officer Octavia Muss (Athena Karkanis). He is a Belter but he acts like he is an Earther, which makes him hated by other Belters. He gets an assignment from his boss (Lola Glaudini), to go and look for Julie Mao (Florence Faivre), a daughter of a “some rich guy” as a favor to someone high up in the ranks. Chrisjen Avasarala (Shohreh Aghdashloo) is the Secretary-General of the United Nations. As Secretary-General, she serves as the head of state and government of Earth and Luna, and is the chief executive of the United Nations (UN). Sadavir Errinwright (Shawn Doyle) is the Undersecretary of the United Nations (UN). He has his own agenda. Fred Johnson is chief of operation at Tycho station, former United Nations Marine Corps, during his service, he is responsible for a lot of deaths, people also know him as The Butcher of Anderson Station. Fred is an outspoken advocate for the Outer Planets Alliance (O.P.A.), a belter advocacy group who seek legitimacy, but are often accused of terrorism.

Episodes:

In simple terms, You have Earth, wealthy, powerful. Mars, former colony from Earth, is independent now, also very powerful and an automatic hatred, it seems, towards Earth because they are always on high alert, most of the money goes to the military and therefore Mars, is still is a rock instead of a viable planet where people don’t need domes. Belters are humans who have always lived in space, are considered to be lesser humans it seems, sort of slaves, of the Earthers, they do hate the Earthers.

In the first episode, “Dulcinea”, we see the crew of the Canterbury, a relaxed, Holden, 2nd officer, has reluctantly taken up some responsibility, he has a sexual relationship with Ade, the navigator on the Canterbury. Naomi, Amos, Alex and also Shed Garvey (Paulo Costanzo), a medic are employed on the Canterbury. They’re on their way to Ceres when they receive a distress call. Because it would delay their trip to Ceres, the captain orders to delete the message and act like it hadn’t happened. However Holden, can’t shake it, can’t shake this distress call and puts it through to HQ. Now they have to go. A team, Holden Naomi, Amos, Alex and Shed are to investigate. On Ceres Miller gets an assignment from his boss, which somehow almost immediately means something to him. He has to try and find Julie Mao, who has gone missing, spend time on Ceres. Back to the rescue operation, the ship the Scopuli is abandoned it seems, but suddenly there is another ship closing, a stealth ship. Team leaves the Scopuli and get ship, the mystery ship, which Alex theorizes is Martian due to its advanced stealth tech, fires, but it’s not meant for Holden’s team, it destroys the Canterbury. Chrisjen is called back to interrogate a Belter, suspected O.P.A., suspect of terrorist acts.

In “The Big Empty” the crew is baffled by what just happened, their ship gets damaged, the antenna is busted and needs repair if they want to survive. However when it is fixed their distress call is heard by a Martian ship! Holden figures they will be killed because they are the only ones who knew what happened and Holden still believes the Martians were responsible. In order to save his crew he sends out a wide range message to let everyone know what Holden thinks has happened. First time we see Sadavir Errinwright, remember actor Shawn Doyle from the movie Frequency (2000)! Miller finds out that the defiant Julie has left Ceres on the Scopuli. For Amos, Naomi is captain, not Holden.

“CQB” Several ships are closing in on the Donnager, at first the captain and crew of the Donnager think they are superior but soon this changes. In the battle Shed gets decapitated! Holden makes a deal because he recognizes the configuration of the enemy vessel,  same one as destroyed the Cant, he and his teammates get off and they will witness that Mars wasn’t the one destroying the Cant. With the Tachi, they escape the Donnager. First time we meet Fred Johnson, is project manager on Tycho station for building an enduring space vessel. He is also been called “The Butcher of Anderson” Meanwhile Miller is getting closer to the truth about what happened with Julie. (best episode yet).

In “Back to the Butcher” Holden’s crew is on the Tachi roaming around, the only survivors of the Cant and of Donnager. Lopez, the Martian who helped them escape is also dead. They get a message from Fred Johnson saying they can find refuge on Tycho station. Colleague of Miller, Havelock survived the attack during the Ceres riots. Anderson Dawes hands out the attacker to Miller and admits Julie being O.P.A.. Fueled by coffee instead of his usual booze, Miller theorizes a link between the Anubis and Julie's ship, the Scopuli ... and, perhaps, with the destruction of both the Canterbury and the Donnager. It originated from Phoebe station. We get to see a flashback where Belters on Anderson station were striking because they wanted better circumstances for their children, there were death with organizing that strike. You can hear Anderson’s voice on UN1, saying they need to surrender. When they finally want to do it, UN1 doesn’t listen anymore and they blew up Anderson station. Fred Johnson was the colonel who gave the go ahead, he’s now known as the Butcher of Anderson station. Naomi doesn’t wanna go but because they are safe nowhere she agrees to accept Fred Johnson’s offer. Meanwhile, Miller has found a data cube in Julie’s apartment but gets kidnapped right outside her apartment.

In “Rock Bottom” Fred Johnson recruits Holden and his crew to find Lionel Polanski, the sole survivor of the Scopuli, who (later on) turns out to be Julie Mao. Chrisjen tries to get eyes and ears on Tycho station in the form of a spy but when Errinwright learns of this she gets disciplined. Dawes is the one that kidnapped Miller, Miller blames Dawes for Julie’s death, Dawes figures out that Miller is in love with Julie. He tries to kill Miller but Moss, his colleagues rescues him. When he tells his story to the captain, she takes the data cube, locks it up and fires Miller. She works for Dawes as well.

In “Windmills” the Roci has a spy on board, Kenzo Gabriel. He was spying on Holden and Naomi on Tycho, Amos roughs him up, where he has send out a transmission, the same spy Chrisjen was using. Chrisjen is going to see Holden’s mother, to find out what kind of a guy he is. Although Miller has been fired, he can’t let it go, he goes back to confront Dawes who is kinda impressed by his new found passion and determination. Holden finds out how dangerous Amos can be when they almost get a Martian inspection. They find the target Johnson was searching for, on an asteroid! Miller goes to Eros after he received a message from Semi, that a short range shuttle of the Anubis is racking docking fees. Muss wants to go with him but he feels he has to do this alone. Shame because I really like the actress who portrayed Muss (Athena Karkanis) and I would love to have seen her in more episodes but after today, we don’t see her anymore unfortunately.

In “Salvage” Errinwright sends a team to Tycho station who’s assignment is to kill Holden and his crew. Johnson is aware of their coming arrival. Holden and his crew find a stealth ship in the asteroid, the one responsible for destroying the Cant. They find evidence on board that the Scopuli crew was also there. Amos find out it’s called Anubis, came from Phoebe station. Holden and Naomi find something what later is called the proto-molecule, when power has been restored the proto-molecule seems to be come back alive and looks not really friendly. For Holden enough to leave the ship. On Eros Miller immediately gets into trouble, Semi gets him out of jail and when Semi gives him another clue about Julie he runs of. Meanwhile Holden and his crew also arrive on Eros and go to the same hotel where Miller is also going to, where under the name Lionel Polanski a room has been rented. After a shoot out with Mercenaries, Holden and his crew and Miller go up to the room where the find Julie, still seems to be alive but the proto-molecule is on and in her body, it is not a pretty picture, she cannot be helped anymore. Miller is in tears when he sees her sitting there in the bathroom.

In “Critical Mass”, a first episode of a two-parter, we go back in history and see what has happened to Julie Mao, which I have to say was very interesting and very well done. This happened 7 weeks before the first season starts approximately. Then we move back to the present where Semi comes to the hotel and finds Miller and Holden’s crew coming down. At first he doesn’t want to let them leave but Miller insists that he should let them go. When they are gone a scientist comes by to see Julie, he is very satisfied what he sees, the proto-molecule has done its job perfectly according to him and they can take enough samples to give injections to the local population on Eros. Scientist lets her father know that she is dead but he concurs with the scientist this is a win for the cause! They inject all the people on Eros, as a test, they all get infected with the proto-molecule. When Holden and Miller go and look for these people, they get a radiation burst so big, it means they will die. Chrisjen visits Frank DeGraaf’s residence, she is looking for something, his husband isn’t too happy to see her because he blames her for his husbands death. She finds a few data holders, on one of them she finds the plans for an Advanced Fusion Prototype, which looks a lot like the reactor on board the Anubis. Johnson sends out a message saying he is not responsible for the Cant and the Donnager and says he has proof the stealth ships were created on Earth!

In the season finale “Leviathan Wakes” Naomi finds a way through the sub tunnels to the Roci. She however wants to wait for Holden and Miller. But Semi believes they are already death and wants to go now. When he holds a gun on Naomi to try and force her to get underway, Amos kills him right there. Holden and Miller try to find their way back to the Roci while being incredibly ill. Chrisjen is now convinced that Frank did not kill himself but that Errinwright was responsible for that. She plays the game with him so he does not get suspicious. Frank knew of the fusion drives, that they were built on Earth. Holden and Miller make it back to the Roci by impersonating “cops”, but are deadly ill. Fortunately they can be helped onboard the Roci. Alex has a lead on the bad guys who did this, because by now they know this was an experiment.

Final Word:

The Expanse has definitely become one of my favorite shows, with a few more rewatches, I think it definitely will be in my all time top 5 like shows as Babylon 5, Star Trek: DS9, Stargate Atlantis and Star Trek: Enterprise. I love these larger stories, universal, rich characters, no filler episodes and mouthwatering special effects. Hopefully the show will continue at some point but till then, it is very satisfying to rewatch this every few years. Up to season two!

Screencaps taken from: Kiss Them Goodbye