The Expanse - Syfy

excellent.

Well I know what I am going to be doing on the 16th and it ain't going to be Christmas shopping...

Watched episodes one two and three in the wee hours. I was glued. What's a little different I guess about season 5 is that we're seeing more of individuals and their motivations and their histories and their shared isolation. And of course there's the nicely woven story itself. Can't wait for more.

Amos: Whatever you say, Jenny.
Crisjen: Don't call me that. I am a member of Congress, not one of your pet strippers.
Amos: You could be both.

This is more like the first couple of seasons with multiple convergent plotlines running. Amos on Earth (his real name is "Timothy"???), Alex on Mars teaming up with Bobbie, James on Tycho Station (I don't trust Johnson's new head of operations), Naomi running off on her own AGAIN, this time to Pallas, Crisjen on Luna, Camina playing pirate in the belt.

How did Alex wind up with the Razorback? It was owned by Jules-Pierre Mao. Also...the truth is out, and so apparently is Camina. There is a lot of "coming to grips" with the first three episodes...Amos sorting out his past in Baltimore (place hasn't changed much, I see), Camina facing the fact that Ashford is dead, Naomi getting all maternal, Alex trying to smooth things over with the fam (until he runs into Bobbie and all that bull shit goes out the window because there's shit need's doing), Crisjen finding that the reins of power are not that easy to let go of...And Jim, well, he don't need no stinking closure because he's already dealt with all of that.

Oh...hey...I discovered in researching that Francis Fisher and Shohreh Aghdashloo were born on the same day, May 11, 1952. That makes the scenes with Crisjen visiting the farm in Montana all the cooler.

Camina is even cooler as a lesbian. And a pirate. Is her piracy disillusionment? And her expression of love ironic freedom? She's so great.

That exchange between Amos and Crisjen was hilarious. They have an odd but adorable respect for each other. Not just Timothy---but Timmy! No. Amos is better. And Crisjen is great in involving herself with another potential calamity.

I think the crew stored the Razorback somewhere. Tycho? Alex and Draper are an obvious working pair. Alex could never engage in any kind of success on his own however! That was what I got from that dynamic. But he's useful. Bobbie is tough as always. I wish Alex could have seen his son.

To be fair to Naomi everyone went off on their own. It was Holden who was more or less left behind. Although Monica made an interesting reappearance. She might be more valuable given the current circumstances. Plus Naomi is you know a little caught up in things. Holden (now that FJ has gotten his head out of his ass) now has singular motivation. His favorite existential experience.

I wonder if the majority of the Mao empire wasn't confiscated by the state.

Holden does always seem to be at his happiest when there is a windmill about. One Youtuber I watched described his as being the sort of person who mostly drifts through life just accepting whatever. Not sure I agree. If that were the case he would have never left the farm, even when his mother told him to. Or if he had taken his mom's advice and gotten out he would have stayed in the UNSN long enough to rate a pension and then retired to some crappy corner of Earth. Instead, he almost reminds me of the person who Lazarus Long called "The Man Who Was Too Lazy To Fail".

If you are not familiar with that it's a side story within "Time Enough For Love". It's about a person who is completely capable of hard work but hates it with a passion, so his life consists of a series of working hard enough to get promoted to a position of less work. He leaves the farm because he hate "looking at the north end of a southbound mule" and enlists in the Navy. He notices that officers do much less work than the enlisted so he applies for a place at Annapolis and gets it. There he angles for a Cadet position which carries little prestige but also removes him from many of the onerous details which Cadets perform. Upon graduation he applies for flight school because aviators are the ones who have it the easiest, but then requests removal from carrier operations training (on the grounds that he pissed his pants the first time he actually tried landing on the Wolverine) because he figures out that being based on land is preferable to being on a ship. He spends the Second World War flying twin-engined planes, earns a commendation for valor which carries an automatic promotion upon retirement, rises to the rank of Captain and then eventually retires before he gets cashiered out for failure to make flag rank, takes his 20 year O-7 pension, buys a farm, milks the cows at 7:00 instead of 5:00 (the cows mind this a lot less than the neighbors do) and spends the rest of his life in a hammock under a tree.

Holden is not as bad (if this can be called bad) as that guy but as we saw he was perfectly happy to be avoiding any position of authority on the Canterbury which would mean more work. If anything, he is career mid-level management material and the best sort...the type who would do very well on the board of directors but just doesn't care for the added bullshit that goes with it. The sort who violate the concept of the Peter Principle by simply not allowing themselves to rise to the point where they are beyond their ability. But of course the churn happens and he winds up floating, meaning that he is either cream or shit.

Haha, enjoyed your post, TBC.  Yep, that pretty much describes Holden if the sh*t didn't hit the fan.  I like the departure from the books where Holden had to earn the respect of Naomi and the crew.  In the books,  from day one, Amos was "aye aye, skipper".  None of this , 'if I had my way I'd throw you off this bucket.. but Naomi wouldn't like it'.   Great season so far and more than any season, scenes from the books are coming alive on the screen.  I'm not sure what Naomi is trying to do.  That first scene of Filip shooting an unarmed crew makes me think there's not much hope that Naomi can get through to that guy.

Yes I like Holden too as he is on the show. He is more himself when there is a crisis. He has also become more himself after that early rough patch where he became captain and had to disclose a certain solo act on his part. Naomi had to disclose a certain solo act on her part as well but she got more fallout for that---it was the protomolecule (I almost starting typing coronavirus). Holden's identity is certainly the Rocinante and its crew---and their adventures. I think Naomi Amos and Alex share that identity from their own points of view.

I think more than any other season, scenes from Book 5 are coming alive on the screen just the way I pictured them. S5E4 just blew me away with some tough losses. Naomi is definitely regretting her decision to finding her son, Filip. I think this is the first time we've seen a robot in action in the series. Pretty cool.

You bastards! You killed Fred.

I seem to recall screaming the same thing at Rowling....

Marco is playing a very dangerous game. He might have the support of some of the belt but a larger number are going to be echoing the sentiments of Adm. Yamamoto Isoroku. Also, I doubt that Dawes is going to take this challenge to his leadership passively. Or did he have Dawes killed as well? I don't think Dawes would be in on the plan....he's too smart for that.

What strikes me most about this episode is that the Inners brought calamity and disaster and death upon itself. I am no fan of Marco. However, the Inners have profited from the enslavement of the Belt. But---atrocities bring on response. And there will be parts of the Belt, I predict, that will be destroyed. I worry almost that all life in the regular solar system is at risk. And that survivors may not be many. It's obvious where those survivors would go.

I was sad about Fred. It was a cowardly assassination. Couldn't look the man in the eye. However I think that there were people who never forgave The Butcher and were just waiting for their moment.

I think that Earth will basically rally around Avasarala. And Mars will rally around someone there. And both Inner Powers will unite and, as I indicated, won't be afraid to annihilate Belters until the Belter leadership is destroyed. And even after that, the violence won't end. Nothing ends. Everything continues.

As for Rowling, I was angrier about Hedwig.

Killing of Hedwig was pretty egregious, yes. It's just an owl, for pete's sake, doing it's job of delivering messages. Still, I get a bit put off when writers kill off characters named Fred. Just something about me, I guess.

No Drummer in that episode. She had enough to deal with facing the confirmation of the death of Klaes. When she finds out Fred was killed she's going to go ballistic. Especially, we will have to see how she handles the realization that it was her lobbying the release Marco that lead to not just the attacks on Earth but also the deaths of both Fred and Klaes. Also I want to see how Amos gets out of that prison.

That's right. I forgot about Drummer. She will be a laser against Marco and everyone on his ship. There will also be a clash with Naomi about sparing/killing Phillip. The rest of the ship is easily toast.

5.5 - Amos finally met his match with a guy he calls "Tiny", hehe. I guess the blockers are still effecting Peaches, but I think she would have bounced off Tiny anyway.

Marco must know that Drummer is coming for revenge for Ashford. Don't know what Drummer plans on accomplishing by meeting him.

Naomi with her tunnel vision rage, I'm glad that Filip inadvertently stopped her.

TBC wrote:

You bastards! You killed Fred.

I seem to recall screaming the same thing at Rowling....

Marco is playing a very dangerous game. He might have the support of some of the belt but a larger number are going to be echoing the sentiments of Adm. Yamamoto Isoroku. Also, I doubt that Dawes is going to take this challenge to his leadership passively. Or did he have Dawes killed as well? I don't think Dawes would be in on the plan....he's too smart for that.

Unfortunately Dawes may be mentioned now and again, but Jared Harris isn't available to return. Big name, big projects now.

So does that make Drummer and Marco the de facto Belter leaders?

Just watched the episode. I liked it so much. Every bit of it.

So ep. 6 was all about Amos and Carissa on the road with some Drummer and Marco drama, plus a hint of Avasarala at the beginning, Holden finally departing with a Tycho crew plus Monica intruding for the ride, and Alex and Bobbie striking the first blow of the conflict on behalf of the MCRN.

Everybody seems to be on the road (or in space). And as Belter folks encountered one another so will the inners. Amos himself said I need to get back to my crew. Or something like that. It's a sign that people will meet in space and that again something terrible will happen. As for Avasarala she's back in government and probably just at the right time. I really liked this episode.

S5E7

Naomi is going to be in very bad shape after that.  Great article here on what would happen.
 
https://www.space.com/30066-what-happens-to-unprotected-body-in-outer-space.html

Anyone watching Ty Franck and Wes Chatham's After Show?  Some excellent inside info from the author and producer himself..  

I have never watched the aftershow because I never knew about it. I may give it try for this season especially.

I'm so dumb when it comes to figuring out things logically. Naomi injected herself with O2 right? Or O2 and something else? Someone just tell me.

I am truly loving this season. This season makes The Expanse my favorite show of all of 2020/2021. I could not say the same about Season 4. But 5? Yes. Yes. Yes.

davidalan wrote:

I have never watched the aftershow because I never knew about it. I may give it try for this season especially.

I'm so dumb when it comes to figuring out things logically. Naomi injected herself with O2 right? Or O2 and something else? Someone just tell me.

I am truly loving this season. This season makes The Expanse my favorite show of all of 2020/2021. I could not say the same about Season 4. But 5? Yes. Yes. Yes.

Some people suggested that Naomi used the same trick on herself that Holden used on Monica earlier when she was suffocating inside that shipping container - hyper-oxygenated blood. I guess it's some kind of
smart synthetic blood that doesn't care which blood type you are, I don't know. I'll have to dig more.

I forgot about Monica. That makes sense now. I don't recall any earlier references. I mean from previous seasons.

That article above mentions that once you exhale, you might have 15 seconds before losing consciousness, at that point, the injection of oxygenated blood might have given her an additional 15 seconds or more, and given that Naomi is a Belter and her physiology is accustomed to space, perhaps a little longer. I'd like to go back and set a stopwatch to her eva and see if it falls in the ballpark.  I guess 2 minutes would be about max before her organs shut down. The Expanse is known for attention to detail.

Here's a cool little video that has the book text with Naomi's jump.  

Naomi's Jump

0608

I liked this episode a lot. Especially the pacing. It was slower where it needed to be. And everything is moving towards some even more horrible outcome. A lot of journeys and a lot of being stuck in place. This universe takes no prisoners.

Oh I wanted to ask. Did Amos communicate with Clarissa Mao before? Did I miss this somewhere? Maybe in season 4?

Yes, in 4x01, they had a short video conversation while Clarissa was in prison and Amos was on the Roci in orbit around Earth. The back story is that during the trip from the Ring Gate to Earth to deliver Clarissa for trial, Amos allowed Clarissa to help him with ship maintenance and they developed a friendship of sorts. The trip took a few months so they had some time to get to know each other.  

Have to love Amos' nicknames -   "Peaches" for Clarissa "Melba" Mao and "Crissy" for Chrisjen Avasarala.  That really irks Chrisjen  -    "Don't call me that!  I'm a member of Parliament , not your favorite stripper!"   Amos - "You could be both..".  
Really glad they included that from the book  

Thanks. I don't remember anything about Amos and Clarissa in season 4.

S5E9

What an awesome episode.  Chrisjen is back where she belongs and we get to see what happens when an Epstein fusion drive is lit up at ground level.  The nearby mansion was pretty much obliterated, not to mention the goon squad.

A great episode. This is where I'd definitely want all episodes to be available for intensive binging.

As I predicted the Earthers (and maybe some of the Martians now or later as we haven't seen them lately) will spare no Belters. At least that was the first governmental action. Then people with conscience resign. I wonder what that's like! Anyway Avasarala leads the new government. There may be no specific mass retaliation strikes; however, people out there from Earth and Mars, I fear, won't be bothered with on the spot slaughter and executions. If I know humanity.

What will happen when Amos et al arrive on Luna? That will be wonderful.

Meanwhile ships continue to converge on where Naomi is still attempting to save her friends from disaster. Drummer will of course act. I wonder if most of the people on her ship won't survive.

As for Marco, he needs to die a thousand times. For Naomi's sake I hope that Philip will be spared. But I doubt it.

Alex and Draper will do something good.

Naomi is MacGyvering her way through it with just a cutting tool and her engineering know-how. No food or water except for some condensation. I loved her expression at the thought of somebody on the way to rescue her, then the horror as she remembers the proximity charges.. Wonder what she's going to do now?

Too bad they didn't leave a roll of that magical of all magical tapes - Duct tape. She'd be out of there in a flash.

Going back to Naomi's leap through vacuum and what she injected first. It's not "hyper-oxygenated blood" because there is no such thing. Red blood cells can only hold so much oxygen. It you are in Earth air with fully functional lungs you are pretty close to that when resting. The term is "Oxygen saturation" and you can even get an Apple watch that reads it just by looking at the color of the blood in your capillaries.

Hemoglobin works because it likes both oxygen and CO2. The exchange in your tissues happens because the O2 is being taken by something that really like oxygen more, to it strips it right out and replaces it with CO2, but from there it's back to the lungs to lose the CO2 and get more O2 in the alveoli.

What that would have to be is something which has a much greater O2 storage density than hemoglobin and still will accept the CO2. Chemically, not a problem. A LOT of things like oxygen. What would be a problem would be finding something that wouldn't kill you if you injected it into your body.

I enjoyed the finale. And the whole season. The rescue of Naomi by Draper was particularly gripping. And I was very glad to see the Rocinante relatively in tact. And Abasarala once more in charge of Earth and Luna. And Drummer perhaps with extreme vengeance on her mind. Marco is a great villain. I want him dead a thousands times and not merely booted from the show. The Martian guy however seems like one more dreary fascist.

Meanwhile and very much a spoiler

Spoiler:

Season 6 is here and it's dropping one ep at a time. Apparently only six episodes, though.

Starts with a little scene on one of the planets colonized by the rogue Mars folks and never gets back to it the rest of the way. Stay tuned... Then it gets down to business. Bobbie is doing her best as Crissie's sidekick but not happy in the role. The belters are still throwing rocks at Earth, most of which are intercepted, but the conditions on the planet are resembling a nuclear winter.

The Roci crew finds an asteroid with a drive mounted on, Holden nearly gets killed investigating it, but from the computer controller they learn that a specific signal is being sent to activate the motors and that there is a ship in orbit just inside the main belt responsible for the signals. Ah...intel to use later. But meantime nobody but Amos seems to want Carissa on board. Can't blame them. She did try to kill them and she's no replacement for Alex.

Marcos has become a messiah to the belters, he's apparently killed Dawes (good riddance), but he's the poster boy for a successful military leader becoming a bad administrator. And Junior is an oversized 8 year old.

I finished the final book (9th book) of the series, Leviathan Falls, released earlier this month.  Take that GRRM.  
Very enjoyable and they stuck the landing.  

Even after this final shortened season, there are still 3 books of story left to tell.  There may be a plan to pick it back up and adapt books 7-9 at a later time, possibly a movie, but I'm not holding my breath.

sp:

Oh thanks I had no idea. Will watch episode 1 before reading further.

Watched episode 1.

Much of it was the getting of pieces into place. Which I didn't mind.

The opening scene was of course ominous. What I wonder though is whether 6 episodes will be enough the cover the subsequent implication.

The Earth's a mess. I wonder if seeing the mess through more Earthers' eyes would have been beneficial. CA does communicate the plight well however. I felt what she was feeling in that one scene about crops. I thought it nicely done. More people though I think.

Meanwhile we get nothing from Mars. A mistake? I don't remember anything happening there besides some explosions concerning govt bldgs or something like that. If Mars is relatively less harmed they could send aid. Or are they worried that they will become targets too? Of course Marco was supplied by Mars. Marco Mars---says it all.

As for the Belt they're having a party now but you can already tell that the foundation will crumble eventually. The Haves and the Have Nots will be there just as they are everywhere. Marco himself doesn't care about this development as long as his enemies are destroyed. And of course his enemies could increase by the minute. Meanwhile his son is of course a split psychology between total brute and total guilt. His condition is interesting in terms of the story. Of course he just murdered his friend. The difference between him and his father is that the son feels bad about that impulse---at least at the moment. I had a lot of sympathy for The Belt but I don't so much now.

My rooting is of course with Drummer. They had a moment. But I think I would have liked to see more of the inner workings of the current ship society. An extra ten minutes would have helped here. And of course a future storyline is likely telegraphed with the decision that Drummer makes.

The Rocinante seemed a little weird really. I think after so many months that whatever kinks in the current social dynamic would have been resolved. I think that two timeframes are in conflict there. The Azure Dragon storyline was more on target.

Meanwhile what will Draper's new assignment be? Looking forward to that.

Also the beginning of the end credits with the ring image was just too creepy.

Episode 2 next.

I didn't like episode 2 as much as 1.

The most compelling moment was Draper's arrival on the Rocinante.

The woman on Marco's ship is more interesting than Marco. And Phillip's disposition post-friendicide fell flat.

Drummer was fun 'cause she's Drummer. But events around her seemed slow.

CA and Monica were okay.

The battle for the Azure Dragon lacked pizzazz. Battles over ships in the past were way better.

Maybe this episode was post-coital for 1 and foreplay for 3 all at the same time.

For such a short season, the episodes seem very short as well. I understand the 6th and final episode is going to be longer, over an hour.

I hope so. An hour or close to an hour is the right amount of time.

Meanwhile episode 3 was way better than episode 2. It had a lot more action. And a lot more consequence. It was way more dynamic.

The battle between the 3 Free Navy ships and the Rocinante was quite fun. Holden's decision made sense for Holden. On more than one level.

Marco however is still a horrible villain. I wish that woman or Filip would stage a coup and bump him off.

The snapshot cameos of Anna and Prax made me wish there was an episode devoted to each of them.

Episode 4:

Some excellent Drummer action and words. She can be my captain all the time.

So the woman working for Marco wants Medina. Fine. I'd give her Mecca too if she'd space Marco without blinking an eye.

Filip finally had a good episode. Of course it was Drummer who reinvigorated his mojo.

I worry that someone cool is going to receive that nuke from the Rocinante. Probably the Martian ship that's tracking Marco alone.

I liked Monica in this episode. She had a couple of good moments.

The Rocinante has a little controversy. Nothing coffee or booze won't take care of. I liked what Peaches said. However the next time Marco is in someone's line of fire, finish him. You'll be doing the show a favor.

And so the girl is going to resurrect her brother. I think that is supposed to have ramifications for some eventual future for the next Expanse (somewhere). Just a guess. Just speculation.

Season 6 done, now it's wait time. Think I need to process it in order to give feedback, but for a short season it was good. All griller, no filler.

Brilliant writing moment: When they all turned to look at Holden I said aloud "You done fucked up, Jim-boy." Should have realized they were going to give him a completely in-character way out of getting his ass booted to the top of the ladder.

Episode 5:

Is there anyone cooler than Drummer? No. Drummer is the coolest. And then Drummer chatting with CA? That was great. And then Drummer and CA talking in person? A whole season of that please and thank you.

I think in this episode is what I like best about The Expanse. Personalities clashing. Personalities aligning---whether they really want to or not. Chats about the purpose of one's life over some serious booze. And then before rejoining one's shipmates a trip to the brothel---and then extending an invite to a fellow shipmate who talked some serious sense. Draper was so good there. It was strange. I liked everyone in this episode. Even Marco. But his woman colleague is still superior to him in the ways that count. I was remembering last season how much I liked Marco. This season he's been so weak and unfulfilling as a character. This episode though: better. Filip had a good moment of realization. His friend killed his own brother and felt such deep remorse. And of course Filip killed his own friend over nothing. And that haunting sensation returned to him in droves. I liked that. Meanwhile Drummer and Naomi had the catalytic conversation. It was a solemn reunion. A mirror of better times.

Will be watching episode 6 soon. Outside of episode 2 this has been a great season,

In ep 6 freeze on the screen that shows the assault troop personel. Amos and Bobby are in good company.
Time to binge the season.

episode 6

Yes the battling was fun and I cared what happened but I was frankly more drawn to the politics. The debates between earth and mars and the belt drew my eyes in more. i wish the politics could have been its own episode with some still ambiguous outcomes thrown in.

The death of the woman on Marco's ship annoyed me a little. That was a sorry fate. Not that random events don't happen. Still. In the meantime Marco deserved everything he got. However that Duarte character rubs me the wrong way. Oh great. Another megalomaniac. I preferred the kids and their parents being all messed up and the boy seeing the world through protomolecular eyes.

This was a great series. It looks as though there are at least narrative possibilities for a spin-off. But whose story would that be?

The series has it's share and more of megalomaniacs. Errinwright, Strickland, Mao, probably throw Dawes onto that heap. What's one more?

Would not put Marco on that roster, though. He's different. History is full of people like him, but most of them you will never have heard of. I liken him to Shaka.

He was a prince of a small, unimportant tribe of Zulu in what is now eastern South Africa. The Zulu were a pastoral people who would wage mock battles, no more than waving spears and taunting one another across a river, with grazing rights as the prize. Shaka killed his father and made the battles real. he trained his warriors (impis) to peak condition with distance running and battle training, redesigned the small spear which was common and no more than a weak throwing weapon into the assegai, a thin shaft about 3' long with a sharp diamond-shaped head which could be thrown or used as a slashing weapon in close combat, and made flanking and pincer movements a part of the battle strategy. A real military genius. He brought all of the Zulu peoples into his empire and even conquered the neighboring N'debele. But he was not an administrator of the empire he created and had no room for those who would have been. Even as he reached the height of his realm one of his generals, Mzilikazi, led a rebellion with a small band of Zulu and a larger force of N'debele. Mzilikazi lost and headed north with his mostly N'debele followers into what is now Zimbabwe.

Compare him with Charlemagne. He was the grandson of Charles Martel, the man who had led the Franks in conquering most of what is now northern France, and came to the throne from the saddle. Literally, as soon as he was old enough he started leading the army in battle, heading off on a campaign every year. How he differed was in his logistics. He was beating larger, better-equipped armies because his troops were better fed. But he also appointed people to look after the lands he had conquered. Almost to a man the princes and electors of the Holy Roman Empire throughout it's history were the direct descendants of people which he himself had appointed. He was that rarity, a warrior king who was also a solid administrator.

I guess that my main problem with Marco is that I didn't like him because for me he remainied this mono-character while others around him changed in some way and sometimes back and forth. He became uninteresting. Drummer is a good counterpoint of someone who changed not so much as a character but enthusiastically according to circumstance. Whatever she did I wanted to be there. What Marco did I was mostly bored by. Was it the actor who played Marco or the character himself? I think the character as written. I think in terms of the story he moved too fast on sacrificing his fellow Belters. If he made more of an effort to help more than just rally he would have presented himself better. I think he's a flaw in the story.

I agree, Marco became one-note after a while, I wish he would have been dealt with last season or the first episode of this season so we could have focused on the greater mysteries, Duarte and Laconia, who is shaping up to be a bigger baddy and was just using Marco as a pawn for his own gains. "I have gods to kill".  

For what they were given for this shortened season I thought they did a great job wrapping up the Earth, Mars & Belt conflict. Drummer, who is not a main character in the books,  got her just rewards in the Show.  What a great play by Holden.  Hoping they can continue with the show and complete the final trilogy.  

Did you watch the short vignettes for Episodes 1 - 5?   I can only view them on my PC, not my Smart TV, they are in the X-Ray section.

Reading the books now. I am up to about a quarter of the way through Babylon's Ashes.

I listened to the audiobooks and the reader, Jefferson Mays' Avasarala is second only to Shohreh.  He does an amazing job at voicing the different characters and I sometime forgot that a guy is reading it. Some of Chrisjen's rants in book 2 almost caused a traffic accident because I was laughing and choking on my coffee, lol.

MrBill60 wrote:

I listened to the audiobooks and the reader, Jefferson Mays' Avasarala is second only to Shohreh.  He does an amazing job at voicing the different characters and I sometime forgot that a guy is reading it. Some of Chrisjen's rants in book 2 almost caused a traffic accident because I was laughing and choking on my coffee, lol.

I was disappointed that Avasarala didn't show up until the second book. In reading the books I am observing how they rewrite them for TV. What changed, got left out, added in. I have to say they did a great job in the adaptation. Most of the time when something gets the page-to-screen treatment the changes made in order to make the story work in the different medium detract too much. Looking squarely at Peter Jackson, here. But with The Expanse they took a brilliantly conceived and well written book series and adapted it into an excellent TV series. I think that if they hadn't done so well I never would have watched it and would not be writing this.