The Expanse: Season 1 Review (Warning: SPOILERS)

There is always adventure in the emptiness of space, slimy and thrilling in all of its glory. Season 1 of The Expanse provided exactly what any space adventure should grant their viewers: thrill, spaceships, strong characters, underlying political and global messages, and, of course, explosions. What sort of show set in space wouldn’t have explosions? I mean, come on. When I first heard about The Expanse, I was told that it was a (paraphrasing here) super sexy sci-fi thriller. I even told my fiancé that we should watch it because, well, it was a super sexy sci-fi thriller. Eventually she gave in. But what I learned over the course of the first season was that there was a lot less super sexy and a lot more sci-fi thriller. In fact, the super sexy aspect of the show could only be seen in the first ten minutes of the pilot episode, then it was all conspiracy, thrilling action, and space-crime. That wasn't a problem with me. The one show that comes to mind which is in any comparison to The Expanse is Battlestar Galactica, and yet the latter is still far superior then the former in many ways. This being the case, it does not take away from the awesomeness that is The Expanse.

The electric looking bundle of slime

The show is based off the series of books of the same name by James S. A. Corey, and is set in our solar system a few hundred years in the future. There are three factions of people that make up the universe during this season: the humans of Earth (or, as they are referred to in the show, the Earthers), the Martians (obviously from Mars and are always considered to have the most advanced technology), and the Belters (who reside primarily on the asteroid belt station, Ceres). The story begins with a Belter of importance named Josephus Aloisus Miller (Thomas Jane), who is a detective assigned an almost impossible case. The viewer sees the case unfold during the first scene of the show, with a young woman, Julie Andromeda Mao (Florence Faivre), awakening in an abandoned ship with blood smears on the wall and an almost palpable feeling of dread. We soon see that this feeling of dread is well-deserved, for the end of the scene shows Julie finding an electric looking bundle of slime hanging from the ceiling of the ship’s reactor. She screams and that is the last time we see her until much later in the season. Julie is the daughter of a wealthy family, but she decided that she wanted to live a life that her father hadn’t planned out for her--so she joined the OPA, a group of Belter resistance fighters working to ensure the well-being of their people. Joe Miller is tasked with finding out what happened to her, but ends up getting caught up with the OPA’s agent on Ceres, Anderson Dawes (Jared Harris), later on in the series. When Miller rejects Anderson's offer to join the OPA, they kidnap him and ask him to re-consider. Again, he rejects their demands to join them, and they release him after carefully searching his person for a disc he found in Julie's home. When they don't find it, they sentence Miller to die; only saved at the last minute by his ex-partner, Octavia Muss (Athena Karkanis). He brings the disc to his boss at the police station, and there we see that the disc has some sort of video clip which reveals information about a bio-weapon created on Phoebe station. Miller deduces that Julie bought this disc from a data broker, brought it to Anderson, and he sent a ship of his people out to steal the bio-weapon to gain more power. Of course, the ironic part about all of this is that Miller's boss is actually working for Dawes, so he is fired--suddenly as powerless as any of the other Belters around him. Working on his own, he is given a lead from an old friend living on Eros station that he has information which can help Miller find Julie. For the first time ever, Miller leaves Ceres in hopes that he will, for once, complete his mission. 

Thomas Jane and Jay Hernandez in The Expanse

Before his entanglement with the OPA, there is a scene where Miller and his partner, Dimitri Havelock (Jay Hernandez), are called to the Governor's housing area by what appears to be one of his assistants. The assistant points out a patch of grass that is barren and brown, compared to all the green grass surrounding it. In the belt, the resources that people count on most is air and water. This dependence is why the assistant blames the Belters, the lower class people, for stealing the air and water that make that brown patch of grass green. Havelock, with probably the only important thing he says all season, states that Belters wouldn't be stealing the air and water from the Governor if they all had the nice view. The assistant responds by giving Havelock a mini cactus in a paper cup, saying, "Now you can make your own view." The interpretation of this scene is important for understanding some of the underlying themes throughout the rest of the series, for, even though it does not directly connect with anything going on in the story, that one statement explores the dynamics of the social structure in, not only The Expanse universe, but our world as well. There is obviously a large separation of power going on between the Belters and the higher classes on Ceres station, which is maybe why Miller always wears this hat that his partner classifies as something an Earther would wear--which is ironic, since Havelock is actually an Earther who wants to be more like a Belter. This is where that scene at the Governor's comes to be important. In a literal sense, Havelock takes this as that he needs to start making his own view by doing things that will allow him to adapt to the new way of life on Ceres. Right after he is given the cactus, viewers see that he is taking language lessons from a Belter prostitute so that he be can be more like them. On the other hand, Miller is wearing his hat to hide his identity as a Belter. So when the assistant says make your own view, he means it as a sarcastic joke. Although the characters in the show take it literally, I couldn't help but to notice how much it runs parallel with the system implemented in our world. If you are a part of the lower class, then how can a small cactus help you build a flourishing garden? With no resources but that cactus, the chances of obtaining the necessary experience and abilities are made that much more difficult due to suppressing government that surrounds you. Those who already have this garden don't see how difficult a task it really is, for many were given the garden, not required to work for it. Others had the resources to gain experience and, thus, obtain the garden. But there are those who find that they are stuck. So what does one who is stuck do with this small cactus? Nothing. In fact, one gives it away (as Havelock does); in hopes that doing so will somehow bring about something much greater. 

The surviving crew of the Canterbury 

Inside the Canterbury, a ship transporting ice back to Ceres, the crew is intercepted by a strange distress call. Executive Officer Jim Holden (Steven Strait) logs this distress call into the system, even after everybody decides to let it go. Because he does this, the crew is forced to investigate the distress call which originates from a mysterious ship, the Scopuli. He leads a team of five to check out the call. While finding nothing but a bogus transmission on board the Scopuli, the team decides it best to leave the ship after they discover it to be empty. On their way back to the Canterbury, another ship appears almost out of nowhere, destroying the Canterbury and leaving the five crew members stranded on a small ship with diminishing air supply. Running out of time, they are found by a Mars ship, the Donnager, after issuing a distress call. Originally, they thought that Mars was responsible for destroying the Canterbury, so they believe this to be their death sentence (one of them does actually die). What they don't know is that there is a space-wide conspiracy that even the technologically advanced Mars does not know about. After Mars picks them up, they are soon attacked by the same mysterious vessel that destroyed the Canterbury. With this happening, Holden and his crew realize that Mars is not responsible for the destruction of their ship and the deaths of the rest of their crew. Because the Mars crew believes Holden to be the only person who can prove that Mars is innocent in the attack on the Canterbury (he was able to broadcast a message to Ceres before they were taken, stating that Mars WAS responsible for the destruction of the Canterbury), he and his crew are first priority to escape the ship; this ensuring that a war between Mars, Earth, and the Belters would not happen. But it is obvious that somebody wanted a war. . . . The questions are: who and why?

Shohreh Aghdashloo in The Expanse

All while Miller's investigation continues and the now four members of the Canterbury struggle to survive, the politics of Earth are brought to the screen for viewers to witness. Focusing on Chrisjen Avasarala (Shohreh Aghdashloo), an ambitious U.N. Undersecretary that works on a number of small projects, including discovering that Mars was not involved with the destruction of the Canterbury before Holden has the chance of telling everybody himself. She is also an important character for the show because she depicts the political scheming that goes on behind the scenes on Earth. The sudden emergence of a bio-organism, as revealed to viewers in the first scene of the show with Julie Mao and by the crew of the Canterbury on their voyage to the Eros station, is truly what leaves Chrisjen with the burning desire to find out what is really going on. She is told to stop investigating where the stealth ships came from (considering they were manufactured on Earth, as revealed by Fred Johnson (Chad L. Coleman) in a broadcast), and is told that the OPA was the group whom the ships were built for. I think that it will be her who discovers that the real culprit behind releasing the dangerous bio-organism is Julie Mao's father (as viewers come to find out in the second to last episode; and not the OPA, as suggested by her boss), Jules-Pierre Mao (Francois Chau), and her who will find a way to stop him. She somehow manages to get her way in every scenario, and, since her boss shut her investigation down--which is obviously not what she wanted--I think Chrisjen will become even more motivated to continue where she left off. Her persistent personality will only gain strength in the upcoming season, for she senses something is not right; especially because she is certain that Earth plays a role in the destruction of the Canterbury and the Mars ship, the Donnager. The last time we see her on screen is her shaking hands with Jules-Pierre Mao with a smug, knowing grin on her face; as if to say that she sees right through his diabolical plan. Of course, she has no idea about the bio-organism, but it looks like some part of her knows that Mao has something to do with the stealth ships, which, in turn, have to do with the bio-organism. For without the ships, without Julie Mao becoming infected on one of those ships, without Julie traveling to Eros in a desperate attempt to escape the bio-organism, and without Julie being found by her father's scientist friend dead and completely devoured by the bio-organism (the scientist is able to take samples from her body and use them for their planned experiment), there wouldn't have been any problems. But because Julie was pushed away by her father and into the OPA, this whole mess begins. I mean her father doesn't even care or respect her dead body, he only cares about the dangerous weapon he has created which is living inside of Julie. Seeing that helped me understand why Julie left in the first place, and why this whole conspiracy is able to continue; for through the callousness of a father, a terrible affliction ate away inside his daughter--both literally and metaphorically. It goes to show how an unhealthy relationship with one's parents can influence the course of not only that person's life, but of lives surrounding them.

Julie Mao (Florence Faivre) on Eros station

The mystery as to who is causing all this trouble is connected with Julie herself. She is the one who goes missing, and, thus, sparks Miller's involvement. Miller is thrust into a whole new environment when he reaches Eros. There is not much one can see on Miller's hardened surface, but a viewer can tell that he is determined to find Julie; for what reason exactly, we can only speculate. Is she his long lost daughter (no she isn't)? Or, is there something else going on, something he needs to prove to himself. It would appear that the end of the show reveals that the latter is true, and that he had to find Julie because she represented a part of himself that he could never find, a part of himself he wanted to know. He thought that finding her would, somehow, illuminate this unknown part of himself. He even says it near the end of the last episode: "I thought if I could find Julie, I would finally know something." Holden responds by saying that he did find her, the only problem being that Julie was found dead, entangled inside the mysterious, blue organism in a disgusting looking hotel room. I think that hit home hard for Miller, because, sure, he found her, but in the end all that trouble he put himself through was for nothing. Or at least that is what he is thinking. I think there is a significance to his discovery. It is revealed that at the point of her passing, Julie sees Miller enter the room with the same bird he had seen back on Ceres and Julie's necklace. What does this scene signify? What does it all mean in regards to Miller's importance? I am going to try and break it down. 

Some people consider Miller to be a creep for caring so much about Julie when he hasn't even met her. I don't think it is creepy at all (although I understand why they would think that); instead, I think there are reasons for him acting the way he did. As I quoted before, he wanted to know something. Let's analyze the damn bird that keeps flapping its wings in front of Miller's face, as if to say, "Find the girl!" I think, like Julie, Miller views the bird as a message to persevere through all of the setbacks. Regardless of what people say, he continues on his quest to bring back Julie. For her, when she sees Miller in some pre-death vision with the bird, she sees this as her calling to the other side; she has failed her mission and so it is time to move on, and to continue her quest from the afterlife (it is sort of poetic justice that her physical body is being used to cultivate the same organism that she was originally seeking out). I have a feeling that Julie will show up in more visions to Miller throughout the second season, motivating him to finish what she started. Then there is the necklace. Julie, who has never had a caring father figure in her life, sees this random man walking towards her with HER necklace in his hands, and she thinks, "Why? Why does this man care so much for me? What did I ever do to deserve it?" This is a normal response from any neglected child, but I think seeing that a man who could have been her father care so much for no reason gave her peace as she passed away. So when Holden said, "You did find her, Miller," I don't think he meant it as a sarcastic jape with the intention of harming Miller. Instead, I think he meant to comfort him, as if to say, "You did your best and you found her. Take comfort in that, and what you were searching for will find you in time." Like the bird finds him wherever he goes, Miller has to learn to move forward from the past (as Julie did), and be who he really is: a Belter who only wants to do right for those around him, even if it doesn't seem like it. Then, and only then, will what he was looking for find him. So what does he want to know? I think he wants to know how to be that caring man that he once was, since his relationship with Octavia suggests that there was history with them. Something changed in him, though, and he wants to know how to get it back. These are only speculations, so take them as you see them; for I may be wrong, yet I may be right. I haven't read the books, but I am sure someone who has can shed more light on the subject. 

Miller lookin' creepy with that necklace

At the end of the season, Holden, Miller, and the rest of the remaining Canterbury crew are able to escape the Eros station in the nick of time. This leaves room for the conspiracy to grow, as well as the mysterious bio-organism that has been spread throughout the Eros population. Man, I cannot wait for next season! What will become of that huge ship, the Nauvoo, built for the Morman church's journey through space? How will the mysterious bio-organism adapt and spread? What will the Canterbury crew and Miller do to stop it? What the heck happened to Havelock after he was almost killed? And, what sort of transformations will we see as the characters are faced with new and more threatening challenges? Season 2 will be a doozy. 

As I have described in detail throughout this review, there are a number of important messages to take away from this season of The Expanse.  The most important two, for me, are what I described in the cactus scene with Havelock and Miller, and the consequences of parental neglect. To prove my point even more with the cactus, when Holden and Miller are held up inside that weird casino on Eros, near the end of the season,  Miller says, "Belters know that this game has been rigged from the start," which runs parallel with what I explored in my description of that scene with the cactus. The Belters are the lower class citizens with almost no way of escaping the poverty that surrounds them. Sure, they can be given a cactus and be expected to grow a garden--but the game has been rigged from the start, and the chances of them being able to achieve this goal is almost impossible. It is like how our own government treats their own lower class citizens. "There are jobs out there!" they scream. Sure, they can get a job, but there is almost no chance that they will ever be able to escape from the lower class. When this new world we live in demands money to be considered wealthy (I don't think this is how people should view the world), there is only one option for those who live without it: keep playing the game until luck finds them. 

So, dang, I guess my reviews are pretty long. If you made it this far then thank you for reading this whole thing. What sort of review would this be, though, if i didn't have a little criticism? It is hard to critique a show I truly do love, but I find that there is always something that could have been done a bit better with a show (or with anything in that matter). For example, with The Expanse, the importance of some minor characters is put on hold for the other major characters--like Fred Johnson, or even Chrisjen. They both play pivotal roles in the show, but I felt that their character developments and plot-lines were a bit rushed. With only a ten episode season, it is hard to fit all those minor details one would see in the books; but I still think that there could have been some minor adjustments so that these other characters could have been developed at a more steady pace. The quick pace to the show also makes things confusing at times, and I am sure that is a problem for some viewers. Although this is the case, the writers still made up for it by providing the audience with just the right amount of details so that they can understand . . . if they pay attention. So, if you are looking for a show that you can follow without really paying attention, then The Expanse is not for you. It's complicated viewpoint on the world mixed with the perspectives of a wide variety of characters, makes it hard to follow at times--but I can say with confidence that once you are invested, then you will be given exactly what you have wanted since finishing Battlestar Galactica: a (super sexy) sci-fi thriller that has a well-concocted combination of intense special effects and sharp, inventive dialogue. I personally am a big fan, but I would love to hear from those who didn't enjoy it as much. There is much to talk about, after all. 

My rating: 8.7/10

The Expanse trailer