08-04-2020, 06:02 AM
(08-03-2020, 12:03 AM)Mattias Westlund Wrote: Rewatching the Expanse again. For the third time I think? At least the first three seasons; S04 I've still only seen once. This show blows me away. The story, the characters, the setting, the production values and FX. So . Damn. Good. I find myself liking Amos more and more, whereas on previous viewings I felt he was just a creepier version of Jayne Cobb from Firefly. A lot of little layers and nuances there. And that goes for basically all characters, they're all interesting in their own right.
Beratna and sésata, sasa ke?
I actually also got around to (near-)finishing The Expanse finally! I felt it was strongest in S01 and most of S02, then I sort of feel it starts diminishing when things just keep getting bigger and bigger in scope with the heroes getting more and more illogical/mythological plot armor. S04 really just didn't do it for me and I stopped about halfway through; it felt like a major drop in production values/budget (and I think it actually was to be fair). Characters increasingly seem to have arguments for plot reasons rather than logical reasons, and just spend too much time fighting amongst each other to be truly able to pull off the things they do. If people argued like that in real life in the middle of battles or in dangerous situations, they'd be dead. Sometimes it'd seem like whole cultural divides would magically vanish for a few episodes then appear suddenly again just because the plot needed a conflict.
Don't get me wrong, the realism, grit, attention to detail, CGI quality, etc. of seasons 1 and 2, and to a slightly lesser extent season 3, are phenomenal. Easily one of if not the best looking and most immersive space sci-fi shows I've ever seen. At the start it's literally what Babylon 5 COULD have been if it were produced in the 2010's instead of 1990's; the lore is incredibly engaging and writing is remarkably good. Characters seem dynamic and interesting... I just wish it had stayed closer to the initial plot circumstances than snowballing into such a massive plot. It just felt like they forced themselves to 'jump the shark' higher and higher in order to make any of it make sense and it didn't seem all that enjoyable. IMHO, it slowly declined from realistic space adventure to Marvel action movie, with characters becoming less dynamic/3D and more archetypal/2D with each season. Now, perhaps that's how the original book was written; I don't know, I've never read it.
Sample library developer, composer, and amateur organologist at Versilian Studios.