This show wastes no time in setting the tone. It’s not the typical campy SyFy series from the past where the special effects were just a step up from Doctor Who episodes from the 70’s and 80’s. Apparently, SyFy has given the directors and producers a much larger budget than for past series.
Backed by an ethereal, operatic theme song, the show-runners use the opening credits to show us a quick future history on what has happened to humankind since the 21st century. The whole thing quickly fades into the typical, yet necessary explanation of what the current situation is in “The Expanse” universe.
Show Premise
It’s the 23rd century and the solar system has been colonized by humans. The U.N. runs Earth. Mars is independent, and the “inner planets” have been mining the Asteroid Belt for resources. In “The Belt”, air and water have become the most important commodities with Earth and Mars possessing an abundance of the two. Apparently, tensions between the three have been building and have now reached a point where even the smallest incident would cause a solar system-wide war.
EPISODE 1 opens with a mysterious woman trapped in her quarters on a spaceship. We watch her escape from her room and slowly explore her surroundings. It quickly becomes apparent that she’s alone. Eventually, she is terrified to come across the corpse of a man covered by a crystalline-like substance.
Cut to the Asteroid Belt. We’re given a bit more backstory as to why the “Belters” are angry. They are tired of being oppressed and thought of as slaves by both Earth and Mars. Everyone from The Belt lives on a huge space station reminiscent of the Mars colony setting from the original Total Recall. On the station, there is clearly a separation of classes with the Belters living in the crowded and run down areas.
It’s here we’re introduced to Joe Miller (played by actor Thomas Jane). Miller is a detective on the police force. He’s accompanied by his partner, Dimitri Havelock (played by Jay Hernandez). Miller and Havelock take us from the streets to the police station where a third main character is introduced, Octavia Muss, a friend of Miller.
While at the station, Miller is given a secret assignment by his captain: find the mysterious woman from the opening sequence, named Julie Mao.
The setting is then changed to the mining freighter, The Canterbury (The Cant), where we meet the macho Jim Holden and his two shipmates, Naomi Nagata and Amos Burton. Both Naomi and Burton are hardened crew members with a no-nonsense attitude.
We find that Holden is one of the higher ranking officers on board. He’s quickly promoted when the Commanding Officer is found unfit to lead (he’s gone crazy).
After Holden’s promotion, a distress signal is picked up by the crew of The Cant. The Captain decides to ignore it but Holden disobeys him and reports the distress signal to the authorities, forcing The Cant to send a crew to investigate since it was they who reported the distress call.
The Captain sends Holden, engineer Naomi, tough guy Burton, pilot Alex Kamal, and medic Shed Garvey (Paulo Costanzo) to investigate the ship which we now know is called The Scopuli.
As they prepare, we’re introduced to Chisjen Avasarala (played by Shoreh Agdashloo). Avasarala is next in line to be the head of the United Nations. We first experience her as the typical grandmotherly figure, but quickly find she’s as ruthless as a leader can be.
The rest of the episode is used to develop the characters and the plot. Miller begins his investigation into the disappearance and location of Julie Mao and we’re shown he’s not the kind of person to be underestimated.
Holden and his crew continue on to the ship emitting the distress signal. Back on Earth, Avarasala tortures and questions a Belter.
The climax of the episode comes when a mysterious ship suddenly appears while Holden and Burton are searching The Scopuli for clues on why the distress call was emitted.
The unexpected ship speeds towards The Cant while Holden and his crew scramble to return. As they speed back, the unexpected ship destroys The Cant leaving Holden and shipmates stranded in their small exploration shuttle.
The first episode of “The Expanse” moves slowly, dictating the pace for the entire season. However, the script is well written and the actors do a great job of settling in quickly. This allows viewers to become intimately acquainted with the main characters, their backstories, and their motivations.
SyFy clearly plans on this series being a flagship for the network. They’ve spared no expense on CG, set design, or costumes and it seems they plan on elaborating more in the episodes and seasons to come.
“The Expanse” is definitely shaping up to be the kind of series that takes you to another place and time, submerging you in the story and forcing you to think about the situations and nuances going on within the show. The entire season is available on demand now.