The Expanse SN1 EP5- ‘Back To The Butcher’

The action is again slowed down for Episode 5 but the tension and mystery grow exponentially. “Back to the Butcher” focuses on the interpersonal relationships between some of the main characters. It also delves into a bit of history and background in The Expanse universe.

Ceres Station

Though he’s pissed off, Detective Miller is visiting his wounded partner in the hospital. He’s mad that Havelock went into a dangerous area of Ceres Station without him. To top it all off, Gia, the prostitute from EP. 1 is at the hospital, too.

Havelock attempts to explain that Gia is teaching him the language, but Miller doesn’t care. After a huge argument, Miller storms out of the hospital room.

Miller takes the rapid transit from the hospital. While in close quarters with other Belters, he becomes very aware of the tension on Ceres Station. The Belters are still angered by the destruction of the Cant. 

Meanwhile, at the Star Helix Security station, the Captain is showing footage of the attack on Havelock and inciting the security team to go after Havelock’s attackers. Octavia notices Miller isn’t there, so heads to his apartment. When she arrives, she’s disappointed to find Miller has become even more obsessed with the Julie Mao case.  She doesn’t know about Miller’s and Havelock’s argument earlier that day.

Miller details what he’s found so far. He thinks there’s a connection between Julie Mao and all of the ships that have been attacked, he just can’t put his finger on the connection. He’s stumbled across the name of a ship called the Anubis, but can’t find anything else out about it.

Octavia feels Miller is getting too deep into the investigation and advises him to take what he’s found so far to his superiors.

Miller doesn’t want to take her advice. After Octavia leaves, he continues researching. He revisits footage of the fight Mao had in the shipyard where the Scopuli was docked. He figures she must have known the man she was fighting. Meanwhile, Dawes finds Miller and admits he does, in fact, know Mao. He also admits that she was important to the OPA and that the OPA is in control of more of Ceres than Miller originally suspected.

Dawes wants information on the Julie Mao investigation. In return, he offers up Havelock’s attacker. Dawes is pretending to keep him in a safe-house.

Still needing more clues, Miller finds the man Julie Mao beat up in the video. It turns out he, too is affiliated with the OPA. He’s also Julie Mao’s ex-lover. He corroborates that Mao was involved with Dawes and the OPA and is shocked when Miller explains her disappearance. In the end, he tells Miller the name of the bar where he can find the man who’s ID was really embedded in the corpse.

At the bar, Miller utters the password given to him and he’s taken to a secret room. Random pieces of tech are scattered throughout. Miller searches but doesn’t find much in the clutter. Then, he notices the parts to a mechanical hamster similar to the one he saw at Julie Mao’s apartment.

Ceres Station: Back at Mao’s apt. Miller finds the hamster and takes it apart. He finds the data chip he’s been looking for and hides it in a secret compartment in his hat. As he leaves the apt, he’s kidnapped.

He heads back and inspects the hamster. Inside it, he finds a data drive. Luckily, he hides the drive in his hat because as he’s leaving the apartment a sack is thrown over his head and he’s kidnapped.

MCRN TACHI

The Tachi is the name of the ship that Holden, Naomi, Alex, Amos, and the now deceased Lopez escaped the Donnager on. They’re floating somewhere between Jupiter and The Belt trying to figure out what to do next. Currently, no one knows they survived the attack. As they begin to discuss what to do next, they’re alerted to an incoming message.

The message is from Fred Johnson. Somehow, he knows they’re alive and need a place to go. He’s suspicious but offers to help. Holden and crew are suspicious of Johnson, too. They know his past and that he worked with the OPA.

Holden and Alex decide they want to take up Johnson on his offer. Naomi doesn’t trust Johnson. Of course, Amos sides with Naomi. With no one in agreement, they decide to just wait where they are.

As they wait, they all explore the Tachi. They also receive news of the protests and riots on Ceres Station. They’re surprised to find that one reason for the rioting was anger over the destruction of the Cant, and the Holden has become a hero of the movement. Amos also talks Naomi into agreeing to accept Johnson’s offer to head to Tycho Station.

Johnson sends them instructions on how to get to Tycho without being detected. As a part of the process, they have to rename the Tachi. They choose the name, Rocinante (Spanish for “workhorse”). No doubt this will have significance later.

The four finally have a feeling of hops. It seems their ordeal may be over.

Anderson Station

Throughout the episode, we’ve been given small flashbacks to events that took place on Anderson Station, an ore refinery located in the belt.

Anderson Station was the site of a peaceful protest where the workers refused to continue working until they were given better conditions to work under. They were kept in low gravity and low oxygen levels constantly and this was causing disease among their children.

Apparently, there were some accidental casualties on the station during the protest, but the UN (Earth’s Government) refused to accept them as accidental. The UN labels the protesters as terrorists and proceeds end the protest violently.

We find out that it was Fred Johnson who was in charge of ending the protest. At the time, he was a Colonel in the UN Marine Corps. History remembers him as “The Butcher of Anderson Station.”

Stay tuned for S1: Ep. 6 coming soon.

The Expanse Season 2 Trailer

Hey, y’all! Deven B. here! You know me as the writer covering The Expanse. Sorry for the slow rate of postings. It seems I move as slow as the plot lines of the show do.

I’m working on S1: Ep.5 right now and should have that post up soon. In the meantime, I thought I’d share the trailer for the upcoming season, which is set to air in 2017.

Watch the trailer and follow my coverage of Season 1 here on Skatronixxx! As always, feel free to message me with questions and corrections. See you out there!

The Expanse SN1 EP4 – ‘CQB’

 

Episode 3 slowed things down intentionally to prepare you for the intensity of Episode 4.

We get to witness more space action, we find out a little bit more about the Martian characters, and we’re introduced to new characters and settings.

Ceres Station

We pick up on Ceres Station. Back in Ep. 3 as Miller, while researching Julie Mao, came across information on the last person she was seen with. Turns out that man is now dead. Miller finds his body at the morgue where he’s able to glean some more on the man’s background such as his name (Bizi Bitiko) and occupation.

Miller decides to dig into the man’s identity. As Miller’s leaving the morgue, we’re shown a youth painting graffiti of Holden’s face on a wall. It seems Holden is now a hero to the masses. Remember that for later.

Miller heads to Biz Bitiko’s hangout (a bar with underground gambling) and asks around to see if anyone knows Julie Mao or Bitiko. No responses about Mao, but he finds out the identity of the body in the morgue was fake. The real Bitiko is still alive and is actually in the race that everyone is currently betting on.

Ironically, the real Bitiko dies during the race.

Miller heads back to the morgue. He takes Octavia to help find out why the dead man had a false ID. She doesn’t find much but notices a” memory crypt” embedded in the man’s calf.

Miller removes the memory crypt. They scan the crypt’s contents and find it contains government records, deepening the mystery.

Throughout the episode, Miller has been trying to get hold of Havelock. After the discovery, he tries one more time.

We’re immediately taken to bloody Havelock laying in an alley, nearly dead from being impaled by the OPA thugs. He’s discovered by a passerby.

Earth

On Earth, Avarasala is made aware of the attack on the Donnager. She’s concerned about the survivors of the Canterbury but is unable to do anything besides worry.

Tyco Station

The majority of “CQB” is set on the Donnager, but we are briefly shown the LDSS Nauvoo, a spaceship being built for the Latter Day Saints at Tyco Station, also in the belt. Here, we meet Fred Johnson (played by Chad L. Coleman; Tyrese on The Walking Dead) who’s in charge of construction. 

Johnson is a former OPA operative. The Latter Day Saints don’t like that, especially given the recent tension causing events. A Representative of the LDS informs Johnson that the LDS council wants to replace him. Johnson counters by reminding them that if he goes, all of the skilled labor goes with him, forcing the LDS reconsider.

Johnson menacingly tells the LDS Rep to get all of the Mormons off the ship to conduct “tests.” The scene ends with Johnson making a call to ask about the status of the Donnager. We’re left wondering, “Whose side is this guy on?”

The Donnager

In the holding cell, Naomi, Amos, Alex, and Shed are all wondering what Holden is telling the Martians.

The Martians are still convinced that Naomi is with the O.P.A. (Holden refuses to believe she is) and that it’s the OPA who destroyed the Cant. They’re still pressuring Holden to recant his broadcast about the Martians destroying the Cant.

In the middle of the discussion, a fleet of the mysterious ships appears in battle formation and fires on the Donnager. The Captain  and crew assume the Donnager has superior firepower and do not think of the small ships as a threat at first.

Holden mentions to Lopez that he recognizes the attacking ships as the same ones that destroyed the Cant.

As the torpedoes approach, the crew braces for impact/battle. (We now get to see a great sequence on how much effort Sy-Fy is putting into effects for the show.)

The Donnager crew begins knocking out the torpedoes. They notice the fleet of ships has better tech than originally thought, so they decide to switch to their guns and engage in a Close Quarter Battle (CQB).

Things get worse. The enemy ships are fast, powerful, and dangerous. The main drive overloads and the Donnager loses gravity.

In the holding cell, Alex panics. As Shed is trying to calm him down we hear a piercing sound and then a slow, eerie hissing. It turns out Shed has been decapitated by gunfire that’s punctured the hull. Air is slowly leaking out.

Naomi and Amos manage to find a temporary patch. Soon gravity is restored and we get to experience the gruesome effects of death in space.

The Donnager is fatally damaged over the course of the battle. The mysterious attackers begin boarding.

The Captain decides to immediately evacuate Holden to Mars Command so he can testify it wasn’t the Martians who destroyed the Cant. Holden doesn’t want to leave without his crew.

With around 20 minutes of air left, Naomi, Amos, and Alex are trying to figure a way out. To save air, Alex sedates himself so his breathing rate will slow. Naomi and Amos think it’s all over for them.

But, as Holden is being transported to a shuttle, the mystery attackers breach the hull and fire on Holden’s escorts. The escort is pinned down and Holden gets away.

He tries to get back to the crew but his escort quickly catches up with him.

Holden strikes a bargain with them if they’ll go back to get his crew. Eventually, they get to Naomi, Amos, and Alex before the air runs out.

We find Holden has agreed to make sure he and the rest all testify that the destruction of the Cant wasn’t the Martians fault.

En route to the holding cell Lopez pointed out the similarities between what’s happening to the Donnager and what happened on Phoebe Station. He tells Holden the Donnager was sent to investigate why Phoebe Station had gone silent.

When they arrived on Phoebe, everyone was dead and the computers were destroyed…as if someone was covering something up.

Meanwhile, the fighting has been raging and things have gotten so bad that the Captain decides to scuttle the Donnager.

Lopez and his team rush Holden’s crew to the shuttle bay where they come under more heavy resistance. They fight their way onto the shuttle, but all of Lopez’s men are killed. Lopez is wounded badly.

Still, under heavy fire, they manage to take off. They get away by blasting a hole in the hull.

As they speed away, Lopez knows he’s about to die. In the background the Donnager self-destructs as Lopez passes away.

The Expanse SN1 EP3 -‘Remember The Cant’

THE EXPANSE — “Remember the Cant” Episode 103 — Pictured: Thomas Jane as Detective Josephus Miller — (Photo by: Rafy/Syfy)

Episode 3 is meant to heighten the tension surrounding the mysterious disappearance of Julie Mao and how all of the characters are intertwined.

We begin Ceres Station

Holden’s last minute transmission has been picked up and is now being broadcast across the galaxy, causing disturbance among the Belters, Mars, and Earth.

Havelock is still with the prostitute. It turns out he’s learning the Belter language from her, but there is a sense of caring and sensuality between the two. Havelock is quickly called to the station.

At the station, he meets with Miller as their Captain is lecturing them about how to contain the coming hostility with the Ceres natives concerning the message from Holden. The Ceres Station citizens support the O.P.A. and the security forces know this will put a strain on the fragile relationships between the three governments.

Miller is assigned his area and decides he want’s to meet with the O.P.A.’s leader, Anderson Dawes (Jared Harris from Mad Men), so he raids the docks under the pretense of searching for contraband.

The dock workers are getting irritated and just as they threaten Miller, Dawes appears.

Dawes seems to be a reasonable man and he and Miller have a chat. Miller asks if he is familiar with Julie Mao and of course Dawes says he doesn’t remember her. He questions Miller’s motives, though. He thinks there is a reward for finding Julie Mao and Miller is investigating Julie’s disappearance for the reward money.

Later, as Miller is doing research, he’s suddenly called to the Medina (the main plaza on Ceres Station) for an emergency. It seems the Belters are protesting about air and water they feel was stolen by the Martians.

While there with Havelock and Octavia Muss (his old partner), they get a call about skirmishes breaking out near Havelock’s prostitute friend so he leaves alone to check on her.

Miller and Muss try to get the crowd under control, but things just escalate into a riot.

THE EXPANSE — “Remember the Cant” Episode 103 — Pictured: Thomas Jane as Detective Josephus Miller — (Photo by: Rafy/Syfy)

On The Donnager

Holden, Naomi, Amos, and Shed are treated as criminals (i.e. roughly). They’re each separated into their own cells, while Alex is mysteriously escorted away.

The Martians question each of them separately.

The Martians are trying to pin the destruction of the Canterbury on Holden and his crew. It seems all of them display terrorist skills. The Martians also imply Naomi may be a member of the O.P.A. She denies this. 

Finally, the crew is reunited in a holding cell. They’ve all been told that Naomi is an O.P.A. operative. No one trusts anyone.

Before a fight breaks out between them, Holden agrees to talk to the captain of the Donnager to see if he can get them set free. The captain agrees to let him and his crew go if he recants and instead accuses Naomi of destroying the Cant.

Earth.

The Earth Government is trying to figure out why the Martians blew up the Cant.

Avarasala meets with the Martian Ambassador, Franklin Degraaf who happens to be an old friend. She accuses Mars of working with the O.P.A. to take over Ceres. She threatens to re-deploy the Earth fleet to show strength. Of course, Degraaf denies it.

THE EXPANSE — “Remember the Cant” Episode 103 — Pictured: (l-r) Shohreh Aghdashloo as Chrisjen Avasarala, Kenneth Welsh as Degraaf — (Photo by: Rafy/Syfy)

Later, during a briefing about the Mars situation, Avarasala is given intelligence that Mars is in fact not working with the O.P.A.

She meets again with Degraaf. His diplomatic credentials have been revoked and he’s been banned from Mars for life. He’s accused of causing the Martians to have to expose secrets to avoid a confrontation with Earth.

As they talk, Avarasala and the (ex-ambassador) end their friendship.

The episode wraps up back on Ceres Station where we see the aftermath of the riot. Destruction and dead bodies. Meanwhile, Havelock is still off by himself. As he is patrolling, he wanders into a deserted alley and is attacked by O.P.A. thugs. They impale him and utter, “Remember the Cant,” as the episode ends.

The Expanse SN1 EP2 – ‘The Big Empty’

‘The Big Empty’ opens with a flashback to the moment Holden meets Adè (pronounced AH-DAY), the new navigator of The Cant. In Episode 1, she’s the woman Holden is in a casual relationship with. The flashback quickly ends with Adè whispering,

“There’s something you should know…”

before we burst back into the action as Holden and the small shuttle crew are attempting to escape the debris field caused by the destruction of The Cant.

After a few moments of tense action where the shuttle is hit by debris and the crew tossed about, things finally calm down when the pilot Alex manages to get them through the field.

Afterward, Holden immediately causes an argument by ordering Alex to follow the mysterious ship. Unfortunately, the rest of the crew does not want to follow and they no longer feel that Holden is the ranking officer given the new circumstances.

Frustrated, Holden storms off.

When Holden has calmed down, he and the rest discuss what their next move is going to be. They’re trapped in a small vessel and far away from any help. To top it all off, they’ve found a breach in the shuttle’s hull.

After the initial panic of the discovery, Holden and Burton head outside to fix the breach. They find that things may be worse than they thought. While outside, Holden and Burton enter a tense understanding of each other. Burton’s motivations become clearer. He explains a bit about himself and why he’s so loyal to Naomi.

Inside the shuttle, Naomi, Alex, and Shed (the medic) have had to shut off the oxygen supply and put on their space suits. Alex’s suit oxygen begins to get dangerously low. With the crew in danger of losing their only pilot, Shed has to spring into action and solve the problem. Eventually, he stabilizes Alex’s suit by sharing his oxygen while Holden and Burton manage to fix the hull breach.

They rush back in and pressurize the cabin just in time to revive Shed who’d passed out from lack of oxygen.

Getting through this tough situation together brings the members of the shuttle crew closer together.

With problem one fixed, they turn to overcoming problem 2: no radio service. Naomi speculates she can repair the radio with spare parts.

Still low on air, the crew gets to dismantling any unnecessary components.

While working, the crew discovers that the shuttle is actually a top grade Martian ship which has been disguised. They begin to believe The Cant was attacked by the Martians who were using stealth technology. Possibly to recover the shuttle.

Eventually, they get the radio working and send out a distress signal.

With oxygen getting lower and lower, their distress signal is finally picked up. But the rescue ship is further away than hoped, meaning the stranded crew will be extremely low on air by the time their rescuers arrive.

It also turns out the rescue ship is The Donnager, the flagship of the Martian navy.

Back on Ceres Station. The Belt.

We pick up with Miller who’s still in the beginning phase of his investigation into the disappearance of Julie Mao. He heads to Mao’s apartment to see what he can find. Using his do-it-all future phone he’s able to gain entry and change his voice to unlock Julie’s security system.

He replays her last message which is from her father. We find out a bit more about Julie through the message. She’s apparently from a well-to-do family. Her father is unhappy with her for leaving home to take up with less affluent friends. He threatens to cut her off.

From Julie’s response to her father, she does not get along with him. She’s decided she doesn’t need him or his money.

Miller continues to explore the apartment. Before leaving he notices a hamster running on a wheel. It doesn’t occur to him that, mysteriously, the hamster is not in a cage and that it has blood red eyes.

Later, Miller and his new partner, Havelock, are called to the nicer part of Ceres Station to answer a complaint about the water supply being tapped into.

To investigate, the two of them head to the level where the water supply pipes are situated. While there, they find a bunch of punk kids who have tapped into the pipes and are siphoning water away for themselves.

Miller and Havelock scuffle with the kids before capturing one. Miller questions the kid and soon takes pity on him and lets him go. It seems Miller comes from a similar background.

During this short conversation we first hear mention of the Outer Planets Alliance (OPA). The OPA is either a pro-belter social movement or a terrorist group, depending on who you’re talking to.

The United Nations. Earth.

We’re now introduced to Sadavir Errinwright (Shawn Doyle) the UN Undersecretary General who’s grilling Chrisjen Avarasala for torturing the belter, Heikki Sobong, who they captured in EP 1. Errinwright commands Avarasala to put Heikki Sobong in a water tank where he’ll feel lighter and closer to the gravity he’s used to in the belt.

She does so, then continues to question Sobong now that he’s more willing to talk. She’s still curious to know what he was doing and why. He refuses to cooperate and Avarasal finds out nothing.

Neither does the audience. The circumstances of the prisoner’s capture are not yet clear. It’s possible he was smuggling stealth technology.

Avarasala decides to send Sobong away for further questioning. Unfortunately, Sobong kills himself on the shuttle by escaping from his restraints and letting the g-force crush him.

What’s Next?

The episode concludes as we see Havelock slink back to the brothel he and Miller were called to in the first episode to investigate a murder. He’s meeting with the same prostitute who they questioned.

Meanwhile, Miller heads to the docks where Julie Mao worked to see if he can get any more information on her. He’s told she was pretty tough and that she was stationed on The Scopuli.

Back at his apartment, Miller researches Julie Mao’s dating profile to find out who she may have been with before she disappeared. He doesn’t get anywhere, but in a photo he notices a scar on her face which he thinks may be a an important clue.

Before the five stranded shuttle members are picked up, Holden causes another controversy by recording a message telling what has happened to The Cant. In the message, he names the Martians as the attackers. To the rest of the survivors dismay, he sends the message.

Shortly after, they are boarded by the Martians and taken prisoner.

 

Braindead Mixes Dark Humor, Horror, Sci-Fi, and Drama…with Politics.

Set in the U.S. capital of Washington D.C.,

Braindead begins with the return of Laurel Healy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead of Scott Pilgrim fame) to the city she grew up in. Laurel is a documentary filmmaker who despises the culture of D.C. and has been living in California. She has recently run out of money to continue her current project so she heads home to ask her father for a loan.

While home, Laurel has to take a job working for her brother Luke, who is a Senator. In return for taking the job her father agrees to give her $200,000 if she stays for six months.

Meanwhile,

the show creators use a familiar story from real life to create the circumstances upon which the whole show revolves. A few years ago we all saw the multiple user videos of a meteor streaking across the Russian sky and crashing. In the Braindead universe, this meteor turns out to be a nest that carries thousands of tiny, ant-like alien creatures.

A U.S. transport crew is sent to retrieve the meteor and during transit, the aliens emerge and infect some of the crew members.

The infection happens

when the tiny aliens nest inside the brain and take over the host’s actions and personality, in some cases actually causing the host to become a better person. But, of course, there is also a noticeable change.

The meteor finally arrives in Washington D.C.

but before research on it can begin, the government is shut down when the Democrats and Republicans begin feuding over the budget. Because it’s a government facility, the meteor research lab is shuttered until Congress can come to terms. In the meantime, the aliens re-emerge and begin to infect the lab employees. They eventually escape the lab and begin infecting the city’s population, including members of the government.

On Laurel’s first day working for her brother she meets with the wife of one of the crew members who helped to transport the meteor. The wife asks Laurel for help in figuring out what happened to her husband and, as Laurel begins to investigate, she finds that her Senator brother was the official who authorized the retrieval and transport of the meteor in the first place.

Laurel decides to visit the lab where the meteor is being held and finds the lead scientist unconscious. She calls for help and decides to ride to the hospital in the ambulance with him.

On the way there, the scientist’s head explodes.

The next day, Laurel returns to work to find that her brother’s assistant is now displaying some of the traits of the infected. She’s now determined to find out what is going on and how her brother is connected to everything.

Last fall season NBC aired You, Me, and the Apocalypse which was an underrated satirical show commenting on the current state of religion and world attitudes. The show was produced in the U.K. The story, the writing, and the multinational cast was excellent but for some reason, despite high reviews from critics, the show did not make it past the first season (I would highly recommend you binge watch it on a rainy day).

Braindead is along the same lines. It too, is a satirical look at the state of the government and the political process in the United States…set to the backdrop of an alien invasion. In some cases, you’ll agree that some of the actions of the U.S. Congress members can really only be explained by possible alien infection.

The show may initially strike you as a comedy, but you’ll quickly find the dark humor is just a part of the horror/drama tone reminiscent of old Hollywood suspense movies such as Invasion of the Body Snatchers or The Day the Earth Stood Still.

The show is targeted to the thinking crowd and makes no effort to explain some of the jokes and references made about the current political climate. I enjoy this immensely because I like to actually think about what the characters are doing and saying instead of having it all dumbed down for me in order to generate a quick laugh and to move the story along. I also appreciate that network TV here in the U. S. is attempting to compete with the cable and pay networks by scheduling new and bold programming. Hopefully, the show will keep its audience coming back for more.

Braindead currently airs in the U.S. and Australia and can be streamed here.

The Expanse SN1 EP1 – ‘Dulcinea’

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.