in which I judge a season of television on the basis of just 3 episodes

[rose_griffes]

I finally started watching season four of The Expanse. It feels very ham-handed so far. FYI, this list is in no logical order. Seriously, not in order at all.

• Naomi has to want to stay on the new planet even though it's killing her! And she can't tell the man she loves about her condition because DRAMA! (Naomi is probably my favorite character, so it grates that she's being written like this.)
• Everyone wants Bobbie to work for her! Well, Chrisjen does, which is natural. But so does cop/secret criminal mastermind Esai, who kidnapped Bobbie’s nephew to force her hand. It just felt like the plot was stomping all over the place again, because DRAMA!
• I am still being subjected to the Holden & Miller show, and those two have never been top on my list for reasons to watch the show.
• We can't just have a regular incompetent/bigoted head of operations for the whole expedition to "check on" the Belters on that new territory. Nooo... we have to have Burn freaking Gorman play a wanna-be Heart of Darkness tyrant.
• (What happened to the original actor to play Arjun Avasarala? I miss him.)
• In spite of Chrisjen's advice to Holden to "Keep [his] dick out of it," Holden did the exact opposite.
• Even Amos's conflict with wanna-be tyrant Burn Gorman feels like a sledgehammer. That's an impressive feat, given that Amos is ready to butt heads at all times with almost anyone, but especially with a bully.

Maybe the book writers ran out of ideas on how to move their plots forward in an organic way? Maybe the small screen adaptation team got ahead of the books? Or just... flubbed all courses on subtlety. Maybe it'll get better? This is only 30% of the season so far, so I certainly hope so.

Plusses: I like some of the new characters currently on the mystery planet. Dr. Okoye, Earther who just wants to do science! Lucia Mazur, who just wants to keep people in good health! And maybe have conflict with her daughter, who wants to leave for school elsewhere. (Alas, the dialogue for that scene was heavy-handed, but at least the idea behind it was solid.) I am still intrigued enough by Drummer and Ashford working at being the worst space cops: conflict in what they're supposed to do versus what they want to do is good.

Edited to add: Avasarala's "first" husband (actor Brian George) was the same age as her. Or rather, Brian George is the same age as Shohreh Aghdashloo. "New" Arjun is 18 years younger.

Comments

[elperian]

I understand that in the books, the Roci crew is not actually present for the plot on the new planet, which may explain some of your criticisms - they're forcing them into the story to maintain the TV thread and actors.

[nic]

I just finished watching S4. I hadn't liked the first few episodes but it got really good by the end (or at least I thought so!)

They crammed 2 books into one season which is why it seemed rushed, or heavy-handed. No time for subtleties when there's so much plot to get through.

And yup, I never warmed to Holden and Miller either. (Or Holden at all, TBH. HE just doesn't read as the "hero" Avasarala makes him out to be.

[yourlibrarian]

I am still being subjected to the Holden & Miller show, and those two have never been top on my list for reasons to watch the show.

I find this true as well. And also was impatient about Naomi's insistence on injuring herself. I did get it to some degree, she wanted to be able to visit Holden's family and she wanted to be able to experience life on a planet. And she does have a lot of tenacity, so I don't know that it was OOC. But it was frustrating to watch.

I also found Drummer and Ashford's storyline the most interesting. I didn't mind S3, and I am definitely on board with watching a S4. But there were parts of this season that made me restless.