Season 5 of “The Expanse” on Amazon Prime

They actually dropped yesterday...

I've only seen one episode so far (work night means early night), but yowza, early reviews of this being the most intense year yet are not exaggerating...

And there's also a new "aftershow", Ty and That Guy, featuring Ty Franck and Wes Chatham.

I'm hyped! Loved the last couple seasons.

Introversion said:

Starts tonight!

I don’t generally have much good to say about Jeff Bezos, but I’m grateful for his part in preventing this series from dying after it was cancelled by SyFy.

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You beat me to commenting.

I liked the intriguing, and plot heavy, opening eps a lot better than what was offered up as Season 3 and 4 fare. I also liked that Holden got out of Naomi's way, more proto-molecule shenanigans, and whatever Chrisjen does is always worth watching.

A little worried I was picking up second-in-command-is-actually-not-your-pal vibes and hope the writing tean is more adroit than that.

Good thing only eps 1-3 were on offer, or I would be marathoning the lot instead of typing this.

Just finished all three currently-available episodes, and holy heck did they pick a place to leave us hanging for a week...

I mean, yeah, you read the books you know the general arc of what's coming, but still...

Ho.
Lee.
Heck...

Also, judging from the first episode, Ty & That Guy is going to be well worth the half-hour for further discussion on the creative process behind the show.

Yeah, talktidy, I picked up on the same thing. Not sure how it's going to play out. Fred isn't stupid, but he's blinkered, and Drummer is so angry and broken right now. (I hope they let her get some kind of revenge.)

The fourth episode is out, and it...

(wait for it...)

totally rocks.

Sorry, I had to...

Seriously, though, very intense episode, lots of action and emotional turmoil. Poor Alex is really feeling it right between the eyes as he realizes that Bobbie's been telling him the truth all along about Mars being a dead dream walking, Amos is still working out why he felt compelled to visit The Pit, and Naomi is just in Hell right now in so many ways. (Also love how they're doing Marco, and showing that less-than-healthy relationship with his son. That little twist of the knife about little boys needing their mothers, and the look on Filip's face...) Avasalara's still a force to be reckoned with, even as a political pariah. They're shuffling events from the book, of course, with what happened on Tycho Station, but so far it's working. Very much looking forward to the next ep, as Amos and Co. deal with the aftermath of Marco's rock party.

Anyone else watching, still?

pokes thread, watching for protomolecule

They're dropping eps early - they're basing it off another time zone - so I caught the fifth episode tonight. Halfway through the season, and just as intense as ever. Events are fairly close to the book at this point (in spirit if not dead-letter specifics), and there's a lot of tension and action going on. Amos and Clarissa dealing with the impact aftermath on Earth, Alex and Bobbie realizing just how deep the betrayal of Mars runs, Holden and Bull trying to figure out the next step, and Naomi still at rock-bottom but trying to claw back some agency and control... great work all around. Am looking forward to the Ty & That Guy aftershow for more info; the Amazon X-Ray bonus stuff is comparatively thin, if still interesting.

Also, for some bizarre reason I'm getting (what I presume are) German subtitles when English writing appears on screen. I can't find a setting in Prime that would activate this - or, rather, deactivate this.

I'm watching. I loved last season and am really enjoying this season. I miss having the crew together, but the individual storylines are all so strong. (BTW, I have not read the books, so all of this is new to me.)

The only thing that really bothers me is how you are left hanging each episode. I wish they'd put them all out at the same time so I can binge the season. At the same time, it gives me something to look forward to each week.

For anyone who liked last season, this season is just as good. The big difference, for me, is that the crew is not all together here and they're pursuing separate storylines, but they all hinge on one main premise and tie back in to one another.

As much as I don't care for Jeff Bezos, The Expanse has gotten better under Amazon Prime's production.

Very much agreed that Prime has been good - very good - for The Expanse. No longer being tethered to airtime format - not having to build in commercial breaks, letting an episode run a little long or a little short as needed... and the production values. It was a very good show on SyFy, but on Prime, it's basically an episodic movie. I would love to see these stream in a theater setting.

(And, yes, I have some definite Issues with Bezos as a person and businessman, too, but there are worse tycoon overlords out there.)

Oh, yes! It would be amazing on a big screen! The production values the past two seasons have been absolutely phenomenal. I'm thrilled to see a science fiction show that isn't cheaping out on the visuals.

Netflix has cancelled a number of shows I liked because they were too expensive to film. And yes, they were mostly science fiction, so I'm disappointed. I don't write science fiction, but it's what I like to watch and read when I read fiction.

I wish this series had about six more seasons to go.

Yep, am disappointed with some of the Netflix cancellations (Altered Carbon deserved its final season, dang it.) Though they are supposed to be giving more seasons to The Dragon Prince, which is worth watching if you enjoy animation; it's by the creators of Avatar: The Last Airbender.

And I hope people are still watching The Expanse, because it just keeps getting better and more intense. Everyone's basically going through their own hells at this point, except maybe Bobbie and Alex (who already went through their hell with Mars essentially being a dead dream walking), who will probably have more to do by the finale. (I am curious how they'll handle Alex, especially with Anvar no longer being part of the show for next year, if they'll splice something in to the end of this season or do something at the start of S6, and what... that one still stings, I gotta admit.) Naomi is just a powerhouse this year, and could they have cast a boy who looked more like her and Marco's kid?

I am also expecting lots of screaming from people who still think explosive decompression in the vacuum of space is a thing - particularly those not paying attention to the clue they dropped with Monica's rescue earlier.

Brightdreamer said:

The fourth episode is out, and it...

(wait for it...)

totally rocks.

Sorry, I had to...

Seriously, though, very intense episode, lots of action and emotional turmoil. Poor Alex is really feeling it right between the eyes as he realizes that Bobbie's been telling him the truth all along about Mars being a dead dream walking, Amos is still working out why he felt compelled to visit The Pit, and Naomi is just in Hell right now in so many ways. (Also love how they're doing Marco, and showing that less-than-healthy relationship with his son. That little twist of the knife about little boys needing their mothers, and the look on Filip's face...) Avasalara's still a force to be reckoned with, even as a political pariah. They're shuffling events from the book, of course, with what happened on Tycho Station, but so far it's working. Very much looking forward to the next ep, as Amos and Co. deal with the aftermath of Marco's rock party.

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Just watched this myself. Your response is spot-on. I was on the edge of my seat the entire episode.

I would love to see Filip end up killing Marco, but I suspect it's not going to go that way. Sigh.

And I was glad to see Naomi's choice at the end of the last episode. She's been awfully passive through all this, and it's kind of triggering to see the whole abused woman thing. She may see through him now, but he's still doing it to her. (And everyone else.)