The Expanse: Fight or Flight   Show Only 
April 11, 2018 11:47 PM - Season 3, Episode 1 - Subscribe

The Rocinante is repaired, but the same cannot be said of its crew.

Despite a plasma scouring, traces of its radiation-seeking stowaway remain. Bobbi fights, climbs and crawls her way through the Guanshiyin to reveal the Razorback. On Tycho, Fred Johnson's recovery of "that blue siren" forces Drummer into the salvage of a Mormon space cathedral. Seeded in fire, the re-christened Contorta makes its way to Io in search of Prax's daughter.

My first post to FanFare, so please let me know if there's anything else you're expecting. Books-included Season 3 thread containing trailers and speculation
posted by Bora Horza Gobuchul (52 comments total) 9 users marked this as a favorite
 
I don't recall seeing it posted before, so if anyone needs a quick review of season 1 as things start off again, there is The Expanse Season One Recap -- With Cats!

(posting the optional Hungarian subtitles version, for others who are region-locked out of the original)
posted by myotahapea at 2:09 AM on April 12, 2018 [5 favorites]


Goddamnit apparently this isn't on Netflix UK until the Autumn? What's the point in that? Do they want people to pirate it?
posted by EndsOfInvention at 3:09 AM on April 12, 2018 [5 favorites]


Hell, I get cable and after the sheer volume of ads last night *I* might torrent it next week.

Solid start to the season I thought. A lot of teasing for those of us on Team Dawes!
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 4:50 AM on April 12, 2018


I <3 Chrisjen Avasarala
posted by Golem XIV at 6:32 AM on April 12, 2018 [5 favorites]


That wistful look on Avasarala’s face... she wasn’t done swearing at him yet.

Hyper competency is Bobbie’s superpower and boy did she come through!

Dying at “good job, marine” — “thank you, spy” and “pinch your nipples and pucker up, it’s time to peel the paint!”

Nothing but respect for MY Gunny. This is the Bobbie I love most.

Massive credit to the writers for some great dialogue this ep, Prax is showing his charming, wry side. I look forward to more of him trying to gel with the crew in his own awkward way.

They are a ship of misfit toys, and all Holden wanted was some damn coffee.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 6:59 AM on April 12, 2018 [3 favorites]


That poor coffee machine...
posted by nathan_teske at 9:14 AM on April 12, 2018 [1 favorite]


i totally get it but it's hard watching Naomi being frozen out.

/someone who can't wait until it gets on international netflix, ehem
posted by cendawanita at 10:41 AM on April 12, 2018 [4 favorites]


Hell, I get cable and after the sheer volume of ads last night *I* might torrent it next week.

Piracy aside consider buying the season pass on iTunes, Google Play, Amazon, etc. just to have the uncensored version. They shot censored dialog for the broadcast version (freaking instead of fucking, etc.) but dropping $30 for the season pass gets you fully uncensored Avasarala.
posted by nathan_teske at 11:28 AM on April 12, 2018 [6 favorites]


"She's not the person I thought she was."
That one line, coming from Amos, speaks volumes about how far Naomi transgressed in the eyes of the crew.

I was living for the Avasarala/Cotyar/Bobbie road show; every line between those three is brilliant. Sorry to see them split up, even if it is only temporarily. But the inverted dynamic of Avasarala being WAY out of her comfort zone off-world and Bobbie running the show should be entertaining.

Fuck. Yeah. Drummer. Loving seeing her character get fleshed out even more, which didn't happen until much later in the books. Between she, Bobbie and Chrisjen this show is blessed with intense, interesting female characters.

A few good comedic moments as well -- Theo the maintenance tech trying to climb back into the storage hatch when Bobbie drafted him into helping, and Alex and Amos locking/unlocking the bay door to emphasise their debate about the crew possibly splitting up.

Not sure how much this season will differ from the books, but with the newly loosened profanity regs there is one book line regarding coiffures in zero g I really hope to hear.
posted by myotahapea at 11:39 AM on April 12, 2018 [8 favorites]


nathan_teske: Oh, I didn't know that was a thing. I have an android tv, so I'll check it out. Thanks!
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 12:00 PM on April 12, 2018


That look that Avasarala and Cotyar exchanged, as she handed over the antibiotics and their hands touched ...
posted by Mogur at 3:25 PM on April 12, 2018 [4 favorites]


Anyone else spot the "history of flight" tribute on the Razorback? I think the progression goes man with wings, Wright Flyer, monoplane (maybe Blériot XI or Spirit Of St Louis?), Boeing 747, Space Shuttle, SpaceShipOne, Solomon Epstein's ship, Razorback.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 4:53 PM on April 12, 2018 [15 favorites]


I hadn't noticed that at all! Nice touch, though; I really like the design work on the fully gimbaled couches and the Razorback set design generally.

Bobbie remains my fave, with Avasarala close behind.
posted by tautological at 10:19 PM on April 12, 2018 [1 favorite]




EndsOfInvention -- that graphic is an homage to Virgin Galactic (2nd image down). Richard Branson is canon.
posted by nathan_teske at 11:15 AM on April 13, 2018 [4 favorites]


Ah, awesome.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 12:05 PM on April 13, 2018


omg!!! I didnt realize S3 was out. sooooo excite!! will come back with something real to say after viewing!!!!!!!!!!
posted by supermedusa at 2:54 PM on April 13, 2018 [2 favorites]


I don't recall seeing it posted before, so if anyone needs a quick review of season 1 as things start off again, there is The Expanse Season One Recap -- With Cats!

If you watch to the end, Holden-cat really doesn't like his pants. Poor kitty.
posted by scalefree at 10:39 AM on April 14, 2018 [1 favorite]


What did Drummer and Dawes talk about about when they went for that drink back in S2?

I mean, maybe her protestations about turning her back on Dawes (a fellow Belter by birth, fighting for Belter nationhood & independence) and his ways is completely sincere, and she’s siding with Fred, (thick Earth-raised bones & all.) Maybe she’s playing it straight up as she presents herself to Fred.

Yes, she got shot during the uprising against Fred, but Staz & his fellows could have been total Wildcats, acting independently.

But what did she & Dawes talk about over drinks?

Only they know.
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 2:48 PM on April 14, 2018 [4 favorites]


I have such a mad competence-fiend crush on Bobbi.
posted by rmd1023 at 4:57 AM on April 15, 2018 [1 favorite]


Yeah Bobbi, she and the look of the show are what keep me tuned in. I really don't like Holden, and find it hard to care about the crew of the Rocinante at all, even though they are at the center of the show. Miller's arc was what interested me from the beginning, and they were just a means for getting him around. The whole thing with Naomi's "betrayal" is just dumb. The best you can say is that the protomolecule is a doomsday device, but so what, the belt has already indicated that just by nudging a few big rocks into an arc toward the inners they could win any war?

And didn't that big mormon ship head toward the sun at a speed that even the Roci couldn't match? how are they going to retrieve it?
posted by OHenryPacey at 9:03 AM on April 15, 2018


It was Eros that the Roci couldn’t keep up with.

The Nauvoo just kept going in another direction after it missed. It’s been trucking along and they have to go chase it down, but it’s not flying at multiple G; the OPA can hard burn to catch up with it easily.
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 9:36 AM on April 15, 2018 [2 favorites]


I still like Holden, but if my captain smashed up the coffee machine, we'd be getting into mutiny territory.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 11:12 AM on April 15, 2018 [8 favorites]


But what did she & Dawes talk about over drinks?

I've wondered that myself, since that scene. Their setup conversation was played for ambiguity on Drummer's part, leaving us uncertain to her motivations. The events of the following episode, and her (badass -- I think she became my favourite character in that moment) execution of Staz and Edin(?) made it clear that she was fully on Fred's side, and her conversations with Fred this episode back that up -- she's angry with him, but still with him. My preferred extrapolation of the meet between Drummer and Dawes was that of sizing up each others' current selves: two people with history who both have the same goals, but radically different opinions on how to achieve them. Drummer doesn't ascribe to Dawes's ways anymore, but will humour him for form's sake due to their history and to avoid making an enemy of him. Dawes is operating, working all the angles -- he doesn't really think she'll give up any info about the protomolecule, or come back to his side, but he'll keep trying.
posted by myotahapea at 11:25 AM on April 15, 2018 [4 favorites]


I like to think she’s playing a double game with her old Pampa. In the end, Dawes is a Belter; Fred is an Earther who has settled in the Belt.

If we take her conversation at face value, yes. She’s with Fred. Unless she’s playing him. War changes things. Yes, she capped Staz & partner for shooting her, but their uprising could have been a complete wildcat action. We see them Listening to radical broadcasts.

But the writers are not stupid, and Chekov’s drinks conversation is gonna get revealed.

“Detim da bélowt im ere da wowl, sasa kemang to xalte wit?” (When the blood’s on the Wall, do you know who you hold with?)
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 12:09 PM on April 15, 2018 [2 favorites]


“She says that to everyone.”
posted by corb at 10:25 PM on April 15, 2018 [9 favorites]


If we take her conversation at face value, yes. She’s with Fred. Unless she’s playing him. War changes things. Yes, she capped Staz & partner for shooting her, but their uprising could have been a complete wildcat action. We see them Listening to radical broadcasts.

True; Drummer's pretty uncompromising, and it's possible she agreed with their motivation but not the execution, which then resulted in those guys' executions. But I was also thinking more of her conversation with Naomi earlier in that episode, when she seemed offended at the idea Naomi didn't trust Fred: that felt like an honest moment, or at least as though there was nothing to gain from pursuing the line of questioning in those circumstances.

But as you said, the writers aren't stupid, and it's entirely possible my read is flawed or incomplete or applies too much Earther motivation to Belter actions (it likely says something that the only other current television show I watch is The Americans, and my analysis of Drummer is through a pretty standard espionage lens). I have my theory and I'm sticking to it, but will also be pleased if my expectations are proven wrong in an interesting way.
posted by myotahapea at 6:21 AM on April 16, 2018


The Nauvoo just kept going in another direction after it missed. It’s been trucking along and they have to go chase it down, but it’s not flying at multiple G; the OPA can hard burn to catch up with it easily.

It’s still going to be a hell of a hard burn if they haven’t started breaking with Tge Nauvoo’s own drive already. The Nauvoo was going about 20,150 km/s when she missed Eros. It’d take The Nauvoo about 12.5 days to pass Voyager 1 at that rate. (So no Drummer, you don’t have time to finish your drink.)

Without spoiling for non-book readers, do we know of any human outposts beyond the orbit or Uranus? I remember rail gun cargo deliveries to scientific outposts in Uranus orbit but nothing about Neptune, Pluto, other KBOs, etc.
posted by nathan_teske at 11:52 AM on April 16, 2018 [1 favorite]


In that case, I'd presume that Tycho control was able to flip-&-burn her to a break.
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 1:44 PM on April 16, 2018


I'd presume that Tycho control was able to flip-&-burn her to a break.

I also assumed they were able to remote control the Navuu and would be able to at least slow it down or bring it to a stop, even if they couldn't fly it back (maybe it ran out of fuel).
posted by EndsOfInvention at 5:33 PM on April 16, 2018


What bugged me most about this episode was when the power armor's battery started to go and the Marine's boots slipped, but then started working well enough for her to sprint up the outside of the hull in the next scene. Did I miss something? It felt like the worst deus ex machina of the whole series. If there were emergency power reserves activated I didn't see that depicted. Plus if the suit were smart enough to warn of the impending failing it seems like it would have activated any emergency reserve automatically. I am behind with the books so no books spoilers if you don't mind.
posted by exogenous at 4:48 AM on April 17, 2018 [5 favorites]


I think the suit was already on emergency battery after the ship crew's booby-trap disabled the suit earlier. I could see the emergency power not being quite enough to power the armour servos (against the high-G acceleration) AND mag-boots at max power at the same time. And/or the suit was damaged in some way by the booby-trap, which caused the brief mag-boot failure.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 5:08 AM on April 17, 2018 [1 favorite]


Yeah, that scene made more sense on a rewatch (which I did, since I got pointed at the uncensored version upthread). The error that flashes up when Bobbie falls off the ship is the same error that appears when she get zapped in the earlier scene. I think the suit's supposed to just be glitching rather than really running out of battery, but the choice of error was kinda clumsy. Of course I'm probably trying too hard to justify it...
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 5:35 AM on April 17, 2018 [2 favorites]


WOOT! Nick Farmer has released the text of the OPA radio broadcast Naomi was listening to while changing the Roci's transponder:
Bosmang OPA ere Palash unte Iapetus imalowda ta ékepesh xop deting imim kang avita da wow, unte da OPA ofisha na ere pati ere da kombat.

Ye páxari ere Sirish showxa da OPA mebi gonya gif xep fo da pati im mebi gonya du losh ere da wow, nalik da pólisi da tadisong fo condenashang eka.
Which I'm pretty sure translates as:
OPA leaders on Pallas & Iapetus expressed xom that war can be avoided, and the Officcial OPA are not party to the fighting.

Still sources/rumors on Ceres say the OPA May give help/aid to the possible losing side in the war, unlike the traditional policy of...
My fellow Lang Belta students and I are pretty sure "condeneshang" is "condemnation" (and properly spelled with a K, Nick admits to occasional spelling inconsistencies), but we're all lost on "eka".
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 9:32 AM on April 18, 2018 [2 favorites]


Hope. They expressed hope.
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 1:57 PM on April 18, 2018 [1 favorite]


Is there another word for collective? I could see eka being used in the root-oneness as a way to describe unity, so like the traditional policy of unified condemnation of all non-belt aggression...
posted by corb at 2:12 PM on April 18, 2018


unlike the traditional policy of...

"neutrality"?
posted by EndsOfInvention at 2:12 PM on April 18, 2018


Wait never mind I missed that "condemnation" was before that.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 2:13 PM on April 18, 2018


(I have obviously not made a study of Belter, but I’m kind of fascinated by conlangs)
posted by corb at 2:14 PM on April 18, 2018


We keep refreshing our Prime video offerings but don’t see episode two 😭
posted by exogenous at 6:08 PM on April 18, 2018 [1 favorite]


We've found they're not available until the next morning. Although I'm not sure what time, come to think of it – we should check after midnight to see if that's when it becomes available.
posted by Lexica at 8:40 PM on April 18, 2018 [1 favorite]


Amos' line about Naomi not being the person he thought she was, heartbreaking.

I continue to be impressed with how the writers are condensing so much book stuff into the very short space of the TV series. There is a lot going on in this episode and it all makes sense as a TV show without having to refer back to the books. (Good thing, since there's been a lot of books and I've gotten a bit lost at where we are.) Plenty of room left for good TV drama set pieces too, like Bobbi crawling around the ship exterior.

I love that Avasarala is competent with a pistol when it comes to it.
posted by Nelson at 9:27 AM on April 19, 2018


Anyone has a lead on where to buy Fred Johnson flight jacket?
posted by monocultured at 1:06 PM on April 19, 2018 [1 favorite]


His jacket looks close to an MA-1 so that search term might get you close — I see lots of vendors of these at different price points.
posted by exogenous at 7:45 AM on April 20, 2018 [2 favorites]


>exogenous

Thanks. At first viewing it looked a bit different from what Alpha usually offers – the sleeve pockets looked bigger – but I'll trawl around a bit.

Figure I could try to get in touch with whomever is responsible for clothing, but looking over the full production list I don't see anyone with a title which I recognize. Any suggestion for what the title of that person might be?
posted by monocultured at 8:23 AM on April 20, 2018


I think you want Costume Design, Joanne Hansen. I don't know a lot about these things but I imagine that the jacket is not simply something "off the rack" but instead was modified. It would be a little offputting I think to recognize a piece of clothing in the show as exactly a garment you have seen in real life.

Speaking of which, an object in the following episode (no spoiler here — I guess we need a post but I'm not feeling up to it myself) looked an awful lot to me like a car rooftop cargo carrier.
posted by exogenous at 9:07 AM on April 20, 2018 [1 favorite]


Episode 2 is up - now tagged as Show Only which is why this episode page doesn't link to it as the Next Episode I think.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 9:12 AM on April 20, 2018


Ooooh, thanks!
posted by exogenous at 9:40 AM on April 20, 2018


yes, re episode 2 cargo unit, we hooted and hollered also. Same episode (or maybe E03) featured a popular water carbonation system as an element of the Roci's galley, which I took great pleasure in pointing out to my wife, who uses the same device to fill glass trap-cap dimple bottles she found ten years ago at Value Village - which were also featured onscreen in BSG.
posted by mwhybark at 12:25 AM on April 29, 2018


Amos siding with Holden was... eerie. Like, is Holden now his North Star? Or is that him exercising his own mind?
posted by greermahoney at 8:04 PM on April 23, 2019 [1 favorite]


pinch your nipples and pucker up ....

On the DVD version I'm watching it's "Hitch your tits and pucker up ...". I think the three monosyllables land better.
posted by Paul Slade at 2:00 PM on December 4, 2020


That spot where Errinwright is sitting on the bench with a corridor behind him and a pool and glass building in front of him is one of my favourite spots in Toronto. I had some co-op jobs in the area and would walk by there almost every day.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 12:42 PM on February 23, 2023


« Older Mystery Science Theater 3000: ...   |  Star Trek: Voyager: Collective... Newer »

You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments

poster