Plot: Season Five of the series picks up as multitudes of humans leave the solar system in search of new homes and vast fortunes on the earth-like worlds beyond the alien Ring, and a heavy price for centuries of exploitation of the Belt finally comes due and a reckoning is at hand. For the crew of the Rocinante and the leaders of the Inner Planets and the Belt, the past and present converge, bringing forth personal challenges that have wide-reaching repercussions throughout the Solar System.
Review: We watch a lot of television here at JoBlo.com. While we try to review as many shows as possible, some fall through the cracks. Right or wrong, The Expanse is a series I failed to watch when it debuted five years ago. To be fair, it did premiere on SyFy who aren't exactly known for the quality of their output. Yes, they are the network that brought us Battlestar Galactica, but that is the exception to the rule. Needless to say, even when The Expanse jumped from SyFy to Amazon Prime Video, I still did not prioritize it. Now, as the series begins its penultimate season, I decided to binge the first four. I discovered that not only is The Expanse one of the smartest shows on television, but it is also as epic as Game of Thrones and Battlestar Galactica combined. Expanse fans are likely nodding their heads in agreement. For all of you, I am sorry it took me so long to check this show out. I can also tell you that season five does not disappoint.
Here is a crash course on The Expanse: several hundred years in the future, the solar system has been colonized. The main factions are the United Nations of Earth and Luna, the Martian Congressional Republic, and the Outer Planets Alliance (OPA). The common names heard through the series are Earthers, Belters (those working on Ceres and stations within the Asteroid Belt), Martians, and the OPAs. Like warring countries, these various factions struggle to get along with amenities like water serving as major sources of power. Like the Old West, the further from civilization you are the harder it becomes to police. The first season played more like a mystery that set the table for all of the various factions and groups, but from season two onward The Expanse has transformed into a massive political thriller. It also has set the stage to venture further from the known reaches of space thanks to the concept of Ring-gates.
While the previous seasons have sowed seeds of animosity between the United Nations and the Belters, it reached a tipping point last year with the introduction of Marco Inaros (Keon Alexander). Before that, James Holden (Steven Strait) and the crew of the Rocinante including Naomi Nagata (Dominique Tipper), Amos Burton (Wes Chatham), and Alex Kamal (Cas Anvar) were dispatched to various locations in the Solar System to unravel mysteries and threats to humanity. On Earth, UN leader Chrisjen Avasarala (Shohreh Aghdashloo) continued to find ways to prevent threats from beyond the planet. It certainly is a long way from when detective Joe Miller (Thomas Jane) was investigating what seemed like a standard missing person case back in the first season. Season five ups the stakes significantly as sides are drawn between the Inner Worlds and the united threat under Inaros.
Much like Game of Thrones before it, The Expanse has a massive cast spread over long distances who all get a fair amount of screen time. There is a lot of story here which has deviated slightly from the source novels by James S.A. Corey. But with the narrative essentially planned out for them, showrunners Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby have done an admirable job of keeping the story focused on the endgame while still managing to continue developing these characters as fully as possible. There is loss, romance, animosity, and more in the smaller moments of this series. Within a single episode, the story can shift from massive looks at ships facing off in outer space or realizing the smallest details of what the different societies look like in dozens of locations ranging from familiar to utterly alien.
The biggest shift when The Expanse moved from SyFy to Prime is the more liberal use of profanity. Since it premiered, The Expanse has been an example of top tier special effects and production design, easily matching what HBO can do. The diverse cast has also consistently delivered a series that would be just as enthralling even if you took out all of the science fiction elements. Season 5 continues to cement the storylines over the ten-episode season (nine of which were made available for this review) and even features an entry helmed by former lead Thomas Jane. The slow burn of the first season is replaced by a narrative that has progressively increased the stakes with this season being the most intense to date. Like Clinton Shorter's excellent score, The Expanse is the very definition of what science fiction can be.
There is little negative I can say about The Expanse aside from the fact it is a dense and complex story that requires your attention. This is a western set in outer space mixed with a spy thriller and political drama with some palace intrigue thrown in for good measure. It is also violent, gut-wrenching, and every bit as deep as Westworld. The Expanse is not Star Wars or Star Trek but something unique and remains the benchmark for science fiction on television. I am already disappointed we will only be getting one more season but I am thankful that Amazon Prime saved this series from cancellation to allow the story to be wrapped up properly. The Expanse is just damn good television.
The Expanse will premiere season five beginning December 16th on Amazon Prime Video.