Lanx
<Prior Amod>
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finished, Amos would be my space bae, i don't care how gay that sounds, you're all saying the same thing too after finishing S4
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The Expanse
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Runnen
Vyemm Raider
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While I love the book series, books 4-5 are a bit of a jumbled mess and blur in my mind due to all the chapters dedicated to the Marco bullshit and the eye slugs on Ilus dragging on way too long and most of the characters seemed pretty forgettable in those books until it picks back up when Laconia enters the game.
That said, the show's version of the events is packing MUCH better pace, the characters are awesome, and the show is just as great as ever. Bring on season 5, Amazon.
That said, the show's version of the events is packing MUCH better pace, the characters are awesome, and the show is just as great as ever. Bring on season 5, Amazon.
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Cybsled
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Season 4 was fucking amazing. Faithful adaptation that trimmed some of the unneeded side plots and masterfully weaved in book 5 elements to set the stage for next season.
I was sad to see Ashford die, though. I loved how they changed his character from the books. On a side note, I can't recall, but weren't the asteroids in the book larger? The one they used in the show only seemed to be a couple hundred feet across in diameter or so. I mean, they are nickle/iron and presumably being thrown with high velocity, but I recall in the book that only 3 of them pretty much created an almost global nuclear winter situation
Lanx
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Jorren
Maximum Derek
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I would not get too hung up on that. Thinking about how big they are/should be and having a visual of "stealthed" asteroids can go either way really. At any rate, seeing those ultra black rocks got the point across, and kinda gave chills
Cybsled
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The whole Okoye-Holden love triangle/infatuation crap was completely cut was the big thing. It always felt like half her POV chapters focused on that. They also redid the book characters...the guy on the UN ship was originally Miller's partner from Ceres in the book, but it looks like they chopped that and replaced him with the character that ends up marrying Okoye and is in later books. They also cut the Katoya link from the whole Ganymede incident, in that the woman who set the bombs was Katoya's father in the books (Mei's friend that got turned into a protomolecule soldier). Granted that was minor, but they really didn't need to make that connection in the show.
They really didn't have to trim a bunch, but they paced it better than the book, which allowed them to slip in all the season/book 5 buildup stuff from the Sol system.
Lanx
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oh yea i could see how that would be annoying, did they have like "miller touched both you and me, we should be togther!, screw Naomi, that bitch can't even stand gravity, lulz"
Kanglor
Silver Knight of the Realm
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Just finished it, so just off the cuff thoughts here...also have not read the books. First off, while I enjoyed it, was easily the weakest season for me, which seems consistent with quite a few opinions I'd seen about the 4th book this season was based on. I can understand there needing to be a rest/reset to start setting the stage for the next major arcs, but the reduction in scope on both the alien and political fronts felt pretty jarring.
The whole Ilus situation felt like it should have been resolved in 3-4 episodes, as the main issues were the humans fighting and the alien tech...yet they kept piling on more issues that took until the very last minute to solve. Maybe it wouldn't have felt so stretched out if things had been more interesting on the character development side, but outside of Amos, nothing I recall really stood out for me, especially among the original cast. Without spoiling, will also say I didn't find most of the story with Avasarala that enjoyable either. I did like that her fiery personality got dialed up, but the governmental scenes this season paled in comparison to the debates and war room scenes previously.
Lastly, maybe my biggest plot nitpick was right off the bat, with how the whole shitstorm started on Ilus. Maybe it's explained better in the books, but after Earth and Mars both almost get wiped out by proto molecule, and then the entire system almost blown up, how in the hell did all the governments not have at least a full battle group of ships guarding the ring entry. Humanity was almost wiped out, and now there's over 1000 new systems, with who knows how many possible things that could result in a catastrophic event to be unleashed. I know the issue was a talking point for a few scenes, but it was mostly hand waved off. I get that raging tribalism and thirst for possible riches are major driving forces, but man, seems like there's a big shortage of leaders with common sense in the future.
The whole Ilus situation felt like it should have been resolved in 3-4 episodes, as the main issues were the humans fighting and the alien tech...yet they kept piling on more issues that took until the very last minute to solve. Maybe it wouldn't have felt so stretched out if things had been more interesting on the character development side, but outside of Amos, nothing I recall really stood out for me, especially among the original cast. Without spoiling, will also say I didn't find most of the story with Avasarala that enjoyable either. I did like that her fiery personality got dialed up, but the governmental scenes this season paled in comparison to the debates and war room scenes previously.
Lastly, maybe my biggest plot nitpick was right off the bat, with how the whole shitstorm started on Ilus. Maybe it's explained better in the books, but after Earth and Mars both almost get wiped out by proto molecule, and then the entire system almost blown up, how in the hell did all the governments not have at least a full battle group of ships guarding the ring entry. Humanity was almost wiped out, and now there's over 1000 new systems, with who knows how many possible things that could result in a catastrophic event to be unleashed. I know the issue was a talking point for a few scenes, but it was mostly hand waved off. I get that raging tribalism and thirst for possible riches are major driving forces, but man, seems like there's a big shortage of leaders with common sense in the future.
Runnen
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Well, since you haven't read the books, maybe you know or maybe you don't know, but all of Bobbie's stuff and most of Avasarala's stuff in season 4 is completely made up for the show, because Bobbie was not in book 4 at all, and Avarasala barely was. The show has linked them to events that will pay off in season 5 (with Bobbie's activities during season 4 being a lead into the events that take place in the finale), and the season is really more of a trimmed book 4 and setup for book 5 with some clearly 5 content in it.
As for your feeling that the ring gates were not guarded enough by the UN/MCRN/OPA, well it's both a problem of logistics because the fleets are really diminished after the war, and precisely BECAUSE it's defended by all three factions.. the truce is so fragile that everything they do is mired in politics and stepping on eggshells and they have trouble making decisions to shoot ships or letting them wait forever, some will go kamikaze into the ring gate, etc...
That was covered in the first episode but then it's kind of implied for the rest of the season and we move onto other problems.
As someone that read all the books and short novellas and really dragged through 4 and 5 for some chapters, I can tell you this season was masterfully done, though everything could always be better I suppose..
Still the best show on TV at the moment (and they don't even have a Baby Yoda!)
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LachiusTZ
Rogue Deathwalker Box
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Was fucking good imo.
First 2 or 3 episodes I was kinda bleh, they got a bit campy? I dunno, just felt off.
But damn, I ripped through this yesterday.
Loved how they started setting up Marco, and Laconia, etc (esp the survey probe tech guys being dirty, b/c they were giving Duetre his info on what system to take)
Was clapping like a retard whose team just won the big game when the ships were shooting past in ep1.
Going to watch it again soon, I usually hate film adaptations of books, but I think they did a great job in this one.
Do wish they had pretended there was no lag between the seasons IRL, the "Lets remind everyone who is in the show" in the first episodes kinda messed up the pace.
Its been a while since i read the books, but Marco kicks off another war and thats when dr evil gets all the mars military shit through the gate?
First 2 or 3 episodes I was kinda bleh, they got a bit campy? I dunno, just felt off.
But damn, I ripped through this yesterday.
Loved how they started setting up Marco, and Laconia, etc (esp the survey probe tech guys being dirty, b/c they were giving Duetre his info on what system to take)
Was clapping like a retard whose team just won the big game when the ships were shooting past in ep1.
Going to watch it again soon, I usually hate film adaptations of books, but I think they did a great job in this one.
Do wish they had pretended there was no lag between the seasons IRL, the "Lets remind everyone who is in the show" in the first episodes kinda messed up the pace.
Its been a while since i read the books, but Marco kicks off another war and thats when dr evil gets all the mars military shit through the gate?
Cybsled
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Sorta
You find out that Duerte more or less allowed Marco to get his hands on tech for the attack on Earth, because it was essentially a distraction for Duerte to move his faction to the Laconian system and weaken potential opposition to his plans. Marco was just a zealot: He wanted to kill all Inners and keep belters in the belt/not let anyone use the gate.
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General Antony
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It's pretty obvious the source material for this season sucked dick. You have season 3 end on a huge potential expansion on the scope of the story and then season 4 has this myopic focus on the lives of 50 unimportant savages.
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pharmakos
soʞɐɯɹɐɥd
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Four episodes in only... So far, everything is as good or better than before Amazon bought them, other than quite a few spots where the dialogue seems pretty blunt / forced. Like they rushed the scripts but took their time with everything else? Idk. It's good tho.
Cybsled
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Book 4 (season 4) was improved much by the fact books 7+ build heavily on the events that happened there
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