The Expanse - S03E08 - It Reaches Out - 05/30/2018

As I recall correctly, yes. Maybe a careful rewatching of the episode will reveal a clue. They seem to follow the books relatively closely.

Do also consider that of the people on the Roci, Miller was closest to Holden, and they did spend all that time together on Eros.

I wonder how this would have been different if this had been a television show from the start rather than a novel. In a novel it's easy for a character to go missing for a book and then show back up. On a television show it must be difficult on the casting department to get actors willing to be awol for a season and then show back up.

I enjoyed this episode. One of the UNN guys asked at the beginning of the episode asked more-or-less the same question I asked last week ("why wasn't the racer pancaked?").

I really like the character of Miller and the actor who plays Miller. I'm glad we get to see more of him.

 

Yes, to both those questions. The TV series is following pretty closely to the plotting of the books. Which is great, because the plots are really quite excellent: intricate and they hold together very well. No worries of some sort of plot collapse into a pile of spaghetti by the end.

They are moving some things around a bit and condensed some more minor characters, mainly to make things fit into a pretty short season I suspect. But major things like Miller and the Holden confession broadcast are pretty much as they happened in the books. Same with the sabotage.

 

I'm starting to feel like they may wrap up Book 3 (Abaddon's Gate) *this season,* instead of letting it spill over into next as the previous two seasons have done. We still have five episodes left- and it's more than enough to cover the remaining plot. And it's rumored (from reddit)

Spoiler: book spoiler/possible 4th season spoiler

that the show's going to Ilus, a planet from book 4: Cibola Burn.

What they've done with Ashford/Drummer/Naomi is brilliant compared to the book. And I'm loving Stratiharn's performance- even if his Belter creole seems a little funky.

 

Advertisements

Spoiler

That novel always felt like somewhat of a side adventure to me, with several major characters and politics left behind. I could have seen them instead switching to Nemesis Games, and continuing to explore politics within the system. Then again, you kinda have to let Cibola Burn play out to wrap up the Miller story.

I'm kinda looking forward to seeing Marcos Inaros at some point, assuming the series continues long enough (following your spoiler, if Cibola Burn is S4, Nemesis Games couldn't happen until S5)

I do find belter-speak far less annoying on screen than I did in the novels.

 

Book -> show change theory:

Spoiler

In the book Ashford wanted to destroy the ring out of religious fanaticism, I don't see the show Ashford having that problem, but I wonder if he would want to destroy the ring because he sees new planets as a threat to the belters?

 

You wouldn't need an entire season to tell Cibola Burn. Three or five episodes tops. An sharp scribe can probably do a two hour movie on it.

Spoiler: book-->show change counter theory

Ashford is to Anderson Dawes as Drummer is to Fred Johnson- and his primary motivation is controlling Behemoth.

But the moment I saw the new Belter unis I thought Free Navy. I too want to see Marco Inaros and Naomi's son; so I'd rather not Ashford usurp that role.

 

Damn, this arc is really heating up.

I hope that Holden doesn't spend more than a few minutes trying to figure out who the saboteur on the Rocinante is.

 

Minor irritant: Are the writers just pretending they never changed the name of the Rocinante in the earlier episode? Seems like a truly pointless thing to have done.

 

Over six months have passed since the war- why they changed their transponder ID in the first place. Do we really need to see a scene of them reclaiming their name when so much has transpired in the six months?

 

I like how it's been shot, I liked the story (read all the books) and am hoping
there isn't too long a delay between the syfy eps and the Amazon eps!

 

Didn't understand that all first, then realized that he's blind.

 

I believe he sees through his cameras, which his hand motions are controlling. I presume he tracks things by moving his cameras, not his eyes, and so appears blind because his eyes don't track.

 

The sensors are in his fingers. That's how he sees.

 

So, he's a bad Batman villain?

 

He's definitely blind. Amos referred to it.
I looked to me also like he sees through the camera and uses his hands to move the camera.

 

He definitely sees common visual information through his camera drones. But there are other times where he's not using his drones, and it seems like he's using his hands to "map" the surfaces he's interacting with from a small distance. So probably a different set of sensors (perhaps magnetic?) built into his fingertips that he also uses to "see" in a different way.

 

I missed that he didn't always have his drones with him.
Could be that there are teeny tiny cameras embedded in his fingertips.

(Anyway, glad that Amazon picked up S4, but was hoping Hulu would. Guess I'll binge next year so that I only have to pay 1mo to Bezo )

 

I figured at those times he was manipulating the drones remotely...

 

The gestures are somewhat similar, but it seemed clear to me when he was running his hands over the surfaces he was following the contours of said surfaces. If he was controlling the drones, he wouldn't have to get his hands that close, and in any case I don't recall seeing any drones in those particular scenes/shots.