the expanse

The Expanse: What to Expect in Season 5 (Spoilers)

Well, I just plowed through 4 seasons of The Expanse and now I’m ready for season 5. I mean… no, I’m not ready. Four seasons was kind of a lot to binge through and I definitely need a break. But after a short break, I’m definitely ready to get going on Season 5 of The Expanse. This is also going to be sort of a review.

Season 4 left some dangling threads. There’s a new President, or Secretary General or whatever. Thank goodness, I was getting so tired of that actress. I found her performance to be bizarre and stilted from the very beginning of the show and they just kept giving her more and more screen time and making her more central to the plot until she was in half of every episode, and then they really leaned in to her vulgarity taking it from a character trait to a form of aggressive self-parody. I realize the show is based off a book series and they’re going to have to keep her around.

This is a pretty big shot in the dark, but has anyone seen that episode of Modern Family where Gloria gets a speech coach and tries to work on her diction? That’s what the Secretary General performance sounds like.

The Inspector is gone. He got sent through a… portal? So he’s dead now. It’s kind of a shame that he didn’t fully return until the last episode, because that character is, in general, pretty intriguing. Has a lot of personality, commands his screen time

Holden spent most of Season 4 (which was, in my opinion, the weakest season so far), working with a Doctor who it seems like is being set up to have an elevated role on the show like Gunny. So I would expect that we’ll see more of her next season.

It feels like the biggest setup overall is the destroyed morale on Mars. People no longer want to commit to the dream of terraforming Mars now that there are better, more habitable planets available to colonize. Since this was the thread that Gunny’s entire arc led up to for the whole season and it didn’t intersect with anything else going on, I have to assume it becomes an important plot point in the books later on, or else they would have just cut it out.

The other major setup, obviously, was the reveal that Naomi’s son is also the son of the terrorist we followed around all season with the OPA characters. I expect that to be a very bland arc.

Amos continues to be the best character on the show with his good-guy-yet-total-sociopath charm. Last season he got a girlfriend and got his fingers blown off by a guy who, unfortunately for him, has a permanent ‘Hannibal Lecter’ face. Gunny is also a badass. Insane Holden is more interesting than ‘bloodlust Holden’ and ‘boy scout Holden’. Naomi and what’s his name (Alex?) are pretty forgettable. I like the OPA captain girl. I can’t believe they killed off the Irish dude. He was cool.

Season 4 was kind of boring. The idea of visiting new worlds beyond the gate was cool and all, but episode after episode of sad, blind refugees sitting under a tarp just kind of felt like it lacked forward momentum, and then the major B-plot of the season was about the Secretary General losing an election which, also, was not that interesting, especially compared to the high stakes political intrigue of seasons 1 and 2.

Anyway, I’m looking forward to The Expanse Season 5. There’s no release date for it yet. I’m guessing it’ll come out in the second half of this year, maybe early 2021. That’s a long wait. Ugh.

That’s all I have to say about The Expanse Season 5. Be sure to check out the Movies & TV Section for more content like this.

Author

  • Ryan Night

    Ryan Night is an ex-game industry producer with over a decade of experience writing guides for RPGs. Previously an early contributor at gamefaqs.com, Ryan has been serving the RPG community with video game guides since 2001. As the owner of Bright Rock Media, Ryan has written over 600 guides for RPGs of all kinds, from Final Fantasy Tactics to Tales of Arise.

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