The Expanse Season 3 Review

For some reason, I was more excited about Westworld Season 2 than I was about the Expanse Season 3. I actually waited until the Expanse Season 3 had already concluded before I started watching it. That was a happy accident; if I had been watching it since it started airing, the wait between each weekly episode might have been too painful for me.

Binging the Expanse Season 3 was exhilarating. I haven’t read the books so I don’t know what the pacing in those is like, but the makers of the show understand how to keep me on the edge of my seat with every episode. They understand that having a single revelation at the end of the episode is not enough for me to come back next week. What brings me back is the way that each scene connects me to characters that I care about and that I want to see grow. I'm enthralled by their interactions with each other, and the way they overcome their obstacles and come out as better people.

There are, of course, the constant threats that endanger the entire solar system. But, to me, they serve only as a roaring engine that pushes the characters forward. In an era dominated by pessimistic shows like Game of Thrones and Westworld, it’s refreshing to watch a humanistic story in which the characters are constantly growing and understanding each other better. In many other TV series, the slightest difficulty will make a character reveal what a terrible person they are before spending the rest of the show wallowing in cynicism. There is plenty of darkness in the Expanse, but its characters wallow in sadness and doubt only as they face their personal demons while still striving to become better.

There is plenty to be said about the cinematography of the show, but I’ll leave that to those that understand the technical aspects better. All I know is that, for a show that takes place in an entirely fictional setting, the Expanse felt very real to me. Sure, the CGI effects don’t always look good, and the frequent switching between scenes and characters reminds me a little of a soap opera, but this is compensated by other fundamental aspects of storytelling that are absolutely nailed. Things like the attention to detail in the physics of space, the lived-in feel of its setting, and the hierarchies of the various power structures, all take me into the story much more than a bad CGI effect can take me out.

When I started watching Season 3, I was concerned that the story would end up revolving entirely around the struggle between the people of Earth, Mars, and the Belt. Don't get me wrong, it is good that a Sci-Fi story can present common human stories through a fantastic, futuristic setting. This allows us to view our ethical and social struggles in a new light, sometimes offering insight that a more realistic story couldn’t offer. But, while political intrigue is a very interesting topic for a story, I hope for Sci-Fi and Fantasy stories to take me somewhere beyond, to new territory.  When a Sci-Fi story pushes toward the unknown, toward concepts and stakes greater than those we face in our current lives, it can open our mind to entirely new ideas and ways of thinking.

In the case of the Expanse, the story does push toward new territory. It fulfills the promise of the first two seasons while teasing us with greater potential in the upcoming seasons. The promise of the story is so great, in fact, that it convinced me to read the novel series, which is already about 4 books ahead of where Season 3 ends. I already started the first book, Leviathan Wakes, and can’t wait to set aside a whole day just to read it.

We are already surrounded by great Sci-Fi and Fantasy TV shows. Game of Thrones is ending next year, Westworld is getting into full swing, and Legend of the Galactic Heroes (a favorite of mine) just got a new anime adaptation, which concluded its first season a month ago. I imagine there are half a dozen other promising shows that I haven’t watched yet. Even among all these, it’s the Expanse Season 4 that I'm waiting for most eagerly. If it came out tomorrow, that wouldn't be fast enough.