Thoughts on “Hard Vacuum” (Expanse 5.8)
SPOILERS, clearly. As a note, I have read the books, so they’re will be references and spoilers for them, as well.
“Vacuum” doesn’t look like a word to me. Never has, and I suspect it never will.
I want to take a moment and say that the theme of the Expanse is perfect for the show. It harkens to the music on old “inspirational” scifi shows, but is also meloncoly. The latter befits a vision of humanity that is still struggling with inequality and wealth disparity, even as it leaves the bounds of the Earth.
Peaches and Amos still please, though I worry they’re going to ramp up the romance, and they’re not really romantic in the books. They were family, in a way that had nothing to do with sex and everything to do with love. I’d forgotten how/why Amos’s story came back to Erik. I wasn’t interested in that part of the story; I was far more invested in Naomi’s story, in the book.
Ugh, watching Marco use Naomi’s “death” against Filip makes me so mad. I have personal issues watching narcissists manipulate people, but especially watching them manipulate their children.
Reading about what Naomi went through to get away from Marco was rough enough; seeing it play out is a bigger gut punch. I do enjoy watching her science/engineer her way through this emergency. I mean, she pulled several pieces together so get what she needed, and damn near suffocated herself a dozen times to alter the message.
So I’ve read fan-chatter that Bull will be the new Roci pilot, and I guess, sure, but I don’t see the path where we go from “I’m not risking myself to save Holden’s girlfriend” to “part of the crew.” They might not try to fold him into the “family” aspect of it. I hope they don’t pigeon-hole Clarissa in there, either. She wasn’t the pilot, her sister was, and it would stretch belief to have her filling that role.
Drummer! Nothing else, just got excited to see her again.
Oh, it’s heartbreaking watching her crew fight, but the scene where they laugh for a moment provides the hope they’ll make it. Pa’s crew wasn’t given this much depth; you never get a sense for them like I have for Drummer’s crew. I mean, you got to know them as Pa did, but you didn’t get these family scenes.
I do not buy for a second that Matar Kubeliya attacked Marco. I’ll need the show to prove to me that Marco isn’t a petulant little toddler about everything. Until then, he killed them because they “wronged” him and then put in the coverup. Hell, even if the show does prove it, I may still head-canon it.
I mean, I think I hate Marco. The asteroid storyline in the books is just horrifying, and I had a very emotional response to it. I expected the same and from the show, and I haven’t, as much. I think that’s because I knew it was coming.
Also, I’m calling it: “we must feed and protect the Belt” is 100% the show indicating they’re following through on the storyline that was Marco’s ultimate downfall.
Secretary-General Paster is off to a good start -- with a solid speech. His war council went exactly how I expected -- he knows he has to make a big move, but he can’t figure it out and his advisors don’t agree. He is lost, and unable to weigh the benefits and consequences well enough to make the hardest call of his life.
Ooo, when Karal told Drummer about Naomi, I thought she was dead then and there. I’m very sad I’m wrong. Watching Drummer mourn Naomi hurt.
I feel like “Tell James Holden I’m in control” should become a thing. Mostly because Holden seems like he needs to be reminded of that sometimes.
