I caught both things in Amos as well. Compared to first season Amos, this shows character growth IMO. Good writing and good acting.
Maybe it’s my age, but I don’t expect perfect special effects in television series. I know that they’re working with limited budgets and production times, and I’m perfectly happy with “good enough”.
One problem with the TV shows vs. the books is that they have to brush over exactly how long they’ve been a crew together. Even with the “Epstein drive”, travel can take months, and some missions through the ring gates can take up to a year.
In book terms, by this point of the story, they’ve been together for probably close to a decade, if not more. TV show-wise, well, I guess it’s been 6 real years, but story-wise, it’s less than that. Most of the events we see on the show seem to occur over just a few weeks, at most, with just a few time-jumps between seasons or mid-season. This changes the dynamics quite a bit.
I watched Episode 2, “Azure Dragon” last night. I guess Amazon uses GMT to define “Friday”.
EPISODE 2 SPOILERS FOLLOW!
Another solid episode. The raid on the Azure Dragon was exciting and well-choreographed. Too often, scenes like that can be a confusing mess of action with new problems arising continuously, but here they kept it simpler yet tension-filled throughout.
High points: there’s still a lot of tension among the Rocinante crew, but you can see it lessening it a little with this success. Continuous anger would make the characters unappealing, and immediately being best friends would feel fake. They struck the right balance.
Naomi’s stress was also well-written and well-acted. I particularly liked the moment between her and Holden. "Really all right, or all right because you’re not ready to talk about it?’ “The second one.”
Low points: I get that we need Monica Stuart as a foil for Avasarala, but does she have to be so annoying in that role? I’m also disappointed that they apparently feel the need to include the propaganda video story line in such an abbreviated season. It was a cute distraction in the book, but IMO any time spent on it here is time better used on something else. There’s a crapload to wrap up with only four episodes left.
Solid episode, IMO.
You left out the most important line: “Alright.”
This was, for me, the single most impactful scene of the episode. The acceptance and understanding conveyed in that brief sequence was remarkable. Truly cinematic magic, IMO.
Rosenfeld is an intriguing character. She’s so composed it’s scary.
OTOH…
I do not like the little girl or her parents. I hope we’re done with them and can move onto the bigger storyline that they were (I hope) introducing us to.
Amos issuing orders to Peaches that countermanded Holden’s orders right in front of Holden seemed out of character for Amos and IMO it undermines Holden’s later attempt to assert control over Peaches’ future actions.
Also, I’ve disliked the Monica Stuart character since she first appeared. Any time she is the show, I hate watching and just want the scene to be over with ASAP. Everything about the character seems contrived and unrealistic, as if she were merely a device rather than a character. I think the actress is doing a terrific job; I just hate the character.
reply spoilered
Not gonna happen. Hope it isn’t too spoilery and I don’t know how the TV series will play it, but the little girl (who I had forgotten about until I read the final novel a few days ago) and her littler brother are significant characters in the books.
That was definitely spoilery and completely unnecessary.
Ok well as I got the wrong thread
Really enjoying the season, the rock crew tension is being well handled, ‘alright’ was a great line.
They need to get the weird alien planet story moving.
In the defunct season 6 thread I posted a link that indicated more series and a movie were in the pipeline, but I am doubting the veracity of the link, so apologies for that.
I enjoyed E3 quite a bit.
From the “let’s make our show more difficult to watch for some reason” department…
Episode 4 seemed oddly like filler even though a fair amount happened with the characters. Only two episodes to go with a LOT to wrap up. Are they planning a movie or something?
The strange ships that appeared at the tail end of Episode 3 aren’t even referenced.
I need to remember to try the x-ray thing.
For us Americans, it appears Friday starts at GMT, so I watched it last night around 8 EST.
I’ve watched the first three vignettes. As noted in the linked article, they don’t contribute to the main storylines. I wouldn’t say they reveal new facets of the characters, but more just enhance things you already knew, like Avasarala has a soft side, and Amos and Bobbie have a friendly rivalry.
The Avasarala one was mildly touching, and Amos/Bobbie was fun. The Michio/Drummer vignette might have been the most revealing, yet oddly it didn’t do anything for me.
They’ve done a really clumsy job of interleaving the Laconia thread and the Inaros thread, too.
I think Amos is overstepping a lot this season. Maybe his attitude makes more sense in the books where it is more obvious that a lot of time has passed and a lot of bonding was done but here it just feels like poor writing to me. Thought it was great that Holden has the numpties to tell him to fuck off when it wouldn’t take much effort to be spaced.
Have I mentioned how much I like Drummer? The character is amazing; the portrayal is transcendent.
“Don’t ever feel bad about not killing someone.”
This is a great show and I will miss it. I can’t see how they will tie up all the loose ends in one more episode but I looks forward to seeing what they come up with.
Until this week I had suspected the stuff with the family on the planet was happening far in the relative future but the guy’s speech about Mars this week put the kibosh on that theory.
Well, recall that this season only covers up to Book 6 and then Books 7, 8, 9 and left in the wind and hopefully someone picks them up.
So there will be some loose ends that just don’t get tied.
Here’s some news:
From more than a year ago.
Yeah, at this point Alcon (the production company) is just hoping someone will give them the opportunity to do the last 3 books.