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Same. Struggling through the 5th season, though. Feels like it's lost its narrative drive.

lazypenguin 6y ago
I abandoned the show after season 4. The fourth season was disappointing and sounds like the fifth might be a let down as well. The first 3 seasons were absolutely fantastic.
- baq 6y ago
  5th season is based on the 5th book which is easily top 3 of the whole series. the 4th season and the 4th book are widely considered below average for the series. if you liked the first 3 seasons, you'll feel right at home with s5.
  - endtime 6y ago
    I disagree. Most of S5 so far has been personal stories, not space opera. I'm still finding it entertaining, but I wouldn't recommend the show to anyone on the basis of season 5.
    - baq 6y ago
      Just finished the season finale. Keep watching, it’s worth it.
- watwut 6y ago
  Fifth one is better then 4th and I would say also better then 3th.
  - narag 6y ago
    For me 4th was boring and even more disappointing considering that, after all they suffered to open the portal, all that they found was a ruined, minefield piece of shit planet. Fith is being a little more entertaining but also turning the back to the portal. Edit: also there's sound in space. IIRC that wasn't the case in the first seasons.
    - watwut 6y ago
      > Edit: also there's sound in space. IIRC that wasn't the case in the first seasons. I haven't noticed. I usually interpret the sound in space as sound that ship makes inside, the one that came to you through comm or something etc.
      - narag 6y ago
        Nah, it's systemic. At some moment there were some missiles. There's no way to explain that, unless you believe the missiles make a transmition to the ship that launched them, to say in their noisy missile language that they're pursuing the target :)
- jaegerpicker 6y ago
  That's not at all how I feel, Season 5 is the best of all of them IMO. 4 was definitely a let down but 5 has been fantastic.
- pavlov 6y ago
  I was bored by the cookie-cutter Scary Alien Machine Planet and weird physics in S4, but season 5 is a great improvement. It brings the story back to Earth and the Rim, with real people making consequential decisions.
  - effie 6y ago
    Exactly. 4th season felt superfluous/boring. 5th gets back to basics. Maybe a little repetition (razorback, nuke, Mrs.) but it is fun.
- zwaps 6y ago
  Many people have said this, but it really does reflect the book material. The upside is that we can expect the last season to pick up again.
GordonS 6y ago
I'm the same - loved the first 4 seasons, but season 5 feels slow like they're really dragging things out. Also feel like some of the dialogue and acting are not very convincing. And it almost feels like a series of short stories, instead of one storyline.
- fullstop 6y ago
  You're not wrong. The parts on Earth from season 5 was from "The Churn", a novella.
  - tastyfreeze 6y ago
    The parts on Earth are from book 5. "The Churn" novella is the story of Timmy becoming Amos that happened before Amos was on the Cant.
    - fullstop 6y ago
      You're absolutely right.
  - GordonS 6y ago
    Ah, I haven't read the books, and didn't even realise the series was based on books until this thread!
- tastyfreeze 6y ago
  Book 5 is pretty disjointed with 4/5 stories happening at the same time. So, your feeling is accurate to the book.
Person5478 6y ago
I feel the same. I've fallen behind in terms of the episodes being released and don't feel any particular need to catch up. I'll watch them eventually, but it's just not exciting enough for me to make it a priority.
l33tman 6y ago
Yes, S5 is basically only good because of the by now known actors and overall production quality. It's a much less interesting story than any of the previous seasons and keeps rehashing narratives and tropes. S1 was completely mindblowing, film noir in space in a well fleshed out world and awesome production quality, S2 OK, S3 was a "must see" but then it went downhill.
- mpalmer 6y ago
  For what it's worth, every season follows the books pretty faithfully.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - meowster 6y ago
    Except for a notable character death in Season 5.
    - tastyfreeze 6y ago
      And a much more fantastic rescue. Kinda mad that the book rescue wasn't in the show.
      - andrei_says_ 6y ago
        But it mostly was, no? Apart from Naomi repeatedly going out of the ship to signal with lights. Or am I missing something?
        tastyfreeze 6y ago
        * book spoiler * Bobby riding a missile like a surfboard is much more fantastic that what was in the show. It is one of the "big scenes" that I wanted to see on screen. It is explained in the book that her suit thrusters don't have the range to reach Naomi in time. So she mag boots on to one of the remaining missiles that were orbiting the Razorback (also missing from the show) and Alex flies the missile remotely to Naomi.
wrenky 6y ago
Stick with it! Its building into something magical if it follows the books. Also, read the books they are incredible!
- TLightful 6y ago
  Ok, thanks - I'll give it a shot
- Sylamore 6y ago
  Unfortunately, Season 6 will be the last Season of the series :( They've stated they are sticking to book 6 and not trying to cram the last 4 books into 1 season. The speculation is there will be "movies" for each of the final 3 books, but that's not confirmed in any meaningful way.
erulabs 6y ago
Last nights episode made S5 worth the space-opera vibes. Really happy it’s getting back to sci-fi and hopefully leaving game-of-thrones-in-space behind a bit
jaegerpicker 6y ago
Wow really? I love season 5, so much depth to the world building and big actions. If it follows the book it builds to an amazing pay off IMO.
StephenAmar 6y ago
I feel that Season 5 works a lot better if are a book reader. I totally get why the shift away from the gates is a bit confusing. The Expanse was never a planet-of-the-week show. Exploring the impact of the new planets on the solar system and its people is also important. One thing I'm a bit disappointed is the fact that they drop part of Mars storyline.
- hef19898 6y ago
  I have to second this. The parties motives, Mars and Inaros, make so much sense. Hard to convey that level of detail and complexity in a TV show. They managed to explain most Mars motivation rather well so, in the arc where Bobbie is chasing black marketeers. I could imagine, so, that season 6 will answer most of these questions.
loosetypes 6y ago
I’m not a book reader and agree, although I’m only three episodes into season 5. Amos was one of my favorite characters but am a bit put off by how his role has, to an extent, become fan service. I appreciate that he’s a tough guy, enjoyed that aspect of earlier seasons, and want more of it. But don’t give me, the viewer, instant gratification just because I want it if it will erode my suspension of disbelief. Feels like the characters and narratives are trending towards more traditionally defined arcs with characters getting in fights to show the audience they’re invincible or otherwise saved by cheap deus ex machina tricks.
TLightful 6y ago
Just want to add on that: Amos: "I'm that guy" ... was the line of all 4 series. Haha. Loved the build up to that moment. standing ovation in the cinema audience kind of a moment
y-c-o-m-b 6y ago
For a while I thought this was an unpopular opinion, but now I'm seeing more people agree. Relative to season 1-4, season 5 is extremely anti-climactic and at times even annoying (e.g. the looping Naomi transmission really got on my nerves). It's hard to believe season 6 will be the last after the complete disappointment season 5 has become. Conversely I see hate for season 4, but I really liked it. I really love plot-lines around mysterious aliens or ancient technology. It's one of the reasons why Deep Space 9 and Babylon 5 are some of my favorite Sci-Fi series.
IkmoIkmo 6y ago
Yeah the 5th season is a struggle for me, too. I stil love watching it but it's a bit slow. It feels it's all character build-up, with little story progression. Amos' prison & planet escape storyline makes no sense in the grand scheme of things. Sure it's a nice story, but it doesn't have much to do with the Expanse universe, the prison/planet escape could've been part of any generic movie, specially because it doesn't really explore the story of Baltimore all that much. I still enjoy watching it and would've been happy to watch these episodes if the Expanse was like one of the half dozen star trek shows that ran 170-180 episodes each. But not in a 50 episode show like the Expanse is. It also feels like the character building is a little too late. Exploring Amos' upbringings (maybe 10 minutes before the prison visit after which it's all wiped away) or Naomie being a parent in the second to last season, I don't know. Would've been good to integrate much of that sooner. Feels like we're kind of stuck building up characters as filler to not run out the story too fast. That's okay if it was more spread out over the seasons.
- nitrogen 6y ago
  As others have mentioned, it makes more sense in the context of all 8 (eventually 9) books. The show is only around book 5 so far.

I abandoned the show after season 4. The fourth season was disappointing and sounds like the fifth might be a let down as well. The first 3 seasons were absolutely fantastic.

baq 6y ago
5th season is based on the 5th book which is easily top 3 of the whole series. the 4th season and the 4th book are widely considered below average for the series. if you liked the first 3 seasons, you'll feel right at home with s5.
- endtime 6y ago
  I disagree. Most of S5 so far has been personal stories, not space opera. I'm still finding it entertaining, but I wouldn't recommend the show to anyone on the basis of season 5.
  - baq 6y ago
    Just finished the season finale. Keep watching, it’s worth it.
watwut 6y ago
Fifth one is better then 4th and I would say also better then 3th.
- narag 6y ago
  For me 4th was boring and even more disappointing considering that, after all they suffered to open the portal, all that they found was a ruined, minefield piece of shit planet. Fith is being a little more entertaining but also turning the back to the portal. Edit: also there's sound in space. IIRC that wasn't the case in the first seasons.
  - watwut 6y ago
    > Edit: also there's sound in space. IIRC that wasn't the case in the first seasons. I haven't noticed. I usually interpret the sound in space as sound that ship makes inside, the one that came to you through comm or something etc.
    - narag 6y ago
      Nah, it's systemic. At some moment there were some missiles. There's no way to explain that, unless you believe the missiles make a transmition to the ship that launched them, to say in their noisy missile language that they're pursuing the target :)
jaegerpicker 6y ago
That's not at all how I feel, Season 5 is the best of all of them IMO. 4 was definitely a let down but 5 has been fantastic.
pavlov 6y ago
I was bored by the cookie-cutter Scary Alien Machine Planet and weird physics in S4, but season 5 is a great improvement. It brings the story back to Earth and the Rim, with real people making consequential decisions.
- effie 6y ago
  Exactly. 4th season felt superfluous/boring. 5th gets back to basics. Maybe a little repetition (razorback, nuke, Mrs.) but it is fun.
zwaps 6y ago
Many people have said this, but it really does reflect the book material. The upside is that we can expect the last season to pick up again.

GordonS 6y ago

I'm the same - loved the first 4 seasons, but season 5 feels slow like they're really dragging things out. Also feel like some of the dialogue and acting are not very convincing. And it almost feels like a series of short stories, instead of one storyline.

fullstop 6y ago
You're not wrong. The parts on Earth from season 5 was from "The Churn", a novella.
- tastyfreeze 6y ago
  The parts on Earth are from book 5. "The Churn" novella is the story of Timmy becoming Amos that happened before Amos was on the Cant.
  - fullstop 6y ago
    You're absolutely right.
- GordonS 6y ago
  Ah, I haven't read the books, and didn't even realise the series was based on books until this thread!
tastyfreeze 6y ago
Book 5 is pretty disjointed with 4/5 stories happening at the same time. So, your feeling is accurate to the book.

Person5478 6y ago

I feel the same. I've fallen behind in terms of the episodes being released and don't feel any particular need to catch up. I'll watch them eventually, but it's just not exciting enough for me to make it a priority.

l33tman 6y ago

Yes, S5 is basically only good because of the by now known actors and overall production quality. It's a much less interesting story than any of the previous seasons and keeps rehashing narratives and tropes. S1 was completely mindblowing, film noir in space in a well fleshed out world and awesome production quality, S2 OK, S3 was a "must see" but then it went downhill.

mpalmer 6y ago
For what it's worth, every season follows the books pretty faithfully.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- meowster 6y ago
  Except for a notable character death in Season 5.
  - tastyfreeze 6y ago
    And a much more fantastic rescue. Kinda mad that the book rescue wasn't in the show.
    - andrei_says_ 6y ago
      But it mostly was, no? Apart from Naomi repeatedly going out of the ship to signal with lights. Or am I missing something?
      - tastyfreeze 6y ago
        * book spoiler * Bobby riding a missile like a surfboard is much more fantastic that what was in the show. It is one of the "big scenes" that I wanted to see on screen. It is explained in the book that her suit thrusters don't have the range to reach Naomi in time. So she mag boots on to one of the remaining missiles that were orbiting the Razorback (also missing from the show) and Alex flies the missile remotely to Naomi.

wrenky 6y ago

Stick with it! Its building into something magical if it follows the books. Also, read the books they are incredible!

TLightful 6y ago
Ok, thanks - I'll give it a shot
Sylamore 6y ago
Unfortunately, Season 6 will be the last Season of the series :( They've stated they are sticking to book 6 and not trying to cram the last 4 books into 1 season. The speculation is there will be "movies" for each of the final 3 books, but that's not confirmed in any meaningful way.

erulabs 6y ago

Last nights episode made S5 worth the space-opera vibes. Really happy it’s getting back to sci-fi and hopefully leaving game-of-thrones-in-space behind a bit

jaegerpicker 6y ago

Wow really? I love season 5, so much depth to the world building and big actions. If it follows the book it builds to an amazing pay off IMO.

StephenAmar 6y ago

I feel that Season 5 works a lot better if are a book reader. I totally get why the shift away from the gates is a bit confusing. The Expanse was never a planet-of-the-week show. Exploring the impact of the new planets on the solar system and its people is also important. One thing I'm a bit disappointed is the fact that they drop part of Mars storyline.

hef19898 6y ago
I have to second this. The parties motives, Mars and Inaros, make so much sense. Hard to convey that level of detail and complexity in a TV show. They managed to explain most Mars motivation rather well so, in the arc where Bobbie is chasing black marketeers. I could imagine, so, that season 6 will answer most of these questions.

loosetypes 6y ago

I’m not a book reader and agree, although I’m only three episodes into season 5. Amos was one of my favorite characters but am a bit put off by how his role has, to an extent, become fan service. I appreciate that he’s a tough guy, enjoyed that aspect of earlier seasons, and want more of it. But don’t give me, the viewer, instant gratification just because I want it if it will erode my suspension of disbelief. Feels like the characters and narratives are trending towards more traditionally defined arcs with characters getting in fights to show the audience they’re invincible or otherwise saved by cheap deus ex machina tricks.

TLightful 6y ago

Just want to add on that: Amos: "I'm that guy" ... was the line of all 4 series. Haha. Loved the build up to that moment. standing ovation in the cinema audience kind of a moment

y-c-o-m-b 6y ago

For a while I thought this was an unpopular opinion, but now I'm seeing more people agree. Relative to season 1-4, season 5 is extremely anti-climactic and at times even annoying (e.g. the looping Naomi transmission really got on my nerves). It's hard to believe season 6 will be the last after the complete disappointment season 5 has become. Conversely I see hate for season 4, but I really liked it. I really love plot-lines around mysterious aliens or ancient technology. It's one of the reasons why Deep Space 9 and Babylon 5 are some of my favorite Sci-Fi series.

IkmoIkmo 6y ago

Yeah the 5th season is a struggle for me, too. I stil love watching it but it's a bit slow. It feels it's all character build-up, with little story progression. Amos' prison & planet escape storyline makes no sense in the grand scheme of things. Sure it's a nice story, but it doesn't have much to do with the Expanse universe, the prison/planet escape could've been part of any generic movie, specially because it doesn't really explore the story of Baltimore all that much. I still enjoy watching it and would've been happy to watch these episodes if the Expanse was like one of the half dozen star trek shows that ran 170-180 episodes each. But not in a 50 episode show like the Expanse is. It also feels like the character building is a little too late. Exploring Amos' upbringings (maybe 10 minutes before the prison visit after which it's all wiped away) or Naomie being a parent in the second to last season, I don't know. Would've been good to integrate much of that sooner. Feels like we're kind of stuck building up characters as filler to not run out the story too fast. That's okay if it was more spread out over the seasons.

nitrogen 6y ago
As others have mentioned, it makes more sense in the context of all 8 (eventually 9) books. The show is only around book 5 so far.