The Expanse (TV Series) The Big Empty (2015) User Reviews

Involving and well made first two episodes

[851222 · 8/10 · 25 April 2017]

Greetings from Lithuania.

I'm started to watch "The Expanse" because i can't remember last time i watched sci-fi TV series, probably it was "Firefly" years ago.

As a sci-fi lover, i liked first two opening episodes of this show. Basically there are three story lines set in the far future - one on the highest level, one in the middle level and one of the lowest level of class so far. I liked them all, but as i saw only two episode yet, it very early to judge anything here. What i can say, that i liked the overall idea and setting so far. Special effects are pretty good for a TV series, acting is also pretty good for this material.

All in all i will check next episodes, as first two were enjoyable so far.

The second SOS and gift of cactus

[quincytheodore · 8/10 · 17 December 2015]

It's apparent that the series would take a compartmentalized approach with a few perspectives, mainly Joe's investigative angle and Jim's survival while the mystery about missing rich girl and Martian warpath intertwine with them. Episode two, luckily, doesn't skimp out on grand effect as it continues to produce atmospheric view of the belters, bright desolation of space as well as several nice scenes of Earth.

Joe (Thomas Jane) takes the bulk of the story as he ventures from simple urban case to the unsolved missing girl. His point of view offers the most vistas as he trudges through slums, industrial and residential areas, all of which are fully realized. It's a reminiscence of high budget video game or movie, and the details such as voice manipulators, resource rarity on settlement and even interactive futuristic dating site are all welcomed touch.

He also makes a bizarre yet personal connection to Julie Mao, even though the girl appears only briefly throughout the first couple of episodes, and this serves well as the major mystery plot. The other end of this is Jim's shuttle crew who intercepted a distress signal. After being isolated due to the alleged Martian attack, all five dysfunctional members must attempt to survive the harsh condition and each other.

The series makes a great effort to familiarize audience with this small crew. Most of them are combative in nature, in exception of Naomi (Dominique Tipper) who displays a good leadership and is also trusted by all. She's a good contender to Jim's strong personality, she's slimmer than the crews yet still possesses a good commanding presence. This is a good development of what looked like a supporting cast in first episodes, and ends up with sizable characterization.

Political angle still resumes, in short but effective burst to create tension. Seeing that it doesn't lose any speed and maintains great pace on the mystery, The Expanse is in good form.

A letdown from first episode, this one substitutes long dialog for plot

[msghall · 6/10 · 5 March 2021]

I was really looking forward to this series. After the first episode, it seemed like a solid effort. However, this second entry disappoints. It is primarily made of long scenes of characters witlessly discussing past relationships that have little to do with the overall story. It is lazy screen writing, occupying the majority of the time with easy-to-write conversations instead of responding to the challenge of writing engaging, enlightening scenes that contribute instead of treading water. Fingers crossed the writers get their act together in future episodes.

Action and Exposition

[Hitchcoc · 9/10 · 12 January 2020]

This second episode follows nicely from the Pilot. We get a fix on the three areas of interest. We also get an idea of who participants are in the ethos we are involved in. On the little ship that is zooming through space we are give a cliffhanger. Also, a narrative hook is used. The factions come clear. There is internal strife but also the Mars people.

"it's the Donnager, the Flag ship of the Martian Navy"

[narcis-48838 · 10/10 · 16 April 2021]

Very nice world building in this one, and a little bit of "character moments" too..

The empty episode

[tenshi_ippikiookami · 5/10 · 13 January 2017]

"The Big Empty" is a step down after the entertaining first episode, stretching things so thin that you could say little happens.

The Canterbury was blown up to pieces, so Jim Holden is stranded with the rest of survivors. They will try to keep going. On Ceres, Miller keeps his investigations (which don't account to much). And on Earth, Chrisjen goes for 'extreme' interrogation techniques.

The episode keeps developing the points introduced on the first episode, but the rhythm is almost non-existent, the pace too slow, and with too many dead moments. On top of this, the Earth story-line is not very entertaining right now, with Shohreh Aghdashloo's Chrisjen a very superficial character for now. It seems to be there just to do some criticism on some aspects of our societies (which is all good, but it could have been done in a more logical manner).

It still has a lot of potential, though.

So bad I worry about the series

[jimmietee · 2/10 · 6 September 2022]

It's like they took everything that was good in the books and changed it "for drama". Crew competence. Gone. Holden sending message because he believes in sharing. Gone. Naomi being great except for not wanting to be leader. Gone. Bunch of squabbling children without any relation to n adult character. Except for the Mary Sue. Don't tear apart the characters and who and why they do things. It is only because of that that the interminable exposition of the books was bearable.

The only character that even resembles the character from the book is Amos Who was never the brightest star but even then they thought "we should make him stupid".

To be fair the authors didn't even try to develop Alex until book 4. But the run away from debris was just stupid

Poor characterization. Manufactured drama. It almost makes me miss the 2/3 of the book you hat just rambled on and on and on. At least then I knew good characters would appear soon. Here nothing to look forward to yet.

So sad.

Empty is pretty accurate.

[bombersflyup · 2/10 · 19 December 2019]

More of the same here. Perhaps it could have been watchable, if it were solely just the crew and they didn't kill off some people, but I'm done. Thomas Jane's the only known actor to me here and this character's actually one of the worst.