The Checklist: The Expanse (S1 Ep1) “Dulcinea”
It’s the 23rd century. Humans have colonized the solar system. The U.N. runs Earth. Mars is an independent power. The inner planets rely on resources from the asteroid belt and tensions are rising between belters, Mars, and Earth. This whole place is a powder keg ready to explode. I’m hoping that this show is my new thing so feel free to let me know if it’s your thing and it will motivate me to keep up with it. Let’s take a quick look at this first episode of season 1 and give “Dulcinea” The Checklist treatment.
#1: Does the show look cool or what?
Yeah. It definitely looks like a someone has been watching other science fiction films like Alien and adopted the look of some of the ships and suits. They’re futuristic without looking like they came from a cartoon. It reminds me of the galaxy in the original Star Wars trilogy compared to the clean look of the prequels. One of them looked dirty and cool and the other just looked fake. The Expanse looks more like the good kind of future. 1/1
#2: Are there any recognizable actors in it?
Damn straight. Right off the rip Tom Jane and Jay Hernandez appear as a couple of detectives working some missing persons cases on a space station of sorts. I don’t know about you but I’m a big fan of Jane and Hernandez has definitely had his moments. It makes it even better that there is a serious noir cop feel to what they’re doing. 2/2
#3: Are we really still talking about Mars?
Science fiction movies and shows love talking about Mars and The Expanse is no different. We learned that humans have been all over the solar system and while Earth is now run by those morons over at the U.N., Mars is doing things a little differently. I’m very excited to get a chance to go there and see how they live on the red planet. Fingers crossed for three-breasted women… 3/3
#4: Space is cool but do we get to see Earth?
Very briefly. Most of the episode is split between Thomas Jane doing some detective stuff on a space station, and a crew on board a mining vessel. We’re transported to Earth for a short amount of time just to see that they’re worried about the situation with Mars. I’ll give’em the point. 4/4
#5: Do we get any ACTION in this episode?
There isn’t much in the way of action in this episode but what can we really expect from the first episode in the series? There is the set-up of a future war between Earth and Mars, as well, so let’s hope that turns into something crazy later on. The end of the episode does introduce us to some Martian missile technology in a surprise way so I felt the episode ended on a promising note. 5/5
- Final Score= 5/5 (100%) I don’t know what “Dulcinea” is but it was a very cool starting point for a show that I’m going into with high hopes. I just saw that Amazon renewed the show for another season so I’m going to try to catch up by December and post up-to-date episode reviews. We shall see what happens with that. One thing is for sure, though, I did enjoy this first episode of The Expanse.
