This season was a bit of a transitory season. It was good, sometimes great. Never bad. But something felt weird from the jump. It was extremely focused, sometimes to its detriment and sometimes to its benefit. It was neat to have the Roci crew on a planet consistently. It was less neat for story beats to drag and drag and drag at times. Some of the subplots were dull, like Bobbie’s criminal misadventures, which we kept track of so infrequently that we could never get a sense of the characters beyond being basic archetypes. Some were too slow, like the Roci crew on New Terra, where I kept waiting for the big explosion of pressure and it never really came. This story was good, but it didn’t feel sufficient for a full season. Though some were home runs like Avaserala’s election. She pulled a Saul s4 finale. Loved it. I also don’t find Inaros super compelling, and I found Murtry a little too evil, but I think both played their roles in the season as well as they had to. But the usual things that are good about The Expanse are still good, and maybe better at times. I’m of two minds regarding the season; it’s a huge improvement over the previous in a few big ways, but it’s less interestingly structured as a narrative. It doesn’t abide by the last season’s oddball yet immensely endearing structure, so it doesn’t feel like it does much to stand out beyond its overall quality (which of course is stellar) and increased visual fidelity. The show finally makes a concerted effort to look good. The main cast is still on point. They’ve gotten a mite more ambitious with their action this time around. The peaks are still peaks, and the valleys aren’t particularly low. It’s just that there are fewer of both so we’re left with a really good season - albeit an underwhelming one compared to the previous - that stands above most science fiction TV but can’t quite rise above itself.