Coming off a riveting Season 2, Wednesday, April 11 brings The Expanse back to the SyFy Channel for Season 3. The Expanse has a stellar cast, great special effects, and a solar system-sized plot with plenty of politics and action. This season, the show promises to continue to deepen the plot and grow the threat both from the alien presence and the humans.

Season 2

Season 2 ended with the Protomolecule spreading across the solar system despite the best efforts of the crew of the Rocinante. Lead by the Captain, Jim Holden, the crew of Naomi Nagata, Alex Kamal, and Amos Burton are continually buffeted from one crisis to the next. They’ve taken on a new friend, Dr. Praxidike “Prax” Meng, a botanist from Ganymede who is looking for his daughter. Together they realize that their attempts to avert the war between the Earth and Mars, and to end the threat at Ganymede have failed. But they also have to face the fact that Naomi has given their sample of the Protomolecule to the opportunist Belter Station Captain, Fred Johnson. Why’d she do that? Her reasons are heart-breakingly practical: Earth and Mars had it. If the Belt didn’t get it too, they’d just be slaughtered between the two warring sides. She’s tired of her people being caught in the middle, I get that. But giving the Protomolecule to a guy once called “The Butcher of Anderson Station” seems like a bad move.

Thread two of the series follows the savvy Ambassador Chrisjen Avasarala (Shohreh Aghdashloo is one of the best things in this series) as she unravels the conspiracy from the Earth side. In her pursuit of Sadavir Errinwright, season 2 finds Avasarala trapped on a pleasure yacht after a failed negotiation attempt with Jules-Pierre Mao. Errinwright (aka That Motherfucker — believe me this is a title he has earned) has been pulling the strings for quite some time. Avasarala has recruited Bobby The Martian Marine Draper to her cause (Frankie Adams is the other best thing in this series) and together, this brains and brawn combination are not about to go down easy.

Oh, and remember the folks researching on Venus for who remembers why? Yeah, they’ve found Protomolecule on VENUS. How is this Protomolecule everywhere?

SciFi Greatness

The Expanse uses language and silence to startling effect. Not only did the authors start their own creole language for the books, it was picked up by a linguist for the show and developed into a full Belter Creole. Why? Because nerds are the best, beratna. Along side that level of verbal detail, the show also knows when to drop out the sound, and to let the silence of space press in on the characters. One moment the sound is all explosions and rattling metal, the next, silence as you’re shot out into vacuum. Combined with The Expanse’ arrestingly good cinematography — with some truly perfect still shots — and believable, physical fights, you’ve got a show that is challenging, engaging, and fun to watch.

Solid science blended with killer world building, The Expanse has a devoted following. Stemming originally from readers of the series of books of the same name, written by Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck (under the pen name James S. A. Corey) the show has drawn fans, both readers and viewers coming to the story for the first time.

Season 3

Season 3 promises even more of the same Science Fiction fun as the plot thickens. The Protomolecule is spreading, leading the Earth, Mars, and the Belt to war. The crew of the Rocinante and the ambassadorial team work from different directions to cool the hostilities and find out more about their mysterious foe — both the Protomolecule and the humans who have been growing it in secret for their own purposes.

The Expanse Season 3 premieres on April 11. If you have Amazon Prime, you can get a quick binge watch of Season 2. You can also refresh your memory by reading my recaps of the end of season 2. I’ll be back at it this season. Follow BlackNerdProblems on Twitter or join our newsletter to be in the know when it drops. Divided by hate. Ignited by love. United by war. The Expanse is only going to keep getting better.

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