The Expanse 1x4 Reaction | CQB | Review & Breakdown

Romance author Anna Alexander watches and reacts to season one episode four of the sci-fi series The Expanse streaming now on Amazon.
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[@br3wmaster]

I think most of us wait patiently for reactors to get to episode 4....

[@snarflcat6187]

Indeed.

[@cinedelasestrellas]

…And specifically, the Shed incident.

[@John_259]

Miller's cracked phone reinforces the fact that he's just a regular cop on a relatively low salary.

[@rodentnolastname6612]

What killed Shep was a rail gun round. A line of magnets that accelerate a tungsten rod to hyper velocity. If it hits it tends to punch a hole straight through a ship like a knitting needle through a watermelon. Amos was looking through the hole it left, passing through various decks. The other side was out to space, the air escaping pushing shep's blood along with it. Contrary to popular belief, a hole in a spaceship won't suck you out. Normal atmospheric pressure is only 14 psi, your car tires are more than twice that. The force of air escaping isn't all that much. A pencil wide hole in the hull could be plugged with your thumb and the worse you'd get is maybe a mild hickey.

[@NigelSmith72]

The attack ships came in toward the Donnie in line - so only one engine burn was visible from the point-of-view of the Donnager - which is why they didn't know there were multiple ships until the flipped and broke into different directions. I actually missed this detail on the multitude of re-watches I've done on this episode until I saw it pointed out in a tactical analysis video of this fight.... was very surprised!

[@pacio49]

Sand people travel in single file, the better to hide their numbers.

[@peterbrazukas7771]

Space pirates travel single file... to hide their numbers.

[@arandomnamegoeshere]

There's a main character that goes unaccredited in this series; physics. You see it in how the ships move. And it's wonderfully portrayed in this scene where Naomi and Holden get seperated from structure then Holden uses Newton's Third Law to get back to structure and anchored to pull Naomi back to structure and then flee to safety.

[@syngyne]

The people firing in the hangar weren't floating presumably because they had their mag boots activated. Holden & crew had deactivated theirs earlier so they could run.

[@rodentnolastname6612]

"mag boots" magnetic boots. Electromagnets in the sole of the boot, turned on by clicking your heels together Dorothy style. You've seen them activate in previous episodes

[@krbkrbkrbkrbkrb]

Shed being eliminated is IMO an amusing bit of story development. This all started as a role playing game and the guy who was playing Shed wasn't able to play any more so he was very permanently written out of the story.

[@LeeCarlson]

Our Star Helix detective is Josefus Miller, called Joe by just about everyone (probably even his mother).

[@tonycamas9747]

I always got the impression most people called him "Miller." Maybe even his mother. :)

[@jasondolph2785]

The strap-in seats in the holding cell would be a requirement if you don't mean it to be an execution chamber, otherwise any strong maneuver would result in a thin paste where the occupants used to be as they smashed into a wall at extreme acceleration.

[@macmcleod1188]

Alla the Kurt Russell segment of the Grind House movie.

[@lynnjohanssen6552]

I love that they show some of our past and current culture in the future setting. It's actually really realistic if you think about it. There are common sayings, nursery rhymes, recipes, traditions that get passed from generation to generation. Some of the little sayings we still have today are over 100 years old. We still study things that happened thousands of years ago in school as well. And every 20 to 30 years we bring back trends from times past.

[@TerryNationB7]

I'm impressed by your intro concerning Havelock's chance of survival. Do you have any thoughts on Shed's chances?

[@scambammer6102]

and the princess bride quote "mostly dead" lol

[@russellmassey9324]

Shed'll be fine. The medtech is super-good in the expamnse. They just need to sweep all the molecules back together again.

[@tonycamas9747]

@@scambammer6102 If only Miracle Max were around...

[@pssthpok]

Shed's dead, baby, Shed's dead.

[@rdevries3852]

Technically speaking Miller's full name is the somewhat archaic and _far_ less common Josephus Aloisus Miller. It's, in fact, rare and old fashioned enough a name, that according to the United States of America's Social Security Administration, the last time _Josephus_ even made the Top 1000 most popular baby names was _way_ back in 1897.

[@nari5025]

There was a real and rather well known Joseph Aloisius alive until last year. I wonder how or if he inspired the name.

[@daxeah8472]

Wooohoo another episode!!! I was so happy to see this today! Sorry the pollen count is high, where im at we have the same issue and it sucks balls. Great review, you cought what you needed to and are continuing to ask the right questions. The ship Holden, Naomi, Amos, Alex, and Lopez got on was the ready stand-by for the Donnadger(Donny) meaning its fusion drive engine was on and running, usually it takes a while to get a ship ready to launch which would suck in an emergency situation like our crew found themselves. I am looking forward to your next uplaod! Have a great existence in the meantime!

[@kirkdarling4120]

You got an introduction into slingshotting, a pilot using the gravity of a planet to sling his ship to higher acceleration. The closer he gets to the planet, the greater the acceleration...but if he get too close...ka-blooey. Like everything, this is useful information for the future. The new Mormon ship that Fred Johnson is building, the Nauvoo, is the first interstellar ship, so it has the most powerful sensors and comms ever produced. That's why Johnson is using it to track the Donnager's battle. Notice that the UN is tracking the battle as well. That's one of the problems with space: A non-stealth spaceship is as obvious as a bug on a dinner plate to everyone watching. Notice that when the Donnager went into combat, the internal lighting went blue. That's because Mars is a red planet, so their "yellow alert" is red lighting. When they go into combat, their "red alert" lighting is blue because their primary enemy, Earth, is a blue planet. We see here with the faux Bitzi Bitiko that people are chipped for identification...and that the chips can be spoofed.

[@Sinewmire]

Miller, as in windmills. As in tilting at Windmills. There are a whole bunch of Don Quixote references in Season 1 of the expanse. I think Miller is so fascinated by Julie because she's everything he isn't. She's from incredible privilege and she chose to give it all up to help the belters, and it scratches an itch inside Miller, who dresses like an earther and gets called "Welwala".

[@dallesamllhals9161]

OMG Spoilers! What if she(a writer?) don't know Cervantes 😲

[@Sinewmire]

@@dallesamllhals9161 it was published in 1605, I think it's outside the statute of limitations for spoilers! Not the oldest spoiler I've been accused of - a friend accused me of spoiling HBO's Rome.

[@LeeCarlson]

The "guys who are firing" are anchored to the deck by their magnetic boots. The ones running turned off their magnets to run faster.

[@billross7245]

In battle, everyone uses Mag boots in case the engines cut out unless, of course, you're running for your life.

[@jamesholland5761]

Aww you made it to THE episode! Subscribed for The Expanse! Poor Shed lost his head! Some more world building still left but strap in because this ride is fixing to get crazy! Looking forward to the next one!

[@LeeCarlson]

A railgun round is a 300millimeter slug of tungsten that has been accelerated to relativistic speeds with the capability to go clear through another spacecraft, so while there are chambers on either side of the holding-cell, they have been vented to vacuum by the railgun round until they can be sealed by damage control, which is what Naomi and Amos did, demonstrating their competence and ability to function as a team.

[@aartsst3227]

I'm sure it's been mentioned before, but one of the reason this shows writing is SO GOOD, is both of the authors were heavily involved in taking the stories from the novels & converting them into a tv show format. They worked in the writers room & were producers for the whole series. So even though some characters in the books enter the story earlier or are changed / combined etc. the overall story is very true to the original books. As an author herself, i'm guessing Ms Anna can appreciate that on a whole different level. Really enjoying you seeing you get into this show 😁 Here we go again!!🚀

[@TomCat777]

So much fun watching this show Star to play with your mind. Just wait, it gets better and better with each episode.

[@LeeCarlson]

As a battleship the Donnager carries four corvette-class frigates, like the Tachi, however, the other three were on patrol when the Donnager responded to the Knight's mayday signal.

[@gpaje]

The Donneger got caught off guard, but she took 4 of those stealth ships out and took the other two with her at the end. It was a costly day for that other side as well.

[@stevenspringer1599]

Miller/Julie = "Laura" 1944 the Shed/head moment proved I was finally getting what I had been waiting for since "Men Into Space" 1959 : TV sci-fi writing and production quality that could finally match what I saw in my head reading the best science fiction.

[@AnaPradosA]

Regarding the "I didn't though we could loose" moment. They were in one of the best ship made by people who are famous for building the best ships out there. No ship like those has ever confronted a Mars ship like the one sha has and lived to tell the tale. Until now. So who are this people? Welcome to the expanse, now that the prologue has ended.

[@juandesalgado]

Intelligent reactions, please keep them coming! Subscribed.

[@himarei]

What happened in this episode is as if the biggest baddest aircraft carrier of the US navy what destroyed by a couple of speed-boat. That is why the commander of the Donnager was surprised that they could loose. Space warfare is a lot like naval warfare. Long time positioning, then a short spur of action. Just like in modern warfare, either you survive an attack with minimal damage or you are completely destroyed. The physics in The Expanse is very realistic, they don't have "gravity generators" the "gravity" is created by acceleration, if you accelerate at 9.8 meters per second squared (32.15 ft/s2) you have normal earth-like 1G of gravity, if you wanted to accelerate faster, the human body isn't designed endure more than 1G continuously so they take a special drug that make them more resistant. The only fictitious science in the show is the Epstein Drive, the engine technology that allow them to accelerate continuously (it will be explained in a future episode). Every other technologies are possible today if we had the engineering expertise. Just as a comparison, travelling to mars at 1G acceleration would take an average of 3 days, with today's technology it takes between 200 and 300 days.

[@gpaje]

Six very advanced speed boats out of just a few all lost in this engagement. They took down a big prize, probably not worth the cost.

[@gpaje]

@Intergalactic Dust Bunny True, all six of those F-22 are now gone, with just a couple left in existence. The other two will get theirs by the tender of that carrier.

[@Dendood]

Somebody is binging...

[@dallesamllhals9161]

..and you did not - back when?

[@SciFiCatGuy]

Shed's dead, baby. Shed's dead.

[@dallesamllhals9161]

got chopped too...wait...that was a Chopper, Baby...😲

[@SciFiCatGuy]

For the record, his full name is Josephus Aloisus Miller.

[@LeeCarlson]

The Outer Planets Alliance is a (loose) collection of Belter factions that are looking to gain concessions from Earth and Mars. Tycho Station is a mobile construction base that Fred Johnson runs and is being used to build the Nauvoo for the Mormons using OPA and Belter labor.

[@raymondamador1487]

Older comments contain spoilers, as usual. Great reaction Anna. Havelock is in an area with 1/3 earth gravity. Combined with being impaled while against a wall, means almost no blood loss and no organ damage. He got very lucky. Hope he survives. This is also the episode, where Mars gives the crew a ship, so they can go to Mars Central Command. The ship being a Gift and not stolen or salvaged.

[@dallesamllhals9161]

^and you're not spoiling?

[@raymondamador1487]

@@dallesamllhals9161 Nope. She asked how Havelock could survive. I guess I could have told her the true story about a roofer that fell off a 2 story house onto a 2x4 wooden streak and lived. Then I pointed out how Mars gave the crew a ship. Since she is a few episodes ahead on Patreon, I literally didn't tell her any spoilers.

[@PHDiaz-vv7yo]

Just found your reactions. I’ve watched the entire series about 20 times and it’s pretty much on a loop. I’ve noticed you got to episode 9 in 3 weeks- awesome- but I really needed to jump to CQB. There’s no going back after CQB, mi Kopeng

[@JohnComeOnMan]

How often do you get to say SPACE MORMONS?!? This show only gets better, especially character development.

[@ducktape160]

What starts like a butterfly landing on a flower and ends like a bulldog eating a wet meal, jip any place this crew ends up

[@Yesquire0]

It is hard to read the cover in the split-second you can see it, but another reactor who laboriously found a good frame and enlarged it on his monitor claimed it said "MCRN Emergency Procedures Manual". It lived up to its name when Amos glued it to the rail gun hole. It can greatly enhance your enjoyment of this show if you take some time to look up some of the tech. Most of it exists in nascient form right now. Rail guns use electro-magnetic forces to launch non-explosive shells at extremely fast speeds. To maximize the punch when they hit a target, very heavy metals are used in their construction, usually tungsten, which is as heavy as solid gold. I presume the violent launch is too intense to allow for explosive shells. As of now, naval vessels prefer to use explosive shells launched by traditional giant rifles, but rail gun have been built and thoroughly tested. The momentum carried by a rail gun shell could buckle the hull of a heavily-armored spaceship and turn it into scrap metal. The counter to the use of rail guns is "anti-spalling" construction, which allows for the clean passage of the tungsten shell through the outer hull, all the inner walls, and Headless Shed. The goal is clean passage without the producing any high-velocity bits of shrapnel. No buckled hull results, and repairs are relatively easy to render the ship spaceworthy after a battle. The bridge, reactor, and life support can all be more neavily armored against the shells. Putting really thick armor on a spaceship would render it so massive as to inhibit acceleration, the effect of directional thrusters, and its overall agility in battle.

[@moetop]

10:52 don't worry, they can just regrow his head.. :P It's more political drama than Scifi in my book but easily one of my all time favorite series, regardless of genre. Your going to be rubbing your temples a lot. PS I like the pace of your releases for this series (every couple of days)

[@LeeCarlson]

Even at odds of six-to-one, these stealth ships aren't stupid enough to allow the Martian flagship the opportunity to control the engagement. The only advantage that they really have is that ships of their size/tonnage are not (supposedly) able to mount railguns due to energy requirements.

[@screamr2d2]

Ok holy crap. I won't give any spoilers even though these reactions are old, but in watching this reaction I caught a major piece of foreshadowing that flew right over my head in previous watches. This show is so brilliant it was laying its foundations under our noses in plain sight right from the beginning. Who can guess which piece of dialogue I'm referring to?

[@CaptainAngus]

This is the episode that definitively sold the show to me. Ho-ho-ho-ho, now they have a ship...

[@janmortensen9314]

Even in the future the glass on your device is cracked and battery low

[@tonycamas9747]

There's probably a place in the Mall somewhere where he can get the screen replaced for $100, but it'll never work quite the same afterward.

[@bobriemersma]

Fred is in a unique position. The Nauvoo is the first interstellar generation ship, and it has astronomy-grade instrumentation to support its planned journey to another solar system. This allows Fred to see details as far out as the Donnager that nobody else is in a position to monitor. He also has his background from a UN Navy career as well as being plugged into a faction of the OPA since he resigned.

[@daxeah8472]

Hey there is a bit of a spoiler there... we don't know Fred's background.

[@rnkelly36]

If you have ever played an MMO game like World of Warcraft or anything similar the story telling is always going to make you ask questions that will lead to answers but each answer is not the final part of the story. The creator was making a game and in fact made a board game that GRR Martin actually played with him during the initial story development of the world of The Expanse. Martin liked playing the plucky cop on Ceres station. The story really is meant to go on and link to everything else in the world so just hold on.

[@dallesamllhals9161]

..or maybe just a single player cRPG or Point&Clicky game from the OL' days? Who the hell: Wants EVERYTHING explained from the get go, anyways?

[@rnkelly36]

@@dallesamllhals9161 Heh. Do you spend time on Star Wars reaction sites. The patience for storytelling is gone with most viewership today.

[@dallesamllhals9161]

@@rnkelly36 AUCH! ..haven't played a Star Wars game since....hmmm.....hmmm, must be KotOR 2 😲 (yup! It's been a while)

[@thontor]

Miller's full name is Josephus Aloisus Miller. Not exactly plain now, is it?

[@billbabcock1833]

Well, now they have a gunship. Things could get more interesting from here.

[@John_259]

All the questions are answered...... eventually.

[@richb313]

You have been introduced to the main people already help will come from one of them.

[@evilvolts]

yeah Shedd lost his head. ]:P

[@dallesamllhals9161]

16:36 Well....high Fantasy = Sci fi since when? Can't laugh without gasses(of ANY kind) in the room...rooms....so taking it easy and do a bit EXPOSITION....ain't that stupid 😛 18:09 Yees! Why would the bullets NOT fly straight?

[@michaelgonzalez6295]

So are you hooked by now?

[@robertcartier5088]

Yes, Joe Miller is a rather plain name. But that's because the Future does not produce new names... it just perpetuates the old ones. So, I'm sorry to say that your own descendants will also be saddled with a most plain and unremarkable name, too. Alexander. ;-p

[@pwph8361]

My take away from this is 'fly or death'... ❤

[@dallesamllhals9161]

..Fight = Death?

[@donrichards271]

Fair warning; If you think you know what's happening regarding the underlying reasons for the actions you're seeing, odds are it's something other than straight forward.

[@iDuckman]

Miller, the guy with the hat that he uses to set himself apart, spent a good deal of time in Julie Mao's apartment and on the net, reconstructing her life. He knows more about her than one might think. Maybe more than anyone. What he found obviously intrigued him. It's difficult to show that connection in a vid. The book does it better. Fred Johnson will be a major minor character. He has a fascinating backstory. Notice how Holden is slowly being accepted as leader of Our Heroes, and how the Martian Marines (a.k.a badasses) sacrificed an entire squad to get them to safety. True Martians have honor. Enter _Rocinante_, Don Quixote's horse. A major player in her own right.

[@raymondamador1487]

Spoilers.

[@wordpainting3]

So many people say episode 4 is where things take off and it is an excellent episode but you really won't start to get solid answers until later (I think it's episode 7 or 8) and that is where I think the story really starts to take off. Until then you'll just have to be patient not knowing what in the heck is going on.

[@raymondamador1487]

Spoilers.

[@dallesamllhals9161]

@@raymondamador1487 ..arent' we all....😛