The Expanse 1x5 "Back to the Butcher" REACTION

[@Daeeedal]

Yeah The Anderson station stuff always hits me hard too. People are treated as so expendable, just another resource. They had no problem saving like 10% on oxygen and giving a bunch of kids brain damage in the process because there will always be more belters to use. Your life, less valuable than the air you breath. And that's not to mention the horrific response when their misdeeds came to light. Bummers real and imaginary aside, thanks for the video, excited for more!

[@Pink.andahalf]

One of the cool things about the tv show is they can integrate different parts of the written story in more streamlined ways. The Butcher of Anderson Station is a short story that many fans never read at the time, but they've placed a budget friendly adaptation where it belongs as a flashback.

[@RocketToTheMoose]

Screaming Firehawks!

[@robertcartier5088]

The matchstick trick wasn't a coffee "substitute", but a coffee additive... The sulfur didn't stand in for the coffee, it just made bad coffee bearable.

[@eastcoastaj5048]

The best Sci fi mirrors life. The science draws you in but it's the human condition behind the science that connects you to the characters.. You can find valid ties to anything happening in the world today.

[@kirkdarling4120]

Some people complain or question that there aren't AI and robots in this series. The writers have said that they didn't want the story to be about robots, but you've seen that there is AI. For instance, the ship (now: Rocinante) knew that Naomi was an engineer. That was probably from the Martian dossiers that it already had on record about the people on the ship and that the ship could identify them by the chips in their necks. So the ship has deduced who would be the captain, the engineer, the pilot, et cetera. This started as a role-playing game. You should be able to determine now who is the Paladin, the Wizard, the Fighter, and the Claric. You said that Dawes had a point. That's a feature of this series: Everyone has a good point.

[@jamesholland5761]

From a certain point of view

[@kirkdarling4120]

@@jamesholland5761 I think there was only one villain (not counting henchmen) who didn't have at least a partially sympathetic or at least logical motivation.

[@jamesholland5761]

@@kirkdarling4120 oh I'm not disagreeing with you in anyway Mr Kirk. Just throwing a Star Wars reference out there.. lol

[@Nyx_2142]

@@kirkdarling4120 Honestly, I can't even tell who you count as that one. Every mentionable villain had some kind of motivation that was understandable and somewhat sympathetic.

[@billross7245]

Enjoyed the review and commentary. We've had two refences to Don Quixote up to his point. The title of the first episode, Dulcinea, who is an imaginary ideal for whom Don Quixote perfoms his knightly duties. And now Rocinante, which is a reference to Don Quixote's horse.

[@Sinewmire]

and "Miller".

[@jamesholland5761]

Great reaction Star Wars has the Millennium Falcon, Star Trek has the Enterprise. Here in The Expanse we have the Rocinante! And we love her very much! Also in this episode we claim our fandom name " Screaming Firehawks!" Looking forward to the next one!

[@chteffie]

I really like your analysis of this show. It's so enjoyable when it's not just viewer for the plot but for the characters and the world. I've seen quite a few reactions to this show and few people seem to understand the situation of belters. Most people seem to somehow assume they a some sort of third "faction" besides Earth and Mars. Well, that's absolutely not the case. In a sense I presume that belters are stateless in fact. The show never addresses this but I presume that the original people who started working in the belt must have been poor people who were lured there with promises. A company that would make sure their basic needs were met and maybe even have some money sent back to Earth to support their families. Indentured servitude or something. Now, you might even end up with families stuck in space. Or children born. Not surprising since getting back to Earth would probably take months (space travel is slow) and financial ruin for people, so they didn't do it. So you end up with generations of people who are stranded in space without rights who are just cheap a work force for Earth and later Mars. Oh, wonder where all that water is going? Mars is trying to terraform the planet - they would need a lot of water for that.

[@paulhewes7333]

the music cue playing during the scene where the Roci crew looks through the ship and Holden drinks the coffee is titled "Run", and it get used in big moments...

[@snarflcat6187]

With 30+ Billion people on Earth, plus rising sea levels covering arable land, live soil for farming food dwindles, luxuries like coffee became less important and simultaneously stretched even further by the population. Factory made substitutes fill most of that “need.” They WERE drinking “coffee” or at least “kawphee” on the Can’t. A lower quality knock off, or even “refurbished “ used coffee grounds enlivened with chemical bitters. What you and I think of as coffee is what Holden grew up with and longed for on the Can’t. And he found fresh, real coffee on the Rocinante for the first time since he signed up on the Can’t (10 years).

[@f0rth3l0v30fchr15t]

Interesting that you notice the ship has a "built in Alexa". A lot of people wonder "where are all the robots and AI" in this future, and the truth is that they're... ubiquitous, just not exactly obvious. When Lopez came aboard the Tachi, he told the computer to give command access to everyone aboard, because he at least suspected that his injuries meant he'd die in the high-g burn needed to escape, and that his orders had been to get the prisoners away. The AI on board has access to the file the Martians built on the main cast, which includes that Naomi was the chief engineer on the Cant (and possibly her academic record as well), so it decided to show Naomi the ship's engineering readouts.

[@gazzamanazza4pm]

What makes this series so good is just how much nuance is present in (almost) every character. There are very few characters in this show who are straight up evil in a mustache-twirling way, there are always complex motivations and sometimes genuinely good reasons behind the things people do, good or bad. Furthermore, a character's reputation as good or bad based on the things they've done isn't always true or so clear cut. Fred Johnson is a great example of that with how he's the "Butcher of Anderson Station" but he didn't know they were trying to surrender since his superiors in the UN navy decided not to tell him. Despite that, he still feels regret for what happened, and decided to leave the UNN, join the OPA, and advocate for belter equality in an effort to atone. (I'm not sure how much of that is in this episode but I know you're miles ahead of this point on patreon so I've not spoiled anything there).

[@MattNolanCustom]

Could be a spoiler for somebody who happens to be watching along in sync / not so far ahead. Go careful with that stuff.

[@gazzamanazza4pm]

@@MattNolanCustom A fair point - I'll certainly be careful in the future. I think at most this one only reaches an episode or two forwards, and I certainly know better than to spoil things waaaaay ahead of time, or to talk about those events, but I'll take this under advisement.

[@MattNolanCustom]

@@gazzamanazza4pm good man

[@Yesquire0]

It is readily apparent from this epispde that Col. Johnson had nothing to do with the kill order that destroyed Anderson Station. The inclusion of this flashback is best explained as part of a deeper story about how easily he ended up as the scapegoat for those who were really responible. Most viewers hear Naomi call him "The Butcher" (she has no persnal knowldege regarding the events on Anderson Station) and immediately assume that to be true. What we are shown in the flashbacks very much tends to absolve Johnson.

[@MattNolanCustom]

@@Yesquire0 I would not say readily apparent on first viewing. I would say that it is quite deliberately ambiguous.

[@StarkRG]

Everyone putting money into a fund to be used for the common good is called taxes.

[@miff227]

and politics is deciding what the common good is.

[@StarkRG]

@@miff227 Which would be an issue no matter what form it takes. Charities have at least as much politics in their administration as government and they're much less regulated or transparent (which is really saying something).

[@nokta7373]

You nailed one of the main theme the authors of the books always said they were pursuing while writing the novels and the show: no matter how far out into space we go and how many new cool gadgets we invent, humans are gonna be humans. We'll bring our tribal nature whit us wherever we go and all the mistakes of the pasts eventually will repeat themselves because that's a part of our nature that we can't seem to escape. Sad, but beautiful.

[@pretentiousn3rd]

I just want to point out Fred Johnson's actor was also Tyreese in The Walking Dead as well as many other well known roles. I like him a lot

[@ryleab9235]

Didn't know he was in TWD - although I've only seen a couple of seasons of it. He's a great actor.

[@pssthpok]

He also voiced Coach in the Left 4 Dead 2 video game. "I'm gonna be a one-man cheeseburger apocalypse!"

[@dwnkaomwn3953]

He was also in The Wire.

[@ryleab9235]

No way! Wow, going to have to load up L4D2 again just to hear his voice. It's been years since I played it. I never made the connection when I was watching The Expanse. Thanks for mentioning it and sending me down memory lane. @@pssthpok

[@Brownyman]

And "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" 😁

[@LeeCarlson]

What happened to Amos was the gunshot to his leg broke the bone so they had to reduce the fracture and then put it in a Martian tech "smart splint/cast."

[@stnarud]

I just love this show so much.

[@TheVFXbyArt]

Glad you are enjoying the show. Look forward to your future analysis.

[@jypziiatthecrossroads9047]

"You may say that I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us, and world will live as one..." - John Lennon

[@miff227]

and yet, John didn't share out his fortune equally with all the other musicians on the globe.......

[@Brownyman]

Part of what makes this show hit so hard is that it presumes no human transcendence. In that sense "The Expanse" is a very stern warning; If nothing else changes - this is our future.

[@Pink.andahalf]

World War 2 was also primarily about oil. None of the Axis countries had the supplies of oil, rubber, and aluminum to maintain a modern military, and most of their early agression was based on aquiring it. Japan especially declared war for the specific reason that the US and the Dutch stopped exporting oil to them in an attempt to stop them from further military action in China.

[@zolahVR]

The Nazi economy was destined to start a war. Their military spending was insane, and spent a lot on imports (mostly on the resources you mentioned) that become increasingly expensive as their debt, bad loans, and money printing eroded the value of their currecy so each shipment of oil or rubber was more and more expensive, further fueling the problem. They literally had no other means at their disposal (Nazis were a lot less clever than what they get credit for) but to get those resources within their border, steal whatever they can (including stealing the golden teeth out of the mouth of the people they murdered), and reduce cost trough slave labour, within their competence there were no other means to get out of this economic trap they dug themselves into. What they stole from Jews only lasted so far. Most batshit insane economy ever...

[@johncr1354]

@@zolahVR The Nazis always planned war. They were talking about eastward expansion from early 30s for Lebensraum "living room". The politics in Europe were still a product of European colonial principles. In 1936 the Nazis even started detail planning with the Poles on plans to invade the USSR. They both wanted the Caucasus oil fields so plans went awry. When Hitler seized Czechoslavakia in 1937 after Britain and France OK'd it , Poland and Hungary joined in to seize their bits. All wars are about greed.

[@LeeCarlson]

The issue in The Expanse is not "money" except as a symbol for how much energy has to be expended to acquire a resource. Mars has focused on making better and better tech because their entire society is built around the dream of converting Mars into a liveable planet (through terraforming). Earth has abundant air and water and supports 30 billion people. The Belt gets scraps handed down by the corporate owners from Earth and even the Canterbury was a last-generation spacecraft held together with duct tape and chewing gum. Most people do not comprehend that in space things that we take for granted (like breathable air, potable water, and gravity) have to be created and that is expensive.

[@Icypenguigo]

Welcome to the Rocinante!!! One of the best hero ships in all of sci-fi!!! Right up there with the starship Enterprise and the Millenium Falcon, IMHO. :)

[@nadeeml9276]

Maybe you know what Im talking about, but I always find it fascinating, and hypocritical, when people make tv shows and movies where the audience is supposed to sympathize with the downtrodden and oppressed, but then in real life they vilify those same groups of people - and come up with every single excuse as to why they should remain downtrodden, oppressed. I just wish people wouldnt turn a blind eye, and were at least consistent with their empathy

[@eastcoastaj5048]

First season of the Expanse is a simmer that goes into a boil leading into season 2.

[@christophersimmons8709]

Another amazing reaction Imon and beautiful shirt ❤❤😀😀.

[@eastcoastaj5048]

Imon I for one am not championing human expansion into outer space. No point unless humanity itself evolves.

[@kidgforce1]

Changing the world is just over my paygrade

[@silafuyang8675]

In Vietnam, a bowl of fen is much less than a dollar.

[@bellantwain21]

Nice review love the video imon Nation stay motivated dream big 1 mill on the way

[@LeeCarlson]

Read Francis Fukuyama's "Political Order and Political Decay," and Joseph Henrich's "The WEIRDest People in the World" to give you some perspective on why wars happen.

[@startingQB]

People think Miller was chosen because he was a bad detective. Really he was chosen because he was apathetic and wouldn't follow the case passed finding out Julie left Ceres.

[@hartjohnson2975]

Greed for money and power.

[@Corey313]

I love this series. I'm glad you're checking it out Imon 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾💯💯👍🏾

[@pvilches06]

🌹🌹❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@pgreen0001]

Your reactions are not showing in your Expanse playlist.

[@cheetahguysofficial1010]

Sister plssssssssssssssss watch Baahubali 2...

[@roborob4296]

havent been to your channel in a while. seems like a lot has changed thow. hope everythings ok. not used to seeing it so unorganized and inconsistent. audio levels all over the place from episode to episode. here you talk about a spoiler time stamp for lord of the rings and give a time stamp of 50 minutes which obviously is for the patreon cut but nothing for the youtube cut. the play list is an unorganized mess. just has me thinking you must have stuff going on knowing some of your personal struggles in the past few years. hope youre doing ok

[@mscheese000]

I'm not sure if your other videos have this problem, I may just have not noticed it before, but the quality of your voice recording is really, really bad. It sounds like it's compressed to a very low bitrate. I enjoy your videos otherwise but this is literally painful to my ears. Please look into it.