The Expanse 1x7 Reaction | Windmills | Review & Breakdown

[@peadarruane6582]

The Belter neck tattoos. Remember Miller and Dawes chat after he was kidnapped. Dawes mentions that the older vac suits used to scar around the neck. They would tattoo over the scars. The current generation of belters still get the tattoos as a cultural thing.

[@arandomnamegoeshere]

Good call. Older belters would work with these cheap vac suits that would occasionally short at the seal around the neck, causing the metal to heat up (or perhaps simply arch voltage directly to the skin) and brand a ring around the neck. Work the belt long enough and you'd end up with such a brand. It took on cultural significance (similar to the "50 mission crush" cap for WWII US Air Corp officers or the scars and burns on the hands of a chef). The brands are so significant that it has become a tattoo often sported by belters to replicate this indicator of shared culture. Given this bit of knowledge... well... we've already seen old belters who have an actual OG brand around their necks. Its just another background detail in the show that often goes unnoticed until you realize what it means.

[@johnniequinn3215]

To expand on that and avoid spoilers I copied from the transcript of "BELTERS (BELTA): Cultural Index" by Certifiably Ingame . @6:45 It is common and generally expected for Belters to adorn themselves with tattoo markings of various symbolic and individual value. The most commonly seen tattoo however is the ring around the neck design which is a stylised geometric pattern. This is done to resemble the seal of a space suit helmet as in the early days of Belter colonisation, faulty suits were common; This led the seals to heat up and even burn the wearer, leaving scars on the neck which younger Belters emulate though tattoos as a sign of respect and a nod to the troubles of Belters that came before. Aside from these, the tattoos are as varied as any other human's denoting affiliation, significance or simply personal taste. *also* Their spoken language is known as Belter Creole or Lang Belta and derived from the original languages of the Belt settlers as phrases and words were mingled. In real life its origins are a mixture of English, Chinese, Persian and Hebrew languages; as well as many of the words simply being abbreviated or reverting into a shared phonetic slang, the most obvious example being the words Belta for Belter and Inya for Inner. This has led to the emergence of a unique accent to accompany it which again completely varies depending on where in the Belt the person originates Those from metropolitan hubs such as Ceres have a less pronounced accent, while those who spend most of their time on remote ships may have a stronger one. Hope that helps.

[@AnnaAlexanderAuthor]

Thank you!

[@jasondolph2785]

Given the distances involved in even in-system travel, Miller is for sure sending a recording to Julie Mao's father. It would take light delays of multiple minutes for a radio signal to go through each way. Even Earth-Moon communications are delayed by around one second. Earth-Mars on the order of two minutes. Any time you get confused about why an interaction seems to have odd timing, consider that traveling physically place to place often takes weeks or months. Message delays are minutes or hours. It's a real world physics fact that informs a lot of things in the show.

[@rodentnolastname6612]

Earth-mars communication can vary between 3 and 22 minutes depending on orbital alignment. Earth-Belt 26-35 minutes, Earth-Jupiter 35-52 minutes.

[@Marzipanilla]

The bird looks like that because of the lower gravity on Ceres. It's a normal bird. And yes, Chrisjen's outfits are always amazing.

[@rodentnolastname6612]

Birds are kept on station for aesthetics, as pollinators but also as passive air quality monitors. "Canaries in the coal mine". If the birds start dying then there might be something wrong with the air that sensors are missing. 🤔

[@LeeCarlson]

Julie Mao's apartment was locked by Star Helix and when Shaddid revoked Miller's clearance he needed to use the mark-one improvised lockpick.

[@donrichards271]

I really like how this show has "themed" seasons. Season one is the mystery story set in a science fiction world. I will let you discover the succeeding themes as you go.

[@LeeCarlson]

Naomi's neck tattoo is a design that mimics the burn-scarring that so often occurred with old-style pressure-suit helmets, which Belters wear as a symbol of pride and solidarity. Anderson Dawes explained that to Miller a few episodes back.

[@kirkdarling4120]

I don't recall Dawes explaining it to Miller, but Miller does explain it to Havelock in the "delete scenes" of Dulcinea. kzbin.info/www/bejne/hZzJfoqFo7Kcq7s

[@LeeCarlson]

Avarsarela's admission to Holden's mother that her son had died because she asked him to join the military to forge a sympathetic bond between them, and one of the rare moments of vulnerability that Chrijen shows to others. Avarsarela's "technique" is to say "This is something that we have in common," and that works when it is an actual commonality. It is something that you learn in Leadership 101.

[@jamesholland5761]

Great reaction! Chrisjen dresses like a Queen..... well because she is " Our Queen!" Her outfits are characters among themselves! We have often speculated that 1/3 of the budget went to her wardrobe! Ahh Amos! He is by far an amazingly played character by Wes Chatham! Perfection! As you will see! The conversation between Miller and Dawes has such weight to it! Remember there are no wasted lines or scenes in this show! Looking forward to the next one!

[@richlisola1]

Naomi isn’t the captain. She can’t give orders to Amos. He either chooses to listen to her or not. Oddly, this show never specified a command structure for the Rocinante beyond Holden as the captain.

[@pgreen0001]

The Scopuli was destroyed in episode 2 from the debris of the Cant blowing up.

[@blackpaw29]

Its interesting that Amos genuinely bore no animosity towards Holden for threatening to kill him.

[@AnnaAlexanderAuthor]

Right??? I think he expected it and then when confirmed just went, okay. That's how it is.

[@alabamahellbilly6731]

Amos is the best written goon in the history of human literature...and I am speaking as an old goon turned writer

[@charlie53echo]

Donkey balls.

[@daxeah8472]

The next episode is the one that had me all in with this show. Can't wait to rewatch it with you. Amos is very pragmatic, its part of his charm... lmao. It's taking all my self-control not to write an essay about him in your comments. There really isn't much humor in the show as far as the situations our characters find themselves in. The comedy in the show tends to come from the dialog and the timing of the dialog, as well as the facial expression they pull, and there may be some fun cussing in your future. Fun Fact: this is the first episode the authors of the books wrote. It was a trial piece to see if they could be included permanently as show writers.

[@michaelhoward142]

Holden's mother is played by the fabulous Francis Fisher.

[@noahrobin1941]

A brief bit of history, about which I am woefully underinformed: The use of “space” as a verb in SF dates back decades; it was in the books I was reading when I was a kid, some of which had (I believe; memory is a fickle thing) been written in the 60’s and 70’s. A quick googling didn’t turn up any origin for its use as a verb in the sense of ejecting someone into it, tho.

[@peadarruane6582]

Haven't read Don Quixote either, but the few things I know about it, is that its about this idealistic man thinking he was a knight, in a corrupt world that doesn't fit with his 'chivalry'. In one scene in his imagination a bunch of windmills are giants, and he goes charging at them. Hence the notion of 'titling' at windmills, ie picking fights that you can't win. Sound like anyone we know :D

[@arandomnamegoeshere]

Side note: I myself was kind of surprised to find out that modern retellings have given Don Quixote a sympathetic veneer. In the actual book - he's not a sympathetic character. Rather he is an abusive madman who's delusions cause him to inflict pain on innocent people he encounters. Which I always find as an interesting twist to how our culture interacts with... well, its such a classic at this point that the story has taken on the air of a myth. As applied to THIS particular story. Well. Let's just say that nobody works with perfect information. And sometimes actions have the best of intentions but unintended outcomes. And those outcomes will cause those with the ability to change the course of events to question mindsets and motives.

[@billross7245]

The first episode is called Dulcinea, who is the imaginary idealized version of the woman for whom DQ performs his imagined knightly adventures. It's interesting that both Miller and Holden share aspects of DQ.

[@macmcleod1188]

@arandomnamegoeshere not so sure, based on the book not the play, "quixote persuades a couple of wily lodgers to pay their innkeeper; he is honest and chaste, and, in general, is loved by the people in his village who know him." That seems at odds. He is imperious and insane, agreed.

[@arandomnamegoeshere]

@@macmcleod1188 not sure where the quote comes from. But there is a chapter where some inn guests are beating the innkeeper because they refuse to pay. Quixote doesn't intervene. He claims it is because the guests are squires or low-born and he can not intervene. But it flies in the face of his talk of justice and care of the people around him. The passage eventually notes something about the innkeeper and guests making peace due to Quoxote's words more than threats... but given that he not only didn't threaten them but retreated from them, I'm not sure the innkeeper actually got paid. That's not the portrayal we see in modern interpretations. And I wonder if what you're referring to is a summery of one of those later translations.

[@macmcleod1188]

@@arandomnamegoeshere Could be... I assumed you were influenced by portrayal on tv shows and stage plays so I went to three literary summary sources to find support for your post. Didn't find it. It's certainly possible- people change things when they adapt them all the time- and they do tend to soften them.

[@kirkdarling4120]

To be "spaced" is to be put outside the ship without a functioning space suit. Being put outside the ship in a functioning space suit (the way Diogo was put outside by his uncle Mateo) is called being put "on the float." "How long ago was that, Alex, and is that still valid?" Indeed, in the real world, using an outdated code word is a red flag of an attempt at an unauthorized intrusion. Not well explained in the series: The UN had taken most privately owned land under "imminent domain." The exception was land that had been held by eight generations. So a group of eight people (a couple of polyamous groups) owing contiguous tracts of land created a test tube baby using all of their DNA...eight generations in one generation. The matter had been in the courts since Holden was born. The specific line Avasarla used that had the desired affect was her admission that even after knowing that her son was dead, she still longed for someone to tell her that her son was still alive...which is what she had just done for Holden's mother. Holden's mother had gone through that same grief of having lost her only child...and the emotional tumult of then suddenly learning that he was alive after all. So, Avasarala stuck her foot into the door she knew had been opened.

[@brucer2152]

Oh...she's hooked...if wanting to know what happens over comes cramps...hehe...welcome to the club Anna. :)

[@AnnaAlexanderAuthor]

🤣😂🤣

[@ngombordadoattay7982]

I'm having fun watching you begin this journey. Thank you for showing up.

[@hoos3014]

I love that you're wearing a hat during the episode that Miller parts with his hat. I wonder what that means...😊

[@raymondamador1487]

Love the hat Anna. I hope you're still a few episodes ahead. The fans of this show are committed to explaining things even if it means spoiling. Anyway. You could've been a detective. All questions are awnsered in previous and future episodes. Fantastic reaction. 😃

[@LeeCarlson]

And now we all know just why James Holden is the kind of leader that he is.

[@blackpaw29]

The birds are real, they just fly differently (and easier) due to the low gravity. I imagine tis done via CGI though :) Great reaction, you remeber and pick up on stuff so much better than most.

[@LeeCarlson]

The shuttle that Miller is bound for Eros on is the Belter equivalent of a Greyhound Bus.

[@elroysez8333]

They can't go to the Scopuli because it was destroyed when the Canterbury was destroyed. Debris from the exploding Canterbury took it out.

[@danbadd]

I think Holden's mum was just desperate for information. They had been locked in an adversarial tussle and Chrisjen's story regarding her son allowed them to deviate to common ground. It was less about will she give chrisjen info, and more so about how will they steer the conversation to a point where she feels she can.

[@arandomnamegoeshere]

Agreed. And keep in mind that Chrisjen had been pushing Elise Holden the entire time. They both inherently don't trust each other based on what they represent - Crisjen as a representative of Government power and Elise as a representative of counter-culture political idealism. Both representations have a history of deceit. Yet Chrisjen is there to try and figure out what makes Holden tick. She needs to get through Elise's barrier of distrust and either cause Elise to trust her or slip up and reveal a truth. Chrisjen is an expert manipulator and none of us... no matter how jaded we think we are... is completely immune to manipulation (including Chrisjen herself).

[@rnkelly36]

A hint for you that does not spoil anything is the actor for Amos is John Wesley Chatham. Chatham utilized a psychologist that specializes with people on the autism spectrum. Amos is someone that is on the autism spectrum but is highly efficient in performing tasks such as engineering. Amos as a character does not understand social cues and what is right and wrong. Chatham needed a professional to tell him how someone like this would behave in high stress situations that the script called for.

[@invaderliz]

Never heard that autism was considered in that character, just lots of PTSD research. Ty-Frank has mentioned the character having attachment disorder as well, likely as a trauma coping skill. He also seems to be aromantic (does not feel romantic love).

[@rnkelly36]

​@@invaderliz Personally I don't think it was autism per say but more trauma counseling. He read a book by PTSD researcher Bessel van der Kolk and went to a few sessions with a psychologist. In an interview he did say the easiest way to translate the character was to study how autism works. So is Amos on on the spectrum? Maybe but years of trauma is where the character in the books is coming from. Autism may be the easiest way to translate it into the visual medium of TV.

[@philipturner9087]

Real bird flying in one third gravity.

[@stevebosworth5462]

One thing this show does really well is setup and payoff. Sometimes the payoff might not occur until a few episodes later or maybe a season or two later. The XO on the Canterbury going crazy, and the scene in the slingshot club are good examples, as well as Miller leaving his hat on Ceres.

[@whtz9000]

The Queen episode. Yeah.

[@demoscat]

Mendacious polyglottal sesquipedalian words may seem ubiquitous, but those who don't care a fig about donkey balls will never suffer from hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia.

[@blackpaw29]

So looking fwd to the next ep reaction, its a cracker!

[@richb313]

The story unfolds but you have to figure it out.