The Expanse Season Four (Spoiler-Free) Review

Despite being in the era of Peak TV, where there is more than enough television to sate anyone’s particular appetites, there is one area where supply is not meeting demand: Science Fiction. Considering how the past decade has made more “nerdy” interests mainstream (see the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the Star Wars films), that same influx of pop culture influence hasn’t been felt on the small screen. So, for the past four years, The Expanse, the adaptation of James S.A. Corey’s series of novels, has aired on SyFy to general critical acclaim but limited ratings. I only discovered it prior to its third season (which aired on the network in 2018). In fact, the ratings were so limited that SyFy canceled the series following its third season. Luckily for the series it had at least one famous (and rich) fan: Jeff Bezos, whose Amazon Prime network bought the series and began production on season four.

All of that is a long-winded way of explaining how a solid, if little seen, series made its way over to Amazon for its fourth season, of which I have seen the first six episodes (and boy, can you see the Amazon money throughout those episodes in the heightened CGI quality). As for whether or not the fourth season of The Expanse is worth your time (assuming you’ve seen seasons one through three, because you need those in order to understand anything that is happening here), well, I wasn’t completely sold on season four through the first six episodes. Let me explain.

I have a pet theory about The Expanse: The series works best when its wide-ranging cast are all working together to achieve a single goal. Think back to the episodes that found everyone together on the Rocinante. Those episodes were some of the best of the series, with the main cast in one location working on a single mission alongside each other. I loved those episodes and couldn’t wait to find out what happened next. Unfortunately, from early in the first episode, it becomes clear that most of season four will deal with the main cast scattered around the gameboard.

Holden, Naomi, Amos, and Alex are still on the Rocinante, but dealing with a new and dangerous mission (which they were sent on by Avasarala, who, once again, is relegated largely to the sidelines of the story – which should be a crime, as you have Shohreh Aghdashloo, you need to use her to the best of her abilities). Bobbie is off on Mars in a strange and less-than-compelling arc that sees her trying to reintegrate herself into Martian society after accepting a Court Martial. Drummer and Ashford offer the most fun arc, as the Belter duo try to figure out just what is going on in the No Man’s Land around the Ring (Cara Gee and David Strathairn are having a blast working together and it shows). Keeping track of the various arcs isn’t all that hard to do but finding enough within each to get truly invested in is.

The Rocinante piece of the story is the main story within the season, and I suspect in the final set of episodes I have yet to see will connect the other arcs with this one in some form, but it also has the greatest influx of new cast members to get to know (and there are a lot of them). As someone who finds Avasarala the most compelling character in the series, it was particularly disheartening to see her relegated to the occasional insert, listening to a video message from Holden and swearing about how he’s managed to mess things up (because you knew he was going to get mixed up in everything she ordered him to avoid – thanks largely to ghost Joe Miller’s mystical messages). There’s also not enough of the Drummer/Ashford arc interspersed throughout the initial six episodes (it’s clear that the series is keeping them in a holding pattern to deploy them at a strategic point later in the season) to get anything beyond a cursory understanding of their place in the grand scheme of things.

Now, having said all this, I largely enjoyed the first six episodes of season four. I know, it might sound counter-intuitive based on what I just wrote, but it’s true. At this stage in the game we know the characters well enough to largely anticipate their reactions to the various plot stressors they encounter, so it’s easier to overlook some of the shaky plotting (and there is some, particularly in Bobbie’s arc and the Rocinante side of things). And the actors have such a strong grasp on their characters at this stage in the game that watching them work becomes calming (Frankie Adams has some trouble finding the right beats for Bobbie early in the season – largely since she’s isolated from much of the central cast for most of the six episode and forced to craft Bobbie’s personal arc on her own after two seasons of having established characters to bounce off of).

Knowing that the issues with the cast being segregated in their own stories is also something that happens in the novels, I’m willing to give elements of the various plots a bit of a pass. However, when adapting a novel for the screen, you have to acknowledge that what works on the page might not translate as well to the screen. Keeping these characters separate with only minimal contact doesn’t work as well as having the gang together to get things done. If events don’t conspire to bring everyone back together again by season’s end, well, I’m not sure if the series will be able to weather this new status quo.

The entire fourth season of The Expanse premieres on Amazon Prime on Friday, December 13.