I know some of y'all liked my threads analyzing all the little visual details in #TheExpanse this last season. I had a sudden urge to rewatch the first season so I'm going to do the same for those. Let's call this #SomeThingsINoticed.
In this image of Earth in the title sequence, there are a lot of lights in an area of Iran/Afghanistan/Pakistan that is mostly unpopulated desert in the real world. I'd imagine as things got more crowded people started living in less hospitable places.
The effects of climate change on Earth are shown as polar ice melts and Liberty Island is completely flooded. #TheExpanse
Colonization of the Moon, with what looks like one big city stretching across almost half its surface. #TheExpanse
Early habitats on Mars. The last shot, where Florence Faivre's credit appears, is later replaced by a shot of Bobbie Draper's troops. #TheExpanse
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn all in a pretty little row. Distances rather not to scale. #TheExpanse
I love the zero-G hair effects they've managed to pull off on this show. All the hair in this scene is CGI; her real hair is tucked up under a bald cap. #TheExpanse
Most people would put their surname on a nametag like this. But I'm guessing Julie wants to distance herself from her family, including the name. #TheExpanse
That same AWP logo on a couple of construction-worker-type guys going into the brothel. Must be the station's maintenance agency or something. #TheExpanse
Since the "gravity" inside Ceres is really centrifugal force, pouring drinks looks a little weird.
There are no proper subtitles for the Belter creole in this scene, seemingly because we're seeing this through Havelock's eyes and he doesn't understand it.
Havelock being a bit insensitive comparing the size of a murdered Belter's hand to his own. Gia sees him doing it and then rubs her own hand uncomfortably. #TheExpanse
A map of the Ceres public transit system. Tag yourself, I'm Crystal Cave #TheExpanse
Outside the police station is a sign advertising The Book Of Mormon. Whether it's the original text or the 21st century musical is hard to say. #TheExpanse
Miller wiping that murder victim's blood off of his shoe *after* he sits down in his boss's office. #TheExpanse
I just love that Miller's phone has a huge crack in it. #TheExpanse
This scene features the Black Keys song "Tighten Up" playing in the background, a rare example of a real-world song appearing in the show. I've said it before but I wish they'd used "Space Truckin'" by Deep Purple. #TheExpanse
I wonder if this shot was a deliberate homage to the box art from the video game Dead Space, another story about different factions fighting over an ancient alien artifact that turns people into monsters. #TheExpanse
This looks...challenging, but I guess people make do. Notice Holden gripping the exercise bike with his feet. #TheExpanse
Interesting how this exchange kinda plays out again later, when Ade's the only one who doesn't want to pretend they didn't hear the distress signal. #TheExpanse
"Screw the Inners and their magic Jell-O" is a great line, but what I really like is the guy in the background just staring at a forkful of his food. #TheExpanse
I went down a weird pharma rabbit hole trying to figure out if there's actually a drug called Z-PRO. Seems like that may be a brand name for omeprazole, which is an acid reflux treatment. Holden appears to be asking for a sleep aid, though. #TheExpanse
I'll be honest. I have no idea how easy or hard it is to pickle eggs. Maybe @Casanvar can enlighten us. #TheExpanse
Interestingly this is kind of a theme for the whole entire story: big changes are coming and those who don't adapt get swept aside. #TheExpanse
The first appearance of Chrisjen Avasarala, before she's formally introduced, on a news feed on the Canterbury. #TheExpanse
Beautiful shot of the Canterbury cruising the rings of Saturn. #TheExpanse
Holden is about to "rat out" to the company about the distress call. The fact that there's an actual rat running around is maybe a little on the nose #TheExpanse
Notice that among all these messages that look like ship's business, there's one from Elise — one of his mothers. And it's unread, because he's a terrible son. #TheExpanse
Holden only logs the distress beacon after he picks up Julie's message coming from the same location. After he hears a real human voice out there. #TheExpanse
Once again we see the effects of climate change as both Liberty Island and Manhattan have tall concrete walls built around them, to keep out the rising ocean. #TheExpanse
And the fact that this is described as "Hampton Islands" suggests that the elevated sea levels have caused the Hamptons to be cut off from the rest of Long Island. #TheExpanse
The book clarifies that "flying tea-kettle" refers to flying only on reaction thrusters — which looks a bit like the steam coming out of a boiling kettle — rather than using the high-tech Epstein Drive. #TheExpanse
In the background of this video of Julie you can see a ship. This was originally a quick & dirty model for the Razorback, which the show's artists hadn't fully designed yet at this point. This model later got used as Jules-Pierre Mao's personal ship, the Guanshiyin. #TheExpanse
I like how Muss is unmoved by any of Miller's bullshit. #TheExpanse
She does care about him, though. I wish we'd gotten to see more of her. #TheExpanse
Beauty shot of the Knight approaching the Scopuli. #TheExpanse
Everyone finds this a little funny, but they're all too freaked out to really laugh at it...except Amos, of course. #TheExpanse
A lot of non-verbal acting here as Holden leaves to go check out the Scopuli. Naomi looks at Amos, he shakes his head a lot, but eventually he goes. He thought it was a bad idea but he went because she wanted him to. All without any lines. #TheExpanse
In the book they see a patch of slightly warmer vacuum nearby as they approach the Scopuli, which they think is weird but it doesn't even occur to them that it might be a ship until it starts firing at them. #TheExpanse
I like how everyone has octagonal windows on Ceres. It reminds me of the octagonal paper on Battlestar Galactica (which was a "cutting corners" joke). #TheExpanse
Big OPA graffiti on the wall near Miller's apartment. #TheExpanse
The thud this douche makes when he hits the floor of the airlock is one of the more satisfying sound effects in this show. #TheExpanse
In the background, through the glass in the floor of the airlock, you can see tugs flying out to meet an inbound ship. I love that someone thought to stick that in there instead of just a plain space backdrop. #TheExpanse
Notice how the missiles are first passively ejected from the ship, *then* their engines come on. In contrast to a real-world naval warship, where missiles need to fire their engines just to get out of the ship firing them, due to gravity. #TheExpanse
The most common fan theory I've heard is that Ade was about to tell Holden she was pregnant. Other ideas I've heard include that she was going to say she loved him, or that she knew something about Naomi's past that she'd been waffling on whether to reveal. #TheExpanse
Guess we'll never know.
I think the show does a really good job of blindsiding you with this. Paj's arm, the XO's madness, Ade's noble heart, Byers' cynicism, McDowell's glass cats...all these little details about characters who don't even survive the pilot. #TheExpanse
That's it for this episode! I will follow up with others on a completely irregular schedule.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
I don't usually talk about the recaps at the beginning of episodes, but this one merits some attention because it includes clips from a scene that appears to have been cut from the previous episode and never actually shown. #TheExpanse#SomeThingsINoticed
This is particularly weird because it introduces a new important character, Cotyar Ghazi, a freelance intelligence operative Avasarala hires after the assassination attempt in the last episode. #TheExpanse#SomeThingsINoticed
The dead guy Miller found after the riot in the last episode. Note confirmation from Julie's files that she matched with him on the space dating site. His profile says "I'll be your Sherpa". #TheExpanse#SomeThingsINoticed
Another reference here to how technology on Mars is outstripping Earth's in various areas, and how the impoverished Belt lags behind. #TheExpanse#SomeThingsINoticed