The Expanse: Why I Dropped Out.

 

After the 5th book it just broke down to Human vs Human. Unlike Honor Harrington, they didn't have aspirational characters within each faction either. Plus Harrington's former enemies teamed up with her to LIBERATE Old Earth. Go Mr. Weber! Even with your tech dumps. They dismantled the Onion Cabal controlling everyone in Old Earth Sector and are gearing up to chase down the remaining members. They didnt even have to Glass the former homeworld to do it. Even though the Onion made it look like Earth had a hand in attacking Sphinx.

Holden could only keep me going so much. 

The P Molecule was regulated to the background with the multiple planets/settlement just dividing humanity even more without pulling them together. I wanted them to work towards a shining tomorrow once that Gate stuff hit. Plus to figure out what happened to the other alien races. If there were more of them at all. But I realized also: Expanse adheres more to the Mundane Manifesto.

Humanity nearly KO's Earth. Domed Cities. Its like: WTF why should I keep reading. So I didn't. It basically says through its themes that we will never become like Lorien, passing on knowledge and grace to other races. Its depressing. This is also telling. And why I like OG BSG better. It has hope while the re-imagining has much more bittersweet. Emphasis on Bitter. But the Expanse managed to out do them when it comes to Just Dayum, that is fucking hopelessness.

That makes me 360 out of the TV series even faster. I only watched S1-3. Did that BSG have its moments? Sure: But that wasnt the standard makeup of shows back then. If everything is dark, gritty, dystopic and depressing then nothing will stand out either. Its why #PulpRev and Superversive books stand out in comparison. They are going against a very very veeeeeeeeery common trend of modern entertainment. The horror elements of the PM should have brought humanity together to face the cosmic threat. It didnt.

Looking at all the spoilers for the rest of the series so far: Its like What if yet another offshoot human faction (Martians meets Illusive Man Cerberus) comes back to Earth with the PM tech but wants to basically be the overall leader of humanity. Not by bringing people together but by force. When everything is basically shit and shit by products even moreso after Book 5. This series goes stupidly dark. Even much more so than that Polygon article implies. It goes "Well if Humans get Power, they will go the Shadow Route easy as pie. Because we suck." 

The Expanse isn't filled with Wonder. Its "Blessed with Suck." In fact, I image those who love how Mass Effect 3 ended are getting all sorts of enjoyment out of this cluster fuck of a series. (As you can tell, its not my preferred wheelhouse of themes or archetypes.)

Even more than ME3s ending, its gonna take a dues ex machina to save people in the final Expanse book. From reading all these spoilers indicates. If this attitude makes me a relic in the post modern sphere so be it. 

What's so bad about having a legit bright future setup anyway?