The Expanse

The Expanse (2015) 

The best space opera of recent years. Which might not mean that much, as there have not been/are not many shows like this lately, let alone the good ones. We must admit that even if they had been some good shows, this one would have been able to keep up, which can be taken as a compliment. This is the "Battlestar Galactic in the best period 2.0". Three sides of impending conflict, three levels of narrative from different perspectives across social strata, no good or bad sides, dirty looks, civility of it all, believable technologies, well-thought-out political and social environment, intrigue, hypocrisy and despite all the sci-fi aspects it´s based mainly and above all on ambivalent characters. On top of that, the plot is constantly nicely progressing (although it's true that sometimes in small steps), it's more holistic than episodic and… And it's just exactly what one wants from a successful black-and-white space opera in all respects. It has only two snags. While the underfunded expedition can still be accepted (it is the "Cimrman's Hamlet effect", where the characters talk about something, but there are no means to show it adequately or in the necessary numbers), because it is mainly about characters and political plots, but the cast is not acceptable. The main parties are fine, but all the "second-rate" characters are performed by C-rate non-actors you would expect from the SyFy production. Which is an even bigger issue because they are the type of "actors" who are tragic even in one-dimensional characters, let alone in such multi-layered segments. In other words, despite all the undeniable qualities, it is still impossible to get rid of the feeling "how much better it could have been if made by HBO / Netflix / god-knows-who". However, it is still a true sci-fi quality that has long been missing on screens. Sorry, I meant thanks to this series, it is fair to say that it was missing and not missing any long. (13/02/2017)