The Expanse Book vs. TV Recap: Remember the Cant & CQB

There are neat things here that the book never really conveys: the viral nature of Holden’s message, and the impact of his words. Part of this is due to the show really visualizing the desperate nature of the Belters, which drives home the message nicely. Even more pressing is the deep-seated anti-Belter racism that’s prevalent amongst Earthers and Martians. The OPA is really using this to ramp up tensions, and it’s making Miller and his colleagues’ jobs harder.
On the Donnager, the same principle is at work: the Martians aren’t thrilled with Holden’s message, and an intelligence agent, Lopez, is trying to figure out if the Cant was killed by a saboteur. They’ve honed in on Naomi, as her skills are what helped them survive to be rescued. Holden isn’t having any of it, but the Martians are desperate to fill the narrative of the OPA trying to drive a wedge between Mars and Earth to start a war, something the OPA would benefit from greatly. The interrogation scenes play out differently from the book, but again, they make sense here.
Back on Earth, Avasalara is trying to figure out what’s going on as well: they believe that Mars has engineered the situation, and everyone wants to deploy their fleets. They’re held back by the fleet command, who wants firm proof of Mars’ involvement.
Later in the episode, she leaks word of the stealth composites discovered on the OPA operative, and gets chatter going on Mars about it, telling Earth that they weren’t the ones who ordered an attack on the Cant: they were taking inventory, trying to discover something that had been stolen. There’s a new fleet on the loose.
Back on Ceres, rioting has broken out, exacerbated by the destruction of the Cant, which had water that would relieve the shortage. As the fighting escalates, Havelock is attacked and left for dead, a major departure from the book: on the page, he transferred out, but it seems like he’ll be a bit of a larger character onscreen, which will change some things around a bit later on.
What seems to be missing is the stolen riot gear mystery from Leviathan Wakes—that could be coming later in the series, but honestly, that seems like a departure that’s best left glossed over in the show, given what’s coming.
CQB
Miller’s pissed at Havelock for going AWOL and has his friend help him out with a dead body that he discovered: someone with a connection to Julie Mao. He discovers that his suspect is really not his suspect—more mysteries. As he investigates, there’s a great reference to some of the activities that happens in Abbadon’s Gate—the slingshot hotshots who pilot rockets around the solar system.

We jump to the Donnager, which has picked up an unknown contact. Holden goes to talk with the captain of the ship, Yao, and she believes that it’s an OPA ship coming for Naomi. They’re confident in their ability to take it out before too much longer. As the ship comes under attack, the rest of the crew straps in below.
Avasalara notes that there’s a new fleet of warships in the belt, and it’s a worrisome prospect, something that will upend the balance of power in the system. This again is a bit of a departure, because Avasalara wasn’t in the first book, and the mysterious assailants were never quite a fleet in the first place, though the show does do a better job building them up.
Back at the ship, there’s a truly spectacular space battle as the Donnager opens up its cannons. The show has a good budget for visual effects, and they really put it to use here.
We jump over to a new character, Fred Johnson, who’s working on a major generation ship project for the Mormons. He’s being told that he’s going to be removed from the project because of the political tensions between the system and the OPA, and he pretty deftly undercuts the underling’s arguments by telling him that if he walks, the project will collapse. He orders the crew to use their advanced sensors to take a look in on the battle.
Back at the Donnager, the battle is playing out a little differently than in the book. Holden is on the bridge, and recognizes one of the ships: it looks like one of the ones that destroyed the Cant, something that catches the attention of his Martian captors. Back down at the brig, the crew is worried about the battle that’s going on around them. They’ve strapped in, and Shed loses his head when a round passes through the cabin—the scene plays out almost exactly like it did in the book.
The ship is boarded and there’s close quarters fighting on the desks. The Martians are trying to get Holden off the ship, and he convinces them to rescue his crew. It’s a deviation from the original text, but it works well. The crew is ushered into pressure suits and they’re off. We see a little more of the mysterious attackers, who are wearing advanced tech—these clearly aren’t Belters.
As they make their escape, Holden learns a bit about Phoebe Station out by Saturn, something the Donnager‘s interrogators had been asking about. It turns out that the science station had been slagged, with all of its research removed. Something happened there that was worrying Mars enough to deploy a warship. They reach the hanger bay, and they get out to a ship: the Tachi. As they run out, they’re attacked, but the crew and Lopez make it onboard with little time to spare. Alex is tossed into the pilot’s seat and they blast their way off the ship before it’s scuttled. We’ve now been introduced to the next major character, the Rocinante, which will be the home for the crew for the rest of the series.
The production nailed the look of the Roci—it’s a really amazing looking spaceship, and it’s got serious teeth, something we see as they make their escape. The Roci is a major location throughout the series, and it’s nice to finally see it in person.
Thus far, the show has taken some shortcuts to get the plot moving even faster, cutting dead weight and taking different turns. The politics are a bit more focused here than in Leviathan Wakes, which works really well on the screen. Now that we know that we’ll see another t13 episodes in 2017, we can breath easier: there’ll be more space to fill out the rest of this universe. With these four episodes, we’ve only hit up to the 159 page mark in the first book, with a lot more to go before the end.
How are you enjoying The Expanse so far?