btp

I think it's safe to say that the Protomolecule -- and that which it constructs -- is continuing to break the rules as we know them. Essentially, it wasn't like the kid's ship hit a barrier, exactly - more that it just had its momentum abruptly stopped (significantly slowed, actually) in some unknown way. Whatever mechanism stopped the ship, though, seems to have not extended to its passenger. And that's kind of weirdly inconsistent, when you think about it. We know that the protomolecule has the power to move things without obeying the laws of inertia, gravity, and probably several other things. We know this because it did it with Eros, which stopped spinning and accelerated toward Earth (and eventually Venus) without Miller or any of the other organic (albeit dead) stuff "aboard" feeling any effects of that acceleration. But this seems different -- the Y Que was more or less stopped dead, but its poor hapless pilot continued to obey the laws of physics, leading to a rather unfortunate outcome. What explains the inconsistency? I don't know. I don't recall the books explaining (or even bringing up) the inconsistency, and the show hasn't so far, though maybe it will. Perhaps the protection of organic matter is interrupted in the presence of covers of Deep Purple songs. Edited to add: I was thrown out of my AP Physics class in high school and put in the class with the "regular" kids, so maybe my understanding of this is suspect too, but I believe you're partially correct -- the ship's hull probably would not have suffered any ill effects, but certainly various fixtures and equipment inside the vessel would have likely come loose, being attached with bolts or latches or whatever that were not able to withstand the stress of that sudden deceleration (think the cabinet and contained tools that Prax did not sufficiently secure on the Rocinante a few episodes ago, multiplied by, like, 1000). Then again, maybe they did and we just didn't see it. The camera focused on the person, and we didn't really see if there was any ancillary damage. Still doesn't address the inconsistencies I mentioned above, though.

JUST ANNOUNCED personally by Jeff Bezos at ISDC2018 (annual conference of the National Space Society in Los Angeles), at which Bezos was a featured speaker: Amazon HAS picked up the show. The Expanse will be a Prime Original starting with Season 4. I'm sure more details will be forthcoming, but the show has been saved. ETA: I guess I wasn't first to announce it. Check out brief video above. Well played, @anamika. :)

THIS JUST IN. And it's off topic, technically, so I'll be brief. Jeff Bezos just personally announced a few minutes ago (at ISDC2018, a space conference currently being held in Los Angeles) that the deal is done. The Expanse will return as a Prime Original for season 4. For reals, kids. You may now commence celebrating.

@Holmbo is correct. It hasn't been picked up yet. Word is that Amazon is interested, and negotiations are underway. Apparently, Jeff Bezos is a big fan of the books at least, and one report even claims he was angry that SyFy, a competitor of sorts, got the show in the first place. Reportedly, both sides are highly motivated to make a deal, Amazon Studios because of pressure from Bezos and because they've been impressed with the fan-run #savetheexpanse campaign, Alcon because they are proud of the show and still believe it could be a huge hit with the right partner. So that bodes well. But, on the other hand, the negotiations are complicated. As Alcon has said in tweets, there are a lot of moving parts, and while they're optimistic, there are no guarantees. Basically, everybody associated with the show is saying signs are encouraging, but they are requesting that the fan campaign continue to exert pressure until everybody has signed on the dotted line. So keep your fingers crossed, but I wouldn't be counting any cans of chicken just yet.

Three different hybrids, three different motivations, I think. Through some unspecified mechanisms, it seems the Version 1 hybrids were "programmable" in some sense. After all, a super soldier would be pretty useless if you weren't able to somehow tell it what to do. So the hybrid on Ganymede was instructed to basically kill all the marines on both sides, which it did until it was blown up while standing over Bobbie (probably the idea was to leave her alive so she could spread the terror of what she saw or something? I dunno). The hybrid on the Rocinante, you will recall, escaped from that holding tank thingie in the Ganymede lab. So I would assume that it had no particular programming. So it just followed the instincts of the protomolecule -- investigate, collect information, accumulate biomass if you can, and seek energy. Which is what it basically did. The Katoa Hybrid was the first successful Version 2 hybrid (made from the immunodeficient kids) and while it (he) was also sent out with instructions (wreak havoc on the intruders), it also (my fanwank, but a reasonable one, I think) was more "integrated" with its human host, so it was somewhat less robotic in its adherence to that programming and, notably, it displayed fairly human emotions. So basically, Bobbie shot it. A lot. And then ran, basically saying "catch me if you can, you <insert expletive here>." So it chased Bobbie because Bobbie was hurting it and it wanted to kick her ass in return. Basically, Bobbie pissed it off on purpose in order to get it to follow her in the opposite direction of Team Roci. Does that work? Charapal was Avasarala's son, whom Cotyar claims he "got killed" during some unnamed engagement when Charapal was in the UNN and Cotyar was... I'm guessing... part of some mercenary force fighting with his team. So I guess in his eyes, sacrificing his life for the greater good evens the score. A death for a death. I did notice that, and was going to comment on it. You beat me to it. You're right, it was a little thing, but it's the little things (like that) that make this show so special. ETA: Speaking of little (or not) things... Dan Abraham tweeted something about that scene with Holden and Naomi in bed. He basically said that, based on reactions he's seen/read, it appears that everyone was so distracted by the shiny objects on the screen (two pretty naked bodies) that they failed to notice a rather significant plot development during that short scene. It's just two lines, but they're pretty important. Holden says (something along the lines of) "So you're leaving, aren't you?" and Naomi replies "Yeah, it's time." Those may not be the lines word for word, but that was definitely the gist of it. So Naomi apparently has decided, even though she seems to have made amends with the boys, that she needs to go off and explore her Belter Roots or something. I guess she's headed either for Tycho or for the recommissioned Nauvoo (whose name I know as a book reader, but I won't spoil it). Anyway... yeah, that's pretty significant, and a departure from the books, too. What do people think of that?

Yay! John and Aeryn are engaged. Oh, wait. Oh, shit. What? WHAT? What do you mean, "to be continued?" You cancelled the show, you bastards! Yeah, I remember it well. But yeah, that was apparently more about political machinations inside SyFy than any cynical attempt to trick the viewers into buying airborne banners. Not that either exactly endears SyFy or NBCU to me, though. We shall see...

Loved that. Especially since the tropes in play here almost demand that he spill whatever that was all over one of the kids' jumpsuits. Instead, turns out he can walk and chew gum at the same time. Amos truly is special.

According to Cas Anvar, yes. The cynical side of me wonders if this wasn't all just orchestrated by the Suits at SyFy as a ploy to get their live view numbers (and ad revenue) up. And if they suddenly announce today or tomorrow that they've rescinded their decision after a big uptick in the ratings, I'm going to have a hard time not feeling like we've all been played. But if it gets us a Season 4 commitment, I'll forgive them for it. At least for now.

100% agreed on Frankie. I remember when she was cast, the writers and show runners tweeted and posted raves about her, saying how pleased they were that they had found her and how they were thanking their lucky stars they found someone so perfect for the role. At first, I was a bit skeptical, but after watching her in just a few episodes, I began to see what they were talking about. And then, starting basically after the Ganymede incident, I began to realize how incredibly good she was. The casting for this show has always been competent, and occasionally has risen to greatness, even though the people cast often did not match my original idea of the characters from reading the books. But who ever would or could? But yeah, Frankie Adams, Shoreh Aghdashloo, and Wes Chatham in particular have all won me over completely despite initial concerns. Dominique Tipper also has demonstrated way more range than, frankly, the book version of Naomi ever had for me, and Steven Strait and Cas Anvar have fit their parts to me almost from the start. Terry Chen as Prax is awesome, too. And that doesn't even mention Chad L. Coleman, who makes an appropriately imposing Fred Johnson, Sean Doyle as an increasingly smug Sadavir Errinwright, and it goes on and on. And Cara Gee is awesome, and don't even get me started on Jared Harris, whom I'm really missing this year. And Elizabeth Mitchell so far seems spot on as Anna (other than the hair color, which is not that big a deal). And next week, from the looks of things, we get our first David Strathairn sighting, and he's only, like, one of my favorite actors of the last 30 years. It's a very talented ensemble and it's an absolute joy to watch them work. I hope they get to keep doing it, well into season 4 and beyond. Fingers crossed.

Ah, I can help you with that one. Sort of. Somewhere out there (I don't know exactly where, but I've seen screen caps of it) there's a synopsis of the episode that refers to the ship as the Thomas Prince. So somebody somewhere must've screwed up.

Speaking of "not quite," :) ... I think you meant the Agatha King. Thomas Prince is the ship aboard which some similar (but not identical) events occur in the books. But in the show, it's the Agatha King, operating under the command of Admiral Nguyen (after he relieved Adm. Souther of command), that diverts its course to Io, which the Hammurabi notices and follows, etc. Either that, or I've lapsed on my meds again.

One of the writers or producers (Daniel Abraham, I think, but don't hold me to it) tweeted or something about this recently, and said that season 3 does not end on a cliffhanger that would make everyone angry if the show did not continue. Whether this was by accident or because they thought the writing was on the wall, I can't say. But regardless, I want to see this story continue on screen; as others have noted, there's so much more great stuff to come. Yeah, I was a big Farscape fan and that one hurt a lot too, particularly because of the renewal fakeout. However, while it may not matter much in the end, there actually is a difference between the cancellation of Farscape and the cancellation (or, impending relocation, let's hope) of The Expanse. The cancellation of Farscape happened in large part because a new management regime at SciFi had just come on board and they decided to take the network in a different direction. My understanding is that this is very common in the TV and Movie biz -- many properties with marginal financial successes stay alive chiefly through the advocacy of a single champion (or small group of champions) somewhere in the upper echelons of the management hierarchy of the studio / network / production company / whatever. Unfortunately, these jobs are about as secure as, say, the manager or coach of a sports team, which is to say, they're very secure until they're suddenly not (a phrase of which James S.A. Corey would likely approve). So every now and then there is a big reshuffling at the top, and when that happens, there are often many casualties, as the new management regime doesn't feel the love for certain projects as much as the old one did. This is a good part of what happened with Farscape, as I understood it. With The Expanse, there's no management change; it's just that they kept hoping things would get better and they didn't get better enough. Everybody has a boss, and the big bosses decided they couldn't do it anymore. Short sighted, I would say, but then I can also see how they would feel otherwise, particularly given their (flawed, but unchangeable) revenue model. I, too, really liked Pitch and was tremendously disappointed in its disappearance. It was well written and acted, generally plausible (except for maybe one or two nits I could pick, but I won't), and seemed to have a really good feel for the behind the scenes machinations of an MLB club. And Kylie Bunbury's portrayal of Ginny Baker was nuanced and layered and intriguing. I'm sad not to have seen more of those characters' stories. I have not seen Brockmire, but honestly I can't say the promos make it look that interesting to me. Even though I have always been a fan of Hank Azaria, the material looks to me to be recycled from any number of other wacky sports-themed comedies of film & screen, from First & Ten to Arliss to Major League to even Jerry Maguire. Some of these were actually pretty good, but collectively, they have contributed to an accumulation of tropes that nowadays make it pretty hard to create something that feels fresh. Brockmire doesn't strike me as something particularly transcendent in that regard, though admittedly, I base that opinion (as I said) mostly on promos, so I could be wrong. Pitch, though, was different. Interesting, thought provoking, and largely devoid of cliche. A shame it didn't last.

Strickland and his evil friends (TM) have, I believe, been working on protomolecule-human hybrids for a while. The thing that attacked Bobbie's team on Ganymede, as well as the hybrid that got on board the Rocinante, were "phase 1" hybrids, which were made using some unnamed subjects, maybe children, maybe not. These hybrids were hard to control, though, which is why they were all fitted with those "failsafe" devices (bombs) that would blow them up if they went too far off plan. Katoa is the first phase 2 or second generation hybrid, developed after Strickland's discovery that children with the immunodeficiency disorder that Katoa and Mei have, can accept the protomolecule infusion more readily, and in some way that allows them (Strickland believes) to be more controllable. I don't understand exactly why he thinks this, but he's the gifted scientist, so I guess we have to take him at his word. Anyway, my take is that the hybrids they are launching are all Phase 1 hybrids, deadly but rather mindless, and more likely to wreak general havoc than to achieve a specific objective. They're being deployed as very crude and indiscriminate weapons in order to keep the good guys at bay long enough for the rest of the research to be completed. That's my understanding, anyway. New situation, new plan, I guess. When Nguyen realized he was losing control of the situation, he decided instead of picking things up that he would launch them, presumably at Martian ships and other targets, basically to either rip his enemies limb from limb or scare the shit out of them. I imagine he'd be happy with either result. It's not very forward thinking, though. I think this was a split-second decision born of desperation more than any sensible plan. You aren't the only one who's confused, and I think some of the people in the story are among the most confused. Chrisjen knows that Mao was working with Mars because Errinwright told her so. She knows he was trying to get control back, but she doesn't know how successful he was, or if anyone from Mars was still in cahoots with Mao or not. Neither do we, for that matter. As far as Nguyen and Errinwright, I think Avasarala does not regard them as playing for Team Earth anymore; she sees them as a rogue element that she hopes to put down. And once she does, Earth will lose its connection to Mao and thus to the protomolecule. As to Mao taking orders from Nguyen, I don't think he was taking orders so much as arranging delivery of what he was contracted to deliver. But we know that Mao's loyalties basically reside with the highest bidder, so I don't think Chrisjen would think of Earth having the PM because Mao is from Earth. Bottom line is, I don't think she knows for sure, so she assumes the worst and works from there.

So... I feel the need to comment, as many others have, about the cancellation (or, as Alcon puts it, and as I prefer to think of it, the last season of The Expanse on SyFy). But my comment is going to be, perhaps, a little different than some of the others. You see, I think the great anger that people are expressing at SyFy, here and elsewhere, is a bit misplaced, or at least a bit naive. Yes, I said it. And before everybody throws rotten vegetables (or tomatoes, to coin a phrase) at me, let me explain why. First, of course it's reasonable to be sad, and hurt, and angry. But if you want to get angry at SyFy specifically, then get angry at them not for failing to continually fund a quality show that nevertheless loses money, but for making a stupid deal when they acquired the show in the first place. As explained in the article in Deadline where this news was first reported , SyFy does not own The Expanse, not any part of it. Their deal for the show "only gives [them] first-run linear rights in the U.S.," which "puts an extraordinary amount of emphasis on live, linear viewing, which is inherently challenging for sci-fi/genre series that tend to draw the lion’s share of their audiences from digital/streaming." SyFy, for some reason, thought this show would draw a huge live broadcast audience, which just isn't common these days, especially for a channel with fairly limited viewership to begin with. The problem with this thinking, in addition to it being ridiculously Pollyannaish, is that it resulted in their agreeing to a deal that pretty much guaranteed that the show (on SyFy, anyway) would be a financial failure, and as any clear thinking person will tell you, the TV business is ultimately just that, a business, and no business can perpetually throw money at a proven financial loser. The SyFy folks, brand-rebuilding though they may be, cannot perennially rely on the prestige a show brings them to satisfy their need for some bottom line success. SyFy has its corporate owners -- NBC Universal -- to answer to, and NBC Universal answers to its parent company, Comcast, and Comcast answers to its shareholders. And the shareholders of Comcast are not motivated by quality and prestige, they're motivated by the bottom line, and the Expanse just doesn't bring that. I know this is not news to anyone, but I think it's good to remind ourselves of it now and then, certainly before taking SyFy out to be flogged in the Town Square. They did, probably, make a mistake in negotiating a deal that was not likely to work out for themselves, but on the other hand, we really don't know the circumstances under which that deal was made, and in a way, we owe SyFy a debt of gratitude for doing it at all, because -- and a number of people associated with the show have said this -- without SyFy, this show would never have been made. Period. So that they stuck with it for three seasons, and funded a good chunk of the (substantial) budget it takes to produce this show, was pretty stand-up of them, if not downright remarkable. I can also tell you that SyFy has been very good to fans of the show. I belong to a small group of people who have been gathering at one fan's apartment here in NYC for weekly show parties since near the beginning of Season 2, and we as a group promoted those watch parties to friends and other area fans through Reddit and Facebook and Twitter and formed an awesome, small but mighty fan community. Some very nice people from SyFy's New York offices got wind of this, and they got in touch with us and offered to host our weekly watch party for the season finale at a restaurant/bar in Brooklyn. Not only did they come through with a room with a big TV, some great snacks, and a bunch of Expanse swag for us, they surprised us by bringing along Steven Strait and Terry Chen (Holden and Prax) to watch with us. Which was all kinds of awesome. Not only did we watch the finale with people from the cast and people from the Network, we got to hang out afterwards and talk about the show and all manner of other things with these people, who were to a person incredibly nice, friendly, grounded, decent people. And I can tell you with no reservations that the people at SyFy, at least the ones I met, love this show as much as anything they've ever had on their network, and as much as we do. They are absolutely fans of the show, huge fans of the show, and the work they do on it, under difficult conditions, is truly a labor of love. And I have not spoken to any of them, but I'll bet you anything they are hurting as much or more than we are right now. For several of the people at the network, this show was their baby, and giving it up has got to hurt like hell. I dearly hope the show is able to find a second life with a different distributor, and I think the chances of that happening are actually quite good. And if you want to see it happen, you should do everything you can do support the show, now more than ever, to see to it that more and more people want it to continue. Because numbers, and only numbers, are what will get this show a second chance. So, folks, be disappointed, be angry, even. But take that anger and disappointment and channel it into something positive. Calling SyFy the network of Sharknado and professional wrestling and other names is a cheap shot and it's really not fair, because they've made a huge effort to come back from that. Unfortunately, they are trying to make money under a financial model that is rapidly becoming untenable. And maybe they deserve some blame for not recognizing that and figuring out a different way to monetize this IP. But they do not deserve our anger. They are good people who tried really hard to make this work, and it just didn't. Let's thank them for trying, and take heart in the knowledge that now that the show has come this far, it may well have reached the critical mass necessary to survive somehow. Just not with SyFy. Let's not look back, let's look forward to where this show might enjoy the unqualified success it so richly deserves.

That's right, Edna. [Those who don't get the reference, which will probably be most of the people here, may wish to seek clarification from the Google Machine.]

This is a very, very mild spoiler - not spoilery enough to obscure, I don't think, but if there are any ultra-purists out there, just skip the next paragraph. SyFy has released a "sneak peak" clip of Episode 5, which is kind of awesome and highly recommended if you don't despise those kinds of things, but more to the point, the clip begins with Holden pouring himself some coffee from what looks like a French press or something. Whether that was part of what was salvaged, I don't know. But I think we can feel secure in knowing that Jimmy is still getting his caffeine fix. Yeah, I think that's mostly it. But also, I think the writer's room for this show takes particular perverse pleasure in subverting tropes and defying expectations wherever possible. So we get, for instance, Cortazar declaring there is more protomolecule somewhere other than Eros, and we all think it's going to be Naomi's hidden torpedo, but actually it's Ganymede. Or we see Errinwright writing heartfelt letters, having heart-to-hearts with his previously unseen son, and eyeing poison capsules gravely, so we assume he's about to commit suicide, when in fact it was murder that was on his mind. Clever bastards, these writers. I think this show makes an attempt, whenever possible, to accurately, or at least semi-accurately, depict the great stretches of time that are required to traverse large distances in space, so whenever someone is going to take a long trip, they disappear for a few episodes. An example would be when Bobbie and her team are told they're heading to Ganymede, and then they completely disappear from the story for several episodes, only to show up in time for their massacre. This can create a kind of a structural awkwardness in the storytelling, but I appreciate it that it gives us a sense of the actual passage of time involved here. Same with this. We saw Fred and Drummer discuss this in Episode 1, and then Drummer heads off (after finishing her drink, of course), and we only see her again now. Yes, it breaks up the story some, but it also reminds us that the Nauvoo is pretty damned far away. Which, by the way, I think answers your second question -- nobody has sought to salvage it because catching up to it was a pretty big project, involving traveling a long distance, probably some at High G to boot. It would take someone with the resources of Fred Johnson and Tycho to mount a salvage mission like that. That wasn't just Drummer and a pal or two that embarked on that mission, it was an entire fleet of vehicles and people. And yes, some of that was necessary to bring the drones and all that, but just the logistics required to go that far in pursuit of something that big is probably beyond the capability of your average Mom and Pop Belter enterprise. I think Errinwright's motivations come from some mixture of fear and hubris (always a winning combo, right?). I think he is genuinely afraid of the power of the protomolecule, especially now that it's out there on its own, doing God-knows-what on Venus. His break with Mao resulted in his being Out of the Loop, and worse yet, Mao took his toys and went to play in the sandbox of Errinwright's mortal enemy across the street. So he felt he needed to do something to get things back on course, so that Earth (and he, specifically) would be better able to harness this new technology or, failing that, at least have a prayer of defending itself against it. So that's the fear part. The hubris part is that Errinwright has, for whatever reason, come to believe that he, alone, can fix this (to borrow a phrase). He sees Avasarala going to "negotiate" with Mao, which he believes is a mistake, and he realizes that Mao himself is largely in it for the money, which makes him an unreliable partner. So he engineers a war to make sure everyone is on the same page -- the Earth Must Come First page, the one he (as he points out) learned from Chrisjen, but also, in his opinion, the only page that will guarantee Earth's safety. Because you can't trust anyone (he thinks) but yourself and the people whom you've subjugated. I think his recent descent into mustache-twirling evil madness is just that combination of fear and hubris taken to its extreme. And boy, is the fall going to hurt when it comes. I really like what the show has done with the relationship between Amos and Prax. They're so dissimilar, yet somehow they seem to innately understand each other. I think it's because each sees in the other a bit of something they wish they had more of themselves. The unfortunate thing here is that, even as some of Prax rubs off on Amos, some of Amos is also rubbing off on Prax. That "what have I done?" look on Amos' face when Prax casually swept aside a dead body to get at something to pilfer was priceless. "Inherent to repurposing, disassembly reveals useful pathways." Yikes. Not even Mr. Spock was that logical. [Shudder] Finally, two other random thoughts: The kid playing Mei is perhaps not the most sophisticated actress out there (yet), but she gives good indignant. I loved the moment between Alex and Bobbie, especially when he called her Gunny and she called him Sailor. Not ready to board the ship just yet, but they do make a pretty cute couple.

I'm one of the, like, 3% of the population that doesn't particularly care for GoT, but I can tell you for sure that "Space Jon Snow" is definitely a thing and has been for a while, so much so that early on during The Expanse's run, I found myself asking my various Thronie friends to explain. I think Steven Strait himself has used the phrase. Regarding the podcasts, I've noticed a real uptick lately in the number and quality of both podcasts and YouTube review/reaction series dealing with The Expanse, which I take as a good thing. I think it means the show is finally catching on. I hope SyFy sees this and sticks with it. This is about the fourth time in the last week I've heard good things about Beltalowda. I'll have to give it a listen. I have to say, with apologies to all those who work hard to produce it, that I cannot get through an episode of The Churn. Cannot do it. I don't know why -- it's the official podcast of the TV show that is probably my favorite of the last decade, regularly includes the writers and other members of the cast and crew, and the folks that do the show seem like genuinely nice people. But the show just doesn't engage me. I think I find the hosts rather bland, to be honest, I wish we could get an aftershow akin to the Chris Hardwick "Talking" shows that have run on AMC. Hardwick is a great host for these kinds of things because he's quick and funny (having a background in stand-up probably doesn't hurt) and because he has a kind of hardcore fanboy persona (which may be genuine or just good acting, I don't know) that appeals to other hardcore fans. The only person I can think of right now who is both an Expanse fan and a genuine celebrity with some personal charisma would probably be Adam Savage. I would love to see or hear an aftershow/podcast with him, but I'm guessing his plate is pretty full as it is. Anyway, maybe Beltalowda is my answer. I'll check it out.

Yup. From S2E2, "Doors and Corners," during the run-up to the assault on Thoth Station: Holden: "Lids on and button up." Naomi (on comms): "Copy that." [Shots of people putting on and sealing their helmets] Holden: "OK, Naomi, empty us out." Naomi; "Depressurizing." [Screens indicate depressurization warnings, accompanied by alarm sound] Holden: "Alex, the alarm." Alex: "I'm on it." [Alex touches his console, alarm stops] Naomi: "I hate this part." Holden: "We gotta do it. They'll be poking holes in us." Naomi: "Yeah, but this feels like we're agreeing to it." Pretty smart, really. Nothing spoils a good space battle like being unable to breathe.

"Teakettle" is explained in the books as navy slang for flying using only maneuvering thrusters; i.e., no Epstein drive. It's called teakettle because the thrusters use super-heated water (steam) as reaction mass, sort of like what comes out of the spout of a tea kettle. They don't explain it on the show, probably in keeping with their general practice of avoiding awkward exposition. You're expected to figure it out, take a good guess, or just ignore it. Or, you know, have someone who read the books explain it to you. :)

I don't think the above betrays your age as much as: :) But, since I am also very old, I will contribute a second line, to wit: <song>Do you speak much lang belta? Or does it make you annoyed?</song> Okay, I'm no Rupert Holmes. But then, who is?

I dunno, you do realize that "that" G is, at most, 1 G, and maybe less, yes? The Guanshiyin is luxury pleasure craft, remember, not designed for battle or racing. Moreover, in the Expanse-verse, we are told (this may be a detail that's only in the books, but still...) that the "normal" acceleration used by passenger vessels is actually less than 1 G, so as to make the trip comfortable for Martians and Belters. So Bobbie's traversal of the "length" of the ship was sort of akin to scaling a building or a rock wall on Earth, albeit with mechanical assistance. Given all that, I thought it was portrayed realistically enough. The one thing that did seem a bit unlikely to me was the whole regular batteries / auxiliary power thing. I would think that a designer of Martian Power Armor in the 23rd/24th century would have had the foresight to ensure that auxiliary power came up before complete failure of the main batteries, or at least it should cut over pretty much instantaneously, rather than several seconds later. Because, I mean, power armor with no power is more than an oxymoron, it's kind of, you know, dangerous. But the result was a pretty thrilling scene, so I choose to let it go, and figure out some sort of fanwank to explain it instead. I just haven't come up with said fanwank as yet.

Very mild spoiler about Miller's shooting of Dresden:

I don't know about all the ship names, but with regard to the Mark Watney, the story goes that JSAC and Andy Weir were appearing at some event and were signing books alongside each other or something, when somebody in the crowd asked if The Martian and The Expanse took place in the same universe. Apparently they looked at each other and shrugged and said "yeah, sure - why not?" and the rest was (alternate, future) history.

I understand -- and support -- this sentiment, but I think in this case it was a bit undeserved. The "spoiler" you're talking about essentially said that "something is going to happen" in a part of the story that has been hinting at something happening since... well, since the episode when Eros crashed into Venus, really.