Watching The Expanse season 1 with the benefit of knowing what comes next, the initial run of episodes stands distinctly apart from the remainder of the series. The adaptation of James S.A. Corey’s books debuted on the SyFy channel in 2015 to the sound of widespread critical acclaim, before The Expanse later moved to Amazon for seasons 4-6. A few notable changes aside, The Expanse is a mostly faithful retelling of its source material, perfectly capturing the grimy, clanking feel of semi-plausible space exploration.
While The Expanse ended before covering all nine novels, seasons 1-6 function very nicely as a complete narrative, beginning with the discovery of the Protomolecule and ending with the destruction of the Free Navy. Despite the undeniable cohesion running through The Expanse‘s entire story, however, rewatching the Rocinante crew’s epic journey in full highlights a big difference between the first season and the following five, almost to the point where the opening chapter could be considered a separate show in its own right.
Miller’s Role In The Expanse Season 1 Adds A Unique Element Other Seasons Lack
The Expanse Had Detective Elements In Season 1
The most obvious and important difference between The Expanse season 1 and later seasons is Thomas Jane’s Detective Joe Miller. Tasked with investigating the disappearance of Julie Mao, Miller gradually becomes consumed by the case, which throws up one layer of conspiracy after another. Inevitably, Miller’s obsession pushes him to take bigger risks and employ more extreme methods in his search for the truth. The start of Miller’s story in The Expanse injects season 1 with the aura of a noirish mystery. A desperate detective, a corporate cover-up, a missing girl – all key ingredients in any pulpy private eye caper.
The Expanse increasingly grows in scale between seasons 2 and 6, and never looks back.
Miller uncovers Julie Mao’s fate at the end of The Expanse season 1, then teams up with the Rocinante crew to locate her in season 2, but never again does the show capture that feeling of a gloomy, Blade Runner-esque police procedural. The investigative element is almost entirely lost after Miller leaves Eros in The Expanse season 1’s finale, and he then becomes far more than a cop. After dying alongside Julie Mao, Miller transforms into an ethereal Protomolecule projection inside James Holden’s head, taking The Expanse even further away from any noirish notes it once had.
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Ultimately, Miller’s hunt for Mao in The Expanse season 1 represents a very personal journey. It’s a low-level case happening in a smaller corner of The Expanse‘s world. Once the veil is lifted, however, the Julie Mao incident explodes into a multi-planet incident that literally reshapes the Sol system. From that point onwards, the notion of skulking in the shadows searching for hidden clues becomes moot. The Expanse increasingly grows in scale between seasons 2 and 6, and never looks back.
The Rocinante Crew Isn’t A Tight-Knit Unit In The Expanse Season 1
The Roci Crew Is In Its Infancy
The Expanse‘s cast is arguably the defining feature of the show. The chemistry that exists between Steven Strait’s Holden and the other Rocinante crew members becomes the undisputed anchor that keeps the series grounded among the wild events happening elsewhere. Since The Expanse season 1 serves as something of an origin story for the main group, that chemistry is obviously missing to start with. The early episodes explore how the Rocinante crew rises from the ashes of the Canterbury’s destruction, but they’re a band of misfits that clearly don’t trust each other yet, much less like each other.
Rocinante Crew Member | Role |
|---|---|
James Holden | Captain |
Naomi Nagata | First Officer/Engineer |
Amos Burton | Mechanic |
Alex Kamal | Pilot |
Clarissa “Peaches” Mao | Mechanic |
While not a like-for-like comparison, The Expanse season 1 is akin to 2009’s Star Trek reboot. For much of the J.J. Abrams movie, the main Enterprise characters despise each other. Kirk and McCoy are pals, Spock is hooking up with Uhura, Scotty doesn’t know anyone, Sulu is busy trying to fly the ship, and Chekov is around somewhere. The character camaraderie that formed a major part of Star Trek: The Original Series remains almost completely absent until the sequels.
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The Expanse is exactly the same, gradually moving the main crew members from reluctant colleagues to friends, and finally to family, over the first few seasons. By the time The Expanse landed on Amazon, the Rocinante crew had become the main attraction of the show – a band of heroes audiences could easily and wholly invest in. At the beginning, however, protagonist duties mainly fall upon the shoulders of Holden and Miller, with the rest of the cast simply orbiting around them.
The Expanse Season 1 Portrays The Protomolecule More Like A Virus
The Expanse Season 1’s Protomolecule Is Bad, But That’s Just The Beginning
The Protomolecule is the gooey, blue substance that instigates the events of The Expanse, and it’s only beginning to rear its glowing head when season 1 begins. As such, The Expanse‘s debut season treats the Protomolecule very differently to the rest of the show. During the initial stages, the Protomolecule is essentially just a virus. It gets released on Eros as a cruel experiment and kills most of the inhabitants. The term “Protomolecule” is seldom used, and the characters’ lack of understanding means they have little choice but to treat this new discovery like any other infection in need of containment.
Anyone watching The Expanse season 1 without knowledge of the books would struggle to predict just how powerful the Protomolecule becomes.
From there, of course, The Expanse‘s Protomolecule becomes so much more. Over the next five seasons, it opens gates to other star systems, creates super-soldiers, brings the dead back to life, and gives Holden hallucinatory visions. The evolution of the Protomolecule exemplifies how greatly and rapidly The Expanse expands after season 1. Its depiction as nothing more than a dangerous virus suits the more small-scale, local arc season 1 follows, similar to how Miller’s investigation began as a routine police case.
In The Expanse‘s lore, the Protomolecule was created by an ancient race that got wiped out by a more powerful force.
From there, however, it’s all ancient alien races, apocalyptic devastation, and creepy blue-tinged creatures tearing apart ships from the inside. The differences couldn’t be more stark, and anyone watching The Expanse season 1 without knowledge of the books would struggle to predict just how powerful the Protomolecule becomes as the episodes fly by.
The Expanse Season 1 Isn’t Better Or Worse – Just Different
Any Expanse Is Good Expanse
It certainly wouldn’t be fair to say that The Expanse starts as one type of show, then betrays its principles and tries to be something else. The transition feels gradual and natural, and is only noticeable when watching the series back. It also wouldn’t be fair to say that The Expanse season 1 is just a prelude before the main narrative begins in season 2. Even if the other five seasons didn’t exist, The Expanse‘s first run would still provide a thrilling watch in isolation.
While season 1 certainly occupies a different end of the tonal and stylistic spectrum, there is no “better” or “worse” for The Expanse. The beginning of the story simply incorporates genres such as mystery, noir, and police procedural, and those elements then get overtaken by outright sci-fi chaos as the tale unfolds.
Both are valid, both are worthwhile, and both are entertaining. Nevertheless, anyone who watches The Expanse season 1 and expects the series to remain in that vein will be in for a harsh reality check when unseen entities from another galaxy start freezing time and eating ships.
The Expanse
10/10
- Release Date
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2015 – 2021
- Showrunner
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Naren Shankar, Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby
- Writers
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Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby
- Franchise(s)
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The Expanse