@xaliber "Holden and Naomi spent their time to listen to Naomi's supposed farewell (and spent minutes on it)"
All that Naomi said there can be applied to Alex's death. I thought it was beautiful because of that and now I realize a lot of people missed it.
"It almost feels like the event is not supposed to happen, and the showrunners edited in last minutes."
Well, yes, because he was fired after they had already shot most of the season.
https://www.newsweek.com/expanse-season-5-episode-10-alex-death-cas-anvar-1566400
@dtsouza I watched the season knowing Cas Anvar's scandal. That's why it makes the episode feels even more extremely awkward. Alex's death itself is forcefully edited in that it's not immediately clear that he died from a stroke (so much they need Holden to explain it to the viewers in the next scene). Many have come to defend his abrupt death by mentioning the beeping monitor, but we don't even see the monitor with three dots on the brain except for the very last moments at a glance and very briefly in the start.
I'm aware of that interpretation of the scene you mentioned, but it just didn't work out for me. It only became beautiful for the viewers due to us knowing Cas' scandal, but is not as meaningful for the Rocinante crews themselves. They were still talking about their own (Naomi & Holden) relationship, in the end.
Especially because prior playing Naomi's recording, when they did talk about Alex it was Holden explaining to the viewers how Alex died. That dialogue was really bad. Not to mention that the dialogue was supposed to be Holden explaining Fred's death to Naomi, making it even worse, especially for The Expanse standard.
@xaliber "Alex's death itself is forcefully edited in that it's not immediately clear that he died from a stroke (so much they need Holden to explain it to the viewers in the next scene)"
That can happen when the person is sitting or lying down. It's not always clear.
It's weird that your bone to pick with it is that we didn't have to see a character's eye twitching or some other stereotype Hollywood taught us.
"is not as meaningful for the Rocinante crews themselves"
Well, that's your interpretation, I guess. But what I was saying was that they were both emotional when they realized that her advice now worked for both of them accepting theirs and Alex's fate and moving on.
@dtsouza oh for god's sake, save that mediocre exaggerative defense for shows with rabid fans like Mandalorian. Nobody said it has to be done in exaggeration. The death scene only needs to be planned, like Fred's death. Like I said, many deaths were abrupt; what makes the death feels real is how it was edited between the scenes & how others react to it. What we got was obviously a frozen frame of Alex in previous scene with an added CGI blood. It was an unplanned hurried edit that resulted in a bad, chugged in scene.
This is my review so I comment on whatever I wanted. And you're the one who nitpicked that one point regarding Alex's death out of five points I've written. Then the problem is on you.
@xaliber completely agree. I get the feeling people not taking issue with Alex's death confused the actor with the character. They just want to see Cas go whatever it takes. Shitty actor ain't an excuse for a shitty film.
@xaliber because it was not supposed to be there. Alex's actor was cut from the cast due to being convicted of a sexual misconduct case and the directors handled the change very poorly imo.
@xaliber The event wasn't supposed to happen.
The allegations against the actor were made after they were finished filming. There is a whole press release about it.
I'm not sure that the investigation into the alleged sexual missconduct was even finished before they booted him (wouldn't surprise me if they weren't - burning careers before knowing what actually happened is sadly the modus operandi these days - innocent until proven guilty went out the window over a year ago...)
@xeagl3x The actor hasn't actually been charged with anything. He was just fired for unprofessional behaviour.
Review by Pradipa PRBlockedParent2021-02-04T13:05:25Z
This actually is an overall decent finale. The tense in Camina's fleet is good. The Rocinante battle is good. Naomi's rescue is good. The reveal on the end was also good. However there's one reason that makes the episode feels like a jumble of choppily edited scenes: everything involving Alex's death.
I don't take issue with it being sudden and abrupt, as many deaths are. But everyone feels really disconnected from that one incident that should have affected at least all the main casts. Alex just died, but Holden and Naomi spent their time to listen to Naomi's supposed farewell (and spent minutes on it). Amos was more eager to bring Peaches instead of mourning his close friend; even worse he was only informed about Alex's death off screen. For a fellow Martian and somebody who has spent quite a time with Alex, Bobbie seems largely unaffected at all. And Alex, well... The only tribute they gave to this incident is a plaque, which makes for some emotional moment, but that's it. Heck, that part where Holden talked to Naomi to rekindle the events almost feels like Holden breaking the fourth wall to explain to viewers due to how abrupt it is handled.
It almost feels like the event is not supposed to happen, and the showrunners edited in last minutes.
This season has been nothing but a Naomi season that leads to a reunion of Rocinante crew. That incident stuck like a sore thumb, making the supposedly joyful event with all crews gathering feels really emotionally detached. Not to mention that, barring the reveal at the end, most events still happen off screen. Just like most things that happened this season. We don't get to see the impact of something big happening.
So despite being an overall decent episode, this finale closes the relatively most mediocre season The Expanse has produced. I'd even say that the quality is even lower than Season 4. The first four episodes were nice, but it went downhill and stagnated really fast.