An awesome start into season 4! What a treat :)
It's a nice continuation of the last episode (with some followups on Clarissa Mao (her call with Amos was great) and Bobbie) while also establishing a new setting for this season that I already find super awesome.
I did wish that Bobbie would stay with the crew of the Rocinante but it looks like her story back on Mars could be even more interesting. The scenes on Mars where absolutely awesome and I just realized that so far we only had one real scene on Mars (when Bobbie was training with her team) - or did I forget about some other scenes? Anyway, I hope that Bobbie will remain a major character and that we'll get to see plenty more awesome scenes on Mars :)
As for the SOL Ring (etc.): It looks like Jim(?) was right: The blood soaked gold rush begins.
Many people have already died (before reaching The Ring, on the planets, during their landing, etc.) and I fear that there will be more deaths. The "birds", which seem to consist of metal(?), already seem very concerning.
A nice little detail: I was already wondering if they're considering that railguns would also cause an equal force/impulse in the opposite direction. The test on the Rocinante confirms that they're compensating for that with their engines.
Avasarala and Amos already had a few good lines, e.g.:
PS (just some observations, no complaints): Holden looked so much better back on Earth with Avasarala (healthier, happier, more professional, etc.) and so far I miss Naomi's old haircut. And I already feel like Adolphus Murty will be trouble / difficult to get along with.
I'm not too sure with this Season 4 pilot. It feels more like Season 3's "pilot" post-midseason finale (by that I mean Season 3 Episode 7) rather than Season 3's Episode 1 (or Season 2's Episode 1). The show spent quite a time to make sure every characters get their share of screen time: Avasarala, Holden and the crew, Bobbie, Camina, Ashford, even Melba (which is actually good because I wondered what happened to her after her wrong-doings). We also have a setup for this season's new characters apparently. It makes the episode feels a bit not focused, though there is a clear plot direction on what to expect in this season.
Others said there is no noticeable change of quality after the switch to Amazon Prime--aside from good ones, like more details on Rocinante--but I say there is. It's the still shots. This episode spends more time having still shots of everything: Holden in silent as the campfire sparks, Naomi in awe with what she sees onward, even Rocinante crews trekking on the new land have their share of scenery porn. I'm not saying it's bad, but does divert the attention from previous seasons which focus on moving the story forward or have the characters relate to each other.
After a slightly noticeable drop on the writing department in previous season's second-half, this kind of makes me wary. The episode also ends with a rather... uninteresting McGuffin (mysterious weather/weapon on a mysterious planet... what do you expect? Why the surprised face, Holden?). It does have some interesting plot points, like a riff between Belters. I hope it gets better onward.
Review by Marc FriedolinVIP 6BlockedParent2021-02-13T11:43:03Z
Ok, I have to write this somewhere:
I hate the change of Naomis hair.
She looks a bit too civilized for me now that I have a direct comparison to the earlier seasons.
The importance of Melbas message in the beginning (to compensate the scenes they didn't do in Season 3 about the Rossi bringing her to the Earth-System) is probably only clear to those who already watched Season 5 (I had forgotten about it and was wondering why Amos even wanted to visit her)
I'm also wondering how much of the parallels between Belters and sterotypical african american behavior was planned (Although the person spewing - Camina - it is actually white ).
"They won't remember what they were" - Nami nailed the desires pretty much while Camina criticises it.
People should NEVER EVER see being poor as part of culture - at least not as something which should be preserved.
Having read the book this time around, the change of circumstances bringing them to Illus are better - out of the 4 books I have read so far the fourth has the weakest foundation.
The fact that the "settlers" actually broke through a blockade makes the moral implications (I don't really thing there can be legal implications regarding unsettled territory no one ever sat foot on...) of the company softer. It feels less like an invading force than it does in the book.
When I read the crash in the books, it seemed like something you should be prepared for.
Because they had a unilateral charter to work a planet settled by citizens from another nation which didn't have the means to press their claim - which is pretty much the definition of an invasion.
If given the choice, I would have cut book 4 to 7 episodes instead of book 3.
Given the political climate and what Avasarala said to holden, I'm asking myself why the science ship sends the shuttle before the Rossi arrives though.
Why send civilians in before the muscle arrives? Makes little sense.