{"id":6327,"date":"2022-08-15T11:25:11","date_gmt":"2022-08-15T15:25:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?p=6327"},"modified":"2022-08-15T11:25:14","modified_gmt":"2022-08-15T15:25:14","slug":"the-expanse-season-6-review-reason-to-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?p=6327","title":{"rendered":"The Expanse Season 6 Review: Reason to Hope"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

1st Place, Review<\/strong>
2021-22, Division 4, News Writing<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Declan Bradley<\/strong>
The City Voice
Grand Rapids City High Middle School<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a lot to unpack in the sixth, and apparently final, season of The Expanse<\/em>, but the moment that stands out most to me is an understated one. Standing in the medical bay on Ceres Station, surrounded by the scars left on her home by a man she hates, Camina Drummer still tells her surviving family, \u201cI never loved you because you were fighters. I loved you because you were builders.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a poignant echo of Drummer\u2019s mentor, Fred Johnson, a man who believed that his life didn\u2019t really begin until he stopped fighting and started building. And that idea, that ideal, is what made\u00a0The Expanse<\/em>\u00a0unique. Among all the space operas competing for your attention,\u00a0The Expanse<\/em>\u00a0was and remains one of the few with a different vision of what we should be fighting for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It doesn\u2019t represent the self-serving, Machiavellian chess match of Dune<\/em>, nor the out-of-the-box perfect world of Star Trek<\/em>, nor even the good vs. evil revolutionary zeal of Star Wars<\/em>, but the down in the trenches, gritty work of building a better world in a galaxy where the scars of the past too often feel more real than the hope of the present. As Naomi explains in her closing soliloquy, it\u2019s a story about doing the right thing, even when nobody\u2019s looking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At first glance, that might seem an odd theme for a season that is admittedly the show\u2019s most warlike yet. After spending all of last season laying the foundations of a conflict between the Inner Planets and the asteroid Belt, between oppressors and oppressed, and, most tragically, between mother and son,\u00a0The Expanse<\/em>\u00a0doesn\u2019t pull any punches in its final season of all out war between the Free Navy and the Combined Fleet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the Rocinante dives into battle as a mercenary gunship and Avasarala and Bobbie head to the front on UNN One, the show stays at full burn with visually astonishing space battles that put the characteristic\u00a0Expanse<\/em>\u00a0brand of physics-realistic hard sci-fi on full display. Meanwhile, the journalist Monica Stuart, an unexpected addition to this season, finds her time in the spotlight putting a human face to the horrors of war. Deep in the black between stars, Camina Drummer, leader of a small but growing revolution against Marco\u2019s war, resolves that she will not be forgotten. And on the command deck of the Pella, cracks in the facade of Free Navy strength widen as Filip Inaros, Naomi\u2019s long lost son, begins to doubt the warpath his father has chosen for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a lot to pack into six episodes, and if I have one complaint about this season it\u2019s that it sometimes feels breathless in its rush to finish a famously complicated and sprawling tale. There\u2019s a lot more story to tell, three more books in fact<\/a>, and the show could have used a full length season to develop the vignettes that feature more heavily in its source material, including the returns of fan favorite characters like Prax and Pastor Anna. That\u2019s not to say it isn\u2019t gripping, a Drummer-led space heist that I didn\u2019t know I needed stands out as a particular high point, but the more human facets of The Expanse<\/em> are sometimes starved for air in competition with the next action sequence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet the writers make up for it with some truly emotional moments, from the meta-cinematic documentary Monica makes in an attempt to stop the brutality of the conflict, to Filip\u2019s crisis of conscience over Free Navy tactics, to Naomi\u2019s guilt at fighting against her people and her son.\u00a0The Expanse<\/em>\u00a0has always been known for its powerful writing, but this season especially drives home the painful humanity of its heroes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most haunting of all was the long awaited reunion between Camina Drummer and Naomi Nagata<\/a>. Despite being the faces of the Belt, whose debate about Belters\u2019 right to settle on the ring worlds at the beginning of Season 4 remains the show\u2019s clearest representation of disagreement within the revolutionary cause, the two haven\u2019t had a full scene together since their time on the Behemoth in Season 3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m glad the writers chose to bring them back together before the end, if only because, as much as I love the rest of the Roci crew, as Inners Holden and the others can\u2019t speak to the show\u2019s most complicated ideas about oppression, injustice, and social change. It\u2019s a brilliant scene, and the season\u2019s most important, for one line: when a despairing Drummer says \u201cthis universe has no place for me,\u201d the only possible response is \u201cthen we make one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s the lesson, the legacy, of The Expanse<\/em>: that the pursuit of heroes is not fighting, but building, the never-ending, difficult work of making a world with a place for everyone, even when it may never be perfect. It\u2019s a lesson our world needs right now, especially from a genre too often eager to glorify the ideas of great men and righteous violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So while I first came to The Expanse<\/em> for its epic story, I leave admiring it for its vision of the future as a place much like the present, a place where the world is broken, but getting better. For all its darkness, it\u2019s a show that asks us to care, to look up at the stars and build towards them, and to do so with love and forgiveness and above all compassion. With its final season it did exactly what it promised to do, it gave me reason to hope, and for that alone it remains one of the best shows I\u2019ve ever seen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Expanse Season 6 is now streaming all episodes on Amazon Prime Video.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NW-08. Review<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Review should present opinions, observations and evaluations of films, books, television, recordings, concerts, plays, restaurants and other things of interest to the publication\u2019s readers. Submit a PDF of the print page(s) on which the story was published or the URL to the story on an online news site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JUDGING CRITERIA<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
  • Sharp, attention-getting lead that clarifies subject<\/li>
  • Gives a short summary or adequate information about subject<\/li>
  • Discusses strengths and weaknesses of subject<\/li>
  • Uses specific examples to support opinion<\/li>
  • Displays knowledge of subject<\/li>
  • Shows thought and research<\/li>
  • Colorful, lively presentation; effective form\/style<\/li>
  • Proper diction\/grammar<\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    1st Place, Review2021-22, Division 4, News Writing By Declan BradleyThe City VoiceGrand Rapids City High Middle School There\u2019s a lot to unpack in the sixth, and apparently final, season of The Expanse, but the moment that stands out most to me is an understated one. Standing in the medical bay on Ceres Station, surrounded by the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,56],"tags":[182,23],"class_list":["post-6327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-nw","category-review","tag-2021-22","tag-division4","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Gabriella Lopez","author_link":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?author=13"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6K0n6-1E3","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6327\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}