Yum Yum Podcast faces their biggest challenge yet! Watching The Expanse for the first time. SUPPORT US: patreon.com/yumyumpod EMAIL US: yumyumpod@gmail.com FOLLOW US: Twitter: @YumYumPodcast Facebook: @YumYumPodcast Instagram: @yumyumpod Reddit: r/YumYumPodcast Bluesky: @yumyumpodcast.bsky.social Tiktok: @yumyumpod Tumblr: @yumyumpod
We are just your average married couple who love watching and talking about science-fiction television. The Expanse is the series we’re talking about and one we’re watching through for the first time! Listen to us break down episodes of The Expanse and see if it’s as good as everyone says it is. Exploring The Expanse is released to our Patreon first and so if you want to hear more of our discussions then come over and support the podcast.
This week we’re exploring The Expanse episode “Dulcinea”
It’s time to unleash the blue goo!
SUPPORT US:
EMAIL US:
FOLLOW US:
Twitter: @YumYumPodcast
Facebook: @YumYumPodcast
Instagram: @yumyumpod
Reddit: r/YumYumPodcast
Bluesky: @yumyumpodcast.bsky.social
Tiktok: @yumyumpod
Tumblr: @yumyumpod
LISTEN ON:
Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2NbEuaH
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2CjDLSs
Google Podcasts: https://bit.ly/37NheZP
Simplecast: https://bit.ly/2ASPib8
RadioPublic: https://bit.ly/30WxQ01
iHeartRadio: https://ihr.fm/2VnKBgq
Stitcher: https://bit.ly/3hIryqF
TuneIn: https://bit.ly/3dDzjuP
Youtube: https://bit.ly/3dk7tDA
[Music]
hi Ryan hi Rachel how are you I am doing uh interestingly oh I'm scared actually okay I've been locked in a room with no gravity and I'm hanging on the door asking for help but I I'm afraid that there may be some kind of spooky mystery box on the other side and uh you know how I feel about mystery boxes scared scared a lot of them how about yourself um you know I'm up for a new adventure you're up for a new adventure in the Deep void of space yeah into the expanse oo hey one of these days I should try and convince you to do something that's not sci-fi no for this uh we pivot and do Desperate Housewives finally after being promising all of our listeners and patrons that we would do Desperate Housewives we actually commit to doing Desperate Housewives hey hey we we've got we haven't got the time right now no I cannot kill you today I have Pilates no we are too busy watching a show that neither of us have seen before here on the Yum Yum podcast the only podcast breaking fully with Tradition now space above and beyond was a move in that direction because I hadn't seen it and you had though this particular episode Ryan has seen before oh let's just rip into it Rachel we here at the Yum Yum podcast like to talk about science fiction television we've talked about Babylon 5 episodes we're going through that at the moment we have talked about Star Trek Discovery Space above and beyond and we have often rewatched those we are re-watching those shows but here the expanse is something that has been on the to-do list it has been something that has stalked us like a predator in each conversation we've had no because there have been people who have messaged us been really surprised that we don't talk about the expans we haven't really watched the expanse we haven't had that experience because it is one of those modern sci-fi shows that is held up in very high regard and we're having to talk about Babylon 5 which has a lot of the foundation points for this series and especially space above and beyond and we're talking about Star Trek Discovery a series that we rip our hair out when it comes to them wasting potential for stories and the expanse is that thing that has been told to us many times you should watch that if you want to see something that follows through on its on its promises and on its scif finess and so we are yum yum because that amazing line of dialogue from Star Trek discovery's second season finale in which a character randomly out of nowhere said yum yum and the most well it was a reply to a question makes no sense but the thing is Yum Yum is an inherently sexual thing to say and especially if you you lick your lips before you say it just like that character and so with the expans we don't know what the Yum Yum stuff will be for that but I I just want to ask you this maybe this will be it did you find anyone in this pilot episode this first episode to be yum yum somebody that you looked at or you felt and you went M yum yum um I find Miller yum yum I think Thomas Shane's a he's a handsome guy he has a kind of lived in experience you just look at that face and you go he's he's seen some [ __ ] and and I find that sexy see I see the appeal I see the appeal he's not it for me I would pick Holden over Miller your Holden girl vom vroom I would love to hear the IMDb summary for this first episode of the expanse I don't even know what the title is because when we shoved in our Blu-ray it just has it as episode one even though it has a title they just called it episode one so what are we talking about doia dolania okay the asteroid belt near Saturn James Holden and the crew of the ice freighter Canterbury on its way to Siri's station investigate a distress call from an unknown der ship the scopuli that's a very quickfire synopsis and I thank them for not getting into too much cuz this is a pilot episode of a science fiction show even though it isn't 90 minutes long it is a pilot episode of a science fiction show where there's many things to catch the audience up on and so to give a proper Rundown of our histories and experiences with the expanse Rachel touched on it briefly I have seen the first six episodes of the expanse when they originally came out week to week it was on Netflix here in Australia and I watched it on my computer uh in uh the spare room that we had and I just did not engage with the series and it was not because of the quality of the show itself but because of a certain mood and place in life I was at where I just was not vibing with it even though I could tell it was doing a lot of impressive things there was some interesting character work lots of beautiful images and sci-fi uh things that I love to dig my teeth into there was just something about it that didn't grab me enough and also I was just in a certain head space at the time where I wasn't giving the show the attention I think it needed we we went through this with space above and beyond where that's a series that Demands a lot from its audience and for a series from 1995 that was quite a lot while 20 like 2016 most shows start from the very beginning saying you have to pay attention to everything we're doing okay you have to make sure that you know that we've done this because it will pay off you have to do the work to appreciate what we're doing and I just wasn't vibing with it so after six episodes nothing in particular made me just dive off of it I just stopped I just stopped going to the place to watch it I just stopped doing it and it's just flown Me by I keep hearing massive praise for it but I just never sat down to watch it and then hey we have the podcast and I've always wondered should we do a show that neither of us have seen and the expans was always at the top of that list because of that relationship we have with Star Trek Discovery but also there are certain things that Babylon 5 and space above and beyond have within them that I know are also in this show now Rachel the expanse what about you do you have any history relationship and or ideas of what this Series has in it no no I don't I'm going to embarrass myself and be honest I I didn't look at anything before you put it on the DVD cuz like we've been saying that we''re going to start this for like a couple weeks and it's just one of those things of like oh that can wait that can wait that can wait then you put it in and I was like oh this looks really good um it has like chick floating in space and I was like oh this looks this looks surprisingly good visually a resting image yeah do you know why I thought that it looked so good no well it didn't match my expectations because some wires got crossed in my brain oh everyone sit down Rachel's going to tell us a tall tale about how she probably thought we were watching Gilmore Girls for some re reason I don't remember that episode of Gilmore Girls Where laurelai got launched into space admittedly I haven't watched enough Gilmore Girls to tell that episode where Rory spaced her mom it was a wild you season Seven's a really crazy one because the show Runners weren't
involved
[Laughter] it's not fair it's not fair it's not fair you are a treky I was not a Trey oh I do believe that denying you are a Trey is a violation of the prime directive indubitably Captain well in my head for some reason the expans when along with Lost in Space yes but not the fre make of Lost in Space but the original you thought this was 1960s television series we were watching no Rachel this is a modern show this finished like a year or two ago a couple years ago oh my Lord I know right so so wait wait could you please could you please tell us all what what you thought this 1960 science fiction TV series called the expans is going to be I'm I'm I'm I'm Gob smacked absolutely Gob smacked by this I didn't know this I we've had conversations about the experience before we sat down to watch it I know my your bra you you know my story when I was telling my story Rachel was looking at me going yeah yeah I've heard this before Rachel thought I was sitting down week to week to watch a brand new episode of a 60s television series because it was week to week I thought she thought what I thought you were just pacing it out for yourself I didn't remember I like oh that's Ryan's thing that's something that he's doing because you were watching basically week to week the 1960s Batman at the same time I mean it's a fair thing it's a fair thing to to think about you know what this is like the 1960s Batman Holden is the Adam West figure Miller is very much his Robin they haven't met yet
so when you said there was like the Lost in Space show I'm like that makes sense like the new one there's a lot of similarities I can see that but wow is so so so it was quite a shock to you when the first image came on the screen and it was Modern CG was like oh they do a really good job for mastering
this you want to know how like it finally kicked in it wasn't when it was in 16 by9 no no what what what is it the the CGI monster grows nope what thei logo that's why I announced it announced you I was like oh siy and I'm like wa this be that old it's on the Sci-Fi channel I can't wait to cover 60 show and tell you it's from yesterday we're going to watch this little thing we're going to watch this this little show from the 70s called Blake 7 but it's actually from yesterday I'll tell her it's from yesterday we're watching Blake s it's actually from 2018 you'll be like oh that it's not I just lie I don't know if we'll ever recover from that so this is our podcast where for those who are new and Keen to hear a conversation about the expand where we know nothing by the way like I know pretty much nothing about the expans and clearly you know nothing about it either I'm aware that they're from some book I remember I remembered a few things after cuz we've watched a video that use the expans as a good example of translating novels so very little experience with this series I haven't read the books I'm where they exist I'm pretty sure and I felt this from the pilot and this will lead us straight into the World building and the lore that we are presented with because this obviously does introduce us to characters and themes but a lot of Science Fiction Pilots are really emphasizing the world and how this all operates and the type of Science Fiction that we are inhabiting and what I I'm pretty sure is the case the books came about from they them wanting to create a roleplaying game first and they wanted to build out what that would be and so it it spirals out into what we are here today looking at where it's so detailed and so so uh about those those little intricate pieces that go together and so this episode is very much about here is this Series this is what we're living in I didn't get a greater sense of who we were with in the world rather than the world itself now Rachel what did you think about the World building and talk to us a bit about the the the pieces you you've gathered from this my feeling all the way
through was there's so much money on screen right now and then like 34s of the way through I was like it is impossible that this was like a spec pilot that they did without knowing that they were going to get picked up MH like there's no way that it would be like this if it was in that camp and then a lot of their decisions made more sense to me because it has the confidence to not give you many answers but to give you a lot of questions and those questions do give you insight into the world but it is very much about what you see not what you are told which is not an approach that Pilots that haven't been green L get because they have they have to pose the questions and get you invested whereas this has a self assuredness that most Pilots are are lacking in because they have to try and get producers to want to invest more money into it it has a v visual approach to dispensing Exposition obviously there's lots of verbal Exposition but even the opening credits tell you everything you need to know where we are seeing the evolution of men how we broaden out into space as Earth itself is being consumed by the water and then that is the great dramatic irony is Earth is has an abundance of water too much to deal with while the outer reaches of space the belt is struggling with water it's a commodity it is the Haves and Have Nots but you really hit the nail on the head there where the money is on the screen and we have seen Pilots with the money on the screen when we watch Farscape for instance that was a series that had a supreme amount of confidence out of the gate as well because you could tell that they they banked on this they they they said this is going to be a big deal and here's the money on the screen and so we can afford to have the visuals now this and also that has the the lengths like at least this is going to be a TV movie so we're going to get a complete story yeah whereas this is a average length episode well yeah yeah that's the difference too is why I relate this to Farscape farscape's one was only 45 minutes that pilot and it was yes it was and it was short it quick and punching got you to the point While most of the genre has the TV movie length or the double parter intructions space above and beyond TNG Babylon five they all have these long is crusted and embarassing myself all through this episode and the World building here is done through a lot of those visuals there was so many moments of transitions just scene transitions that gave me a deeper understanding of how the mechanics of things worked rather than the moments of somebody outright telling me cuz if anything I actually have a problem with uh sci-fi shows when they tell me so much information in the pilot because I'm I I don't know I mean it's it's a it's a part of the burden that you have to bear you have to tell the audience what's going on but at the same time you're throwing a bunch of words and factions and groups and people and economics and and oh this is how space ships work at them and I'm just sitting there going okay is is Holden our main character is Miller I don't know but for a large part of it I I was really drawn to how they just told us the little things like how Earth is flooding and how the waters are rising and we saw the Statue of Liberty that had a wall arounds from Earth is and that Mars not being in this episode all that much said so much about Mars in it in itself where they weren't present in this until the very end but there was this air of secrecy and mystery and all we really had to go off of was that Exposition text at the beginning that said that Mars is a military thing like they're a military group they they've they've gained their Liber Liberty as as that and so when we do meet them at the very end and they are a a a strike force they are somebody who attacks it gave me far more of an understanding than if you had a bunch of characters saying oh did you know that Mars is actually a militaristic group and that they are secretive and blah blah blah blah blah it was the restraint that I really appreciated in this to them we will always be slaves that's all we are to the Earth is IND dustice they built their solar system on our bats spit the blood of a million of our GRS but in their eyes we are not even human anymore I guess I like the way that they're bridging our te technology that we have now with the future Tech and you can kind of see the sort of evolution that things might take I I like that they were just casually using like consumer gray drones around the place I thought that that was fun um I liked a lot of the little touches with the props as well like the way that things have mostly stayed tactile um but there's still like other kinds of screens and different places have different um sort of things like the phone tablet thing I love how Miller's one was cracked that was a great little detail another another thing that I thought was really great the people who live in the the more fancy higher up and uh have the the fake sky they have like the televisual sky above them and you see the bird try to fly up onto it and I I thought that was again a great piece of visual storytelling to hammer in on the themes of the Hat Haves and the Have Nots the higher ups and the low UPS the people who are rich and the people who are poor the people who are struggling the people who are thriving that there was a wonderful demonstration of that one of the things that I I noticed you sit up in your seat at when we were watching it and I don't know if you had it in your notes was when they were in the train and they were just showing us like in the in the tunnels and how it goes through the the actual terrain itself and that this train also they showed us a lovely little map that had here's all this stuff and us being nerds that's the type of thing where you'd pause that and go okay I'll read that map yeah um and the fact that it is structured very similar to the way that they represent the train maps of Tokyo that's what I was noticing that sort of that's a very subtle way to allude to the global nature of it there was a blending of culture that I really appreciated there was multiple languages being spoken uh there was a mixing of languages as well as just People's Clothing you could tell that oh this person has a mixture of this culture and this culture with that twinge of sci-fi added on the top as well as when when we you know cut to Earth uh Deputy uh you know chairperson of the UN is this Indian woman and she's wearing the full outfit it's bright colorful and luxurious and she stands out in comparison to the rest of the things we've seen on on that multiple levels of she is vibrant she's on Earth but also she's a person of a drastically different culture than everyone else that we've been following everyone else who's just been kind of sad and grungy and you know your your your white guys dystopian your classic yeah and he is this you know rich Indian woman who's just having a having a bowl being a [ __ ] and I can't wait to talk about her but uh another piece of the world that I think is really key and very very well captured without having to bang us over the head you get that there's a powder keg here that it's ready to go off you feel it like they tell you that at the start like it's on the edge of War there's just one spark to set it off yeah and you feel it you feel that intensity and I I liked another aspect of this which was the Casual brutality that was present people lose their arm and then they'll just be bitching that they will have to get a regrown or they'll get a robot arm and want a robot arm they want a robot arm and there's just this is how horrible the world is the racism the bigotry the the disparity and also just the brutality is all treated with a shrug from most of the people living in it that is such a fact of life that's just a telling thing about the law and the World building that is present in in the pilot is just they're on the precipice of war and nobody seems to care all that much because people are just trying to get by or people want a bit of profit or people want Power and that's my type of SciFi gy we'll we'll get to more of this but I find it very interesting that the first person that we meet is not a character that we get to know she's the McGuffin she's the McGuffin she's the mystery box instead of getting to know this woman we get to know two men M yeah two men who are inadvertently trying to find and save this woman uh so let's start with the detective he's a belter himself he's got a [ __ ] up spine thanks to some dodgy Health yeah it was the bad bone density juice stuff because that's another thing they make sure to let you know that there's physical differences of being from space and being on Earth and being maybe from Mars at some point I imagine but they this is a show where you can definitely tell that is written by nerds who sat there and they said well you know if if you if you lived on a spaceship your bones would be different yeah especially if you grew up there you would your body would naturally do certain things or go in certain ways and they address that and they also address the idea of the these people have a culture of their own and they don't identify with being humans from Earth no and they identify as belters and that's why Miller is an outsider because he is from the belt but he dressed is like and he acts like he's not and that puts him on the outside and makes him a point of contention for the people that he walks around uh barking at he's a cop on top of that as well like he's filthy detective how he's gotten to that position because he the majority of the people on the Belt are doing grunt work they're stuck doing the manual labor and he's escaped that somehow and uh Miller is uh in this pilot he comes across as the main character to me he comes across as the the guy that you're following and he has his sidekick guy who's the point of view for the audience but you get a clear understanding that that guy havlock I want to say his name is is not the main character he's just a guy that gets information told to him because he's us we don't know what's happening it's very convenient have a new partner who's new to the literally once the episode decides that we the audience are caught up they stop having havlock in the plot they just say you stay here because the audience understands enough now to watch the the plot play out for the rest of the episode which I laughed at a lot actually it was it was it was a clean and efficient way to do it but also very calculated way to to do that I I had a good chule was like poor dude kicked out I don't give a [ __ ] about havl look if he's a character that turns around and becomes a suddenly wonderful guy I I I'll eat I'll eat Miller's hat I would be a little surprised if he comes back at all oh yes dude they they said his name at least they have to kill him in another episode if that's going to be the case you can't just leave that guy but but but Miller he's our detective uh disg like U he's disgruntled he's uh uh he's a he's a grump he's a he's he's an outsider what did you think M uh Miller what did you think of him [ __ ] interested to see what he gets up to he seems like he um he screams I have a dead daughter Vibe oh okay um like I used to be a good detective and he he um and then I lost it all now I don't care asked um if he had if he has kids yes and he says no I missed the boat on that one M yeah I'm like you have some kind of tragic backstory I'm I'm not buying that you've always been this disgusting human being did you find him a compelling character or no not really why not too many tropes too many tropes he's a character that is the tropes he's he's got the Hat he's got the partner he's he seems like he's a cynic but Underneath It All he's got a heart of gold and he actually car the bribes but then he he takes action he's a man of Justice even though he has this affable demeanor I understand what you're saying because I couldn't see past that for the longest period of time in this watching I just I like Thomas Jane as an actor I thought ah he's doing the scenes they're fine I don't really care but once it got to that moment at the end with the bird flying up in front of him and he takes a moment to look at that and then see the little girl down there and that set him off to show us that he actually has that Heart of Gold that he actually does give a [ __ ] and that the things that he has been uh pushing away uh actually do get to him and so I was one over at that point and since this is the beginning of a story you have to work your way towards growing the character so I understand it but I am completely in agreement with you that even then with that bird touch I just sat there going okay look I like the actor I like these tropes I like detective characters I like my Noir guys I really loved his line about why he wears a hat you know to keep the rain off my head I thought that was a very good line of dialogue I I really like that a lot but I agree he wasn't somebody that I wanted to watch a full show about yet not in this one he no no but I can see that they're teeing up lots of things specifically with him as a character and and I'm like you I know that you'll move Beyond this because I trust the vision of the show already like it didn't do anything for me to worry that it's already going to [ __ ] it up now what would a rich girl do to really piss daddy off on series are you asking what I did bang every space bucker I could find that's not helpful I'm sorry M did you come here for my help come on minut it miss me miss these little chat good night our other main man is Jim Holden a name that I'm sure we'll remember I'm I'll probably just call him Holden all the time I'm sure we won't call him Jim ever again but Jim Holden is the other main man and uh what did you think I liked him more than Miller because he's the gruff dude that is annoyed that he has a conscience that he has desires for things better than himself yeah but also like he wants better but he doesn't want to have to do more and I hard relate to that I think he was is the more defined character yet we met him a while later protagonist Vibes yeah I think he's a protagonist of the show but in this episode they really sidelined him for a very long time I felt like we didn't get to really I feel like we're going to get multiple protagonists so we're going to have the protagonist of the space stuff the station stuff the Earth stuff that's I think and you're going to get the connections between them building out but I connected more to him as a potential like main main character that like everything else I think of as being connected and relating to him yeah he was fine I I I look he was fine uh I like that he that I thought he was hot he's hot um he's the guy from Sky High he's Warren peace and uh will I unsee that no no no to the very end if we make it to the end of the expans I'm I'm going to keep mentioning that he's Warren peace I'll mention it as that's the final thing I'll say in the Pod this Show's lead was Warren peace from Skyhigh he was fine I I I they gave him good character traits but he himself I found to be what you talked about with Miller where I just see the the elements of what the writers are putting of him as a character but I am not relating to him myself I can see why you do and I hope to in the future he he actually reminds me of John kryon from Farscape where it's like you are the perfect protagonist man you have these set of values that you can explore in a whole show and I warmed up to kryon after a few episodes I hope to warm up to this guy but at the moment I'm just sitting here going he's fine he's not offensive he he he he has morals he pretends he doesn't uh he [ __ ] which is good to know um the actor seems Charming enough I I hope to to warm to the dude but uh at the moment he is my biggest hurdle okay he is what it is and maybe this is me needing more of a tropy thing he's supposed to be a blue color guy M he's supposed to be the Rough and Tumble I've been working out on the belt for ages I've been living on this ship and I don't feel that at all I feel like he's a handsome man who walked out of his trailer and he's been told that he's a spaceship man I do not believe this is a rough and tumble guy that has been living out there see I was thinking that but I was thinking it in a different way we already have two other examples of Rich privileged people walking away from their privilege to be with a Have Nots mhm so I wonder if he's going to be another example of that maybe maybe or the inverse of like he's like no I don't want to be with the Have Nots I want to be out and better than this but that doesn't seem to be the case with him thus far no he just has that I'm a not I'm a pretty boy that's that's my problem woman to be not I don't mean problem with frightened being generic handsome man he's your generic handsome I don't mean that on the visual of the actor I mean that the character is like hello I am handsome lead character man and you will follow me because that's what dictates stories that's what dictates that's what a story follows me guy what I'm saying is he should be Dave liser from Red Dwarf that's my main character that I would want to know he's just there I I mean I'm I'm wondering how he's going to factor into this grander story because at the moment he's just some schmuck who stumbled across something that we don't understand and I wonder how they're going to spiral that out to be something that continues on because with the detective I understand how they can do that he's literally an authority figure who is pulling at something bigger than himself and you can go into that and you can imagine all of the things that you can play off of with him but I I'm not too sure with Holden he's just some schmuck the most he has going for him is he has a girlfriend uh that has morals outwardly and then she dies at the end and it's like oh okay how's he going to deal with that maybe was there a particular moment or scene for you uh that helped uh you warm to this guy because I I can find one right now it was just they had lines of dialogue I'm like oh that's insightful but what did you think no I I liked his little bits of banter with everybody those are the two main that we get here I'm Keen to explore the other characters that will be introduced or have been but just aren't really present here cuz there's a whole crew of people that he is stuck with at the end and I don't know any of their names I don't know how I could even describe them to you there's a British lady there's a guy there's a there's a guy with a beanie on as well and we didn't even mention her what lady oh the other cop lady yeah yeah and so there's characters that haven't made themselves too known to us yet but I'm sure they'll be rich and endearing and then we have uh the deputy Secretary General of the UN who we'll get to but he she's only in two scenes and they're memorable scenes but I don't have enough to say what I think of her as a character more that is the tone of the show comes through and that's what I just want to touch on the the feeling of this how do you feel about the show overall like are you excited to watch more and how how are you when it comes to the the the grit of this because this is a grittier show like this has a this has a we're dark and broody you mean is that turning me off the show how do you feel about it um ambivalent I was not engaged but I wasn't actively put off by the pilot which makes it a h have a huge leg up from space above and beyond my books I just don't care that's where I'm at I'm not invested after this pilot cuz I'm just like I I'm like okay you're setting up all of these things great great great if I was reading a novel Series yeah I would be more interested to see where it goes would be in it for the long H and maybe a bit more than when I'm presented with that in a TV show but I'm like well Ryan locked us in to watch it and everybody says that it's great so once I've settled into the world and I give a [ __ ] about the characters I think I'll like it a lot more but if I just watch the pilot on my own I would not attentively watch the rest of the show I am drawn into the world because of the production rather than the writing and the characters I like the look of it I do like the feel of it I appreciate the feel it has a very lived in grounded sensibility it makes sense I'm sitting there going this makes sense to me I can see how this could be our future I could see how this could play out and they aren't undermining it with some random goofy thing in there but I am in again we're on the same page here where I through just a singular one I'm not drooling to watch the next episode right away and that's just a given I think with a lot of pilot episodes of sci-fi shows and or first seasons of a science fiction show they're finding their groove they're finding their Rhythm and also this is from an era of Television where it's the long game being played where you can look at an episode and you don't say that oh I loved it but can say I appreciated what it's doing for the grander game being played here and that's very much what uh this is giving me it is one where it will be important later but just sitting down to talk about it even isn't the most uh thrilling thing in itself but I am thrilled by the pieces it's put down the relationship between a good pilot versus that of a good episode is always the tug of War because there is a difference between a pilot episode and just a regular episode a pilot has to tell us why we should watch this what's important about this show and how it works and a regular episode is just bringing you in on an adventure moving it forward a little bit and why this stands out to me in comparison to the other Pilots that we've had to watch for this series for our podcast is it does both it does both where it begins with all of the typical things he is the world he is a monologue he is another monologue he's a visual thing to tell us but in the last 15 minutes or so when they finally Haul on over to this freighter I was engaged because it was an actual plot happening like this is an episode of a television show where they find the spooky ship and they're exploring it and oh no it's set off a beacon and we have to worry about Pirates and being attacked and all of this happen specific problem because the first chunk is setting up the problems of the world not the problems that are characters are going to face and the direct things that they're going to need to do to try and overcome those once we get to the freighter we get that specific kind of problem and I want to know how our characters over overcome problems I want to know their style and why they different to one another once we get into the back part of this the plots really kick into gear we get to see how Miller works as a character and how he operates and same with the this crew that uh that Holden is hel in charge of and I was really buzzed by that so this is very much a you have to eat your vegetables too episode where the vegetabl aren't bad in themselves but I just want that steak it's a
transmitter this must be the beacon that caught us somebody planted it py bate McDow was right one of the things actually that I want to highly praise I think that this helps kick it over into something more than just a okay pilot is the Julie Ma case at the center of it all I am a sucker for this type of Storytelling where I joke before about Mystery Box stuff I'm not a big fan of mystery boxes but I am a big fan of a Lynch pin this is a Lynch pin event where this this person who has been either kidnapped or she's been taken elsewhere whatever her case is we the audience aren't aware of it yet and nor are the characters but all of these characters all of these different factions all of these different groups all of these different entities are all converging because of this one person and I like that and when I get told now that's the pitch okay you have been told that the universe is on the edge of a war and this girl going missing could be the spark that lights that damn I'm in yeah that's what makes me get in what do you think about the Julie M thing being the the thing that is planted here in the middle yeah uh okay for me rather than being a Lyn pin which I understand is what it is meant to be for me it felt more like a seed that they've planted deep down and that's going to continue to grow as the season goes on so it didn't get me as in Ed because I'm like that's going to pay off more and more later I just got into it because Miller has been handed the case and he has no connection in this episode he has no connection to Holden Holden has no connection to what's happening on Earth call him Jim please please Jimmy Jimmy has no connection to Miller and they exist as characters in the world and they like we understand how they work in this universe but but I wanted to know okay why are we doing this what's what's the purpose and so once I introduced that the freighter that we saw in the very beginning is this thing giving out a distress call and that's what brings holding in I like how that is dispensed in terms of making the characters go on the same Journey but for completely different reasons completely different motivations and ones that suit their characters Miller is a guy who's he's got to solve the case got some Dark Void in my heart that I need to fill by doing the case and I'm going to pretend I don't give a [ __ ] and then you have uh Holden who is a guy that is very similar but different where he wants to give the illusion that he doesn't care but deep down he also cares and so he goes to do [ __ ] but they do it differently one's a detective and one's just a scrap guy like I'm just going to board this thing and hopefully we'll do the best we can yes but both of them have their little Corners that have been neglected by the rest of the world that is a great way to put it what do you think about Julie ma finding a room with what appears to be an engine in the center of like the core of the ship and there's a growling monster sound and something that appears to be eating a person or at least dragging them in in a SI thing thoughts thoughts on that I'm scared personally I I don't know what we're getting from that and I I I'm scared of it uh I'm just like what the [ __ ] is that hope I get answers you are The Optimist out of the two of us cuz I look at that and I've just been traumatized by so many bad Mystery Box spooky ooze in uh TV that I look at that and I go I'm not hopeful of what the answers are going to be I don't know if it it's going to be satisfying but I'm like any answers any answers will be okay then it's not it's not a true mystery Bo is this a show where you would accept monsters being in it like aliens or ghouls or Monsters would you yeah okay difference of opinion not me with what we've been given thus far I'm very much of the opinion of this is a show where it's people versus people people having a go at one another well okay I don't think it's going to end up being true aliens that's my sci-fi Theory after this one episode based on basically nothing is that it's going to be some human creation that's going wrong that's what I think that's going rogue not Vogue Miller and Holden are plots that are building up the the the story for the season ahead and they'll eventually converge is the feeling wouldn't it be bold if they didn't it would be bold until the final episode they finally meet and they're like hey who are you and then that's how we end the season but one thing that is very separate very very distant and I loved it the most hence we have left it towards the very end is Earth I was sitting there going where's Earth I want to know Earth and Luna I want to know what Earth is up to I want to know what they're up to cuz Earth is the big bad IES it seems they're the they're the top dogs they're the ones with the water the power oh [ __ ] they're water and power from Tank Girl I kept thinking about that every time they mentioned that water was more valuable than gold I kept thinking of Tank Girl feel like that glorious shot of like the two drops of water in space with Julie great that was great that was a great piece of business but Earth it's in two scenes uh basically and you loved it Brian George is in this episode I love Brian George he's one of my favorite character was here too yeah yeah yeah we didn't talk about that he went crazy about plants whatever the [ __ ] that Mike from Breaking Bad was in this and he went crazy had no connection to Jimmy he had no yeah so that's a better course or reference I got you um no he there's guests there's also that guy the the the air filter guy that character actors in everything he was in Cube he was in Supernatural I think he was deaf in Supernatural but he's a character actor that's in a bunch so I'm also secure in wanting to watch more of the experience because they have wonderful weird actors show up in it and I want to see more is great not just in terms of those character actors that we we are more familiar with but the actors that they've gotten to play the extras of the belters and how they've gone a little bit um like they're detail orientated when it comes to the set dressing but also to the extras so they've chosen weird looking people they've chosen people who are strange and people who you can't take your eye away from them and just give them funky costumes on top of and it's better not typical yes you're not somebody that you would typically see as an extra in uh the fact that they don't blend Ines better yeah but Earth is uh man what a place to be the waters are are risen up they've walled off cities of wall off elevated the stat of libidi yeah and they put a wall around it I really like like that like the logic there is we'll try and stay save the Statue of Liberty we we'll build a little wall around it's like you idiots it really is one of those um it needs to stay on that island ran look it needs to St we can't we can't solve global warming but we can at least save the Statue of Liberty we can go to space but we can't solve this it's ah but we we meet uh well we actually saw her um I forget her name footage I forget her name it was mainly told through text so I don't know her name right now I'm sure the next episode somebody will say it and I'll be like Ah that's it but we we met her on a TV screen originally but then when we saw her proper she's in her house and she's looking in the mirror she's getting all ready to go she's she's got a real contemplation on her face but then this little kid throws a water balloon at her and I thought that there was a another moment where the expanse stood out especially for being a pilot where it was another piece of visual storytelling where we have been told water is this valuable commodity people are are dying and need water and yet when we come back to earth they are just using it for anything this kid throwing around as water balloons and she's just reacting like oh you silly thing and if that happened on the Belt it would be most insane thing that that would not be happening at all how much inquality there is between the this this woman and the society she's a part of yeah and the fact that the I do get the feeling that The Closer you are to Earth the more power and Prestige you have like like being a true earther has more power and privilege than being um a Mazy or I think they call them dusters I heard dusters said once and I said oh that's a person from Mars I'm in I wanted to do the B5 ref a marsy from Mars yeah um and then the bels that's all we are to the Earth is IND dustice she is a woman of power in terms of actual position but also she is an inhabitant of Earth which is the top dog it seems they have water of the woo and they're just throwing it around just playing with it got so much that they can waste it they got so much they can waste it and I I I I found it really sweet how she was with this Grand child and so did you have any idea of what this woman was going to be like because this is how they introduce her as the sweet grandmother figure oh oh you and she's tickling him and she's talking to Brian George about this is the power of what it's like to be a grandmother and she has this mournful look of oh I've been called to my job but I've got to go did you have any kind of Notions of what we're going to get with this this [ __ ] yes I did um and part of that is context because we watched particular episode of Babylon 5 today and Mr JMS himself loves a hardcut transition where the characters are saying one thing and it's revealed be another or usually the officer making the previous Point ironic that is true he loves doing that he [ __ ] loves it you know what else loves doing that by the way The Sopranos that show loves doing it too it's a it's a classic it's a classic and it gave me the waft of that it's like this is too sweet this show is not sweet it doesn't have Sweetness in it sweet it must be undercut immediately yep I'm like what what are they going to be doing and they're like oh I need we need to talk we need to talk okay how much torture are we going to see in this next scene not not very graphic but the implicational what's being implied here what's being told to us is is one of those where we go they're destroying that man keeping him propped up on a wall under Earth's gravity you tried to harm Earth now let it hurt you back [ __ ] I had a feeling that she was not on the level because and this is part of casting she has a villainous voice she has a sexy voice but she has a very deep presence in her voice so she's an actress that's been in everything we watched her in Star Trek Beyond in fact and she was a good person in that but she just has this this voice that says I'm going to [ __ ] you up and so that scene where she's talking to this man that they've captured this terrorist who's from an organization that I don't think we understand yet they just said the initials of it but I don't know who's that in relationship to but I that there I loved that scene because it is the show to me where she's putting on this face of the grandmother to this guy of sweet talking oh please tell me the information it would be so great if you could do that a whisper if that's all you can manage I'll understand and then the guy clenches his fist and defies and she sees that and then just turns heel on him and just walks off leave him there for another 10 hours and if he's still alive call me and she's just off doesn't give a [ __ ] it's this performative aspect to the character where we talked about Miller we talked about Holden and how we think about them and they have way more screen time they have way more stuff given to them and yet I understood her way more I want to watch more of this character I want to see her Wheeling deal and operate and I want to see how she dictates the story going forward she is in two scenes she's in two scenes but they're very effective they are very clear in what they're doing and it is the type of thing that is the only word to describe what it is is delightful this is a delightful character one that I have a smile on my face when I see her because she's delightfully a [ __ ] and I can't wait to see her again now did you have uh any strong feelings towards her because she's only in these in these two scenes but she is at least in this moment the villain of the show she's at least the villainous presence what did you think of her and uh that that moment with the interrogation yeah I was just like you are a believable kind of villain and I really appreciate this because could have gone too far you didn't go to Robocop and I appreciate that about you show she's the most exciting thing in the pilot she the actor is clearly better than everyone else yeah leagues above know knows it feels it like as the character isn't that so important so important it's so important and I I I joke before about Gilmore Girls other ones will get there it's not to say that everyone else is I mean Thomas Jane is a very skilled capable actor he's a reliable actor I love Thomas Jane but he's just not she's just one of those where man she's got it and I joke before about Gilmore Girls but let's be honest the Gilmore Girls pilot is very solid everyone's given a good performance but the parents are clearly the best and not only because they're fun but those actors are are leagues above everyone else and and that happens with uh with Babylon 5 as well where we had Peter jurk as Londo where he was just leagues above everyone else he was just he nailed it from pretty much the beginning still finding his feet but uh he clearly had an idea and this this particular performance here is one where you go oh yeah I want I want to watch six seasons of that I want to watch Jim Holden I'm not too sure yet Miller N I could go one way or the other but this person I want her to be in the whole show yeah this is one locked in this is one where you would definitely say oh she wasn't in this episode and that's a bad thing I don't think I would say that about Jim Holden or milov like if an episode didn't have them I'm at the moment I'm not going to weep over that this lady two scenes I'm already crying the fact that there wasn't three whisper will do if that's all you can manage
hey give him another 10 hours if it Ares call me Mars is also a presence and they only show up at the end as a stealth ship as a as a force that is there to destroy they they nuke Jim's girlfriend they nuked her she had something to say what do you think she had to say it was I have something important to tell you and then gets cut off and I think that's the that's the single line that make me the made me the most interested in moving forward what do you think what do you think she had to tell him what do you think was the most important I think um obvious one is that she was pregnant oh yeah that's pretty standard no I love you um I love you um I know the truth about you or you should know this thing about me would be really funny if she said I'm cheating on you and then she just noped out like that would be that would be great that would that would be a boss I've I've already put in for my transfer that that we were discussing earlier or you have a small pee PE bye bye I need to be honest I really like I would really like it if she did just a slam of him just she grabbed out a microphone and a spotlight came down she start dragging on a cigarette and she just does like a full comy set about how much another one that's a contender cuz there's so many different things that you could do with that setup uh I know it was you oh yeah I know it was you for what though oh reporting the thing to H oh yes I know it was you and also we [ __ ] in zero g baby hey would you want to have sex in zero g is that something You' want to do I feel like there's a lot of factors to really contend with I feel like motion sickness happened but but they're so used to going through it it's nonevent so for me that scene didn't read as we're going into zerog G so we're going to [ __ ] to make the most of it it's this is a time where we can have sex and zero g isn't going to stop us from having sex maybe they started and then zero g happened mhm and then they then they started floating up and then they smacked down on the ground yeah that would have broken his dick sorry am I wrong that would hurt it seemed like it seemed like it would hurt hips more than the dick cuz the dick she on top of very much seemed like it was still inside of her so it's cushioned it's contained I think you overestimate how cushy the vagina is for the penis see I don't think I think it would do more damage to the balls than to the dick I think you could argue it could do a lot of damage to the puss yeah but you're not arguing that so I'm sorry no the puss is out of the equation on our scale of yum being bad and yum yum being good what would you rate this because that's what we do here on yum yum podcast we we ha wow a yum yeah I'm right there with you it's a yum there's room to grow at least there's that there's there's stuff here there say Okay I want to I could see this being more of a show but this isn't this isn't winning me over straight away I I I can't wait to see if it will and see how but at the moment it's just okay it's just fine Rachel could you please inform us all the title of the next episode we'll just be reading the title and maybe have a little guess at what could be in store for us because uh I don't know nor do you and we don't want to be spoiled this is our first time watching the going to give you a little spoiler though no don't I asked you not to it's just for the thumbnail that I has for this episode is it of my favorite character yes it oh that's good to know yeah I'm glad she's back mhm The Big Empty is the title what do you think could happen I think it's going to have to do with water oh some crisis with water y I think we're going to have an episode if we're going to be logical I think we're going to have an episode where we're going to follow up on that interrogation with the terrorist guy learn more about that and Holden is going to be stuck in space and he's going to have to figure out how to survive and probably deal with the the Martian stealth ship yes that would make sense okay and I guess m is still on the case I also
wonder uh if they're going to hatch a specific plan like Holden and his crew like if they're going to be content to just go back to Earth or well to the Belt to the Belt um and just find a new ship and get a new commission from the corporation I don't know I haven't thought about that far I think mainly this is going to be an episode where you're going to have a survival episode or how are we going cuz this show loves that already you can tell they have like mouth guards that they put in when they're flying and they're injecting themselves details and imagine a whole episode where it's like oh no our ship has lost gravitational pool and oh no the the the nisel has fallen off and oh Miller's hat blew away and now he has to go chase it and that's as they say in Miller's Crossing weirdly enough there's nothing more embarrassing than a man chasing his own hats but that is all we have for you when it comes to us exploring the expanse we're finding our footing when it comes to the series we're finding our way to to really dig into it so I hope you've enjoyed what we've discussed thus far if you want to hear more of us you can follow us on whatever podcast hosting site allows you to do so including YouTube even we put this out for our patrons first on patreon so if you're listening to this on the Main feed you should come over to Yum Yum podcast on patreon and support us there where you'll have a whole Bounty of content so much you won't even know what to do with it you might put it in some balloons and throw it at your grandmother because it's just so abundant but you can hear so much of our discussion on the expanse over there be a part of our group Discord all of the good stuff is in the description of this episode Down Below as well as our email address which is Yum yumod gmail.com rate and review the show share us around share us with all your friends you you can say hey friend these two Australians as husband and wife team they're watching the expanse for the first time and this one one of them oh you won't believe what they thought the expanse was you won't even believe when they thought it was made oh boy uh but that is all we have thank you so much for listening Rachel a real Joy talking to you a real Joy getting into this but I'm really sad that no character no character in this episode said yum yum a tear is forming in my eye about
it see you then well w