Ryan and Rachel must face their biggest challenge yet! Looking back on season one of The Expanse. 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's first season.
It’s time to unleash the blue goo!
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[Music] hi Rachel how are you doing good how are you I'm doing pretty well pretty satisfied if I've got to say kidding I I don't got to say it no one's got a gun against my head but I am saying that that's the case uh we are here here to talk about a television show that we have watched we have finished the first season of it and what show would that be the expans and now we are here to look back and talk about it as a whole go over our opinions our thoughts the high points the low points any interesting details and uh things that have been uh bubbling in our brains upon the reflection when it comes to because now having finished it we can take a step back and have a finer appreciation for the journey that we were taken on and maybe some of the things that happened in those episodes long ago now have uh been peeking in the brain over all of this time so Rachel why are we called yum yum podcast for those who are tuning in for the first ever time why are we called that we're called yum yum because Ryan fell in love with a very stupid line from Star Trek Discovery this line was said in an episode of season 2 where a individual was propositioned by space Hitler basically schol winning actress Michelle yo to go kill the
antagonist and this individual who cannot in Earnest be called a character she does have a name though Commander N9 D what do you think the d stands for I don't care flicks her hair Ryan maintains that she sexily licks her lips it does happen and says yum yum and we both of us fell out of our chairs when we saw that happen on Modern television we our Jaws just hit the floor tongue rolled out of our mouths eyes shot out in a zing zing zing Zoom effect like an old Tex a cartoon and we thought this is where modern science fiction television is at and that's why we didn't watch the expanse when it was coming out because we're too busy marveling at what was the Yum Yum moment yum yum just to touch base on the history and the relationship with the expanse uh I did watch some of those episodes when they first air that week to week basis uh but I I just didn't really gravitate towards it and at the time I was just so preoccupied with life that I just wasn't giving the show the the attention it clearly desired from the viewer space for it in your life at the time yes I didn't have the space for it in my life instead I had Star Trek Discovery to take it up instead it's a modern Sci-Fi show I watched but yeah at some point I dropped off watching it Midway through that first season and I never really looked back uh every now and then someone I knew someone I know would say hey have you watched the expans and I would say no I haven't and then I would ask them have they and I would get two responses no but I think it's up your alley or too yeah I watched it for a bit and then they and then they stopped yeah I've known no one in my life who's finished the show you got it also in tandem with recommendations for Farscape which was always on the list we did watch we did watch that eventually but that's always been on the list for my entire life so yes now for you you have a pretty uh if people if you have not listened to our first episode discussion you're missing out on the shocking Revelation that Rachel had with the expans I don't know what you're talking about please please please please tell us all about your wild history with the expanse well you watched it when we were together you watched it on your own and you didn't ask me you were like I'm just going to check out this thing and you you did that and I did not engage with it I did not look at it I did not think about it I did not talk about it and then you know we we sat down and watched that first episode what else Rachel what else nothing else do I have to play the clip from the first episode with an echoey sound effect to make it sound like it's from the past or you just going to be frank with the yings who are our listeners and even the patrons who are the people that paid to hear this first before it came out on the Main feed are you going to be honest with everyone and tell the truth or you going to keep your lips tight and tell porcy I I lying by your mission is it as
bad in this specific context which no uh which is that I
misremembered and misunderstood the era of which this show came um so it turns out that it's like you know 20 like late 2010s sure M um and part of you know Prestige television and a Sci-Fi production which was yeah Sci-fi channel yes yes not what I thought it was that's all oh oh you don't want to say what decade you thought it was from no okay no I don't play the clip Brian well in my head for some reason the expans went along with Lost in Space yes but not the remake of Lost in Space but the original you thought this was the 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 you you had an impression of the show walking in but you are now beyond the point that you originally watched and you've seen the complete package of the first season so what do you think of it now it's an interesting Beast of a show because I was really walking in expecting to see how the past version of myself got this so wrong to to drop off and not continue watching to the end of the season and I again having go through this I understood why I did that because even now there were just large swats of this where it just didn't grab me enough where it was saying hey you have to stop everything and finish this show it didn't have that kick in the bowl effect like some other TV shows that I have watched in their first season but hey first seasons of science fiction shows can often be slow can be a bit dry they're figuring things out I'm forgiving now actually having finished it all I enjoyed it overall it wasn't the most uh groundbreaking thing I've ever seen and one of the elements that I I I still have to come to grips with when it comes to this series is it's a lot more uh tropey and uh kind of corny and cheesy in that sci-fi genre loving way where we have evil scientists who are playing with blue goo because they want to start a war so that they can use more blue goo it has some of that classic science fiction mumbo jumbo and I was looking at this far more as this uh really grounded gritty uh not like your granddad's science fiction type series and that there is that is definitely in there of course they have a lot of attention to detail to the technicals of the world but again I think walking out that was the thing that I was most surprised about was there was a lot more of that uh silliness that I love in science fiction television that I was wasn't really expecting to be popping up in the expanse I thought and this isn't a negative this is just a a pleasant little surprise of hey this does kind of remind me of Farscape in a lot of ways or hey this does remind me of Babylon 5 in a lot of ways for you what are your general thoughts uh walking out because walking in you didn't have too much of an impression you didn't even know when the show was from let alone what its reputation was so how are you now the note that I wrote down for myself was that I knew nothing walking into the show obviously I managed to completely misconceive the show like h space Sci-Fi show I got that much right I got a lot of other things really wrong but I got that much right well I that could describe a lot of different things a lot of different things but I agree with you about like the sort of the Babylon 5 comparisons especially when it comes to the political stuff and I enjoyed watching it post watching space above and beyond because of the way that they structure their political system uh really sort of shaded the way that I saw and engaged with what we're given in the expans like it's not it's not carbon copy but uh like both of them have a very sort of similar vision of the UN becoming the the leaders of Earth in a much more direct way than they are now in 2023 and both when it comes to the expanse and more so Babylon 5 but space above and beyond as well they use the landscape of politics to be a prism in which they tell their science fiction story because a lot of Science Fiction most of Science Fiction is often social commentary and if you're having a political aspect yeah if you're having a political aspect in there that just lends further Credence to that because many of the decisions or many of the struggles that exist in our society often does does tie back to that does tie back into politics or leadership or making those world changing decisions uh and what are the mentalities that people have behind those and obviously with space above and beyond and Babylon 5 and the expans it is about the verge of War coming on and or War has come what do you do when that approaches one thing I just want to hear from you because we also watched this fairly recently just just just quickly because I don't want to forget about it is it weird to you that this is not like battl Star Galactica in terms of being a gritty science fiction show because I feel like battl star was far more Dow and far more we're gritty cuz they handheld in scenes and people are saying things with gritted teeth and I like battar Galactica more than you did but I just want to get you a quick opinion on that um I hadn't really drawn too many comparisons of Battle Star and the experience when we were watching it like since we finished the season like a couple of days ago those kind of IDE years have been bubbling to the surface a bit more but for me it's just such a striking difference because Battle Star is so in the shadow of 911 you say and the the war on terrorism and it's so specific paranoia to that time and that political
mess that was the reality at the time whereas this one I align more with space above and beyond bubble and five because they're not tied to very specific time periods in that same way and terms of it being a reaction to it like space above and beyond is really tough tired to a lot of World War II stuff but it's not a reaction to World War II it's more of a retelling and then Babble on five more often than not takes a step back and tries to see the overall pattern in the conflicts and explore that rather than the direct conflict and that's what I get from the expans as well where there's a each story we're following is a is a different uh separation or segmentation of that idea where we have say Holden and his crew they're they're at the front lines of this verging War they're the front lines they at the epicenter of it there they are being attacked by this stealth ship that's going to spark off conflict between these these Waring groups then you have Miller he's he's the next one that's a bit further out where he's investigating he's coming up with the evidence and the clues and he's figuring these things out and tying it all together and then the further step out even though she's the most uh powerful you have Ava salara where she's all the way on the other side of the system and she is having to uh pick at the little bits of information she has to try and stop the things and I think each one of those on how there are those patterns within society as well and we will get into all of those characters a bit more throughout our discussion but I do think that it's really interesting that Christian who is the most powerful is also the one who is least in control if Aaron Wright really did have Frank killed then you're not safe here either I will be for a time so long as I play a familiar role the stubborn old woman eyes locked on yesterday's game too blind to see the world has passed by what are some of your favorite moments in this season I really like the monologue about the chair I really enjoyed that moment and I think it gives you a lot of insight into the character into the world there were lots of little moments with the World building that I did really like I was wor like I came off as bashing the setup everything a bit earlier but there are a lot of really nice moments where it just assumes that you're smart enough to notice things another moment that I really enjoyed
was this stupid sort of goriness of Miller fishing around for that thing in The Corpse's body oh yes you really did get a kick out of that when he's stabbing it and keeps missing the spot and then he keeps stabbing it and jamming it around to get that cybernetic CRA he doesn't care just Flesh and Bones at this point who cares um I I appreciated that another moment that stands out is Miller's conversation with the Mormon that's my favorite scene in the whole show at the moment that scene is a standout in terms of utilizing all of the material it gives us the Mormons which are this interesting aspect to this series that makes it very much uh depart from what other of like what other science fiction shows do because I never again I never see the Mormons I never see them in these they they're just not there and so that's hilarious but again it gives you Miller on his journey we get a great insight into how he feels about having departed and where he's going and the anxieties you get the World building about leaving home for the first time you get all of this great well building stuff about how especially with someone like a belter there's this almost aggregor fear of having Le leaving home and getting out of there and you get paranoid but the conversation about faith the conversation about doing it even if you fail it's just a test it's just another thing to uh challenge you I I was really surprised by that scene because it came out of nowhere but it hammered in the character arcs and the themes that this series was doing in a way that I found not only substantive and subtle and nuanced but I I found it deeply deeply engaging I was just wanting to stay with those two characters talking to one another we never even learned that Mormon's name he's just Mormon he's probably never going to show up again but he's going to be someone I think about a lot because he also challenged my my not like my ideas of what the Mormons can offer up because they've been a punchline for the show uh there've been this dorky weird odd bow group and they and even in that episode they they counter this beautiful scene here with showing their ship have a big gold statue and just giving us the the the Great Notion that we already hold about the more which is they're they're grandiose and opulent and gy and sickening and yet we can still have a human we can still have a person we can still have a man with not only Integrity but he has the ability to think and he has the ability to comprehend and has the ability of self-reflection yep truly my favorite scene of the show just had to steal because that was like the one thing I wrote down in my favorites I had a couple but I was like that scene there was just really I crazy I have a couple of others but would you like to take the lead well you're hitting upon some of the smaller and funny stuff uh I really got a kick out of the visual storytelling that help provide information for us about the world that we live in so the train system on series that would be flying around in those tunnels that they've built through the asteroid belt and the tank back on Earth the tank back on Earth with the the the belter in it and they're interviewing him to help him with gravity uh the fact that when you're on different ships they have different styles of technology so the Martians do use holographic screens and they're colorcoded to Orange I do believe or some color for them and then with the belters they have buttons and knobs and all of that and then when you're on Earth they have kind of the the the seethrough tablets and and glass and touch screens and I love all of those attentions to details even right down to doors in the future where jul a real doors a real a really cool way to do a futuristic door that we can understand without it just being a sliding schw door like in Star Trek or even Babylon 5 but the even the attention to detail that Julie is such a paranoid woman that she has 15 million Deadlocks on her door which is just really wonderful but uh another moment that I really liked that is small and we went over it qu pretty well in our discussion so I won't hammer it too much in but Fred Johnson preparing to give his speech yep he's not only just going over it but he's he's he's messing up he's making sure how to emphasize how he introduces himself really uh deciding what his tone is going be that is the type of uh content in the expans that I think about more than the big action set pieces or the moments where people get betrayed or killed or give a big grandio speech about their moral standings like look I love neither of us have
mentioned his speech about ma accusing Mars of attacking the can neither of us have referenced like in this part of the discussion the stealth ship fights no they're fine they're they're not what we're here for like they they're of decent quality the CGI is quality when it comes to the ships uh the speech is solid and you see why it gets picked up in the way that it does but that's not where we feel rewarded as viewers no no and one of my other thing things that I really adored in the show is with no joking around with no silliness to it but it's an obvious statement but having the UN be this body that rules Earth and whenever we cut over to them it gives us a different way of exploring the story and why I say not a joke and anything because when we do talk about this show we always just gush about like avasar in the UN is the best side of the show and yes it is but it doesn't mean the thing the other things are lesser than there's a reason why it stands out and there's a reason why it's a favorite of mine as it is for you as well and it comes back to what we've been talking about with Battle Star Galactica and Babylon 5 and even in part space above and beyond being able to use this side of society politics to uh in to to tell the story of your big science fiction War show Space Opera yeah and to have the the absolute determination to let the audience sit down with uh a person just talking cuz most of Christian scenes if not all of them are her sitting down and talking talking talking talking that's more exciting to me than Miller getting into a gunfight or Holden having a shouting match of who should take power her this woman of uh you know many years and many many many many experiences in her lifetime having a quiet conversation about what's the best way to handle a situation that could potentially spin out into something more deadly I could watch a whole episode of that I could watch a whole episode of Christian just talking to Aaron Wright I could just watch that if that's the case we warn Mars that they exploit this situation at their own Peril we crack down hor on Sirus and the OPA then we expose the truth and nailed Fred Johnson to it I always like the side of you the other favorite moment I had and I'm surprised we we haven't mentioned it MH it is when all of them get together at the at in the tail end of the show when they meet up at that hotel and Miller's a badass and he's Tak in charge of the group and Amos is looking fondly at this new friend of theirs he chooses violence too that is the magic of the Season where we've had all of these separate story lines and now here some of them are TW converging colliding and intertwining and that is just a classic moment of entertainment this is the stuff that watch TV for these ongoing story lines that just go on and on and on and maybe you wonder okay when is it going to explode when is it going to just snap crackle and pop and that was the moment we waited so many episodes and they come together and it was more than I was expecting I didn't really think of Holden and Miller being this buddy Duo team that was just this uh I hate you and hate you too yet it totally makes sense and yet I I wasn't really thinking about what their Dynamic would be but as soon as Miller enters their storyline it's so apparent and it's so apparent in the best of ways let's flip the script okay and talk about some of our least favorite moments well I'm going to be nice and not say I have lock one first okay oh it's going to be hard one of my least favorite moments and this is a recurring issue that we have had in the back half of the show and maybe this would be apparent in the first half if we we if we rewatch it but in the back half we know who our characters are well enough to know when the show is making them stupid for no reason other than drama sake yeah like oh this needs to happen so this character needs to do this there were there were quite a few moments like that where it's like oh convenience strikes again the first we really took note of with this was when uh after the churn speech that Amos gives which gives us a truly detailed insight into this character and how he views the world and how he operates within it uh he leaves this spy who he he knows to fiddle with technology and that's how he met him not handcuffed not handcuffed not restrained he leaves him there and walks away and of course this spy starts fiddling with stuff to try and make some doohickey or trap or get out or escape and that there was so annoying to me there was no rationalization for it even members of uh uh Discord on patreon even they talked about that being a moment where you couldn't help but roll your eyes and I can't believe it's in the same sequence of events where Amos explains the churn yeah like you gave the character the best thing he's ever been given in the show to follow it up instantly with the dumbest he's ever acted in the show it's it's mindboggling to me that they did that and for what for nothing there was no real satisfaction of the spy guy is now going to fiddle we already knew he was shady we always knew he was two-faced we knew knew that from how he acted before we knew that how he acted after we didn't need that beat hit again in the way that it was because all it did was make Amos look like an idiot after giving a speech in which it made him come across as not just scary but somebody who's thought about life so well that they just are in it they don't have any worries yeah another moment in a similar vein to that is the flip of Miller's buddy semi semi uh and it's just like oh he's evil now now he's going to act he killed the dude off screen he's threatening to kill our characters so Amos shoots him she like what why why so that Miller can hate the crew in the next season specific there needs to be some conflict uh between them there especially because they were setting up Amos to get along with Miller and you you haven't said who who look like the idiot there the thing is it's Naomi who we've known for the whole show at this point but also that cop guy looked like an idiot too not because of him acting irrationally I'm not saying that him acting irrationally and out of fear is inherently idiotic it's the fact that his character was not presented in any way like that until the moment it needed to happen he was presented to us as cool as a cucumber a guy who had it all together a guy who's willing to get shot in the [ __ ] face to save a crowd of people and now is completely losing his [ __ ] just so that it makes that moment happen so then we can have drama for the next season there's a way you could have that happen more naturally it's not as if it doesn't work when you lay it out on paper if I explain to you what happened with him and how it happened you could say oh I can see how that works but it's the execution of it the pacing of it and just the the the absolute dissonance of what he was presented as to what he ended as it reminded me of the they fly now in Star Wars rise of Skywalker where they let us know they fly now but we already knew that because we've seen other movies yeah yeah so those were the kind of moments that were annoying to me in in the series outside of the obvious uh devil of the show that is havlock and we'll have plenty to say about havlock and least favorite things but uh what are some of your least favorite things are there any that aren't just havlock related well I was I was gearing up to do a havlock one oh go on bu bust it open the scene with him at the hospital after they find him oh God I hated that scene Miller was so much Miller was such a weird prick in that scene for for why why why what did it give us the the the the sex worker she tries to be a competent character but she's still treated like [ __ ] by both havlock oh and also the script I just the actress is doing her best actress is doing her best but uh there's one word to describe it isn't it Rachel one word embarrassing y uh that's the peak have loock scene s me um the crescendo on which they have ended it for the time being I fear he comes back we've been I feel like I've used that word in the wrong way B no no no it's a crescendo and in terms of all of his shittiness has finally come to that moment because it is the worst of him too yeah yeah yeah he's both a shitty guy because he's now become cynical but also he's Mr White Knight moral upstanding pure boy and I just I mean I'm bitching about it but tell me a bit more about why that scene specifically stands out for you it is about a character that I give no [ __ ] to about that I don't like because they were used and thrown away for plot conveniences he was there for a purpose and that purpose was audience surrogate and when we no longer needed him he died supposedly and then he comes back and and then he has a go at Miller who is like reverting back to what he was like in the first episode when he met havlock where he was shitty yeah and he's just being a prick for no real reason and it it it's just lame and embarrassing and him being like the actor tries no problem with the performances from any of these characters the script with him being like don't you insult my girl you barely know her I'll come at you I maybe you know half dead and in a hospital bed but don't don't you badmouth her don't you badmouth her the fact that you can boil down the relationship he has with this as a a sex SE worker falls in love with a cop because he's not like the other cops and he's the only Good Earth she's met before is [ __ ] awful it's shallow it's it's gross and they never make it any deeper I doubt that they ever will if we if we never see havlock again I will be not only happy but I'll also be furious because it means they wasted our time oh I am I am happy I am happy I don't want to put any more effort or energy into that character nor do I but I also wanted to come across as not this which is the other least favorite thing of the show for me which is why the characters sometimes feel a bit stiff and havlock is obviously the greatest example of this because he never has anything more but this is a problem that has been slowly being drained away but when characters are there to serve function rather than feel real I love Jared Harris as a performer but many times Anderson dors is just a guy to tell us a theme he's spouting things at you he's not a character having a conversation which I think is why one of the moments that we both enjoyed the most with his character was when he's talking to the news crew and we see that footage yeah he doing those political speeches because it makes sense for the character to be talking in that way cuz he is talking at people Bel Lord are not
animals you have every right to be angry you should be angry my I mean I've got to say it my least favorite stuff with havlock outside of the famous Hospital scene was they made it look like he died at the end of an episode only to reveal that they didn't yeah the weakest oh you thought we did a thing but we didn't do the thing the weakest laziest form of bait and switch The Walking Dead got [ __ ] slammed into the dirt for doing it I'm not going to hold this uh to high that high of accountability because the Walking Dead did it so disgracefully but this here was just I rolled my eyes at the fact that he was actually alive and in the trash and I sighed going oh no there's going to be more story with this guy and then there wasn't again I'm of the very different so grateful for that I'm on the very different opinion to you when it comes to havlock I need them to actually [ __ ] make him matter because if they don't if they don't pick him up again if they leave him here if they don't do anything with this character it means the first season to me for most of it is completely irredeemable because as a viewer myself I need some [ __ ] follow-through enclosure on him or else it is just a blatant trick of the writers to plug in this entity to serve only that function and then once it's done they rip it out and throw it away I'm fine with that I I'm fine with them basically hitting safely remove external hard drive on havelock's character I think it would make it almost impossible for me to want to watch the first season again though because he does take up so much time yeah yeah like I I get what you mean what was your favorite episode of the Season Salvage oh episode eight really yeah because you want to know what one I had yeah Salvage episode 8 I I actually listen back this is one of the few cuz I edit the episodes so I don't always get to listen back to them because I've been editing them but this is one of the ones I listened back to before it published and I I seemed to enjoy the episode well enough but not only having talked about it but me listening back to our own conversation gave me a higher appreciation because I got to be honest I thought I I I I locked mine in it it grew on me like when I was looking back on it I was just like yeah but that episode had this thing and this thing and it did that thing really well and it was paying off this thing and setting up this thing like all of the parts worked well I had a bit of a weird bias because episode 3 remember the can't I locked in as my favorite I was SP this was the best episode of the show and it maintained to be that for quite a while yeah and even after Salvage I was like yeah remember remember the C was better but I think I was just holding on because it I had that affection towards it cuz that's when I felt that the show gave me a a solid like an actual good episode rather than one that was good for in the context of being a starting of a show and I still hold that as a really good episode I liked the Chris Jen storyline as mentioned but I also like the interrogation on that ship on the Doner I liked all of that and it really gave us some great stuff with Alex and with Amos and I also miss shed he was a really fun character and he was like shed a lot more than I did I like that actor which is funny cuz you knew that he was going to die yes I did yes I did but so but what do you like so much about Salvage so Salvage just to remind people is uh the episode where we have the story lines converge right that's at the end and I love that about it but what I actually really like is the other stuff happening so we have that Mormon conversation as gone through already and that definitely elevates it into being one of my favorite episodes but it has the crew of the Rossy find that stealth ship bought it they use the Spy as the canary and they poke and him named canary on the footage yes which is cute and they investigate the stealth ship and find the protomolecule and you have as said Miller is making his way back uh he's making his way to AOS station and he gets on there and he has some Shenanigans and he meets his cop friend and he gets the information and then they all meet up there's a shoot out they meet up and they find out Julie's dead and yeah and Chris Jen has some really good stuff happening in that episode too but it's weird because that's one where those two story lines I just went through more than Christians were the stuff I really liked which is not typical of your experience with this season but uh like the donkey balls episode which I forget which one that was but I like the donkey balls episode too uh at least that plot line um it utilized the ongoing story lines it winds windmills probably yeah it utilized the ongoing story lines it utilized the science fiction genre in the Mysteries to be a great framework for wonderful character stuff yes really great moments of characterization and insight and but they're still really doing interesting things it's not all character no plot they found the balance really well in that episode and I got to commend that it was one too where there's a version where they did all of the dumb things yeah oh no we didn't turn off the protomolecule and now it's crawled in my boot and now we brought it back on the ship and there's so many stupid choices that could have been made but they made the right choices amus reacted in this way Naomi reacted in that way Holden said this and Al on the ship playing to their strengths and not in a way where it ignores their weaknesses and it doesn't fall into the trap of creating weaknesses where there wouldn't logically be one I did like the episodes where they just had one of the plots be a character hanging out like when they teamed up with Fred Johnson and Alex and Amos just said no we're out of here and we're going to the bar and just chilling out uh see QB was also a fun one uh that was more action Centric and for what it is the big action shooty shooty blow him up type episode but I did really enjoy it and I really liked the use of Alex's character in that episode as well and our good Martian friend the Lopez he was a good character and I'm really bummed that he that he didn't make it and uh we don't get to see more of that actor uh another thing to praise about this series is just they have really good actors in the big roles and and the small roles what was the worst episode we've been bagging on the show a lot but is there an episode that you just look at and say no thank you dsia the first one the first one that's that's what I wrote down that's what I looked in because it like pure in my opinion but it's it's a pilot that's too much a pilot so it does a diservice to selling you on the show I did not care for back to the butcher it gave us the backstory of uh Fred Johnson and that's all I got that's the only episode without Chris Jen in it it's an episode where we get a [ __ ] a load of havlock I didn't like it I don't I would never want to watch it again I know I will because being the type of person I I watch every episode but 100% I understand yeah that one just there's nothing nothing from it outside of Fred Johnson stuff I still remember the image of that father and daughter floating in space after the stations been destroyed and then it pans over to Fred Johnson looking at that that's memorable that's really provocative imagery but I I didn't give a [ __ ] about what else was going on than that one really uh and it's just left me with a bad taste in my mouth when I go what's a Bad episode of what what's an episode of the expans what's a type of episode of the expense I don't want back to the butcher you know what we failed to mention in so like at the moment this is one of like the bad moments because it the show has very few loose ends that don't feel deliberate like they're being left so that they can tie into things later on but that kid that got ejected into space is he still alive is he still out there what do you think okay I don't know what's happened with him do you think I I don't know they must bring him back because I was I was thinking of that cuz I was like oh no wait that's in the like episode after when we also get we get the rock Hoppers cut in which was sort of a a new formula that was established with back to the butcher with the flashbacks that Rockhopper kid better come back I thought he was going to get tied into a storyline in this season knowing this show knowing this show they will either do two things they're going to have some plotline where character picks him up that we aren't expecting like the UN pick him up on their way to go to Fred Johnson or they're going to do the thing that I really hope they don't do which is we'll just see him at some location and they'll tell us how he made it out and probably got saved by I don't know the OPA because they're everywhere and now he's full Opa because of his uncle that died screaming out their chant now he's like Anderson door's new rightand man uh he's the new Julie ma but they did it off screen because you know who cares about this guy he gets scared and he's actually a Martian and he never knew it remember that storyline where he was stealing water and we spent a whole on no no I I don't really remember that
much I don't think I'm going to be surprised to hear it but I want to know as it is in our list what is the best who's your favorite character who's the best character to you Rachel obviously AA salara but who else come on I know but say him say his name Miler won me over Miller's your favorite no no no no I just wanted to throw you off because you were clearly setting me up to say aamos and I wanted to mess with you for a second okay you messed with me good you got me no but I am really surprised by how much I like Miller like hat off Miller is great he also made great value for money a great entertainment really smart really funny sexy like yeah um H I'm loving hats off Miller I'm loving hat off Miller um but no a Amos is like the full package for me and it like a bunch of it is just cuz he's hot so you're you're objectifying him yeah cuz that actor's got big muscles yep not because the character himself I I'm am just admitting that the
physicality elevates the character for me quite a bit I thought thought so the guy with Big Ideas wanted to take on the bad guys as long as it doesn't cost him anything what the hell are you babbling about I'm talking about that clown upstairs that as soon as you cut loose will sell us to the highest bidder I'm talking about the Mickey coming through that airlock to take us down you logged to the stress call Holden welcome to the churn uh Chris Jen is obviously my number one girl she's the best I was going to bring her up as one of my run her up but then you said it as a joke and I was just like I know genuinely she is one of my favorites I didn't mean it as a joke we we've said it explicitly that she's our favorite or one of our favorites I I've said a lot already about her but brilliant character she she makes you want more of her with every scene it's because they withhold her from us and so I'm hungry y for more only exactly what's needed whereas we've felt like we've gotten too much Holden and too much Miller in episodes especially hatted Miller we just wanted to get rid of him hatted Miller at it again uh another character I want to give a shout out as somebody that's a favorite of mine not Naomi I like the I like Naomi well enough I want more from Naomi but Naomi's like mid tier yeah I just want them to give her more she's a compelling character and the the actress is doing a sh more I do too uh a character I like a lot is Fred Johnson I I've mentioned him already being a bright spot but I really love that character he has so much gravitus there's a performance within a performance within a performance with him he's always got a different face on and yet I can't make a a a clear uh assessment on if he's good or if he's bad but I know he's trying to do what he thinks is right yeah and he was doing that in the flashbacks that we saw as well he's a more compelling leader of the OPA to me than Anderson doors because I get that I get that I can't tell where like I can't tell what I should feel about him with Anderson doors they make it pretty clear he's a piece of [ __ ] he's a dirt bag he's a dirt bag and I shouldn't really like him uh I really like Fred Johnson that performance he's so good I didn't realize how much that actor has been in I he I looked him up and yeah he's in the AAL as my least favorite character there but it just gives you uh it just shows off how powerful the writing is when you give it to the actor where here he's given less screen time but he leaves a lasting impression than say some of our other leading characters who get more like again there are people in Miller and Holden and even chrisan storylines who you could argue the same amount of stuff or or or more screen time and they mean less to me than Fred I I just really like Aaron Wright's good like he by Design he's supposed to be innocuous Until the End right and it's just like okay more more stuff will be happening with him he's just going to be a part and an obstacle to AV aara hey we know but Fred feels much more than that he has uh an interesting backstory and so much potential so I've got to say him and I like Alex Alex I want more from I think I like Alex because of his performance and his character is very jovial by Design he's not such a sad boy oh him trying to do the magic trick and failing was such a cute moment it was him being a dad to that little girl doing the dad tricks was really nice the moment of him being like I was just basically a bus driver guys come on after having a whole episode where he's pul putting on the I'm a martian Soldier you don't mess with me I can [ __ ] you up it was so funny to see him turn around in the next episode and be like I don't know I'm just a bus driver I'm very excited because I think this next part is going to be our shortest segment and so I would like for us both to say our least favorite character on the count of three I wonder if the people listening at home can guess who it is please write you say it at the same time guys can you say at the same time guys okay here we go 3 2 1 have luck [ __ ] garbage character I think we've talked about it enough we've given him more attention than the show ever has I know I know which is why I want to make this the shortest bit it's F it's a [ __ ] crime that I don't want to say anything I don't want to say anything can we just go on to the next bit I am happy to go on to the next bits because if we do talk about havlock more I'm going to have to get in my car grab a pair of handcuffs and find whoever [ __ ] wrote the expanse biggest surprise biggest surprise is the the next part do you want to share yours or hear mine first uh my biggest surprise with the expanse uh I've already kind of gone over that that tone and that kind of sci-fi cheese but another thing that I'm actually quite um surprised about was was uh Holden as a main character I didn't know what our main character is going to be like and then I made a very quick assessment of what he was and how they were using him and then they slowly over time have uh peeled back the layers of why he is this archetype why he is this way and I don't know too much about the book series but people know that he's worse in the book people have constantly said to us he's more boring in the books in the show they're giving him more which is [ __ ] boring here so I can't imagine how [ __ ] boring he is in the books but that was a huge surprise to me that Holden actually would have more layers to him now it sounds obvious because he is the protagonist and that's what you should would have in your protagonist but we went six episodes or so and he was just dull dull in the way that I have seen be do I've watched Enterprise okay I know what a boring lead protagonist character white boy with an with a boring haircut looks like okay even worse than that Archer is worse because we know Scott baula is a great actor yeah that that does make it worse and yet for Four Seasons he just mean mugging to the camera being Charming lless like no charm no no charm I have two one being hatless Miller being the [ __ ] best and completely basically turning me around on that character yeah I've kind of picked up that vibe from you yep the other is how much I'm in love with the space politics and I just want more of it I want more alisara I want more un I would love a whole like Aaron right on his own scene I would really like that I am looking forward to what happens with the UN ship that's heading towards Fred Johnson and I'm very interested to see like and watch Ava salara play Ava salara for the audience of Aaron right and the UN I want to meet the Secretary General we haven't met the the head hono yeah I'm I'm fine with that I'm fine with that so far I feel like we'll get them when we need them and we don't need them quite yet but I I'm really hoping that we do next season I hope it's not a like no you can wait some more no you can wait some more no you can wait some more I can see it being a case of we see him in the news and then when we finally meet the characters in season 3 because I feel like season 2 is going to be aisara and Aaron R duking it out but maybe you should bring in their head honcho to help give a third party to that another surprise to me is the music that you and I have had a difference of opinion on which is you find it too overbearing and too much of uh explaining how to feel and I find it beautiful though it is beautiful and yet I'm on the opposite end where I think it is so non-existent that I just I don't pay attention to to it like I never realized it's there obviously it is I can play you clips of it being bombastic in scenes but it leaves such little impression on me that I I I don't even make a note of it when we are doing our discussions unless you bring it up specifically because it's just there and and that's a real detriment and I've said this before of the first season having these condensed opening credits we had the opening credits for the first episode in the last episode like the full opening credits and it gave me a wonderful sensation of what the music is and yet it is robbed from us in those other episodes and so internally I just check out of even noticing it and yet for you it is one of your big critiques that you've had throughout our
discussions I'm going to I'm going to read directly from my notes as good as they say it was fun the expense is told to many people out there to be like they're really good shows it is good you know and so we're left is is it as good as they say I don't know too much about what people think of of the first season specifically I know that it has a mixed reception people have said to me it gets good in this episode and then another person says no it gets good in this episode and it's a completely different one I didn't get that inside other than from you you mostly left that until like we were past the points that people were talking about but yeah I I I don't know um as a series as a whole right now uh it's not as good as they say as a first season to a science fiction show solid it's as good as they say for any first seasons of Science Fiction show if somebody said to me hey you should check out this first season it's a it's pretty good for for a Sci-Fi Show's first season I'd say yeah you know what yeah it is pretty pretty decent like it's not the best thing I've ever seen as as a whole but as entry point it's fine when it's I say that it's fine like it's not me damning with faint faint praise or any anything like that it is just that it is a solid enough show it's a solid first season there is a lot that they are trying to get off the ground and the fact that they managed you by the end of the first season is a feat in itself we the Yum Yum podcast because we love looking for the Yum Yum moments and in this show it is when you lick your lips flick your hair and say now that was Yum Yum Yum Yum has a an innate sexual quality to it so for you what was the sexy moment of the Season what was that moment where you just took a step back looked at your collar and said I'm getting hot under here and said yum yum okay this is not mine but I think we need to acknowledge Holden's introduction via a zero g sex scene wow wow wow wow I thought the show was going to be so much hornier because of that right we got introduced to sex workers in the first episode we got zero g sex we've got all of oh my God and let's be realistic here Naomi wears an outfit that's kind of like hey she's a sexy girl look at her in her overalls and the Zippy cleavage andage please look at her bum there's many shots of her look at her bum um the show knows to be horny but very very minorly it's so strange because he really does that first episode sets you up yes it's going to be horny guys and I've sitting there going okay it's a Sci-Fi show Let's Get It On oh his his girlfriend died so the boner of the whole show was died that is it the and Miller is too much of a drunker and a weird little Goblin to be horny he he could have slept with his ex partner but he's a good man but he said no for me the Yum Yum moment a moment that I'm like okay nice was was honestly when when Miller I know it's Miller I know I just I a crap on the character but Thomas Jane can just have such a such a sexy quality to him and it is the bit where he introduces himself to the gang and he has his big gun there and he's saying like they ask him are you a cop and he's Mr I used to be and I just oh boy that is just like an action movie Style sexy thing there and Thomas Jane has been in action movies he was The Punisher once and you can see those skills as a performer just just emanate off the screen in that moment like nobody else that was to me that whole shootout sequence I thought it was pretty pretty raw pretty cool and just badass in a way where I'm just like yeah that's the [ __ ] I need and then that introduction for him to that group I was just I was just smacking in between my leg saying stop being so hard at how hard this scene is okay I'm think I like there are many Amos moments that that that I could pick but I think the one that the one that's coming to the front of my mind now is him saying yes boss to Naomi for me like that's a recency bias thing fully recognize that but that's the one that's coming to mind I think he says it a lot he he he does he does but like specifically after he he shoots that man Amos has never been sexier to me than when he was willing to shoot Holden in the back of the head yes I know I've grown to like hold more but that was sexy as [ __ ] yeah just shoot this D the B badass boy ah badass boy when he's just like when Holden's like we can't just go in there shooting and he's like why not oh when the Martians were going to board yeah and when they were on uh AOS trying to get off that was Naomi Naomi was like we can't go in there and shoot and he is Mr sure we can sure we can we can do that and then bill just goes in Yeah well yeah Miller's not there it's um the the cop Guy starts a fight and then they start shooting each other up I'm very excited I'm very excited cuz I want to hear your predictions for season two of The expanse oh a prediction I have is the rock hopper guy will come back in the season and he will be important to the show I think I think I think he's going to cross pass with Miller again I think he is going to be picked up by the OPA that's my prediction I don't want it the way I said it earlier but I can see it happening here's my prediction because he's just this weird element that's left floating there yeah like why why bother establishing him surviving if you aren't going to do something with it uh we we briefly touched on it we think that there's going to be um a squaring off between ABA salara and Aaron right so I think we're going to get um a little bit more consistency when it comes to his appearances throughout the next season do you agree I agree I agree another element that I think will be recurring in the show because I can see this being the case because they made that set for uh series station and it's clearly been redressed or repurposed for iros station right yeah and so I can see that going forward each season we'll have one major location be the thing that we revolve around for the for the time we're there so first season it was Series right and we had the Rossy flying around doing its thing in space but we were always cutting back to series and always cutting back to Earth yeah and I imagine it will be OS will be the thing that we keep coming back to because they've left enough there for Our Heroes to come back to there's still people that aren't infected or at least uh infected that we know of and we saw this weird monstrous creature there and uh it would be bizarre to me if I our characters flew away from that and didn't come back a very practical thing that I think is going to be answered is what is in the safe that they took from the Anubis yeah I'm wonder they reestablish that when they get back onto the Rossy in the final episode we need to see the UN confront Fred Johnson they've been they've been teeing that up and I need to see it I need to see it I need to and my my other big prediction we get to see inside the Mormon ship we've been getting tiny glimpses of it I had down we aren't done with the Mormons yet we can't be done with the Mormons yet can't be done with the Mormons yet so it's I feel like that's a very safe prediction but yours is a bit more specific with we're going to get the inside of the ship and I think that that would be really cool I have one last one okay and I have a question in relation into predictions in the future so uh what's your last major prediction well like it's pretty obvious to both of us but Kenzo isn't gone he's been absorbed into oh he has a name Kenzo I I love calling him spy guy more enjoyable I I just I wrote it down cuz I was like looking at uh at the character lists and being like Oh I wonder what's going to happen to this person this person I was like oh that's right he does have a name Kenzo that does H and then when I was like looking back over my notes before we started I was like who the [ __ ] is Keno again uh so another prediction since you mentioned that I will follow up on my previous one Julie will come back as a Spore version of herself SP ghost a Spore ghost or a clone Spore Shadow uh yes yes yes uh uh I hope in season 2 that they will give us an explanation of what they're trying to use the proton molecule for yes but my question made it may be answer probably yeah I don't know if it's a somebody made it like extraterrestrial aliens or if it's alien in the fact of it's a little micro thing that they found on a rock and they've exploited it but where did it come from well yeah the Phoebe station stumbled across it there so uh but my question to you is with each season of a show there's always the possibility of adding characters to The Ensemble do you think in season 2 we'll have new maincast characters be added um no I think some of the minor characters might get more time and I do think we're probably going to have some that that appear for for a little while and either die or are ejected like oh boy have look I see that I I see that happening more than a new character coming in and staying I think we're going to have that's what I'm thinking so far I think we're going to have uh an Opa character because oh a new Opa yeah because Fred Johnson can't be that currently and why I'm saying that is because if we're moving away from Seri station in doors that means doors that means doors would be less likely to be in the show as a main main because Naomi yeah probably right if she is Opa I mean is probably but I could also see it as if they do team up with Fred Johnson again he's going to insist on having one of his guys yeah maybe that hacker lady I liked her she was fun she was good she was good they established her well enough but or just somebody be like okay I need you wouldn't it be funny I need you to put this guy on here and it's a Mormon that's a very interesting wouldn't it be great if we got a Mormon main character I mean that unironically I think that would be really fascinating know no you do I know you do you know if you identify the fear you can get past it and then you get used to it I've been flying once a month for the past year and a half salesman no I'm I'm preparing myself for the NAU
nowu Mormon yes a different kind of salesman but don't hold that against me season one the expense a yum yum or a yum yum is bad yum yum is good no half yums I I have to be honest I said that it was fine it is it is and it's enjoyable enough and of a quality that I feel okay giving it a yum yum yum yum I give this on a scale of yum being bad and yum yum being good a yum yum havlock specifically yeah yeah yeah we all knew the words were going to come out of my mouth but I I really am not joking I'm not messing with you that aspect of this season was was an anchor on the shoe of this show and dragged it down to the bottom of the sea it was on the shoe yeah an anchor on the shoe an anchor dragging you down oh no it's got caught on my shoe and now I'm being thrown overboard and I'm going all the way down to the bottom of the sea and I'm drowning that character was just a weight he was just I get the metaphor [ __ ] I get it boring and tedious and it's not just his character as stated it is showing me the hand of the writers and I do not want to see the hand of the rightous no no no we we don't we don't want to see those Str brings all those hands now we as people who are analytical like to see those but we like to see those in terms of appreciation and we like to reflect upon how the writers and the production and the actors have made our enjoyment come to be but this is a case where it was how they've given us displeasure actively yeah yeah so I I am sorry to everyone I like the show well well enough but I wasn't as impressed with this first season I I wanted more but that specifically that element poison to me I I I totally get it and I think you can get why I end up where you end up on the other side of the fence I want to say a massive thank you to our patrons who uh got to hear this first a Pat and for their support of the podcast so that we can spend our time uh watching and creating it watching shows and creating these podcasts for you yeah I just want to say with in regards to our patrons a huge shout out to that Community we have had many great discussions about uh what we have gone through people have been watching some of the episodes along with us and giving us their thoughts on things everyone in it thus far are people that have watched the show before so uh that has been exhilarating in the fact that everyone's been good with not giving us spoilers and keeping their mouth very supportive and giving me the occa giving us the occasional information drop in terms of like mainly like here's a little bit of a difference between this and the book like oh the book tells it from this charact like character's points of views more I'm like okay I can see that being an obstacle to adapt for television and they've done it pretty well but I just want to give a shout out in that regard of just how wonderful the community has been and uh how much people have been enjoying what we've been talking about we like to try and always come at shows with that analytical lens as well as just saying how we felt during it as well as what we think about it uh and for people out there who are listening to this on the Main feed the Thanks goes to you as well uh for listening for supporting us for tuning in uh it means the world it's uh really important and uh we thank you so much for that you can follow us on your social media of choice yum yum pod or yum yum podcast we post on there regularly you can uh email us at yum yumod gmail.com you can tune in to the show on whatever podcasting site you like to use and we even on YouTube all of this is in the description below under yum yum pod yum yum podcast yes we make it easy it's all in the description and the link to the patreon there too yes a link to the patreon is there as well and if you have not rated and reviewed the show as well as shared it around that would be awesome it would be spectacular but we have to go now because our favorite character is yelling obscenities at us for not mentioning him once during this discussion no we we knew we we knew he would have his little Spotlight at the end the gaunt belter is screaming at me saying you filthy dusters you know that I'm going to be the new protagonist in season 2 and you're too afraid to say that on the mic well I'm sorry ga belter I I was I was afraid to to show my bias for you but now that you've told me that you're going to be the main character of season 2 I can't wait to tune [Music]
in see you then well
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