Synopsis from link at tweet:
'The Roci crew must fight to save the ship.'Inside the Expanse 2X12:
Highlights:
Episode 12 was one of the most emotional for Naomi and was tough for Dom to shoot. There's a casualty of her wanting to do good and that's Amos. Her stabbing him with the anesthetic- he receives the brunt of her frustration. It was awful being held by her neck up a wall, but she felt like she was doing some great, heavy hitting stuff, she hopes it lands with viewers and solidifies Naomi's journey.
Alex really understands what Holden is going through and sees the cracks, the guilt, how Holden is trying to make good and redeem himself and it concerns Alex, you see the clash of personalities. In the beginning Alex was obsessed, trying to redeem himself for what he felt he didn't do and Holden was trying to help him along, then they switch roles as S2 progresses and it gets pretty heated. Cas really likes the dynamic they have. \
After filming his cameo on Syfy's The Expanse, Adam spends a few minutes chatting with actor Wes Chatham (Amos). No actual spoilers, since it was clearly filmed before the season aired. Wes is a fan of the genre and working on The Expanse is like a kid in a candy store every day, he was also a fan of the books before auditioning for the show and Amos was his favorite character. They geek out about the props and space suits
For those interested in the backstory comics for the Roci crew, the first one was about Holden's backstory, this second comic will have Naomi and Amos' first meeting.
George RR Martin (who has a personal connection to Ty and Daniel) is a fan of the show,
from his personal LJ:
'Last night's episode of THE EXPANSE was really strong, I thought... Jimmy Corey's books and the TV series based on them have both gotten a fair amount of acclaim -- awards attention and the like -- but not nearly enough, imnsho. The show had a good first season, but it's only gotten stronger in season two. If it keeps on at this level, it deserves to be ranked among the best SF shows of all time. Acting, directing, writing... and my god, the look of it. The space stuff, in particular. BABYLON 5, FIREFLY, and the various STAR TREK successor shows were all spiffy looking in their day, but THE EXPANSE is to those shows as they were to the original TREK, and as the original TREK was to ROCKY JONES: SPACE RANGER.'Syfy Wire's Cher Martinetti and Adam Swiderski join producers/universe creators Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham and discuss 2X12 (featuring special guest star Terry Chen who plays Prax)
Highlights from the podcast:
* After Alex calls Holden out and says their family needs them, it had an effect on Holden and he works through his obsession with the proto-molecule, compared to the risk he was taking with the people he cares about, following that obsession. When the chips were down, he chose the people he cares about over his obsession. The pill Errinwright used against his Martian counterpart is designed to target the body chemistry of people who are on gravity drugs and gives them a heart attack, so it would work on Martians and not on Earthers. It wasn't in the drink, it was on the program for the opera. It doesn't feel like Errinwright is acting out of character, he just keeps changing what that means.
* Terry Chen doesn't typically play characters like Prax, who himself isn't a typical character- Prax is a fully fleshed out, three dimensional character. A lot of what he does as an actor comes from his personal life that he adds to the character. He has a lot of insight from the writers where Prax is coming from, he's a very conflicted father- he's a driven father trying to find Mei, but it wasn't a perfect father-daughter relationship either. Prax has a lot of guilty about Mei, leaving her in the clinic, having more comfort dealing with plants than with his own daughter. It's a part of his journey and arc- making himself feel like he's worthy of this journey and finding his daughter.
* The linguist that Terry worked with on the Belter Creole has 2 autistic children. Terry spoke with him about his kids and how as a parent of special needs children there's an internal conflict- you want to be able to take care of your child to the best of your ability, but there's a sense of helplessness not knowing how to treat them, navigate through agencies and specialists, it's such a foreign landscape. Terry doesn't have kids and he sees sometimes the helplessness- having kids in general, there' s no handbook, Prax was doing the best he could as a single parent. What he fell back on was his work, his guilt lies in the priorities in his life, which was his work as a Botanist over being a father. That guilt has been sitting with Prax for a long time, the Ganymede situation brought it to the surface.
* Terry read the first book halfway, but he stopped reading, because Prax is new to the Roci and the crew, so Terry wanted to discover things together with Prax, without preconceived notions about where Prax was going. Prax is a Belter, but he's a different kind- he's been on Ganymede most of his life, he doesn't have tattoos and he's a scientist, but when he needs to he can bring out the Belter and speak like one. Most of Terry's real life tattoos he thinks are Belter appropriate, but it doesn't suit the character, so they're covered up. There are a lot of differences (cultural, economic, life style) between Belters who live on ships or stations and others like Prax who live on Ganymede, which is the size of Mars, it's a giant moon.
* Terry can't imagine what Syrian refugees and the people in Aleppo are going through. This genre gives us a great opportunity to tell stories of refugees and people who don't have a place to call home, the sense of displacement and complete loss. It's incredible throughout the history of humanity how many people went through what Prax and the people on Ganymede have gone through, it's cyclical and incredibly devastating and sad. They do their best to tell these stories truthfully, but it's still television, it's still a safe space to explore it.
* Terry is more like Prax than the badass characters he tends to play. Prax has been one of his favorites to play, because he's so vulnerable, went through a hellish experience and suffered loss, but he's still driven and passionate to find his daughter. All these events are leading to a transformation for him, there's so much there for an actor to play with and absorb. Prax is a genuinely good person, a vulnerable, nurturing man who is still heroic in his own way, he's not dark like a lot of the other characters, even if he's in a dark place.
* Terry loves the developing dynamic between Prax and Amos, it's incredibly compelling for a lot of reasons, they're so different but they get each other in a very interesting way. They spitball a bit about a buddy cop Amos-Prax show and what that would be like (Cher thinks Amos can both be buddy cop-ed with anyone and shipped with anyone, OP agrees). The relationship with Holden is a bit stilted- Holden has his own thing going on, while Prax is just someone on his ship taking up space. As we move along, they'll start to warm up a little bit.
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#3Happy Easter ONTD Expanse fam. Are you all mentally and emotionally prepared for the finale?