UNCUT - The Expanse Season 2 Episode 6

An unfortunate name for a revolutionary propulsion system

Its kinda funny that basicly 100% of their confusen comes from not reading the text in the middle of the screen xD (and maybe that josh sees jupiter and isnt sure if its mars or venus) xD But maybe both need to relearn our solar system xD

It's great fun to hear your expanding vocabulary. The word "protomolecule" is the big one that everyone who watched the show learned. The Epstein drive story was an Expanse short story, not part of the nine volume core universe, but important to understand. At its core, the "Epstein Drive" is the fast sublight drive that allows ships to move fast enough to get from Earth to Mars or the Belt fast enough for deep range colonies to be feasible. His "accidental" invention allowed Mars to gain its independence from Earth by trading the tech for it. Also, he's still out there, dead in the deepest space a human has ever reached. (He was traveling at over 1300 kilometers per second in the last scene and his fuel still wasn't close to gone; he was accelerating at over ten gravities.) I also think it's great that you don't know what's happening. Things WILL get cleared up eventually. This is also the start of Book 2, and it's not until Book 2 that you get Bobbie and Avasarala. Believe it or not, Avasarala in particular didn't appear until Book 2. Also... worth keeping in mind, James SA Corey (the author of The Expanse Series) are two people. One of whom was the personal assistant to George R.R. Martin before the two banded together to form a cohesive unit. One of them was an executive producer on the show and got script approval. The show fairly closely follows the books, although there are some key differences given the different media. We've got one major divergence coming up, which I will talk about once we get there. The difference is there because books and tv shows are different, so the story has to be somewhat different. I still think it's great that you guys are watching and enjoying this... and I hope it continues. I hope the Bridge Crew votes for you to watch Season 3. (And 4, 5, and 6. I'd particularly like to hear your thoughts on the improved production value once the show moved to Amazon in Season 4.)

Well, it's official. Epstein did in fact kill himself.

Tonight’s viewing sorted!

I can imagine people screaming at the screen about the Epstein Drive. He literally said his name and talked about his drive and it showed a closeup of one with the name on it.

Indeed, if aliens come, three pages is too much. "Find God" is roughly the only advice that makes sense. I remember how haunting that line hit me when I first saw this show.

If you ever want to understand the physics from The Expanse, I suggest two YouTube video that are great explainer, without any spoiler. For a more in-depth explanation: "The Rocket Science of 'The Expanse'" By Scott Manley https://youtu.be/JWZqp0QoXcw For a more 'explain like I'm five' explanation: "The Speed of Constant-Thrust Space Travel" By The Overview Effekt https://youtu.be/AojKy1iDloQ It would really help you understand why they fly their ships the way they do instead of Star Trek's more naval type of navigation. edit: fixed links

Others have basically covered it already, but the Epstein Drive is the propulsion technology used. I love this snippet from the first book: "A hundred and fifty years before, when the parochial disagreements between Earth and Mars had been on the verge of war, the Belt had been a far horizon of tremendous mineral wealth beyond viable economic reach, and the outer planets had been beyond even the most unrealistic corporate dream. Then Solomon Epstein had built his little modified fusion drive, popped it on the back of his three-man yacht, and turned it on. With a good scope, you could still see his ship going at a marginal percentage of the speed of light, heading out into the big empty. The best, longest funeral in the history of mankind. Fortunately, he’d left the plans on his home computer. The Epstein Drive hadn’t given humanity the stars, but it had delivered the planets."

"Uhura in ST:5" for the intro is goated. So glad you guys are enjoying this as much as so many of us have. Peak achievement for a TV show that looks cinematic.

Hey. Does the next reaction to TNG come out today, Tuesday? Or is it Thursday? I don’t remember. And I can’t look at last week right now.

The whole Epstein flashback is from a short story the novel authors wrote called 'Drive.' You'll probably notice this when you go back through in editing, but there are a ton of references all through the episode to 'the Epstein drive' - in the early presentation to the UN heads, for example, Janus calls Eros 'the biggest technological advancement since the Epstein drive.' Since the name of this episode was 'Paradigm Shift,' I think they included it here to draw a thematic parallel between the last major tech advancement and how it changed the solar system for generations and this new change represented by the protomolecule - a paradigm shift that will have a lasting impact on humanity.

Also, don't be too hard on the Marines. You can be sure the UN Marines are exactly the same. Their entire purpose is to blow away their enemies, and being enthusiastic about it simply means they are effective and doing their job. You want Marines to be serious about violence for the same reason you want bus drivers to pay serious attention to the road: Its their job.

The inclusion of the story of Solomon Epstein is wonderful. In the book, the story was spread out and framed as a brief prologue. Its very much a love letter to the books and the world building to include it...and to try to explain to the viewer how critically important the Epstein Drive is...how it makes this entire universe possible...how fundamental to everything else this technological leap was, and how it allowed Mars the leverage to be able to break away from Earth and become an independent power. Did you never wonder how they are able to be under enough thrust to be able to just stand there with gravity on their ships for days, weeks, or months on end without running out of fuel? Its amazing. The Epstein Drive is the thing that makes this entire story possible, and its awesome that they took the time to try to get it through to the audience how important it is.

ALL will be explained... well almost all

Season three looking highly possible?... Heh heh heh

Gee, it sure is a good thing that no side is talking with any of of the others still. Otherwise the individual factions might put all the pieces together. The writers keep feeding us pessimistic lines on reaching out like, "Don't be so naive" or, "That's a neat future, hope we live to see it" but it's ridiculous at this point. The fact that this series is based on a TTRPG campaign makes a lot of sense, particularly with the railroading. Plot doesn't work if Holden, Earth, and Mars ever shared any of what they know so the DM throws all sorts of obstacles to prevent that. The players pick up on that and acquiesce because when the DM soft locks you you know not to press and leave well enough alone. But you have to do better when transforming into a non-participatory audience driven narrative. This continues to be my primary issue as a first time watcher.

The Epstein scenes were just to explain how the Epstein drives were created, a huge breakthrough, with which Mars could break free from Earth and colonize the belt. Just some backstory/worldbuilding here. The huge things in orbit of Ganymede that got shot in the crossfire were Solarmirrors. Since the sunlight is very weak so far away from the sun they used mirrors to focus the light down to Ganymede, to help with plantgrowth. Ganymede station provides most of the food in the system (aside from Earth and Mars ofc).

That battle at the end was on Ganymede, one of the moons of Jupiter. From the dialog, Mars has a farming station there, and the marines have no idea why anyone would attack.

Here's where this series starts to get really good.