Okay, people who have watched The Expanse

[sholio]

Orion has been trying to get me to watch The Expanse for years. YES I KNOW IT'S GOOD. I do want to watch it! However, apparently season 4 is coming out in a few days and since there's no time for me to marathon the rest of the show beforehand (plus, I'm not really up for something large and heavy right now anyway), he's switched to trying to get me to skip straight ahead to season 4 and watch that first. I'm resisting because I've always gotten the impression that this is the kind of show where things develop over time and it's more fun watching from the beginning not knowing where it's going and watching the characters blossom (and I've been actively avoiding spoilers because of this). Orion claims that it is not actually like this, that most of the setup in the first season is ditched because it goes in a different direction anyway, and that by this point there are few enough of the original characters left that it'll be easy to pick up everything you need to know about them from the beginning of season 4. He also claims that season 4 is an unusually good jumping-on point because there was a near-total change of premise at the end of season 3 (which I now know; good job helping me avoid spoilers, Orion).

So here's my question: knowing that I do like being surprised and I really love the whole trope where characters start out as strangers and become close, do you think I'd be happier starting from the beginning? Or do you agree that season four is a pretty good jumping-on point and the previous 3 seasons are not really necessary to understand and enjoy it?

With minimal spoilers, please! Actually, let's have a poll. You can elaborate in comments if needed.

Poll #23027

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 28

View Respondents

What's the best way to watch The Expanse?

View Answers

Start from the beginning of season one.
27 (96.4%)

Ditch season one; start with season two instead.
1 (3.6%)

He's right; season four looks like it's going to be an unusually good jumping-on point. You can start there.
0 (0.0%)

There's not actually that much continuity and you can jump in anywhere.
0 (0.0%)

My answer cannot be summed up by mere poll options! See comments.
0 (0.0%)

Comments

[amalthia]

I think you'll enjoy season 4 more if you've seen the first 3 seasons and what all the characters have gone through together.

[duffy]

It is a beautiful experience. Start from the beginning and you won’t regret it.

[sheron]

I'd go with what typically works for you...the beginning. I haven't seen it though.

[xparrot]

Honestly I have doubts that the characters' sometimes...atypical ways of expressing themselves and their bonds will have as much resonance if you don't see how they got there?

[arduinna]

There is tons of world-building and character development over the seasons, and the whole show will be much richer for you if you watch from the beginning. I think someone who stumbled over it in fourth season and just randomly started watching would probably be fine and would enjoy it a lot, but - you know how you and rachelmanija have been talking about preferring stories that lean into their premise? The Expanse does that in spades, and skipping over the world-building is an unnecessary shortcut, sacrificing depth for speed.

Not that I don't sympathize with Orion's wanting to just start watching with you when the new eps air! But yeah, start at the beginning.

[kore]

The Expanse does that in spades

That is a really good way to put it.

[sealie]

I haven't watched it either, but I've been uhm 'pressurised??' to watch it, so I'm interested in the results of your poll!

[goss]

My brother is an avid fan of the show. I jumped right into it at Season 2, but needed quite a bit of explanation from him to appreciate the circumstances of many of the characters.

Since we're all the way to S4 now, I'd say go back to the start if you're going back at all.

[graveexcitement]

i admit that i'm biased because i quite honestly do not comprehend the idea of skipping entire seasons of any show where the plot/continuity means something, so i kind of read this post going "...what?"

but i would def recommend starting with season one! you'd be missing out on a good deal of worldbuilding and character development otherwise.

i also would recommend the books, if you end up liking the show!

[st_aurafina]

I think from what I know about you and the things you like? You're going to be missing a lot of competence porn survival stories if you skip the first 3 seasons.

(I personally would be a bit lost, but then I'm not the best at grocking plot on the fly or telling people's faces apart.)

[winter_elf]

*fingerpoints* Another frustrating part about the first 5 episodes I watched. 4 white guys, with dark hair, in space suits/helmets...... You can see where this is going. It's like Really? You couldn't cast someone a LITTLE different or ethnic? I could NOT tell them apart.

[dirty_diana]

I agree with everyone that you'd be lost - characters may come and go but the premise remains, and it is complicated (I wouldn't actually call adding new layers a complete change of premise, personally) and missing a lot of team-building and angst, yeah. I'm not terribly hardcore about starting at the beginning of things though so I would say thst if season 1 bores or offends you, which is the case for some, it's okay to try starting with season 2. I am really doubtful about starting with season 4 though.

[musesfool]

Season 1 is not great? It's definitely better on rewatching, I found, but it is necessary, I think for the relationship and team-building and also to understand how the characters got where they are. I think you would probably grasp the premise easily enough if you started with s4 but you'd be missing a lot of the history, both personal for the characters and global for the universe.

[ambyr]

I have watched a handful of out-of-order episodes because they were nominated for the Hugo awards. I have also read the books, which I figured would give me enough background to figure out what was what. They did in the sense that I was able to fill in the plot background, but any emotional impact from the character moments was zero. If you're going to watch it, I highly recommend watching it in order.

[rachelmanija]

I also want to see this, and now that I've seen your poll, I will definitely start from episode one once I get around to it.

[ladycat]

Like the others have said-- definitely start from the beginning. It's worth it to see how the relationships develop. The world-building and plot are also complex enough--and not reiterated enough--that you may not be able to follow what's going on. The books are written by GRRM's former assistants and there are a lot of similarities in how intricate it is.

[kore]

I really disliked S1, but I started watching in S2 and absolutely loved it. I kind of can't imagine watching it starting with S4, there's a huge amount of backstory and character relationships at this point. (And they're also referring back some to S1 anyway.)

[frith_in_thorns]

I remember basically nothing that happened in season 1. I had to be bribed to go back and watch season 2 months and months later, and then I LOVED it and inhaled seasons 2-3 over a week or so. Maybe watch the season 1 finale?

[gwyn]

Another start from the beginning person--I watched the first two seasons and got really confused because I wasn't giving it my full attention (I watched it after major surgery, not a good idea), and there are characters that often get introduced and you might not see again for a few episodes or ships that get renamed and you're like, whaaat. Season 2 introduces some amazing characters, so I suppose you could skip into it, but you'd lose so much nuance and backstory. I know it's hard to wait for someone to catch up, but I think the whole story is imperative.

[winter_elf]

I have seen 5 episodes of season 1. A lot of backstory and build up.... it's interesting... but I really don't like any of the characters. They are all jerks. *sigh* I don't know, maybe it gets better?

IF some of the same characters are in season 2/4.. then start with 1. Because if you know how they got there it will make more sense.

** huge unreliable narrator problem. and a frustrating liking to, 3 episodes later you'll find out that character x's backstory is X!! After the 3rd time I quit caring, and just decided they are all lying lairs who lie. And that's after 5 episodes! I can't imagine 4 seasons of this mess!

[rose_griffes]

It really does get better. If you read some of the other comments here, you'll see several people talking about not liking season one all that much.

I didn't dislike season one, but it was hit or miss for me. Very early in season two things really improved, and I watched a whole lot faster.

FYI, almost all of the season one characters do continue as the show moves forward, but some very minor characters get more prominence, and a few new characters are introduced in season two.

(There's probably a season one write-up or summary of some kind out there if you wanted to skip most of it--maybe just watch the finale--and go on to season two to find out if it's more enjoyable to you.)

[kore]

Has anyone made one of those lists of "episodes you can skip" for S1? It would have helped me a lot. (I mean, Farscape is one of my favourite shows ever, but it also has stuff like "Jeremiah Crichton.")

[rose_griffes]

I haven't found anything like that yet. There are recaps of entire seasons, which would make "watch a recap and then watch the season one finale" feasible, but that skips out on the team-building with some of the leads.

Hm. I wonder if I could write up something for season one? I have my posts on DW, and there are the many write-ups for individual episodes... so maybe. Just not, y'know, anytime soon, which isn't very helpful for Sholio.

[kore]

Yeah, and one reason why I think that really doesn't work for Farscape is that there's something essential later on in nearly every ep -- worldbuilding, teambuilding, backstory, stuff that will become backstory, &c &c. There really aren't that many episodes JEREMIAH CRICHTON that can just be tossed because there's no redeeming value. Not exactly the very serialized TV shows popular today, but there's a lot of connections. (I always have to laugh at the idea that connected arcs started with High Quality Realism Tee Vee like, idefk, the Sopranos, because there was Farscape and Buffy and X-Files and how many anime shows....but somehow those don't count, right?)

[kore]

I second this -- I sort of was in the room while my husband was watching S1, and I LOATHED a lot of it. S2 improves very fast and I loved it, and have loved the show from then on. I missed a couple of plot elements from S1, but it wasn't dire. I guess I would vote .5 for skipping S1 and .5 for watching from the beginning.