UN One gets caught in the shockwave of the third asteroid impact, but not before Avasarala can convince Nancy Gao to retask the Watchtower satellites. Recorded from Episode 5x04
Planet destroying super laser, space cruiser planetary bombardment and nothing was more captivating than throwing a rock. This is why I love the Expanse.
It also just the most practical way. Give an asteroid a little push to put it in the right course and earth's gravity will do the rest. Although I wonder if stealth nukes still wouldn't have been better.
@@Kalenz1234 It's not so much for the destruction but more of the irony behind the attack. The one thing people would fear the most is a rock in motion, the thing that killed the dinosaurs.
@@sevnesioran6193 Don't know the episode; I just watched the first 2 seasons for a second time. Now that I know where all the story arcs are going, I appreciate this show even more! And the trowing rock thing is one of the subtle things, that become much later really important.
@@NeilsonBuntowa Such was the default stance, the system in place which she inherited (and bear in mind she was less than half a year into her term). Sort of like how on 9/11 the F15’s which were scrambled went out over the Atlantic Ocean at first because the protocol in place had been written with a mind for countering a Soviet aerial encroachment, not weaponized civilian airliners well within the mainland.
And this is Season 5! When most series shows have long since worn out their welcome, The Expanse feels like it's only just getting started. This is the best science fiction series in years!
The blast wave tore it's wing apart which most likely will put it ina downward spiral or spin. With a broken wing like that, it won't recover and will likely be lost with all hands.
@@kevinross3059 it helps the book authors are involved in the day to day production of the show. I think that is why they get those kind of details so well
This show started with a NEED to be scientifically correct, they actually went out to the authors to make sure their visions were realized...THEN they went out to scientists to make sure they depicted it correctly. It is called the most scientifically accurate SyFy show to date for a reason...and I LOVE them for it!!!
That's one of the great things about this show, totally agreed. The attention to even the minor details, like tears pooling up in eyes because there is no gravity to pull them down cheeks, or how Avasarela pours water when on Luna. I don't watch a lot of TV, as I find there isn't much on these days -- this show has blown my mind, and I absolutely love it.
I like how there's no unnecessary interpersonal drama. Like Gao not believing her or holding some grudge. It's prober reasonable characters with believable and well written motives and actions. Even though they were adversaries in some aspects. I wish more shows did it similarly.
Except the problem is Gao did exactly that - after Avasarala lost the election, Gao all but ostracized her and didn't listen to her warnings. If she had, they likely could have prevented this disaster. It was too little, too late, and as is usually always the case with human history, the voices of reason are silenced until disaster is upon us. She only decided to listen after millions had perished.
@@crb2061 You're missing his point. She started to listen to Avasarala after the first rocks hit, when it was irrefutable that there was an actual problem and she needed to accept all available input. The rest of the deaths happened after that, but it was already too late by then.
The Macaron chef didn’t really have time to recognize it, but he probably saved earth from 3 more impacts which would’ve permanently ended the ecosphere on Earth.
@@murciadoxial8056 The volcanic winter that comes actually it's going to create a big food crisis in all the system. Because the ashes will not allow plants to make photosyntesis.
The devastation of multiple asteroid impacts all over the planet, Tsunamis, mass death and destruction on a planetary scale in the billions. Wildlife effectively being wiped out, the ecosystem undoubtedly coming completely apart, no food or water, quite possibly earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Dust thrown up by eruptions and smoke from erupting volcanos choking the atmosphere, total government collapse leading to no support structure or leadership at all... Yeah, this is what I would call the end of the world. Sorry to say, but it's not clear if the Earth of "The Expanse" is even still able to support life after this.
Ok, I like Star Wars. Love Star Trek... but this show literally has some of the best scenes ever shown in television. I'm rarely, "speechless" but this scene, wow.
There is some CRAZY shit in this show that Star Wars would never do unfortunately but I’m glad I found this show and gave it a chance. Really dying for season 6 now.
@@johncarl5505 No, it doesn't, because giant broadside cannons make zero sense in space. They're short-ranged, making them dead weight in most fights. And when the missiles are closing in, they'd simply be taking up space and mass allowance that could otherwise be occupied by point-defense system. The Expanse is meant to be realistic, which means no broadsides. Don't like it? Go play Battlefleet Gothic. You'll get all the broadsides you could ever hope for and more. Pro tip: play as the Orks for extra dakka.
I love the fact that they could have made Gao incompetent and easy to hate. She was the "enemy" for most of the season. Yet in these final moments she proves she was never an antagonist. She cared for the planet and the people, she refused to abandon the planet she was taking charge and she instantly re-tasked the sentinel system without question. This is why the Expanse was so damn amazing.
I always wondered about her voice and hoarse breathing, does she have a medical condition in real life? It might be natural, but it does sound kinda freaky.
Imagine it wouldn't though - They'd need to wait for Avasarala or Minister of Transportation (later on promoted) to give out this order.. The amount of rocks it may have fallen on Earth by that time...
Imagine if the first guy didn't reject the call, the satellites could probably have been retasked a bit earlier and the third rock could possibly have been shot down, saving millions as well as his own fucken life.
@@zippyparakeet1074 I mean he probably would have been immediately fired (possibly out of a railgun into the sun) by Gao for essentially political axe grinding behind her back in the middle of a crisis. The few moments we get make it pretty clear her staff was indulging in petty grudges against Chrisjen and keeping their boss in the dark. Which is kind of the tragedy of the Expanse. It's not that people wont do the right. Thing it's that they're compelled to act on incomplete information due to circumstance. Which often allows bad actors to maneuver freely. The other half of the tragedy is that Chrisjen made a LOT of enemies due to her abrassive personality and total indiference to politicking and tact. This is part of why she was so totally sidelined. Very few people actually LIKE her who have to work with her. And because of that, they weren't even inclined to listen to her.
When you think about it, the SG and her aides likely sealed their fate. Its pretty clear Avasarala and Delgado had been trying for a good amount of time to reach someone on UN One, then had to convince the chef AND wait until he brought the tray and the message. That was precious time wasted.
ALL of this could have been avoided before the first rock hit if they listened to avasarala and delgado, at that point there was no way the gao administration would've recovered, even if that rock didn't kill her it was already game over for her.
@@hypervolt9987 My opinion, of course, but BG got progressively worse as the seasons wore on, then limped home to the bland finale; whereas, The Expanse has gotten progressively better.
@@generalyellor2187 I guess it comes down to personal opinion. I thought season 3 of the expanse was the best so far but I didn't like season 4 much at all. Season 5 has been better then 4 imo.
Nancy Gao, I may not have liked you much but your sacrifice so that Avasarala can continue being the boss lady Sol needs will never be forgotten. Took a literal meteor to the metaphorical face, pretty impressive way to go out tbh.
I think people are being unfair to blame her. Like, she was Avasarala's designated antagonist. But otherwise she was coded as competent, honest*, respectful of Chrisjen, and fully able to swallow her pride for the sake of earth. She got done dirty by her chief of staff being an ass. * Yes, she used privilege cut the line for employment, but that more underlines just how desperate everyone on Earth is to make something of themselves.
The Expanse always seemed to find a way of making seemingly unlikeable characters likeable. Like Bobby, I couldn't stand her when she was introduced but eventually won me over later on.
@@LouSassol69er Amos and alex are probably the best examples. in the first episodes i didn't like both of them and than they became my favourite characters.
@@Antares_451 deep impact was probably good for its time but Greenland is superior to it. This scene however, as far as accuracies go, is better than both by a long shot.
@@johnyoung2997 the last impact scene on Greenland still baffles me. with a diameter of the blast can be measured for hundreds of miles across, it should obliterated / vaporized any objects on the land in northen pacific followed by monstrous earthquake which can easily destroy the bunker. but when the scene is change to few months later there are ruins from the planes in the front of bunker, and the bunker itself still pretty much intact
One thing I never noticed with this scene before is the planes are actually turning away when we see the shockwave hit. Those pilots had instant reaction time and were putting full power away from the explosion. Which I imagine is considerable power if these are SSTO space planes. All that technology, and still rock beats scissors.
They should have turned towards it. Not away. A huge tailwind will make a aircraft drop like a rock. A head wind just increases lift like any increase in airspeed.
@@michaelblaes9847 If the SSTO can survive re-entry it could have survived the shockwave if properly piloted. You would think events like this would have been covered during the pilots' training under nuclear blast procedures since they would have been selected from the most highly trained and skilled military pilots. Even boaters know to point the bow into a wave.
I know, they did such an amazing job on pretty much every aspect of this show. What really baffles me is the fact that there are people claiming the opposite and hating on the show. I dunno, it must make them feel smart and special.
I really don’t want a redemption angle or arc for Phillip, dude casually aided in murdering billions...I don’t care that he’s the son of a main cast member
@@aluisious seriously if that isn’t what happens(people who read the books no spoilers) I will be pissed. Imagine taking out major cities in both Russia and being like “we also have dangerous contagion so you better not send your two largest armies the world has ever seen after me.”
@@brianbaker2884 Extremely minor book spoilers: The U.N. Fleet is recalled to Earth for defense in the books, it takes them a while to establish a chain of command, and Mars is kinda got it's hands full in... Well, that'd be massive spoilers.
I love the end of this scene and the look on her face, it's priceless. The strong character that has always been headfirst into danger dazed by what she saw. Really brings gravity to the situation because we know she's the career politician know it all. Kinda reminds me of the smart kid in class finishing a test and going "that shit was hard". When I thought everything was gonna be ok, if he/she didn't then I'm really in shit.
Yes, in S1E1 Avasarala was first introduced to us by illegally interrogating with gravity-torture a Belter who had been caught smuggling Martian stealth composites. Initially we were led to believe that was for Jules Pierre Mao's new fleet of secret stealth ships, but now in S3 we discover it was really for coating asteroids to launch at Earth. This is Avasarala realizing the previously inconcievable truth after all this time. Amazing story arc.
One of the best sci-fi tv eps i’ve ever watched. This ep was everything, especially this scene; my mouth literally dropped. I thought it was fantastic!
I love how that disaster-scene starting around 3:29 is a fiery, spectacular yet realistic depiction of a Meteorite Strike because for one thing the fireball of Vaporized Rock is shaped like a rooster's tail as opposed to a mushroom like a Nuclear Bomb and another it throws out glowing-hot rocks everywhere as well like mini shooting stars! I also love how it is such a dusty, dirty, debris-laden explosion as well.
The part that really gets me is how the shockwave sweeps aside the clouds, and in the first rock we see hitting, where its impact boils the clouds and burns that man even before the debris front hits. Utterly terrifying in a very real way.
Since the third rock hit the center of the Bay of Bengal, which is about 3000 m deep, most of the fireball should have been water steam. While it hit the planet at very high velocity, I doubt it would have managed to get all the way through the bottom of the Bay and shoot up the bedrock up into the air within seconds.
They did a very good job of representing a massive impact. They feel more like something smacking into a planet at high speed and not just a really big explosion. The books built up the concept of belters throwing rocks at the inner planets for ages, so it was insane to actually see the reality of that.
Man I agree....it was just one thing after another. Never has a show or movie had my jaw dropped from start to finish and my heart pumping. Can't remember how many "OH SHIT" and "WHAT THE FUCK"s came out of my mouth!
They could have easily made SG Gao as incompetent as SG Sorento-Gillis but she comes off as competent and willing to listen and take advice from her political rival because saving lives come first in a crisis. If she hadn't started the colonisation programme I doubt the UN would have had the ability to get so many people off Earth both before and after the attacks. Not that that excuses her not listening to Avasarala. When Eros was hurtling towards Earth they had to do a lottery system afterall.
Incredibly tough as she is, even Avasarala is really losing it in this scene. And then it gets worse, as she tries to contact her family, but can't. In other words... _Marco Inaros has just signed his own death warrant._
She was shaken to the core, but I am very certain she will recover and her historic drive will help get Marcos Inaros stopped without slaughtering everyone, as Inaros really has all the belters following him at the end of a sawed off shotgun, as they have no choice but to follow him due to the retribution that they know is coming
@@yucol5661 if humans are good in anything than it is in uniting against common enemy and avenging our dead. Seriously if it was IRL population of Earth would DEMAND a "crusade" against the belters. What would have happened is a genocide of the belters. They would be mercilessly hunted. At best they could hope for some sort of "detention camp", but even that is unlikely. Well a UN admiral summarized it perfectly. Couple of ships they got from MCRN is cool and all, but I wouldn't be surprised if UN orders a fleet of Anubis-like ships. UN doesn't have strong navy because of bureaucratic reasons but now they will switch toward "mobilization" mode. Heck, with Earth unlimited manpower even invasion of Mars couldn't be ruled out if population of Earth feels that MCRN could be partially responsible for this attack.
Hope to hear your impressions! It’s one of those shows you have to pay attention to, there’s some heavy worldbuilding at the very beginning, but everyone says that if you get to episode four you’re hooked.
@@FreemanicParacusia he/she will still miss some foreshadowing. The Expanse is that great! Although It's not too surprising considering that it's adapted from a novel series.
Seriously that was the coolest depiction of explosion I've seen in a long while. Every time I fly on a plane, I look out the window imagining what it would be like if a nuke was detonated nearby. Just as I imagined.
The series of asteroid in season 5 impacts had the best CGI I have ever scene. Each impact gave a different perspective on how massive the explosions where.
Well, not exactly. He used appeal to nationalism to unite the belters, like the way Hitler did. The belt have access to the vast quantities of valuable metal resource, a strategic advantage to the inner planets. Marco also somehow had access to Martian warships, 9 of them! And appears only the UN is interested in taking him down
There is also another thing Inaros counts on: Retaliation from the UN, which will lead to more belter demonizing Earth and be more likely to join his cause
he proved that he would use weapons of mass destruction just like the usa did with their nuclear bombing of japan and he still has the protomolecule. they can not risk attacking him because he could use it when he threatens to do so
@@Tooshkit Inaros doesn't have the protomolecule anymore though. He traded the protomolecule sample + Cortazar for the stealth tech and several warships from a rogue Martian military faction that has moved to a new planet in one of the ring systems.
@Kato Ho Ten Soeng They need their food and organics from the inner planets, You can't exactly mass produce soil for example. And the only viable potent resource for foods is Ganymede and even Ganymede was recently devastated with many orbitals mirrors destroyed. And with Inaros basically declaring war on the inner planets for the Belt and Earth desperately needing organics he might have gotten the Belt into a massive food crisis. And growing organics on other planets is going to be 1. Biologically impossible, "plant" and "soil" analogs from other planets probably aren't gonna be compatible with our completely separate biology(we saw a little bit on how hostile alien biology is on Humans in season 4 with the death slugs) so yeah, good luck getting that from Earth or Mars now, and 2. Controversial among pro-Inaros Belters and probably against Inaros's ideology seeing as how he sees the Ring gates and the worlds beyond them as a threat to the Belter way of life as it leaves Belters defunct from the general Human need to live where it isn't overcrowded and thus live in the Belt. Basically, It would be a good time to live on Mars.
@@timmyhoward6638 most of the food is grown in space I'm pretty sure? Earth actually has run out of resources and that's the entire point of the belt. Earth isnt the big exporter you think it is it's mostly the military power in the show. Water is collected from the belt and shipped to Earth/Mars which is literally shown in episode 1. Also you can easily make oxygen from water so there is literally nothing the belters need.
@@xXSinForLifeXx I don't think that more food would be grown in the Belt instead of Earth, The raw resources like metal and uranium and stuff would make sense to be mostly mined in the Belt but their is no way that the Belters can produce more food than a planet which naturally produces soil, food, and water on its own. Obviously Earth is polluted and has a population of 30 something billion but Earth just has a countless amount of surface area with free air and un-imported soil laying anywhere without having to set up giant mirrors for genetically modified plants to barely eck out survival enought to be farmed like on Ganymede. Seriously, Where would the Belters get their soil from if Earth is out of the question?
Soil? I doubt anything that heavy would be economical to pull up Earth’s gravity well. The belt probably runs on hydroponics, imported soil microbes, and manufactured inorganic nutrient rich mineral soil.
Hey now, no pooping on star Trek. It's still a good idea (which is beholden to likely flawed canon)... But that's the problem with big, wild guesses into the future. They are always completely ridiculously far off (lol remember the Gorn/Shatner battle?), but with time and understanding, they start to get a little bit closer 🤷♂️
I love how you can't actually hear the explosion due to the distance. Too many shows and movies make it to where you can instantly hear a distant explosion.
i watched all 6 seasons in barely more than a week xD if noone pics up the show and starts making season 7, i will lie my way through spaceX, got to space and start throwing big rocks!!!
Gosh, this scene hits a lot harder now that we know they all did die... I kept expecting them to turn back up later in the season but they never did ;-;
I watched only up to season 2 of this thing, loved it, but not on netflix anymore, but now I have amazon, and this recomendation popped up, this was not by accident, it´s providence
Like Edward said, S1 is slow but important with everything being paid off. S2 gets better and things explode big time come S3 so don't give up too soon on the show. Pay attention to all the details because this show will address even things seen as insignificant.
So basically ashford warned avasarala who warned nancy who ended up using the satalites to destroy the remaining asteroids so in a way, if it wasn't for ashford then earth would have suffered far more loses
While Avasarala wasn't exactly nice to Gau during the election and gave her a reason to hold a grudge, completely ignoring someone who has saved earth more than once in the past and has build a massive network of eyes and ears in the system through out her career was a mistake. Pride comes before fall.
"The Expanse" isn't a television show. It's a time machine. In fact, the technology to make the stealth asteroids already exists. It's called Vantablack.
Except they kinda flubbed the economics side, especially with regards to the connection between affluence and population. Earth's population has essentially a 0% chance of reaching the numbers in the expanse. It's very likely to stabilize below 10 billion in fact, far below the rather preposterous 30 billion in The Expanse. And it's very possible the overal footprint of the population in terms of urban areas and housing will be smaller than today overall, though farmland will likely be the same or slightly higher.
@@Nuvendil That's really not true. There is a projected dip in global population growth as we approach 10-11 billion, yes. However, that's dependent on the current development, assuming no disrupting social and technological advances. The birth rate in developed countries falls only because we don't want to waste time on a second or a third child. We have careers, jobs, schools... Two disruptors can make a hell of a lot of change in that. Near full automatization of basic work and universal income. There will come a time, maybe in the middle 22nd century, when the birthrate is going to go back up.
Harder to hit Luna too. Smaller target, revolving fairly quickly around the Earth. Plus less kinetic energy at impact since the Luna gravity well is only 1/6th of Earth. Plus critical UN facilities would be underground and hardened against potential Martian attack.
It’s sort of addressed in the book. Most of the luna bases are underground due to the frequency of meteor hits it gets anyway. So maybe an asteroid hit wouldn’t have had as big an effect??? After reading the book It was surprising to see the tv show have so many settlements above ground on the moon.
Distance between Earth and Luna is 1 light second, sometimes bit more, sometimes bit less. It may take 3 seconds nowadays because we don't have sufficient technology, so signal has to be relayed a few times between satellites
Fantastic scene. But can't help but wonder what their conversation would have really been like if they kept the one second comm lag from the Moon to the Earth.
wouldnt have changed anything. chrisjen would have probally just talked without stopping in a realistic scenario, which probally would have been even faster then how it played out here.
Its the only show I can keep watching over and over again. It's just so well done and written. Really wish Battlestar Galactica had this magic and was as well made.
Thing is I bet those rocks aren't even that big. That's the really terrifying part. Something the size of a car, moving fast enough, could cause damage like that.
Nah, if the object were merely the size of a car, most of it would burn up on atmospheric entry. Speed undoubtedly is a killer, as the kinetic energy of an object increases proportionally to the square of its speed, but asteroids do need a certain minimum size to really do heavy damage.
@@antred11These were accelerated to speeds higher than objects moving naturally around the solar system. More kinetic energy = more thermal release on impact. It’d pass through the atmosphere in less than a second.
Say what you will about avasaralla (misspelled) but she is Earth 1st and forever. She always thinks about Earth. For them to ignore her was dumb. Yes, she is ambitious, but like I said, Earth comes first.
She is like Churchill. Everyone ignores her, thinking she is irrelevant, but she is smart and knows what she is doing, and has the drive to get what she wants to be done by any means necessary.
I don't think any show or movie or anything for that matter has given me so many goosebumps as the Expanse. That's how you know a show is truly special and that's why I love it so much!
Well, Avasarala got it done, at least one more time-but Gao didn't survive the strike. I still find it ridiculous, though, that Gao's entire staff told Avasarala "No". No matter what, anyone just had to look at her record to know she always had earths best interests at heart-and she'd do anything, almost, to keep the people of Earth safe, often being proven right in her actions and beliefs. Here, she was right again...
I don't believe that Gao told any of her staff to blackball Avasarala. It's just that nobody wants to associate themselves with Avasarala because she's part of the "old guard", and want to stay on Gao's good side.
So here I am. Accidentally clicked this video, very interested, and then marathon-ing the series until season 5 episode 4, and then go back to this video. Definitely worth every single second. Now I'll go back watching, few episodes left, and then waitinf for season 6. You guys have any recommendation a space sci-fi shows (movie/series) that as good as this show? With a good CGI ones.
