First things first. I don't know the books, never heard of them before. So everything I write is solely based on the show.
I've watched the three seasons that are already released. It's a good show, indeed very good. But I fail to see the masterpiece (yet). Althought I'll admit at the end of the third season it is showing signs. At the core the story starts very basic. It's a cold war between Earth and Mars. The Belt is kind of the Third World, rich in resources but with no voice at the big table. Everything is a power struggle, a battle for supremacy. Where every party seeks only gains for themselves. A lot of egos involved. The sci-fi part comes with the proto-molecule which is a bit like the Atom. The nation controling it is controlling the world. While the story is very political at first it moves to the sci-fi part later which is really a good thing. But I also had the feeling the plot goes through great lenghts to unfold. It always felt like they could have gotten there in half the amount of episodes. The production value for a TV show is at the top. Essential for any sci-fi show. Which might ironically be one of the reasons it got initially cancelled. With an average of 600k viewers it is hard to sustain this show long term. Well, it got picked up but I guess it will be a struggle getting from season to season. And from what I gather there is still a lot of the story left to be told. The downside for me are the characters and by that I mean I don't have a favorite or can connect to any of them. Well maybe Amos. There are moments where I liked the actions of one or the other like Chrisjen or Drummer. I didn't like Naomi at all and the rest like Alex or Holden I didn't care for. What drove me was the story. As long as this stays interesting I will stick with the show.
Supplemental: dropped out after S4 as I just don't care any more for either characters and/or story.
Review by FinFanBlockedParent2019-01-16T17:18:46Z— updated 2020-12-28T19:34:46Z
First things first. I don't know the books, never heard of them before. So everything I write is solely based on the show.
I've watched the three seasons that are already released. It's a good show, indeed very good. But I fail to see the masterpiece (yet). Althought I'll admit at the end of the third season it is showing signs.
At the core the story starts very basic. It's a cold war between Earth and Mars. The Belt is kind of the Third World, rich in resources but with no voice at the big table. Everything is a power struggle, a battle for supremacy. Where every party seeks only gains for themselves. A lot of egos involved. The sci-fi part comes with the proto-molecule which is a bit like the Atom. The nation controling it is controlling the world. While the story is very political at first it moves to the sci-fi part later which is really a good thing. But I also had the feeling the plot goes through great lenghts to unfold. It always felt like they could have gotten there in half the amount of episodes.
The production value for a TV show is at the top. Essential for any sci-fi show. Which might ironically be one of the reasons it got initially cancelled. With an average of 600k viewers it is hard to sustain this show long term. Well, it got picked up but I guess it will be a struggle getting from season to season. And from what I gather there is still a lot of the story left to be told.
The downside for me are the characters and by that I mean I don't have a favorite or can connect to any of them. Well maybe Amos. There are moments where I liked the actions of one or the other like Chrisjen or Drummer. I didn't like Naomi at all and the rest like Alex or Holden I didn't care for. What drove me was the story. As long as this stays interesting I will stick with the show.
Supplemental: dropped out after S4 as I just don't care any more for either characters and/or story.