Amazon Prime’s The Expanse recently ended its 6-season run. The show had an extremely dedicated fanbase and fandom, who are mostly glad the show didn’t end Game of Thrones style (by the way, yikes khaleesi!) and completely destroy the entire IP. Still, I’m asking, what the heck was that ending?

The Expanse, a science-fiction television show, was released in 2015 and stunned viewers with complex CGI, cunning political narratives, and world-bending plot. Syfy produced the first three seasons but discontinued it, leading Jeff Bezos to acquire the show and continue producing it under Amazon Prime (I wonder, do you think he was a fan?).

Unfortunately, I was very disappointed by the show’s quality in the final few seasons. It was still the same: fun and exciting with a massive plot spanning galaxies, but I felt as though it had lost its magic.

The first few seasons were cryptic and were more “paranormal” than the average sci-fi show. While others may have disliked the slow pace, I enjoyed that the seasons developed slowly and built tension. The tension would crystallize in beautiful action sequences and endings. The later seasons lost that paranormal tension. During the fourth, fifth, and sixth seasons, the show lost its way.

Core to the expanse was alien, in theme, and in reality. The alien themes of the first three seasons were mostly lost by the fifth, and though the alien world existed, the show moved the focus from alien and exploration to humanity. Now, in of itself, that’s not bad. I loved the political commentary! But I thought that the deeper meaning of the show, humanity uniting to confront an existential threat, was far more meaningful than “let’s fight the big bad terrorist guy who’s actually managed to use the alien technology that we’ve never understood for four seasons”. Simply, the story stopped evolving soon after the third season, though it continued to be interesting and fun. Of course, I most likely do not hold the majority opinion. According to most fans, The Expanse ended reasonably well and was satisfying.

Overall, I’m happy I watched The Expanse. Over 6 seasons, they worked with complex topics and political issues and produced an outstanding show, but I’m still wishing for more.