Dulcinea (Pilot, S1E1)
Airdate: November 14th 2015
Written by: Terry McDonough
Directed by: Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby
Running Time: 45 minutes
Dulcinea is a very solid and intriguing pilot episode for ambitious and, as it later turned out to be, successful and long-running television series. Originally slated for 10 episodes, the series, based on the The Expanse series of science fiction novels by James S. A. Corey (a pseudonym used by writing tandem of Daniel Abraham and Ty Frank), is an old-fashioned space opera set roughly three centuries in the future. 23rd Century depicted in the novels and in the series is somewhere in the middle between technologically developed idyllic utopian world of Star Trek and dystopian post-apocalyptic Fallout. The humanity has failed to developed means of interstellar voyage, but space travel has advanced enough to allow for collonisation of much of the Solar System. The largest of those colonies is Mars, which became not only independent of Earth, but also became its main rival for resources, which are mined in Asteroid Belt, which creates increased diplomatic tension.
Dulcinea, which, like the rest of season, follows the plot of Leviathan Wakes, the first novel, does a good job of trying to introduce viewers to strange new futuristic world, without overwhelming the audience with too many details. It starts with the cold open during which an unknown woman (played by Florence Faivre) in a wrecked space ship tries to survive in zero gravity before encountering strange and even frightening phenomenon.
The rest of the plot deals with three subplots that deal with different characters. The first one begins at Ceres, an asteroid where Joe Miller (played by Thomas Jane), a local or “Belter”, works for Earth-based Helix security service. “Belters”, whom due to low gravity and harsh conditions, suffer from various mutations and genetic defects, feel exploited by Earth corporations, and those sentiments found expression in extremist organisation called OPA. Miller is considered traitor to his people and, while working with new Earth-born partner Dimitri Havelock (played by Jay Hernandez in guest starring role), receives the task of seeking Juliet Mao, radical acitivist daughter of influential businessman who went missing, and who happens to be the woman from the prologue.
On Earth, high ranking UN official Chrisjen Avasarala (played by Shoreh Aghdashloo) comes to black site to interrogate OPA agent who was caught trying to steal top secret stealth ship technology.
Huge freight ship Canterbury travels from Saturn rings with huge cargo of ice for Ceres. Its crew involves second officer Jim Holden (played by Steven Strait), who is having romantic relationship with ship’s navigator Ade Nygaard (played by Kristen Hager in guest starring role). When ship’s first officer (played by Jonathan Banks in guest starring role) has a psychotic break due to too much time at space, Holden takes its place. During their journey back, Canterbury receives distress signal from another ship. While the crew is tempted to disregard it for financial reasons, Holden decides to secretly record logs and force them to investigate. Holden volunteers to investigate the ship, named Scopuli with a Canterbury’s shuttle Knight and takes four other crewmen with him – chief engineeer Naomi Nagata (played by Dominique Tipper), mechanic Amos Burton (played by Wes Chatham), pilot Alex Kamal (played by Cas Anvar) and medic Shed Garvey (played by Paulo Constanzo). On Scopuli they don’t find any sign of life. Soon afterwards, they are informed that unknown ship has suddenly appeared and ordered to evacuate. They watch ship firing torpedoes that hit Canterbury and kill anyone aboard.
The episode is very well directed and features special effects that are quite convincing and within quqlity parameters necessary for early 21st Century space operas. The acting is top notch, with diverse cast manages to use relatively small time frame to establish characters. The first episode shows that it wouldn’t hesitate to go towards darker content, which include graphic violence and mutilations, while zero gravity sex scene doesn’t seem too exploitative. The cliffhanger ending, which raised the stakes for surviving characters, is quite effective.
RATING: 7/10 (+++)
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