I'm so hyped!

That is all

I think 4 came out last winter.

When is it dropping? I agree

My bad! Yes I meant season 5.

I've watched the 1st 3 ep's on Prime. It's already dropped

Amos continues to be everything. i'm loving the flashbacks to his upbringing in ep 2.

i'd also love to get chike's reaction to future baltimore.

also, did cas anvar shoot the whole season before he metoo'd himself out of a job?

if not, wonder how they handle that?


peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

Baltimore looks like 2025 Baltimore, but I can also believe the idea that it would still be pretty recognizable 200+ year later. And that progress is not equally shared.

Amos the GOAT!

Asvarala getting chin-checked but the new PM was satisfying, even if she was right.

The Mars stuff is good too.

I'm fully with spreading it out vs. Making the whole season available at once, but now ready for episode 4!

to me, it would seem like they could do the conclusion of the series as a theatrical release? (trilogy), or short term series somewhere else (netflizzle).

last three books leap 30 years into the future from the present events, so from a practical perspective (aging the entire cast every episode for a tv series that spans maybe 2 years) it would be tough to pull off. i guess it's doable, tho.


peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

Wasn't aware they were stopping the show at 6. I kinda get it. What's weird is how this show hadn't gotten up more. Get the impression it's not doing numbers, which is weird to me. Maybe the space thing scarew people off, but I'd think it would have folks locked in is they tried it.

Maybe they'll wrap it all up with a movie? Or 6 gets redone into a compressed conclusion. The fact that the authors are heavily involved gives me comfort. Also, I'm good, they've done enough that I'll be satisfied regardless.

Seems to have picked up the pace a bit compared to Season 4 (which looked great but kinda dragged after a while).


I had no idea this Cas stuff happened. Makes it hard to enjoy his scenes now.

thing from the normal flow. it accomplished a lot, though, but it hit different. you saw the alien tech running.

you got a feel for the differences in human civilization that could result from 1300 new worlds. and also a confirmation that we gonna be ssdw with it (same shit, different world).

the shit that goes down THIS season is gonna be a gut punch. fuckin marcos, man.


>Seems to have picked up the pace a bit compared to Season 4
>(which looked great but kinda dragged after a while).
>
>
>I had no idea this Cas stuff happened. Makes it hard to enjoy
>his scenes now.

it really does. he was perfectly cast (acting wise) for that character. i haven't looked into it recently, but seems like the issues w/ him were from after being on the show (and the modicum of accompanying fame). smh. i have no idea how they will resolve it. maybe kill him off and replace him w/ bobbi? (who i love and who needs moar screen time).

glad it wasn't amos that fucked up, though.


peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

So compact, but so well executed, just brilliant.


*Spoiler*

Rest In Power, Fred Johnson. Gonna miss you, brother.

I think every major plot line made major movement this week. I'm curious what's gonna happen with Amos down in that hole.

>I think every major plot line made major movement this week.

word. it's wild b/c this one ep did so much on both an interpersonal relationship perspective (naomi and philip, amos and peaches, bobbie and alex, avrasarala and arjun), and had MAJOR action sequences.


>I'm curious what's gonna happen with Amos down in that hole.


peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

>So compact, but so well executed, just brilliant.

yeah. this episode had so much going on. fantastic storytelling.


>
>
>*Spoiler*
>
>Rest In Power, Fred Johnson. Gonna miss you, brother.

word. that hit me hard in the books, too. i can't recall whether this was in sequence or not. but it was hella symbolic.


peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

Wanted to see if other viewers were blown away by this episode like I was, and found this user review sitting at the top. Pretty interesting:


I'm very surprised to say about a series gone this long, but Guagamela is one of the best episodes so far.

The episode has taken a lot from classical literature, especially the history of Alexander the Great's Macedonian empire. The name of the episode is a reference to one of Alexander's greatest victories, the battle of Gaugamela. Marco Inaros assumes the role of Alexander. His ship is called Pella, which was also the capital city of ancient Macedon.

Marco Inaros' (Keon Alexander) speech at the end uses a lot of rhetorical techniques used by kings and generals of the past, as written down by ancient scholars. He is a bona fide space-faring warrior-king. The juxtaposition of The Belt and ancient Macedon/Greece is very clear for those who are well versed in this part of history. The Macedonians and Greeks were vassalized and later incorporated into the Persian Empire and suffered through great ordeal and atrocities. The Persians considered themselves to be at the centre of the World, or "Inners", while the Greeks for them were at the outer edge, or "the belt" with inferior peoples. Alexander, with his Macedonian beratna and "Free Greeks" seized the Persian Empire like a lightning storm, or should I say asteroid shower. Like Alexander's army of the past, Inaros' troops care little if the casualties of the enemy are soldiers or civilians, deeming it their right to exact revenge upon their oppressors.

In his speech Inaros talks about how the outer planets and the Ring Worlds now belong to the Belters. This can be seen as a reference to what Alexander The Great told his troops - that the uncharted and unknown worlds of the east (modern India) belonged to the Hellenic peoples after the crucial victory at Gaugamela which opened the Gates of Babylon for his army. When Inaros talks about a new way of life, a better way, a Belter way, this again is what Alexander The Great's objective and conduct was. As his army moved across lands they were followed by a huge amount of architects, engineers, clergymen and scholars whose task was to establish new cities and Hellenize the conquered lands.

I lift my hat to the authors of the novels. They have done their research and fictionalized it superbly, and of course the production team for putting it all on screen so well. Now I'm very curious to find out whether Inaros faces his "mutiny at Opis" later on in the story (I have not read the books).

that was a hell of an episode, though.

and the next two have been really good, also. really ratcheting up the stakes.

in the books i loved the 'side mission' aspects of the split team and, of course, my favorite story line was amos and peaches. i love their dynamic. and the scene in this week's episode? dayum.


peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

Partly because he's just a badass, but also because he's got this interesting loyalty vs. morality curve going on. Him lamenting how Holden wouldn't approve of their handling of that prepper guy was a nice touch.

Honestly I had to check the Wikis to figure out who Peaches was again (she was barely in the previous season and s03 has been a while), but they fit each other very well and I'm looking forward to them making their way back to the Rocinante somehow.

Only thing that threw me off a little was the visualization of her kicking ass with hers mods active. Felt a bit "no time to stage a proper action scene, let's just do some blurry shit and keep it moving" to me. Easily forgiven considering the quality of the rest of the show, though. Can't wait for the next episode.

Just owns the screen anytime he’s on.


Last two episodes, a bit lower intensity, but both fantastic still. Only gripe is the earth scenes and storyline are quite small, underselling the scale of devastation. But I get it, budget is probably driving the choice to zoom in tightly into Amos and Peaches.

>Just owns the screen anytime he’s on.

he really does. it is such a perfect incarnation of this character from book to screen. i love what he does with the role. he thinks he's a monster, but a lot of times he exhibits more humanity than anyone. and if there is an underdog in the frame he will do anything to protect them (to make up for the protection he did NOT get when he was a child being victimized and trafficked). and, he has zero fucks given, consistently, and will fuck you up if you are in his way or if you are threatening aforementioned underdogs.

>Last two episodes, a bit lower intensity, but both fantastic
>still. Only gripe is the earth scenes and storyline are quite
>small, underselling the scale of devastation. But I get it,
>budget is probably driving the choice to zoom in tightly into
>Amos and Peaches.

yep. in the books, i think it was about a third of the earth's population who was killed. like maybe 3 or 4 Bn people. the enormity of what marco has done, man.


peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

>Partly because he's just a badass, but also because he's got
>this interesting loyalty vs. morality curve going on. Him
>lamenting how Holden wouldn't approve of their handling of
>that prepper guy was a nice touch.

it really was. i don't remember from the books if that was there, but it was a very nice touch.

if you get a chance The Churn is the novella with his backstory. it's not required but it kinda fleshes out his character development. but he was abused when he was powerless. did whatever to survive. knows he doesn't have a fully functional moral compass, and therefore gravitates toward people who do (who become the objects of his trust and loyalty, as you note).

he is such a refreshing character though. i loved the exposition about the difference between someone who is good, versus pretending to be good, with that being the best possible under the circumstances.


>Honestly I had to check the Wikis to figure out who Peaches
>was again (she was barely in the previous season and s03 has
>been a while), but they fit each other very well and I'm
>looking forward to them making their way back to the Rocinante
>somehow.

yep. clarissa mao. sister of julie mao (who is the tragic figure / first contact of the proto molecule, and core of the protomolecule's human persona when the asteroid eros became self aware and steered itself to venus. before creating the ring gates). clarissa was / is nuts. the 'good girl' to her rebellious sister, striving for daddy's affection (jules-pierre mao who is the kajillionaire who financed the whole protomolecule shit and intrigue that almost killed hte solar system the first time). she got the implants to go get revenge on holden an nem.

>
>Only thing that threw me off a little was the visualization of
>her kicking ass with hers mods active. Felt a bit "no time to
>stage a proper action scene, let's just do some blurry shit
>and keep it moving" to me. Easily forgiven considering the
>quality of the rest of the show, though. Can't wait for the
>next episode.

i kinda liked it. the blurry shit (as opposed to a slow motion) gave you a sense of the high intensity + short duration action of her mods. amos was like, 'is it always like this afterward' (when she was vomiting and weak and damn near passed out). and when she says yes, he comments, "shitty design". and she responds that she wasn't really thinking long term when she did it.

i really enjoyed the short, near future fiction discourse on the implications of body modification from the last couple of eps.


peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

>if you get a chance The Churn is the novella with his
>backstory. it's not required but it kinda fleshes out his
>character development. but he was abused when he was
>powerless. did whatever to survive. knows he doesn't have a
>fully functional moral compass, and therefore gravitates
>toward people who do (who become the objects of his trust and
>loyalty, as you note).

I've got a huge backlog of books piling up around me, so I doubt I'll get around to it, but your summary of his character development fits very well with what I've seen onscreen. Thanks for saving me the time, I guess!

>yep. clarissa mao. sister of julie mao (who is the tragic
>figure / first contact of the proto molecule, and core of the
>protomolecule's human persona when the asteroid eros became
>self aware and steered itself to venus. before creating the
>ring gates). clarissa was / is nuts. the 'good girl' to her
>rebellious sister, striving for daddy's affection
>(jules-pierre mao who is the kajillionaire who financed the
>whole protomolecule shit and intrigue that almost killed hte
>solar system the first time). she got the implants to go get
>revenge on holden an nem.

Yeah, I only remembered her sabotaging stuff. Probably watched that season in a haze of weed, lol.

>i kinda liked it. the blurry shit (as opposed to a slow
>motion) gave you a sense of the high intensity + short
>duration action of her mods. amos was like, 'is it always like
>this afterward' (when she was vomiting and weak and damn near
>passed out). and when she says yes, he comments, "shitty
>design". and she responds that she wasn't really thinking long
>term when she did it.
>
>i really enjoyed the short, near future fiction discourse on
>the implications of body modification from the last couple of
>eps.

Yeah I didn't mind that it was over fast, or that they didn't show the action itself too much, just the visual & sound effects themselves came across as a little corny. I think it could've been done better. Like hearing a few snowy footsteps offscreen and dude getting swept off his feet in a flash. Cut to Amos standing there with a dumb look on his face and her collapsing on top of prepper guy's body. Or something, I don't know.
I really do like that the implants have a high cost associated with their use, helps to make it feel realistic instead of turning her into some kind of superhero.

>>if you get a chance The Churn is the novella with his
>>backstory. it's not required but it kinda fleshes out his
>>character development. but he was abused when he was
>>powerless. did whatever to survive. knows he doesn't have a
>>fully functional moral compass, and therefore gravitates
>>toward people who do (who become the objects of his trust
>and
>>loyalty, as you note).
>
>I've got a huge backlog of books piling up around me, so I
>doubt I'll get around to it, but your summary of his character
>development fits very well with what I've seen onscreen.
>Thanks for saving me the time, I guess!

lol. i was trying to do the opposite. joint is like 2.99 on nook. but it's a short read. i haven't re-read it, but watching the flashbacks and how erich was on the show, it 'felt' right.


>I really do like that the implants have a high cost associated
>with their use, helps to make it feel realistic instead of
>turning her into some kind of superhero.

that's one of the dope things about the books, and the show, i think. case in point, the flying around within the solar system. if they do a high g burn, even with the juice, they are at risk.

it's more typical of human technological advancement. first cars were dangerous af. we invented seatbelts and traffic lights an shit way later.


peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

How long can you survive out in space? They imply that Naomi is probably good because of that shot she took? Is that other guy dead?


Yes these are dumb questions, but honestly I wanted to bump this thread.

>How long can you survive out in space? They imply that Naomi
>is probably good because of that shot she took? Is that other
>guy dead?
>

you would die from freezing and / or suffocation.

https://twitter.com/TheExpanseWR/status/1350904898712309761

if you got a minute or so, watch that clip. it overlays the novel with the scene. DAMN they did their thing in the adaptation, but again, i really love the books and dudes did it while writing.

notice she exhales first to avoid explosive decompression. the shot she took was hinted at in Ep 2 this year when they saved monica (the nosey reporter) from being in the breached / vacuum of the shipping container when she was held hostage. holden used that shot on her which in the books is described as hyper-oxygenated blood.

seems like a handy and ubiquitous first aid kit type thing to have roughly 100 years in on a regularly spacefaring civilization.

she is going to be fucked up and suffer severe effects from having been exposed to the cold of vacuum. they have pretty good auto docs on the rocsi if she can make it there.

the gantry to the other ship was pulled back, but they still should have been at same relative velocity and she was jumping across the void where the gantry was, so i can buy the relative straight shot.

other thing is they use a ton of consultants in their writing process as well as in the filming, and they definitely make sure to do their homework on the key plot points.


>
>Yes these are dumb questions, but honestly I wanted to bump
>this thread.

i had forgotten the specifics in the book, and had the same questions while watching, and this prompted me to find the overlay of the book + show, so that was helpful.

also for anyone else watching, spoilers notwithstanding, it's pretty illustrative of the care that has gone into the books and the show.
>
>


peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

He confessed to being the one who hid Naomi's son from her on Marco's orders way back when, prompting her to try and space herself after being unable to find him.

I can't remember if he was also the one stopped her then, or if she changed her mind herself (all I remember is him telling her he saw her at the airlock), but this present-day scene was probably a callback to that moment and a final reckoning for his betrayal.

And yeah, apparently you can theoretically survive in space for a little bit. Probably makes this one of the most badass actions in the series. Good thing too because I was kind of getting a little tired of Naomi crying and looking confused over her estranged and brainwashed dingus of a son, lol.

Love the Naomi focus and the actress is putting in work. But the pace shift from the first few episodes of this season is jarring.

Also the earth story is weird in its execution and generally being downplayed to not good effect.

Still a really strong season, but coming down a bit from the crazy height they set in the beginning. Hope for a great close over the next two weeks.

But the finale was satisfying and I'm looking forward to the last season.

some hard shit she did.

but they coulda cut maybe 20% of that.

it was still worth it for the payoff.


peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

each time she would put on the suit and go to the outer hull area of the ship? At first I thought she was trying to systematically determine how to deactivate the explosives. But that clearly was not the case.

>each time she would put on the suit and go to the outer hull
>area of the ship? At first I thought she was trying to
>systematically determine how to deactivate the explosives. But
>that clearly was not the case.

The first time she was finding a way to short circuit the broadcast to change the message. She was successful as at the end of thee episode the message had a bunch of blank spots indicating she was in control. Unfortunately it didn’t change anything as her crew still decided to come and rescue her.

The second time; episodes 9& 10 it was I think to release a thruster to make it too hard to dock with her and try to save her. It worked and slowed down Alex enough but she still had to jump out and try to signal the danger to them

Thanks. I got that she was trying to change the message at first. But she kept going back after that, so I had no idea what she was up to. I get that she released the thruster, but why did it take so long to do it? It looks like she went back and forth at least a dozen times. Did she not know where it was?

I think there was a lot of trial and error for the first one.

For the second one, it just took a really long time to get it done.

Remember she doesn't have oxygen in her suit, so she can only stay as long as she can hold her breath before going back. She's clearly got iron lungs, but still that's 2 min tops.

RIP Alex. I guess that's one way to write him off lol.

That's what you get for being a dirtbag, I guess. Good thing there's plenty of great characters to go around. I'm praying for Wes Chatham to be one of the few normal dudes in Hollywood, though.

The rest of the episode was solid stuff, a good wrap-up after a few episodes that seemed to drag too much. Naomi is a total badass but I don't know how many more hours of heavy breathing and sobbing I could've endured.

>That's what you get for being a dirtbag, I guess. Good thing
>there's plenty of great characters to go around. I'm praying
>for Wes Chatham to be one of the few normal dudes in
>Hollywood, though.

amos is the best. his scene w/ holden (lemme holla at you for a sec). that shit was GREATNESS. i hope he gets more roles (after this series including the final books is wrapped up).


>The rest of the episode was solid stuff, a good wrap-up after
>a few episodes that seemed to drag too much. Naomi is a total
>badass but I don't know how many more hours of heavy breathing
>and sobbing I could've endured.

exactly.

they got me w/ the fake ending, aything good, OH WAIT, HERE's YOUR DRAMA YOU BASTARDS!! finish, though. well played.

very satisfying end of season episode. and a great season, lulls in the middle notwithstanding.

also: drummer's relationship status - COMPLICATED AF!!


peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

Son! That scene was everything. He was letting Holden know what's up. "Peaches is coming with us. No questions asked. Cool? Cool."



>
>amos is the best. his scene w/ holden (lemme holla at you for
>a sec). that shit was GREATNESS. i hope he gets more roles
>(after this series including the final books is wrapped up).
>
>
>

so i didn't catch a stray spoiler b/c i was wondering how they'd resolve the alex situation.


that... was a way to do it.


peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

It’s #2 behind season 3 for me. Looking forward to seeing how they close it out.

My big issue is just how undersold the earth situation was, still doesn’t feel right to me. But otherwise, loved everything they chose to focus on.

Really looking forward to the book finale which I think is coming in November.

and the rocks killed about a third of earth's pop. so that was around 4Bn people, all told. it was irritating the shit out of me when they said millions died.

>It’s #2 behind season 3 for me. Looking forward to seeing
>how they close it out.
>

>My big issue is just how undersold the earth situation was,
>still doesn’t feel right to me. But otherwise, loved
>everything they chose to focus on.
>
>Really looking forward to the book finale which I think is
>coming in November.

me too.

also, i have no idea where they're going with next season. they set the stage for Laconia, but no way they can finish the inaros arc and handle the 3 laconia books.

maybe they just put it there as a coming attraction. i still hope they do the last books as a movie.

peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

My heart is not fully in it. Also feels like theirs might not be either. Only 6 episodes. Based on the worst book imo. Also officially the last season.

Did watch the first two episodes, but don't have much to say about them. A bit underwhelming, especially knowing there are just two seasons left

Last book is out but I haven't read it yet. Much more excited about that honestly. NO Spoilers!

I'm one episode ahead of you so no spoilers but it seems like they have a lot of ground to cover in the final three episodes.

New post?

Episode 2's battle was good but I'm uncertain how the condensed season is going to work narratively.

Ep3 was good too but Holden still infuriates me.

Probably no need for another post considering just three episodes left.


Caught up now on all three episodes. I'm just not that compelled with the whole space Battle and war with Marco and Philip Arc, which seems to be the dominant piece of this season.

Killing the home Anderson Dawes off screen kinda sucks, but I'm sure Mr. Harris is too busy these days for a return cameo.

Last season I was cool with them droping an episode a week, but with just 6 I feel like drooping them all at once makes the most sense to just binge thru.

Yeah I agree with the story arc this season.

Generally the whole Marco Inaros thing is so dead, it bores me and wish they had left it two seasons ago. Also I want someone to slap the actor who plays Phillip just for the fun of it every time he tries to act.

I still love the show (never read the books) just because it is well made, the cast are generally good/great and the story is interesting but I'm bummed that the proto-molecule stuff has pretty much left behind

>Yeah I agree with the story arc this season.
>
>Generally the whole Marco Inaros thing is so dead, it bores me
>and wish they had left it two seasons ago. Also I want someone
>to slap the actor who plays Phillip just for the fun of it
>every time he tries to act.
>
>I still love the show (never read the books) just because it
>is well made, the cast are generally good/great and the story
>is interesting but I'm bummed that the proto-molecule stuff
>has pretty much left behind
>

it's a huge part of the last 3 books. (to that end, there's a subplot now (not really spoilers) through the first 3 eps where naomi is looking through data on 'anomalies' for ships passing through the ring gates... it's subtle and easy to miss with the other stuff going on but it will have increasing significance.




>


peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

for those in the music game, that's big 'double album' energy.

supposedly there's a follow-on series and movie on the table. but if they call season 6 a wrap, they don't have to keep paying the Expanse's former label (SyFy). (only source i have on it is more of a blog, though. waiting to see if it gets picked up / amplified on other outlets).

that makes sense. and they prolly had to keep that on the low.

i'm 'behind' (saw 1st 2 eps of this season, so gotta watch ep 3) and still in the first 3rd of the last book.

not as bummed out about the last season now, though, so that's cool.


peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

i shoulda known, but, wishful thinking (that's why i ain't post the link).

i've seen the same headline 3 more times on other sites / blogs.

hopefully, even if this was inaccurate / premature they are still working behind the scenes.

i'm about 3/4 through the last book.


peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

Cara Gee has been absolutely incredible this season, and this episode is a showcase for her

I guess that a good thing that some are liking it.

But season 6 in general just feels like they're mailing it in. Could have squeeze all of this info in this 6 episode season into a 13 episode season 5 and it would have been an incredible send off.

I can't decide if they stuck the landing or not. This is the same way I felt after the Breaking Bad finale (which I guess is a compliment).

I'll hold off on spoilery stuff for now but one overall comment I have about this season is that I feel like the Strange Dogs subplot was a waste. We could have squeezed in a little more of the main plot without it and it didn't really go as far as I thought it would (I haven't read the books).