The Expanse - Season 3

A few weeks ago, Amazon dropped season three of The Expanse (alongside the first two having gained the UK rights from Netflix last year) and although it took a while to catch up, I've finally finished all thirteen episodes. And what episodes they are.
One of the things that I really like about The Expanse is that it combines personal stories from excellently well defined and acted characters with grand scale sci-fi, big ideas and a good dose of realism. True, the first season took a while to get going but with the third run, they drop the viewer right back into the action that season two ended with and you get much time to breathe. This show does exactly the opposite of many short run series, packing in more than enough for the compact 40 minute episodes and ensuring that the pace never slackens. Whereas I found watching pretty much every Marvel TV show a slog as they seemed to have eight episodes of story for a thirteen episode season, The Expanse is almost the opposite, and while they never feel rushed, you get the impression that there is much more they could put on screen. No, the writing and direction of the show is taut and lean to the point of bare bones - and this is not a bad thing.
The season itself is divided into two parts story-wise, with the conclusion of the Prax story as he searches for his daughter taking up the first six episodes, whilst the remaining seven deal with the "Ring". It's a roller coaster ride to be sure. 
Standouts for the season - Shawn Doyle as the reptilian Errinwright - there is a man you'd love to hate. Pretty much all of the regulars are also at the top of their game and even the child actors get by without being annoying. Tonally, there is no black and white to the story or the characters and their actions, and it is this contrast that old-school Trek (amongst others) really misses out on.
Of course, combining small and large scale does put pressure on the shows budget and it is telling at a few points that the vision exceeded the money. Not by much, and what you get on screen is uniformly good and in places excellent, but hopefully Amazon will through a little more dough on screen for season four. Having said that, I still think they have the scale of the crew wrong when you see them on the exterior of their ship, the Rocinante but maybe that's just me.
Having mentioned Trek, I must admit I am watching and immensely enjoying ST Discovery. With one episode to go of the current season, it pretty much surpasses any other sci-fi on TV at the moment, except maybe The Expanse, especially as my good lady and I are slowly getting through season one of Star Trek Deep Space 9. I know, DS9 is 25 years old, but it feels much, much older, not just in style, but in pacing and story telling. I am told it does get better, but by God, the 45 minutes in DS9 feels like hours compared to The Expanse and Disco. Out of the 19 episodes in season one, only one, The Duet, really stands out. And the semi-regular heavy focus on Jake Sisko and Nog make it almost a children's show at times. Anyhoo, we'll get to season two shortly and see if it improves.
Once again, The Expanse is a highly rated show and if you don't have an Amazon Prime account, seasons one and two are available on DVD and Blu-Ray.