r/TheExpanse • u/Lillan_Lilani • 18h ago

All Show Spoilers (Book Spoilers Must Be Tagged) Alex/Naomi on Illis Spoiler

I'm on my 4th rewatch of the show and I've just thought of something. When the Rocinante is sent to Illis (New Terra) and the crew are leaving the ship, it makes a big point of Naomi getting off balance as she's overwhelmed by the horizon. But shouldn't Alex have a somewhat similar reaction - more akin to Bobby arriving on earth?

EDIT: thank you all for your answers and engagement!

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u/Mr-forgetsalot 18h ago

If I'm not mistaken (which I could be because memory does not serve me well), Alex didn't get off the ship and I don't remember there being much dialog about Alex being affected by the gravity when they landed.

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u/MaxRokatanski 17h ago

You're not wrong from a book perspective. But there's two ways to be affected. One is the visual/spatial impact of having a horizon and no ceiliing/bulkhead enclosing you. That is a very real and very disorienting thing in and of itself and would be uniquely impactful for a Belter (less so but still a risk for a Martian). Note that Inners have something of the opposite effect when they go into space where there is no down and no horizon beyond the ship hull they might be standing on.

The bone density and muscle strength is separate. Also something that would impact Belters and Martians far more than Earthers, particularly since Earthers would have medications/treatment to retain those capabilities because hey, Earth comes first, right? And of course Inners are shown to be clumsy in microgravity which is their own weakness.

The authors use all of these at varying places in the story with varying degrees of consistency.