Tales from the Clarke: The Human Division, Episode 5

This was another fun little episode in Scalzi's ongoing series. Scalzi continues to craft the interesting characters and crew of the Clarke together piece by piece. This one picks up after episode 3, but doesn't follow directly, rather continues the story some weeks later. Wilson and the crew get a new ship, but not the kind they wanted, and the mission they are sent on is not all it seems to be at first.

i liked this episode, there is a moment in it where you get a good laugh... and you see the results from the past episode and what the union is doing now for earth....

I hope the next episode will be more and more deep into the plot...

(Follows from my reviews in eps 1-4.) So, I think I'm figuring out what that ineffable "something" is that I'm not gelling with in these "episodes" format.

I think it's the fact that each of these "self-contained" short stories feels like chapters of a novel where the first third of each chapter finds us breaking continuity so the author can "re-acquaint" us again with the storyline. If you see irony in breaking continuity so as to keep readers aware of a continuous storyline, don't worry, you're not alone.

Then there's the whole bit toward the end of each chapter where we have to slow momentum -- just when it's starting to build -- for the sake of wrapping up with a convenient end to the episode....

... Only to start the next episode and have to suffer an indoctrination all over again to summarize highlights in previous episodes.

That's what I don't like about this serial format.

Okay. With that off my chest. On to Episode 6. >:-\

This is Episode 5 of the Human Division series. Scalzi has apparently divided what could have been one book into multiple separate episodes. I don't understand that logic (at least not yet), as the episodes don't stand alone unless you're a fan of a very short plot with a flimsy leave-you-wondering type of ending. Hopefully the weak connection between the episodes will build with each one and culminate in an interesting finale, but that is not evident yet after five episodes.

Reader did a good job, even though it was not a difficult narration to perform. This episode lacked the irritating transcript style with all the he said/she said crap which absolutely ruined some of the earlier ones. Thank goodness!

This is one of my favorite stories in this series. I really enjoy hearing stories of people from the Clarke, and their interactions while on the Clarke.

Good plot and the characters met earlier and beginning to assume stronger personalities. Well up to the standard of earlier episodes.

These short stories are starting to come together to make a very good saga.
All have great narration. The narration of any book is very important to any story.

Tales from the Clarke returns us to The rest of of the B-Team. While waiting for Reassignment. The Crew of the Clarke Find themselves assigned a mission that like the First mission is more than it seems. Captain Sophia Coloma proves why she's a ship's Captain. The story itself is simple, while showing off a Ship that The CU plans to sell off to Earth to pave the way for diplomacy. a simple oversight provides proof that that there's more to the mission than meets the eye. the story plays itself off as a one off chapter in the overall narrative, and it fits well into the overall tale.

This week's episode of the Human Division is pretty standard. We get into Captain Colonna's head, which is nice, and we catch back up with Harry Wilson (who apparently is no longer a hostage). There's possible sabotage, and a set-up, and funny baseball stuff. It felt pretty standard to me this time...the way sometimes TV shows can when they're in the middle of the season. It was a fun little ride, but it couldn't really compete with the last two episodes.

Good ol' Harry back to stir things up in a story that is typical John Scalzi. Love the humor and even has baseball thrown in for good measure. More intrigue and mystery to build upon previous episodes, but this is a nice little self contained story, well worth the 69 cents