There's no denying that this season has seen a downturn in the quality of writing. Characters are not acting like themselves and making choices which don't reflect the journeys they've been on. Ridiculous leaps in logic are made and time compression has suddenly made Westeros feel very small. Spectacle has taken centre stage and it feels like the lack of GRRM's own prose has left the show's writers floundering.
And I've got to be honest, it hasn't bothered me all that much, because it's been so incredibly fun. Say what you will, but season 7 has not been dull for a second. Yes, I've found parts frustrating and rolled my eyes in disbelief at the stupidity on display, but there's something to be said for the pure thrill involved in what's going on screen.
I might prefer things to be slowed down a bit and do miss the insightful dialogue and foreshadowing, but I'm not throwing my toys out of the pram over it as so many seem to be. Even in this state, Game of Thrones remains among the best programmes on television. The finale did make up for some of the seemingly moronic writing choices made in earlier episodes and demonstrated that it can still make me care for these characters and fear losing them.
Not perfect and not up to standard, no, but some of the most enjoyable viewing I've had this year.
With a number of strong episodes throughout, the first season of the show is powerful and gripping - and yet, I never found myself all that wrapped up in it. It felt like it meandered a little too often, I'm never quite sure where it's all leading. Elisabeth Moss is astoundingly good in the lead role, but she stands head and shoulders above most of the other cast. Any episodes, or indeed moments, that weren't focused on her cause the show to fumble. Yvonne Strahovski and Alexis Bledel do stand out as particularly strong performances, and I can't help but feel heartbreak whenever Madeline Brewer (Janine) is on screen.
In fact, somewhat ironically, it's the male cast which really let things down. Joseph Fiennes becomes a caricature by the latter half of the season and the character of Nick is an absolute stain on the show's otherwise decent offerings (it was a struggle not to fast forward any scenes he's in). Moira was also difficult, the writing for her struck me as completely unnatural (her only interactions with people seemed to be to insult them and tell them how wrong they are) and it was only in the later episodes that that got turned around.
It's the story and setting here which are the reason I kept coming back each week. It's a brutal show with shocking moments each episode. Part of you scoffs at how far-fetched it is, another part of you becomes fearful of the path our current world is going down.
My only other feelings is that the desaturated look of the show actually makes it feel a bit cheap. There's very little sense of a large world when watching this, but that's okay. We're focused on Offred's world and that's the important story.
Half genius and half infuriating, I guess that means it must meet in the middle somewhere? But that doesn't work, because there's nothing about Legion that's average. The visuals and aesthetic are unquestionably the draw here, and numerous moments have been burned into my memory. It's a show that's trying to reach for something further away, combining styles, music and moods to take you on a trip - and unfortunately it sometimes falters.
It may be enough for some people, but I watch shows for the story and the characters, and Legion almost never delivers in those aspects, to the point where I wanted to scream. David does carry the show quite well and is a very sympathetic character, but the focus on his broken mind means that we don't get to know much of him at all. All we see is the torture that the Shadow King has brought upon him. The other characters are a very mixed bag, some of whom caused me to almost hit the fast-forward button whenever they came of screen.
Legion would rather have a character perform an interpretive dance than deliver a compelling narrative. It would rather insert a slow motion sequence than give us exciting action. It's chosen style over substance, and while I have to admit that it's a choice that was made with a hell of a lot of statement and reason behind it, it's always going to make something a difficult watch (for me, at least).
To be very clear, I am quite in awe of the way the show looks. There were moments in episode 7 where everything came together in an incredibly effective manner. It's just such a double-edged sword. There were two-and-a-half episodes that were spent trapped in the same moment, and that is just ridiculous. The show is in no hurry to move, and by doing that it's not holding my attention. I don't care about most of these characters, in fact I actively dislike a number of them. I don't want beat poetry, I want a reason to come back each episode. I don't know anything about these people, there was no growth across the season. Everyone is so concerned with David that they have no motivations of their own.
So, let's finish up where the show absolutely shines: Aubrey Plaza. Wow. THERE is the reason to keep coming back. She's always been an entertaining actress, but here she's mesmerising and terrifying and fun and sexy and horrific. All the best moments of the show involved her.
I like Legion but I don't love it. The show is obviously not going to change its style as it goes on and I do want to keep watching, so I can see a struggle ahead. Season 1's end sets things up for a new direction but I can't say it was all that compelling. Most of the season is spent thinking, "what the hell is going on?" and when answers come it feels like the show just wants to try and do something to confuse you more. Season 2 would do best to avoid repeating that.
A fascinating concept executed pretty well for the most part. The range of animation styles makes each short episode feel unique, and they are almost all absolutely gorgeous to look at.
What lets things down is that it feels like it was written by 13-year-old boys. There are episodes that suffer more than others in this regard and they seem to want to make sure that there's a swear word in every sentence, the most over-the-top gore possible and any chance to show off female nudity (with the odd bit of male nudity thrown in for good measure). It just makes it all feel a bit juvenile and in most instances it was completely unnecessary for the story being told.
Fortunately it doesn't ruin things completely. The varied stories here are almost all enjoying and often fascinating. I'd love to see Love, Death + Robots come back with another season, and I'd definitely love to see a few of the shorts here developed in to longer forms.
If I were to rank the shorts, it would probably be along these lines:
SUPERB
-Suits
-Lucky 13
-Three Robots
VERY GOOD
-Sucker of Souls
-Beyond the Aquila Rift
-Fish Night
OKAY/GOOD
-Sonnie's Edge
-Good Hunting
-The Dump
-Zima Blue
-Ice Age
-The Secret War
MEH
-When the Yogurt Took Over
-Shape-Shifters
-Blindspot
POOR
-The Witness
-Helping Hand
-Alternate Histories
There's the occasional good episode in here, but this first season borders on unwatchable at times and shows no hint of the ambition and storytelling that would come later. Very basic plots, and the characters are simplistic.
The voice actors all do good jobs though, and while the animation isn't as good as it will later get the visuals are still strong. The Clone characters are the most interesting even at this stage, but they aren't quite being given enough to do.
At the end of the day it's a kids show and a lot of this is forgivable with that mindset.
The first season seemed like a complete story with a definitive ending. There was a justified question of why this continuation was necessary. I'm glad to say that the creators took the opportunity to continue the story of Alyssa and James by going in a new direction and not repeating what had come before.
The visual look of the show is still there (it really is gorgeously shot, and looks markedly different to other British TV shows; somehow more expensive) as well as the fairly unique locations. Lots of trees and green, some lovely use of low light. Alyssa and James are also the same characters but their experiences have affected them greatly.
The biggest theme of this season is consequences. The two main characters face the repercussions of their actions and not just from the law, but psychologically. They are forced to face what they did and question how they can move forward, whether they do it alone or with each other. They begin to realise how their actions affect those around them. It was a bold move and instantly compelling. Alyssa especially has some real trauma from what she went through and begins to realise that she needs help to make better decisions. James now understands what it means to take a life and how it feels to lose the life of someone close to him. These characters together are electric; they both desperately need each other while they can bring out the worst. It's only once they realise the mistakes they've made that they can build some positives with each other.
Jessica Barden is honestly so good as Alyssa, I think there's a danger of her being typecast or unable to break away from this character.
The biggest addition to the show is the new character Bonnie. She is both the biggest asset to the season while also being the biggest problem. Her story varies wildly from absolutely compelling to utterly dull. The performance from Naomi Ackie is fantastic and she finds that perfect balance between friendly and unsettling, but her character ends up being very loosely defined. In the end she's a perfect companion for the deeply damaged James and Alyssa. The show uses Bonnie extremely well by the end, but the journey there can be frustrating.
There's a bit less comedy this time around, the show feels like it's attempting to grow up in the same way James and Alyssa are. This probably isn't quite as entertaining and carefree as season 1 was, but I think the story is ultimately more satisfying. I can't see a third season being at all needed, but I admit it may be fun to check in on these two characters later down the line.
[7.5/10] I think we all went into this expecting a medieval fantasy version of Futurama, but this show is something quite different (and a million miles away from The Simpsons). It's attempting to tell a big story and it seems that it's decided to do some world building before getting into things.
It's fair to say that things start out a little uneven, maybe even rough. It feels directionless and we're thrown introductions to these characters that feel a bit forced. It's hard to know what to make of Bean, Elfo and Luci to begin with. Bean is the most interesting and feels like the most fully developed: a drunken princess dissatisfied with her place in the world and feeling a lack of respect from her father. She's also determined and brave through her bad attitude, and I found it easy to like her. Elfo and Luci are more difficult, partly because their voices don't quite fit with the character designs. Luci in particular seems to feel like forced comedy most of the time, with his comments rarely raising a chuckle. Elfo does better in this respect, and as the series went on I began to warm to him a lot more (and season end spoiler: I actually really missed him later when he wasn't around.)
Background characters like King Zog, Sorcerio and Pendergast also become much more fun to watch as episodes go by.
It's only the second half of this opening season that things really begin to come together. Stronger storytelling, better jokes and much more emotional moments. It starts to almost feel like this series is leaning towards being a drama with comedic elements rather than the other way round. There are a lot of moving parts here and I get the feeling that Matt Groening and his team are attempting something pretty epic; the show may indeed be a different experience when you go back and watch it a second time and understand everything that's going on.
I love the look of the show. The backgrounds are gorgeous, and while the characters lack detail in comparison they do mesh together pretty well. The animation is of a similar style to Futurama and modern Simpsons, with a lovely mix of 2D and 3D models and what has now become the trademark Groening look.
It's not quite great yet and sometimes it's not even good, but there's enough here to keep me coming back and have me very interested in where things are going. The writing is good but the jokes need to have a bit more quality over quantity. If you gave up after only a few episodes I'd encourage you to keep watching if you have the time (episodes 8 and 9 really cemented the season for me). The show is attempting to create a fascinating world, but is just struggling to give us the best introduction to it.
What a stunning piece of art.
The Dark Crystal was a core film of my childhood, managing to both enrapture and terrify me. The creature designs were nightmarish while also being gorgeous in their own way. The world was a place that just set off my imagination, constantly teasing that there was a lot more to see just out of frame. The plot wasn't as developed as it could have been but it was a story that cried out to be given more depth.
Age of Resistance delivers there. It fleshes out the world of Thra a huge amount and meshes perfectly with the movie. It doesn't attempt to reboot or change anything that was established there and instead just gives us an earlier piece of the narrative* and expands in sometimes new directions. The Skesis are given a reason to be the foul creatures that they are while the Gelfling are given a complete societal structure (and a surprising amount of racism!). Personalities are brought to the forefront, something that was greatly missing in the film (arguably, the Chamberlain and Aughra are the only strongly defined characters in it).
The puppet work is the biggest draw to begin watching. It's just the highest quality work on screen, but it's remarkable how quickly I forgot I was watching puppets and they all just became characters. The Jim Henson crew are just second to none. But it expands to more than just the puppets, because the set designs also bring the world of Thra to life an equally magical way. CG effects are used alongside the practical to enhance everything without getting in the way, and apart from a few overtly cartoony moments I think that they got the balance right.
I'm also pleased that the show continues the spirit of the original in that it doesn't shy away from the darkness or things that could be deemed as "too scary" for children.
Any criticism I have for the show comes down to the storytelling, and even then it's only minor quibbles. There's an impressive voice cast but some actors are definitely better than others. Notably, Taron Egerton in the lead role of Rian didn't quite fit for me and I was taken out of the moment whenever he spoke despite a solid performance. On the flip side, Mark Hamill is just perfect and Simon Pegg does a great job at taking over the iconic role of the Chamberlain. Nathalie Emmanuel and Anya Taylor-Joy make it seem effortless and are two really high points.
The pacing is my main issue. The 10 episodes often feel a bit too stretched out, and there are a few too many scenes of Gelfling sitting around trying to come to terms with what's going on, or the Skeksis just revelling in their disgusting mess. There were moments in just about every episode where I found myself wishing it would get on with things. Plus, the camera can't sit still and the constant swooping/panning/arcing/spinning/dollying becomes a lot to take a bit too often. The excessive shaky-cam in action scenes kind of ruined their flow for me.
The surprisingly emotional punch of the narrative manages to win over these issues, though. Yeah, the Gelfling have stupid faces but they begin to feel like people. There's a real sense of EPIC about it all, and I'm so glad that the decision was made to stick with puppetry in a time when we just don't see them on screen anymore. Without a doubt, this is one of the finest shows to appear this year and I really hope we get more.
Also, Hup is wonderful.
There's a lot of intriguing ideas here, unfortunately it kind of feels like they've all been done before. It doesn't help that The Boys feels a little bit cheap due to a mix of budget constraints, production design and a few real misfires in casting. The storytelling is often scattershot and I even at the end of the season I feel like I haven't been properly introduced to quite a few characters and their development was extremely weak (notably A-Train, The Deep). There's an immaturity to it all that just prevents it going from good to great a little too often.
There's a lot of strong stuff, though. Jack Quaid as Hughie is fantastic and credibly portrays someone really out of his depth who's getting swept away. Karl Urban is definitely playing a very exaggerated character (with a dodgy attempt at an accent), but he makes it work and the character is great fun. The dark humour works more often than not, even when it's unexpected. Erin Moriarty as Annie/Starlight is a real bright spot in an otherwise grim show. The show presents a gloriously America-centric point of view and makes no apologies for it, presenting issues that feel unique to its set up and location and can certainly inspire a lot of debate (which did indeed happen among my housemates and I).
The show is often gratuitous to the point of absurdity, but it's not a massive issue with only a few moments that felt genuinely unnecessary, just put in there to satisfy gore hounds. This applies to the characters too, many of whom are unbelievably shitty people. This super cynical viewpoint was often a turn off for me.
I still found more to like than dislike here, but this could be a lot better. The show takes 8 episodes to tell very little story and there isn't much to really get invested in. And has Simon Pegg ever been more miscast than here?
The Good Place has the potential in it to be a really amazing, fun show. It completely ignores that potential, though, in favour of playing things as safe as possible. It's frustrating, because the show has a fantastic central concept and both Kristen Bell and Ted Danson have the ability to make anything they are involved in better.
It turns out that they are not quite enough, and Danson especially gives a distractingly odd performance throughout (reasons for this can be explained away, but it's so off putting). The humour is extremely hit and miss, although most episodes did manage to get one genuine laugh out of me. It's a show that desperately needs to be more risqué and have more adventurous storytelling. Every character beside the two leads are bland, poorly written and certainly poorly acted (Chidi and Tahani being the biggest culprits).
BUT. The show does something unexpected. It actually pushes the narrative forward instead of sticking to the same conceit every episode, giving us new storytelling avenues. By the end we get that genuinely unexpected twist that re-frames EVERYTHING we've seen so far, and actually makes the show's annoyances suddenly make sense in retrospect.
Even if that hadn't happened, there's something about The Good Place that made me want to keep watching. It's completely mediocre but has enough of a spark that it succeeds in standing out, and given how the first season ended it could go somewhere good.
I thought I'd finally see what all the fuss is about, and so far I'm pretty glad I have. It's true that it doesn't get off to the strongest start with some pretty basic storytelling and episodes which feel a bit too much on the childish side, but it continues to build a world that becomes fascinating and extremely well thought out. The characters become more interesting and complex as it goes on and start dealing with themes that are far above the "kids show" roots. It's also pretty funny.
Prince Zuko may be the most compelling character, with the first impressions of him being an extremely vanilla bad guy who is evil just because. Episodes reveal more about what's going on with him and I actually began rooting for him to have some luck. I also love his Uncle Iroh who walks the line between comic relief and genuinely important mentor.
Aang isn't the best protagonist at times due to his immature nature and the fact that he keeps repeating a lot of the same mistakes before learning from them. Katara stands out as the one to watch, with her brother Sokka being unfortunately relegated to the "idiot" role most of the time, but when he has something important to do it makes it have all the more impact.
I'm not in love with the anime-inspired visual style and jerky frame rate (I really struggle with Japanese style animation, it's always been a massive turn off for me), but later episodes have some striking art. Looking forward to seeing where it goes next.
Unbelievably good production design caused this to look more like a film than a TV show. This program created its own world, and it's stunning. While it got a little weird at times and felt a bit repetitive and predictable, there was enough here to make this stand out as something special. The humour was perfect and I really enjoyed the little fourth-wall-breaking moments. Great actors all around, and some good twists. I also appreciated that the font used for Sunny's subtitles reminded me of playing Monkey Island.
A stronger season overall, although I didn't think it quite reached the highs of the first one. However, this was far more consistent throughout with pretty much no truly weak episodes. This show has captured my imagination and I'm continually impressed with the logical worldbuilding and how it it all grows. Our characters learn enough to be able to unleash their true abilities and it gives us some really stunning and endlessly creative action sequences in which you think, "oh, of course they would be able to do that!".
Toph is a great addition to the main characters, and I quite like Azula and her gang as antagonists (in particular, Ty Lee is really fun and I love her bizarre infatuation with Sokka). I had a few issues with things once the gang got to Ba Sing Se where the overall narrative really seems to stall. This sorts itself out eventually, but I can't say it's my favourite place to spending all these episodes.
Mostly, I really love seeing the development of all these characters. They are staying true to themselves while also learning and growing. Katara maybe my favourite aspect of the show, and I love how her abilities have developed into making her a truly formidable opponent. But she's also the real emotional heart of things. However, the show may be shining best when it comes to Prince Zuko and his Uncle Iroh who are compelling with every moment of screen time they are given.
Star Trek has been desperately in need of a fresh new angle for a long time. The JJ Abrams films attempted that and while they mostly got by on the charms of the actors, they mostly missed what Star Trek is at its core.
I was excited about Discovery from the start. We've been given a serialised show with a more adult centre which was exactly what I was after (and the reason that DS9 remains the best the franchise has ever done). Now that the season is finished, I can look back and see that while it took some odd turns, lacked any coherent message and had some strange choices along the way, the show has kept me gripped and excited from start to finish.
On the good side, the show is a visual treat and has to rank among the best looking television shows ever. It's clear that, unlike so much Trek of the past, money was available. The action sequences, of which there are many (and there always have been in this franchise, with the Original Series really laying the foundation for that) are creative and exciting.
I also have grown to really like the characters, especially Stamets, Tilly and Saru. Indeed, they managed to consistently outshine the lead character of Michael Burnham who at this point I actually think is the weakest link. That's not at all the fault of Sonequa Martin who does a fantastic job in the role, but more the agonisingly poor dialgoue and storyline her character is lumped with. Especially in regards to her romance with Ash Tyler, a pairing which lacked chemistry from the start and is derailed no end by Tyler himself being so thoroughly uninteresting.
I was pleasantly surprised by the twists along the way (a shame that so many people on line guessed them beforehand, I would have loved to have not seen them coming), and the excursion to the Mirror Universe was the highlight of the season. This managed to also show us how important Jason Isaacs was to the cast, and his absence is now sorely felt.
If anything, I think the season has suffered from too much focus on Burnham at the expense of the rest of the crew. Discovery never feels like a cohesive unit of characters, more like the Michael Burnham show. Nobody has a personal journey outside of her. I think it's completely possible to tell a fully serialised story but still allow for other characters to get narrative arcs dedicated entirely to them. I feel like I barely know anything about them - who is that robot lady on the bridge and why aren't we dedicating lots of time to her?! Another low point has been the poor depiction of the Klingons; not only because the new design looks terrible but mostly because their scenes slowed down the narrative so much.
Star Trek is about exploration and ideas and Discovery does manage to fit this in but also forgets about it in place of trying to find "cool" moments. Trek is also about people (something many fans seem to forget) and how we treat others, and Discovery maybe gets a bit too specific and melodramatic with this. But I've watched the entire season with a smile on my face and feel very eager to see more. I love the serialised storytelling, but I'd like to see things lean more towards the whole crew rather than just Burnham, allow for side stories and not be so serious all the time. The season wrapped up in an extremely convenient and honestly stupid way, so going ahead the show needs to forge a path that says what this show is actually ABOUT. It could also do with slowing down a bit and letting us take in the characters.
Season 4 feels very "settled". I'm sure that in no small part due to the show finally having a permanent writing staff and a unified direction. It provides us with a number of fantastic episodes and really fires on all cylinders, providing a wonderfully varied season of storytelling.
What struck me most this time is how much continuity and seralisation is actually here. I always think of TNG as being episodic, with 45-minute stories told each week and then forgotten about, but it's not true at all. There are a large amount of references to things that happened earlier and the characters definitely grow as a result of certain events. Notably, the story of Worf's discommendation and the brewing Klingon civil war/pact with the Romulans is spread very nicely throughout. Things really come to a head in 'The Drumhead' as a number of seeds previously sown are recalled. Background character Chief O'Brien starts to take on a much larger role, and of course Wesley Crusher finally departs.
The season begins by resolving the Borg cliffhanger, and Picard is given a whole episode to deal with it in 'Family'. A good deal of the first third of the season actually uses family as a recurring them; we meet Picard's brother, Data's father (and his brother again), Worf's parents, Wesley's (deceased) father, Tasha Yar's sister, Riker's (fake) son, Worf's son and O'Brien gets married. It's a clear demonstration of how the show wanted to emphasise the bond between these people, and highlighting what was most important.
There's an unfortunate run of terrible episodes around the halfway point, but the season recovers. Great stuff, and firmly establishing the golden age of TNG (although, I think better might be yet to come).
Best episodes for me: Family, Remember Me, The Wounded, Reunion, Data's Day, Qpid, The DrumheadWorst episodes for me: Legacy, Devil's Due, First Contact, Identity Crisis, The Host, Suddenly Human
Star Wars is my favourite thing ever. The announcement of this show came with a lot of promises and built up expectations on my part. It's so nice to be able to say that the show lived up to and surpassed all of them.
This first season of The Mandalorian feels mostly like an introduction, setting up the world and the characters and making use of a storytelling technique that falls somewhere in between episodic and serialised. It works. The main plot follows the rescue and protection of a small creature that appears to belong to Yoda's species, and this story flows through all the episodes even though it sometimes takes a backseat. Even when Mando is dealing with a side issue, we continue to learn more about Baby Yoda (for want of a better name) and the relationship between the two characters develops.
It's such a satisfying and easy thing to watch. Opting to use more puppetry over CGI for Baby Yoda was a smart move, and he/she is such a cute and adorable creation that it's impossible not to find yourself deeply caring about what happens to him/her. The episodes which deal with more self-contained stories are surprisingly welcome, giving us a slice-of-life in the Star Wars universe feel and allowing the show to deal introduce different genres and styles. While the show often presents a slightly more violent and darker angle than we're used to in Star Wars, it's also the funniest thing produced for the franchise yet (although the X-Wing novels from the 1990s are close in the running).
Visually the show is incredible. A new technology referred to as Stagecraft has been used extensively. It's essentially an evolved form of blue screen/green screen which allows the actors to actually see the environment they're in and reacts in real time to camera movements to allow the background to dynamically adjust. The results are impressive and lend the show an epic quality. Not to mention the fantastic set and costume design which fits in very nicely with the world set up in the original trilogy. If was to criticise then I would say some of the alien make-up fell flat (notably in the prison ship episode), but not to a distracting degree.
The music is also a highlight, diverting sharply from what we would consider standard Star Wars music but really working within the style of the show. It took a couple of episodes to get used to but now feels like an integral part.
Most of all, the show has a real emotional impact. Baby Yoda contributes to a big part of that, but Pedro Pascal in the lead role of the Mandalorian manages to do a lot while being behind a mask. His body language and voice performance are simply fantastic. Other characters leave an impression too and we feel like we get to know them even with a fairly small amount of screen time. They are all well written. The deaths of IG-11 and Kuill had an impact, the reveal of Cara Dune being from Alderaan gave us a sudden clear insight into her character. And the moment when Mando finally took off his helmet was brilliantly executed, with a genuine build up and then the reveal of a battered man who seemed slightly frightened that he may be about to die humanised him a lot.
The ending set up a very clear and exciting direction for season 2, plus we had the Dark Saber reveal, which ties into the Clone Wars and Rebels TV shows. It's clearly made by people who understand and love Star Wars. Finishing each episode of this left me in such a good mood and there's no other show this year that has brought me so much joy. Honestly, I can't wait for more.
Mesmerising stuff. Mindhunter is all about conversations; it's a show without action but is incredibly tense. I often find myself on the edge of my seat from just wondering what a character is going to say.
Compared to season 1, this time we go in a slightly new direction. The first half keeps us in similar territory as Holden and Bill interview imprisoned murderers, but the situation in Atlanta begins demanding more and more time. I liked the plot here, despite it taking away from the fascinating original set up. Wendy is given some screen time to fill in on interviewing duties, but it's actually very little. I do feel like she's had a very small part to play so far. The acting paired with the sizzling dialogue makes for top quality television.
It's not perfect, though. The show has an odd pace and even though I find myself completely absorbed in each episode, it is often slow. There are a number of subplots set up here that aren't given time to breathe and it left me feeling unfulfilled, almost as if the show isn't too interested in really getting on with them. Notably, the entire (terrifying) situation with Bill and Nancy's son, and also Wendy's seemingly dead-end romance that I never really felt convinced by. We also are teased with finally digging into the BTK killer before that entire plot line is derailed by Atlanta. There's a huge sense of unfinished business on all fronts.
The character themselves still don't feel completely defined to me. Holden's panic attacks became forgotten and Wendy seems reluctant to show any actual personality. Still, I'm totally in love with this show and each time an episode unexpectedly ended I was eager to continue - I forced myself not to binge watch, though! That would do a massive disservice to the quality on screen.
More than anything, I was curious about this show when it was first announced. I love the idea that each Trek series can be something completely different and I'd like to think that I'm pretty open minded, so an "adult animated comedy" immediately piqued my interest and I honestly though it sounded fun. But I was also confused as to just how it would function, or even fit in with the Trek framework. I didn't want Rick and Morty with a Star Trek skin.
That's not what this is at all. Lower Decks is clearly made by people who both love Star Trek and are intimately familiar with it. Each episode is a joyous exploration of various Trek tropes that are turned inside out and then made to provide us with pure entertainment. And yet they still manage to stay true to Trek's ideals, and they send the characters on a journey of discovering themselves and what they want out of their lives.
Mostly, the show is genuinely funny. This is a case of the producers not showing off their best stuff in the trailers and really saving the surprises for the broadcasts. The season continues to steadily improve and settle down as it goes on, but even out of the gate I was enjoying it. There's a fast pace in the early episodes (maybe too fast) that gets smoothed out, and any questions we have about how these characters are supposed to fit into their roles get answered. It slots very nicely into canon and works as a continuation of the '90s era of Star Trek shows.
The show is a deep dive into Trek lore and even the most die hard fans will find references to their most obscure favourite things. And yet it's not overdone, it's just FUN. I don't think it's even off putting for viewers who may not be all that familiar with Trek's past, as a friend of mine with only a passing knowledge of the franchise really got into the series (I shall now continue my mission to get her to watch more!)
The voice cast do excellent work, and the characters really came to life for me over the course of the season. Notably, Mariner is a fascinating and complex character who gets explored in detail and has probably emerged as my favourite. Over the course of the season, these characters genuinely made me feel things and fall in love with them. And I can't help but notice how much each actor looks like the character they play - could this be an intentional move to facilitate live action appearances down the line?
Future Man ends on a high note after three seasons that got progressively weirder. I can't help but think that a lot of the narrative was created without too much thought about where it was all going, and I imagine that the sad death of actress Glenda Headly during the first season caused some real changes of plan. The finale here feels very disconnected from any events that happened in the show previously, but it's done in such a way that it still works.
Season 2 really didn't work for me and felt like the biggest consequence of the changes. It was very different from what came before and extremely downbeat. Season 3 opts for a bit more fun, some great changes of time period and location throughout, and most importantly it keeps our three main characters together. I didn't find the humour to be quite as on point as before, but the overall tone was a real improvement.
I think the characters of Josh, Tiger and Wolf are going to be the biggest takeaway from this show for me. The actors fit the roles so well that it's now going to be difficult to me to associate them with anything else. Derek Wilson's fake gravel voice and Eliza Coupe's over-the-top aggressiveness were never anything but a joy. And Josh Hutcherson was the glue that held the team together by playing a geeky, terrified everyman that was so easy to relate to. It felt like the actors were always having fun in the roles.
This season makes our heroes wanted criminals being tracked by time police from the future after all the damage they've caused. This is headed up by Seth Rogen. When he appeared at the end of last season I found him to feel out of place but he is integrated far better here. There's also a myriad of famous historical figures who play a part (Marilyn Monroe, Buddy Holly, Abraham Lincoln, Jesus), but while their introduction was fun it also kicked off a run of episodes which really went on for too long. The entire section spent at Haven felt like wasted time in an already short season, and the effect of allowing Tiger and Wolf to grow as people could have been handled much more succinctly. But I did love the goat.
The first season of the show stands as the best it had to offer, but the finale manages to wrap things up nicely. It fulfilled the main requirement which was finally solidifying the bond and friendship that Tiger and Wolf feel for Josh. It's always been funny to see them treat him like crap, but underneath we were all rooting for them to accept each other. They work SO WELL together! And in the end we even find out that it was all based on a true story, with completely whitewashed casting! Genius.
Honestly, I really missed the whole initial concept of the video game geek as the mistaken hero and the mission to kill the man who will destroy humanity, but the show evolved and continued to give us new stuff. This is somewhat rare. Future Man definitely wasn't a show for everyone given how obscene it would regularly get, but it was a show that fully embraced it's geekiness and how silly it was. I'm glad I stayed with it.
With every episode, there were things about this that made me say, "wow!".
Sometimes I was saying that in regards to the incredible visuals on screen, which are truly top quality and show incredible creativity and imagination. Other times I was saying it in regards to the unbelievable plot, ridiculous characters and insane happenstances that plagued it from beginning to end.
This really is one of the worst written shows currently. The characters are endlessly bland and meaningless, the plot is completely contrived and each episode just flows from one disaster to the next which our characters manage to miraculously escape from every single time.
Then part of me remembers that this is a kid's show, or at least a family show, and I have to give it some leeway. It betrays that at times by including some moderately adult elements (violence, gore, language, punchable characters), but always snaps back to being "safe". The focus on the children as the main characters is very much to the detriment of things, as they are all quite annoying (despite being generally strong actors). Will in particular seems to be either emotional or on the verge or tears in every single one of his scenes. Reign it in a bit please, writers.
In the end, this show wasn't made for me. It's for older kids/young teens who still enjoy reading YA novels about heroic kids saving the world. I know it's somewhat constrained by following the parameters of the original TV show, but one of the kids here is a FULLY TRAINED DOCTOR. I don't know how I'm supposed to approach that.
Then we have the appalling Dr. Smith, who derails every scene she's in with pure nonsense. She exists purely to be a spanner in the works with no genuine reasoning behind it. The human colonists are a bunch of morons who are supposed to all be geniuses, but are far more interested in their selfish needs and egos and don't behave as any kind of highly trained group.
It certainly wasn't all bad, and most episodes did have moments that made me want to pay attention and know what's going to happen next but it's got no depth whatsoever, and I'm genuinely bummed about that because I was really excited about watching this.
I have no familiarity with the Castlevania video games, so it was only word of mouth that convinced me to give this a watch. That, and the very appealing short length (4 episodes, each about 25 minutes) make for a good recipe to try it out. I was pretty impressed, this is a gruesome, dramatic and surprisingly funny series.
It's the voice cast that really sell it. A who's-who of the sci-fi and fantasy world give us the likes of James Callis, Richard Armitage and Graham McTavish providing three of the male lead roles, with the wonderful Tomy Amendola providing a supporting part. All the voice acting is stellar and fit the characters they were playing extremely well. Armitage in particular gets in some wonderful sarcastic humour as Trevor and it makes him far more likeable than if he were just a brooding outcast type. Meanwhile, Alejandra Reynoso gives him a run for his money as Sypher and I found her to be the most interesting character in the show due to her hopeful attitude, ability with magic and one of the funnier lines in the season (peeing in a bucket).
I appreciated that this wasn't a constant orgy of violence and action. Character building is done well, and time is taken for scenes to play out through just talking; there's a really funny bar scene in which two drunks discuss their woes which involve bestiality and apparant incest (full of disgusting dialogue, this is not a show for kids). Fighting is present, of course, and it's delightfully over the top in terms of blood and gore. as well as creative.
The animation and visual style are where I struggled to connect. It's modelled on anime which I find pretty much unwatchable, but that's just a personal preference. While the backgrounds are vibrant, the characters are bland and the movement is choppy. If this hadn't had the soul and charm brought by the voice cast and enjoyable script, I doubt I would have made it past the first episode.
Season 3 turned the show around, and I'd go as far as saying that it saved the franchise. A massive change of people behind the scenes resulted in a big shift in tone for the show, and this bled over into every aspect of production. Michael Piller took the reins as what we would now call showrunner, and writers like Ronald D. Moore, René Echevarria and Ira Steven Behr did their first work.
The show became more confident, and made its storytelling far more about the characters than the plots. It looked better, with a more cinematic style and much improved uniforms for the cast. We got to know these people in a far more intimate and relaxed manner than previously, and they each managed to find their own voice. Beverly Crusher was a welcome return.
While it's not a perfect season, it's such an improvement over what came before as to be almost unrecognisable. The first two seasons of the show almost feel like they fit into The Original Series at times with their cardboard planet sets, overly dramatic camera shots and quirky acting. Here, Star Trek: The Next Generation came into its own.
Quite surprisingly, Wesley Crusher becomes quite interesting here. Maybe it's because he wasn't constantly saving the ship and acting like a brat, or maybe it's because they finally gave him some personality. His conversations with his mother are some of the highlights of the season. Data gets a massive amount to do and starts to show that he is capable of very nuanced human behaviours.
The one character who is left behind somewhat is Geordie. The poor guy just never gets developed well, there's not much personality and he doesn't seem to have anything much going on other than his engineering work. His dating attempts are routinely abysmal, and I can't help but think that LeVar Burton deserved better.
Best episodes for me: Yesterday's Enterprise, The Offspring, The Best of Both Worlds (1), Who Watches The Watchers, The Enemy, The Defector, AllegianceWorst episodes for me: The Price, Booby Trap, The Vengeance Factor, The High Ground, A Matter of Perspective, Tin Man
What it lacks in budget it makes up for with storytelling. It's impossible not to compare it to the likes of Game of Thrones or Outlander, which manage to outshine it just due to the resources they have, but the first season of The Last Kingdom is gripping and well put together. Battle scenes are creatively shot using very limited angles and the dialogue is unfortunately modernised a bit too far, but the cast are the show's secret weapon.
It moves extremely fast, and this is both a good and bad thing. It means that the show is rarely dull, but it also means we don't get to spend any time just taking things in. There's an episode where Uhtred is given over as a hostage and has to stay with the Danes; this could have made up a whole episode or two, but lasts about 10 minutes. The passage of time is lost on numerous occasions in the show's attempt to just fit as much in as it can.
Speaking of the Danes, I was hoping to spend more time with them than we did. They are really the most interesting (and fun) characters, and I savoured any moment that an episode cut away to them.
The plot is pretty simple by many standards, with only a small cast of core characters that are easy to keep track of. It makes for a very easy watch. I think I found the first five episodes to be the best, having Ubba as the main bad guy was brilliant, and it's a shame he couldn't stay around longer. I also adored Mildrith, Uhted's reluctant wife, and felt incredible sorry for her.. Uhtred himself can be annoyingly arrogant and hot-headed, and he never seems to learn from his mistakes.
Looking forward to season 2.
There's something off about Torchwood. The premise is interesting enough, being given a nice setup in series 2 of Doctor Who, but the tone is bizarre. It's an adult show that exists within the Whoniverse, and therefore piles on the sex, violence and swearing. Doctor Who is a family show aimed more at the kids, but adults are a huge part of its audience. So it made some sense to create a spinoff that could be more mature.
But Torchwood isn't mature. It throws in the aforementioned sex and blood and swear words, but its writing is still at the level of Doctor Who. By that I mean it still has people running around shouting silly dialogue, giving us tons of exposition, plot contrivances, poorly designed monsters and only glimpses of emotional maturity. This stuff works in Who, in fact it works quite well because we know we're watching a fun kids adventure show. But this is supposed to be an adult drama, so immediately things feel iffy. The pantomime vibe is still here.
The characters do the show no favours either. I quite enjoy Captain Jack portrayed by John Barrowman, but I think it's fair to say that dramatic acting is not his forte. The issues with the rest of the characters are numerous, but it's a real problem when they are so completely uninteresting (Tosh and Ianto) or absolutely impossible to like (Owen). Gwen is our way into the story being the newcomer, and she's handled better but she makes odd choices. The character has nowhere near enough depth to give us the information to understand why.
The writing is not able to do justice to the stories being told. This isn't the fault of the actors (...mostly), but down to the laughably weak dialogue and direction. It doesn't help that visually it's all so poor, inheriting the cheapness from it's parent show of this era. Through all this there is fun to be had. There are good episodes in there and a sense of camaraderie does build within the cast. There's so much room for improvement though.
A fairly strong miniseries that's let down by the final episode. There are strong actors all round and I found myself getting extremely caught up in the story, especially in the second half. I'm a sucker for a courtroom drama so it's a little disappointing that made up such a small part of the show, but there's a great thread of investigation going on all though this. Chris Evans carries it very well (I love these drama pieces he does every so often, see also Gifted) and gets excellent support from Michelle Dockery.
Jacob, the son, keeps you guessing all the time. He can act like a normal kid and then go slightly creepy in just the right way to make you question things. There are some slightly infuriating choices as the show continues which makes you wonder how intelligent the characters actually are, but for the most part everything rings true.
It's the ending that kind of derails it all for me. Obviously I'm not going to spoil things in any detail here, but suffice to say it didn't hit the mark and changes the tone up a bit too much. I was left feeling deeply unsatisfied with the resolutions or in some cases lack thereof. Otherwise a pretty fantastic series.
Unlike Clone Wars, Rebels is pretty decent from the start. But it's also quite a different show. This focuses on a small group of characters and sticks mostly to the same location, the planet Lothal, throughout the season. It's a more intimate show and I think it benefits from this.
It also helps that these are new characters and we don't know their fates. Something that always held Clone Wars back was that we knew what was going to happen to Anakin, Obi-Wan, Padme, etc., and we knew that they were never in danger. That's not the case here where anything can potentially happen.
It's still a show aimed at children, of course. It has plot contrivances galore and the feeling that the heroes are always going to escape to fight another day is definitely there. But the show is able to throw in its own surprises and the continuing narrative helps to keep things interesting. Still, the characters here need work and are mostly defined by a single personality trait; that means that Ezra, Zeb and especially Chopper become tiresome while Hera and Sabine are heavily underdeveloped. And yet, there is clear progression as things become more complicated. That leaves Kanan as the most interesting of the bunch.
I've seen Rebels before but forgotten a lot of it, although I definitely don't remember enjoying it as much as I did this time. It's goes to an effort to recreate the feel of the original trilogy, especially with the space battles, and it succeeds.
[7.5/10] The show finally begins living up to its potential. While it's still plagued by a number of weak episodes and pantomime villains, there is also really epic storytelling here. In addition, we are given strong character moments that finally make the show feel more personal. Ahsoka especially gets some excellent development.
The arc based around Asaaj Ventress was the real high point for me - even if it introduces the character with the worst name in Star Wars (Savage Opress). It finally gave her some depth and Dathomir is a visually striking location. Similarly, the Mortis arc was daring in its exploration of the Force and felt truly significant.
Some great clone-based episodes too, though I wish there had been more. The bad episodes do bring the season down and it can feel like a videogame a bit too often, but when it's good it's very good.
Very muddled and obtuse storytelling along with a cast that don't quite seem to fit make this a challenging watch, at least for the first half. It's a shame, because so many other elements are here to make a really great sci-fi show. And good sci-fi TV was seriously lacking at the time this premiered. I'm glad the show elects to use on-screen text each time we shifted to a new location, but more really was needed. I've read the book and I struggled to follow a lot of the events happening here.
Things do improve, the cast especially become easier to watch. Thomas Jane stands above everyone despite playing a very clichéd role as the burnt-out detective who drinks a lot, and he seems to be the only character who reacts to things like a person should. The crew of the Canterbury/Rocinante are a much bigger issue, not only do they not seem to gel well together, they don't really seem to inhabit their roles. It's mostly in their interactions and reactions to things, they act peculiarly without any explanations. These people certainly aren't meant to like each other all that much, but it can feel like they each are acting in completely different stories. But again, this improves as the the episodes go by. Unfortunately, Shohreh Aghdashloo is never really convincing and her scenes slow down an already complex narrative (despite her fantastic voice).
Just about everything else does work. The universe of the show is well developed and fascinating, if not all that pleasant to see. The special effects are mostly of a high quality and when the story gets going it all becomes quite gripping. I've heard the show continues to improve and I'm eager to continue.
It's pretty amazing that we now live in a time when a show like this is possible. Resurrecting an old classic story, bringing back original actors and playing on nostalgia to continue a plot that we last saw over 30 years ago is something that we could never have imagined happening only a short while ago. Fans of various films and shows have fantasised about exactly this sort of thing for as long as I can remember, and we've finally reached a place where the powers that be are willing to listen (Twin Peaks, Star Wars, The X-Files, Veronica Mars, Ghostbusters, Creed, Deadwood).
It's no surprise that if it's done right, the audience are going to love it. Cobra Kai does it right. Bringing back Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence, we finally get an official continuation of The Karate Kid saga showing how their lives went. Unfortunately, the wonderful Pat Morita is no longer with us so Mr. Miyagi can't return too, but his presence is felt throughout.
The show chooses to use nostalgia to the full, and it's to its credit that the format works well. It heavily references moments from the original films, uses the original soundtrack and brilliantly makes use of small clips as flashbacks. It also gives us a new dynamic by introducing the next generation of karate kids and gets us invested in their struggles all while entwining them with the bad blood between Daniel and Johnny.
It also takes the very interesting tactic of making Johnny a protagonist and showing us things from his perspective. This makes it very easy to become invested in the drama on screen, because we are rooting for everyone. Johnny himself can be his own worst enemy, but he recognises the mistakes he's made and wants to improve himself (even if his own dated viewpoint gets in the way). Daniel is a successful family man, but his hotheaded temper hasn't entirely gone away and he needs to struggle to find his balance again.
And then there are the kids, who are all great. Miguel becomes Johnny's first student, and goes from a kindhearted geek getting bullied to something of a monster thanks to taking Johnny's teachings a little too much to heart after he realises how good it makes him feel. It's a fascinating transformation that isn't easy to watch, because it becomes harder and harder to root for him. On the other side we have Johnny's estranged son Robby who begins learning from Daniel and is set on a path to redemption from his life of petty crime. All the different paths and goals crossing here make for an often cheesy but never dull mix.
While the show does often fall back on formulaic nonsense (bullies, geeks, family arguments) that play out in unrealistic ways, the pure entertainment makes it all work. My biggest criticism is that the karate itself feels very glossed over; I found it hard to believe that all of these kids were ready for the All Valley Tournament by the end of the season and I don't think the show establishes the passing of time all that well (this must have taken place over the course of a year or so, surely?). I also think that a few of side characters (Amanda, Hawk) are barely fleshed out enough to justify their screen time.
Cobra Kai is a highly entertaining and often very funny show that knows how to use nostalgia to its full and succeeded in making me really care about where all of these characters are going.
While I have to applaud the show for changing things up so much and not repeating what has come before, honestly I found the new direction to be a bit too much to take. I could barely recognise the show I enjoyed so much before and I just couldn't get into this. It completely lost the fun factor and changed the character's personalities too much, leaving us stuck in a really uninteresting and unpleasant future. Splitting up Josh, Tiger and Wolf for the majority of the season was a poor decision too.
This also felt a lot cheaper, especially with how it stayed in the same location the whole time.
There were good moments throughout and I thought the last couple of episodes helped redeem things a bit (despite Seth Rogen making a completely unnecessary appearance that felt too much like ego-stroking). It's been announced that season 3 will be the final one so I'll probably watch it to finish the story up, but I really hope it returns to the fun time travel antics of season 1.
