Category Archives: TV Reviews

Star Trek: Discovery – Face The Strange – TV Review

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TL;DR – A fun romp through the past.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Paramount+ service that viewed this episode.

Moll and L'ak

Star Trek: Discovery Review –

As we continue our tour through the greatest hits of Star Trek Discovery, today’s episode takes that view almost literally. All of this is wrapped around one of Star Trek’s most tried and true go-to stories: Time Travel.

So to set the scene, at the end of Jinaal, we found that the next clue in the mission was in Tzenkethi space. However, before they left Trill, Moll (Eve Harlow) smuggled a Krenim time bug onto Adira (Blu del Barrio). On board, the bug runs around the ship until it gets to Engineering, where Stamets (Anthony Rapp) notices it just before it activates. Luckily, Michael (Sonequa Martin-Green) and Rayner (Callum Keith Rennie) were trying to teleport when the bug activated because they were now lost in time and constantly shifting as well. Now, we will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Star Trek: Discovery – Jinaal – TV Review

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TL;DR – We continue our quest in Trill, where all may not be what it seems, and the game of politics continues.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Paramount+ service that viewed this episode.

the caves of Trill

Star Trek: Discovery Review –

As we fly through the galaxy on this quest, it has been interesting to see just how much this season of Discovery is linking itself back to the past series of Star Trek. It has always felt like it has been pushed there by many people into being more of its own thing. But now, it is embracing its place in the Star Trek world, and I, for one, would love to see it.

So to set the scene, last week Under the Twin Moons, we discovered that the next clue in the treasure hunt was not hidden on Betazed as it first seemed, but was instead on Trill. This was possibly great news for Adira (Blu del Barrio) because Gray (Ian Alexander) has been studying there to be a Guardian. However, as the race heats up, the question is, how will they find the next clue when it has been 800 years since it was hidden? Now, we will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Star Trek: Discovery – Under the Twin Moons – TV Review

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TL;DR – We get our first goodbye, and our race forward continues.  

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Paramount+ service that viewed this episode.

The USS Discovery-A next to the twin moons.

Star Trek: Discovery Review –

We know going into this season that there was not a plan to have this be the last when they were shooting and that extra filming needed to take place to tie things up. However, today, we get to see how, even without planning it, they have started the process of saying goodbye, and I think that was for the best.

So to set the scene, after Moll (Eve Harlow) and L’ak (Elias Toufexis) outsmarted the crew of the USS Discovery-A, there was a need to catch up before they stumbled across some technology that could put the galaxy at risk. Thankfully, Stamets (Anthony Rapp) was able to recover the data and discover that on the planet Lyrek, there are twin moons that cast a dual eclipse once every seven years, an excellent place to start looking. Once the Ship is free of dust, Rayner (Callum Keith Rennie) is raked over the coals, and everyone gets ready to bid Saru (Doug Jones) goodbye. Now, we will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Star Trek: Discovery – Red Directive – TV Review

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TL;DR – With a welcome lighter tone, we get a great opening episode to set up the season.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Paramount+ service that viewed this episode.

The USS Discovery-A docks.

Star Trek: Discovery Review –

Well, it was a rocky start to Star Trek Discovery, and also, it seems it will be a rocky end. Which is a pity given everything they have thrown into it and how it has finally found its voice. However, if this is to be the final season, I am glad they look to be going out on a high.

So to set the scene, we open in a friendly Federation gathering full of ambassadors as the crew help shore up this new growing Federation that is starting to get close to the resurgent Tholian Republic or the Breen Imperium. But the dinner is interrupted by a Red Notice, and the crew of the USS Discovery-A have to make a rushed jump to the wreckage of an old 24-century Romulan ship and get what is inside before scavengers can get to it. Cut to scavengers Moll (Eve Harlow) and L’ak (Elias Toufexis) 100% getting there before anyone. Now, we will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Star Trek: Discovery – Full Season 4 – TV Review

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TL;DR – A season that is equal parts uplifting and frustrating  

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Paramount+ service that viewed this episode.

The crew get lifted into the air by a gravity wave.

Star Trek: Discovery Review –

When I was doing an overview of the site, I realised that there were a couple of missing moments that I was not able to tie up due to things happening at the time. Well, given that today is a public holiday, I thought it would be time to correct this, and the first thing we should do is look back at Season Four of Star Trek: Discovery. When I look at this season, what I see are two distinctly different parts, one which might be the best Star Trek has to offer, and the other which was an unfortunate anchor that weighed the entire series back, and today, we will break those two halves down.  

So to set the scene, after saving the galaxy by finding the cause of “The Burn” in Season Three. The USS Discovery-A has settled into being the leading edge of the resurgent Federation. Negotiating with new members and helping distribute dilithium. However, when a mysterious force destroys the entire planet of Kwejian, there is a race to try and work out who is scouring space before another planet is destroyed. Now, we will be looking at the season as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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3 Body Problem: Countdown – TV Review

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TL;DR – This first episode has left me cautiously optimistic, but I am not sure if it can sustain the momentum it has set for itself, and I am concerned about some of the sharper edges getting sanded back.  

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Netflix service that viewed this show.

Warning – This episode contains scenes that may cause distress.

The sun breaks over the horrizon on day one.

3 Body Problem Review –

There was a certain amount of nervousness as I sat down to watch the first episode of 3 Body Problem: Countdown. It would be a lie to say that Season 8 of Game of Thrones was not part of that, even though I think I am a bit kinder on that than many. But more than that, how is an American team going to go adapting a work that is deeply entrenched in Chinese history and culture into an international product? That is the question I am looking at today.  

So to set the scene, we opened at Tsinghua University, Beijing, in 1966, at the height of the Cultural Revolution. Where students are bringing their professors out in front of the mob for the charge of being counterrevolutionaries. It is here where a young Ye Wenjie (Zine Tseng) watches as the crowd and members of her own family turn against her father, Ye Zhetai (Perry Yung), for teaching the Big Bang Theory. The crowd roars as the older man is beaten to death in front of them. In 2024, in London, Da Shi (Benedict Wong) arrives at the site of a scientist who committed suicide, a countdown written in blood on the walls. One of many reasons is that physics has stopped working as particle accelerators across the world have decided to put out nonsense. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.     

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Halo: Halo and Season 2 – TV Review

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TL;DR – It was a season of highs and lows, but it ended in a wave of potential.  

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Paramount+ service that viewed this episode.

Master Chief looks up to the Halo.

Halo Review –

Well, we have reached the end of Halo’s sophomore season, and oh, do I have a lot to say. It was a wild swing from impressive to frustrating as we both rose above the mess of Season One while also falling back into the same problems. In today’s review, we will first tackle the season finale, the titular Halo, before looking at the season as a whole.

So to set the scene, the conflict between Humanity and the Covenant is coming to a conflagration. The main Covenant Fleet has chased Makee (Charlie Murphy) and the Arbiter (Viktor Åkerblom) to a non-descript solar system, except for what is hidden orbiting around it. After being tipped off by the infiltrated Cortana (Jen Taylor and Christina Bennington), Admiral Parangosky (Shabana Azmi) implements her plan to wipe out the fleet, even if it means taking every Earth spaceship with them. Parangosky knows what is in the middle of this system, and it is better to destroy it than let the Covenant get it. But it would be a shame if the very dead on Reach Master Chief (Pablo Schreiber) turned out to be alive, the one person that can hold Parangosky and Ackerson (Joseph Morgan) to account. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode and season as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Population 11: Season 1 – TV Review

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TL;DR – While it gets messy in the middle, it starts and ends strong, and has a fundamentally entertaining cast.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the STAN service that viewed this series.

The outback full of termite mounds.

Population 11 Review –

If there is one thing that Australia can do very well, it is the mystery set in the Outback. Indeed, some of my earliest TV memories are of the wild and wonderful Jeopardy, which, if you are Australian or British of my age, you will know well. But in the world of Scrublands and Deadloch, we get a new entry today with Population 11. Where we will get into the red dust and possibly tangle with some aliens or people in alien suits … probably the last one.  

So to set the scene, on a quiet night in the Outback surrounded by stars and termite mounds, a man stands alone, looking at a giant tree. That is, until a light appears from the heavens shining down on him, and while he runs, he is not quick enough. Sometime later, a strange American man from Cincinnati, Ohio, arrives in the town of Bidgeegud, which is so tiny that the pub and the church are in the same building. The man Andy (Ben Feldman) is here for the UFO tour led by Hugo (Darren Gilshenan), but maybe that is not the only reason he is there. Nor may it be the only thing going down in this small town. Now from here, we will be looking at the season as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Population 11: Outback UFO Tours – TV Review

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TL;DR – This weird and wonderful first episode hooked me in to see what wild ride we are about to go on.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the STAN service that viewed this series

A tree in the outback at light.

Population 11 Review –

If there is one thing that Australia does very well, it is the mystery set in the Outback. Indeed, some of my earliest TV memories are of the wild and wonderful Jeopardy, which, if you are Australian or British of my age, you will know well. But in the world of Scrublands and Deadloch, we get a new entry today with Population 11.

So to set the scene, on a quiet night in the Outback surrounded by stars and termite mounds, a man stands alone, looking at a giant tree. That is, until a light appears from the heavens shining down on him, and while he runs, he is not quick enough. Sometime later, a strange American man from Cincinnati, Ohio, arrives in the town of Bidgeegud, which is so tiny that the pub and the church are in the same building. The man Andy (Ben Feldman) is here for the UFO tour led by Hugo (Darren Gilshenan), but maybe that is not the only reason he is there. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

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The Gentlemen: Season One – TV Review

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TL;DR – While the characters are a delight in this wacky world, the story struggles in the end.  

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Netflix service that viewed this series.

Eddie looks out on his estate.

The Gentlemen Review –

It wasn’t all that long ago that I sat down to watch a truly bonkers yet very rough film called The Gentlemen. I hadn’t thought in a while, but as I was watching, snippets came back to me, and I remembered how genuinely wild it was. Well, the first episode, Refined Aggression, worked very well.

So the question is, can this promise last the whole season?     So to set the scene, we find ourselves on the Türkiye/Syrian Border at a United Nations manned checkpoint. It is just an ordinary day until the Unit Leader Eddie (Theo James) discovers that his father is gravely ill and he is needed at home. A world of luxury awaits, a far distance from the rural Middle East. It should be a short trip because 600 hundred years of tradition means that the title and lands go to the first-born son, Freddy (Daniel Ings), which makes the will reading all that more perplexing. I sure hope no one has any significant debts that could complicate things. Nor what Susie Glass (Kaya Scodelario) is doing under the stables. Now from here, we will be looking at the season as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.  

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