Category Archives: TV Reviews

Citadel: Secrets In Night Need Early Rains & Season 1 – TV Review

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TL;DR – While it sort of sticks the landing, it is a season where the issues greatly outnumbered the positives.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

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

A surgery under fire.

Citadel Review –

I am unsure what I expected when I sat down to watch the groundwork for a new multi-series spy universe. Maybe I was hoping for some good spy shenanigans, boundless chemistry, or even the odd action scene. However, while it started strong with The Human Enigma, it soon fell apart as the seams became apparent. Today we are looking at the finale and this season as a whole to see if they stuck the landing or floundered like a ship on the rocks.    

So to set the scene, at the end of Tell Her Everything, we discover what Nadia (Priyanka Chopra Jonas) has been hiding from Mason (Richard Madden). She has a daughter she did not tell Mason about, and Dahlia Archer (Lesley Manville) has now captured her. They must land on a Russian automatic submarine and then steal all their nuclear cores to see her alive again. Oh, and only Mason can do the jump, and he still can’t remember his time as a spy. 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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Ted Lasso: Mom City – TV Review

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TL;DR – A beautiful penultimate episode, full of touching moments and set up towards the end.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

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

The match ball.

Ted Lasso Review –

If there has been one show that has constantly broken my heart while being ultimately uplifting, it has been Ted Lasso. After a triumphant First and Second season, the Third and probably/possibly/maybe final season has still been hitting it out of the park. But as we draw to the penultimate episode, there is a fear not of what has come but of whether it could stick the landing after everything that has happened so far.   

So to set the scene, Ted (Jason Sudeikis) and the team are on a 15-match winning streak, so his morning walk through the neighbourhood had a certain bounce in his step. That is until he comes to a bus stop and suddenly discovers his mum (Becky Ann Baker) sitting there. She comes with her stories which is a blast to everyone else, but also memories of the past for Ted. While the team gets ready for their big match against Manchester United, there is a feeling of excitement, but for Jamie Tartt (Phil Dunster), there is a collapse of confidence on the eve of his most significant match. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.         

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Silo: Truth – TV Review

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TL;DR – Murder, politics, and conspiracies, oh my.  

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Apple TV+ service that viewed this series.

Truth.

Silo Review –

Murder, political intrigue, and conspiracy, well, now you are speaking my language. I have enjoyed my time down in the depths of the Silo, but so far, we have been given whispers as to what will be the primary drive as we advance. Well, today, we get more than whispers because someone just murdered the mayor, and that tends to be a catalysing event.  

So to set the scene, in Machines, we learned that Holston Becker’s (David Oyelowo) last act as sheriff was to appoint Juliette Nichols (Rebecca Ferguson) as his successor. However, on her first day, she is presented with the most significant challenge the Silo has ever faced. Someone has murdered Mayor Ruth Jahns (Geraldine James). Deputy Marnes (Will Patton) is distraught, Robert Sims (Common) from judicial and Bernard Holland (Tim Robbins) from IT are trying to manage the political fallout. But everyone knows that the Silo is about to change. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.   

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Citadel: Time Renders Us Enemies – TV Review

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TL;DR – A better episode, but you can still feel the foundations shaking as they barrel towards the end of the season.   

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

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

The world spins for Mason.

Citadel Review –

We are starting to barrel towards the end of the season, which usually fills me with wonder or dread about how they will finish it all. However, all Citadel has provoked from me so far is mild indifference, with frustration in seeing hints of something better in a sea of poor choices. I wondered if we would continue this free fall into oblivion, but thankfully, we started stabilising this week.  

So to set the scene, we start where it ended in Tell Her Everything with Mason (Richard Madden) & Nadia (Priyanka Chopra Jonas) in a black site in Morocco trying to rescue Carter Spence (Osy Ikhile), only for Carter to finger Nadia as the mole that took Citadel down. Nine years earlier, the pair were in Athens, where Mason did the unthinkable, he popped the question. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.   

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Silo: Machines – TV Review

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TL;DR – The tension ramps up as the power shuts down.  

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Apple TV+ service that viewed this series.

The Park level in the Silo.

Silo Review –

I think that as a society, we take the connection to water and electricity for granted and would have no concept of what to do if it went out for an hour, let alone more. But what happens when you live deep underground and that power generator is the only thing keeping you from living in the dark, allowing you to breathe … well suddenly, you need to care about it much more.  

So to set the scene, we discovered two very interesting things at the end of Holston’s Pick. First, Holston (David Oyelowo) picked Juliette Nichols (Rebecca Ferguson) to be his replacement as sheriff. Also that Juliette’s late partner found a hidden door in the deep caverns where they hid the machine that dug the Silo. As the mystery abounds, Mayor Ruth Jahns (Geraldine James) and Deputy Marnes (Will Patton) make the slow trip down 140 levels to the bowels of the Silo, where it is not just the generator that is shaking things apart.Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.   

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Citadel: Tell Her Everything – TV Review

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TL;DR – We, unfortunately, continue to flounder with narrative choices that make you go, ‘Wait, what?’.  

Rating: 2 out of 5.

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

A car travels to a black site.

Citadel Review –

We must ask some questions as we continue down this world of spies, betrayal, and baffling narrative choices. Because in between all the debris that is the narrative, there are hints of a good show. But the wreckage is starting to pile up.     

So to set the scene, after discovering that Manticore has taken captive Carter Spence (Osy Ikhile). Nadia (Priyanka Chopra Jonas) and Mason (Richard Madden) head out to a black site in Morocco to try and rescue him. This, of course, does not go to plan because Carter is a broken man and possibly already compromised, but he might also know who brought Citadel down from within. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.   

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Silo: Holston’s Pick – TV Review

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TL;DR – We delve deeper into this world and its story, and I am hooked.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Apple TV+ service that viewed this series.

The doors to the outside open.

Silo Review –

I was intrigued by what we got when I watched the first episode. It was a familiar scenario, but the creatives behind the show presented it in a fresh way with a time-shifted story that didn’t feel convoluted. However, one big thing missing from that first episode was Rebecca Ferguson, who was front and centre of the marketing campaign before the show was released. Well, episode two is here to fix that.

So to set the scene, we open with Sheriff Holston (David Oyelowo) donning the suit as he commits to going outside after he broke the one unbreakable rule in the Silo during Freedom Day. He says his goodbyes to Mayor Ruth Jahns (Geraldine James) and Deputy Marnes (Will Patton) and takes those final steps outside, where he sees a world full of life … maybe. But down in the bowls of the Silo, Juliette Nichols (Rebecca Ferguson) is declaring his betrayal, as we find out much more than we suspect happened when Sheriff Holston came down to investigate the murder or suicide of George Wilkins (Ferdinand Kingsley). Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.   

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Citadel: Infinite Shadows – TV Review

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TL;DR – One or two exciting scenes, a show does not make.  

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

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

An upside-down house.

When we were first introduced to Citadel in The Human Enigma & Spies Appear In Night Time, a relatively straightforward introduction into a world where shadows move in the dark and whole spy organisations can collapse in an afternoon. It was an interesting opening, but soon some of the narrative scaffolding became clear. Can they build from that point, or will the fractious production shine through?  

So to set the scene, after tangling with Davik Silje (Roland Møller), Nadia (Priyanka Chopra Jonas) takes a wounded Mason (Richard Madden) to a Citadel safehouse in Cáceres, Spain. Unlike Mason, Nadia has all her memories back for better or worse and is understandably distant from Mason. However, ten years ago, in the Citadel US HQ in Utah’s deserts, Mason was given a mission to the Alborz Mountains in Iran. Where he meets Citadel’s newest agent. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.      

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Silo: Freedom Day – TV Review

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TL;DR – This is a solid start to the intrigue that did the best job a first episode can do, making me want to see more.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Apple TV+ service that viewed this series.

Allison seeing something that they tried to keep hidden.

Silo Review –

I am always looking for a new genre show with an exciting spin on a setting. While the whole hiding away from the apocalypse in a bunker has been done before, probably most famously by Fallout. However, I am still drawn to this setting for the narrative potential you can find. Let’s bring on this new dystopian/post-apocalyptic/mystery and see what it can do.   

So to set the scene, they do not know why they are there, who built the Silo, why the world outside is a toxic mess, or if it will ever be safe to go back outside. It is on this day when Sheriff Holston (David Oyelowo) goes up to his office, takes off his badge, locks himself in a jail cell, and utters the words that chill his Deputy Marnes (Will Patton) to the core “I want to go out”. The only words once spoken that can’t be taken back. Someone is waiting for him out there in the dust, Allison (Rashida Jones), whom we met over three years earlier. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.      

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Citadel: Spies Appear In Night Time – TV Review

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TL;DR – Not a bad episode, but it is worrying when you can already see some handwaving happening.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

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

Warning – Contains scenes that may cause distress.

Nadia stares down her attacker.

Citadel Review –

There are many things a good story can do. One of the main functions is that you become so caught up in the narrative that you don’t see many of the contrivances that the filmmakers have to use to get us from start to finish. That suspension of disbelief is critical, especially as you move away from reality. However, if your narrative slips, so then does that shield.

So to set the scene, we saw in The Human Enigma the almost complete destruction of the Citadel spy agency in a targeted massacre worldwide. One of those places was a train driving through the Italian Alps. The Train exploded, and we found out what happened to Mason (Richard Madden) last week. This week we open with Nadia (Priyanka Chopra Jonas) dragging herself out of the lake and trying to warn everyone, but Bernard (Stanley Tucci) implements a backstop protocol instead. She escapes but collapses from her wounds, wakes up with the bullet out of her leg, and is handcuffed to a bed. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

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