Category Archives: TV Reviews

Jury Duty: Season 1 – TV Review

Posted on by
7

TL;DR – This is a delightfully eccentric look at a more than absurd scenario.  

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

A security camera.

Jury Duty Review –

I have seen a lot of different setups for a tv show, but whenever I have watched a scenario where one of the participants is not in on the joke, it always falls flat. Which meant I came into this with a bit of trepidation. It is so easy to slip into cruelty when everyone knows what is being withheld. You are walking on a high wire perched precariously with disaster all around. That is why it is so much fun that it actually worked.

So to set the scene, an ad was put out there to join a documentary about jury duty, and Ronald Gladeen (Ronald Gladeen) signed up. He is told that he is part of Judge Alan Rosen’s (Alan Barinholtz) final court case recording. Trevor Morris (Ben Seaward) has been alleged to have passed out work and destroyed an order for boss Jacquiline Hilgrove (Whitney Rice). It is an exciting case even before we discover that one of the potential jurors is X-Men actor James Marsden (James Marsden). However, when the paparazzi arrive, all the jurors are sequestered away, and the short court case turns into a three-week slog. The only issue is that everyone, but Ronald, is an actor. Now from here, we will be looking at the series as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.    

Continue reading →

Ted Lasso: So Long, Farewell and Season 3 – TV Review

Posted on by
7

TL;DR – Builds upon everything that made the series great by focussing on the character development of every kind  

Rating: 5 out of 5.

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

Ted sits alone in the stands

Ted Lasso Review –

If there has been one consistent feature over the last few years of that evert the 2020s has been so far, it has been the joy that has come from Ted Lasso. I know this show is stylised, so it could almost be magical realism like The West Wing. But I don’t care. Every moment, every kick of a football, had me on the edge of my chair, and this final season of the show that maybe/probably/we’ll see was no exception. With today’s review, we will first look at the final episode aptly titled So Long, Farewell, and then we will look at the season as a whole.   

So to set the scene, at the end of Season 2, the Richmond Greyhounds fount back from relegation to make it back into the Premier League. This is a triumph for the coaching staff Ted Lasso (Jason Sudeikis), Coach Beard (Brendan Hunt), and Roy Kent (Brett Goldstein). As well as team owner Rebecca Welton (Hannah Waddingham). As the season went on, there were struggles as “The Wonder Kid” Nathan “Nate” Shelley (Nick Mohammed) and his West Ham United team destroyed the team leading to a massive slump. However, as we come into this final episode, things are looking up, but in Mom City, Ted reveals to Rebecca that it is his time to drop a bombshell, and we open this final episode with Rebecca having breakfast in her house and Ted coming out to join her. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode and season as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

Continue reading →

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

Posted on by
5

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. 

Continue reading →

Ted Lasso: Mom City – TV Review

Posted on by
1

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.         

Continue reading →

Silo: Truth – TV Review

Posted on by
2

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.   

Continue reading →

Citadel: Time Renders Us Enemies – TV Review

Posted on by
1

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.   

Continue reading →

Silo: Machines – TV Review

Posted on by
2

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.   

Continue reading →

Citadel: Tell Her Everything – TV Review

Posted on by
2

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.   

Continue reading →

Silo: Holston’s Pick – TV Review

Posted on by
2

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.   

Continue reading →

Citadel: Infinite Shadows – TV Review

Posted on by
1

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.      

Continue reading →