Category Archives: TV Reviews

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – Wedding Bell Blues [S3E2] – TV Review

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TL;DR – A profoundly silly episode about love, amazingly silly, yet that is what makes it such a joy.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

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

The USS Enterprise at Starbase One.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Review –

One of the great strengths of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has been its ability to shift from genre to genre on a dime. Sure, everything is still couched in that Sci-fi/Star Trek world. But last season we got Those Old Scientists, Under the Cloak of War &Subspace Rhapsody back to back, and it worked. Well, last week’s episode, Hegemony Part II, was all about war, trauma, and potential harvesting into food by the Gorn. This week, we have a wedding episode. Okay, maybe there isn’t that much of a difference after all.

So, to set the scene, the USS Enterprise has been stuck at Starbase One getting repairs for three months thanks to their battles with the Gorn in Hegemony Part II. But it is coming up to the Federation Day Centennial, and it is time for a ceremonial gala. For some, this is a time of un. But for Spock (Ethan Peck), it is a time of nervousness because Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush) is coming back from her three-month fellowship. He is taking out all the steps to make a grand emotional gesture, even getting dance lessons from La’An (Christina Chong). Buuuuuttttt, that doesn’t consider Chapel bringing Dr. Korby (Cillian O’Sullivan) back with her… as her date … Sure hope some entity with cosmic powers doesn’t want to mess with everyone right now. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – Hegemony Part II [S3E1] – TV Review

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TL;DR – it is time to bring the battle to the Gorn, if they can save everyone from a gruesome death.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

Shields at 30%.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Review –

It is that wonderful time of year when I get to welcome some new Star Trek. After the smorgasbord of shows in 2024, it has been a bit of a wait, but I am now and always will be here for more Strange New Worlds. We may only have three seasons left of the show, but I am ready to enjoy each and every episode, starting with the follow-up to last season’s cliffhanger.  

So, to set the scene, after hinting for two seasons, the Gorn are here, and not only are they here, but they have also started taking Federation planets. Fighting across the planet to save the colonists, while Starfleet headquarters called them back, it is what Enterprise crews are made of. The only problem is that when they beamed out all the survivors, some of the transporters were green, and the Federation does not use green transporters. Now, Captain Pike (Anson Mount) must work out how to save his crew and the woman he loves before they fall to the Gorn. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Doctor Who: The Reality War [S2E8] & Season 2 – TV Review

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TL;DR – After a better season overall, it felt like it fell apart in the final moments.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

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

London falling into the rift.

Doctor Who Review –

Well, here we are. The end of the season is upon us, and what an interesting season it was. It was full of fascinating highs and frustrating lows. But, unlike other seasons of Doctor Who, this one has been clearly building through the season (and also retroactively throughout Season One). That build has hit its crescendo this week, and the question is: was the song worthy of Dugga Doo, or did we not even make it to the grand finale?

So, to set the scene, The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and Miss Belinda Chandra (Varada Sethu) finally make it back to Earth on the day Belinda leaves, only to find that everything is not well. Indeed, they have fallen into a deadly trap of one of The Doctor’s great foes, The Rani (Archie Panjabi) and have lost their memories. But The Rani wanted this because she was powering a machine on all the doubt of a whole planet, and what is more potent than the doubt of a Timelord? The Rani is looking for someone so ancient they have been lost to time and space, Omega (Nicholas Briggs), the first Timelord, and she is willing to destroy the Earth to find him. 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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The Last of Us: Convergence [S2E7] & Season 2 – TV Review

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TL;DR – A slightly odd finale that has me ruminating about the strength of the season.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

End Credit Scene – There is a behind-the-scenes making-of.

Warning – Contains scenes that may cause distress.

The Last of Us Review –

Well, we have come to the end of Season Two, and I was not ready, and I don’t mean that from a more existential way, though there is a bit of that in there. But more, the fact that this season only being seven episodes long caught me entirely off guard. Now, our final episode of the season has to do a lot of heavy lifting to stick the landing, and I am concerned going in, that this might be too much of a task to ask of it.  

So, to set the scene, at the end of Feel Her Love, Ellie (Bella Ramsey) becomes separated from Dina (Isabela Merced) and Jesse (Young Mazino) in the park, which leads to her discovering that there are places where the cordyceps have built up enough that it can affect people with their spores, but also where she enacted the first part of her revenge. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode and season as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Rick and Morty: Summer of All Fears [S8E1] – TV Review

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TL;DR – For the first episode back, I am glad that they leaned somewhat into familiar territory while also amping up the weird

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Netflix subscription that viewed this episode.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a post-credit scene.

Summer looking down on her kingdom.

Rick and Morty Review –

Rick and Morty was at an interesting place at the end of Season Seven. The one central plot line that has been burning in the background since the start of the show came to a grand conclusion in Unmortricken, and then the rest of the season was profoundly more experimental, including Rise of the Numbericons: The Movie, where Rick does not appear at all. Coming into Season Eight, I wondered if the lack of a central narrative will leave it with an unanchored feeling? Or will it let the series be cast-free?   

So, to set the scene, Rick (Ian Cardoni) might have decided to teach Summer (Spencer Grammer) and Morty (Harry Belden) a lesson about stealing his phone charger by locking them in a Matrix-like world, all about not stealing phone chargers. They were stuck in that jail for seventeen years and then brought all of those memories back with them. Beth (Sarah Chalke) thinks it would be great to let them keep the memories, and Rick believes it will all blow up in their faces. I wonder who will be right? We will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Doctor Who: Wish World [S2E7] – TV Review

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TL;DR – What if you took vibes, like the most vibes that have ever vibed, and then smashed it into the densest exposition known to human and alien kind?

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

The Doctor and Belinda married with a child.

Doctor Who Review –

Well, here we are, with the beginning of the end in sight. Today, we are exploring the penultimate episode of Season Two, or if you believe the rumours, a penultimate episode of a series finale, or the penultimate episode until it shifts away from a global broadcast. Whatever the case may be, can this episode set up the ending that they need to land next week? Only time can tell, or you read my TLDR above and already know.

So, to set the scene, The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and Miss Belinda Chandra (Varada Sethu) finally make it back to Earth on the day Belinda leaves, only to find that everything is not well. Indeed, they have fallen into a deadly trap of one of The Doctor’s great foes, The Rani (Archie Panjabi). But the thing about Earth is it is a place that The Doctor holds dear, but also where many of his allies call home. Like all Timelords and Timeladies, time travel is always on the cards. But wait! Didn’t the TARDIS explode at the end of The Interstellar Song Contest? 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 Last of Us: The Price [S2E6] – TV Review

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TL;DR – Uplifting with moments of joy, and profoundly sad with the realities of the world.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

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

End Credit Scene – There is a trailer and behind-the-scenes making-of.

Warning – Contains scenes that may cause distress.

A large scale diorama of the Solar System.

The Last of Us Review –

Goodness, this season has ripped through, because I didn’t know I was sitting down to watch the penultimate episode when I pressed play. Even more so because it looks like it is time for 2020’s favourite television interjection, the flashback episode. But given how well they have pulled these off in the past, I had some confidence that the filmmakers could do it again. Let’s see if I was right?

So, to set the scene, it has only been a handful of months since Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) made their way into Jackson. They are still the newbies on the scene, but Joel is trying to prove his place. He is also trying to raise a teenage daughter for the first time since the calamity, which can be touch and go at the best of times. But here, their relationship is built on one thing: the lie of what happened in Salt Lake City. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Murderbot: FreeCommerce [S1E1] – TV Review

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TL;DR – A fascinatingly weird start that kept me wondering from beginning to end.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

The Murderbot.

Murderbot Review –

There is a lot of sameness out there in the world of entertainment; if you have seen one police procedural, generally you have seen them all, irrespective of whether they have a dun-dun sound. But when you do stumble into something new, something weird, something quite odd, well, that is something to cherish.  

So, to set the scene, we open on the Mining Station Aratake in the Corporation Rim. Here, all the miners are celebrating the end of the mining expedition 115-24TTX. The one person not celebrating is the Security Unit, which has to follow human orders and tries to keep them safe. But as he is sitting there, he is able to hack the Governor Module in his head, thus Security Unit 238776431 did not have the right ring to it, so it became Murderbot (Alexander Skarsgård). He was a free bot, but given the corporation would kill him the moment they discovered he was rogue, which is how he ended up on Mining Survey 0Q17Z4Y, with more humans, ones who just might care about him, because they were weird. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.   

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Doctor Who: The Interstellar Song Contest [S2E6] – TV Review

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TL;DR – Do you want to make The Doctor mad? Well, I wouldn’t recommend it, because it is generally not good for your long-term prospects.  

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid-credit scene.

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

The Interstellar Song Contest.

Doctor Who Review –

Today, we have reached what will probably be considered the penultimate episode for the season. Well, so far, I have to say that I have been highly impressed with the season so far. It might have stumbled a bit at the start, but we have seen it go from stride to stride in the past couple of weeks. The question is: can it keep up that momentum going forward, and will they make an Australia reference in a show all about Eurovision?  

So, to set the scene, The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and Miss Belinda Chandra (Varada Sethu) have but one final place to test out the vindicator and it turns out they have picked The Harmony Station where the 803rd Interstellar Song Contest is happening and both immediately agree to stay and watch [look relatable]. But behind the pomp and circumstance, there is a terrorist on the prowl with death on the cards for all. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Andor (Star Wars: Andor): Jedha, Kyber, Erso [S2E12] – TV Review

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TL;DR – A bittersweet symphony of hope and coming sadness.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

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

Warning – Contains scenes that may cause distress.

Two X-Wings flank Cassian on the way back in to Yarvin.

Andor Review –

Well, we are here, it is the end of it all, yet we find ourselves in an interesting place. Unlike most series finales, Andor doesn’t need to stick the landing because the third act of Rogue One has already done that for them. This puts it in an interesting space where you can ask: how do you definitely end something that already has another ending? Well, that is what we will look at today.   

So, to set the scene, much like last week, we start our episode moments after Who Else Knows? ends. Cassian (Diego Luna) and Melshi (Duncan Pow) have made it to where Kleya (Elizabeth Dulau) is hiding out. Unfortunately for them, the Empire is also tracking them, and Supervisor Heert (Jacob James Beswick) is but one floor away and closing in fast. Comms are down, so K-2SO (Alan Tudyk) can’t send a warning of the coming doom, as Stormtroopers start making their way down the hallway to the room where they are hiding. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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