The Last of Us: Day One – TV Review

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TL;DR – It is time to find out what is happening in Seattle … and it is messy, to say the least.

Rating: 4 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 off.

Warning – Contains scenes that may cause distress.

Ellie and Dina scoping out a site.

The Last of Us Review –

In cinema, while the word ‘physicality’ gets thrown around a lot, what it means is a tangible sense that you believe what you see. Does an actor have the presence to make their performance believable? Does a place feel real, or is it coming off as a paper veneer? Well, today, we get some good examples of how The Last of Us uses physicality to make its world work.    

So, to set the scene, eleven years ago, FEDRA ruled Seattle with a hard fist, so much so that they have dehumanised the local population. Few believed this was an issue, but Isaac Dixon (Jeffrey Wright). In the world of now, Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Dina (Isabela Merced) have just made it into the city to find no signs of life but a lot of dead FEDRA corpses around. But there is hope. In the distance, there is a large dish brandished with the WLF, and they realise they are in the right place for their revenge. 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: Lucky Day – TV Review

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TL;DR – It’s a fascinating episode, but I think we will need to see it in context with the rest of the season to see if it has the impact they clearly are hoping it has.  

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

Fireworks over Big Ben.

Doctor Who Review –

Today, we are looking at what has come to be known as a ‘Doctor-Lite’ episode, where to help with production, they have an episode where Ncuti Gatwa does not have to have a significant presence so they can film the season over a shorter period by having dual productions running at once. As a production cost-saving measure, it can reach the heights of a bottle episode or the lows of a clip show, and it is time to see where we land today.   

So, to set the scene, it is New Year’s Day, and The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and Miss Belinda Chandra (Varada Sethu) have arrived back in 2007, but still London, Earth, is better than before. Before they leave, they bump into a little boy who makes it his mission to find out more about the big blue box and the man who travels in it. But now Conrad (Jonah Hauer-King) has something he has never had before: an interview with someone who has actually been inside it, one Miss Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson). 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): Harvest  – TV Review

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TL;DR – A profoundly upsetting episode of harsh juxtapositions, but war is not meant to be rosy or simple.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

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

Mon Mothma begins to disassociate.

Andor Review –

Well, I had held off watching this episode for a couple of days because I knew that it was going to have an impact. It was clear that both One Year Later & Sagrona Teema were building to something, and the three-episode release strategy helped secure that view. But sometimes, you have to take a deep breath and dive in, so let’s do that today.

So, to set the scene, Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) managed to escape his capture by the skin of his teeth, and now it is time to connect with his resistance team before The Empire works out where the stolen tie fighter is. But time might not be on his side as things are coming to a head across the galaxy. On Mina-Rau, the Empire’s inspections have started to get close, and there is a good chance everyone will be rumbled. On Chandrilla, Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly) finally realises just what a sacrifice her daughter is undertaking. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Thunderbolts* (The New Avengers) – Movie Review

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TL;DR – It is a perfectly fine film, with strong performances and an interesting villain. Unfortunately, it feels like it is constantly being held back from reaching its potential.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

Warning – Contains scenes that may cause distress.

A Humvee gets yeeted into the air.

Thunderbolts* Review –

I think it has been no secret that the MCU has been struggling to find its way in a post-Endgame world. It has had more misses than swings, which has forced a course correction into safety in many places. Thus, Ant-Man loses its charm and Captain America becomes just okay. It is in that space where they announced: what if the MCU did their version of Suicide Squad with a bunch of characters left over from the other films but also make it PG for some reason? It honestly sounds like a poor pitch, but then the first trailer dropped, and all of a sudden, there was a ray of hope. Now we see if that hope was warranted.   

So, to set the scene, Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) is the head of the CIA and totally not still working for her own company that is up to so many illegal activities that she is now under impeachment from the US Congress. Knowing she has to clean house, she sends her undercover agents across the world to destroy any evidence of what she was working on. However, then they are the only link between the illegal stuff and her, so what do you do? Oh, maybe you get Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) & Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) to go to the same secluded warehouse, each with the mission to kill the other and then incinerate all the evidence one there are just bodies left … what could go wrong … Oh, and why is Bob (Lewis Pullman) down here?

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The Last of Us: The Path – TV Review

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TL;DR – This week is a step back from the relentless pace of the opening episodes to refocus us on the rest of the season.     

Rating: 4 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 off.

Joel's watch.

The Last of Us Review –

Last week’s Through the Valley was … well … look … even for those of us who knew what was coming, it hurt a lot, even more so with the way that they updated the framing for the television adaptation. But it is also one of the lynchpin moments in the series. From here, everything changes, and that can be very hard to handle at the best of times. But when you are shifting the narrative structure from the game, things can become precarious.  

So, to set the scene, the city of Jackson has probably gone through the most significant test that has been thrown at it in the post-apocalyptic world of the series. The Infected sent feelers down their old sewer pipes and forwarded a large hoard right to their doorsteps. Many lives were lost, and much that had been built was destroyed and needed to be rebuilt. For some, that pain was even more acute as Ellie (Bella Ramsey) had to watch Joel (Pedro Pascal) be brutally murdered in front of her without closure from their confrontation during Future Days. Three months later, the city finally started to heal, but some wounds were deep and couldn’t be fixed with a hammer. 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 Well – TV Review

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TL;DR – Today, Doctor Who took a turn into an unsettling one, and I was not quite ready for them to commit as much as they did.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

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

Warning – contains scenes that may cause distress.

A space scape.

Doctor Who Review –

When I was first introduced to Doctor Who, I was inundated with several episodes that were meant to unsettle you. Where a child in a mask could be more terrifying than the London Blitz, and where there was a ‘Silence in the Library’ incident that still lives in infamy in my family’s lore. However, it has been a long time since Doctor Who had me sitting on the edge of my chair, but they got that tonight.    

So, to set the scene, after The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and Miss Belinda Chandra (Varada Sethu) tried to hook an anchor into May 2025 in last week’s Lux, they have still struggled to get it to land where they want it to be. But while The Doctor is busy promising that he will get Belinda home, the TARDIS makes a landing 500,000 years in the future. They just need to get another Vindicator reading, only to find themselves immediately jumping out of a spaceship. 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): Sagrona Teema – TV Review

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TL;DR – This episode is all about the foreboding feeling that ebbs into every pore of your being.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

Saluting the new bride to be.

Andor Review –

In the modern era, there are many different distribution models. While Netflix was famous for its binge dumping of a whole season at once, it still mostly follows that arrangement. It has become clearer that the binge model does not build engagement for shows, bar the odd exception. Andor has chosen a slightly hybrid model, in that they are releasing three episodes at a time, which I think will work because this very much feels like a part two of three episodes.

So, to set the scene, Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) is trapped on a jungle planet with a big problem. The pilot he was meant to be handing off this new tie fighter to has been killed by rebels that were dumped and left. Now, those rebels have started fighting amongst themselves. The only thing keeping Andor alive is the fact that he is the only pilot, but with tempers flared and rational thoughts cast aside, is that enough to keep him alive when even the planet could be the greater threat? 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: Lux – TV Review

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TL;DR – A profoundly weird episode that leans into its weirdness in a way that made it profoundly compelling.

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.

Mr Ring-a-Ding

Doctor Who Review –

While this new era of Doctor Who has been a bit hit-and-miss for me. The episodes that have shined through all of that have been the ones where they dialled up the camp, or the weirdness or the absurd. Stories with real teeth that let the cast have a lot of fun with the concepts. There have not been many of them, but today, we get another to add to the pantheon.

So, to set the scene, The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and Miss Belinda Chandra (Varada Sethu) have landed in 1952 so they can use a Vindicator as a lure to get back to when Belinda was taken from. They can’t just go back normally because the TARDIS keeps bouncing off the day. But when they arrive in Miami, they find a cinema that has been boarded up with flowers of people missing. Fifteen people walked in three months ago and just disappeared from the cinema/picture house. A haunted cinema, it’s like catnip to The Doctor, but maybe they should have left this one alone. 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): One Year Later – TV Review

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TL;DR – A reintroduction to our world and characters and the layers of issues they face.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

a tie fighter.

Andor Review –

Things were not looking good for Star Wars on TV back in 2022, as the Mandalorian experiment seemed to be running out of steam, and a lot of their experiments were falling flat. So, I didn’t hold a lot of hope when it came time to watch a prequel to the very messy Rogue One. But goodness, if there was ever a time to be wrong, I am glad it was then. Andor was subversive, fascinating, and profoundly compelling, not something you expect to come out of the House of Mickey. Well, it is back for a second and final season, and I can’t wait to see what they cook up.     

So, to set the scene, it has been a year since the riots on Ferrix, and it is four years before the Battle of Yavin. Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) has joined the Rebellion and is in the process of infiltrating Test Facility 73 on the planet of Sienar. All across The Empire, the Rebellion is slowly growing, one act of disobedience at a time. The Empire is trying to find ways of crushing any chance of this coalescing into a significant power, but freedom will always be the better choice. Now, from here

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Reacher: Season 3 – TV Review

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TL;DR – I am not sure if the formula is starting to feel repetitive or if this season falls flat for me, but I didn’t connect with it at all.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

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

Reacher standing by a road.

Reacher Review –

There are few people in the military fiction business with a bigger name than Lee Child. His novels, especially his Reacher series, are legendary in the space. So much so that having Tom Cruise be the face of the film adaptations was seen as a disappointment because he did not live up to the depiction in the novels. However, there was much rejoicing when the First and Second TV series came out because they captured the essence of what the book readers and the general public wanted, and that is a hard cross-section to nail. But now, after seeing the third season, I’m not as sure as I once was.   

So, to set the scene, poor Reacher (Alan Ritchson) always seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. This time, all he wanted to do was sell some old records to fund the next part of his journey, but when he looked out to the street, he saw a kidnapping happen right in front of him. Quickly dispatching the potential captors, he tries to get the potential hostage, Richard Beck (Johnny Berchtold), to safety, only to find one of the potential captors was a cop. Now a potential wanted felon, he takes a job with Richard’s father, Zachary (Anthony Michael Hall), while things blow over. However, all is not what it seems, and Reacher might be just where he wants to be. Now, from here, we will be looking at the season as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

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