Tag Archives: American Television

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – Wedding Bell Blues – 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 – 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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The Last of Us: Convergence & 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 – 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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The Last of Us: The Price – 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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Andor (Star Wars: Andor): Jedha, Kyber, Erso – 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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Andor (Star Wars: Andor): Who Else Knows?– TV Review

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TL;DR – Tension starts to ratchet up now that the Empire knows what sort of information might just have leaked

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

A dead Stormtrooper lies on the ground.

Andor Review –

So far, each of the mini-arcs has been almost a mini-season in its own right. This week is the first time this season that it felt like I was watching a Part 2 of 3, which leans terribly on that feeling of growing dread that you sense in the back of your mind. When you feel a large wave or a fully stocked Stormtrooper platoon coming,  

So, to set the scene, we start in the moments after Make It Stop, as the Empire tries to work out how one of their highest value prisoners was murdered out from underneath them. Recriminations are coming, and indeed, the people on the ground might be taking more time shielding themselves from that than actually finding out who did it. Knowing time is not on her side, Kleya (Elizabeth Dulau) makes a desperate last stab at getting the information out there, because it is do or die, and few people know this more than Cassian Andor (Diego Luna). Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Paradise: Season 1 – TV Review

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TL;DR – Cornerstoned by some fantastic performances, we explore a world where things might be perfect, as long as you don’t look any deeper.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

Xavier walks up some stairs.

Paradise Review –

It might just be the current climate, or the fact that rewatching The West Wing makes me feel a growing sense of naivety. But I have been trying to find a new political or politically adjacent series to stick my teeth into. My first attempt was the delightful The Residence, which made its mark. But I wanted to find something with a bit more bite, and today I think I found it.

So, to set the scene, Secret Service Agent Xavier Collins (Sterling K. Brown) was doing his usual daily rounds in the sleepy town of Paradise. The sort of town where you can jog to the President’s house as part of your morning commute. Xavier did the usual handoff to the agents on site, including Jane Driscoll (Nicole Brydon Bloom) and Billy Pace (Jon Beavers). However, something was off that morning, POTUS, Cal Bradford (James Marsden) was still in bed, which was odd even for a man who spends most of his day in a bathrobe. But as he goes into the President’s room, he is accosted by the sight of blood and the body of the President. Xavier should call it in right away, but he locks the site down before word can escape, and before he loses control of the first murder scene in Paradise’s history. Now, from here, we will be looking at the season as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

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The Last of Us: Feel Her Love – TV Review

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TL;DR – Today, it feels like we have hit the point of no return, that moment when you can not undo what you have become.

Rating: 3.5 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.

Ellie playing a guitar on the theatre stage.

The Last of Us Review –

It has been said that “Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves”, a phrase often linked to the philosopher Confucius, but I think he never actually said it. But I digress. The phrase is as evocative as it is because you can understand how that drive for revenge can push out all reasonable thought and make you act in ways that actively hurt yourself. Literature is full of revenge narratives, from simple calling, like you hurt an old lady whom I liked, or you killed my dog. All the way to convoluted messes like we don’t like your politics of fear, so we are going to kill you. But no matter the narrative, there is always a tipping point, and I think we have hit one of them today.     

So, to set the scene, Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Dina (Isabela Merced) have firmly planted themselves in Seattle and are actively hunting down the ones who killed Joel (Pedro Pascal). Thankfully for them, a war has broken out between the WLF and the Scars. It provides a lot of coverage and a lot of information. People can help but chat over the radio, and Dina hears everything on Day Two. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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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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