Tag Archives: Bianca Nugara

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – Orders of Magnitude [S4E8] – TV Review

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TL;DR – This week I feel as if we have seen a touch of the endgame of the season, as we suddenly have what might be the first normal episode of the season.  

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Paramount+ service used to view this series.

The USS Enterprise over a planet.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Review Introduction

Today we are looking at a very odd episode, because if we removed it from all the context around it, then we get a solid episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. However, once we bring in all the context available, it starts becoming odder, as it feels almost more like a reaction to an uneven season. If nothing else, it does make an interesting episode to mark Star Trek’s 60th Birthday.

So, to set the scene, the USS Enterprise has been patrolling one of the major trade routes of the Federation when a weak SOS has called Pike (Anson Mount), Una (Rebecca Romijn), Chapel (Jess Bush), Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding), and A’Sha (Bianca Nugara) down to some crystalline caves. This puts them out of communication when Admiral Simon Reeger (Joe Morton) arrives by shuttle. He is a hero of the Federation-Klingon War and is chasing an echo of a ship that committed the Vaardan massacre. There is not enough time to wait for Pike to get back, so Reeger takes command of the Enterprise and makes Kirk (Paul Wesley) his number one. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Heated Rivalry: Season 1 – TV Review

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TL;DR – This is a profoundly compelling if fundamentally risqué series that explores relationships in the harshest place through the lens of a visionary auteur.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

Hollander on the back of a jersey.

Heated Rivalry Review –

When people were mapping out what would be the go-to pop culture event for the end of the year, it would have been a safe bet to pick something like the final season of Stranger Things, or maybe the bombastic Avatar. Few predicted that the year’s breakout cultural moment would come not from a blockbuster franchise but from a modest Canadian drama. Well, if you spend any time on the internet, you know how successful it has been in cutting through the noise of the algorithm, so let’s have a look and see.

So, to set the scene, in 2008, Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) has had one drive all his life: to be the best hockey player of all time. But on the cusp of being drafted, he meets the new Russian prodigy Ilya Grigoryevich Rozanov (Connor Storrie) at the International Prospect Cup final. Six months later, they have been drafted to rival teams, Boston Raiders & Montreal Metros, of the Major League Hockey (MLH). When the two of them meet again, they find they have undeniable chemistry, and one thing leads to the other. But there are no out gay players in the MLH, so the two keep this tryst/relationship/booty call/whatever you want to call it a secret, lest anyone find out and their careers are ruined. Now, from here, we will be looking at the season as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

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