Tag Archives: British Television

Silo: Outside & Season 1 – TV Review

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TL;DR – Kept me on the edge of my seat until the credits rolled

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

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

They see all.

Silo Review –

I was unsure what to expect when the first episode of Silo, Freedom Day, dropped. I had not read the original novels by Hugh Howey, so when we went down the rabbit hole that was the mystery of the Silo, I was captivated about which turns the show would make. Now that we have seen the first season, I am even more fascinated by where the show can go from here. In today’s review, we will first explore the season finale Outside, before looking at the season as a whole.

So to set the scene, things are looking dicey for Juliette Nichols (Rebecca Ferguson) as she fights to save her life as the judiciaries Robert Sims (Common) and secret lord of the Silo Bernard Holland (Tim Robbins) chase her down, trying to contain the information she knows. It is a race against time, but Juliette does not know just how much the chips are stacked against her. 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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Silo: The Getaway – TV Review

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TL;DR – Much like the staircase that stretches from the top to almost the bottom, the situation in the Silo is starting to spiral out of control.  

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

Red Level Relic 18

Silo Review –

While Silo started to lose its way, a touch, in the middle, like many shows before and after it, last week’s Hanna felt like an immediate return to form as the show threw off its restraints and started running at 100km an hour. This week continues that same pattern as we barrel along to the season finale.  

So to set the scene, all seems lost as Bernard Holland (Tim Robbins) reveals that as well as being the Head of IT, he is also in charge of the secret force that maintains order in the Silo. He and Holston Becker (Common) lie that Juliette Nichols (Rebecca Ferguson) said she wanted to go outside, a death sentence. There was one hope, as Nichols was being marched up the central staircase, she realised that Paul Billings (Chinaza Uche) was having one of his tremors and used it to escape his grip, grab her bag with the hard drive and dived off the staircase. Thankfully landing on one of the cross-struts and not plummeting to her death 70-odd layers down. But now she is on the run, and almost everyone in the Silo is after her and the secrets she holds. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Silo: Hanna – TV Review

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TL;DR – After some meandering around, we start making a run to the end of the season.   

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

An underground corn field.

Silo Review –

When we last reviewed Silo with Truth, it was setting up this world of mystery and intrigue, and then it proceeded to meander around for the last couple of episodes, which was fine but didn’t quite capture me in the way those opening episodes did. Well, now we are at the pointy end of the season, and the plot has picked back up as we dive back under the surface to a world on the cusp of falling apart.

So to set the scene, in The Flamekeepers, Juliette Nichols discovers that a group of people have tried to keep information from before the rebellion. With a secret book that shows that the is/was a world outside of the Silo, and it was full of expansive beauty. Alas, Juliette did not notice that the flowers had been removed from her mirror, so now Robert Sims (Common) and the others also know that she knows. But as she tries to find out who is moving people from behind the scenes, Juliette discovers that Judge Meadows (Tanya Moodie) might not be the villain she expected her to be. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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

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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. 

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Ted Lasso: Mom City – TV Review

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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.         

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Silo: Freedom Day – TV Review

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TL;DR – This is a solid start to the intrigue that did the best job a first episode can do, making me want to see more.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

Allison seeing something that they tried to keep hidden.

Silo Review –

I am always looking for a new genre show with an exciting spin on a setting. While the whole hiding away from the apocalypse in a bunker has been done before, probably most famously by Fallout. However, I am still drawn to this setting for the narrative potential you can find. Let’s bring on this new dystopian/post-apocalyptic/mystery and see what it can do.   

So to set the scene, they do not know why they are there, who built the Silo, why the world outside is a toxic mess, or if it will ever be safe to go back outside. It is on this day when Sheriff Holston (David Oyelowo) goes up to his office, takes off his badge, locks himself in a jail cell, and utters the words that chill his Deputy Marnes (Will Patton) to the core “I want to go out”. The only words once spoken that can’t be taken back. Someone is waiting for him out there in the dust, Allison (Rashida Jones), whom we met over three years earlier. 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 Diplomat: Season 1 – TV Review

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TL;DR – This is a delightfully amusing show for one delving into such topical stories. Like if The West Wing met Utopia by way of The Crown.   

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Netflix service that viewed this series

A British funeral

The Diplomat Review –

In a former life, I got very much down the rabbit hole of the world of international affairs. While that is now deep in the past, it is nice to dip your toes back into what could have been from time to time. I thought I would do this when I saw a new show about being the new Ambassador from the USA to the UK. I am not quite sure what I was expecting when I sat down to watch, but I am not sure that a show that is equal parts drama and farce was one of them.

So to set the scene, after years of being the deputy chief of Mission for her husband Hal (Rufus Sewell), Ambassador Kate Wyler (Keri Russell) is getting ready to step up and be the next Ambassador to Afghanistan. However, there was no ambassador in London, which was a problem when an external actor attacked the Aircraft carrier HMS Courageous. So without warning, Kate is dropped into the thick of it as most people see this as an Iranian attack to avenge the Americans for taking an oil tanker earlier in the month. However, while Kate is trying to find her feet, what she is not aware of, but what White House Chief of Staff Billie Appiah (Nana Mensah) has given Stuart Heyford (Ato Essandoh), Deputy Chief of Mission, has given the heads up about is that Kate is on a shortlist to replace the Vice President who is about to get turfed in a scandal. Kate would be good for the job if not for the fact that her marriage is about to implode. Now from here, we will be looking at the series as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

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How Ted Lasso Perfected the Nothing/Everything Episode with Sunflowers – Article

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TL;DR – This article explores how a show can have an episode focused on nothing, yet still be everything.  

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

Van Gogh's Sunflowers.

How Ted Lasso Perfected the Nothing/Everything Episode with Sunflowers –

One of the significant shifts in the Television landscape was the move from more episodic episodes to more serialised outings. It started taking steam in the 1990s with shows like Babylon 5 and Deep Space Nine. But this would explode in the streaming era, with nearly every show you watch having some serialised component. Whether the show works with the serialised content does not matter. With the insertion of boilerplate narrative arcs becoming more of the norm, looking at you Wednesday. In this world, can you have a stand-alone, nothing episode anymore?

There was a time when shows like Seinfeld built themselves around being the show about nothing, where there was no character growth. However, today if you have an episode, let alone a series, where nothing happens, you will get a chorus of comments claiming condensation over there being filler. I have seen a claim championed time after time, whether the show was filler. But can you still have an engaging episode of TV that does not move the plot along in the current landscape? Well, you must trust your audience to come along with you if you want to attempt something like this. Trust which is something that is earned, not given.

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Lockwood & Co. Season 1 – TV Review

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TL;DR – This was a fascinating series with an exciting premise yet to show its full hand, but I want to see where it goes.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

A UV Protection light for night.

Lockwood & Co. Review –

There are some shows that you check out just because there is an idea that is so interesting that you need to check it out. What happens if ghosts are real and they just start attacking people? How would that change a modern society where death is all around? It is a question that I very much wanted to find out.

So to set the scene, it has been 50 years since the problem changed the world. One day people just started to drop dead in mysterious ways at night. Soon the world discovers that ghosts or visitors have come back, and if they touch you, well, you’re dead. It was a chaotic time as the world tried to find out how to fight back until they discovered the power of Iron, Salt, and Silver and that some children and teenagers could see the visitors fight them. In 2020, one of those teenagers is Lucy Carlyle (Ruby Stokes), but after being hung out to dry by her former boss, she makes the trip to London to join one of the giant ghost agencies. But without her parent’s permission, no one will take her, well that is until she stumbles into the office of Lockwood & Co., run by Anthony Lockwood (Cameron Chapman) and supported by George Karim (Ali Hadji-Heshmati). They are the only agency that is run by the teens who are doing the dying, so they know what the stakes are. Now from here, we will be looking at the season as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead for the show.   

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Doctor Who: The Power of The Doctor – TV Review

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TL;DR – While this episode looks back to the past, I feel it might have the ability to steer the show into the future while also getting to be a romp in its own right.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I watched this on ABC iView.

The TARDIS in Space.

Doctor Who Review –

When it comes to Doctor Who, well, it is a history of highs and lows. Some of those early memories of the show linger in my consciousness. One look at a gas mask and I get ripped back in time, you walk into an extensive library, and suddenly, there is a hint of concern. But no matter how much I tried, I fell off the recent series. Every time I jump back in, like with Revolution Of The Daleks, I bounce back off again. But with Jodie Whittaker’s time coming to an end, I thought I should give it one more time.   

So to set the scene, we open in as emergency transmission from the Torajii Transport Network blares out across all frequencies because they are about to be hijacked by Cybermen. The guards kill the Cybermen, but when things seem safe, the Cybermen start to regenerate. But the ship’s call for help does not go unanswered as The Doctor (Jodie Whittaker), Yaz (Mandip Gill), and Dan (John Bishop) jump from the TARDIS to help. But things onboard go from bad to worse as the Cybermen are after ‘The Cargo’, and they are not Cybermen but Cybermasters. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.  

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