TL;DR – Just when you think Star Trek Discovery is done surprising you, it pulls out an emotional punch followed by a 2 by 4 to the head
Score – 5 out of 5 stars
Review –
I have to take my hat off to the team over at Star Trek Discovery, tonight had a reveal that spent episodes building up, the reveal felt completely justified and not contrived, and I did not see it coming at all. That is such a difficult difficult task to pull off and make it feel natural, it was magnificent to watch. Now we will get into that a bit later when we can get into spoilers, but wow, this is one of the best episodes of Star Trek I have seen in a very long time.
TL;DR – Tonight is the beginning of the end, as people come together and others get wrenched apart
Score – 4.5 out of 5 stars
Review –
So today we have reached the end of Game of Thrones’ penultimate season, and more than probably any than have gone before the game has changed completely again, though the more things change the most they stay the same. Now, this is the final episode of the season, so now more than ever There Will Be [SPOILERS] Ahead, if you have not seen the final episode then I would recommend not reading any further. Continue reading →
TL;DR – The Magnificent Seven venture beyond the wall to seek fame and fortune and a whole lot of dead people
Score – 4 out of 5 stars
Review –
Ok so today’s episode Beyond the Wall is the penultimate episode of the season, and if you know anything about Game of Thrones, you know that this is the episode where usually we get those spectacular moments that people talk about for weeks on end. See, for example, Battle of the Bastards, The Watchers on the Wall, The Rains of Castamere, Blackwater, and indeed the moment that started for everyone in Baelor, where Ned lost his head. Well, tonight’s episode has a lot to live up too, and while it might not quite get there, it has moments that will leave you speechless. Continue reading →
TL;DR – This week everyone is moved into position, across all of Westeros, for the dead are on the march
Score – 4 out of 5 stars
Review –
So to set the scene of where we start today, at the end of last week’s The Spoils of War (review) the dragons came to Westeros and they were everything we have waited seven seasons for. After losing allies left, right, and centre Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) was left with one issue, she had to act, or she will have lost before she started, but what should she do. So she targeted the Lannister food convey taking the plunder of Highgarden to King’s Landing. This created the first moment since maybe Season Two where we had a battle with multiple people on both sides that we didn’t want to see die. The battle was vicious, devastating, and a reminder that war has forever changed in Game of Thrones. This week we find out how Cerise (Lena Headey) responds, but also we are reminded that while people faff around in the South, in the North a greater enemy is coming, and it is not going to wait to find out who wins the game of thrones. As always, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] incoming. Continue reading →
TL;DR – Beware the cornered queen, and Starks reunite
Score – 5 out of 5 stars
Review –
So today we have reached the half way point in Season Seven of Game of Thrones, and if you thought they were going to let up after last week’s slaughter you will be sadly mistaken. So at the end of last week’s The Queen’s Justice (review) Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) had lost pretty much all the allies she came to Westeros with. Yara (Gemma Whelan) is a prisoner of Euron (Pilou Asbæk) her weird uncle who is making a point to woo Cersei (Lena Headey) like right in front of Jamie (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), like dude, that’s a party foul. So the Greyjoys are done, Dorne has been lost as Ellaria (Indira Varma) is chained in the dungeons of King’s Landing watching her daughter die, oh and with Highgarden falling and the apparent death of the Lady Olenna (Diana Rigg) #QueenOfThornesUntilTheVeryEnd she has lost the Reach as well. All of this is topped off with Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) being outmanoeuvred by his brother leaving Grey Worm (Jacob Anderson) and the rest of the unsullied trapped in Casterly Rock. Everything, all her carefully laid plans have failed, but when you back Daenerys into a corner, history has shown that this is when she is the most dangerous. Now, of course, there will be [SPOILERS] incoming. Continue reading →
TL;DR – In the Battle of Queens you win or you die
Score – 4 out of 5 stars
Review –
So at the end of last week’s Stormborn (review) a lot went down, Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) lost a big chunk of her forces when they were attacked on the way to Sunspear, we lost some Sand Snakes, Ellaria Sand (Indira Varma) was captured and Theon (Alfie Allen) said to Yara (Gemma Whelan) “Euron your own”. In the North Jon (Kit Harington) left Sansa (Sophie Turner) in charge to go treat with the Dragon Queen, but also didn’t kill Littlefinger (Aidan Gillen) which is a mistake at least half of the characters in the show has made so far. So what will tonight’s episode hold for use, will people’s mistakes come home to roost, will someone kill Littlefinger, how will Sam (John Bradley) gross us out, let’s find out. As always there will be [SPOILERS] ahead. Continue reading →
TL;DR – We have reunions and goodbyes, a whole ton of mistakes. and wonder is Samwell’s only job this season is to make us gag
Score – 4.5 out of 5 stars
Review –
So Season Seven powers on and tonight is no exception, so who is the Stormborn and what will that mean for Westeros? Let’s find out. Now to catch us up to where we were at the end of last week’s Dragonstone (Review), The Hound (Rory McCann) is making his way through the Riverlands being reminded by his past, while Arya (Maisie Williams) is making her way to Kings Landing after de-Freying The Twins to … wait was that Ed Sheeran? In Kings Landing Cersei (Lena Headey) is posturing, though Jamie (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) puts her in her place only to be then out-flirted by Euron (Pilou Asbæk) who has reached peak-leather. Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) after six seasons of gallivanting around Essos has finally landed in Westeros, taking over her old home Dragonstone and getting rid of the Stannis smell that was still there. In the North, Sansa (Sophie Turner) showed we learned all the wrong lessons from Cersei, and could someone just kill Littlefinger (Aidan Gillen) and get it over and done with. Finally, we were told several times, don’t worry about the White Walkers, they can’t get past The Wall, you know that wall that has always been there, and has never fallen … gee I wonder, oh and Samwell (John Bradley) grossed himself and everyone else out at Oldtown. So that is where we have come from, now let’s jump into Stormborn, and a warning there will be [SPOILERS] present. Continue reading →
TL;DR – Dragonstone moves everyone into place and sets the scene for what is to come, whilst really trying to get you to give up your lunch in the process
Score – 3.5 out of 5 stars
Review –
We’re in the penultimate season of Game of Thrones and goodness what a ride it’s been so far we’ve had the highs of the Battle of the Bastards, and the lows of Dorne, and everything in between. But now after six seasons, things are starting to fall into place, pieces that have been moving for seasons are now ready to collide, and boy are we looking forward to it.
TL;DR – Staggered release dates, lack of competition, geoblocking and the Australia Tax, and lack of government want to fix.
At some point this week because of either John Wick 2 or Lego Batman there will inevitably be a news story about the high rate of piracy. It is something you hear about every year like clockwork when the next Game of Thrones season starts, or when film companies stagger release dates like they are doing here. However, why is Australia such an outlier when it comes to piracy? We are a prosperous country, with a good economy comparatively speaking, we have laws against it, and our internet is not even that good making piracy that little bit harder than it is in many other countries, but inevitably any conversation about piracy generally ends up focusing on Australia. So today we are going to look at the factors unique to Australia, or at least not as prevalent in other markets, that have led to this high statistic. Now of course just to be on the safe side and to make sure there is no confusion when we talk about piracy we are not talking about the boarding and stealing of naval vessels for commercial gain, we are talking about the acquiring of copies of digital media (movies, TV shows, music, and video games) without purchasing the product, usually through peer-to-peer torrent networks.
I had this noble plan, to abstain from the TV show until the next book came out, alas it was a noble but ultimately futile, when you work in a large department that starts putting up Hodor pictures in elevators you end up relenting to survive, so relent I did and here you go my TL;DR reviews of the first 5 episodes of Season 6, oh and of course Spoilers ahead, a lot of people die.
Episode 1 – The Red Women
And so we enter a new phase, we are past the books for many characters, so spoilers abound, and for the first time, the book readers are just as likely to be surprised about what is coming up. The opener has a lot to do it has to remind us of where everyone is and then it need to propel us forward, and for a most Part The Red Women does all of that. Jon Snow is dead, but alas that is but just the first coup of the episode. Look at this point we have to accept that they have really messed up Dorne, and we will just have to accept it, for most of the deviations like Talisa there were good reasons and there was a payoff, here I just can’t see how they can recover it. But besides Dorne and that weird English graffiti in Meereen, what a strong way to end the episode with the reveal that Melisandre is much older than we thought. A good opener, a good moment to catch our breath before the next onslaught.
Episode 2 – Home
Well episode 2 of the season wastes no time in continuing the killing off of some supporting characters, if you include Jon Snow from episode 10 last season we have now had 4 coups in 3 episodes (Castle Black, Dorne, Winterfell, & Pyke). But amongst all the carnage we also have the return of some old friends, Hello Bran, Hello Hodor, Hello Greyjoys, it’s been a while. We learn just how narcissistic Ramsey is, and wow if that scene wasn’t full of tension, and we finally have the offing of Balon, he been dead for ages. Also, this is how you use giants. The episode does end on the most unsurprising surprise in TV, but you have got to respect that framing, right out of a renaissance painting.
Episode 3 – Oathbreaker
This is one of those episodes where a lot happens but no much of consequence, as it is just about moving people into place for the episodes to come. But within that we get some great moments, we get Sansa finally taking charge after a false start last season, we get a lovely awkward Small Council session, it seems like Davos might be the only sane person left in the north, and Sam dropping truth bombs in the middle of the ocean, as well as all his lunch. The stand out moment has to be the flashback sword fight at the Tower of Joy, I think this might be some of the best sword choreography that we have seen in the series so far, and indeed the nod to the popular but still not completely confirmed theory was a nice touch. To finish it off we are down another direwolf, only three more to go.
Episode 4 – Book of the Stranger
Ok we are now up to 5 coups so far this season, and only 4 episodes, wow, and it is also the season to bring back characters only to kill them off quickly, it’s going to be a brutal run to the end. So after a lot of running around Daenerys finally ends up back in Vaes Dothrak and shows that she is not afraid of exterminating an entire ruling class to move forward, playing on that notion of if she will or won’t become another mad Targaryen queen. Much like Dorne, The Eyrie seems lacking, it was Sansa that really forwarded that along and without here, it is almost why bother. Also yes Jorah we all saw you use pocket sand with no effect. “we should not have gone south” well if that was not the understatement of the season, also I see you Tyrion laying down some sick Realist rhymes, be careful you don’t get everyone burnt with your beats.
Episode 5 – The Door
This episode is titled ‘The Door’, it could be also titled ‘the episode Bran stuffed everything up’ or ‘the episode George RR Martin was crueler than the Red Wedding’. Before we go to that, the other strength of this episode was the Kingmoot in the Iron Islands, this shows that you can adapt and condense story lines without Dorneing it up, and it is good we get to see more of those elements. Ok let’s talk about it, the reason Hodor is Hodor is because Bran messed up his powers, and messed with Hodor’s head, ‘hold the door’, we had warning it was coming but wow, and also another Direwolf bites the dust 2 more to go.
By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.
Have you watched Game of Thrones?, let us know what you thought in the comments below, feel free to share this review on any of the social medias and you can follow us Here. Check out all our past reviews and articles Here, and have a happy day.
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