Tag Archives: Television

Slow Horses: Season 1 – TV Review

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TL;DR – This was a weird and wonderful delight, where you never know if a character will get a bullet to the head or fart themselves awake.  

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

Hodded man holding up the day's newspaper.

Slow Horses Review –

When I dived back into the catalogue of AppleTV+, there was one show that more people had recommended to me than any other. “You have to watch Slow Horses” was the call, and well, I am always one to take a recommendation when it comes as strong as that, and well, I am glad that I did because I am not sure I have ever watched something quite like this.

So, to set the scene, we open in on an airport in England as River Cartwright (Jack Lowden) is on-site leading the hunt for a terrorist. But when a bad call means that information got mixed up and the terrorist got away, River can only watch as the bomb is set off in the middle of peak hour traffic. It was only a training exercise, but it is a stuff up so bad that Cartwright was jettisoned to the worst job in MI5: Slough House. Led by the ever-flatulent Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman), there is one word to sum it up: dull. But while Cartwright is looking to find a way out of this purgatory, they may have slipped onto something bigger than anyone that could get them all disappeared. Now, from here, we will be looking at the season as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Shrinking: Season 1 – TV Review

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TL;DR – This is a delightfully sad, yet also uplifting, series of broken people doing broken things, yet finding the strength to be better in each other.  

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

Paul on a couch reflecting on his life.

Shrinking Review –

Recently, there has been a running theme of there being a lot of good shows on AppleTV+ that absolutely no one is watching because the channel cannot seem to advertise anything that is not Ted Lasso. Now, while I have jammed with a lot of the sci-fi that they have, like Silo and Foundation, I think this would be an excellent time to see what else the service has to offer. The first stop in this exploration is a show that has been heavily recommended to me, and with that cast, I can understand why.  

So, to set the scene, it is late one night, like 3 a.m., and Liz (Christa Miller) and her husband Derek (Ted McGinley) are trying to work out who is going to go down and tell their neighbour Jimmy (Jason Segel) to turn off their music and stop making noise in the pool. Jimmy clearly looks to be an emotional mess who is trying to self-medicate via illicit substances and people you hire late at night for their professional services. That looks even worse in the morning when you see that disaster unfold with his daughter Alice (Lukita Maxwell) ghosting him, there being no petrol in his car, and a bike that does not quite fit. The good thing is that it looks like Jimmy is going to therapy until you realise that he is the therapist.   

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Star Trek: Prodigy – Ouroboros, Part I, Part 2, and Full Season – TV Review

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TL;DR – A beautiful end to a season, and hopefully not an end of a series.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

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

A time portal opens up over Earth.

Star Trek: Prodigy Review –

Alas, we have come to the end of the second and hopefully not last season of Star Trek: Prodigy. What a season it was. We will take some time a bit later to explore the season as a whole, but before that, we need to dive into this incredible season finale that went places I was not expecting at all.

So, to set the scene, after Asencia (Jameela Jamil) attacked the USS Voyager-A and the USS Protostar, it became clear that something had to happen before she did irreparable harm to The Federation with her time weapons. The problem is that Starfleet is already spread so far that there is no one else about to get out that far to help them. The combined crews need to stop them fast because, little do they know, Asencia has captured Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton) and mined his mind for secrets she can use to cause galaxy-wide chaos. 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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Star Trek: Prodigy – The Devourer of All Things, Part I & Part 2 – TV Review

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TL;DR – This two-parter was a clear love letter to Star Trek.   

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

USS Voyager-A over a planet

We are at the midway point in Star Trek Prodigy’s second season, and what a season we have had so far. We have swapped around holograms, had conversations with whales, been led by mysterious foes, and also discovered that The Doctor (Robert Picardo) 100% has written at least one enemies-to-lovers holonovel. However, everything is about to shift under their feet, and I can’t wait to see how.

So, to set the scene, after taking some shortcuts through an abandoned Borg Transwarp Conduit and stopping to get Zero (Angus Imrie) a real body. The team of Dal (Brett Gray), Gwyn (Ella Purnell), Jankom (Jason Mantzoukas), Zero, Murf (Dee Bradley Baker), and Rok-Tahk (Rylee Alazraqui) have arrived at the coordinates in the nebula hoping to find a clue from Chakotay (Robert Beltran). But when they find a planet hidden in subspace, things take a turn. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Star Trek: Prodigy – Into the Breach, Part I & Part 2 – TV Review

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TL;DR – This was a joyful jump back into this world that you can clearly see was made with love.  

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

Starfleet Academy.

Star Trek: Prodigy Review –

Well, the first season of Star Trek: Prodigy was a bit of an odd duck. It was first meant to be on Nickelodeon, then Paramount+, then even then we couldn’t get it out here, then dropped weirdly, and then it was cancelled on Paramount+ and removed from the service, which was a stupid choice, only to CBS to shop it around and get it picked up by Netflix. While it has been a wild ride to get to that point, I am glad we had it because it means we can look at the first two episodes of the second season today.    

So, to set the scene, after the end of last season, Dal (Brett Gray), Jankom (Jason Mantzoukas), Zero (Angus Imrie), Rok-Tanh (Rylee Alazraqui), and Murf (Dee Bradley Baker) have landed on Earth and have been taking classes to prepare them for the entrance exam to Starfleet Academy. They are not technically cadets yet, but they could be. But when Admiral Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) has a mission for them, they jump to join, especially when they see the new USS Voyager-A. Meanwhile, Gwyn (Ella Purnell) is taking the long trip back to her homeworld on a mission to stop the coming civil war from ever happening. 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: The Legend of Ruby Sunday – TV Review

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TL;DR – This did everything it needed to do for a penultimate episode, as well as remind us how short this season was.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

The TARDIS flies into UNIT Headquarters.

Doctor Who Review –

Well, we are almost at the end of the first season already, and goodness, what a ride it has already been. Since we started in earnest with The Church on Ruby Road, back in Christmas, we have seen Space Babies, gone back in time with The Devil’s Chord, discovered that the Doctor needs to watch where he is walking in Boom & 73 Yards, tried to save naïve racists in Dot and Bubble, and went Rogue in Rogue. But it is time to get that Part 1 energy on and dive back into UNIT.


So to set the scene, we start with the TARDIS smashing through the atmosphere and slamming into the control room of UNIT headquarters in London, UK. As you can see, The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) has two problems. The first is everywhere he goes since Wild Blue Yonder, he sees the same lady (Susan Twist). But Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) can conger snow at will, which is a neat trick but also a harbinger of some powerful timey-wimey stuff. Well, it’s a good thing UNIT is monitoring the situation and has cobbled together a time window for just such an occasion. 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: Dot and Bubble – TV Review

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TL;DR – When subtlety is like a ‘two by four’ to the side of the head, you get this week’s episode.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

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

Lindy looking into here bubble.

Doctor Who Review –

If there is one thing that Doctor Who always does, it is to shine a light on the modern world by using a fantastical setting. This is common throughout science fiction, but Doctor Who loves delving into this world. Add a dash of horror, and you will have today’s episode before it starts to fall apart.  

So, to set the scene, the colony of Finetime is a world where everyone lives in these social media bubbles in constant contact with their friends. It is so all-encompassing that they need directions to guide them through the world. No one lowers their bubble, and why would they? You are always in contact with everyone else. But what happens when you start losing contact with your friends, one person at a time? Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Star Trek: Discovery – Life, Itself & Season 5 – TV Review

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TL;DR – While you can tell this was never meant to be a season finale, it did still give us a lovely swan song for the series.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Paramount+ service that viewed this episode.

The Binary Blackholes.

Star Trek: Discovery Review –

All good things come to an end, and while it was never meant to be the final episode, it is the end. In today’s review, we will first look at how the episode works as a finale. Then, we will take a look at Season 5 as a whole. Finally, we will take a moment to look back at the series in its entirety, the bastion of a new wave of Star Trek during the second golden age of Sci-Fi.    

So to set the scene, after spending all season trying to track down the Progenitor tech, the crew of the USS Discovery-A finally made it to the end of the treasure hunt. However, the Breen beat them to it in Lagrange Point. But as the portal to the tech gets flung into the binary black holes, Michael (Sonequa Martin-Green) and Mol (Eve Harlow) get trapped inside. Now, the Discovery is trapped outside with an angry Breen dreadnaught and a new fleet on its way if Saru (Doug Jones) can’t stop them. Now, we will be looking at the Episode, Season, and Series as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Doctor Who: 73 Yards – TV Review

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TL;DR – A tense, brooding episode, and that is just the Welsh coastline.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

Warning – Contains scenes that may cause distress.

Ruby and the Doctor hop out of the TARDIS on the Welsh Coastline.

Doctor Who Review –

One of the strengths of Doctor Who is that you never know what tone you are going to get. Will this be a fun romp with Space Babies or a deep dive into historical racism with Rosa. It can be an entertaining comedy, a profound emotional time or a deep dive into horror. Today’s episode falls firmly into the latter category with a dash of the supernatural.

So, to set the scene, they land on the Welsh coast, which is full of green beauty. The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) is in the middle of reminiscing with Ruby (Millie Gibson) about his love for the place when he steps on a woven construction in the grass (my boy needs to start looking where he steps). It seems like some sort of memorial, something that kids make, but when the Doctor disappears, the TARDIS locks itself, and a figure in black signs some kind of warning. Well, things started getting weird, and why do they stay 73 yards away? Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Star Trek: Discovery – Lagrange Point – TV Review

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TL;DR – A race to the end, but with some real charm.  

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Paramount+ service that viewed this episode.

Escaping twin blackholes.

Star Trek: Discovery Review –

Well, it is the penultimate episode of the series, and I am not sure, but I am ready for it to end. Today, we get a perfectly solid part 1 to the end of the season and a part 1 to the end of a series. This is a significant burden to bear, even when you know it is coming, which makes the question today, how did it hold up when it didn’t know what it would end up being?  

So to set the scene, after the final clue was revealed in Labyrinths, it is now a race between the USS Discovery-A and the Breen to get to the location of the Progenitor’s tech. The only problem is that it is not just one Breen faction after the tech, and the Discovery was severely damaged in the last conflict. After Spore jumping in between two black holes, the Discovery is finally able to find the technology, only to see the Breen arrive and snatch it in front of their eyes. So, can the crew find a way to steal it back before the warring factions of the Breen descend on the power of creation itself? Now, we will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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