TL;DR – This episode starts with a deeply emotional moment, then goes into high farce, and then back again without missing a beat.
Score – 5 out of 5 stars
Review –
There are moments in TV that you never knew you want right up until the moment they air and then you wonder why it is that you had not wished for that before. In today’s episode, we get that but also we get something I never wished to pass and it still pains me to think of it.
So to set the scene, we open in on the Seven Domes on the planet Vergessen in the Hypatia system … and well that is all I can really say without hitting spoilers so far it would make your head twist. Now we will be looking at the episode as a whole so you better believe that there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.
TL;DR – A really great continuation of the first season showing the strengths of this new interpretation at every turn
Score – 4 out of 5 stars
Review –
We are currently living through a second Golden Age for Science Fiction on TV and one of the first really cool examples of that was a new Lost in Space landing on our screens a couple of years ago. It was energetic, delightful, but also had some thematic weight behind it. Well, Season Two is upon us, so it’s time to see how well it did.
So to set the scene, at the end of Season One, the family Robinson, that is Maureen (Molly Parker), John (Toby Stephens), Will (Maxwell Jenkins), Judy (Taylor Russell), and Penny (Mina Sundwall) along with Don West (Ignacio Serricchio) and Dr Smith (Parker Posey) got launched through a warp portal by Robot (Brian Steele) to protect them. This leads them to land on a planet that is habitable, bar all the methane in the atmosphere. The warp drained most of the Jupiter 2’s power meaning they can breathe and stay warm but not a whole lot else. All of this changes when Maureen notices that there is a patch of lightning in the distance that comes so regularly that you can schedule it, and maybe a lighting jolt is just what the Jupiter 2 needs. Now as we go on there will be some [SPOILERS] as we will be looking at the season as a whole, so just be warned if you have not seen it yet.
TL;DR – A fun episode with a returning great guest star but a lacklustre b-plot
Score – 4 out of 5 stars
Review –
Like most half-an-hour comedy shows Brooklyn Nine-Nine usually has an A and a B plot that different character appears in and maybe come together in the end. However, sometimes one of the plot points just works so much better than the other that it can’t help but overshine it. Well, this might be the problem we have today.
So to set the scene, Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg) and Amy Santiago (Melissa Fumero) decided last week that they were not going to hold off having a baby and that they would start trying right away. Well, things are progressing but everything gets turned on its head when Pimemento (Jason Mantzoukas) burst into the precinct stating that someone is trying to kill him, but then he can’t remember more than 24 hours ago and that 24 hours is from 5 months in the past. Now we will be looking at the episode as a whole so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.
TL;DR – An episode that looks to both the past and the future at the same time.
Score – 4.5 out of 5 stars
Review –
Well if there is one thing better than having a new episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, well it is having two new episodes back-to-back and today that is just what we get. We’ve already looked at Manhunter, so now let take some time to explore Captain Kim, both the character Captain Kim (Nicole Bilderback) but also the episode.
So, to set the scene, with Captain Holt (Andre Braugher) no longer a captain after his year-long demotion, the Nine-Nine needs a new captain and no one is really happy about that. Well, that’s not a problem, sure the captain is probably a spy planted there to make their lives a misery, but then they have dealt with this before … well, maybe not quite this before. Now we will be looking at the episode as a whole so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.
TL;DR – A great welcome back and set up for the rest of the season
Score – 4 out of 5 stars
Review – Sometimes there is a joy in just getting to sit down with old friends and chat and laugh and enjoy your time together. Well occasionally you can have TV shows that can feel just the same way and for me, one of those shows is Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Over the years there have been so many close calls, that any new episode is a moment of joy and today we get to look at the first episode of a seventh season, two more than I thought we would get.
So, to set the scene, in Sicko/Suicide Squad at the end of last season, the Nine-nine squad was successful in thwarting the evil police commissioner, but it came at a price. Captain Holt (Andre Braugher) had to step down as captain after letting slip that he never did his one-year mandatory time as a uniform beat-cop. All of a sudden, the power roles have been reversed and it is Jake (Andy Samberg) giving Holt the orders, and well that goes about as well as you expect it too. Now we will be looking at the episode as a whole so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.
TL;DR – This is one of the
strongest opening hours of TV I have seen in years, with the first few minutes affecting
me in ways I was not ready for.
Score – 5 out of 5 stars
Review –
A pilot episode of television has a lot it has to do. It has to set the tone,
explain the setting, introduce you to the main characters, and find the drive
for the whole season. I have seen a lot of TV show pilots in my time and even
shows that are fantastic can fumble parts of this very important introduction.
Well, today I look at a show that nails every single element in its 50 minutes
run time.
So to set the scene, we open in on a tragedy where Alex Irving (Deborah Mailman)
is thrust into the national spotlight after a video goes viral. Alex shuns all
media request for interviews but she has caught the eye of someone important.
Soon there is a knock at the door and Jonathan (Harry Richardson) who works for
the Federal Government arrives at Alex and her mother Jan’s (Trisha
Morton-Thomas) house in Winton in country Queensland. He is there with an offer
for Alex to take over the seat of a Senator that has just died. She declines,
saying that if Prime Minister Rachel Anderson (Rachel Griffiths) wants her to
be a senator then she can come and ask herself, which is exactly what she does.
For here we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.
TL;DR – It is the moment when
the loss and pain catch up with everyone.
Score – 4 out of 5 stars
Review –
We continue our march to the final ever episode of The Good Place with a real threat looming over us. No one is
improving and time is not infinite. It is in these moments of pressure in the
past where the series has really excelled but will it work this time around.
So to set the scene, after our two-part season opener A
Girl from Arizona, things had started to move into place. But every
step forward was also a step back. They got rid of the demon in disguise, but
then Chidi (William Jackson Harper) got brought more into the fold at the
further expense of Eleanor’s (Kristen Bell) happiness. As well as this, after
some struggles Janet (D’Arcy Carden) decided to break up with Jason (Manny
Jacinto), leaving more of the group fractured. Just a reminder that we will be looking at the
episode at the whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.
TL;DR – Was one of the more
interesting shows I have seen on Australian TV by being both a throwback to the
past and also something a little new
Score – 4 out of 5 stars
Review –
We took a look back at Les Norton’s
first episode You
Wouldn’t Be Dead For Quids, back when it first came out. Well, the
first season has just finished so I wanted to take a moment to look back at the
show and how well it did as a whole. A show about the 1980s, finding yourself
in over your head, and also just about the most aggressively Australian TV show
I have seen in a very long while.
So to set the scene, Les Norton (Alexander Bertrand) is a country boy from
Dirranbandi in south-west Queensland. He’s had to skip town after an incident where
a rival teammate was left fighting for his life with a head injury and he
needed to disappear before there was a riot. He needed to find some work to get
through his time in Sydney which is where he meets his guide and new friend
Billy Dunne (Hunter Page-Lochard) working as a doorman at a local club in Kings
Cross. The first 22 minutes of his shift is boring, but we come in at minute 23
and the fists start flying. The head of the club Price Galese (David Wenham)
likes what he sees and brings him into the fold and Les discovers a world
hidden out of sight, protected by the powerful, and who run on very different
rules where discretion is key.
TL;DR – This is and continues
to be the gold standard to adaptations of literature, capturing the heart of
the books, even if it does not hit every plot beat along the way.
Score – 4.5 out of 5 stars
Review –
I mentioned back in my look at the New
Golden Age of Science Fiction that The Expanse is one of the best adaptations on TV at the moment. Here
in Australia, I got to watch the first two seasons on Netflix and was
constantly entranced with just what a good job they did of bringing James S. A.
Corey’s books to life. The third season has been tricky to find but today I was
able to hunt it down on Amazon and gave it a watch. Well, how does it do? Well,
I can tell you that I watched the entire first arc of the season in one
session, being so completely engrossed that I didn’t realise how late in the
evening it had gotten … so that it is always a good sign.
So to set the scene, we open in the aftermath of season two and the turn that
put Chrisjen Avasarala (Shohreh Aghdashloo) from a position of absolute power
to her running for her life after being betrayed by Sadavir Errinwright (Shawn
Doyle). Stuck on a ship that has just been fired upon by her own side there is
not much hope for escape but then that is why she brought Bobbie Draper (Frankie
Adams) a former Martian marine along. They manage to escape, but they are still
under pursuit, and while they were gone the whole solar system has erupted into
war and the Jupiter planetary system is ground zero for the conflict. Meanwhile,
on the Rocinante the crew are dealing
with two big problems, the fact that Naomi (Dominique Tipper) lied to them, and
they have done nothing really to help Prax (Terry Chen) find his daughter. With
everything falling apart the question is: will James Holden (Steven Strait) going
to step in and help stop this war, or is he going to sit back and let others
make the tough calls?
TL;DR – A great start to
propel the season forward.
Score – 4 out of 5 stars
Review –
Well, it is time for all good thing to come to an end, in this case today we
are looking at the beginning of the end as we explore the first episode of The Good Place’s fourth and final
season. As much as there is sadness, there is also a certain joy that at least
the show will get to go out on their own terms. Indeed, from what everyone has
said it was a creative decision to end the show at this point and I will always
respect that. Well let’s dive into the weird and quirky world of the ever
after.
So to set the scene, in the Season Three finale Pandemonium,
The Judge (Maya Rudolph) gave everyone a chance to show that the point system
is broken by creating a new neighbourhood to test it out with new people.
However, The Bad Place, devious as ever, did not pick the worst people in the
world, just the worst people for the team, including Chidi’s (William Jackson
Harper) ex Simone (Kirby Howell-Baptiste). Knowing that he could not remain
impartial Chidi has his mind wiped of everything including his love for Eleanor
(Kristen Bell). Now they have one chance to show that everything is wrong and
it is not going to be easy. Just a reminder that we will be looking at the
episode at the whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.
TL;DR Movie Reviews and Analysis 