Reviews

TV Review: Game of Thrones, Season 6 Episode 1 “The Red Woman”

Despite its status as the biggest TV series in pop culture these days, it’s an unexpected-but-promising sign that “The Red Woman” kicks off Season 6 of Game of Thrones with a whimper and not a bang. The episode wasted no time in picking up the pieces left in the wake of Jon Snow’s death last season with Davos…

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TV Review: Better Call Saul Season 2, Episodes 8-10 Review (USA, 2016)

These final three episodes of Better Call Saul‘s second season feel like they leave the series at a fascinating crossroads. In spite of the bold proclamation that ended the first season, Jimmy McGill’s evolution into Saul Goodman isn’t anywhere near that clear-cut. This season has seen him start to become Saul – one choice at a time…

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TV Review: Girls Season 5 (USA, 2016)

Season 5 of Girls sees the show take more risks than ever before and, when all is said and done, it feels like the show comes out a little more mature – as do its characters. Season 5 picks up a few months after 4, with Hannah (Lena Dunham) having moved on from her relationship with Adam (Adam Driver)…

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TV Review: Fear the Walking Dead Season 2 Episode 2 “We All Fall Down” (USA, 2016)

It’s hard to tell when Fear the Walking Dead will start living up to its potential. The tone is there, and the scenes with the infected are deliciously dark and effective, presenting with the kind of horror The Walking Dead took four years to perfect, but these are only small flickers in what is an…

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TV Review: Fear the Walking Dead Season 2 Episode 1 “Monster” (USA, 2016)

We jump into Season 2 of AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead with what looks like a short, confusing time jump. Christopher is still leaning over his mother’s corpse but it seems like the whole city has been fire-bombed, creating this smokey red tone to kickstart the premiere in a surprisingly exciting way. Sure, it feels…

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TV Review: The People v O.J. Simpson – American Crime Story (USA, 2016)

When you think about the obstacles and expectations that The People vs O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story has to overcome, it sounds almost as unbelievable as the verdict of the infamous case itself. As a follow-up and spin-off to Ryan Murphy‘s American Horror Story, The People vs O. J. Simpson has to prove that can Murphy’s talents for…

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TV Review: Ripper Street Season 3 (UK, 2015)

At the end of Season 2 Ripper Street was cancelled by the BBC only to be resurrected by streaming service Amazon Prime who agreed to a third season after an online campaign by the show’s loyal and dismayed fans. In Season 3 of Ripper Street we return to Whitechapel and H Division and the grimy…

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TV Review: The Walking Dead Season 6 Finale “Last Day on Earth” (USA, 2016)

“Last Day on Earth” capped off a strong season for The Walking Dead in a fairly weak way. Negan’s eventual introduction has been telegraphed for a long time – in fact, there’s baseball bat imagery, which is emblematic of his character, dating all the way back to the first season. Comic Book readers have been…

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TV Review: The Walking Dead Season 6 Episode 15 “East” (USA, 2016)

When Morgan returned to The Walking Dead it was a very welcome addition mostly due to Lennie James’ stunning performance in Season 3’s “Clear”. Throughout this season his presence on the show became more and more divisive as he was used as a vessel for a particular philosophy, the same of which was used to…

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TV Review: Better Call Saul Season 2, Episodes 5-7 Review (USA, 2016)

When we last tuned into Better Call Saul, the show had left us on a cliffhanger with the consequences of Jimmy’s (Bob Odenkirk) initiative at Davis & Main and Nacho’s (Michael Mando) bid to kill Tuco (Raymond Cruz) hanging over our heads. If anything, the last four episodes of Better Call Saul have really hammered…

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TV Review: The Night Manager (UK, 2016)

The Night Manager is a blend of elegance and a much more British 007 with Tom Hiddleston’s Jonathon Pine being a hospitable and intelligent but a little naïve agent. Accompanied with classical and modern music, the opening credits is an interesting masterpiece, mixing up symbols of military, terrorism and the rich, indicating the show isn’t…

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TV Review: The Walking Dead Season 6 Episode 14 “Twice as Far” (USA, 2016)

“Twice As Far” starts the three-episode race to the end of season 6 and we finally get to see Negan’s Saviours take a chuck out of Rick’s group in retaliation for their aggressive assault on their base two episodes ago. Last week’s excellent bottle episode with Maggie and Carol notched up even more kills to…

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TV Review: How To Get Away With Murder , Season 2 (USA, 2015)

How To Get Away With Murder‘s first season was an electrifying blend of legal and college melodrama with a fun leading performance by Viola Davis and tight writing.  The second season remains fun but suffers a little as the the show both doubles down a little too much on the melodrama and gets a little tied up by its own plot…

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TV Review: Marvel’s Daredevil, Season 2 (USA, 2016)

In 2015 Netflix teamed up with Marvel to bring us Marvel’s Daredevil, and it was a revelation. Not only was it a gritty realisation of one of the comic world’s dark anti-heroes but it showed that viewers weren’t just interested but eager to see this sort of grimy real-world depiction of the character. This was…

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TV Review: The Walking Dead Season 6 Episode 13 “The Same Boat” (USA, 2016)

One of the strongest – and most violent – episodes in this season so far, “JSS”, drew most of it’s strength from Carol. “The Grove”, one of the show’s best episodes to date, drew most of it’s strength from “Carol”. Now, “The Same Boat” re-focuses back on in Melissa McBride’s complex character for another solid…

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TV Review: Agent Carter , Season 2 (USA, 2016)

The first season of Agent Carter was exactly what it set out to be. A lighthearted adventure that perfectly realized a marriage between the ‘golden age’ of post-war espionage and the struggle of women in the workplace. It was a occasionally a little narrow in its focus but stellar performances from leads Hayley Atwell and James…

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TV Review: The Expanse , Season 1 (USA, 2016)

TV audiences have been yearning for a worthy successor to the hard sci-fi throne of Battlestar Galactica from the moment it left their screens. While The Expanse doesn’t quite get there, its first season serves as an impressive introduction to a universe every bit as detailed and compelling as the posterchild for prestige sci-fi TV. Set…

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TV Review: Better Call Saul , Season 2, Episodes 2-4 (USA, 2016)

Better Call Saul is unique among the cable-drama landscape in that it doesn’t go for the big dramatic stakes. When it comes to Vince Gilligan‘s follow-up/prequel to Breaking Bad, the smaller and more personal the stakes, the better. If the first four episodes of the show’s second season are any indication, Gilligan, Peter Gould, Bob Odenkirk and…

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TV Review: The Walking Dead Season 6 Episode 12 “Not Tomorrow Yet” (USA, 2016)

That ominous feeling is there all throughout “Not Tomorrow Yet” for a reason, as a cliffhanger ending ramps up the tension for next week and prepares for potential heartbreak as The Walking Dead continue a strong season 6. It’s been a big past couple of episodes on The Walking Dead, first with that giant, world-expanding…

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TV Review: The X Files Season 10 Episode 6 “My Struggle II” (USA, 2016)

After 5 episodes of The X Files we have now reached the Season 10 mini-series finale, “My Struggle II”, the book end to the first episode in the series titled “My Struggle”. It has been a tumultuous ride but we have been treated to some brilliant, some good and some average episodes in this short…

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TV Review: The Walking Dead Season 6 Episode 11 “Knots Untie” (USA, 2016)

“Knots Untie” was a big, important episode for The Walking Dead, not because anyone of note died, or because any intense action scene occurred, but because the show’s universe has started to an large expansion with more implications than ever before. For five and a half seasons we’ve been following Rick and co. through safe-spot…

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TV Review: 11.22.63 Season 1 Episodes 1 & 2 (USA, 2016)

Stan have certainly beefed up their exclusive offerings this year, snagging not only the rights to stream content from Showtime but also currently going through Hulu original series 11.22.63, a period-drama that benefits heavily from having J.J Abrams serving as producer and Bridget Carpenter (of Friday Night Lights) as showrunner. The miniseries event throws James…

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TV Review: Love : The Complete First Season (USA, 2016)

Created and written by comedic auteur Judd Apatow, Love  approaches things from a different place to Netflix’s other efforts. As I said in my impressions piece, Love is best described as a slightly more-grounded You’re The Worst.  It’s not interested in the melodramatic highs of modern relationships – but the long awkward and often-mundane moments between them. It’s a show…

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TV Review: The Walking Dead Season 6 Episode 10 “The Next World” (USA, 2016)

Break out your best portmanteau because The Walking Dead has a big romance going on! After a relentless start to Season six, following by an inconsistent middle, we’re now edging towards the finale with the 10th episode, “The Next World”, taking a breather with a calmer, more relaxed focus on the show’s drama. The tone…

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TV Review: The X Files Season 10 Episode 5, “Babylon” (USA, 2016)

Never one to back away from an occasionally controversial story, this week’s episode of The X Files dabbles in politics, terrorism, communicating with the near-dead, neuroscience, mysticism, love VS hate and magic mushrooms. It’s quite a bit to pack into an episode, and creator, writer and director Chris Carter has a crack at it. It’s…

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TV Review: The X-Files Season 10 Episode 4, “Home Again” (USA, 2016)

One of the strengths The X-Files has had has always been in bringing the occasionally innocuous things in our lives into a horror style setting. Writer and producer Glen Morgan has had his hand in a few of these particular episodes with The X-Files, such as ‘Blood’ the episode where a man kept receiving subliminal…

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TV Review: The Walking Dead Season 6 Episode 9 “No Way Out” (USA, 2016)

“No one gets to clock out today, and hell, this is a story people are going to tell”. What a way to kick off the latter half of season 6. The Walking Dead has always been strongest when the crew are scattering smaller character moments within a big action set piece, and “No Way Out”…

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TV Review: Broad City Season 3 Episode 1, “In Heat” (USA 201)

Abbi and Ilana are back in the newest season of sometimes surreal, always on point TV series Broad City. And it’s just been confirmed by Comedy Central they’re green lighted for Season 4 and 5 as well. (Yass Gaga!) If the sneak peak of the first episode is anything to go by fans are in…

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TV Review: DAFUQ? (Australia, 2016) coming to a laptop near you February 15th

Perhaps one of ABC’s cheekiest web series yet will be launched on iView next week. In a time of Abbotts and Turnbulls squabbling for that prized coffee mug that says World’s Best Prime Minister and in most circumstances failing, and a time of turmoil and unrest all over the globe a show like DAFUQ? can…

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TV Review: The X-Files Season 10 Episode 3, “Mulder & Scully Meet The Weremonster” (USA, 2016)

The X-Files was one of the first procedural shows that even though it was billed as sci-fi it actually transcended that genre by dabbling in so many others. At times it was a drama, or a suspense conspiracy driven thriller, at others it was horror, there were even occasional comedic episodes but it always retained…

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