Wah! What a first episode!!
The premise of this second season is quite amazing – it opens the Flash world up to so much potential since there are multiple Earths and doppelgangers for everyone! As with season one, I found the big bad quite predictable – although the real Jay Garrick was a shock! – and again with the speedster needing speed, it seemed a bit similar. Still a fun show though, but sad that season three isn’t available on Netflix (yet)…. Hm.
Whoever the hell commissioned this should be shot.
It is so gossipy, and there is so much speculation and while yes The Crown was also mostly speculation, but it was done so much more tastefully. I felt like I was watching the E! News version of the royal family saga. Ugh.
It’s only six episodes but I didn’t finish it. I couldn’t even just let it run in the background. Not my cup of tea.
Barry Allen!
Okay, so The Arrow really put me off DC TV shows, but then everyone was raving about The Flash, so I thought okay fine, let’s see how this goes. And funnily enough I really enjoyed it. I think I like the mindless, brainless entertainment, I like the sunny disposition throughout the show (unlike the dark, brooding intensity that is Oliver Queen), and Grant Gustin is just so darned cute.
To be fair, the big bad of the series was totally predictable, and also I am not a fan of Iris West (although I might be the only person to think so – all the panels and interviews I watch, she’s apparently quite beloved…), but the show is interesting and the episodes are fun, and all in all, I think, it’s pretty cool.
On to season two.
Seriously. Trevor Noah is my hero. Not only does he have a daily show on Comedy Central, he has also written a book, and he still does stand up, touring all over the United States and he travels home to South Africa every week or every other week… or something like that. I look at him, and I wonder what I am doing with my life. I also wonder whether or not he is actually human. He could well be machine. i mean seriously.
Anyway. Thanks to Netflix, I watched his stand up show in New York, and it was so on point, so well delivered, the man is not only a comic genius, but also does incredible imitations and fabulous accents.
If you haven’t seen it, please do so. Asap. In the meantime, I’m off to perfect my Russian accent :D
I heart Trevor Noah. A lot <3
SO EFFING GOOD.
Okay. So this is supposed to be a weekly show, and because I binge watched it, I totally understand the need for this to be shown weekly. There’s just TOO. MUCH. DRAMA. Hahaha. I remember when I was watching The Walking Dead, and I said to Matt – can they just have one episode of like… peace and calm…!!!! I was pretty much thinking the same for this show.
To be honest, I was never a fan of 24, or of Kiefer Sutherland, but this show, omgosh. President Tom Kirkland is so perfect. I mean he’s not… but he is. And his team are so good, and Kal Penn is perfect, and it’s just a fantastic show. Fantastic in that it’s awesome, but also that it’s fantasy. I mean seriously, an independent becoming president? An independent bringing the parties together? In our dreams… (says the non-American).
Anyway. This show is a damn good ride. And it ends on a cliffhanger (of course). I’m curious to know how Season 2 will pan out… I mean… Sometimes I get to a point where I’m just like too much drama and then I’m over it (case in point: The Walking Dead) (also to some extent, Scandal). Oh well. We shall see…..
The first episode was so interesting – it’s nice to explore the various dimensions of the Holmes-Watson dynamic, and this is one of the rare instances when they aren’t on great terms. It’s also great to see that Watson can more than handle herself without Holmes, but on the other hand, it was nice to see them work together again…
The addition of the English girl was… unprecedented. It took me a while to place her (she played that awful millennial aka Ashton Kutcher’s ex-girlfriend in No Strings Attached – by awful, I mean her character, and she was so perfect in it, it took a bit of time to get used to her in this series), and she provided not only a great plot point, but also made the Holmes-Watson relationship more interesting as well.
And then there was the whole Marcus Bell story arc, which was at times heartbreaking to watch. He’s such a good guy, you don’t want bad things to happen to him…
All in all, season three was pretty awesome. Watson’s hot boyfriend was a great addition too (although ahem SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT his death was quite sad, I really liked his character, why did he have to die?!!!)
Season four is up next. It’s the last season available on Netflix… I’m going to be quite sad when I’m done binge watching that… Hm.
Hm. Tales by Light is a documentary series about photographers and how and why they capture what they capture, their inspirations, and the lengths they will go to in order to get that great shot.
From a series point of view, perhaps it would be interesting to non- or amateur photographers, and I’m not professional, but in a way, it wasn’t as appealing as I wanted it to be perhaps because I work with photographers so much.
On the other hand though, from an I-want-to-create-a-show point of view, this series was very interesting because of the format. 24 minutes, six episodes, and a repeat photographer within the first six. At the very beginning, when I was looking at the background of the series, the fact that the episode names were not names of photographers struck me as slightly odd. I would have thought, if you’re capturing a photographer’s journey, you might as well name the episode after them, like Chef’s Table. But then as I watched the last episode (I watched all six in one sitting), and a photographer I’d seen in a previous ep came on, I was like, ohhhh, that’s why…..
I think season two just came out. I wonder if there are any changes… and what the stories are going to be like in this one. To be continued, I guess :)
Okay. I loved Rhys Ifans as Spike (in Notting Hill), but I really haven’t liked him in anything else. Not in the Spiderman movie he was in, and definitely not as Mycroft Holmes. That could potentially be because Mark Gatiss is just incredible as Mycroft in BBC’s version…. but I don’t know. Rhys Ifans just doesn’t quite fit. And him and Lucy Liu together… ugh. To me, not believable at all.
Also, this version of Lestrade is damn annoying. Perhaps because Rupert Graves is so awesome (BBC casting seems to really be much better than this CBS version), but yeah. I’m really not sure about the second season of the show. Oh well… Onto season three now…
I’ve always had a thing for Jonny Lee Miller. Well, I say always. I meant like… since Eli Stone. I loved Eli Stone – I mean, a lawyer who gets visions of George Michael…!! What a premise! It was crazy upsetting when it got cancelled. Sigh. But anyway.
Elementary came out back when there was a huge Sherlock Holmes fad. There were the Robert Downey Jr movies, there was the Benedict Cumberbatch series, so Elementary kind of fell by the wayside as yet another Holmes show. Plus Lucy Liu was in it, and much as I am all for girl power, and happy as I am to see a Chinese lead, but I haven’t liked anything else she’s been in… Except Ally McBeal when she played Ling. Ling was awesome. But I digress. Then one day, I was on a short flight (probably from HK to Shanghai) and there wasn’t enough time to watch a movie, and it was on the system, so I watched it. And it was so interesting!!
And now that it’s on Netflix, I’m re-watching the entire series. And it’s awesome how different it is to other Sherlocks. I mean, it’s just another US detective show, which is great. BBC’s Sherlock is so dark (but so awesome) and RDJ’s Sherlock is so gimmicky (but still funny), and this one is like… another version of Castle, almost. Really enjoying re-watching the first season. Yup.
SOOOOO GOOOOOOOOD!!!!
Let’s talk new characters… Jon Bernthal is just fantastic as Frank Castle, he brings such depth and awe to the character. So glad that he’s getting his own series. And then there’s Elektra, the ultimate ass-kicking troublemaker. Élodie Yung plays her to perfection – the naughty, bored, confident but vulnerable rich girl. Love it.
Charlie Cox is still amazing as Matt Murdock. And I still like Foggy (despite his falling out with Matt). And I still cannot stand Karen Page. I actually can’t stand her more in this series than the last. I just… don’t like her. At all. Gah.
In essence, this seems like a split season – the first part with Frank Castle, the second with Elektra. And if I’m being honest, the Frank Castle part is stronger. But hey. I still loved it. So looking forward to Season Three :D
The Prancing Horse 