I may be in a minority here, but I'll take Elementary over Sherlock any day. Both are good, just Elementary's better.
Season 4 is fantastic so far and S3 is where the show really starts to build on its already impressive start. Don't go in expecting a standard police procedural though - this is far superior and probably my favourite show that's currently ongoing right now. Great for binge watching as well!
An excellent comedy. With the end of Parks and Rec, this and Brooklyn Nine-Nine are my favourite comedies on TV right now.
Excellent show that captures the brilliance of Breaking Bad yet at the same time feels unique, exciting, and you don't need Walter White or Jesse Pinkman to make this good. It's great without them. Not that I wouldn't say no to a cameo, though.
Having just finished season one I can easily say this is one of my favourite comedies. Love it!
Earlier in the season of Chicago PD, I recently watched the crossover with this and Chicago Fire and have decided that I kind of want to start watching this show. Where would I start? Can I jump in with the most recent episode or season? What's the most recent jumping on point?
Excellent series. Fantastic production value and some awesome soundtrack with some superb actors. Just finished Season 2 today and it's one of my favourites. Can't wait for Season 3!
Wasn't expecting this show to be as good and fun as it is. Loved the first two seasons.
A decent network TV show that's made watchable thanks to the chemistry between the two leads!
I'm hooked. Very captivating first two episodes and has a lot of potential. Could well end up being Netflix's best original series yet. Will be watching more when I can.
Interesting new start. Stargate fans should like this.
Excellent show so far. One of the best new series of the Summer.
A mostly consistent season; even if that works both ways - aside from maybe the finale itself there are no bad storylines here; but there aren't really any episodes that I'd call top-tier TNG apart from maybe Tapestry either, so it's a step-down from Season 5 in that regard (Darmok, The First Duty, Cause & Effect & I, Borg - all episodes that I'd put in my Top 10 TNG episode ranking).
The double header of Rascals & A Fistful of Datas are both TNG at its most fun and entertaining; whilst Chain of Command is a two-parter that is elevated mainly thanks to Patrick Stewart's impeccable performance more than anything else. There's a few good episodes in here like Relics (Scotty!) Timescape, The Chase, Face of the Enemy & Birthright in addition to this but the main novelty here in Birthright is seeing it be the crossover episode with Deep Space Nine: Julian Bashir showing up was a welcome surprise.
I'd put this below Seasons 5 and 4, but above Seasons 1-3.
EXCELLENT FIRST EPISODE! Amazing start.
One of my favourite shows from 2014 and one of the most underrated ones too. Excellent stuff.
I've seen only the first episode and whilst it's not quite at the level of Game of Thrones, which is the most obvious comparison, it was pretty strong regardless and I'm certainly going to stay for the first season. Very high quality production values too.
Hard-edged, sometimes self-serious modern-day Peaky Blinders. Gets a bit too far fetched at times (there's no way half of this would be possible in modern-day London) and some of the characters are very thinly drawn, but Gareth Evans delivers some of the best possible action on television that not even the likes of Daredevil match. Could have used shorter episodes, especially in its first, though - I don't think it earns its length, or its ending.
Terrific show. One of the best BBC series out there.
Star Wars is turning into the MCU, relying on inter-connectivity and cameos, some work better than others - it makes a big universe feel smaller than ever. Some work better than others but at this point this time period has been done to death and I just wish the franchise would try something new. It still can't figure out what it wants its audience to be.
Verdict: Better than Season 4! If not by much. Definitely not good enough to justify the constant self-referential jokes about Season 4 being bad when there's still a lot of episodes that aren't much better than Season 4 (I hate it when shows make jokes about their past seasons without being good seasons themselves so this automatically causes it to lose points). Season 5a was a lot stronger than Season 5b - and I felt like this show lost a LOT when Donald Glover left, and it's going to lose a lot next season with no more Jonathan Banks and John Oliver too. Feels like it's a show that gets worse the more self-indulgent it becomes and it's very much a case of Dan Harmon being caught up in his own hype.
I talked about Pierce and Troy's farewell episodes a few days ago - and they're the high-point of the series I think for me. It handles Troy's farewell brilliantly and manages to get Pierce perfectly even in an episode without Chevy Chase ever actually being there at all, Walton Goggins showing up was hilarious and Troy's send off in a mostly Britta-centric episode worked well and made the best use of a LeVar Burton cameo. Also, this is probably due to the fact that I'm watching this much later after the app-rating parody trend seems to have passed - but App Development and Condiments just felt there to me; other shows have tackled a similiar subject so much better. And there's yet another trap that the show falls into of tackling high-concept episodes - they're fine in their isolation but there's just too many of them and they just feel like once again, the show's doing them just because they can and hasn't really learned anything. They keep repeating concepts without trying something new, and even the season's best episode - Basic Intergluteal Numismatics, which I liked - isn't as good as the Law & Order parody that came before it.
I'm fine with the odd one or two concept episode but they're still really overbearing - the Dungeons & Dragons episode felt a bit too repetitive and just a weaker retread of what had come before; and the G.I. Joe episode just felt like a weaker version of the Christmas animated episode and it felt really hollow as a result (especially given the lazy copout of the It was all a dream ending, which feels like a direct retread of the Season 4 finale). And even given the choice as much as I loved Geothermal Escapism, I'd take the paintball episodes over it. Community used to be a show that was able to balance emotional stuff with the concept episodes and although it does it with Troy's departure, that's probably the only time it manages this season as even Jeff and Britta's on/off marriage proposal/breakup just feels flat and forced like they needed to get two characters together and - yes, they called out on the trope but they didn't do anything with it. Also: Abed realising that he's on a show... didn't work for me, as much as I love Abed's character.
The characters don't feel anywhere near close to what they were in the past especially by the end - in part due to how plot-driven the finale is, there's a few quiet moments but mostly they just feel there to react to the news that there's buried treasure and that's all we get. Most of the time they're all pretty much interchangable now to the point they all feel like shadows of their former selves. Also: Chang just becoming part of the group still feels odd especially given everything that happened in Season 3 - did they really forget about him essentially TRYING TO KILL THEM?, but I did like some of the material that Chang had this season. Even Season 4 had a better ending than Season 5 - at least they actually tried to give Jeff a character arc.
If anything - Season 5 feels like The Rise of Skywalker (although that's not to compare Season 4 to The Last Jedi because I loved TLJ and didn't click with Season 4). It feels very much like a course-correction, over-reactionary, safe and ambitionless when Community previously was daring, risk-taking and always trying out new things. And what's arguably made it worse is that this time it feels self-indulgent and self-righteous (see back to the constant gags about Season 4 being a 'blip'). When I started Season 3 I was worried it would go full Sherlock and jump the shark completely - and it looks like it has done. Now it's just - aside from the odd exception - stale and lifeless. Still: one more season to go! (If I ever do rewatches, unless Season 6 salvages it I'm sticking with Seasons 1-2).
Favourite episodes from the season:
Cooperative Polygraphy
Geothermal Escapism
Basic Intergluteal Numismatics
Nothing particularly groundbreaking but still, The Whispers is a decent watchable thriller that although doesn't go into as darker places as shows like Hannibal, due to it being on ABC, it's still fairly, chilling and with some solid acting (again, nothing too brilliant, but decent enough) both from adults and child actors alike (getting the child actors to put in good performances is crucial in a show like this) and the concept is intriguing enough to keep me around for the season. Four episodes in and I'm warming up to this show a lot more than I was at first.
Star Trek hasn't been this good in a while, fresh, exciting and optimistic more than living up to its bold, inclusive mission statement. As addictive as ever and instantly bingeable, Doug Jones & Sonequa Martin Green are the MVPs of this season with excellent performances from Mary Wiseman, David Ajala & Anthony Rapp. This feels more like an ensemble than ever with great attention given to the entirety of Discovery, it's far more than just the show of the select few.
Would have been happy with how it ended if that had been a final season, but I'm really excited to see where they take Season 4 next.
A fun police procedural. Even though it's nowhere near the level of Gilligan's Breaking Bad, there have been worse procedurals than this and it's a decent CBS show. Some nice comedic moments here and there as well and a cool guest appearance from Patton Oswalt make this worth checking out for procedural fans, and there are certainly worse things than Battle Creek on TV.
Oh hell yeah, that's what I'm talking about. Matt Ryan is the perfect Constantine and the pilot was a million times better than the movie. Not perfect, but still it was pretty good. Will be interesting to see where it goes and maybe it could beat The Flash for my favourite comic book show on TV at the moment.
A genuine revelation - Mae Martin is an absolute star. Entirely personal, brilliant comedy that is far too easy to get through in one sitting. Savour this, you'll miss it once it's done.
Talk about a show that has unfairly swept under the radar of many: a spiritual sequel to Crystal Moselle's terrific Skate Kitchen utilising the same cast for a series of 30 minute episodes. It's over too quickly but captures the same indie tone effortlessly and is a joy to watch unfold, the performances are mostly natural and the group has brilliant chemistry across the board. One of my favourites of the year.
This remake gets everything right: the tone, the soundtrack, the performances are all spot on across the board: Zoe Kravitz is terrific in the lead role. This show deserved the world: it should have never just had that solitary season.
An excellent season and one of the greatest ever of any television show. Surpassed Season 1.
Interesting start. Feels pretty similar to Michael Grant's GONE novels with a darker tone, or a blend of the Leftovers and The 100 only not quite as good as either show yet (although that said, its pilot was better than The 100's pilot - the show got a lot better in season 2, though). It's got potential to be pretty good though and the approach to release it on a weekly basis rather than all at once for Netflix is certainly interesting. Will follow this as there's not much new shows out now. Cool concept though.
Completely fearless, brave, unique and breathtakingly weird. By far the most original show to come out of 2020, Lovecraft Country is a trip that has to be experienced fully to be believed: I loved it! Its anthology-esque structure is refreshing with largely different storylines each episode with a core group of characters. It throws everything at the wall and most of it sticks, the genre-shifting is handled really well and you will almost certainly be surprised. For a great double-act, pair it with the equally insane Lovecraft horror fare Color out of Space.
