Milo123

Proper good Doctor Who - one of the best of the current era, suitably chaotic and all over the place but I love the dog monster and both Vinder and Dan Lewis are more charismatic than both Ryan and Graham, who I admittedly quite like. The Doctor being a Liverpool fan I'm less of a fan of though.

Chibnall's best at serialisation and this is him playing to his strengths, the ending shots of all the major players involved felt very Broadchurch episode 1 ending-y. There's a lot going on - almost too much, but it's fairly simple to follow - The Doctor fighting the end of the universe, and I loved it. The bit about the alien Dogs being man's best friend was hilarious too (as was The Doctor being Trent Alexander Arnold's ball boy, and the nod to the Scottish accents) - very Moffat-y in tone and sheer amount of stuff going on. This feels like what Series 6 would have been like had it been allowed to be full serialised and I'm absolutely here for this Shada/Trial of the Time Lords approach. The smaller TARDIS crew works wonders for now, and Yaz has gone full Clara here - meaning her days are surely numbered (possible death of both The Doctor and Yaz at the same time but with The Doctor regenerating looking on the cards here?) - but I like that she's getting to call out The Doctor.

Also like - as one of the 5 people that didn't mind Timeless Children - that they're going full in with The Division plot. Hopefully this leads to more surprise cameos and it'd be rude to not see Ruth!Doctor one more time - Jo Martin was excellent in Fugitive of the Judoon. The Weeping Angels haven't been overused (they last appeared in Obama's first term) so I'm excited to see more of them especially under a different showrunner than Moffat. More to come with most of these - it's all set-up and so much is now riding on the payoff, but what a way to keep me hooked for next week.

Might actually rewatch this before next week's as I'm also in the middle of a Series 12 rewatch (just ran out of time to do it before Series 13, sadly) - and it's been a while since I watched a Who episode twice in the same week. Big fan. Will miss 13 when she goes...

Star Wars at its most bland, boring and predictable since The Rise of Skywalker. This whole season has felt like a backdoor pilot: the TV series, falling into the same trap as the hot mess that was Titans Season 2, setting up too many characters' shows and losing interest in its own to the point where it ends with a tease for another series rather than the third season of its own show. It feels like it's ticking off checklists and resorting to lazy fanservice (in hindsight it's about what we should have expected with a script written by the director of Iron Man 2) instead of trying something new or different like with The Clone Wars' animated series, Rebels' later seasons, or The Last Jedi. The Mandalorian feels like a supporting character in his own show, and the big Deus Ex Machina with Luke Skywalker confirms that the franchise is far too reliant on one character to truly move forward: what was supposed to be the series' big moment just left me cold and soulless, completely empty. I knew this was coming the moment they teased another Jedi apart from Ahsoka and brought back Boba Fett, but did it have to be this uninteresting?

The bit where we got to see Mando's face in front of everyone was a cool culmination of his arc and all, and easily a high point of the episode for me with the right emotional beats working that features a terrific bit of acting from Pedro Pascal that feels like he's been waiting the whole show to to get to grips with. It's easily a series highlight. And the stuff where Moff Gideon was able to almost manipulate Bo Katan and Mando into a fight and coming to blows was a good thing that played to all three characters strengths. But what followed was a colossal let down that flat out killed my interest in Season 3 if this is the direction of where this show is headed, it just feels like Star Wars is playing it far too safe right now, focusing on the same one character in a way that is determined to tie everything together. I also love the subtle nuance where we get to see the brief personalities of the minor Empire pilots and their troopers that adds a bit of depth to the world and explores how the characters react to the changing events around them. That stuff is good!

Good to see everyone is enjoying this more than I am. It's not for me! And that's fine.

A mixed bag of a first season. It's not Game of Thrones, Black Sails or even Vikings yet; it doesn't have the budget but it started out on the BBC so that's to be expected. I'm looking forward to seeing what the move to Netflix will do it budget-wise. It's very impressive for a BBC series in terms of the scale and drama it achieves; and a lot of that is down to Bernard Cornwell's novels which - from what I remember, are very good, although it's been a while since I've read them.

The first episode didn't really grab me at all and was easily the weakest of the whole season. It was exposition heavy and Uthred isn't exactly a likeable protagonist early on. He grows on you as the series progresses; as do all the characters, but at the same time having him as a lead character for the first few episodes was as testing, especially when he stuck by Alfred after everything that Alfred put him through for minimal returns. The Danes were the more lively characters of the bunch and Ragnar and Brida needed more screentime - in general, The Last Kingdom has a major problem with its female characters that never really got addressed to the point where Iseult's plot and everything that happens to her is laughably bad. Mildrith deserved a lot better; and her storyline made me feel sorry for her character and the luck of the draw that she got. Brida threatens to be an actual character at times but the show pushes her to the side after a few episodes to the point where she and Ragnar almost feel like extras by the end of Season 1.

The action scenes are brutal and intense and I like that this show packs a lot of story in its episodes - it's rare that there isn't an hour long episode that doesn't make the most of its runtime and there's enough plot in episode five alone to fill an entire season which is a refreshing change when Netflix just lets its episodes run and run. Episode 5 is easily the highlight of the entire first season. Odda the Younger was a really detestable antagonist; and Ubba was a more than credible threat for the Viking side; so the series did a good job at building up its characters and making you invested in Uthred's struggles even if I never warmed up to him that much over the course of the show.

And we're pulled into another season finale which means a cliffhanger episode, and this was a big one. We've seen bits and pieces of the brewing Klingon Civil War in the background and the Romulans attempts to slowly get more and more involved in others' affairs and they come about in a big way here.

This was a huge episode for Worf and him leaving Starfleet to return to the Klingons would have been more impactful of a cliffhanger if I hadn't already seen Deep Space Nine and knew he returned to Starfleet. But still, there's plenty of material here for him that further cements his status as one of my favourite characters on this show. The conversation between him and Guinan is great (prediction: Worf will laugh in the next episode), and I did like the Klingon political stuff again because they're never boring in this show.

I'm looking forward to getting stuck into Season 5 and picking up where I left off. I did like the show's strong emphasis on its family and although the slog of episodes towards the end did get a bit rough at times in terms of quality there were a few standouts and the show has very much found its groove. I did like how much time the show spent dealing with the Borg and the consequences from that; you can see why they've become such an iconic Star Trek villain (although the Cybermen are the superior sci-fi monsters, fight me).

A decent episode, some Dr. Crusher stuff can be a bit hit/miss and this feels rather in line with the middle of the pack. Unfortunately the romance isn't as convincing despite the fun lead into the awkwardness of the the Dr. Crusher/Riker stuff. It feels largely half-baked mainly because the show insists on telling us rather than showing us how much the two love each other. Again it feels like a victim of TNG's firm attention to the standalone episode structure, as this show could have used more time to develop the characters' relationships than just what we had with them here.

Like Half a Life before it it tries to tackle the problems that come with romances between species and again, like Half a Life before it it's not the best executed episode of Trek ever. The episode raises questions as to how the Trill society functions - where do they get all their hosts from? and Dr. Crusher not being ready to accept Odan's new transformation into a woman feels much more like a step backwards rather than a step forwards for the character.

We did at least get the Trills' introduction though, which leads into Jadzia Dax showing up in Deep Space Nine as one of the franchise's best characters.

Another emotional gut-punch of the highest quality that shows Dave Filoni should be given the keys to the Star Wars franchise for as long as he wants. He gets these characters, has a perfect ending - and that payoff with Vader witnessing the aftermath of the crashed ship, and hits all the feels of an epilogue-heavy finale that wraps up loose ends after the more impactful penultimate episode. It's a quieter episode - yes, you know Ahsoka, Maul and Rex are going to escape because they have to - but the show finds a time to throw in one last homage that reminds audiences that the Clones were the characters that made this story as special as it was. Seeing Ahsoka look at the helmets of the dead Clones wearing their Tano-coloured armour was heartbreaking and a devastating final conclusion to her arc.

It didn't need to be an epic; and arguably the quieter touch makes this one feel more impactful because of this. We got the last stand of Ahsoka and Rex in the previous episode, so again, their escape was a formality here. I did like Rex being proud of how efficient the soldiers under his command were even though they were trying to kill him. I love that Rex becomes such an instrumental part of Rebels later; along with Ahsoka. It just feels right.

As finales go, Victory and Death is one of the best.

And with one episode left to go, The Clone Wars delivered another perfect episode that finally reached the moment that we were all expecting it to reach: Order 66.

Refreshingly avoiding the all-too easy option of repeating excessive scenes from the movie such as the montage of all the Clones turning on the Jedi and not featuring Obi-Wan and Anakin or any of the other Jedi at all full stop, The Clone Wars reminds us at the end what the show has always been about, Ahsoka and Rex. Their story. I'm not lying when I say that this episode full on wrecked me - there was no point in trying to hide Order 66 because we all knew it was coming, and instead, keeping the focus on these two characters rather than going for something much bigger led to a much more impactful moment with the scene where Rex gets his orders from the Darth Sidious being one of the strongest moments that the show has ever done. You can feel the emotion. You can see him trying to fight it and failing. And then there's that moment where he, like the entire army of the republic, switches into cold-blooded hunter the moment the Order is given. I mentioned last week about Revenge of the Sith hitting a little differently on a rewatch; it's not just that: Rebels is going to hit a little differently on a rewatch, a show which I fully plan on revisiting too.

The little touches designed to play to audience's emotions like having the clones in their Tano-coloured helmets salute Ahsoka, and the show reaffirming the bond between Rex and Ahsoka moments before Order 66 happened added up to this emotional gut-punch of a moment even further. We've all seen Revenge of the Sith, we all know this moment was what this season was building towards - yet it doesn't stop it from being arguably, the most emotional moment in the whole series and one of the most emotional moments in the entire franchise, thanks in no small part due to the fact that the writers know that we know what's coming next. The music played a huge role here, which is appropriate - arguably Order 66 wouldn't have had the same impression without that John Williams fanfare in Revenge of the Sith, and the little touches of silence before it lead create a sense of eeriness and fear. I was worried throughout the episode constantly for Ahsoka even if Rebels fans know her fate, and Rex's, after The Clone Wars.

The scenes that the show did include from Revenge of the Sith were chosen perfectly - the council meeting to reaffirm the fact that the Chancellor was involved in something dodgy and to remind us of where we were in the film's timeline (honestly, overlapping this show with the events of the film was the best decision ever - Claudia Gray's Lost Stars did something similiar with the original trilogy and that too worked perfectly so it's not without precedent in the Star Wars universe), and that scene where Ahsoka saw the vision of Anakin turning on Mace and joining Sidious, completing his tragic fall from grace, hit perfectly - especially using the voices of both actors who have played Anakin to sync it up. It was a big, operatic sequence that succeeded on every level.

And then there's Maul. Maul unleashed is Maul at his best, even once defeated the show never stopped reminding us how deadly he was; I love that Ahsoka was smart enough not to give her his lightsaber. We've seen this part so many times where the hero has to trust the villain to escape and the villain inevitably betrays them. Letting Maul go to unleash chaos was exactly what he did - in brutal, visceral fashion, tearing through the Clone army using only the force.

This was another highlight from Season 4 so far and one of my favourite episodes of the eleven from this season that I've seen so far.

Data and Dr. Crusher dancing in the holodeck was a great scene that the two shared together; I really like both characters and they come into their own here. This was a big Data-centric episode too as he learnt more about human wedding customs and the show reflected on the definition of what marriage was as a concept and what it meant to him. Brett Spiner knocked it out of the park - he was really born to play Data. I couldn't imagine anyone else in the role.

This feels like very classic Trek in all the best ways. Having seen Deep Space Nine Miles O'Brien is one of my favourite Trek supporting characters so he had that advantage coming in and it's great watching Colm Meaney grow into the character and get bigger and more important roles in episodes rather than just cameos as The Next Generation continues - and it was fascinating to meet Keiko for the first time here. Rosalind Chao was great too in her role, and she more than delivered.

I wasn't too much of a fan of the Vulcan/Romulan subplot but then the show has usually - at least so far - never really been able to balance two plots in one episode that well, with it feeling tacked on in comparison and lets anotherwise good episode down. But even so; it's not the weakest subplot that we've had.

A jet-ski/yacht chase! I was waiting for that to happen and Outer Banks didn't disappoint. What a way to kickstart the episode - I feared the show might kill off Ward and have John B. get blamed for it and I'm glad it didn't go down that route.

I hate everyone in the Cameron family now apart from Sarah, I really do. Especially after that ending. Rafe shooting Sheriff Peterkin was actually unpredictable, although I was worried for her early on when she started going on a solo crusade against Ward - but it's still among the more surprising things that this show has done, so full credit to it. This was an episode that really ramped up the tension, and threw Rafe in with his father whilst surely now, Sarah will turn against him. That climatic showdown on the runway was as insane as you could imagine. We're in the endgame now.

Positioning Ward as the villain does a good job at creating more tension between the poorer and rich parts of the island - and showing that he has friends everywhere instantly creates plenty of unpredictability going forward - nobody really knows who to trust anymore.

And things really, really don't look too good for John B at all. I get why this isn't a mini-series now.

Things fall apart in the very next episode - which didn't take long at all - finding the treasure was always going to be the easy part if this show wanted to have any sense of a longer lifespan about it - there's a lot of scenes between John B. and Sarah's father Ward here that really work - of course Sarah's dad was always going to know more about the treasure than he was letting on, and that final shot of him climbing up the boat to - do something bad - to John B opens up a whole can of questions for the next episode. He has a dark past - that's clear - a past that he's willing to take drastic actions to stop his newly adopted son from talking.

JJ fell down pretty hard this episode and his stuff was pretty emotional and effective. I really like that the show doesn't use this as an excuse to force him apart from the rest of his friends, and that Kiara and Pope sympathise with him for his actions rather than cast him off - which would have been a bad move. It's the highlight of the episode for me, even considering the ending. Rudy Pankow was the MVP of this episode.

Maybe it's not the best idea to question a man who may have had something to do with your father's disappearance on a boat in the middle of nowhere, John B? Maybe wait until you're back on dry land? Either way - whatever happens next - most likely leaning in the direction that John B's going to either kill or heavily injure Ward out of self-defence - we've just found our hook for the rest of the episodes.

Okay, so the Sarah/Kiara split was finally resolved this episode. We learnt more about why Kiara and Sarah don't get along at all - and the two resolving their differences was cliche as hell but fun, and Kiara admitting that she called the cops on Sarah's party was a fun moment. This was very much an episode of two halves that almost felt like two different shows, the first half felt very standard teen drama-y and then the thing quickly turns into a remake of Don't Breathe in the second act as things veered quickly into horror territory that the show was hinting at beforehand.

The scenes where the group were avoiding the blind woman were as tense as hell, and Outer Banks did a good job with changing the atmosphere completely; when it wants to go tense - it can really go tense - I wasn't expecting it to turn into a Don't Breathe remake as quickly as it did, and I felt the group's jubilation and sense of victory about getting the gold and escaping from the house. I wasn't expecting them to find gold so early on in the series - which begs the question - what's going to happen in the next four episodes? How is this not a mini-series? How are we supposed to get a second season out of this?