Blog Archives
Haven: Nowhere Man Review
As we cross the halfway point of the first half of the fifth season, I think it’s safe to come to the conclusion that the writers took the 26-episode season order a bit too literally. The season increasingly feels like everyone is taking scripts that weren’t trimmed down to 42 minutes and padded them out to fit two hours of TV time.
This week was our first episode with Audrey back but it might have been to the episode’s detriment with the focus on Naudrey. Is it just me or is that the anchor that might drag this show down before hot shotting the timeslots?
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Doctor Who: In the Forest of the Night Review
You can’t expect a run of great episodes to continue forever. You would hope that it wouldn’t end right before the season finale of one of the best seasons of Doctor Who since the show’s revival in 2005. However, asking for 12-for-12 great episodes would be asking too much so maybe a flat episode was better this week than in the next two.
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Haven: The Old Switcheroo Part 2 Review
I’m starting to wonder how hard it is to write episodes in pairs. The first six episodes of this season of Haven have been presented in two-episode pairs and each pairing has had one episode that was quite clearly better than the other. The Old Switcheroo Part One was funny but it also explored the relationships between the characters from a different perspective.
This week, whether the novelty was gone after one week or the writers were done with the novelty, ended up being much more straight forward. It was all about Troubles and Mara.
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Doctor Who: Flatline Review
How many times has science fiction explored other dimensions? We’ve explored alternate dimensions with revised histories, good people turned evil and more. However, how many time have we explored the second dimension? Well, not only do The Doctor and Clara have to deal with creatures from the second dimension but The Doctor has to deal with a shrinking TARDIS. All in a day’s work.
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Crimes and Punishments: Sherlock Holmes Review: Elementary
There are many licenses that I wouldn’t want to be put in charge of but Sherlock Holmes would likely be at the top of the list. There is a great disconnect between the cognitive abilities of Sherlock Holmes and me, for example. He can look at a person and some clues and quickly deduce what happened as new evidence arises. Translating that ability to video games has apparently been quite a challenge for developers who have only seen mixed reviews, at best, for their Sherlock Holmes adventures.
For their latest trip to 221B Baker Street, Frogwares takes mysteries in the style of the classic Conan Doyle adventures and updates them with some of the tricks that have become popular on BBC’s Sherlock. Is that enough to make Sherlock Holmes a hit in the video game space to go with the recent explosion of popularity on TV and the silver screen?
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Haven: The Old Switcheroo Part 1 Review
What happens when you write an episode that, at first glance, is a way for all of the actors to blow off a little steam while spending their spring and summer in rural Nova Scotia? It turns out that not only is it a good bit of fun for everyone, actors and viewers alike, it gives the writers a chance to explore the various relationships between the characters from a different perspective.
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Doctor Who: Mummy on the Orient Express Review
If you’re The Doctor, there’s no such thing as a quiet vacation. You can’t just TARDIS into a quiet little corner of time and space to relax. Something always goes wrong. Often it’s homicidal robots. Sometimes, it’s homicidal aliens. This time, it was a homicidal mummy that could only be seen by the intended victim. For not getting any time to relax, The Doctor doesn’t look too bad for 2,000 years old.
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Haven: Much Ado About Mara Review
Not to start all of my reviews this week with a question but how do you follow-up on an episode where nothing happens and all your protagonists are spinning their wheels? You make everything happen this week and start pushing this season forward. Sure, it hits reset on a couple of characters but it’s for the best.
This week, The Guard have Mara and it looks like Dwight is about to assume the throne of this season’s Big Bad much like Jordan did last season. Fortunately, that was a red herring and the season is progressing along its logical path.
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Doctor Who: Kill the Moon Review
What happens when you take the training wheels off your bike? You either fall over and land on your head or you ride straight and true.
That was the question on Doctor Who this week. Though it feels like a question that has been asked time and time again, the question was asked again of Clara. Unlike every other time that Clara might have been left to ride on her own, this was the first time that she pushed back.
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Haven: Spotlight Review
Mara might have taken over Audrey’s body and be randomly murdering people about town but that doesn’t mean that Nathan is giving up on Audrey. While the rest of Haven has given up hope of getting Audrey back, brief glimpses of Audrey still being in there seems to be the only thing keeping him going.
This week, the battle lines are drawn. It’s Nathan against the rest of Haven as he tries to get Audrey back.
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