Amindst daily political horror news and Darth Real life, there is only ever a bit of time for my fannish life.

Doctor Who, ?.01.: First episode of Ncuti Gatwa's second season. When watching the correspondoning "DW Unleashed" episode, I was intrigued to learn they started to shoot this episode - and consequently the ensuing second season - on the day The Star Beast, the first of the Fourteen/Donna specials, was broadcast. Meaning they probably finished shooting the second Gatwa season before the first was broadcast. That's certainly one way to ensure your Tiimelord doesn't run away after one season...

Anyway: plot wise, it was standard DW fare, but it was an excellent introduction to the new Companion, Belinda Chandra. I wonder whether the fact she's a Nurse by profession has something to do with the NHS and its beleagured starte (especially since when RTD scripted this episode, the Tories were still lin power?). The episode did a good show, not tell job of highlighting what she's like, how she reacts in a crisis, and what she wants (and doesn't want). ( Spoilery Remarks ensue. )


Daredevil Reborn and Wheel of Time: are both delivering suspenseful episodes. One way these shows are so relaxing fo rme is because I like watching, but I'm not in love, which also means I'm not defensive and don't stress out when stumbling across complaints elsewhere

Adolescence: British miniseries in four episodes, conceived and written by Stephen Graham (who also plays one of the key roles) and Jack Thorne, directed by Philip Barantini, who, as the review of the Guardian put it, must be a glutton for one take punishment, because one very noteworthy element of this miniseries is that each of these four episodes is filmed in one uncut take. Now despite watching a lot of movies and tv, long takes aren't something I immediately notice, and sometimes only after they were pointed out by someone else, but not here, because the long take that starts with the episode and ends with the episode (meaning each of the four episodes are "in real time" is thematically highly relevant and not a fancy gimmick - it really heightens that sense of claustrophobia and intimacy, feeling locked up with the characters it depicts.

The cast is terrific, both the adults and the young cast, with the three outstanding teens being fifteen years old Owen Cooper playing thirteen years old Jamie Miller (who "only" appears on screen in two episodes but is much talked about in the other two), Amelie Pease who plays his older sister Lisa and Fatima Bojang as Jade, the best friend of Katie, the girl whose murder kicks off the plot. Now this miniseries is explicitly not a whodunit - the only episode in which that is even a question is the first one, when we follow Jamie being arrested in the povs of both the leading detectives and his father (played by Stephen Graham) who is horrified and of course believes his son's "I didn't do anything" denials - but a "whydunit" - i.e. why would a thirteen years old boy kill his female classmate of the same age? ( More somewhat spoilery observations follow. )

Daredevil ?.04: Okay, the "We build this city" school choir was hysterical, and had me giggling for hours afterwards. On the more serious side, the spoilery encounter was superbly played by both actors.

Wheel of Time 3.04.: Awesome aesthetics. ( Vague spoilers to follow. )

Aside from being RL busy and getting the daily horror show from the US like everyone else, I did watch a couple of fictiional things. My collected reviews:

Zero Day (Miniseries, Netflix): solidly suspenseful, but ultimately fails at what it wants to be, i.e. a 70s style political thriller. Not least because it was to be a political thriller without taking a stand in rl politics. Also, there are a couple of moments where you glimpse what could have been a really good work of fiction but then the narrative swerves from what it has seemingly set up to a far less interesting turn. Starring Robert de Niro as retired President George Mullen, the last President, we're told, to command bi partisan respect. When there is a cyber attack that shuts down all online traffic on every device in the US for a solid minute, with a threat of more to come, he's put in charge of a commission to investigate the causes. Said commission is given even more extra powers and habeas corpus suspensions than the Patriot Act after 9/11, and the reason why George Mullen gets appointed by his successor, who is black and female and played by Angela Bassett, is because only he is trusted to not abuse those powers. Other players include an evil tech billionaire (female), a slimy Mr. Speaker (male), George's estranged daughter, a Congresswoman, and an populist influencer who has Tucker Carlson's mannerisms but a pseudo left wing vocabulary. No party affiliations are mentioned for anyone, but it's pretty obvious the Speaker is supposed to be Republican and George's daughter a liberal Democrat. Emphasis on "supposed", because like I said, the miniseries shies away from any actual politics. We're told, repeatedly, that the country is deeply divided and nothing can be done anymore, but no one ever mentions issues the country is divided about. There are the usual red herrings while George investigates - and like I said, technically the miniseries is solidly suspenseful, and de Niro is good in the part - but each time the show could rise above avarage, there are these frustrating turns. For example: ( Spoilers ensue. )

But what really pushed it from "suspenseful with flaws" into "failed" territory for me was the ending( . Spoilers are willing to accept stories with witches and ghosts, but not THIS type of fairy tale. ) In conclusion, you can skip this one, despite some fine actors present.

Paradise (First season, Disney + outside of the US which is where I am, Hulu inside the US): Now we're talking. This one, otoh, does everything right. It's not just suspenseful, it's twisty, with lots of interesting characters whose motivations make sense. And excellent actors, including Sterling K. Brown in the lead, James Marsden as the second most important male role, Julianne Nicholson in the most important female role and Sarah Shahi. If you're unspoiled, which I was, the pilot first makes you believe it's just a murder mystery (it opens with a dead body, so that's no spoiler) with some political trappings since the murdered man is a (former?) President, and our lead part of the team of Secret Agents responsible for his security and inevitably both an investigator and a suspect. But before the pilot is over, the first of many great twist lands, because the setting is revealed: no, we're not in some idyllic town where the President has retired after his term of office, we're really ( in a very different spoilery genre ) And more questions pop up through the season as some are answered. The mixture of twists and reveals is handled just right. Whle Xavier remains the lead throughout, the way the episodes give the central spotlight to a different character in addition to him in each episode, thus introducing the ensemble who each have their own stories and motivations reminded me a bit of Lost. As did the way the interlocking stories sometimes return to the same scene(s) from different povs.

Now, this series when it tackles politics doesn't shy away of actually going deeper than just "we're so divided, but surely a patriotic speech and an outside threat will fix it". Here, too, we have a shady female tech billionaire. (Btw, I'm not complaining that we get tech sisters instead of tech bros in those thrillers. The women might be evil, but they are far more human and interesting than You Know W'ho. Well, Samantha aka Sinatra is, not so much the lady in "Zero Day". The reason why Sam(antha) is code named "Sinatra" is because of a cruel but not inaccurate joke Cal's (also billionaire) father made, telling his son "you think you're Dean Martin, but you're not, you're just Peter Lawford, only in the Rat Pack because of who you're related to". Sinatra is the one with the actual power in the top hierarchy, but while she's the season's main antagonist (not the killer, though), we also get an entire episode focused on her early on (second or third episode, I think), learning her backstory and what made her who she is. This series gets the difference between explaining and excusing so very right, it's awesome. And each time I was afraid it would go for the easy way out - ( as with a spoilery fear ) it didn't. And everyone was so human, including those with limited screentime.

Sterling K. Brown delivered a fantastic lead performance, and there wasn't a weak link in the cast, including the younger actors. And the last but one episode where we finally saw how ( a spoilery momentous event took place ) And despite the ( spoilery ) genre, as many examples of people following their better nature as there was of people following their worst. In conclusion: this one is a must.

Daredevil: Born Again (episodes 1 + 2): Which technically is a first season, except it's not, it's a fourth season of the Netflix show, now produced by the House of Mouse. Now as opposed to Jessica Jones and Luke Cage, Matt Murdoch and friends actually finished their Netflix show in a better place than where they started from, with the Netflix showing having used its third season for a reconciliation arc, so I was in two minds when I heard about this sequel. Because a state of happiness does not Daredevil drama make, so it was a given things woiuld have to get worse again. Otoh I was delighted by the Matt cameo in Spider-Man: No Way Home and his turning up in She-Hulk, and also liked The Other Guy's (to put only vaguely spoilery) appearances in Hawkeye and Echo, so concluded I was in the market for this now show.

( Spoilers for the first two episodes ensue. )

In which we get the show's version of Treasure Island's Fifteen Men on a Dead Man's Chest song as well as other more spoilery things.

( Yohoo! )

Continues to be excellent, might shape up to be my favourite SW series after The Clone Wars if it keeps this up. As with The Clone Wars, the fact its targeted primarily at children works to its benefit, not detriment, I suspect (i.e. it is a tv show with an overreaching story, sure, but it is also episodic, using the tv format, not a movie broken up in segments, and while there are nice little nods to overall SW, it is its own story, not a continuity headache). And the Treasure Island inspiration/tie in continues to make for fabulous characterisation. ( Spoilery remarks about both episodes ensue. )

In which the show ends, and I, for one, am amazed how right they did by their titular character.

( Seasons of the Witch indeed )

In which we get the backstory of *redacted*

( Spoilers are MCUs very own Dybbuk )

( Agatha All Along 1.04 )

( Rings of Power 2.08 )

Rings of Power 2.05 and 2.06: In which things go really bad for dwarves and (some) Numenorians, but really well for Sauron.

( Spoilers really want to surpass Feanor )

Agatha All Along: Episodes 1.1. and 1.2 A very enjoyable start. Keep it up, Disney, and Secret Invasion might be forgiven.

( Spoilers really want to leave Westview )

In which the show is back and continues to please me. No doubt this is partly because it's been decades since I read the books, and while I liked them, I was never passionate about them. (Meanwhile: behold my childhood love for Michael Ende's The Never-Ending Story and the corresponding grrr-arggh feeling towards the movie (the first one, I never watched the, spit, sequels), so Tolkien purists, I get where you're coming from, I just don't share it in this particular case).) But I do like this series and am completely on board with most of what it does.

( Spoilers catch up with what various Elves, Dwarves, Numenorians, Istari and a Harefoot or two are up to )