Rate the last series you completed out of 5 - No spoilers!

[Mogster]

1 hour ago, Vimster said:

Not sure how they'll keep this up for another four seasons

 

They don't, but in the best way! I loved Fringe.

[Festoon]

1 hour ago, Vimster said:

Fringe season 1 (2008)

Watched this on Netflix many years ago and didn't get to the end of season 2 as it got taken off. I really enjoyed it, you get a freak of the week story but it ties in really well with the overall arc of The Pattern. Not sure how they'll keep this up for another four seasons but the reveal at the end of season one has me wanting to carry on, so it's doing something right.

 

The next few seasons are absolutely the best.

[Kingpin]

Halt and Catch Fire, S1 - 3.5/5

 

I missed the boat on this one but feels good to have a new show with four full seasons to watch.
 

I liked this season a lot - great idea for some historical fiction. For anyone who doesn’t know, early 80s setting revolving around early home PC development and competing against big blue (and others). 
 

I can’t put my my finger on it but it felt like something was missing, but hoping it’s a case of the show finding it’s feet before smashing it out of the park over the remaining seasons. Good characters, good setting and I’m invested in the whole thing now. 

[Garwoofoo]

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

 

I put some thoughts about this in the dedicated thread for the show - but briefly, this starts off bad, gets genuinely good in the middle then tails off towards the end. Its main problem is it simply has too many episodes and not enough budget, so relies on far too many scenes of people having a fist-fight in a corridor. It has a very odd tendency of killing off its bad guys abruptly then immediately replacing them with another bad guy. It's got a tenuous connection to the MCU where it was very clearly intended to be canon at the start and then very obviously wasn't by the end.

 

However the characters are great and largely carry the show; and season 4 is excellent, if you can get that far. It's the kind of long-form Marvel TV show that we'll probably never see again now we're in the era of high-budget, 6-episode streaming "events", and in some ways that's a pity.

 

3/5

[pledge]

Top Boy s1-4 - 4/5

 

Good, but just lacking something to make it top tier. Unfortunately for it watching it close to finishing Snowfall.

[PK]

4 hours ago, Vimster said:

Fringe season 1 (2008)

Watched this on Netflix many years ago and didn't get to the end of season 2 as it got taken off. I really enjoyed it, you get a freak of the week story but it ties in really well with the overall arc of The Pattern. Not sure how they'll keep this up for another four seasons but the reveal at the end of season one has me wanting to carry on, so it's doing something right.

 

It remains brilliant! I watched it for the first time a year or two ago and it was an absolute delight.

[schmojo]

Fringe is great. Although I'm very much in the minority in that I prefer where it started to where it went.

[hmm]

17 hours ago, gospvg said:

Wednesday (Netflix) 3/5

Watched it with the kids, they enjoyed it more than I did.

 

What ages? We watched the first episode last night and it seemed a little too violent and unsuitable for ours (e.g. quite graphic and lingering depictions of a broken neck and deep claw slashes). What did you think overall about the subject matter?

[ScouserInExile]

4 hours ago, hmm said:

 

What ages? We watched the first episode last night and it seemed a little too violent and unsuitable for ours (e.g. quite graphic and lingering depictions of a broken neck and deep claw slashes). What did you think overall about the subject matter?

My three are 7, 9 and 11. Other than one jump scare that made my youngest jump, there wasn't anything in it I was concerned about them seeing.

[gospvg]

10 hours ago, hmm said:

 

What ages? We watched the first episode last night and it seemed a little too violent and unsuitable for ours (e.g. quite graphic and lingering depictions of a broken neck and deep claw slashes). What did you think overall about the subject matter?

Definitely had some dark moments and excessive violence. Girls are aged 14 & 16.

[cassidy]

Nolly by RTD. 

 

Crossroads is somehow a ubiquitous part of my childhood. 

 

That refrain as the break started. 

 

Anyway this made me laugh, made me cry.  Was Well written and Helena was superb. 

 

Well I'll go to the foot of my stairs.  Cassidy has nowt negative to say about Russell.  

[Mogster]

On 30/01/2023 at 18:10, Kingpin said:

Halt and Catch Fire, S1 - 3.5/5

 

I missed the boat on this one but feels good to have a new show with four full seasons to watch.
 

I liked this season a lot - great idea for some historical fiction. For anyone who doesn’t know, early 80s setting revolving around early home PC development and competing against big blue (and others). 
 

I can’t put my my finger on it but it felt like something was missing, but hoping it’s a case of the show finding it’s feet before smashing it out of the park over the remaining seasons. Good characters, good setting and I’m invested in the whole thing now. 

I loved the first season, but it changes things up a little for the next three and becomes one of my all time favourite shows. 

[Silent Runner]

Tell Me Lies

 

10-part Hulu drama about a relationship between a young couple and how it plays out over a year in their college. It feels like someone saw Euphoria and tried to emulate it but couldn't find that x-factor that made Euphoria so great. It's full of beautiful people, sex, violence and over-the-top drama and I had a blast with it. 

 

3.5/5

[Kingpin]

1883 - 4/5

 

The Yellowstone spin-off show - though it is completely independent/no prior knowledge required. It follows a family and a wider group setting out from Texas to make their way northwest to stake their claim on a new home. I loved it - it's beautifully shot, has good characters, a good cast of actors, and it's fairly brutal* but also has a strong emotional pull. Very satisfying single season.

 

*I wondered with each episode what fresh brutality would fall on the cast - that's not always the case but there's always an underlying tension of what terrible thing can happen next.

[Garwoofoo]

Lockwood & Co

 

What with this, Stranger Things and Wednesday, Netflix are really dominating that teenagers/young adult section of the market at the moment. I watched this with my 13-year-old and we both absolutely loved it. It's got a great premise (a world where ghosts - "Visitors" - are rising from the grave and attacking people, and only teenagers can see them and fight them), an amazing cast led by three young unknowns, and real confidence in its audience in terms of trusting them to join the dots on some of its world-building without it needing to stop and dump exposition on the viewer.

 

It's based on a series of books that we are absolutely now going to read, and apparently this season has covered the first two books out of five. I absolutely hate the fact that Netflix has conditioned me to brace for the show to be cancelled, because they absolutely need to finish this one. Go watch it and get their viewing figures up, everybody!

 

5/5

[schmojo]

Halt and Catch Fire

 

The show's trying to be Mad Men for the early computer scene, and does a decent job of it. They even have their own discount Don Draper. But it also feels a little artificially sexed-up at times, and suffers from Mad Men's Forrest Gump syndrome where they're involved in every milestone in the industry. No matter how disconnected.

 

Also, they have a habit of using phrasing from the last decade or two which I struggle to believe was in use at the time.

 

Performances are all good, and I like the principal cast a lot. By the last season I was a bit wiped out and didn't really care how it played out, but I'm glad I watched it.

 

3/5

 

 

[Timmo]

3 hours ago, schmojo said:

Halt and Catch Fire

 

The show's trying to be Mad Men for the early computer scene, and does a decent job of it. They even have their own discount Don Draper. But it also feels a little artificially sexed-up at times, and suffers from Mad Men's Forrest Gump syndrome where they're involved in every milestone in the industry. No matter how disconnected.

 

Performances are all good, and I like the principal cast a lot. By the last season I was a bit wiped out and didn't really care how it played out, but I'm glad I watched it.

 

3/5

 

 

Glad someone else said it, I got to the final season but never finished it. I could see the major plot point coming and I didn’t care about any of the characters.

[Kingpin]

Paul T Goldman - 3/5

 

Cant really say much about this one without spoiling it. It’s essentially a documentary but has a unique thing going on. 
 

Ultimately, it’s interesting and quirky but not really for me.

 

I admire what the director did with the show more than I enjoyed watching it. I found the main chap rather grating from the beginning so it made the whole journey a bit harder to get with. 

[pledge]

Ramy - Season 1

Not a show I knew much about, but it had strong reviews. It is quite like Atlanta, but not a rip-off. "Ramy follows a first-generation American Muslim who is on a spiritual journey in his politically divided New Jersey neighborhood." Covers many aspects of the culture that I wasn't familiar with, but I found it relatable as well as funny and endearing. Hoping that the subsequent seasons are as good.

 

5/5

 

[Vimster]

Happy Valley series 1

Gave this a go as everyone at work wouldn't shut up about series 3 which had just finished. At times it feels more like a family drama than a police investigation, largely due to the complex ties between the main antagonist and police sergeant Sarah Lanacashire's past which is deftly plotted. I watched the final five episodes in one go it was that compelling. It does start with some clumsy exposition to explain Lancashire's character's situation, and it felt like by about episode 5 the plot strings were in danger of loosening, but it rounds off really well.

 

4/5

[Rayn]

Person of Interest (HBO MAX)

 

Season 3-5

Can't be arsed to do separate reviews for the last three seasons. After the first two seasons, which I found to be highly entertaining and quite consistent, the entire atmosphere of this show takes a turn for the darker in season 3 and onwards. While the first couple of seasons were straight forward action with some mandatory twists here and there, the latter three seasons venture over to a more suspense like territory with a higher emphasis on drama. 

It works to some extent but as a whole the show feels a bit more inconsistent and the pacing takes a hit as there are more episodes that feels like fillers. 

In the bigger picture, though, I'm very pleased with the main story arch and some of the episodes were surprisingly good, especially towards the grand finale. 

 

Overall, I think I'll score the last three seasons, and the series as a whole a 4 out of 5. 

[Mike S]

The Gold (BBC/iPlayer)

 

This dramatization of the 1983 Brinks Mat bullion robbery and it's aftermath showed up on the TV home screen the other day so thought I'd give it a try and I'm very happy I did. Binged it over three entertaining nights.

 

It's got it all - a heist, villains, molls, good cops, bent cops, fences, freemasons, lock ups, Costa del Sol hideaways, and even a little bit of class warfare. I wasn't particularly aware of the details of the crime but it makes for a great story and is well told and acted (although the fella who plays the fence is as weak as he was in Slow Horses and just doesn't seem right for the role as the RL character seems to be a real nasty piece of work).

 

The pace over the six one hour episodes is just about right with enough attention paid to fleshing out the multiple characters without slowing the story down. It'd be ten one hour episodes with Netflix and would be worse for it.

 

Very solid 4/5.

[Mawdlin]

1 hour ago, Mike S said:

The Gold (BBC/iPlayer)

 

This dramatization of the 1983 Brinks Mat bullion robbery and it's aftermath showed up on the TV home screen the other day so thought I'd give it a try and I'm very happy I did. Binged it over three entertaining nights.

 

It's got it all - a heist, villains, molls, good cops, bent cops, fences, freemasons, lock ups, Costa del Sol hideaways, and even a little bit of class warfare. I wasn't particularly aware of the details of the crime but it makes for a great story and is well told and acted (although the fella who plays the fence is as weak as he was in Slow Horses and just doesn't seem right for the role as the RL character seems to be a real nasty piece of work).

 

The pace over the six one hour episodes is just about right with enough attention paid to fleshing out the multiple characters without slowing the story down. It'd be ten one hour episodes with Netflix and would be worse for it.

 

Very solid 4/5.

I watched the first episode last night and was pleasantly surprised. It nails the era brilliantly and has some crackling dialogue.

[Mike S]

2 hours ago, Mawdlin said:

I watched the first episode last night and was pleasantly surprised. It nails the era brilliantly and has some crackling dialogue.

 

Yeah, I was equally surprised at how good it was.

 

Love that grim early 80s look and it was nicely accented by some period appropriate tunes over each end credits…

 

 

[Plissken]

Wednesday - 4/5 (Netflix)

 

Novel spin on the Addams Family, underpinned by a fantastic central performance from Jenna Ortega.  Basically a tilted version of the high school teen drama, with a misfit trying to figure out how to navigate the cliques and groups of high school.  Throw in a central mystery and it's engaging stuff.  There's some hilarious lines that will probably pass many by, simply because the delivery is too (oh-ho!) deadpan.  Good fun though.

[Jamie John]

Andor - Series 1 (Disney+)

 

 

This is some of the best Star Wars-related media I've consumed, leagues ahead of Obi Wan with more depth than the fun but quite throwaway Mandalorian. Mainly, this is because it doesn't really have much to do with Star Wars: it's a heist-cum-prison break-cum-dystopian rebellion-cum-political drama story, with nary a Jedi in sight, and is all the better for it.

 

I thought it was great with an excellent ensemble cast, especially Diego Luna and Stellan Skarsgård in the lead roles, but also Genevieve O'Reilly and Kyle Soller elsewhere. And, as you can expect, with all that Disney money behind it, production values are through the roof - watching it in 4K with the sound up really is something else. A few of the performances from the actors in the lesser roles are a tad inconsistent, and there were occasions when I thought the writing was a bit too ambitious, perhaps spread too thinly across so many different characters, but, overall, this was pretty stellar (no pun intended), and well worth your time. I'm absolutely looking forward to season 2.

 

4/5

[PeteJ]

Alice In Boarderland (S1, Netflix)

 

A few friends recommended this after I enjoyed Squid Game, and this certainly shares a lot of the same drama but perhaps with even more intrigue.

I won't spoil anything but people are forced to play games and the losers die, and like Squid Game it's wrapped around a lot more than that mystery keeps pulling you in. Unlike Squid Game the setting is much grander in scale, so it doesn't feel like a repeat of the same thing. 

(I believe Boarderland came first, and is also based on a graphic novel)

 

To be honest I'm utterly hooked, the building of the characters combined with the various games makes for some really gripping and uncomfortable television. It's really horrible at times but I can't take my eyes off of it. The overall plot is interesting too, and I'm liking the characters. 

 

I wasn't sure going in but I've found myself really enjoying this. 

 

4/5

 

I'm currently a few episodes into S2 and it's equally as good, if not better. 

[watusi]

Alice in borderland S1 & S2

Pete has covered the basic premise above.

 

God I loved this. I'd put of starting this a few times but once i got 2 episodes in I binge watched to the it. Really interesting, really gripping, familiar but different and unexpected.

 

Simply put, one of the best series I've watched in a few years which left me a little bereft after I finished Season 2.

 

5/5

[Treble]

Hunters Season 1

 

What the hell...? Whipsaws between being an escapist revenge fantasy against the Nazis who evaded justice through Operation Paperclip, and a serious study of post WWII Jewishness and legacy. 

 

Mixing the two makes for a queasy blend at times. Imagine Shoah directed by Quentin Tarantino and you're kinda there. 

 

I started S2 and immediately dropped it; the strange magic had gone. A complete shit-show of a program that's sometimes amazing, sometimes fucking abysmal. And it stars Percy Jackson, who still looks about twelve. How?!? 

 

Either 2 or 4 out of 5, I dunno. 

[PeteJ]

On 25/02/2023 at 21:30, watusi said:

Alice in borderland S1 & S2

Pete has covered the basic premise above.

 

God I loved this. I'd put of starting this a few times but once i got 2 episodes in I binge watched to the it. Really interesting, really gripping, familiar but different and unexpected.

 

Simply put, one of the best series I've watched in a few years which left me a little bereft after I finished Season 2.

 

5/5

Alice in Borderland S2

5/5....I think

 

 

What a ride. Alice in Borderland achieves quite a rare achievements in TV -

It takes an interesting high-concept idea from the first series and successfully expands upon it. This is as much Lost as it is Squid Game, but better than both. 

The highs of this series easily eclipses anything from the already very good first series. Some of the scenes/ games are seriously well done, and actually few of them involve violence which somehow increases the tension even more. The stakes in the games are often really well thought through and the execution lives up to the potential. 

 

The second series also has an apparent massive boost in budget. I thought it looked fantastic and it gets better further into the series you get. 

 

There are issues though. One of the games is pretty weak in comparison to the others and takes an entire episode, it was fine but stood out to me. Also, bigger spoilers,

Spoiler

It gets a bit crazy how much damage some of the characters take and still keep going. 

 

I thought this was a great series with plenty of well-realised ideas. Probably the best series I've seen in a while. 

 

My other half hated it.