It’s “What have you been watching?”, my chance to tell you what movies and TV I’ve been watching recently and your chance to recommend anything you’ve been watching.
Well, I’ve done it. I managed to watch all of Marvel’s Iron Fist (Netflix) in a weekend. Okay, technically, I still have one episode to watch, but I’ll have done that in time for tomorrow’s full-season review.
However, that does mean I’ve not watched all the rest of the tele on my list, which means it’s time for a purge.
Now, I’ve reviewed the first two episodes of Trial & Error (US: NBC) elsewhere; I’ve also passed verdict on Taken (US: NBC; UK: Amazon) and Time After Time (US: ABC).
And don’t worry, I’ll be getting round to passing verdict of Making History (US: Fox) and The Arrangement (US: E!), assuming that all three episodes of the latter are in any way watchable. Fingers crossed, I’ll also review Midnattssol/Jour Polaire (Midnight Sun) (France: Canal+; Sweden: SVT; UK: Sky Atlantic) at some point, too, as well as at least the first episode of Snatch (US: Crackle).
But now we come to the regulars. I think the likelihood of my carrying on with Prime Suspect 1973 is small, and Fortitude might have to sit on the backburner for a while and may disappear altogether. Season two of Billions hasn’t justified its existence to me yet, and the stupid number of movie references this week put me it off it significantly, so that’ll be going, too. I’ve also decided that in all likelihood, despite being superb TV, season 3 of American Crime is going to be as depressing as the first two seasons, so I’ll bow out now before I kill myself. Don’t let that stop you from watching it though (I mean that in a positive way, honestly).
So that means that after the jump, it’ll be the new regulars (although some of these are on a tight leash, too…): DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, The Flash, The Good Fight, Imposters, Legion, Making History and The Magicians. I’ll also be looking at the rather surprising change of pace in the season finale of Lethal Weapon.
The observant will notice I haven’t mentioned The Americans – don’t worry, I’m not so stupid as to have dropped them from my schedule, I simply haven’t had the time to watch episode two so will do a doubler next week.
Shows I’ve been watching but not recommending
DC’s Legends of Tomorrow
2×14 – Moonshot
An episode that is part insane fun, part insane rubbish, as the team end up messing up the history of Apollo 13, and having to deal with an evil Speedster. Copious references to The Martian (when did they find the time to watch that?) rather than Apollo 13 though, which is odd, although not too odd given the target audience. But “the speed force only works when there’s gravity” and it’s still not working on the moon? What? It’s science, Jim, but not as we know it.
Reviews: First episode; fourth episode
The Flash (US: The CW; UK: Sky 1)
3×16 – Into the Speed Force
Talking of speed force, obviously flush with the success of the previous Kevin Smith-directed Speed Force episode last season, our Barry retreads similar territory in yet another “the burden is all on me and I must learn a lesson” episode. Thankfully, it was a little lightened by the reappearance of a few old (dead) characters, but the constant regurgitation of the same plot points and life lessons is getting very old now.
Reviews: First episode; third episode
The Good Fight (US: CBS All Access; UK: More4)
1×5 – Stoppable: Requiem for an Airdate
Marvellous! A simultaneously meta and yet not meta “ripped from the headlines” episode about a writer for a TV show who rips ideas from the headlines whose episode of “one of those Chicago shows” that brought up Donald Trump’s child rape trial has been postponed out of the schedules (just like a certain episode of Law & Order: SVU). So the show’s writer dumps the entire episode on the Internet… which is where The Good Fight airs. Bewildering.
More bewilderingly, SVU‘s Donald Trump character would have been played by Gary Cole, who also guest stars in this episode of The Good Fight.
Meanwhile, former stand-out Good Wife guest star Matthew Perry’s back and he’s having fights with another Good Wife character he never met on the main show (Carrie Preston), who spends a lot of the episode wondering like so much fan fiction why they’ve never met until now, despite moving in the same circles.
More of this brain play and it’ll be on the recommended list next week.
Reviews: First episode; fourth episode
Imposters (US: Bravo; UK: Virgin)
1×6 – The Maddie Code
A chance for things to get a little more realistic, as the trio face up to their pain and try to work out what they’re actually doing. A big twist at the end was both easy to predict and hard to see coming (I guessed something like it would occur, but was surprised when it did), and explains a few things that have been bugging me this season. Not very likely, but explains a few things. Not enough Uma Thurman, though.
Reviews: First two episodes; third episode
Lethal Weapon (US: Fox; UK: ITV)
1×18 – Commencement
Huh. After about 16 episodes that are very much about the laughs and the fun, with a bit of melancholia for Riggs to process, we finally hit something that’s actually even darker than the first movie, to which there are more than a few head nods (I’m surprised there was no one called Endo in the cast list…). And it was all really good stuff that actually occasionally showed why Riggs is a ‘lethal weapon’.
That said, for season two, if they could hire Taken‘s stunt team, that would help the whole thing massively, since the stunts have been the real let-down of what’s turned out to be a surprisingly decent adaptation of the original movie.
Review: First episode; third episode
Making History (US: Fox)
1×2 – The Shot Heard Round the World
A slightly better episode than the first, which is a bit more comfortable with its faux history and mocking Americans’ love of guns. But the jokes, although smart, still aren’t hitting home, despite Adam Pally’s top notch delivery. Maybe a change of setting will do the show some good. Let’s see with episode three…
Review: First episode
The recommended list
Legion (US: FX; UK: Fox UK)
1×6 – Chapter 6
The first complete misfire of an episode, in which everything went back to the beginning again, presumably to get some more mileage out of the hospital sets from the first episode. Guys – we’ve worked all of this out already, so we don’t need it explained to us again. Still, what’s your money on the show staying canon and making Professor X Dan Stevens’ dad?
Reviews: First episode; third episode
The Magicians (US: Syfy; UK: 5*)
2×8 – Word as Bond
That was a very bad Dublin. And please tell me no one was attempting an Irish accent. That aside, still not a great episode, and the lack of big bad, rather than two slightly bads who never get to do much is now starting to hurt the show.
Episode reviews: First episode, third episode