TV reviews

A complete archive of The Medium is Not Enough’s reviews of TV programmes since 2005

US TV

What have you been watching? Including Departure

17 July 2019 Rob Buckley 11 Comments

It’s “What have you been watching?”, your chance to recommend to fellow TMINE readers anything you’ve been watching this week

Tumbleweed

This week’s reviews

I think it’s summer fever. That’s the only explanation for why I’ve done nothing over the past week. To be fair, neither have most TV networks.

Anyway, that’s meant no reviews of anything. But that doesn’t mean I’ve not watched anything. Oh no.

My Life Is Murder
Lucy Lawless in Ten (Australia)’s My Life is Murder

What’s coming this week

Friday marks the end of TMINE summer time – that fabled time of the year when I go off on holiday and don’t talk about TV until mid-August and don’t really get back into the reviewing-and-news groove until September.

That means that this is the last WHYBW? for a good long while. However, before I hang up my typing fingers on Friday, I plan to review at least Pandora (US: The CW) and maybe even The Unsettling (US: HBO). My Life is Murder (Australia: Ten; UK: Alibi) started today, so I’m going to give that a whirl, too.

On top of that, although I never quite got round to doing Orange Thursday last week, I did at least put the movie-watching in, with Κυνόδοντας (Dogtooth) (2009), Atomic Blonde (2017) and the bonus of 47 Ronin (2013) being the order of the day. So that’ll be tomorrow’s Orange Thursday – the final one before TMINE’s holidays.

But after the jump, one last delight – new show Departure (Canada: Global; UK: Universal), which is all about a missing plane. They just keep disappearing these TV planes, don’t they?

Pater Familias
Darren Gilshenan in ABC (Australia)’s Harrow

The regulars

I did a little bit of pruning of the TMINE viewing queue last week, but this week will see the full application of the scalpel-like “Can I be arsed to catch up with this when I get back from my holidays?” to the dwindling viewing queue.

Harrow has just aired its season finale, mind, so will be spared the knife. But what among City on a Hill, Legion, Perpetual Grace LTD and Swamp Thing can I be arsed to catch up with when I get back in August?

Find out after the jump.

Continue reading “What have you been watching? Including Departure”
Perpetual Grace
Streaming TV

What have you been watching? Including Perpetual Grace LTD

10 July 2019 Rob Buckley 5 Comments

It’s “What have you been watching?”, your chance to recommend to fellow TMINE readers anything you’ve been watching this week

Netflix's Stranger Things 3
Netflix’s Stranger Things 3

This week’s reviews

It was less sunny this weekend, so TMINE returned to its traditional activity of skulking in the dark, doing the ironing and watching lots of TV. As a result, Boxset Monday featured Stranger Things 3.

Meanwhile, last week’s Orange Thursday was a double-punch combo of Shaft (2019) and The Lego Movie 2 (2019).

The CW's Pandora
The CW’s Pandora

What’s coming this week

Orange Thursday is a big unknown at the moment, since I didn’t make it to the cinema to watch the latest Spider-man as planned and I haven’t yet watched any other movies. Hopefully, I’ll watch at least one by tomorrow – I suspect it’ll be Atomic Blonde.

Canadian show Departure starts tonight in Canada, so I might review that, although given it’s on Universal in the UK tonight as well, there might not be much point – after all, y’all can watch it, too.

Pandora starts in the US next Tuesday, so I might do a separate review for that, or I might just roll it into the next WHYBW, depending on my workload.

Netflix also rolled out Family Reunion today, although multi-camera comedies are a bit of a turn-off, so I’ll probably be skipping it. Plus I’m off to a wedding on Friday, so I won’t have time to watch any boxsets.

Basically, it’s all going to be surprises, all the way down, but probably not that many.

Blue Devil
DC Universe’s Swamp Thing

The regulars

As TMINE’s summer vacation gets ever closer, it’s time to start winnowing down the viewing queue. Next week, I’ll be using the tried and tested “Can I be arsed to catch up with this when I get back from my holidays?”, but this week I’ve used its close relative: “Can I be arsed to watch the next episode of this?”

As predicted, I gave up on The InBetween last week, so that was a good start that left this little list of regulars, all of which I’ll cover after the jump: City on a Hill, Harrow, Jett, Krypton, Legion, Perpetual Grace LTD, The Rook and Swamp Thing.

But no fewer than three of those are for the chop this week because they’ve failed the test – yes, I can’t even be arsed to watch the next episode.

Which ones? Obvious clue for one them: there are only 10 episodes in season 2 of Harrow, and I’ve watched nine of them already…

Continue reading “What have you been watching? Including Perpetual Grace LTD”
Stranger Things 3
Streaming TV

Boxset Monday: Stranger Things 3 (Netflix)

8 July 2019 Rob Buckley 5 Comments

Available on Netflix

When does an homage stop being an homage and become its own thing? It’s an important question for something like Stranger Things – and its latest edition, appropriately called Stranger Things 3, rather than Stranger Things season 3 – which is a loving tribute to not only the films and TV shows of the 80s, but pretty much the entire decade, too.

Starting out as almost a recently discovered time capsule of a lost Stephen King TV series, albeit one with insanely high production values for the time, Stranger Things perfectly captured the innocence of 80s childhood and the weirdness and niceness of small town life. Playing with as many conventions as it also subverted, it caused genuine nostalgia for a time it had never inhabited. And although a touch scary at times, it was also genuinely beautiful, too.

If Stranger Things was Alien, Stranger Things 2 was Aliens – deliberately so, right down to adding Paul Reiser to the cast. Trouble was, while it was still very good and a slight retread of the first season, it somehow lost a lot of that innocence that had so weaved its magic on the audience. Sure, the kids were growing up, but it all felt a lot nastier and everything felt more like synthesised 80s, rather than original 80s, right down to the synthesiser music.

What then for season 3? More of the same or something different? Or worse still, Alien3?

Stranger Things

Imperfect strangers

Stranger Things 3 moves everything along slightly. It’s summer 1986 in Hawkins and there are no signs of any terrible lurking evil. Instead, it’s all about boys, girls, jobs and teenage rebellion.

Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) is still living with Sheriff Hopper (David Harbour), but he’s not so keen on how much time she’s spending with Mike (Finn Wolfhard). But he is keen on spending more time with Joyce (Winona Ryder).

Meanwhile, popular boy Steve (Joe Keery) is having to work in the ice cream parlour in the new Starcourt mall. He’s still a bit hung up on Nancy (Natalia Dyer), who’s now interning at the local paper, but he seems to be having plenty of inadvertent fun with brainy co-worker Robin (Maya Hawke).

Of course, not everything is at it seems and pretty soon, their lives are being turned upside down by none other than… the Russians!

Slightly spoilery review after the jump.

Continue reading “Boxset Monday: Stranger Things 3 (Netflix)”
Streaming TV

What have you been watching? Including Alta Mar (High Seas)

3 July 2019 Rob Buckley 8 Comments

It’s “What have you been watching?”, your chance to recommend to fellow TMINE readers anything you’ve been watching this week

The Rook
The Rook

This week’s reviews

It was a lovely sunny weekend, so all plans last week to review an entire boxset of something were obviously going to fall at the first hurdle. That means that all the TV I’ve managed to review this week is The Rook (US: Starz; UK: Virgin).

Meanwhile, last week’s Orange Thursday was equally deficient, only managing to take in Ralph Breaks The Internet (2018).

Oh well.

Shaft
Shaft (2019)

What’s coming this week

Tomorrow’s Orange Thursday will definitely feature last week’s also-ran The Lego Movie 2, as well as Shaft (2019) – not to be confused with previous entries in the franchise Shaft (1971) and Shaft (2000).

By hook or by crook, Boxset Monday (or Tuesday) will be season three of Stranger Things (Netflix), which will be available from tomorrow, giving me even more of a run-up.

On the other hand, it’s supposed to be sunny this weekend, too. Oh, well. Let’s see what happens.

Apart that, it’s anyone’s guess. Summer, hey?

Zachary Quinto in NOS4A2
Zachary Quinto in NOS4A2 © Zach Dilgard/AMC

The regulars

The InBetween was on yet another holiday last week, so I think I’m going to give up on it, simply because I’m going to start forgetting what’s been happening, both between episodes and by the time I have dementia, which is probably when the final episode of the season airs some time in 2047.

Otherwise, after the jump, we’ll have the regulars: City on a Hill, Harrow, Jett, Krypton, Legion, Perpetual Grace LTD, and Swamp Thing. I also found the time to watch another episode of NOS4A2 and I gave a new show a try: Netflix’s period Spanish murder-mystery Alta Mar (High Seas).

See you in a mo.

Continue reading “What have you been watching? Including Alta Mar (High Seas)”
US TV

Review: The Rook 1×1 (US: Starz; UK: Virgin)

1 July 2019 Rob Buckley 4 Comments

In the US: Sundays, 8pm ET/PT, Starz
In the UK: Mondays, 10pm, Virgin TV Ultra HD. Starts tonight

I can’t tell if Starz is a bit limited or has a David Cameron-esque ‘one in, one out’ approach to TV series. If you recall, until quite recently, it had a sci-fi spy thriller set in a major European capital: the rather good Counterpart. It cancelled that before the end of the second season for no really good reason.

But could the explanation for this insanity have nothing to do with quality or ratings? Could it simply be because Starz had The Rook coming and it didn’t want two very similar shows on at the same time? One clearly a lot, lot better than the other?

Joely Richardson in The Rook
Joely Richardson in The Rook

Rookie mistake

Adapted from Daniel O’Malley’s novel of the same name, The Rook is set in frequently rainy London and sees Emma Greenwell (Shameless US) waking up next to the Millennium Bridge, surrounded by a host of internally exploded dead bodies. She doesn’t remember how she got there or even what her name is, let alone how everyone died, so legs it.

In her pocket, she discovers a letter – from herself. In it are two keys to a safety deposit: one red, one blue. If she uses the blue key, she can start a new life with a new identity; if she uses the red key, she can re-enter her old life. Be warned, her previous self warns her, your old life is dangerous.

Guess which one she picks.

The Rook

By hook or by rook

Soon, ‘Myfanwy’ is learning that she works for a secret branch of British Intelligence called the Checquy that deals with people with special powers. Everyone in Checquy is given a rank based on chess and she’s a ‘rook’ and works for ‘queen’ Joely Richardson.

All she’s got to do is find out what happened to her and not get found out –and not let guest American agent Olivia Munn (The Newsroom) learn that she’s the one who exploded her boyfriend by the bridge. Oops.

Continue reading “Review: The Rook 1×1 (US: Starz; UK: Virgin)”