Simon Fernandes

Mad Men: Season 7, Episode 1–Time Zones

“There’s someone above you, and someone below you, and everyone’s buying everyone dinner.”

(SPOILER WARNING!)

It’s a long overdue welcome back for the ladies and gentlemen (mostly gentlemen) of Sterling Cooper & Partners, in the first half of the final season of Mad Men. Yes, while Matthew Weiner’s acclaimed drama may have one more episode than usual for this seventh, conclusive outing, the fourteen episodes are going to be split into two ‘half-seasons’, the first broadcast this April, the last next April. If you thought the ‘mid-season break’ was annoying in shows like Doctor Who or The Walking Dead, at least you don’t usually have to wait an entire year…

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Game of Thrones: Season 4, Episode 2–The Lion and the Rose

“There’s been too much amusement here today. A royal wedding is not a place for amusement.”

(SPOILER WARNING!)

Ah, weddings. I must say, personally I have rather a dread of them. I’ve never encountered one that hasn’t been an awkward occasion, as you gingerly tread the minefield of half-understood family politics and longstanding grudges. Inevitably (in my experience), at least some part of it ends in tears, as Aunt Maisie, tipsy on complimentary cava, finally confronts Cousin Jane over the long-disputed inheritance of that cherished family heirloom, followed by the equally inevitable punch-up between their dutifully defensive and equally tipsy husbands.

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Game of Thrones: Season 4, Episode 1 – Two Swords

“The war is over. The King is safe.”

(SPOILER WARNING!)

If you thought Game of Thrones was getting popular last year, this year it’s a veritable cultural phenomenon. As the new season dawned, the papers were full of clickbait drawing fans in with the most tangential connections. There’s a certain amount of inevitability in pieces discussing the show’s representation of gender imbalance in its pseudo-historical setting, or instructions on how to make yourself look like Westeros’ most popular female characters. But what are we to make of it when former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard starts discussing how the show reminds her of her time in office? As if to prove how massive the show is, it actually broke HBO’s streaming service HBO Go with overwhelming demand for this fourth season premiere.

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The Walking Dead: Season 4, Episode 16 – A

“We gonna tell them? Everything that’s happened to us, everything we’ve done? We gonna tell them the truth?”

(SPOILER WARNING!)

Well that went… about as well as expected. Let’s face it, if you’ve ever seen any post-apocalyptic drama on TV, you probably could have told Our Heroes that Terminus was not going to be the refuge they were hoping for. If nothing else, Woodbury last season was a pretty good indicator of that. And nothing good has ever come of anything called “Terminus”. But then, maybe these guys aren’t too genre savvy – perhaps they preferred reality shows.

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The Walking Dead: Season 4, Episode 15 – Us

“There ain’t no ‘us’”.

(SPOILER WARNING!)

After the very dark territory of last week’s little side trip, this week’s penultimate ep of The Walking Dead’s fourth season gave us a much more conventional bit of storytelling. You couldn’t exactly say it was light relief, not in this show; but there were no shock twists, and nobody we cared about died. More importantly, after weeks and weeks of angst-ridden soul-baring, this ep suddenly seemed to (finally) get the plot moving again. Question is, where to?

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The Walking Dead: Season 4, Episode 14–The Grove

“Sometimes we have to kill them. I know that. But sometimes we don’t.”

(SPOILER WARNING!)

Has The Walking Dead gone too far? It’s always been a show that’s gone to some very dark places, but last night’s ep was probably the darkest of all; so unremittingly grim and bleak in its worldview, and showing us possibly the nastiest conceivable consequences of the post-apocalypse world. It was not easy viewing.

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The Walking Dead: Season 4, Episodes 11, 12 & 13–Claimed / Still / Alone

"Sanctuary for all. Community for all. Those who arrive survive. TERMINUS.”

(SPOILER WARNING!)

Well, so much for catching up with the blogging!

I could make all sorts of excuses. I’ve been busy at work (I haven’t). My social life is a hectic whirl (it isn’t). I’ve been ill (well, a little bit, but not terribly).

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The Walking Dead: Season 4, Episodes 9 & 10 – After / Inmates

“You were wrong. I’m still here.”

(SPOILER WARNING!)

Hello again, faithful readers (all several of you)! As usual this time of year, my reviews have been delayed by a sojourn to sunny Los Angeles, and the Gallifrey One Doctor Who convention. Consequently, I’ve missed covering two eps of The Walking Dead since it returned from its mid-season break, so I figured I’d do them both in one bumper post – with this week’s to follow tomorrow – jetlag permitting!

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Sherlock: His Last Vow

“I’ve had to do with fifty murderers in my career, but the worst of them never gave me the repulsion which I have for this fellow. And yet I can’t get out of doing business with him — indeed, he is here at my invitation.” – from the journals of Dr John H Watson, MD, The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton

(SPOILER WARNING!)

And so, another all too brief season of Sherlock comes to an end, with an episode that should please more of the fans than the previous two (though I’m, sure some will never be satisfied). If you didn’t like the previous two stories’ lurch towards ‘soap opera’ character drama in place of crime plots, the balance of this ep will probably have made you happier – and in retrospect, it has become clear that the previous two were all about building up to this one.

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Sherlock: The Sign of Three

“I love you, Mary, as truly as ever a man loved a woman. Because this treasure, these riches, sealed my lips. Now that they are gone I can tell you how I love you. That is why I said, ‘Thank God.’” – from the journals of Dr John H Watson, MD, The Sign of the Four

(SPOILER WARNING!)

I must confess, I was a trifle surprised last Thursday to find myself being a little negative about the return of Sherlock. Previously, to many people (including me), it’s been a show that needs little criticism, more polished and better thought through than Steven Moffat’s other series du jour, Doctor Who. Imagine my surprise, then, looking online, to discover that my criticisms of it were mild indeed compared to the vitriolic dissatisfaction of many, including plenty who described themselves as formerly having been unalloyed fans of the show.

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