“We all change. We all don’t get to be the same way we started.”
(SPOILER WARNING!)
A more somber than usual episode of The Walking Dead this week, but not because of the usual bleak apocalyptic scenario. This week’s script, by new comer Matthew Negrete, was a more intimate affair than usual, focusing on the show’s characters; delving deeper into the ones we know, and establishing depth for the new characters too.
Continue reading “The Walking Dead: Season 4, Episode 4–Indifference”
“Everything we’ve been working so hard to keep out – it found its way in.”
(SPOILER WARNING!)
Things are looking grim indeed for the plucky band of survivors in another excellent ep of The Walking Dead. Scripted by original comic creator Robert Kirkman, if anything this outdid the previous two in terms of pacing, starting slow but building up the intensity and drama to a satisfying climax.
Continue reading “The Walking Dead: Season 4, Episode 3–Isolation”
“How can you die from a cold – in a day?”
Well, that period of idyllic calm didn’t last long. Thank goodness. Despite last week’s Walker mall attack, I had visions of the new, agrarian community at the prison becoming like the one seen in series 2 of the original Survivors, where all the drama seemed to revolve around farming dilemmas. Not unlike, in fact, season 2 of The Walking Dead, for that matter.
Continue reading “The Walking Dead: Season 4, Episode 2–Infected”
“Being afraid is what’s kept us alive.”
As The Walking Dead returns for its fourth season, we find ourselves in the hands of yet another showrunner. Glen Mazzara relinquished the reins of the show after the excellent third season to Scott Gimple; but that shouldn’t be a cause for worry, as Gimple’s been a producer and writer since the show’s second season. This season premiere confirmed that the show’s in safe hands. It’s very much found its stride after the action and dramatic punch of last year, and this ep continued that trend, with enough character development to work as serious drama while not stinting on the undead action.
Continue reading “The Walking Dead: Season 4, Episode 1 – 30 Days Without an Accident”
“People spend all their time making nice things and then other people come along and break them!”
I’ve been rather quiet on the blogging front of late – it’s been a lovely summer, and I’ve enjoyed being out in it rather than spending evenings tapping away on a keyboard. But if there’s one thing guaranteed to make me put fingers to keys once again, it’s a new episode of Doctor Who.
Or in this case, not entirely “new”. I started this blog way back in the dim and distant 2007 primarily to review Doctor Who, but I never thought I’d be in the position of reviewing episodes from 1967/68 that I – and everyone else born since then – had never been able to see before. Yet thanks to the sterling efforts of one Philip Morris (not the one who makes cigarettes), we can all now enjoy two stories long held to be classics – The Enemy of the World and The Web of Fear.
Continue reading “Doctor Who: The Enemy of the Web of the World of Fear”
It’s been a few months now since I’ve written anything on this blog. And what a tumultuous few months they’ve been, in what’s usually the so-called ‘silly season’ when governments go on their hols.
We’ve seen a (in my view) brave man expose the extent to which the US and UK governments are sliding towards full-on totalitarianism, all in the name of ‘security’; revelations for which he’s now on the run, ironically having to seek refuge in nations whose claim to totalitarianism is rarely in doubt.
What’s it like living with a 60s motoring icon that’s only 12 years old?
Having finally got a permanent job, my usual first instinct kicked in – not having to worry so much about money, I was going to buy another car. With my hobby of liking quirky cars, particularly older ones, it was obviously not going to be a sensible, practical one.
Continue reading “A Mini Adventure – keeping it real with the original”
Me getting cosy with the Silurian known as Mette
Regular readers of this blog (I know there’s one or two of you out there) may have noticed something of a drop off in the rate of posts of late. If you’re waiting for my thoughts on True Blood, perhaps, you might be wondering why I’ve not said anything about the last two weeks’ episodes.
There’s a reason for this. I’ve got a full time job now, and in the exciting world of education, this is the busiest time of year – not even counting the continual ‘reform’ demands of the masterminds at the Department for Education. As a result, I’m spending more and more time at the office making sure the summer exams get marked, and finding less and less time to write. Something has to give. And – for a while, anyway – it’s going to be the writing.
Stress takes its toll on your dress sense…
Not all of it, mind. But it’s getting impossible to keep up with doing weekly episode reviews of all my favourite shows – particularly given that virtually all of them are broadcast on Sunday evenings. It takes an hour or so to watch the show, half an hour maybe to do some screencaps, perhaps a bit of time for background research on shows like Mad Men or The Newsroom, and maybe two hours to write the lengthy essays that I laughingly term ‘reviews’.
Factor in working late and commuting, and each post effectively takes up one entire evening. Sometimes I’m so knackered from work that I guiltily procrastinate, and before you know it, I’ve missed several weeks’ worth of things. Longtime readers (yes, I’m egotistically hoping I have some) may have already noticed the abrupt disappearance of my weekly Dallas reviews following a couple of weeks out of the country.
Here I am, in another country.
So I’m going to take a break. At the mo, the only show I had started to review weekly was True Blood, and to be honest, that’s been stuck for the last couple of seasons in a “not great but not terrible” kind of state. There’s nothing more boring than reviewing something you can neither praise nor snidely mock, so I’m going to knock those on the head. I may come back to weekly reviews for the return of The Newsroom in a couple of weeks – it depends on my workload at that job thing I do.
Reviewing so many shows on a weekly basis was never my intention. I actually started this blog primarily because my brief forum comments on each week’s Doctor Who were turning into epic essays. I used to do brief snippets on lots of things, including my other interests of politics and cars.
I also like cars…
But when I was unemployed, I found a lot of writing time, so the weekly TV reviews ballooned at the expense of everything else. I’d like to think a lot of you enjoyed them; but I miss writing other things, too.
So here’s what – I’m stopping weekly episode reviews at least for a little while. I may come back to them for The Newsroom; I definitely will for Doctor Who, The Walking Dead, Mad Men and Game of Thrones. For now, though, I’m going to try writing other things, like I used to. Things that aren’t all about what was broadcast the same night of the week. Have a try – hopefully you’ll enjoy them.
“I don’t know what I brought out in you, but I know there’s a good man in there.”
And so, another season of Mad Men draws to a close that is at once understated and powerful. Since the show is very much an ensemble piece, this season closer spent a little time on many of the characters whose plotlines have been in play this year. But once again, as ever, looming large over all of them was the dapper, tormented shadow of Don Draper.
Continue reading “Mad Men: Season 6, Episode 13 – In Care Of”
“Whatever that thing is, it’s not Bill.”
So, True Blood is back, after a rather disappointing season finale last year that failed to provide a resolution for most of the mysteries set up by season 5. It’s now de rigeur for every TV show to end its seasons on a cliffhanger, but True Blood’s previous form has been to wrap up the year’s storylines before introducing a new shock element to lead into the next. Season 5, for the first time, left viewers with very few answers to the questions posed throughout the year, and failed to really provide a satisfying ending to a season that had been rather disappointing overall.
Continue reading “True Blood: Season 6, Episode 1–Who Are You, Really?”
Simon’s Incoherent Blog 