Reviews – Simon’s Incoherent Blog

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: Season 1, Episode 2 – Hard Salt Beef

“All men are fools. All men are knights.”

(SPOILER WARNING – and probably NSFW!)

More fun Westeros-based shenanigans ensued in this week’s instalment of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, which, suited to its lightweight comic style, was a mere 33 minutes long. Presumably after the hour long first ep, we’re looking at fairly short episodes compared to the often epic-length sister shows. That’s lucky, as having started to read the books they’re based on, they really are short – about 150 pages each. That’s not much plot even to fill three seasons.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: Season 1, Episode 1 – The Hedge Knight

“Every knight needs a squire. And you look like you need one more than most.”

(SPOILER WARNING!)

Yes, I know, it’s been months since I’ve written anything here. A combination of work, then the irritating recurrence of mental problems from the past… But it’s just excuses. I needed something to discipline me to write every week. And what better than HBO’s continued attempt to milk success from George RR Martin’s sprawling world of Westeros?

Alien: Earth Season 1, Episode 8 – The Real Monsters

“All this time, we’ve been afraid of them. But I think… they should be afraid of us.”

(SPOILER WARNING!)

It’s become a familiar refrain both on and offscreen in the Alien universe that the Xenomorphs are not “the real monsters”. No, the real monsters would be people – in particular, the rapacious, greedy corporations eager to make a quick buck out of the uncontrollable killing machines, uncaring how many people die to make that happen.

Alien: Earth Season 1, Episode 7 – Emergence

“We’re all going to die here. And then the bugs will crawl in and we’ll all be ghosts.”

(SPOILER WARNING!)

As expected after last week’s tension-building instalment, all those plotlines that Alien Earth has built up over the season start coming to fruition in this penultimate episode. Joe and Wendy’s escape plan from Prodigy; Slightly’s frantic attempt to bring Morrow an Alien; Yutani sending in troops to retrieve her specimens; Wendy’s bond with the recently hatched Alien – all feature heavily in an episode that shifts the story into high gear.

Alien: Earth Season 1, Episode 6 – The Fly

“Are we people, or something else? Because I don’t want to be ‘people’ any more, if this is what people are.”

(SPOILER WARNING!)

It’s back to the main story in Alien: Earth this week, after last week’s well-crafted (but sort of pointless) prequel-to-a-prequel remake of Alien. This is a thoughtful, contemplative ep that focuses mainly on the characters and concepts, but laced with dread throughout. And it’s clearly the calm before the storm that will presumably be unleashed in the final two episodes.

Alien: Earth Season 1, Episode 5 – In Space, No One…

“They want their monsters. Here they come.”

(SPOILER WARNING!)

Quite a change in format for Alien: Earth this week, as the show takes a break from its ongoing plotlines (and last week’s cliffhanger ending) for a flashback ep to the events on the USCSS Maginot before its crash on Earth. Well, having so meticulously recreated the original sets from the first Alien, it would be a shame for Noah Hawley not to get as much use out of them as possible, and they’re showcased this week in what is, essentially, a beefed up remake of that film. Hence the episode title.

Alien: Earth Season 1, Episode 4 – Observation

“I think they picked me. They’re talking to me. I want to hear them.”

(SPOILER WARNING!)

It was a much more character-driven, intrigue filled episode of Alien: Earth this week, with barely a terrifying beastie in sight most of the time. That’s definitely a good thing, as (besides advancing the plot) a breather in the action allows us to get to know these characters, and the world they inhabit, rather better.

Alien: Earth Season 1, Episode 3 – Metamorphosis

“Trillions of dollars of research and development just landed in our laps!”

(SPOILER WARNING!)

Looks like my initial impression of what Alien: Earth was going to be was wrong. I’d assumed, based on the first two episodes, that what we were going to get was one of those stories that takes place over a short timeline, entirely set around the “search and rescue” operation of the crashed spaceship and the apartment block it had crashed into. Instead, it became clear this week that the story is wider and more ambitious than that, moving to new settings and later days.

Alien: Earth Season 1, Episode 1 – Neverland / Episode 2 – Mr October

“You used to be food, you know. Humanity. Your lives were short. Then your brains grew. You built tools and used them to conquer nature. Built impossible machines. Went to space. You stopped being food. Or, I should say, you told yourself you weren’t food anymore.”

(SPOILER WARNING!)

It was inevitable, really. Once Disney got its hands on the Alien franchise, it was only a matter of time before we got a TV show from it. That’s how Disney work with successful film franchises – they milk them to death by overproducing content, both film and TV until nobody wants to watch them anymore. They’ve done it with Star Wars, they’ve done it with Marvel – is this the first step to doing it with Alien?

Doctor Who: Season 2/15/41, Episode 8 – The Reality War

“Mr Smith is gone. I am the Doctor!”

(SPOILER WARNING!)

Well, that’s it for another season – and, it’s looking like, another era of Doctor Who. If you’re one of those unhappy at what has become known as the RTD2 era, there was really no need to be. In many ways, what we got here was a typical Russell T Davies season finale, with all the strengths and weaknesses he’s shown in writing the show since 2005 – great characterisation and dialogue, with plenty of spectacle, undermined by gaping plot holes that were seemingly papered over by fast-paced set pieces.