Reviews – Page 21 – Simon’s Incoherent Blog

Game of Thrones: Season 6, Episode 8 – No One

“All of us have to believe we’re decent, don’t we, to get to sleep at night? Tell me, how do you believe you’re decent, after everything you’ve done?”

(SPOILER WARNING!)

Blimey, it’s fair rushed by, this season of Game of Thrones, hasn’t it? So much going on, so quickly, it’s hard to believe there’s only two more episodes left of this season. Yet again, there was loads going on this week, but what struck me most about this ep was the character work. Momentous decisions were made, dramatic plots redirected – and all because of who these people are. Benioff and Weiss, back on scripting duties this week, gave us an ep that plumbed the depths of all the characters, even those we didn’t actually see – and those characters may decide the fate not just of the Seven Kingdoms, but of all of humanity.

Continue reading “Game of Thrones: Season 6, Episode 8 – No One”

Preacher: Season 1, Episode 2 – See

“Boring ain’t the worst thing to be, Cass.”

(SPOILER WARNING!)

After a rather good pilot episode, this week saw the first episode in the series proper of cult comic adaption Preacher. This is often where a show can hit problems, which are usually indicated by big, noticeable changes from the pilot – once again, NBC’s Constantine is a good example of this, with the putative female lead written out in the pilot’s closing minute and the lead character’s smoking habit suddenly reinstated. Continue reading “Preacher: Season 1, Episode 2 – See”

Game of Thrones: Season 6, Episode 7 – The Broken Man

“The real war isn’t between squabbling Houses. It’s between the living and the dead.”

(SPOILER WARNING!)

With Bryan Cogman on scripting duties again, this week’s ep of Game of Thrones had an apt but ambiguous title. Broken men of all stripes were here in spades – Theon Greyjoy, Edmure Tully, even Jaime Lannister. But to which of them was the title referring? Continue reading “Game of Thrones: Season 6, Episode 7 – The Broken Man”

Game of Thrones: Season 6, Episode 6 – Blood of My Blood

“The Crown and the Faith are the twin pillars that hold up the world. Together, we shall make the Seven Kingdoms great again.”

(SPOILER WARNING!)

After all the recent sturm und drang, this week’s Game of Thrones felt like it was taking a hit of a breather. In actual fact, it wasn’t – once again, there was lots going on. It’s just that after the emotional punch of last week’s climax, it couldn’t hope to top that.

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Preacher: Season 1, Episode 1 – Pilot

“It was the time of the Preacher, in the year of ’01…”

(SPOILER WARNING!)

If you were a comic book fan in the 90s, you would have been well aware of Northern Irish writer Garth Ennis’ hit series Preacher. Politically incorrect, violent, profane, irreverent, and often hilarious, it told an ongoing tale of a disillusioned Texas preacher with a shady past who becomes possessed by a strange heavenly force, and goes on an epic quest to find God, who has abandoned his creation. Along the way, he hooks up with his criminal ex-girlfriend Tulip and a hard-drinking Irish vampire named Cassidy, and together they battle weird, warped and surreal enemies in their search for the Almighty. Continue reading “Preacher: Season 1, Episode 1 – Pilot”

Game of Thrones: Season 6, episode 5 – The Door

“Everyone is what they are, and where they are, for a reason.”

(SPOILER WARNING!)

The run of superb episodes continues in the sixth season of Game of Thrones; it’s almost as if running out of the books has given the show a new spark. For the fifth week in a row we had revelations aplenty, plot twists, pithy humour and some high octane action. We also had some jawdroppingly emotional moments, particularly in the scenes that bookended the ep. Continue reading “Game of Thrones: Season 6, episode 5 – The Door”

Game of Thrones: Season 6, Episode 4 – Book of the Stranger

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“You’re not going to serve. You’re going to die.”

(SPOILER WARNING!)

Blimey, it’s all go this season isn’t it? Only four episodes in, and the plot of Game of Thrones continues to advance at a frenetic pace this week. Benioff and Weiss, who seem to be writing almost every ep this year, continued to knock characters down like ninepins while finally showing us some of the show’s long-running plans coming to fruition. Continue reading “Game of Thrones: Season 6, Episode 4 – Book of the Stranger”

Game of Thrones: Season 6, Episode 3 – Oathbreaker

“I wish you good fortune in the wars to come. Now it begins.”

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(SPOILER WARNING)

Amid the sprawling cast and multifarious plotlines of Game of Thrones, it’s actually rather easy to forget some of the characters exist (or at least, haven’ been killed yet). But as this week’s ep showed, that gives the showrunners the chance to use their newfound freedom, and show us what happened to them. Continue reading “Game of Thrones: Season 6, Episode 3 – Oathbreaker”

Game of Thrones: Season 6, Episode 2 – Home

“The gods won’t mind. They spill more blood than the rest of us combined.”

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(SPOILER WARNING!)

It was another lively episode of Game of Thrones this week – not so much in terms of action, but in terms of the plot magnitude of events. Once more, it’s hard to be sure how much of this is the intent of showrunners Benioff and Weiss, and how much is based on what George RR Martin has told them about forthcoming plot. Still, this week saw yet more seismic shifts in Westeros’ balance of power, as the cull of important characters continued from last week. And yet I suspect that what will cause the most kerfuffle on the internet is not the characters who died as the one who didn’t. Continue reading “Game of Thrones: Season 6, Episode 2 – Home”

Fear the Walking Dead: Season 2, Episode 1 – Monster

“It’s mob rule on land. What makes you think it’s any different out here?”

(SPOILER WARNING!)

After a storming season finale for AMC’s ratings behemoth The Walking Dead, the long wait for resolution to that controversial cliffhanger ending is now being filled by the return of previously lacklustre spinoff Fear the Walking Dead. Fear’s first season was mediocre at best, seemingly taking an age to reach the point of its zombie apocalypse, then avoiding showing us any of the actual detail in favour of following a group of unlikeable characters in a military quarantine. It was (eventually) interesting enough, but felt like a missed opportunity. Continue reading “Fear the Walking Dead: Season 2, Episode 1 – Monster”