Finished TV series—who watches?

[Johnway]

Another series finished, this time its the turkish detective (2023) . based on a book series, the story follows Cetin Ikmen and his team as they solve murders that occur in istanbul.

The story also revolves around Mehmet Suleyman, who transfers from the Uk police force to work in the Turkish police force, his hidden agenda is to investigate a hit and run case involving his ex girlfriend. it soon transpires she was investigating the mysterious keiyra khan which brings its own risks that even the criminal underworld is hesitant to discuss.


I started to watch it namely my brother use to read the books and liked them. Overall i enjoyed the show with its exotic locale and Ikmen is a likeable character as he goes about investigating crimes. its not long, only 8 episodes (each case takes 2 episodes).

 

[DXCHASE]

Kaos (dark comedy- Netflix)

Starring Jeff Goldblum as Zeus who does a great job by the way. I binged this in a day because i wasnt able to play many games, but even if i couldve, i couldnt stop watching until the end. The story is ok, but each episode added greek mythology and i like greek mythology so i was kinda just here for the take on each "god" by their actors. Its pure dark comedy and some parts might turn people off, but i recommend this if you are a fan of Jeff Goldblum or greek mythology.

8/10

 

[Brian Boru]

New Tricks 2003, 107 x 1h
Dennis Waterman
Amanda Redman
Alun Armstrong
James Bolam
Anthony Calf
Susan Jameson
Denis Lawson
Nicholas Lyndhurst
Tamzin Outhwaite

Wonderful witty London cop show, probably 100 of the 107 episodes are tops. 3 retired cops brought back as consultants in a Cold Case squad, each with their own personality quirks. One of the best series I've seen.

10/10.

 

[Johnway]

A couple of days ago i finished watching the drama Nightsleeper on bbc iplayer. Essentially a tense cyber thriller, a night train from Glasgow to London gets hacked and hijacked essentially becomes a giant missile aimed at London. The few people left on board the train (the heart of britain) and the cyber security team work together to end it.

The series is full of twists and turns as soon the conspiracies, double dealings, power struggles and traitors emerge from the wood work. Pretty much everyone is not looking so innocent having some thing to hide or flawed. But are they responsible for the hack and/or working with the hacker dubbed the driver? regardless, they have to work together or everyone dies.

Some people did have some criticisms, like why didn't they just cut the power to the rail line powering the trains, but its dispelled that the heart of britain used both electric and diesel so it could carry on for hours and enough to complete the journey to london.

I enjoyed it overall, plenty of thrills to be had and the performances were all well done. its only 6 episodes long so its not exactly going to take long to watch.

 

[Dead2009]

Finished a doc style series called Horror's Finest. It went through certain horror movie genres each episode.

 

[Johnway]

Another drama series finished. This time i binged watch Ludwig (2024) a comedy crime drama. Our story involves John 'Ludwig' Taylor (David Mitchell), an introverted puzzle creator masquerading as his twin brother James to investigate what happened to him.

Unfortunately for john, he has to pretend that he is a police detective and its not long he is forced to solve murders. Luckily for John, not only does he revels in the task, but excels in it. Que new detective series.

Ok, the premise is a bit naff that borders on daytime tv dramas of unlikely people becoming super sleuths, but David Mitchell does a damn fine job carrying it as the socially awkward yet brilliant puzzle solver. There are a few twists and turns here and there, but the over arching main story of where is james isn't really solved in this series. At the very least, the puzzles and cases are interesting and not far fetched, so there's that.


ultimately, Ludwig does enough to make keep me interested in what happens in series 2.

 

[Brian Boru]

The Last Detective 2003, 17 x 45
Peter Davison
Sean Hughes
Emma Amos
Another funny crime show which is very laid back and relaxing. Peter is a former Doctor Who whom I first saw in the excellent All Creatures Great and Small, and is very good here. He's a detective constable who's stuck at the bottom of the pecking order, hence the show title.

75/100

 

[DXCHASE]

Alien: Romulus

Great addition to the Alien universe. Set between Alien and Aliens, this romp into another spacecraft that encounters the big bad Alien has some great visual effects because it stays true to the type of "vision" for future tech from the original movie. The sense of dred and horror could be felt and the actors seem to have all played their roles well. Not overtly gory and it does a good job with dealing with the Aliens acid which gets overlooked in other alien movies. The sounds from the pulse rifle used (a shout out to Aliense Colonial Marines!) If you like Alien movies, you shouldn't miss this.

9/10

 

[Brian Boru]

Hope Street 2020, 36 x 44m
This sadly isn't good—sadly cos it's set near where I lived for a while so I was looking forward to it.

It's supposed to be a police drama, which it mostly was in Season 1. We dropped it halfway thru Season 2 tho as it quickly devolved into a daytime soap, say 14m crime and 30m suds.

Scenery is lovely, plot holes of similar size and frequency to potholes, acting okay.

3/10

 

[Brian Boru]

Trigger Point
Only 12 episodes of 18 made on BritBox, but that's ok. It's nothing special, about a bomb disposal officer—in theory a team, but the lead gets all the screen time. Reminded me of how L&O SVU over-focused on Marisa Hargitay—fine actress like Vicky McClure here, but overdone.

6/10

 

[Brian Boru]

The Lincoln Lawyer

Season 3 wrapped, same as what I said earlier:

"Fun lawyer show, script is decent and there's nice chemistry between the cast.

7/10"

 

[Johnway]

I had hoped to watch all the episodes of Cheers, but alas, its on paramount comedy plus. So i did the next best thing and currently binge watching Fraser instead. For those of you not in the know, Fraser is a spin off of Cheers where Fraser Crane moves back to Seattle after his marriage collapses.


Honestly i'm absolutely loving it. Kelsey Grammer absolutely kills it and the amount of awkward situations he gets himself into is pretty hilarious. I've finished season 3, so we'll keep watching until i run out or channel 4 decides to give up on the box set...

 

[Johnway]

Another series finished, this time i've binged watched Return to paradise, the Australian spin off series of the Death in paradise series.

Our story involves DI Mackenzie Clarke returns home back to Dolphin Cove after she is suspended after being accused of evidence tampering. When a prominent local is murdered and there are no decent DIs to solve the murder, Clarke is temporarily put to work.

if you've watched Death in paradise/beyond paradise you know what to expect of the light hearted crime drama. Return to paradise is pleasant to watch as Clarke solves various murders that take place in Dolphin Cove. The side story is Clarke's past and the tension upon her return. We get the impression that she left abruptly and left a lot of people upset.

So... would i recommend it? I give it a thumbs up, if you like death in paradise, its worth watching.

The next one to binge is the channel 4 show: After the party im hear good things about it. For christmas i will be watching more Death in paradise and beyond paradise with their christmas specials and of course i'm still watching Fraser (onto series 6 now). Still cracking good series.

 

[Pifanjr]

I've watched both Arcane, a series based off of League of Legends, and Cyberpunk Edgerunners, which is based off of Cyberpunk 2077. While I haven't played either game, I enjoyed both series, they're great standalone stories.

 

[Frindis]

Watch both shows, especially like Arcane. They did a good job of making you like/dislike the characters and then completely turn things around. The last season had some fantastic episodes with the multiverse episode being my favorite.

 

[Johnway]

Another series finished, this time its After the party (2023)

The story revolves around Teacher Penny, a progressive environmentalist sort of person teaching at a secondary school. Her life comes crashing down when ex-Husband Phil returns from Scotland. 5 years ago, penny accused phil of being a pedophile after he caught him in bed next to a naked boy at his party. Although charges were not filed against phil it tore a massive rift between penny, her friends and family.

Penny is still distrustful with phil and his return to teaching at another school, penny fears for the safety of children and soon does everything she can to prevent phil teaching or better yet get him arrested. As her warnings fall on death ears, penny becomes increasingly extreme in her methods to stop phil and after each unsuccessful attempt it alienates those around her even further. How far will Penny go to stop phil? is phil even guilty? or is penny paranoid over a misunderstanding?

it was alright. its a tense drama and it flip flops back to is phil guilty or not. Penny is often portrayed as some one with *** vibes trying to persecute someone who is seemingly innocent. yet at the same time we see glimpses of Phil's activities and personality that suggest something isn't right or slight creepy.

Would i recommend it? The acting is good and seems to be highly rated but i didn't really connect with it tbh.

 

[neogunhero]

Haven't finished the full season yet, but last night I started Squid Game Season 2. I'm not always into movies and TV shows, I find myself fidgeting and not paying attention if it isn't something I'm really into, but I blew past the first three episodes last night. It's great so far! If you saw the first season, this is a direct continuation and follows Seong Gi-hun's quest for revenge on the people responsible for the games.

My only gripe is that they seemed to try to make it a bit more mass appealing after the insane success of the first season. The first season had a much darker undertone to it, season 2 so far seems to be a little bit lighter. It's still very suspenseful, but so far there are a bit more comic relief characters than I remembered in season 1. Not entirely a bad thing though. I'm excited to watch the rest of it and report back here.

 

[Pifanjr]

I finished Andor the other day. I saw it being called one of the best Star Wars series, but I think that says more about the other Star Wars series than it does about Andor. It's still pretty good though. A bit slower than I expected, but enjoyable.

 

[neogunhero]

Finished Squid Game season 2 last night. Binged it in two nights, I never do that, so that says how much I enjoyed it haha. It was fantastic, lots of suspense, and it ended on a cliffhanger with Season 3 coming out this year, so I’m glad we don’t have to wait 2 more years for the next season. Highly recommend if you enjoy suspenseful shows with a bit of comedic elements and action.

 

[red_5ive]

I just wrapped up The Acolyte.

This show is nowhere near as bad as the run-of-the-mill self-professed internet critics would have you believe, and its reputation is mostly unearned. On the surface, a case can probably be made for the wokeness complaints. However, that isn't even remotely the real problem with the show, which leaves me wondering if people actually gave it a chance.

To put it bluntly, the first 2 episodes are atrocious, littered with bad acting and terrible direction. Nevertheless, things begin to improve by the 3rd episode, to which I attribute a shift in directors. The initially cringe-worthy acting gets better, positively impacting the story-telling. By the end of the 5th episode, after a series of significant events, I unexpectedly found that I was emotionally invested in the characters. And the saber duels, oh the saber duels! To date, The Acolyte has some of - if not THE best - saber fight choreography I've seen with any Star Wars program, theatrical or otherwise. There are multiple and distinct fighting styles on display, which enhances character personality. If there is one single reason I could pick to watch the show, this is it. Action fans make note. To quote Seraph from The Matrix Reloaded, "you do not truly know someone until you fight them", I believe I would get to know the warriors - good and bad - if I were to engage in a duel with any of them.

The show isn't without its problems, of course. Earth children behave too much like earth children. Nobody wants to see whiny kids, except maybe whiny kids that can relate to whiny kids. At times it feels like Disney is running the demographic gamut in making a Star Wars for EVERYONE. Unfortunately, it seems they'd forgotten that it already is that.

There are more pros-cons that I won't get into as I'd rather not bore with too many details. Otherwise, the aforementioned are the most overtly noteworthy, good or bad. I generally give a show a 4-episode minimum, as I feel that is the make-it or break-it point. I'm glad I did, although The Acolyte easily has the toughest first 2 episodes I've ever sat through. If you can get past them and also keep an open mind, I think it's worthy of a watch, at least. I will not say this is a great show, but on a whole I don't think it is worthy of the bad rep, either.

 

[red_5ive]

I finished Andor the other day. I saw it being called one of the best Star Wars series, but I think that says more about the other Star Wars series than it does about Andor. It's still pretty good though. A bit slower than I expected, but enjoyable.

Prior to watching Andor, I didn't care much for the character. I really enjoyed Rogue One, but I got the impression that he was that sniveling weasel hiding in the dark that will stab you in the back when you aren't looking.

I also remember seeing the actor on an interview talking about Rogue One, and how it is a much better film because it has a strong female character. He went on to criticize the original films for the lack of one. Huh? Princess Leia? That also didn't sit well with me. Perhaps if the guy had more on-screen presence, maybe Felicity Jones wouldn't have been as prominent. Unlike the original films, for as great as Carrie Fisher was, Harrison Ford stole a lot of the scenes from everyone. And there's also Padme Amidala.

But for all my butthurtness, I did end up enjoying Andor. I did feel it was one of the better written programs since Di$ney took the helm.

 

[Pifanjr]

Prior to watching Andor, I didn't care much for the character. I really enjoyed Rogue One, but I got the impression that he was that sniveling weasel hiding in the dark that will stab you in the back when you aren't looking.

I also remember seeing the actor on an interview talking about Rogue One, and how it is a much better film because it has a strong female character. He went on to criticize the original films for the lack of one. Huh? Princess Leia? That also didn't sit well with me. Perhaps if the guy had more on-screen presence, maybe Felicity Jones wouldn't have been as prominent. Unlike the original films, for as great as Carrie Fisher was, Harrison Ford stole a lot of the scenes from everyone. And there's also Padme Amidala.

But for all my butthurtness, I did end up enjoying Andor. I did feel it was one of the better written programs since Di$ney took the helm.

Funny thing is that I didn't even realise it was the guy from Rogue One. That's how little of an impression he left.

 

[red_5ive]

Funny thing is that I didn't even realise it was the guy from Rogue One. That's how little of an impression he left.

Exactly!

 

[Pifanjr]

I finished the third season of Marvel's What If series. Not its strongest season, but still fun.

I've read people complaining about the series having an overarching narrative, but I like it. I probably would have found it harder to watch the entire series if all the episodes were separate. I had that problem with Love, Death + Robots, which I dropped for a couple of months in the middle of a season before ultimately finishing it.

 

[Zloth]

I finished the third season of Marvel's What If series. Not its strongest season, but still fun.

There was a second one!? I saw the first and liked it a lot.