Shadow & Bone – Series One Review – Excellent!

A newly identified Grisha (magic wielder), can summon light! This ability may help her destroy the Shadow Fold (a sea of darkness created centuries ago by a Grisha heretic). Elsewhere, a band of talented thieves, killers and misfits struggle for power against other evils, prejudice and monsters before joining Alina and her childhood friend, Mal.

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Star Trek: Lower Decks Review

The Lower Decks is the fun story of the support crew serving on one of Starfleet’s least important starships, the U.S.S. Cerritos. Four Ensigns battle aliens, scary tech, senior officers and their somewhat mundane duties to cool, unusual, disturbing yet hilarious adventures – all in the name of Starfleet.
Short Summary

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The School Nurse Files KDrama TV Series Review – Magnificent!

The School Nurse Files is a Netflix fantasy Kdrama directed by the wonderful lady filmmaker Lee Kyoung-mi (The Truth Beneath) about a not-particularly (nice or lovely) school nurse that selflessly battles monsters to save people who are oblivious to the danger.

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The Umbrella Academy Season 2 – First Impressions Review

The Umbrella Academy. This second season review describes why it’s lighter and funnier (and bloodier) that the first series without losing any of its emotional poignancy, the super kids clearly grow as individuals (and as a family) as they save the world from certain apocalypse…. again.

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Star Trek: Picard S01E03 – Episode Review

In this episode review of Star Trek Picard we see Soji is still completely unaware that she is a synthetic being, she tries to help claim back captured Romulan members of the Borg Collective. One of them tells her she recognises her as ‘The Destroyer’. Meanwhile, Picard, Laris and Zhaban are attacked by a crack Romulan assassination squad. They survive but Picard needs to leave in a hurry to find Dr Bruce Maddox, the person who probably created Soji and Dahj. Picard engages a crew to help him: A former Starfleet officer, Rios, his old friend Raffi and Dr. Agnes Jurati.

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Star Trek: Picard S01E02 – Episode Review

In this Episode Review we see that Picard starts to investigate the death of Dahj with the assistance of Dr. Agnes Jurati and a former colleague, Raffi Musiker. Starfleet and some other more secretive Romulan forces are concerned what he might uncover and particularly where the truth about Dahj will lead.

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The Witcher Episode 7 Review – Before a Fall

In this Witcher Episode we noticed that “Before a Fall” was certainly less trivial in its portrayal without Jaskier. Indeed, the start of the war between Cintra and Nilfgaard and sending a group of mages face an army (with their own fanatically devout religious mages willing to die for their cause) with the realisation and sense of destiny playing on Geralt to find and protect Ciri adds a level of story depth with a different entertainment value that the excellent big character development scenes. In this episode, the narrative was definitely more focused on the story.

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Star Trek: Picard S01E01 Episode Review – Explained

Episode Review: Picard meets Dahj after she is attacked by Romulan assassins and something ‘activates’ within her and she gets an image of Picard in her mind. She seeks him out to see if he can help explain what is happening to her. Picard travels to the Daystrom Institute in Okinawa and meets with Dr. Agnes Jurati, who reveals Dahj may be Data’s daughter through an experimental procedure known as fractal neuronic cloning – meaning she is an android with an organic body but a positronic brain. She goes on to say that this activity results in twins.

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The Witcher S01E06 Episode Review – Rare Species

This Witcher Episode Review is about as close to a typical Geralt of Rivia story as you can get – that is, a monster and a dilemma. It also lets us see one of the classic fantasy genre monsters of all time – dragons!  There was much less gratuitous in this episode which was a shame, but it was certainly good fun to watch.  The graphics were really good.  Ok, not as good as the amazing dragons in Game of Thrones, but definitely better than the Kikimora from the first episode. Though to be honest, I thought the Kikimora graphics were pretty good too.

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The Witcher Episode Review S01E05 – Bottled Appetites

The meeting between Geralt and Yennefer really delivers! Their get together bubbled with raw energy, sexual charisma, and fun that kept is all entertained. Cavill and Chalotra looked really good together and look physically and mentally well matched, That wasn’t just good acting, it was good writing and direction too.

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Novoland: Eagle Flag Review – Introduction

Novoland: Eagle Flag is a Chinese costume drama that chronicles the early lives of three young heroes and their struggle against an evil warlord and a number of dangerous and expanding dark forces. It is hugely popular in China and developing a cult following ion the west. At the time of writing it had nearly 2 billion views on its Weibo page, and when it was released, it was the most anticipated drama of the year.

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The Witcher S01E04 Episode Review

This was a terrific episode, and great fun to review. It is so well written that we were gripped and entertained throughout.  Again, a common trait with all the episodes is that it is just as good, if not better, to watch the shows again.

The high points of this Witcher Episode were strangely, the graphics and landscapes. In quick succession, we saw completely and interesting looking parts of the continent while Yennefer was being chased and fight sequences, whirlwind and bloody special effects were particularly well done.  Production on the episode was perfect.  Direction kept the show going at a pace and the acting was fun to watch end made the episode gripping.  I honestly loved every minute.  Low points were the silly dialogue and daft wedding banquet.  the whole, lets see the suitors and then get them married in the same evening seemed a bit silly to the point of jarring.  maybe I’m just old fashioned.

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The Witcher S01E03 Episode Review – Betrayer Moon

Many viewers and critics considered this episode to be the best of the early season shows and I am pretty sure (even though I’m a sci fi SadGeezer) that it’s not just because of the nudity.  I’m convinced it was because the story was so strong.  In fact I’d go as far as saying that we don’t even need the backstory of Yennefer or Ciri (or Geralt) – if they are all as good as this, most of us would be happy with an episodic monster killing.  Of course that’s not what is going to happen, we still have a considerable amount of story to get through.  

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The Witcher S01E02 Episode Review – Four Marks

Many critics thought this was one of the weaker of the episodes in the first season – far from it. It was really good! After watching the show a second time I believe it’s one of the strongest episodes of the season. The performances by Anya Chalotra (Yennefer) and Joey Batey (Jaskier) were marvelous and complemented the excellent Henry Cavill (Geralt) and Freya Allen (Ciri) really well. Casting for this show has been a triumph and it makes the characterisation of the saga so much more entertaining!

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The Mandalorian – TV Show – Series One Review

The Mandalorian TV show is a very creditable toe in the water for Disney+. It’s a great show full of fun that is reminiscent of the Star Wars ‘Old Days’ when sci fi was swashbuckling!  There are some issues however and critics have been quick to pounce on them.

The Mandalorian – Series Review – Good, but it needs a story arc!

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The Witcher S01E01 Review – The End’s Beginning

This is a detailed review of The Witcher, Episode One of the first season entitled “The End’s Beginning”.  It provides a scene by scene analysis of the show and hopefully answers some of your niggling questions. You could also consider this review an episode recap.

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The Witcher Character Biography – Geralt of Rivia

This is the biography of the character Geralt of Rivia.  It provides information for the viewers of the TV series although some of the info is gathered from books and the video game. It attempts to explain how and why Geralt looks and acts the way he does in the TV series. Geralt of Rivia is played magnificently (seriously, it’s like he was born for the role!) by Henry Cavill.

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The Witcher TV Series One – First Impressions Review

I’ve just managed to binge watch the first season of The Witcher. I’ve been waiting to do that for a few months and, my first impressions – I really enjoyed the shows – all of them! Even the first three episodes which were definitely the weakest. If you are looking for a recommendation, watch it! You wont be dissapointed.

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His Dark Materials – TV Show Review

This is a children’s show about the death of God. Ok, ok, I know i’s more than that but it is a children’s book (actually a trilogy) which is very good and much loved by old an young alike. It’s rumoured that it wasn’t originally intended as a ‘young adult’ novel, but was re categorised by the publisher.  This was aimed at being an entertaining family TV show with dark scary undertones – His Dark Materials delivered that. But, can it keep up the momentum?

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