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kieranedmonds
Reviews
The Orville: Shadow Realms (2022)
Not impressed
This episode was pretty bad. The crew suddenly seems to only have an IQ range of 30-40, doing things they blatantly shouldn't do. It's gone from being humorous and interesting to dumb, generic and unfunny. The addition of Ensign Charly Burke doesn't exactly make the situation any better. Terrible character and adds nothing but the effect of irritating the audience. The first third of this episode showed promise, but it ended up being a cheap, cliche horror. Not sure what they were thinking. Why the sudden lack of humour and poor writing? It feels like a different show at this point. Hope it improves because it used to be a good watch.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Children of the Comet (2022)
Far from terrible but also far from great
Like the first episode, it just about left a good enough impression to get me to (probably) watch next week's episode. There are positives, but there are also things that are really bugging me both in general and in this episode.
Firstly, I'm not feeling what they've done with Pike's appearance. He has this narcissistic, male model image with the overdone hair and tight tops that reveal his muscular, CrossFit body.
And what's the deal with the majority female bridge crew? They just had to put in a feminist statement. Classic Alex Kurtzman. And no, it's not really a big deal but I do find it irritating and I'm sure many others do too.
I'm still not convinced by Ethan Peck playing Spock. He does have big boots to fill but I much preferred Zachary Quinto.
The writing was average again in this episode, and it didn't go without a few cringe-worthy or baffling moments. The scene where the away team start singing to crack the code was really quite silly. Then there's the one where they scan the huge alien ship, revealing that it's vastly superior to Enterprise, but then proceed to easily deal with its attacks and disable it with just 1 phaser blast. Huh?!
Let's give it another chance next week... hoping this improves because it's pretty average so far.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Strange New Worlds (2022)
Not bad
A fairly promising start. Nice to see the episodic format and it certainly feels more like Star Trek than Discovery, though that's not saying much considering the latter just mentioned should be scrapped and buried. I would have given it a higher score but I'm still getting this woke Alex Kurtzman/STD vibe). Ticking the diversity boxes is apparently more important than just getting the best actors. Still, it seems watchable so I'm going to give it a chance.
Dexter: New Blood: The Family Business (2022)
Best episode of the season, hands down.
One of the best, most memorable episodes of Dexter. This episode was truly iconic. We finally got to see Dexter open up to Harrison about his dark passenger, and we even got to see him teach Harrison the code and perform a kill together. It felt like a passing of the torch. The episode was fantastic from start to finish. My only slight niggle was that maybe they could have formed this bond a little earlier in the season. I would have liked to have seen more Dexter/Harrison hunts.
There were a few plot holes once again, such as the scene where Kurt stands right outside the cabin spraying it with gasoline, without even bothering to check that they're at home?! Don't think he would be that stupid. Or Dexter being clumsy enough to buy ketamine right in his backyard using his own name (and didn't he originally steal it?!). These plot holes have been consistent throughout the season, but I think we can excuse them when the script is this well written.
Whether next week's episode is the final episode of Dexter or not, let's just appreciate the fact that the writers have more than redeemed the poor ending of the original series. They've actually given us a really good season, better than a lot of the original series. I'm obviously hoping that Dexter doesn't get caught so we get another season, but we should all just be grateful that they've given us more Dexter all these years on. Asking for more almost seems a bit greedy. I'm not sure if they could improve on this.
The Witcher: A Grain of Truth (2021)
Good Start
S2 gets off to a good start. Very atmospheric and creepy, with some nice storytelling. My only gripe is Ciri's make up. I preferred how she looked in S1. Looks like she was dolled up for a night out which didn't make sense considering the circumstances.
The Witcher: Kaer Morhen (2021)
Writers got this one very, very wrong
I created an account just so I could write this review. What on Earth were the writers thinking with Eskrel? Making him out to be some crazy lunatic and killing him off within one episode. Fans of the books and game will be extremely angry, I'm sure. Eskrel is nothing like what we saw in this episode. And what's the deal with the party and all those random Witchers? Seems like they added them in just for the diversity checklist.