TV REVIEWS
DOCTOR WHO S07E14 "The Name of the Doctor"
A review of Doctor Who 7×14, "The Name of the Doctor," written by Steven Moffat. Continue reading
Filed under Doctor Who, TV REVIEWS
GAME OF THRONES S03E07 "The Bear and the Maiden Fair"
A review of GAME OF THRONES 3×07, "The Bear and the Maiden Fair," written by George R. R. Martin, directed by Michelle MacLaren. Continue reading
Filed under Game of Thrones, TV REVIEWS
GAME OF THRONES S03E06 "The Climb"
A review of GAME OF THRONES 3×06, "The Climb," written by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, directed by Alik Sakharov. Continue reading
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DOCTOR WHO S07E12 "The Crimson Horror"
A review of DOCTOR WHO 7×12, "The Crimson Horror," written by Mark Gatiss. Continue reading
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GAME OF THRONES S03E05 "Kissed by Fire"
A review of GAME OF THRONES 3×05, "Kissed by Fire," written by Bryan Cogman, directed by Alex Graves. Continue reading
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DOCTOR WHO S07E11 "Journey to the Center of the TARDIS"
A review of DOCTOR WHO 7×11, "Journey to the Center of the TARDIS," written by Steve Thompson. Continue reading
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MAD MEN S06E03–4 "The Collaborators" & "To Have and to Hold"
A review of MAD MEN 6×03, "The Collaborators," and 6×04, "To Have and To Hold" Continue reading
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GAME OF THRONES S03E04 "And Now His Watch Is Ended"
A review of GAME OF THRONES 3×04, "And Now His Watch Is Ended," written by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, directed by Alex Graves. Continue reading
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DOCTOR WHO S07E10 "Hide"
A review of DOCTOR WHO 7×10, "Hide," written by Neil Cross, directed by Jamie Payne. Continue reading
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GAME OF THRONES S03E03 "Walk of Punishment"
A review of GAME OF THRONES Episode 3×03, "Walk of Punishment" Continue reading
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DOCTOR WHO S07E09 "Cold War"
A review of DOCTOR WHO 7×09, "Cold War," by Mark Gatiss. Continue reading
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MAD MEN S06E01-2 (TV Review) "The Doorway"
A review of the Season 6 premiere of MAD MEN, "The Doorway." Continue reading
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GAME OF THRONES S03E02 (TV Review)"Dark Wings, Dark Words"
In my reviews of Game of Thrones, one of my touchstone phrases—which I've used so often you're no doubt sick of it—is "cripples, bastards, and broken things." It was the title of Episode Four of the first season, in which Tyrion expresses … Continue reading
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DOCTOR WHO S07E08 "The Rings of Akhaten"
A review of DOCTOR WHO 7×08, "The Rings of Akhaten," written by Neil Cross, directed by Farren Blackburn. Continue reading
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GAME OF THRONES S03E01 "Valar Dohaeris"
Welcome back to Game of Thrones, and brace yourself. Continue reading
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DOCTOR WHO S07E07 "The Bells of Saint John"
We return to our ongoing coverage of DOCTOR WHO with a review of S07E07, "The Bells of Saint John," written by Steven Moffat and directed by Colm McCarthy. Continue reading
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DOCTOR WHO S07E06
"The Snowmen"
A review of "The Snowmen," the 2012 DOCTOR WHO Christmas Special. Continue reading
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AMERICAN HORROR STORY: ASYLUM
S02E02—“Tricks and Treats” Warning: Contains spoilers for this episode. And naked butts. According to available sources, American Horror Story executive producers Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk are both in their 40s. James Wong, who wrote "Tricks and Treats"—this second episode … Continue reading
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AMERICAN HORROR STORY: ASYLUM
S02E01: "Welcome to Briarcliff" Like the proverbial dog to vomit, I just can't help but go back and slurp up this messy, disgusting, gloriously guilty pleasure. And I have to say, what I saw in "Welcome to Briarcliff" actually encourages me that Falchuk and Murphy may have figured out what worked and what didn't in the last season of American Horror Story. Continue reading
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666 PARK AVENUE (TV Review)
"Safe" and "predictable" are dangerous adjectives for a horror series, and 666 Park Avenue seems to have no real scares, no real surprises, and no real taste for the jugular. Continue reading
Filed under First Look/Last Look, TV REVIEWS
DOCTOR WHO S07E05 "The Angels Take Manhattan"
Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Amelia Pond… Continue reading
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ELEMENTARY (TV Review)
CBS is not even attempting to make the Sherlock Holmes story fresh: that is not the point. All they are trying to do is to use the Sherlock Holmes brand, cynically, to make us interested in yet another formulaic, cookie-cutter crime drama. Continue reading
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LAST RESORT (TV Review)
Last Resort is polished, powerful, and enjoyably preposterous. It's impossible to take it seriously, but it could be a lot of fun. Continue reading
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DOCTOR WHO S07E04 "The Power of Three"
At this point in the season—with only one episode left before the hiatus, and only one more week before the Parting of the Ponds—an entry like "The Power of Three" represents a wasted opportunity on an epic scale. Continue reading
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REVOLUTION (TV Review)
Something called Revolution should not feel so formulaic and familiar. Continue reading
Filed under First Look/Last Look, TV REVIEWS
DOCTOR WHO S07E03 "A Town Called Mercy"
"A Town Called Mercy" is an excellent reminder that it is possible to use the tropes of genre adventure to explore fairly complex ethical dilemmas. In fact, that's one of the things that Doctor Who does best. Continue reading
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DOCTOR WHO S07E02 "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship"
If "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship" turns out to be the weakest episode of Series 7, we can count ourselves lucky—parts of it were tremendous fun, and it had just enough substance to save it from total irrelevancy—but it is both overstuffed and undercooked. Continue reading
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DOCTOR WHO S07E01 "Asylum of the Daleks"
Welcome back to our continuing coverage of Doctor Who. I'll be reviewing every episode of Series 7, the first five of which will air Saturday evenings at 9/8c throughout September on BBC America. (My goal is to post each review … Continue reading
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MAD MEN S05E11–12 (TV Review)
Our latest two episodes of Mad Men each feature a major character leaving Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. One leaves in a considerably more permanent fashion than the other, but I'd still be hard pressed to say which departure is sadder. Continue reading
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GAME OF THRONES S02E10 "Valar Morghulis"
Horseshit is the foundation, glue, and currency of this entire society. For all the talk about honor in the Seven Kingdoms, it's lies that really carry weight: they have the power to form alliances, to grant kingships, to topple lords, and to move entire armies into battle. Continue reading
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GAME OF THRONES S02E09 "Blackwater"
As the penultimate episode of Season Two of Game of Thrones,"Blackwater" doesn't just meet expectations: it blows them out of the water. Continue reading
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GAME OF THRONES S02E08 "The Prince of Winterfell"
The only people who can consistently make smart decisions are those who don't give a damn about anyone else; for everyone else—fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, brothers and sisters, and those foolish enough to dabble in romance—love leads to stupidity and vulnerability, treason and dishonor, ill-advised decisions and ill-timed bouts of mercy. Continue reading
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MAD MEN S05E09-10 (TV Review)
I had, this week, a moment of clarity about Mad Men: it was the realization that none of these people—not a single goddamned one of them—will ever, ever be happy. Continue reading
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GAME OF THRONES S02E07 "A Man Without Honor"
"A Man Without Honor" is an interlude, of sorts, but it's the kind of interlude that lends color and depth to this entire season of Game of Thrones. Continue reading
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GAME OF THRONES S02E06 "The Old Gods and the New"
This season, the social order is crumbling, the wall that protects civilization is under siege, and the wild things that live within us all are refusing to be tamed. Continue reading
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MAD MEN S05E07-08 (TV Review)
For Don and Roger, recklessly surrendering a successful career to search for uncertain happiness and self-fulfillment would have been almost unthinkable. But Megan is not of their generations: she's our first major Baby Boomer character, born into the post-war security the previous generations paid for (as her father points out). She has the luxury to pursue her dreams, and she has the awareness of how neglecting the ideas of happiness and self-fulfillment has made so many of the previous generation miserable. Continue reading
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GAME OF THRONES S02E05 "The Ghost of Harrenhal"
As of this week, we're one king down, and the remaining leaders may find that their claims to power ride less on their strength and more on the loyalty they are able to inspire from their allies. Continue reading
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MAD MEN S05E06 (TV Review)
"Far Away Places" plays out in three short stories, occurring simultaneously, in which characters grapple with the tentative solidity of their own lives, the slippery hold they have on who they are and what is important to them, and the changing, sometimes elusive nature of reality. Continue reading
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GAME OF THRONES S02E04 "Garden of Bones"
As we see this week, some people are born evil, some are willing to do evil things for the greater good, and some—if they're not careful—may go through life with the best of intentions but still leave evil in their wake. Continue reading
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MAD MEN S05E05 (TV Review)
A few thoughts about Mad Men 5×06, and about The Short and Happy Life of Peter Campbell. Continue reading
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GAME OF THRONES S02E03 "What Is Dead May Never Die"
"What is Dead May Never Die" is another episode that focuses on these misfit toys of the Seven Kingdoms, and specifically on the men who do not quite fit this society's harsh definition of manhood. We see them struggle to maintain their untraditional roles and peculiar souls in a world where nearly everyone is asked to bend the knee. We see them fight to hold onto their hearts, in a culture where a heart is largely seen as a weakness. Continue reading
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MAD MEN S05E04 (TV Review)
I've commented several times already on how Mad Men is about the moment when white, middle-class America awakens from that squeaky-clean, all-white, suburban fantasy of itself. This season is the transition point where the dark undercurrent that has always run beneath that fairy tale begins to overwhelm it. Continue reading
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GAME OF THRONES S02E02 "The Night Lands"
Game of Thrones does a remarkable job of uniting all the unwieldy subplots of each episode into a cohesive thematic whole. "The Night Lands" is largely about the role of women in this male-dominated world. Continue reading
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MAD MEN—S05E03 (TV Review)
"When is everything going to get back to normal?" Roger asks Don towards the end of the episode. The answer, of course, is never: history is moving as quickly as it has ever moved, and the generational shifts have never been stronger. Normal, as Roger understands it, is officially a thing of the past. Continue reading
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GAME OF THRONES S02E01 "The North Remembers"
The old gods are burning, and there's a king in every corner. A red comet streaks the sky, portending ambiguous doom, while a white raven has been sent to the capital, signifying that the long, kind summer is officially over. The wildlings are on the move in the north, armies clash in the south, and across the Narrow Sea the dragons have returned. Winter is coming, and power is power; the night is dark and full of terrors, and a Lannister always, always pays his debts. In other words, shit is getting real. Welcome back to Game of Thrones: we've got a lot to talk about. Continue reading
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MAD MEN – S05E01-02 (TV Review)
The white men have ruled the world of Mad Men all along, and their entire way of life has been built on racial injustice and the subjugation of women, in ways they've never even questioned. But Megan is not going to accept Betty's role, and the "negroes" in the lobby are not going to take "no" for an answer. Change won't come quickly, but it is coming. Continue reading
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THE WALKING DEAD – S02E13 (TV Review)
The Walking Dead is broadly considered a "cult" show, just because it has supernatural elements and a dedicated geek fanbase. But I don't believe it is, because real cult shows earn their slavish followings through love of the characters. Continue reading
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THE WALKING DEAD – S02E08
Though the first forty minutes of "Nebraska" just offered us more of the same, the last ten minutes felt like a breath of fresh air blasting through the lingering stench of burning corpses and stagnant dialogue. Continue reading
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DEADWOOD ABBEY (Video Parody)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L66Sytzm008
Filed under Deadwood, MISCELLANEOUS
DOCTOR WHO – 2011 Christmas Special "The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe"
It was The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, with a touch of A Wrinkle in Time, and just a hint of Aliens at the end. It was charming, and funny, and a wonderful way for families to spend an hour in front of the television on Christmas Night. It just wasn't very Doctor Who. Continue reading
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