TV Round Up Time
Jan. 6th, 2026 09:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tiggymalvern
I'm getting back-logged again - time for a rapid-fire catch-up!
Slow Horses season 5 It's Slow Horses. That means it's good. If you haven't believed me by now and given it a go, you probably won't, I guess 🤪 The combination of spy action drama and dry comedy remains as solid as ever, and the revolving supporting cast around the core characters mean that interactions and relationships don't get stale. As always, they filmed two seasons back to back, meaning six is already in the can and coming later this year.
Person of Interest season 5 As I had predicted, I didn't find this quite as enjoyable as some of the others. I was glad to see I was wrong about Elias and he did resurface, but an ensemble cast like this thrives on the ensemble, and having Shaw separated from the rest for so long hurts it. Like the 'Fiona in jail' arc in season six of Burn Notice, you can't just rip one person out and give them their own plotline without it breaking up the vibe and making everything feel disjointed.
The ending made sense for the series and the characters - like Burn Notice, this isn't a setup where these people can keep doing this stuff forever and getting away with it, and some characters were more likely to be paying that price than others. It felt right.
Shogun I finally got around to watching this, a year late. It had been on the watch list all along, I just kept picking other things from the list instead. The critics liked it, but it didn't set the world on fire, and I'll go with that. It has a great cast, fabulous production values and beautiful cinematography and direction. It should have grabbed me more than it did. Five way politicking, manipulation and back-stabbing is exactly my bag, yet somehow it just didn't take off. I don't regret watching it, but I don't think I'd have missed out on much if I'd skipped it either.
The Witcher season 4 The one with the new Witcher. Cavill was prettier than Hemsworth, Hemsworth emotes more. Whether the latter is a good thing or not depends on your take on how Geralt should be, I guess. I never read the books or played the games, so I don't have too much of an opinion on that. But also the character plot of the season was how Geralt's becoming more open, as remarked upon by the people surrounding him, so it was obviously a deliberate choice. Geralt's and Yennefer's plots for the season were fine.
Ciri's arc for the season with the rats annoyed the shit out of me. Girl, what the fuck are you doing with these people? They're stupid and they're awful! They're lying to and manipulating you from the start, one of them tries to blackmail you into sex on day one, and then another one comes along to 'rescue' you and says, 'How about fucking me instead?' And you do! It just looks like more manipulation, a deliberate good cop-bad cop set up, and whether it actually was or not doesn't matter when you're hanging out with a rapist and a bunch of people who are all chill with hanging out with a rapist. And they're all chill with kidnapping children too. Not only are they awful people, they're actively bad at being awful and keep doing stupid shit that Ciri has to bail them out of. She should have ditched their arses and moved on, but somehow every time she discovers something else they've been keeping from her and lying to her about, she keeps on forgiving them. Ugh.
(Also, do not get me started on Ciri's attempt to disguise herself. You cut your hair from waist length to shoulder length? What is that supposed to do? You look exactly the same! Did the actor just refuse to get a buzz cut or something? Or did management decide they couldn't make the pretty girl couldn't less pretty? A buzz cut might have been effective, but apparently that was too much to ask.)
Pluribus Hell, yes! What happens when almost everyone in the world turns into an Invasion of the Body Snatchers pod person, and you're one of a handful of people scattered across the planet who remain human? Very different from Vince Gilligan's previous awesome series, but the same mix of high drama and wry humour.
This series lives or dies by Rhea Seehorn, and of course it lives - anyone who saw her as Kim in Better Call Saul knows exactly that she can do. There are a couple of episodes in there when she's acting almost entirely alone for the full fifty minutes, nobody to play off, and she nails it. (She's also in some scenes obviously having the time of her life as an actor, running the whole gamut of everything. And good for her, getting the chance to do that.)
It was fun to see the card game spit make an appearance - I hadn't thought of that in years! I loved the history lesson about nobody knows where it came from, but it went viral in the UK in the 80s - why, yes it did! They tried to ban it in my school because we were all spending all our breaks bruising one another's hands 🤪
Season two is all set up by this ending, and it's confirmed it's happening, and I'm going to be so here for it.
Slow Horses season 5 It's Slow Horses. That means it's good. If you haven't believed me by now and given it a go, you probably won't, I guess 🤪 The combination of spy action drama and dry comedy remains as solid as ever, and the revolving supporting cast around the core characters mean that interactions and relationships don't get stale. As always, they filmed two seasons back to back, meaning six is already in the can and coming later this year.
Person of Interest season 5 As I had predicted, I didn't find this quite as enjoyable as some of the others. I was glad to see I was wrong about Elias and he did resurface, but an ensemble cast like this thrives on the ensemble, and having Shaw separated from the rest for so long hurts it. Like the 'Fiona in jail' arc in season six of Burn Notice, you can't just rip one person out and give them their own plotline without it breaking up the vibe and making everything feel disjointed.
The ending made sense for the series and the characters - like Burn Notice, this isn't a setup where these people can keep doing this stuff forever and getting away with it, and some characters were more likely to be paying that price than others. It felt right.
Shogun I finally got around to watching this, a year late. It had been on the watch list all along, I just kept picking other things from the list instead. The critics liked it, but it didn't set the world on fire, and I'll go with that. It has a great cast, fabulous production values and beautiful cinematography and direction. It should have grabbed me more than it did. Five way politicking, manipulation and back-stabbing is exactly my bag, yet somehow it just didn't take off. I don't regret watching it, but I don't think I'd have missed out on much if I'd skipped it either.
The Witcher season 4 The one with the new Witcher. Cavill was prettier than Hemsworth, Hemsworth emotes more. Whether the latter is a good thing or not depends on your take on how Geralt should be, I guess. I never read the books or played the games, so I don't have too much of an opinion on that. But also the character plot of the season was how Geralt's becoming more open, as remarked upon by the people surrounding him, so it was obviously a deliberate choice. Geralt's and Yennefer's plots for the season were fine.
Ciri's arc for the season with the rats annoyed the shit out of me. Girl, what the fuck are you doing with these people? They're stupid and they're awful! They're lying to and manipulating you from the start, one of them tries to blackmail you into sex on day one, and then another one comes along to 'rescue' you and says, 'How about fucking me instead?' And you do! It just looks like more manipulation, a deliberate good cop-bad cop set up, and whether it actually was or not doesn't matter when you're hanging out with a rapist and a bunch of people who are all chill with hanging out with a rapist. And they're all chill with kidnapping children too. Not only are they awful people, they're actively bad at being awful and keep doing stupid shit that Ciri has to bail them out of. She should have ditched their arses and moved on, but somehow every time she discovers something else they've been keeping from her and lying to her about, she keeps on forgiving them. Ugh.
(Also, do not get me started on Ciri's attempt to disguise herself. You cut your hair from waist length to shoulder length? What is that supposed to do? You look exactly the same! Did the actor just refuse to get a buzz cut or something? Or did management decide they couldn't make the pretty girl couldn't less pretty? A buzz cut might have been effective, but apparently that was too much to ask.)
Pluribus Hell, yes! What happens when almost everyone in the world turns into an Invasion of the Body Snatchers pod person, and you're one of a handful of people scattered across the planet who remain human? Very different from Vince Gilligan's previous awesome series, but the same mix of high drama and wry humour.
This series lives or dies by Rhea Seehorn, and of course it lives - anyone who saw her as Kim in Better Call Saul knows exactly that she can do. There are a couple of episodes in there when she's acting almost entirely alone for the full fifty minutes, nobody to play off, and she nails it. (She's also in some scenes obviously having the time of her life as an actor, running the whole gamut of everything. And good for her, getting the chance to do that.)
It was fun to see the card game spit make an appearance - I hadn't thought of that in years! I loved the history lesson about nobody knows where it came from, but it went viral in the UK in the 80s - why, yes it did! They tried to ban it in my school because we were all spending all our breaks bruising one another's hands 🤪
Season two is all set up by this ending, and it's confirmed it's happening, and I'm going to be so here for it.
no subject
Date: 2026-01-07 09:36 pm (UTC)I loved the book "Shogun". Can't remember much about the mini-series. The new series looked glossy but non-compelling. Won't be seeking it out.
Okay, now I'm spoiled for Pluribus, so I don't need to watch it :) Not my cup of tea.
Haven't seen the other two.
As you're on Apple by the look of it, you *might* enjoy The Afterparty? It's comedy but also a murder mystery. If you like Only Murders in the Building, you might like it? A bit curate's eggy, but about half the eps were good fun. Definitely not deep or meaningful.
Eugene Levy's The Reluctant Traveller has him going to beautiful places and being a complete pill. Spouse likes it, I find it irritating. Might try Smoke, haven't got the nerve up to try Severance. Maybe next time we have a month's subscription.
I want to get a month's Netflix because I need to see the new Glass Onion movie. I *need* to :)
no subject
Date: 2026-01-07 11:22 pm (UTC)Pluribus is your loss. I haven't exactly spoiled it, since the premise is all there in the first forty minutes, and where it goes from there - oh, the social critique is quite damning...
Not on Apple, never have been and never will be - we sail the high seas, old school style😁 Severance is brilliant, particularly the first season - I preferred it when it was a smaller cast and more claustrophobic. The second season went more open world to get the plot in, which had to be done, and most of it was still good, but there was also a running bit in there which I felt was too silly and extraneous.
The Reluctant Traveler sounds like something I would hate. My niece sent me DVDs of An Idiot Abroad once and I loathed it. If I want to watch a travelogue of a place, I'll watch a serious one, not one with an annoying dickhead up front making it all about them.
I will await your response to Wake Up Dead Man, I think you'll really like it.
no subject
Date: 2026-01-08 03:42 am (UTC)I might give it a go. I thought it was a missing kid mystery from the publicity, not sci fi. I haven't been in the mood for much lately
"Not on Apple, never have been and never will be"
I was surprised that you might be, tbh :) I get seasick if I go on the high seas, unfortunately!
"one with an annoying dickhead up front making it all about them"
Yup, you've just described The Reluctant Traveller. He goes to the most gorgeous places on the planet and, well, just bloody *whines*
no subject
Date: 2026-01-08 05:03 am (UTC)He goes to the most gorgeous places on the planet and, well, just bloody *whines*
Yep, that's what An Idiot Abroad was too. The world's most privileged, ungrateful arsehole being paid to go to fantastic places and bitching about the weird food. Vile.