The Boys

Now I’ve watched the entire first season. Impressive. It’s funny, dark and, if not entirely original (it reminds me of several other superheroes shows or movies), fresh enough to be interesting. However, not enough for me to increase my appreciation to four stars. So it remains at .

Maybe it’s my imagination, but it looks to me that Vought International is some kind of allegory for the Trumpian White House, where Homelander represents Trump, the rest of the Seven being his cabinet members and the corporation’s high hierarchy being the PAC that finance and control the whole thing… Of course, the comic book was published in 2006-2012 and couldn’t have predicted such a freak president, so it’s probably just my mind playing a trick on me (although the show producers could have put a slight emphasis on this aspect…). 

A friend, who has read the beginning of the comic, told me it was quite violent and he was rather disappointed by how tame the TV series was. The comic intended to out do the violence and sexuality of Preacher, but unfortunately it appears that Amazon Video is not as daring as AMC or HBO when it comes to TV adaptation.

The way it ends offers a little closure, but this end most likely calls for more. Indeed, Amazon has renewed it for at least another season. Now what?

Check my first comment for more information on The Boys.

Euphoria

I’ve caught up to the episodes I had missed at first and even watched the complete first season. This show is a mess — but a beautiful mess. It’s intriguing and even enthralling — almost addictive. It gets better and and better with each new episode. The characters grow on you and it makes the drama created by Rue’s self-destructing behaviour or the misunderstanding and missed opportunities of everyone’s relationships even more painful to watch at time. That’s the sign of excellent writing. That’s not the type of show I would normally watch, but now I feel I would like to see more. Too bad the first season is over… Although it is still available on streaming and the show has been renewed for another season next year… However, if THAT’s the life of today’s teenagers, I weep for the future…

This one definitely deserves to be upgraded to or maybe even a !

Check my first comment for all the show details.

Jamestown

Tonight on PBS, the Jamestown series is concluding with the end of its third season. It started as an interesting historical drama about one of the first successful British colonies in America — although it is not clear how much “historical” it really is (the series is shot in Hungary; they use the names of some of the colonists, like James Read, but mostly of the Governor Yeardley and his wife Temperance, as well as the Pamunkey King, Opechancanough — Pocahontas is NEVER mentioned). After the failure of Roanoke in 1585, Jamestown was established in 1607 and the story begins twelve years later with the arrival of the first women and, in second season, of the first indentured “servants” (African slaves). At first, it focuses on the politics of the colony and the schemes behind the Virginia Company. Unfortunately, it quickly turns into fantasy with lots of supernatural plot elements and ends abruptly with the massacre of 1622 — when the local native tribes, the Pamunkey and the Powhatan Confederacy, get fed up with the abuses and false promises of the Englishmen. The reviews were probably so bad in the U.K. (however ratings on IMDb [6.9] and Rotten Tomatoes [78%] were relatively good) that it was quickly brought to a conclusion and terminated. It was an entertaining drama, but it could have been so much more. Disappointing.

Others

Preacher has restarted but it will be the last season. I can’t wait to see how they will end this one. The first episodes are set at Masada, in the Middle East, and then it will move to Australia. Actually, it was all shot in Australia. An amusing splatter & gory series that I will not really miss after it’s gone. Check the trailer.

Poldark is also concluding with a story line that covers the gap between the two book series. So it has more to offer for those who has loved the books. I’ll be sad when this fifth season comes to an end. I really liked those characters. After tonight, there will be only three episodes to go… Check the trailer.

Pandora continues its disappointing run. Its not good enough to really appreciate it, but it’s not bad enough to drop it. So, I’ll continue watching it hoping for improvements…

Killjoys has also restarted for a fifth season. The team is struggling hard to escape the grip of the Lady… A beautiful and excellent Canadian sci-fi series (second only to The Expanse) that will unfortunately conclude in September. Check the trailer. 

The first season of Blood & Treasure has ended but the series was renewed for a second season. A cute but quite ordinary action/adventure series.

The seventh season of Elementary will end next week and that will conclude the series. It was an interesting modern adaptation of Conan Doyle‘s Sherlock Holmes (more palatable for the general public than the excellent but frantic Sherlock). I liked the idea of making Watson into a woman (played by Lucy Liu!). It was nice while it lasted but I won’t miss it too much as it was getting a little repetitive and stale…

The sixth season of The 100 has ended and there is only one more season to go as it was announced that the series will end next year. It is not super original, but the story and setting are quite interesting — I can’t miss on a post-apocalyptic series! Good sci-fi drama.

Tonight, the second part of the fifth season of Fear the Walking Dead is restarting (check the sneak peek). I didn’t like the first season, but now I like this series even better than the original The Walking Dead. I don’t see the horror in it, but I like the post-apocalyptic survival aspect. The fifth season will end in September and it was renewed for at least another season. It’s an interesting drama.

The second season of The Terror is starting tomorrow. The first season about the Franklin’s lost expedition in the Northwest passage was quite good (see my comment). This new season offers an entirely new story and cast (including Derek Mio, Kiki Sukezane, Naoko Mori, C. Thomas Howell, and… George Takei !). Subtitled Infamy, it is now set in a Japanese-american internment camp during WW2 as some characters are haunted by a ghost from their past and the camp is terrorized by a bakemono! It airs Mondays 9e/8c PM on AMC. Check the official trailer.

There’s now a longer trailer for the Watchmen playing on TV (HBO, October 2019). The visuals still doesn’t excite me and the story will definitely be different from the comic or the movie, but it looks intriguing. We’ll see. There’s also a longer trailer for His Dark Materials (HBO, late 2019), which seems even more intriguing and appealing. I can’t wait for this one…

You will be glad to learn that The Expanse is coming back in December for a fourth season and that it has even been renewed for a fifth !!! However, it moved from SyFy to Amazon Video (check the production trailer). Also, there is still no news on the third season of Westworld set for broadcast in 2020… Finally, everyone is asking where is the twelfth season of Doctor Who ??? Apparently it is currently in production, but the release has been delayed to 2020.

While writing this article, I have discovered Carnival Row, a very intriguing victorian (“Neo-noir”) fantasy that will start on Amazon Video on August 30. It certainly deserves a look. Check the trailer. 

It really seems that there’s a lot of good TV series coming ahead. The competition between all those independent or internet pay channels (like AMC, HBO, Prime Video, Netflix and soon Apple TV+) is bringing out all the good stuff. Where/when will I find the time ?!

[ Traduire ]