TV Show Reviews

12 Monkeys Season 3 (2015-2018)

12 Monkeys Season 3 (2015-2018)

Network:

SyFy

Creator:

Travis Fickett

Terry Matalas

Starring:

Aaron Stanford

Amanda Schull

Noah Bean

Barbara Sukowa

Alisen Down

Plot:

Follows the journey of a time traveler from the post-apocalyptic future who appears in present day on a mission to locate and eradicate the source of a deadly plague that will nearly destroy the human race.

Review:

Season 2 of 12 Monkeys ended with Cassie, Amanda Schull, being captured and held by the weirdos trying to destroy the world from their city sized time traveling hub. She’s pregnant with the Witness and they can’t have anything happen to her. She’s an incubator for their future leader.

Season 3 picks up right where that left off, pretty much, and each episode builds. There is so much going on here and I’m sure if I sat down with a timeline I’d probably find some inconsistencies but I don’t care. It’s entertaining and high stakes and they get just enough victories to make me feel like they might succeed at this thing.

The Witness is born and revealed this season and so much happens on that side of things. You can feel things starting to wrap up and the end nearing. I’m so hoping with this fourth season, that’s currently airing, that we get a satisfying ending. I would love a happy one please, but we’ll see.

Honestly, my only complaint with the season was that Katarina, Barbra Sukowa, was so easily trusting of Olivia, Alisen Down. Katarina is a smart woman and Olivia has never been on their side and now she trusts her? Really? Stupid move, really stupid.

The show is dark but because of the love between the two main characters I’ve always got this hope that things will change. I’m forever complaining about the lack of positive Sci-Fi and this is certainly not positive, but I still enjoy it because of the hope that’s there. The hope that they’ll fix things and make the world better, despite all they’ve been through they all seem to think it’s possible, which makes me think it is, which I guess, in a roundabout sort of way, makes 12 Monkeys positive. Lol. Not really. We’ll see.

4/5

Lost in Space (2018-?)

Lost in Space (2018-?)

Network:

Netflix

Creator:

Irwin Allen

Matt Sazama

Burk Sharpless

Starring:

Molly Parker

Toby Stephens

Maxwell Jenkins

Taylor Russell

Mina Sundwall

Ignacio Serricchio

Parker Posey

Plot:

After crash-landing on an alien planet, the Robinson family fight against all odds to survive and escape, but they’re surrounded by hidden dangers.

Review:

I have never seen the original TV show and only vaguely remember the movie that was made with Matt LeBlanc, so I was excited to see a SciFi tv show that was about a family surviving. I was hoping for a positive SciFi show finally, one in which there is a happy ending and the world isn’t bleak. This is not that show.

Earth is ruined, barely livable, so those that can are escaping. The Robinsons are an exceptional family, each of them super smart and skilled, in their own way. They love each other and even though there is some relationship drama between the husband and wife it’s all stuff they now have time to work on, since they’re on some strange planet just trying to escape.

Every episode presents a new obstacle and just when you think things are going to run smoothly, nope, something new pops up and goes horribly wrong. Every single episode they are trying to survive a new horror. The way the writers treat this family is like torture porn. If they’ve finally figured out a way to take on the planet Doctor Smith, Parker Posey’s character, is fucking things up for them. She is one of those characters that you just want to kill and the way the show ended at least her side of things is somewhat satisfying.

By far my favorite character was Don, Ignacio Serricchio, who is funny and a good person without being too good. He makes the right decisions when push comes to shove but he’s also not stupid and he’s thinking about his future. He’s great. Also, I totally ship him and the Robinson’s oldest daughter, Taylor Russell. Though, he is a bit old for her, but whatever it’s space! A new world! It could totally happen and not be gross.

Anyway, I liked the start of the show because I had hope that things would get better for them. They were smart and capable and loved each other and yet everything just keeps getting worse, and worse, and worse. They are making a second season and I will end up watching it, but it is not something I’m going to rush to watch.

3/5

Sense8 Movie

Sense8 Movie (2015-2018)

Network:

Netflix

Creators:

J. Michael Straczynski

Lily Wachowski

Lana Wachowski

Starring:

Doona Bae

Jamie Clayton

Tina Desai

Tuppence Middleton

Max Riemelt

Miguel Ángel Silvestre

Brian J. Smith

Toby Onwumere

Plot:

A group of people around the world are suddenly linked mentally, and must find a way to survive being hunted by those who see them as a threat to the world’s order.

Review:

I am so glad that we got a movie. I would have loved three more seasons and I can’t think about all that we missed by having all of that cut, but actually getting an ending is so awesome.

Obviously, this was faster paced than the previous seasons. The pace was brisk, there were a lot of stories that had to be wrapped up and explained, and certain characters got more time than others, but I didn’t feel like they were hurried. Lito, Miguel Ángel Silvestre, did not get as much time as I would have liked, but I understand why he wasn’t as front and center, even if I wish he could have been.

So much happened in this two and a half hours and it did a much better job of wrapping things up than I ever expected. I still have questions, I would still love to know more, but at least there was a resolution and people weren’t left in complete limbo.

5/5

Side Note:

This movie was definitely made for the fans so if you haven’t watched the previous seasons don’t even bother.

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2017-?)

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2017-?)

Network:

Amazon

Creator:

Amy Sherman-Palladino

Starring:

Rachel Brosnahan

Alex Borstein

Michael Zegen

Plot:

A housewife in the 1950s decides to become a stand-up comic.

Review:

Midge, Rachel Brosnahan, is your standard 1950s upper middle class housewife. Her world revolves around her husband, Michael Zegen, and she does everything in her power to make his life as easy as possible. He wants to be a stand up comedian so she makes sure he gets the best times at a club by making the manager brisket. She takes notes of things she thinks is funny, she notes down any time the audience laughs at one of his, she does all kinds of research. The woman waits until he’s asleep then takes off her makeup, does her hair up, and puts cold cream on her face. She then wakes up before the alarm goes off and gets herself all pretty so that he doesn’t ever see her not at her best. It’s ridiculous the lengths she goes, she freaking measures all of her body parts so that she remains skinny.

Naturally, he can’t handle her perfection and cheats on her with his ditzy secretary. After he bombs a stand up set her tells her because apparently he just can’t stop from being an asshole. I hated this man, I wanted him to suffer, I wanted him to die alone on the streets naked and unloved. Spoilers, that didn’t happen.

Midge grows a bit as a person, not huge leaps and bounds, but she starts to see that there is more to life than being a housewife. She uses her stand up to be introspective, though, often she uses it to just unleash all of her pent up emotions which is probably not the best thing. It bites her in the ass a few times, and by the end of the season she had yet to learn.

The relationship between Midge and her manager Susie, Alex Borstein, is almost as interesting as the relationship with her husband, though, a lot less dramatic. Watching the two women figure each other out and start to become friends was a nice contrast to the rest of Midge’s life.

I found Midge to be an incredibly interesting character. I honestly would have wound up in jail if I’d been in front of that judge. I’m really curious to see what comes next, maybe I’ll get my wish and her husband will wind up castrated in a ditch. I don’t think that’s how they’re leaning, though. I think they might try to have him grow as a person or he could double down on his asshole tendencies, we’ll see. Also, I borderline ship her and her manager Susie, but I’ll have to see how that plays out before I make my final decision.

Great show, if you have Amazon prime definitely check it out.

4/5

White Collar (2009-2014)

White Collar (2009-2014)

Network:

USA

Starring:

Matt Bomer

Tim DeKay

Willie Garson

Tiffani Thiessan

Sharif Atkins

Marsha Thomason

Plot:

A white collar criminal agrees to help the FBI catch other white collar criminals using his expertise as an art and securities thief, counterfeiter, and conman.

Review:

White Collar at its best is an elegant TV show, with beautiful people, and interesting friendships. The first four seasons are fun to watch and at the absolute least great background entertainment.

Neal, Matt Bomer, is a con artist that has been caught by FBI agent Peter Burke, Tim DeKay. A deal is struck and Neal is put on an anklet and proceeds to help the FBI catch crooks, normally bad ones.

The best episodes are when Neal is able to complete an intricate con seamlessly, while Peter is able to catch the bad guy. Often times Neal relies on Peter to save him and has complete faith in him to do that, which is kind of sweet.

The last two seasons are…not good at all and I would recommend you skip them. It’s sad, but everything that makes the first four good is gone from the last two. Neal and Peter lose their close relationship. They become almost mean to each other. What’s worse Elizabeth Burke, Tiffani Thiessan, changes into a completely new person. She loses the cool and acceptance of being a seasoned FBI wife and makes ultimatums and illogical demands that she never would have made previously.

The side characters on White Collar, specifically Mozzie, Willie Garson, Diana, Marsha Thomason, and Jones, Sharif Atkins, add a lot to the show. Mozzie is a key player in several episodes and has a few dedicated just to him. It would have been nice to see more development for Diana and Jones, especially Jones.

The series finale is pretty awful. It involves a heist with a bunch of thugs and is far from elegant. It also completely throws away the friendships that were made throughout the show. It’s best if you just stop watching at the end of season 4 because the decline in quality is drastic.

If you’re looking for something light and fun I highly recommend White Collar.

4/5