Television in General

In House of the Dragon's best outing yet, its most significant time skip helps reframe its core characters and their relationships - except when it doesn't. In my review of Episode 3 , I reflected on House of the Dragon's biggest problem: How to pace the time skips. I worried that the periods lost between episodes would be forgotten in unchanging character dynamics and narrative tensions, or else be emphasized with little context and development onscreen.  This episode, in jumping ahead so many years, the writers could not rely on freezing the characters in amber, meaning a lot of work went toward convincing us to buy that a decade had past (work that I wish the show had invested in its smaller time jumps too). As many of the core characters changed actors - Rhaenyra and Alicent, though Laena and Laenor too - the writing and performances imbued the weight of ten years (and an octet of children) into the ways these old friends related to each other. Alicent's anger and R...

Rhaenyra Targaryen is not the kindest person. As she grows into and discovers her power (and its limits), she wields it without thought or care.    Rhaenyra and Alicent planning to run away together (probably, in a fanfic) A show like House of the Dragon typically focuses on nobility and their games of thrones for good reason - it generates drama that impacts a whole realm. It's easy to get caught up in the very real challenges Rhaenyra faces, as we root for her against the forces of patriarchy. Despite her enormous privilege, as a woman, she remains unable to "fuck [her] way through most of the brothels on the Street of Silk," as her father and uncle have (and as male rulers can); plus, her legitimacy as the heir is constantly called into question.  And yet... Rhaenyra's wealth and class privilege know no bounds; tellingly, she often demonstrates a lack of empathy for those around her, especially those 'beneath her station.' She seems amused by violence and d...

House of the Dragon has a pacing problem.  In three episodes, our characters have already lived through several years, births, battles, and broken friendships. While the moments in time chosen within each episode make sense for the plot, the gaps between those moments weigh heavily on the character arcs. I've mentioned before how this show's strengths follow in the footsteps of Game of Thrones - namely, via intimate conversations between characters. But when those moments have no space to breathe because each episode blasts us ahead in time, the writers are stuck with one of two storytelling options: Freeze emotions, growth, and relationships in time, so that viewers can more easily follow character development, despite how unrealistic it is to not grow as a person or with others over the course of several years off-screen; or Jump ahead in every way, hoping that the scenes you've written and the actors' onscreen choices can effectively convey all of the missing off-scr...

  Daemon Targaryen, our titular "Rogue Prince," does not feature as centrally in this episode as I had expected. Instead, he lurks at the edges of the plot, informing (explicitly and implicitly) the actions of others - actions meant to secure power, lineage, and dragon eggs. We only actually see Daemon in three scenes, in which he is confronted by A) Otto and Rhaenyra  over a stolen egg (as the potential war of succession heats up); B) his mistress, Mysaria (and interesting decisions about performed accents); and C) Corlys Valeryon, with promises of alliances, battles, and boats. Daemon has made decisions that drive the episode's action - decisions like claiming Dragonstone, knowing that the realm may not accept a female heir - but he is only shown to us as he reacts to the consequences of his off-screen antics, ultimately losing the egg he stole so as to avoid dragon-on-dragon warfare (and for the sake of his affection for his niece, a nice reminder that he isn't a ...

  In 2013, I bought a large glass stein etched with House Targaryen's sigil, the three-headed dragon. Season 3 of Game of Thrones had just aired, my fandom was at its peak, and I wanted to augment my collection of nerdy mugs and glassware at the annual anime convention. There were a lot of GoT-specific options that year, including Direwolves and Krakens, but I settled on the Targaryen sigil since Daenerys was one of my favourite characters and also dragons are real cool.  Flashforward to 2019: Like many Game of Thrones fans, I thought S8 was a narrative disaster. The story beats and character arcs felt more like a bulleted list than an actual story. But what surprised me most about my disappointment was how much it soured me on the show overall. I continue to love and rewatch other shows with bad endings (Battlestar Galactica), and have spent years arguing that a bad ending should not ruin a good journey (this is mostly about how some audiences responded to LOST; I adore the L...

You know what? I don't think that I acually hate Ros: The Whore. In fact, I may be starting to like her a little. This episode proved to me that Esme Bianco is more than capable of acting and thus is not personally at fault for my initial disdain for her character. As such, in an attempt to sort out my feelings while also trying to write an actual review of Game of Thrones Episode 2.02 ("The Night Lands"), I found myself instead writing a semi-lengthy argument in defence of her character. So, without further ado, I present to you the article you definitely didn't ask for, but also didn't even know you wanted :D!!!! I think that our slightly misdirected rage comes from two different places:

Hello fellow SpoilerTVtonians! It has been an incredibly long time since I posted much of anything to the site (be it content or comment), but the return Game of Thrones has gotten me enormously excited about writing again (despite no time at all for anything ever). As such, without further fanfare, here are my initial thoughts about Sunday's season premiere entitled "The North Remembers". Sadly, while the majority of the individual scenes were excellent, I was somewhat underwhelmed by the episode overall.

Welcome back to my pilot reviews: 2011 Edition! Today, I'm going to take a look at two of the three new sitcoms that premiered the second week of the Fall Season. One is pretty standard while the other is the worst show ever. The first is better than Up All Night and Free Agents, but it still comes with a few caveats. As such, without further ado, here is the show that kind of made me laugh. 2 Broke Girls: I'm mildly irked that the 2 Broke Girls' creators decided to go with the number 2 instead of the word. All of my alphabetical lists of television shows will forever be ruined. On the upside, the show wasn't a complete bust. 

Hey again! As promised, here is the second half of my review of Week 1. This time, I take a look at two new shows gracing the air on the CW. These would, of course, be the highly anticipated Ringer and the probably highly anticipated but mostly just a Vampire Diaries Clone, The Secret Circle. One of them was surprisingly fun, while the other was absolutely horrible. Without further ado, here are my rambly and strong opinions.

Welcome, a little late, to the first official week of the 2011 Fall Television Season! Seeing as how network television is basically crystal meth in the form of heavily censored family entertainment, I will likely be watching every new pilot ever. As such, I thought it might be fun to A) make a list of shows I think people should and shouldn't watch so as to be able to share my very strong opinions with someone other than my stuffed gorilla and to B) discuss what the STV community thinks about the new season in one big post. I reserve the right to not watch/review something if I feel that it would likely make me seize violently. Alright, I'll be starting Week 1 with something I am going to call "The Kind Of Good, The CW, and The Unbearably Mediocre". As you may have guessed, I wasn't wildly impressed with what the networks had to offer in their first week.

Hey all! This is a review of No Ordinary Family I wrote for the 2010 pilot season. As is evidenced in my review below, I was quite taken with it. Sadly, what started off as a funny and episodic family-friendly show quickly devolved into schlock, nonsense, and generic superhero tripe. I even included a shoutout to the possible success of The Event. My bad. Anyway, this is the last of the articles I wanted to transfer from SpoilerTV to my blog, so, enjoy!

Hey again everyone! This is yet another one of my older recaps/reviews that I am taking from SpoilerTV to post on my own blog. It's is a look at the pilot episode of the too-soon canceled AMC drama: Rubicon. Even if there is little in the way of resolution, I would absolutely recommend this show to anyone with an interest in slow paced psychological dramas. Without further ado, here is what I took from the pilot episode of Rubicon. Remember, spoilers abound!

Hey again everyone. Sorry about having taken last week off for no apparent reason. I'm back in full swing this week as we approach the end of what has been an absolutely brilliant and far too short first season. This week's episode, entitled "The Pointy End," was one of the show's strongest outings to date. It was also written by the author of the novels, George R. R. Martin himself! Yayz :D! That being said and with much excitement being felt, I found the ending a little anti-climactic

Hey again everyone! If you're like me and you don't have HBO GO, you're probably still reeling from what what was, IMHO, the best episode of the season thus far. Quick Plot Synopsis: Tyrion is brilliant, Ned is slow, Theon is a creeper, Bran rides a horse, Dany eats a different horse's heart, Jon is nowhere to be seen for two weeks running, and our first major player bites the dust. Now it's time for some General Commentary!

Hey again everyone! This week's episode of Game of Thrones offered up two important changes with regards to the storytelling. The first is the fact that we spent almost all of the episode in no more than two or three locations. This meant no trips to The Wall or to the continent of Essos in favour of  having pretty much the entire episode take place in King's Landing. This was sad because we didn't get to see any Jon or Dany, but it was mostly awesome because some of the confusion and jerkiness inherent in following half a dozen plots and dozens of characters at once all but disappeared. Episode 5, which was aptly named "The Wolf and The Lion", was all about bringing the brewing Lannister/Stark conflict to a head. It also featured some of the first truly exciting action sequences!

Note: Holy Crap! This review, removed a few days ago by blogger due to the system failing ridiculously hard, was returned to me this morning! It's mad late, but, I figured it was still worth posting :D. At least, for the sake of archiving, it exists. Episode 5 will be up shortly. Episode 4 of Game of Thrones, entitled Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things, has been my second favourite episode to date. Episode 3, my review of which is either still forthcoming or else is never going to happen, would be my favourite. Both of these episodes have one key element in common that the first two were lacking. The majority of characters are now in fixed locations. 

Note: This is a post I wrote after the first 9 or 10 episodes of the season had aired. As the season has progressed, some of what I have discussed has continued to be true (Kurt's storyline being strong, the humour failing, even more Gwenyth Paltrow at the expense of the main cast), while other things have changed (less Bieste, more Quinn, less Sam). I'll likely write a full Season 2 Review as we get to the end, but for now, this is me re-posting what I originally wrote over at SpoilerTV. Enjoy!

Hey all! The last couple of weeks have been pretty busy what with moving to a new apartment and dealing with the Canadian Elections. As such, I've gotten a bit behind on my reviews. This review of Episode 2, almost two weeks late, was written by SpoilerTV contributor darq. I should mention that darq sent it to me on time, but that I wasn't able to get it up until now. My bad. It has been edited slightly and I added my own insight towards the end. I should have a review of Episode 3 up by tomorrow. If not, I'll combine 3 and 4 into one review. I can safely say that The Kingsroad was a far more exciting excursion for me than the pilot. Most of the important character introductions had been gotten out of the way and there was now room for actual character development.

HBO's adaptation of Game of Thrones has finally arrived! Was it awesome? Yes! Would I recommend it to everyone I know? Hell Yes! Was it as incredible as I had dreamed it would be? Well... the jury's still out on that one. While I really liked what I saw of this sure to be epic television series, there were a couple of major elements that caused me to enjoy it less than I had hoped. Although I am going to try very hard to review Game of Thrones without the books in mind, the faithfulness of this adaptation to the source material is going to make that an incredibly daunting task. I will steer clear of book spoilers in this review, but be warned that spoilers concerning the first episode, entitled Winter Is Coming, abound. The series premiere of GoT ranks as one of the best I have ever seen; however, it failed to immerse me as completely as I would have liked.

The final moments of tonight's series premiere of Game Of Thrones, which shall henceforth be known as GoT, are what set it apart from pretty much everything else that I have ever watched. Certainly, the rest of the episode had its fair share of gore, taboo subject matter, sex, and profanity, but these have all become fairly commonplace and even expected of shows on cable channels like HBO. This was something altogether different and, hopefully, for those of you who have yet to read the novels, completely unexpected. If you haven't watched the first episode, entitled "Winter Is Coming", then I suggest that you read no further.