TV Show Reviews: Summer 2017

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Game of Thrones, House of Cards, Master of None, Netflix, Orphan Black, reviews, Shameless, streaming TV, TV, TV Programs, TV reviews, TV Series, TV Shows

Hey everyone!

I hope you’re all enjoying the last days of summer! I certainly am, trying to enjoy the last bit of warm days as the cooler weather sets in.

I just want to make a note about a slight change to this blog. Earlier I said I would blog every Friday. Well, I’ve decided to instead blog every Monday due to my schedule. I do have a busy schedule, and I’m hoping Monday would be much easier for me to write on this blog. So let’s see…

Anyway, it is that time for me to review the TV shows I watched since the last TV review post. Like many, I prefer TV shows over movies, and I’ve been active on my TV viewing (or Netflix, or live streaming, whichever method). Here goes on my reviews…

WARNING: spoilers up ahead!

MASTER OF NONE:
I really did not like this second season. It started off being funny, but the part where Dev Shah started to fall in love with the engaged Francesca, I started to lose interest. That was the second time Dev got involved with a woman already taken (remember Claire Danes’ character in Season 1?), and I just felt uneasy with it. Yes, there was chemistry and love can be complicated. But, I just…I don’t know, felt uneasy. I kind of hope he and Francesca do stay together, but at same time I do not. Let’s see what Season 3 brings.

ORPHAN BLACK:

Image via Flickr via Creative Commons

The final season to one of the my favorite shows! Tatiana Maslany’s acting was great as always; it never fails here. I liked how there were flashbacks to when Allison and Helena learned they were clones. I’m glad Cosima and Delphine are still going strong. I also liked how at the end, they talked about the many clones all over the world, and the best part was the humbling of superbitch Rachel. The sad part was obviously when S was killed. I really like the actress, Maria Doyle Kennedy, and looking forward to see where she’ll pop up next. Heck, I’m ready to see where Tatiana will pop up next. This is not the last of her great acting. She’s got a lot to do in the future, and I’m looking forward.

HOUSE OF CARDS:

Image via Wikimedia Commons

Whoa, this show is something else.However, I felt this season, HoC got in over its head. There were too many deaths and “accidents” that can’t not be linked to Frank and Claire Underwood. Yes, it was obvious those characters would have met violent ends; that’s the way the show and the Underwoods’ work. But I felt this time it was overdone. And now the Underwoods are going to go against each other? Is Frank going to somehow kill Claire and make it look like an accident? Are these two going to kill each other in the end? Eh, it just seems like too much now. The psychopathy of the Underwoods just seems overdone. But that’s just me…

GAME OF THRONES:
What would a review post be without Game of Thrones? Like many, I obsessively watched and overanalyzed the show this season, and feeling devastated that it won’t be back until 2019 or so. But I’m glad Jon Snow’s parentage and real identity has been revealed in full, just as we take a look at the actors’ ass during an incestuous sex scene (sorry, I had to go there!). I’m also thrilled that Littlefinger has finally been killed off, by symbolically getting his throat slit. I, like many, got a little nervous with Sansa and Arya fighting. But I also read the many articles about those two, and was relieved to remember Arya had handed Sansa the dagger, and therefore was not going to kill her older sister. Whew!

But now there are only 7 episodes left for GoT. I can see the writers and producers cramming things into those episodes and not doing such a good job at it. I mean, I could see the final season for GoT be really rushed. If this past season was rushed, imagine what the next and final one would look like. But we’ve got a long wait…

SHAMELESS:

Image via Wikipedia

This is another show that I recently joined on the bandwagon. I binged on this Showtime show late last year, and this June, watched its seventh season on Netflix. I really like it, because the show is simply shameless. I mean, the characters have no shame! From Debbie raping a guy and then aimlessly getting pregnant, to Lip’s self-destructive ways, the characters live up to the show’s moniker. But it does it in a funny way! Like, there’s humor attached to the lousy behavior of everyone on the show. Amazing how that’s been worked out. I also like how the show brings to light bipolar disorder through Ian. Other programs, like Homeland and the movie Silver Lining Playbook, don’t treat bipolar disorder with much education and kindness. Shameless does, and I give it a lot of credit. I suspect next season will be the last, as it will be the eighth season. Looking forward to it!

 

 

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Dracula: Season 1 Review

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Dracula, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, NBC, TV reviews, TV Shows

So NBC’s Dracula completed its first season this past Friday. That was quick. Doesn’t it seem like the show only debuted yesterday?

Click for the show’s page on IMDB

Well yeah, it only had 10 episodes for its first season. It is still not known if the show will be renewed for a second season as NBC is reportedly still thinking it over. Supposedly, there were some issues with the ratings, but those picked up during the last couple of episodes, so there may be hope.

But until then, I’m going to give my thoughts on this season and whether I’ll be tuning in for Season 2, if there will be one.

Overall, I felt Dracula was all right. I thought the acting was pretty much good overall, the costumes and set design was amazing, and the storyline was OK. I was uneasy when the show premiered because I was concerned that Dracula was going to be a soapbox to preach against Big Oil. Fortunately, that did not happen and the Big Oil topic became secondary. Instead, what we got was Dracula trying to walk in the sunlight so he could get revenge on the Order of the Dragon with Van Helsing, whom he was surprisingly in cahoots with.

I grew to like this new take on the Dracula-Van Helsing rivalry. Obviously they despised each other, but both needed each other in order to fight the Order of the Dragon, which had ruined them in two very different ways. I liked how this tale had Dracula as a member of the Order, only to be cursed to be a vampire by them. However, I wished we had seen more of Dracula’s life from before he was turned into the vampire. We kept seeing the same images over and over of Van Helsing’s family ruthlessly being killed by the Order, yet not enough of Dracula suffering from them. I get it that the angle was mostly on Van Helsing as he aimed for revenge, but it got tiresome and painful to see the scene where his son is forced from him and into the burning house. I wished we had seen more of Dracula with his wife, Ilona, who was killed by the Order, because that was what he was focused on, second to getting revenge from the Order.

I found Mina to be likable in this version, though maybe a little naive. Harker had good reasons to be suspicious of what was going on between her and Alexander Grayson. Lucy here reminded me a lot of the one in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1994 film, particularly when she, ahem, measured Harker’s pants. I wonder if having her being in love with Mina was a nod to the hinted lesbianism between the two in Coppola’s movie.

Harker is someone to like and cheer on. Yes, he was a douche for downplaying Mina’s interest in medicine, but given he’s the good guy in this story, there’s a reason to cheer for him. I was so mad at him when he joined the Order, but luckily, he realized that was a bad idea during the final episode. I’m glad he and Van Helsing are going to team up to destroy Grayson. Harker knows he has been causing chaos in his life and wants to ruin him, and Van Helsing is done with Dracula. It will be interesting to see what this duo does to ruin Grayson.

Before the show aired, Jonathan Rhys Meyers warned that Dracula was not a good guy here, and that is true. His Dracula is the unlikable villain that you strangely want to see succeed. Really, him making Lucy a monster because she hurt his reincarnated wife was him being a tool. Yeah, Dracula made Lucy a vampire in Bram Stoker’s classic, but ugh! Oh yeah, his creepy obsession with Mina was not romantic at all. I’d like to see what will happen when Mina realizes Grayson is a vampire. It won’t be easy for her to cope, now since the two of them have finally had sex. It’s like her attraction to him has been sealed. And will Grayson want to make her a vampire, even though he thinks it will be an abomination? Or will Mina ask to be one?

So yeah, overall I thought it was good. Not stellar, but not bad either. There were some episodes that dragged a little. I felt some of the sex was put in for the gratuity rather than to tell a story. The costumes are mostly good, but the makeup on the women was so not Victorian, especially Lucy’s eyebrows and Mina’s lipstick. The acting is fine, though I’m not impressed with Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Yes, the guy is sex personified, but based on The Tudors and The Mortal Instruments, I can’t help but think that he does the same acting over and over. Sigh!

If the shows is renewed for a second season, I’ll tune in. I’m not too worried about this show jumping the shark because if it does, it won’t be as painful because I wouldn’t call this show great. It’s good, just not great. But it is entertaining, pure and simple, and that’s enough.

TV Premiere Review: Dracula

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Dracula, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, NBC Dracula, TV, TV reviews, TV Shows

I’m sure some of you are aware that tonight was the premiere of the much anticipated program, “Dracula” on NBC. Starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers, it is supposed to be a retelling of the Dracula tale, with some loyalty to Bram Stoker’s classic along with a new interpretation. I tuned in tonight, all giddy and excited. And also intrigued by how the blood and sex would be depicted because it is network TV.

Click for source of promo poster

Overall, I am curious about how this show will play out. I like how the show has the same story ideas like Mina Murray being Dracula’s reincarnated love, Dracula relocating to Victorian era London for business purposes, and so on. But there are some aspects I’m not too sure about, and may have to get used to.

This show has woven political statements against the oil industry into this show.  See, this Dracula is out for revenge on this ancient Order of the Dragon, which killed his beloved wife centuries earlier. This time, the Order has evolved into oil tycoons, and Dracula made his hitlist right after his coming out party in London.

NOTE: The Order of the Dragon is obviously a reference to the real Dracula, Vlad Tepes, or Vlad the Impaler. His father, Vlad II, was a member of the Order of the Dragon in the 15th century, with the goal of protecting Christianity in Eastern Europe. I wonder what the writers were thinking with making the Order about the oil tycoons and not Dracula himself.

The last ten minutes show Dracula is not operating alone. Van Helsing practically hired him to knock off his enemies as a sort of deal to bring a truce between their warring orders. I like the twist that Van Helsing supports Dracula. He practically hunted down Dracula’s grave, brought him back to life and brought him to London under the identity of American businessman Alexander Grayson. But I’m not sure if I like the idea of Dracula working for someone. I always saw him as his own person doing his own thing. So this is a new idea that I’m not so sure if I could like, but if it works it may be interesting!

What I am nervous about is what the promos show for the rest of the season. Why, oh why, did they make Dracula another whiny vampire who hates what he is? Come on, enough of that! Dracula always loved what he was and he had no regrets. I know regretful vampires are all the rave these days, but to do it to Dracula is, honestly, an abomination 😉

So Dracula is going to stalk Mina Murray until she falls in love with him…and who knows what will happen. The upper class businessmen will continue to look to destroy the man they know as Alexander Grayson. Also, there is a woman who appears to be part of a secret group of vampire hunters. We saw her practicing her fighting and sword skills before confronting a female vampire, who may have been created by Dracula. Looks like Dracula may be creating his legion of vampires, or there is another vampire around. The show hints Jack the Ripper was actually a vampire.

So, this is definitely a new version of Dracula. It does live up to the tagline, a legend is reborn. I get it that writers may want to experiment with a new take on a favorite horror character, but sometimes those experiment don’t always work out. That being said, I do think there is a chance this show may pull it off if done right. But don’t make Dracula a platform for rants against oil tycoons. Just make a good love story, intrigue and action, and I could be satisfied. Oh yeah, keep it up with the gorgeous period dresses!

And I was satisfied with other parts of this show. I found Jonathan Rhys Meyers delicious as always (yeah, my tweets make that obvious, lol). I was not bothered by his American accent. The network TV sex was hot, though I think I’ve been spoiled rotten by cable TV in that respect. And I do like the Dracula/Van Helsing twist. But the conspiracy aspect may just annoy me, and I hope it doesn’t ruin the show. But we shall see.

Until then, ladies and male-oriented men, here’s something to make you wild, from the first three minutes of the show!