Whovian Sean's World of TV

 REVIEW: Big Sky, Season 1 Episode 15 'Bitter Roots' Last week's episode of Big Sky left us in a place where we were considerably worried for the life of a child. Phoebe (Zoe Noelle Baker) had stumbled across Ronald (Brian Geraghty) burying Scarlet's (Anja Savcic) sister Mary in the woods, and like any kid she was curious to know what he was doing.  This instalment picks up from where we left off, with Ronald facing this potential problem. He's very sly with the way he manipulates young Phoebe into keeping his burial a secret, by claiming it is a deer that he is burying and that if Phoebe tells anyone some 'bad people' could come and dig it up. Ronald's talent for slipping out of any difficult obstacle is incredible. The meaty stuff here though is his conflicted thoughts on whether or not to kill Phoebe, as he holds a rock above her head. This was something I was hoping they would do, as it would be interesting to see whether Ronald's potential emoti...

 REVIEW: Bates Motel, Season 4 Episode Seven 'There's No Place Like Home' One of the most unsettling elements of both Bates Motel and Psycho is the way Norman (Freddie Highmore) views 'Mother' (Vera Farmiga). Instead of a platonic love between mother and son, his view of her is something more akin to the way a husband views his wife. They're much, much closer than a simple mother and son relationship, and it's one of the things that makes Norman Bates as a character so fascinating. This episode, entitled 'There's No Place Like Home', plays with that concept further. This is the episode, in fact, where Norman discovers via a newspaper clipping that his Mum Norma has married Sheriff Alex Romero (Nestor Carbonell). His reaction is, as you would expect, not good in the slightest, as he decides he must return home. It's the episode that shows just how wildly erratic he can be. One minute Norman seems he's genuinely on the road to recovery and ...

 REVIEW: Batwoman, Season 2 Episode Ten 'Time Off For Good Behaviour' Last week Batwoman was inexplicably removed from the schedules by E4. It was a move that felt very sudden, with no rational explanation as to why it had suddenly disappeared from the channel's Sunday midnight slot. With the tenth episode in Season Two, however, it was back, and it was about time. This episode in particular seems to be a good one for Jacob Kane (Dougray Scott), with the actor Dougray Scott being given a lot of material to work with. He's jumped by a member of the False Face Society, who injects him with snake bite, a drug that tampers with and allows its user to alter the outcome of past memories. Here we get to dive straight into Jacob's guilt over failing to rescue Alice (Ava Sleeth) when she was kidnapped as a child. You really get a sense of how this drug can offer an instant relief to those who blame themselves for past events. How these changed memories feel so realistic, to ...

 REVIEW: Sherlock, Series 4 Episode Three 'The Final Problem' There's something undeniably ominous about an episode entitled 'The Final Problem'. Whilst it may be true that Sherlock was never officially cancelled, it's hard to deny that the title suggests this was meant as a conclusion to the show as a whole. Especially when you factor in how this episode aired in 2017, and there has not been another series since. Even the actors seem resigned to the unlikely nature of a fifth series, with Martin Freeman stating lately his belief that a film is more likely than a Series Five.  Still, if this does remain the final episode, then the show did go out on a high. From the very start, The Final Problem shows promise to be one of Sherlock's very best instalments. It opens with a creepy sequence in which Mycroft (Mark Gatiss) encounters strange messages during a rewatch of his favourite film, and a sinister clown in the hallway. As viewers we expect this to be the wo...

 REVIEW: Clarkson's Farm, Series 1 Episode Two 'Sheeping' When I uploaded my review of the first episode of Clarkson's Farm to my blog site, over a thousand of you viewed my thoughts on Jeremy Clarkson's latest venture. To put that into context, my review on the second episode of Marvel Studios' latest viral sensation Loki achieved a measly thirty two views, which is the complete opposite of what I would predict. It perhaps goes to show just how popular Clarkson's Farm has become; it's a strong format for a television series, taking this loud and outspoken individual and placing him in a situation where he is hopelessly out of his depth. There's just a lot of comedic potential in a premise like that, which is perhaps why so many people are talking about it including myself. The typically light-hearted tone is reflected well at the start of this episode, which sees Jeremy Clarkson at a sheep auction where he can't understand a thing the auctionee...

 REVIEW: Big Sky, Season 1 Episode 14 'Nice Animals' The previous episode of Big Sky ended with one half of our lead duo experiencing quite an ordeal. A truck was driven into the motel where private detective Jenny Hoyt (Katheryn Winnick) was staying, an event which would be sure to leave even the strongest of individuals traumatised. It was quite a shocking visual to end the episode on, the kind of television cliffhanger that leaves you desperately waiting to see what happens next. The aftermath is a bit of a mixed bag. In my previous review I assumed it was Ronald (Brian Geraghty) who drove the truck, due to his obvious associations with those vehicles, but instead we find out this week that it was Rand (Ryan Dorsey). It's a shame because it would have been an interesting way to link the Ronald stuff more closely with the Kleinsasser plot. However, I do like that the aftermath has major repercussions, with Angela dead and Jenny unsurprisingly shaken by what had just occ...

 REVIEW: Innocent, Series 1 Episode Four If the first series of Innocent seems to show anything, it's that sometimes even the police don't hold the answers. They wrongly arrested David Collins (Lee Ingleby) for the murder of his wife, after all, and the previous three episodes have made them seem none-the-wiser as to who the real culprit may be. We expect the law to find the people responsible for these crimes, but this series poses the question of what happens if the law fails to deliver on that trust. Trust is a key theme of Innocent's first series. Even David betrays it with his kids Jack (Fionn O'Shea) and Rosie (Eloise Webb), when they discover he sold his story regarding being falsely blamed for Tara's murder to the papers. It's great that David is challenged over this, because what he did was kind of in bad taste. Whilst it's understandable that he did it because he was desperate for the money, David never really took into consideration how his kids w...

 Whovian TV: 26/06/2021 Yet again another week has passed us by at WhoPotterVian TV, and so it's time to look at the next seven days ahead. So, as we approach the start of July, let's take a look at the WhoPotterVian TV listings for this next week: Saturday 26th June: 20:00 - FILM: Captain America: The Winter Soldier (Disney Plus) 22:20 - Innocent, Series 1 Episode Four (ITV Hub) Sunday 27th June: 21:00  - Prank Encounters, Season 2 Episode Five 'Mist Demeanor' (Netflix) 22:02 - Sherlock, Series 4 Episode Three ' The Final Problem ' (BBC iPlayer/Netflix) Monday 28th June: 20:00 - Batwoman, Season 2 Episode 10 ' Time Off for Good Behaviour' (All4) 21:00 - Gino's Win Your Wish List: The Big Win (My5) 22:02 - Whose Line Is It Anyway? USA (UKTV Play) Tuesday 29th June:  20:00 - Coronation Street (ITV) 21:00 - Big Sky, Season 1 Episode Fifteen ' Bitter Roots ' (Disney Plus) 22:02 - Countdown (All4) 23:00 - Bates Motel, Season 4 Episode Seven '...

 REVIEW: Invincible, Season 1 Episode 7 'We Need o Talk' Secrets and lies are big parts of superhero narratives. Most heroes in these stories tend to utilise secret identities, and so by that very nature they find themselves lying to those around them. It has become a common narrative trope for sure, and one that shows no signs of dying down. Mark (Steven Yeun), of course, has been keeping his own identity secret from his girlfriend Amber (Zazie Beetz). In this episode, however, he finally tells her that he's invincible. Only there's a twist. Amber knew he was Invincible all along, and was just feigning innocence to see if he trusted her enough to tell the truth. I really like this twist, as it subverts our expectations rather than going down the obvious route. We expect Amber to be none-the-wiser, but to reveal that she worked it out for herself not only surprises us, but it gives her agency within the story. She doesn't need Mark to tell her who he is, she's c...

 REVIEW: Lost In Space, Season 2 Episode Seven 'Evolution' The end of the previous episode saw Will Robinson (Maxwell Jenkins) finally reunited with his robot friend (Brian Steele). Their friendship has always been one of the most endearing aspects of this reboot, and so it was great to see the pairing finally reunited. It's brings the heart to Lost In Space, offering a certain charm to proceedings that many shows would only dream of possessing. Only Will is not the only character the robot forms a meaningful attachment to this time round. For this episode is also the story of a robot and its horse. It's quite a sweet little narrative, as the robot learns to care for the horse, and forms this strong connection to the hoofed animal. It's also extremely important to the plot of the second season, as we learn that the alien robot - unlike the others in its race - has the ability to defy its programming, and show emotional range. It's not just all data and processin...

 REVIEW: Bates Motel, Season 4 Episode Six 'The Vault' The latest major threat to emerge for Norma (Vera Farmiga) over these past episodes has been Chick Hogan (Ryan Hurst). This was a character who featured heavily in the third season, as a neighbour of Dylan (Max Thieriot) and Caleb (Kenny Johnson). Now he's back, wanting to kill Caleb for assaulting him and stealing his money, and he believes Norma is the key to finding out his location.  God is this guy just truly despicable here. He tells Norma that if she doesn't help him track down Caleb, that he will reveal the truth of her relationship with Caleb to the entire neighbourhood. This is such an extremely cruel threat to make, given how Caleb raped her and made her pregnant in the process, and it really serves to make us truly despise this character. He's one of those villains who you just love to hate, with absolutely no redeeming qualities.  Norma later calls the inn in Costa Rica where Caleb used to work, and...