Friday 22 February 2013

TV

Dexter
6x11 Talk to the Hand
6x12 This is the Way the World Ends [season finale]
Usually Dexter has a calm, reflective ending... but not this season. Wham-bang-huge-cliffhanger it is! Loads of other plot threads left dangling too -- all the signs of a two-year recommission after season five, then.
Season seven starts in the UK this Sunday on FOX (formerly FX), for them that has it, while season eight is coming before too long to the US.

The Graham Norton Show
12x17 (15/2/13 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Last Leg
2x04 (15/2/13 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Yes, Prime Minister [2013]
1x06 A Tsar is Born [season finale]
This has been distinctly variable. Some funny moments, but an awful lot of too-big stagey acting and far too many recaps of what's going on. It notes in the end credits that it was adapted from the stage play, so I guess they took the two hours (or whatever) of that and extended it to make six half-hours of TV -- on stage, the "all this in one night" thing would work, but on TV, over six weeks, it felt needless. I can't imagine they'll get to have another go, but if they do, I hope it's in the form of a real series rather than a (somewhat misguided) serial.

Comics

2000 AD #2012

Continuing and concluding the Christmas-before-last bumper Prog, with…

Aquila Prologue by Gordon Rennie & Leigh Gallagher
Grey Area Meet & Greet, Part 1 by Dan Abnett & Karl Richardson
Dandridge A Christmas Ghost Story by Alec Worley & Jon Davis-Hunt
Sinister Dexter Now & Again by Dan Abnett & Anthony Williams
Strontium Dog The Life and Death of Johnny Alpha, Chapter Two: The Project, Part One by John Wagner, Carlos Ezquerra & Hector Ezquerra

Aquila and Grey Area are both effective introductions to brand-new series. The latter may be a bit too exposition-y, but it still holds promise. Dandridge is an effective little ghost story. Sinister Dexter is a double whammy of continuing/concluding plot from the previous Progs, and Christmas-special-ish dimension hopping through all 2000 AD's most beloved franchises. And then Strontium Dog is the second arc of a long story for a very old series, making it absolutely impenetrable to newbies like me. Still, at least everything else was good.