Review: “Game Of Thrones” (Season Two)

Well, if you haven’t watched the first season of “Game Of Thrones”, then you need to watch that first. As you may expect, season two picks up almost immediately after season one ends.

(Warning: This review may contain some mild spoilers for season two. As such, this review will also contain some major spoilers for season one too. You have been warned.)

After Ned Stark’s execution at the end of season one, the Lannisters continue to hold the throne. But, due to King Joffrey’s recklessness, Tywin Lannister asks Tyrion to travel to King’s Landing and serve in his place as hand of the king. Whilst all of this is happening, Robb Stark wants revenge for his father’s death and has launched a war against the Lannisters.

At the same time, Daenerys Targaryen is still across the narrow sea and leading a small tribe of Dothraki through the desert. Yes, she has three baby dragons now, but she is far from being able to take King’s Landing.

Naturally, there are lots of other storylines and sub-plots, but these are probably the three main plots.

Whilst complex storytelling is one of the show’s strengths, this gets very slightly frustrating later in the season since there can be some slightly significant gaps in time between scenes from some of the storylines.

Don’t get me wrong, they’re not too far apart and my issue is with the length of the episodes (which, even at about an hour, still don’t feel quite long enough for everything) rather than the storylines themselves. Basically, there is almost too much great stuff to fit into ten hours. And this is about my only criticism of season two.

As for the rest of the season, it’s as good or better than the first season. Everything looks amazing, the characters are good and every episode is as compelling as you would expect. In terms of quality, there isn’t too much that I can say which you won’t already know if you’ve watched the first season. But, in short, the quality of this show is just as excellent as ever.

The best episode of the season, based on one epic scene alone, is probably the ninth episode. Interestingly, this episode was actually written by G.R.R Martin himself.

One other interesting development in season two is that there are a lot more interesting female characters than there were in the first season. Given that the fictional universe of “Game Of Thrones” is loosely based on medieval and Tudor England, the relative lack of interesting female main characters in the first season can sort of be explained by the restrictive nature of the society at the time (which, as with everything else, is portrayed in stark and uncompromising detail).

However, Arya Stark becomes more of a main character in season two and she gets to go on her own adventures too. Daenerys is still Khaleesi and, after the death of the Khal in season one, she has to lead her people through the desert. As you may expect, she has changed a lot from the meek and frightened character that she was at the beginning of season one.

In addition to this, there is are a few new characters introduced in season two, such as Brienne of Tarth and Yara Greyjoy, who are vastly different from the female characters in the first season. Likewise, Shae gets more character development and becomes something more than just one of Tyrion’s many love interests.

All of this adds a certain depth to season two which isn’t quite there in the first season. Regardless of your beliefs about how gender should and shouldn’t be presented in fiction, the fact that this season contains an even wider variety of interesting, complex and dramatic characters is an inherently and incontestably good thing.

Many of the male characters also receive a significant amount of character development in season two, especially Theon Greyjoy. We also get to learn a bit more about his background and his family too. However, his character develops in a fairly surprising way which, whilst not impossible for him, seemed slightly unlikely given how he is portrayed in season one and the earlier parts of season two.

As to be expected, season two ends in an extremely dramatic way and, when I eventually get a chance to watch season three, it’ll be interesting to see how this develops.

All in all, if you liked season one of “Game Of Thrones”, then you will love season two. But, if you haven’t watched season one, then season two probably won’t make that much sense to you. Still, although I didn’t think that it was possible, season two is even better than season one.

If I had to give it a rating out of five, then it would get five and a half.

Review: “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (Season Two)” (TV Show)

Not only was the original “Terminator” movie possibly the second coolest sci-fi movie from the 80s [after “Blade Runner”], it also had the second-coolest poster too [again, after “Blade Runner”]

[SPOILER ALERT: This review will contain some plot spoilers.]

If you’ve been living under a rock for the past three decades and have never seen any of the “Terminator” movies before, the basic premise of anything “Terminator”-related is that, in the near future, a self-aware computer system called Skynet takes over the world.

Using robots that it has created (called “terminators” – some of which resemble humans), Skynet tries to eradicate humanity. Fortunately, a fair number of humans survive and form an army/resistance movement (led by a man called John Connor) in order to destroy the machines.

So far, this all sounds like a pretty standard and unremarkable dystopic sci-fi story. Right?

Wrong. the “Terminator” franchise makes this story a lot more interesting by adding time travel to it. Skynet has developed the ability to send terminators back in time to the present day in order to kill key members of the human resistance movement, sometimes even before they are born.

Fortunately, the humans have managed to steal this technology and they use it to send some of their own soldiers back to the present day in order to protect the people who the terminators have been programmed to kill and to prevent Skynet from ever coming into existence. And, thus, one of the best sci-fi film and television franchises ever was born.

Anyway, season two of “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” picks up pretty much where season one left off. Cameron (a re-programmed terminator sent back in time by the adult John Conner in order to protect his teenage self) has almost been killed in an explosion and the damage to her processing chip has caused her to revert to her original mission, which is to kill John Connor.

John, Sarah Connor (John’s mother and the main character of the show) and Derek Reese (John’s uncle from the future) must find a way to either escape from and/or destroy Cameron before John is killed and the future of humanity is doomed.

At the same time, a FBI agent called James Ellison (who witnessed the murder of an entire SWAT team when they tried to arrest a terminator called Cromartie) is still shocked by the incident and resigns from the FBI. However, he is quickly approached by a mysterious technology company called Zeira Corp who want to hire him as head of security. Zeira Corp is led by an equally mysterious woman called Lachlan Weaver who somehow doesn’t seem quite human……

Oh, by the way, this is just the plot of the first episode or two.

If I added every storyline and sub-plot in this season to this review, then it would probably go on for at least a few pages. Yes, this is a show where you need to watch every episode in the correct order and I’m not sure if season two will make that much sense to you if you haven’t seen season one.

However, one cool feature of the DVD boxset (in the UK at least) is that you can turn the re-caps at the start of each episode on or off (seriously, re-caps on DVDs are totally pointless and annoying). But, if you haven’t seen season one, you might want to watch the re-caps at the start of the first couple of episodes.

But, yes, I seriously cannot emphasise the sheer amount of storytelling in this show. The first season packed a lot of story into just nine episodes and, in the second season, we get to see what the writers can do when they have more than twice as many episodes at their disposal. Season two never really slows down or sags at any point and it’s one of those rare shows where there isn’t even so much as a single “bad” episode. Not only that, all of the various storylines and sub-plots connect with each other in all sorts of fascinating ways too.

Not only that, there are also a few excellent stand-alone episodes too. The best ones are probably “Mr.Ferguson Is Ill Today” (which shows a disastrous trip to Mexico from the perspective of each of the main characters) and “Self Made Man” (a subtly chilling episode where Cameron, with the help of a librarian, investigate the history of a terminator who was accidentally sent back to the 1920s).

Another excellent episode is “Some Must Watch, While Some Must Sleep”, which is probably one of the creepiest episodes of the season. This episode follows Sarah Connor checking into a sleep clinic after she has started suffering from chronic insomnia and recurring nightmares due to the events of the previous episode. However, something suspicious seems to be going on in the sleep clinic and the answers to it may lie in the nightmares that she’s been suffering from.

As with the first season, the characters are extremely well-written and acted too and you will probably find yourself thinking about them a lot and, more importantly, genuinely caring about what happens to them. Yes, despite all of the robots, gunfights, car chases etc… the most compelling thing about season two of “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” is actually the characters themselves.

Like with “Battlestar Galactica”, all of the main characters (well, the human ones at least) are all fairly realistic and believable people with their own personalities, strengths and flaws. Even though Sarah Connor is such a badass that even John Rambo would have a hard time winning a fight against her, she still comes across as a very real and very human character.

Most of the secondary characters (such as Riley, Jesse and Charlie) are extremely well-written and acted too. However, one episode features a transgender character who could have been more well-written and portrayed in a slightly better way.

Without giving away too many plot spoilers, the character in question is blatantly transgender (she even pretty much says that she is near the end of the episode) and yet the writers seem to insist that she isn’t and that is it only a “disguise” (which plays into all sorts of stereotypes about trans people). But, apart from this, the characters are extremely well-written.

The special effects and action scenes in season two of TSCC are absolutely excellent too and they could easily rival any Hollywood film. Yes, being a TV series, the budget is slightly smaller than it would be for a film – but, even so, everything about this series is extremely cinematic. Not only that, the special effects actually support the story rather than being used as a substitute for actual storytelling (unlike in some mega-budget Hollywood films).

In many ways, it’s probably best to divide season two of TSCC up into two halves. The first half of the season is slightly more focused on action, intrigue and adventure whereas the second half of the season has slightly more emphasis on the drama between the various characters. In other words, season two starts out like a fast-paced and thrilling sci-fi show, but it gradually gets darker and more depressing.

Normally, this kind of thing would put me off of a TV show but, because the pace never really slows too much, the characters are so interesting and there is a lot of suspense, I just couldn’t stop watching.

Although, like many great sci-fi shows, TSCC was cancelled far too early, season two thankfully doesn’t end on a gigantic cliffhanger. Yes, there’s obviously still room for more episodes but it doesn’t feel like anything too major has been left unresolved (even though the ending of season two raises a few interesting questions due to a last-minute plot twist).

I’m extremely glad that the writers did this and, even though the ending seems slightly rushed, it feels like the perfect conclusion to this story. Even the most granite-hearted viewer will probably be moved to tears by the last couple of minutes of the final episode. Yes, it’s that much of a powerful ending – even if it is slightly rushed.

All in all, season two of “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” is an intelligent, thrilling and well-written show which anyone who is even vaguely interested in sci-fi should watch. If you’re a fan of the “Terminator” films (except for the third one which was, quite frankly, disappointing) then I’m guessing that you’ve probably already watched this – but if you haven’t, then you really should.

And, even if you’re not really that interested in sci-fi, then it can still be enjoyed as a compelling drama series or a chilling horror series. It is all of these things and much more….

If I had to give it a rating out of five, then it would get five.

Review: “Battlestar Galactica (Season Two)” (TV Show)

Well, since I finished watching season two of “Battlestar Galactica” recently, I thought that I’d write a review of it. This season of “Battlestar Galactica” picks up pretty much straight after the dramatic cliffhanger at the end of the first season and it keeps on going right up until it’s own shocking conclusion.

Much like the first season, season two focuses on both humanity’s escape from the Cylon fleet and also on the politics and problems of life on board the ragtag fleet of ships which are carrying the last remnants of humanity. If you haven’t seen season one or this description doesn’t make sense to you, then go and watch season one (but be sure to watch the mini-series first) because, unlike some other shows, you should watch every episode and season of this show in the correct order.

One of the first things I will say about season two of “Battlestar Galactica” is that it gets fairly dark, tragic, harrowing and depressing in some parts. In fact, in terms of bleakness, even the mini-series looks positively cheerful and reassuring by comparison. There are a a fair number of lighter moments in this season and the occasional in-joke too (they manage to include the theme tune from the original 1978 series in one scene and there are a couple of subtle “Blade Runner” references in one episode), but this season certainly isn’t light entertainment and there are a few scenes in it which will shock and horrify pretty much everyone.

But, this is kind of the whole point of “Battlestar Galactica”. Unlike many other sci-fi sshows, BSG tries to be as “realistic” as possible and it doesn’t shy away from showing the darker side of life amongst the last 50,000 humans in existence. Unlike, say, “Star Trek: Voyager”, this show shows what life would probably really be like if a large group of people were stranded in space.

As with the previous season, all of the many characters are deeply complex and flawed individuals and I honestly can’t praise the characterisation in this series enough. In fact, the excellent characterisation is exactly what makes some of the darker parts of this season so harrowing, since you will probably end up caring about the characters in “Battlestar Galactica” a lot more than you might do with the characters in quite a few other TV shows.

As with season one, this season deals with a whole host of fairly heavy issues. These include the nature of democracy, religion, press freedom, reproductive rights, discrimination, torture/abuse of authority, the role & limits of the military, terrorism and a whole bunch of other subjects. This is a series which will make you think a lot and, although it sometimes comes to clear conclusions about some subjects, there are plenty of things which are left fairly ambiguous and are designed to provoke thought. If you want an intelligent sci-fi show which treats its viewers like mature adults, then this season of “Battlestar Galactica” certainly won’t disappoint you.

Unlike season one, season two has twenty episodes rather than thirteen. But, like season one, it manages to pack a lot of storytelling into these episodes. There are more storylines and sub-plots than I can count and they are all expertly woven together throughout the season in a way which makes it feel like none of them have been neglected by the writers. This season is extremely compelling too, if you get this show on DVD, it’s pretty much impossible to just watch one episode and then stop watching.

In addition to this, the DVD (or the UK version of it at least) includes an extended version of the final episode of the season. This version is about fifteen or twenty minutes longer than the other episodes and it never really feels like any of the additional material is “filler”. In fact, I’m not quite sure how they edited this episode down to 45 minutes when it was originally shown on TV. Although I guess that they probably cut quite a lot of the last quarter of the episode.

Visually, this series is as spectacular as ever and there are more dramatic space battles and even more variety in terms of settings than there was in the first season. Although quite a lot of the story still takes place on The Galactica, this utilitarian and functional military ship usually serves as a blank canvas to emphasise the drama which is taking place between the various characters.

All in all, if I had to give season two of “Battlestar Galactica” a rating out of five, then it would probably get a five.

Review: “The A-Team” (Season Two) (TV Show)

Well, since I finished watching season two of “The A-Team” recently, I thought that I’d write a review of it. I’m guessing that most people have heard of this classic 1980s TV show but, if you haven’t, then I’ll summarise the premise of the show.

“The A-Team” is an action/adventure/comedy series which follows a group of four American soldiers (John “Hannibal” Smith, Templeton “Faceman” Peck, B. A. Baracus and H. M. “Howling Mad” Murdock) who were charged with a crime they didn’t commit during the Vietnam war. Before the events of this TV series begin, they escape from a military prison and live as fugitives and mercenaries, accompanied by a reporter called Amy Allen. Usually, they end up helping out small business owners and/or people in small towns who are being threatened by a local villain and his henchmen.

Of course, being a “family friendly” kind of show, no-one is killed and most people usually emerge unharmed from whatever happens in the episode. This is kind of an A-Team cliche, since the bad guys will just emerge from burning cars without even a scratch and, whenever the A-Team shoot at any of the villains, they always miss. Likewise, people can be thrown through windows and into walls and just get up and walk away a few seconds later. Although this is ridiuculously unrealistic, I guess it was the only way that the producers of the show could get a violent action/adventure series onto early evening TV in the censorious 1980s…

Although I watched season one a couple of years ago and really liked it, when I watched season two, I started to notice just how similar the plots of quite a few episodes are. Even though the details are different, most of the episodes follow the same structure.

A typical episode of “The A-Team” usually begins with the villains threatening an innocent person, that person then finds the A-Team in order to hire them (“Hannibal” Smith usually meets them in disguise and they virtually never recognise him). After this, the A-Team usually meet the villains and have a fist-fight with them (and win most of the time). The villains go off to prepare an attack of some kind. Meanwhile, the A-Team improvise some kind of weapon, vehicle or gadget from nearby objects (there are a lot of welding torches and metal sheets just lying around literally everywhere). The villains show up and are defeated by the A-Team in a suitably dramatic way before they are either run out of town or handed over to the police.

For most shows, this kind of structure would probably get boring very quickly, but the thing that really saves “The A-Team” are the characters and the writing. The dialogue and humour in this show is absolutely brilliant and, although there isn’t too much in the way of character development over the series, each of the characters is very distinctive and memorable. All four of the actors (George Peppard, Dirk Benedict, Mr T. and Dwight Schultz) who play the members of the A-Team are absolutely superb and, seriously, this show is worth watching for the dialogue alone.

Season two mostly consists of stand-alone episodes which follow the formula I described earlier (with a few exceptions). Interestingly, about halfway through the season, Amy Allen leaves the show and she’s replaced by another reporter called Tawnia Baker. Looking on Wikipedia, this was apparently because the actress who played Amy Allen (Melinda Culea) was fired after she wanted more dialogue and action scenes.

In retrospect, the show would have probably been better if Amy Allen had been given a bit more characterisation and got to join in with some of the A-Team’s adventures a bit more. Yes, she might not have military training, but the main characters aren’t exactly expert marksmen either…..

The other major change in this season is that the main antagonist of the first season (Colonel Lynch) has been replaced with an even meaner character called Colonel Decker who will stop at nothing to track down the A-Team and put them back in prison. Decker is one of my favourite characters in this season and there are loads of absolutely hilarious scenes where the A-Team outwit him in some ingenious way or another.

Even though I mentioned the season’s formulaic episodes earlier, there are a few episodes near the end of the season which are fairly different and really stand out a lot. An episode called “Deadly Maneuvers” springs to mind for starters.

This episode begins with a team of crime bosses who have lost business (thanks to the A-Team) hiring a group of four mercenaries to track down the A-Team and kill them. This episode is fairly interesting, since these mercenaries are basically an “evil” version of the A-Team (one of them reminded me slightly of Bill from “Left 4 Dead” too) and it’s probably the most serious, dramatic and suspenseful episode of the entire season.

Another fairly interesting episode is “Harder Than It Looks”, where the A-Team have been hired by a wealthy businessman whose daughter has been kidnapped by a terrorist group called the Global Liberation Army (yes, this episode was made long before “Command & Conquer: Generals”). However, when they manage to rescue her, she appears to be suffering from Stockholm syndrome….

Yes, I’ve criticised this show quite a lot, but it’s surprisingly watchable and, as I said earlier, the characters are absolutely brilliant. Yes, it isn’t a particularly serious or complex show, but it isn’t meant to be. It’s meant to be amusing, relaxing and thrilling entertainment and, in this regard, it succeeds perfectly.

In other words, although it’s slightly mindless sometimes, it’s brilliantly fun to watch. Plus, although I wasn’t even born when it was originally shown on TV, it’s just somehow nostalgic too.

So, all in all, if I had to give season two of “The A-Team” a rating out of five, then it would definitely get a four. Plus, let’s face it, giving it anything less than this would practically be sacrilege.