Category: TV

Well, I know it’s been off the TV for a few weeks now, but did any of you watch Liar on ITV/STV/UTV?

Continue reading “Liar” →

During the last week, I have spent a lot of time in my flat, watching Netflix while blogging and applying for jobs. Once I had exhausted myself of the very few Christmas films currently on Netflix UK, I found myself looking for a new show to put on in the background, and this is where Reign came in.

 

Following the story of Mary, Queen of Scots, (although I’m not sure how accurately!) Reign opens with Mary living in a convent, being hidden away from the Protestant English who wish her dead, and awaiting the day when she can return to French Court to marry Prince Francis. What ensues is a brilliant combination of romance, action, adventure, and historical drama – enough to keep you wanting more and more every time an episode finishes!

 

Now, at the time of writing this post, I am only halfway through episode 3 of Season 1, so I may not be the best judge of later storylines or episodes, but I just had to tell you about this must see TV series before you miss the chance to see it!

 

Starring Adelaide Kane, Toby Regbo, and lots of other faces that you may or may not recognise, the cast transport you back in time with their portrayal of this era, surrounding you in the political and sexual intrigue of the life of Mary.

 

She doesn’t know who to trust, or who to turn to, as everywhere she looks more enemies seem to appear. It’s like a period drama met a crime novelist, and then, just for good measure, they threw in some saucy love scenes just to make sure you were fully enamoured with the show.

 

Needless to say, once I click play on the episodes I find I cannot move again until the end of an episode. The script is extremely well written, the costumes are amazing, and I just have so much love and praise for this new show! Especially the soundtrack, the soundtrack is incredible and I’ve now added the songs to a new Spotify playlist.

One thing I will be very grateful for though is the fact it has been a cloudy day so far. A lot of the scenes are filmed in darker rooms and so any light on my screen would just destroy the perfect setup I currently have.

 

 

Do you have any shows that I simply have to watch? Or have you given Reign a try? Let me know in the comments below!

Now that the series is over, and I’m unsure as to whether or not there will be a new series, I felt I might share my thoughts about the show. I will do my best to avoid any spoilers, but if I accidentally have included one then please let me know so I can remove it!

 

So for anyone who hasn’t heard of Riverdale, or has heard of it but isn’t sure what it’s about, Riverdale is a small town in which our main characters live. To be honest, I say characters because I’m not sure if there was meant to be one more important than the other or not, but we follow a groups of friends as they try to discover the truth behind Jason Blossom’s death. The story is set in modern time and is apparently based off the Archie Comics characters (I’ve never read or heard of the Archie Comics so can’t comment on them), following Archie, Betty, Veronica, and Jughead, along with some of their friends, as the town comes to grips with the fact that Jason Blossom died. We watch as our main characters turn into sleuths (Betty actually made me think of Nancy Drew) and try to maintain their normal lives, balancing school, family, commitments, and relationships, all while trying to find out the truth about the day Jason died.

 

Being a Netflix Original show, I was somewhat skeptical of how it would work. I recently haven’t been overly enamoured by their productions, excluding 13 Reasons Why and Designated Survivor, and so when I saw Twitter overrun with people talking about this must-see show I decided to give it a try.

 

I was hooked straight away. The characters were so believable, and I just loved Cole Sprouce’s portrayal of Jughead Jones. Definitely my favourite character. If someone had asked me after watching the first episode if I would recommend it then I would’ve said yes straight away without hesitation.

 

Then came the mini breaks between episodes. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m used to mid season breaks, and sometimes missing a week of a show due to scheduling things. But there were times when Riverdale really was messing us around a bit, or at least that was how I felt. Thirteen episodes isn’t that many, and the first 7 aired no problem. There was a two week break before they came back for episode 8 and I was beginning lose faith in the show. We seemed to be getting nowhere with the actual mystery, with more plot twists and turns than Pretty Little Liars at some points it seemed! I just was generally losing interest and wasn’t sure if I could be bothered continuing watching. Episodes 8, 9 and 10 were alright, but it felt like the story hadn’t moved forward, like they were giving us more episodes than were necessary. However I hate leaving things when I’m only half way through a series so decided I would keep going and hope for the best. We then had another 2 weeks of a break, and I actually forgot I was watching it. Now that’s when you know you’ve lost interest. However episode 11 popped up on my screen as I scrolled through Netflix looking for a film to watch, and I remembered that actually we still didn’t know the whole truth so put it on while I studied. Things were hotting up again and I found myself somewhat looking forward to the next week’s episode! Episode 12 certainly didn’t disappoint. It was fast moving, questions were answered, and I began to feel happy with the ending. Then I saw there was one episode left. How could there be? My questions had all been answered, I didn’t really care what happened next. So when I sat down to watch episode 13 I was expecting to be let down by the series again. How wrong was I? Here was an episode I never realised we needed but we certainly did! There were tense moments, times of “oh my god I can’t watch this”, and even a few moments where I found myself tearing up. And then it ended. I sat watching the titles roll and just thought wow.

 

Overall, Riverdale didn’t disappoint. Would I recommend it? Yes. I’d be honest though that episodes 5 to 10 didn’t have me all that interested, but it is worth sticking through, even just to see the brilliance of the acting. My rating for this show would be a strong 7 out of 10.

 

Now the real question – will there be another series?

 

 

Every year. Every year I tell myself “don’t get started on any new TV shows until after exams” and every year I do it.

 

When I was back at home, it wasn’t so bad. I had Lord of the Rings playing on repeat, sometimes throwing Harry Potter into the mix just so I didn’t get too bored of hearing the same 3 scripts over and over and over and over. Then I got to university and found myself blasting through the multiple episodes of 24. I saw enough of it during that exam season that I could tell exactly what episodes would have plot twists, what would be happening to Jack, and when it got to episode 3 of each series, and CTU thought they’d stopped the terrorists, I was rolling my eyes and shouting at the screen that they were all thick – I had another 21 episodes to get through before they were finished!

 

The following year, I blasted through How I Met Your Mother during the Christmas exams, and then restarted The West Wing for the summer exams. If you’ve forgotten how well that worked out for me I should probably redirect you to my posts from this time last year via the sidebar. I ended up with resits to do, and found myself watching Pretty Little Liars.

 

So then we reached this year. At Christmas, all anyone was talking about was a Netflix Original that was apparently very well done. And so I started watching The Crown over that one week of exams. But for once it just about worked! I swore to myself then and there that there would be no new TV until 19th May. Well I messed that one up…

 

During a couple of sleepless nights, I ended up getting back into Nashville. Mary had recommended it a few months back, and before Easter I started watching it. Then, over the easter break I decided to just finish the first series. Big, big mistake. I won’t ruin it for you but there was a massive cliffhanger in the last 2 minutes and then I had to go pick Rachel up from a friend’s house. So I suppose I did quite well, waiting 2 weeks to pick up again with season  2, but I also managed to get through it in 2 days…. whoops. And I’m now up to date with it all… 

 

The great thing about Nashville, however, is that a lot of the plotline happens through the songs and so I really don’t need to be watching it. And if you’re a fan of country music the way I am then it’s actually really good if you’re in the mood for something light! So what’s it all about?

 

The show takes us through the lives of multiple fictitious country music singers in Nashville, and stars Connie Britton as Rayna Jaymes, a legendary country music superstar, whose fame is beginning to fade, and Hayden Panettiere as rising young star Juliette Barnes. They both belong to the same label, and so see a lot more of each other than either of them would like. Rayna’s perfect little family isn’t so perfect (although her two kids are just adorable!) and Juliette’s life isn’t so great either. While I love them both, my two favourite characters are Deacon and Scarlett. Deacon used to work with Rayna and then changes over to working for Juliette for a while, and Scarlett is his talented niece. So we get a wide variety of performances and styles of music throughout each episode and that’s what I love.

 

My favourite songs from the show include A Life That’s Good, Black Roses, and Don’t Put Dirt On My Grave Just Yet, which can be seen below!

 

 

Have you seen Nashville? Is it something you’ve absolutely no interest in?