I’ve seen some reviewers charging that Chris Chibnall’s Doctor Who is too fluffy and doesn’t engage with weighty issues. When I read that, I can’t help but scoff. What on Earth are they talking about? Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor Who is absolutely a Social Justice Warrior of the very best, foremost class. Thus far she has taken on the very real issues of: Racism and Jim Crow in the Rosa Parks era – as well as in the far future The evils and stupidity of guns The terrible cost of fascist dictatorships (destroying whole worlds) The very fact that she is …
Doctor Who series 11 episode 4 – Arachnids in the UK review
After the intense social commentary and emotional social justice warrior-ing of episode 3 Rosa Parks, Chris Chibnall’s Doctor Who goes for a simple ‘monster of the week’ episode – in this case, spiders. But this new Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) can’t leave PC politicking well enough alone. It’s everywhere you look, and I admire that enormously. The episode begins with the Doctor, Yaz, Ryan and Graham arriving back in Sheffield, and facing their imminent dissolution. The Doctor is about to go off on her own, the others back to their lives. It’s quite a sad moment, because sure, the Doctor leads …
Re-evaluating Peep Show – is it misogynistic?
I have always loved Peep Show – the story of two lovable uber-losers Mark and Jeremy (Jezz) living in a flatshare in Croydon, struggling to make their way in the world today. The humor is almost entirely built on their pathetic, small-minded pettiness, often combined with their very English sense of embarrassment. It’s done knowingly, of course. I always wanted to cheer these affable sadsacks, even as you wince along with them. For example, Mark accidentally kills a person’s dog – but can’t ppossibly admit to that. He tries to dispose of the body by burning it, but fails. He …
Doctor Who series 11 episode 3 – Rosa Parks review
Last night’s episode of Dr. Who, in which the Dr. and her merry band went back in time to meet and protect Rosa Parks from a time-traveling rogue white supremacist from the future, absolutely shattered TV boundaries and thoroughly nailed its unabashed, bold, and beautiful progressive colors to the mast. Image: BBC It blew my head off completely. I feel like I’ve never seen anything like this on TV before, and certainly not within the world of Dr.Who. Where before it was always frivolous, empty, frothy escapades with a pointlessly manic Doctor, whizz-popping like LSD balls in a tombola through …
Doctor Who series 11 episode 2 – The Ghost Monument review
I am loving the new series of Dr. Who. Embedded in the stories, characters and setting so far are deep, meaningful comments on our current world from an unapologetic, muscular kind of liberalism. When one character suggests using a gun, the Doctor rounds on that unequivocally. That is a bad idea. It’s stupid. We have to use our brains. And because the show is bending to her will, the attempt to use a gun goes incredibly badly. It’s humiliating. And so it should be. In England we think guns are bad. People shouldn’t have them. We are right in this …
Ha ha OF COURSE Walking Dead s8 mid-season finale was terrible, but…
Ha ha ha – of course the Walking Dead season 8 mid-season finale ‘How It’s Gotta Be’ was terrible!! It is not even interesting to talk about the bad things in it because they are basically all of it! So now I am going to pick out the good things: ? – When the trash heap wankers scuttled away at the first sign of trouble. Yes! F off back to the shitheap you came from, and stay there until Rick comes round (again) to kill your stupid spiked walker. Like a goddamn metronome… ? – When Carl listened to the …
Walking Dead season 8 premiere review – ugh!
Saw Walking Dead season 8 premiere. Ugh. ? SPOILERS ? I didn’t like it. The old feeling that they were just barely scraping by, and surviving by the skin of their teeth, has been long gone. Seems they just take actions in a vacuum now. It was damn easy to take out those watchmen. Why not do it earlier? It was damn easy to roll up to Negan’s gates with an army, and he didn’t even know what was happening? Why did he not have a garrison at each of those settlements, watching over them? He has dudes in the …
7 reasons why The Walking Dead season 7 sucks
Mostly, it’s Negan. Apparently viewing figures for AMC’s The Walking Dead have dropped off a cliff since the season 7 premiere- 17 million down to 11 million or so. Some attribute that to more people binge-watching on Netflix or Amazon, others say it’s down to the incredible violence of the premiere episode, while I say it’s because of Negan. And that opens a whole bucket of worms. 7 worms, in fact. 1. The zombies are not the threat any more. Wholly, squarely- the fault rests on Negan’s shoulders, and the reason for that is because, after Rick cleared Alexandria of …
Unimpressed by the muddle of Game of Thrones Season 6, Episode 1: The Red Lady – Review
The opening shot of the Game of Thrones season 6 premiere was excellent. It showed the Wall and Castle Black from a perspective we’ve never seen before- looking back to the sun setting over a southern tree-lined horizon, to the exact promised land the ice zombies and White Walkers are so into. And Jon Snow! He was there too, like another piece of the tatty furniture, lying pitifully, palely, lank as melted then refrozen butter, in a puddley goop of blood (and guts?). Defiantly dead. This is good, I thought- this is what I want. Is he coming back to …
The Walking Dead S6 E01 ‘First Time Again’ Strategy Fail
Count the number of tiny bandages on Rick’s face. Go on count them. 5? 4? 3? When it gets down to 1 he’s basically recharged and it’s clobbering time, like an Energizer bunny. Ah I love the Walking Dead. Zombies, Rick Grimes, murderin’, gore, zombie conga, it just gets no better. I love the episodes that open with a time jump and I’m left wondering- wait, is this episode one? I love use of black and white. I love zombie cattle drives, and uncomfortable looks between Rick and the woman whose husband he executed, and diggin’ graves, and brain stabbing, …
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