It is another light week, especially if you’re down a couple of televisions and are temporarily sharing a room with a child too use to watch the House of the Dragon receive some prophecies. Stargirl starts season three with a murder and sketchy allies from last season. She-Hulk and Star Talk: Lower Decks both forgo descriptions, but our future primitives of See sees our stars set off to reunite, and our Primal primitives give us the second half of The Colossaeus. Mystery Science Theater 3000 watch a swinging sixties story of a woman trying to replace men in leadership roles.
[ETA:} The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.
[All synopses (and titles) from Trakt.tv below the cut, except when there really aren’t any. (If a show’s synopsis is a spoiler to you, do not click Continue reading →)]
House of the Dragon – S01E02 – The Rogue Prince – Princess Rhaenyra dives deep into the prophecies about House Targaryen while confronting a realm that resists the idea of a woman on the Iron Throne, and Prince Daemon, embittered over being passed over as the heir to Westeros, prepares to go to war.
Stargirl: Frenemies – S03E01 – Chapter One: The Murder – With Starman back from the dead and her former super-villain enemies vowing to reform, Courtney is hopeful that there will finally be peace in Blue Valley. But when The Gambler arrives in town looking to make his own amends, the team finds themselves at odds over whether he can be trusted.
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law – S01E03 – Episode 3 – [No Description Given]
Star Trek: Lower Decks – S03E02 – Episode 2 – [No Description Given]
See – S03E02 – Watch Out for Wolves – After a devastating loss, Baba heads to Pennsa to warn his family. Maghra debates the Witchfinders’ fate. Wren stages a daring escape.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power – S01E01 and S01E02 – Shadow of the Past – Beginning in a time of relative peace, we follow an ensemble cast of characters as they confront the re-emergence of evil to Middle-earth. From the darkest depths of the Misty Mountains, to the majestic forests of Lindon, to the breathtaking island kingdom of Númenor, to the furthest reaches of the map, these kingdoms and characters will carve out legacies that live on long after they are gone.
Mystery Science Theater 3000 – S13E09 – The Million Eyes of Sumuru – She rules a palace of pleasure – Frankie Avalon and George Nader (that guy from “The Robot Monster”) are a couple of wise-cracking, swingin’ secret agents. Their enemy is Shirley Eaton as Su-Muru, who plans to remove all of the men who are currently in power and replace them with her army of women.
Primal – S2E08 – The Colossaeus (2) – [No Description Given]
The first two episodes of The Rings of Power are out this Thursday.
Updated, thank you!
I am apprehensive, and it feels less like a Tolkien thing than it does a spoiled television company stamping their feet and saying ‘I want a Game of Thrones, too!!’
I am too apprehensive. But the visuals should be good, or better be with the amount of money they are spending on the series.
Rings of Power had an interesting start. Too much infodump at the beginning, even for a mythic story, but it picks up. Is anyone here doing a review?
I’ve also finally seen the first two eps of Stranger Things, Season Four. I’ve never felt the subsequent seasons lived up to Season One, and this one my lose me. It features a strong opening, the usual high production values, several strong performances, and a good central plot. I like the fact that they’re attempting to address the Satanic Panic of the 80s, which warped a number of communities. We’re not just getting 80s nostalgia here.
Alas, in two episodes it already feels bloated and over-branched. It’s also a little too bleak for ST, which always served up its horrors with a heavy dose of fun. Now we’re getting torture scenes. The context of reality that grounds the fantasy is off– high school feels too much like TV High. Not helping: the ages of the teen actors, already a little out of whack in season one, is really showing. Most of the high school seniors are 25-30. Grease is the word! I’m hanging in for now.
Anyone else? And, if it happens you shared my response, does it get better?
I waited to come read this until I’d gotten to watch Rings of power, and it wasn’t about Rings of Power.
Stranger Things does feel a bit more disjointed this season, but Eddie (at the end of the season) totally makes up for it. I blame it on a desire to keep the cast/crew small for each set, because… ya know, COVID.
The age of the actors is another real-world issue that you correctly identified as being too noticeable, but I think using the way-too-old “kids” as kids was better than recasting. I worry how they will handle Season five, because Season 4 really does end in a ‘we have to fix this NOW!’ place, but the kids will be old enough to have a beer between scenes if they don’t do a time jump.