Review: #Broadchurch

Gracepoint starts tonight (Thursdays on Fox at 9 pm) it's not exactly a remake of Broadchurch, but it really is. According to the people in charge, it's very, very similar but 2 episodes longer and with a different ending. We'll see. (Plus David Tennant's American accent. Hmm, weird.)

So if you're planning on watching Gracepoint and haven't seen Broadchurch yet, what are you waiting for??

What can I say about Broadchurch? You need to watch it yourself. It's only 8 episodes long and trust me, once you start you won't stop. You can't, really. I'm pretty good at figuring out the whodunit, but this one? Shocked me.

I do suggest putting the volume up if you're not used to hearing UK accents that aren't Colin Firth's, but this small town murder mystery has such real and authentic people you easily and quickly get used to it. As with all small towns, people know everything about you--except all those secrets you hid when you came to the small town to begin with.

Is it a typical small town? Are the residents of Broadchurch also typical? Of course, that isn't the point. the scenery is gorgeous but the people are what make this so remarkable. They're deeply flawed and in only 8 episodes I learned so much about them even as I tried to figure out who the murderer was.

My understanding is that season 2 is on the way. I can't wait!

5 stars.

Review #SleepyHollow season 1

Yes. It is that good. It's better than that good. And if you're not watching it you need to. That, and you need to follow Orlando Jones on Twitter during the actual episodes-that man is funny!

Based on The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, the show took it to the next level. Sure, the Johnny Depp movie wasn't bad, but this is just wow.

Ichabod Crane is totally lickable. Go on, look at his photo. Don't lick your computer screen, it's okay. I understand. And that British accent. Yum. Plus, the Ichabod wit on finding himself in the 21st century and his observations on (our) everyday activities is awesome.

"What's insane is a 10% levy on baked goods! You do realize the Revolutionary War began on less than 2%! How is the public not flocking to the streets in outrage? We must do something." Just one of many adorable and hysterical Ichabod quotes from the show. And that scene where he learns how to use a shower? Yes, as funny as you're now imagining.

But there is actually a plot, and much deeper than the wit and witticism of 21st century Ichabod Crane.

Thanks to his Wicca wife, he comes back from a Revolutionary War death in modern day. Katrina, his wife, is not only beautiful, but she has mad chemistry with Ichabod. I love their love story and I love what she's sacrificed to stop evil from permeating the new America.

Abby Mills, Sleepy Hollow cop, is absolutely  great. SHe's smart, tough, and an equal to Ichabod's character. She doesn't make silly "girlly" mistakes  but can own up when she is mistaken, the hallmark of a fascinating character. To use a well known quote, I think it's the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

All in all, if you haven't watched season 1, sadly only 13 episodes, you need to. This weekend. All at once because once you start you won't want to stop. If you like history, wrapped in a contemporary, with a heavy dose of the paranormal, then Sleepy Hollow is your thing.

5 stars all the way

Review @HouseofCards season 2

Just when you thought it was safe to go back to DC! Not if you're an opponent of Frank Underwood! This season he has his sights set on a very lofty goal and takes it to the next level.If you thought it was charmingly ruthless in season 1, forget it. Season 1 Frank was an amateur compared to season 2 Frank.

There are moments in season 2 where you're shocked, deliciously appalled, or erotically intrigued.

I give this season 5 stars as well and waiting for season 3 with bated breath!

Review @HouseofCards season 1

This is about the Netflix show, not the 90s British show of the same name and theme.

I didn't see the British version, only the Kevin Spacy version, but I was blown away in the first 3 minutes. Francis "Frank" Underwood  is a master political manipulator, the Democratic Majority Whip. Actually he's a master manipulator. Period.

We begin with the election of a new president, very clearly with Frank's help; Frank even helped the President's Chief of Staff get appointed. Frank expects to be appointed Secretary of State as his reward for all his help to the new president. The president has other plans. At the ninth hour, before Frank believes his appointment is to be announced, Frank learns the president needs him in congress and won't be extending the Secretary of State chair appointment to him.

This is important to the rest of the season and into season 2. Actually, these are the events that drive the entirety of House of Cards. Frank wants revenge for being slighted. He doesn't take kindly to broken promises. But when Frank gets even, it's a blood sport.

House of Cards is a smart, tight, gripping political thriller that takes you on a ride with twists and turns you'd never expect. Just when you think all is lost, Frank Underwood, or as the cufflinks that are gifted to him by a trusted Secret Service agent show, FU pulls not just a rabbit, but an elephant out of his hat.

5 stars. Definitely.

Review #NCIS season 11

I've made it no secret I'm a fan of NCIS. But this year I was very disappointed, and yes heartbroken, that Ziva (Cote de Pablo) left the show. Her exit episodes left much to be desired, they barely revolved around her character, but I did enjoy her kiss with Tony. That, and the fact they did not kill off her character.

The first several episodes showed a couple temporary agents. Of those, the only memorable ones were Vera and Coast Guard agent, Abigail Borin. Either one would've been a fine addition to the cast.

Overall, this season I found extremely uneven. Extremely. Only a handful of episodes were cohesive and actually stood out.

I could say a lot about the additional of Agent Bishop, and how I consider her a Mary Sue character, but I'll simply say: It's my opinion that the Bishop character doesn't fit the dynamic already established between the cast and characters.

Though this once was my favorite show, I give this season only 2.5 stars. I hope they find a better footing next season.

Review #Longmire season 2

Season 2 picks up right where season 1 left off. I enjoyed that right off, because it meant that the cliffs from the first season hadn't been ignored, stretched to fit the break, or neatly tied up off screen. Also, the subplots from the first season grew, they're more elaborate and intriguing.

Characters now intermingle that from season 1, I didn't expect to intermingle and with quite interesting results! It's hard to write this without any spoilers, but let me say this: For me, season 2 was even better than season 1. The stories were tighter and since I was already familiar with the characters, everything had a deeper, more intriguing twist.

There's just so much going on, and while season 2 had 13 instead of 10 episodes, I really wanted it to keep going. But on the other hand, I enjoyed the shortened season because it didn't have those filler episodes, all the episodes were cohesive to the entire season and characters' arc.

Make sure you don't miss an episode, it all overlaps to create a compelling show that really is can't miss!

Longmire is based on a series of contemporary western mysteries by Craig Johnson. Season 3 starts this past Monday, June 3, at 10p.m. EST on A and E.

Review #Longmire season 1

Longmire is not your average crime of the week drama. There's nothing average about it! It doesn't take place in a big city, but in the off the beaten track (fictional) Wyoming county, Absaroka (pronounced ab-suh-ro-ka).

Not only does Longmire give us a glimpse of small town life that could almost hark back to the 1800s, except with cell phones and except for Walt Longmire who refuses to use one, but it also shows us that if you live in a remote town in Wyoming or the heart of Manhattan, bad guys are everywhere.

Longmire offers interesting and unique characters far from the ordinary fare. Longmire himself is a leathery old-town sheriff set in his ways, but he has incredible depth, insight, and compassion with his work. Flawed and very human, he is.

Two of his deputies, Branch and Vic, are opposites but bring their own unique perspectives to the show. Vic is a transplanted Philadelphia cop who does not want to be in Wyoming, but the gas company her husband works for transferred him. Branch is the rich local boy turned sheriff's deputy still looking for his own path.

Season 1 is full of mysteries and what I loved most about this is other than the mystery-of-the-week, there's an ongoing one involving Walt's dead wife. Walt's best friend, Henry Standing Bear, has his own secrets about the wife's death, but since season 1 is only 10 episodes, not much is revealed.

I loved that about Longmire, because they didn't drag out this mystery, but the clues kept me coming back for more. Other than the deputies, the secondary cast is outstanding. Everyone has their own quirks, their own lives, their own flaws. It makes for a very believable world and very believable stories.

I highly recommend Longmire season 1.

Longmire is based on a series of contemporary western mysteries by Craig Johnson. Season 3 starts Monday June 3 at 10p.m. EST on A&E.

New TV season

Anyone else excited for Revolution and Last Resort? Revolution is DVR'ed and will be watched this weekend. Last Resort isn't on until next week.

Granted, the blond Revolution revolves around looks like she'll annoy me quickly, and last season when I watched ABC for Pan Am they cancelled it almost immediately. It was the first time I'd watched an ABC show in ages.

What other shows are you interested in this season?

Review: #Eureka

Or Why You Should Watch the Smartest and Funniest Show Currently on TV

Eureka

It's funny. It's smart. It's a smartass show. It's got the 'dumb' town sheriff who thinks like a regular person in a town full of genius disasters--and usually is the one to save the day. It may sound trite and cliche, but it's really not.

This is the last season. I won't go into why I think SyFy cancelled this wonderful show. Or why I don't think we need another 'reality' show about scaring people, ghost hunting, or the paranormal objects people own.

If you haven't watched any of Eureka, now is your chance! You don't have to, but in starting with season 1, episode 1, you can meet Jack Carter and his rebellious (if brilliant) daughter as they stumble (literally) into a hidden town in Washington State that's full of the world's most brilliant people. Even the cafe owner has a PhD in food!

Each season has an overall arc--time travel, space travel, mind travel (trust me on that one). And each season has guest stars. Ever watch Star Trek: Next Gen? Remember stupid little Wesley Crusher? Wil Wheaton is now a recurring guest scientist with a knack for snobbery and accidents. Plus there are smart houses, AI deputy sheriffs, and enough romantic arcs to make a romance novel look crowded.

The only draw back is Salli Richardson-Whitfield. Not because she's a bad actress (definitely not) but because the writers seemed to have dumbed down her character and then given her even more scenes with her new blah-ness. Alas, you take the good with the bad.

Wednesday Review: Game of Thrones

The series. I haven't read the books, but I hear they're awesome. They'd have to be if the HBO series is this great.

Granted, there's one episode left, but I'm confident in my review: WATCH THIS SERIES!

If you like: Drama, political intrigue, Sean Bean, sex, back stabbing, war, an imp/half-man with a wicked sense of humor and more brains than 3/4 of the rest of the characters, and overall compelling storytelling, then this is the series for you!

If you don't like surprises then this is NOT the series for you.

I found this while reading a recap of an episode:

To all the newbies, some advice:
Dont become attached to any character (seriously) Whatever you believe is happening, you are wrong Whatever you think will happen, you are more wrong Whatever you have hope that will happen, sorry, wrong again Keep a box of tissues, you're going to need it

Wednesday Revews: Murdoch Mysteries

Just finished season 2. I applaud the way they've developed the plots, branching out so that there's more character development on all fronts but still keeping the focus on William Murdoch as our hero. I think the later half of the season was a little jumpy and not as strong or interesting as the first half. Plus the weak and contrived addition of a new love interest for our intrepid hero, but over all I think they did a decent job leading into it. It added a little something, even if the love interest was utterly uninteresting and frankly I didn't see the so-called 'instant connection' that they seemed to push on the viewer.

Still, some of the dialog is very limited. It's almost as if they'd rather go the who show without a spoken word.

And I continue to like the secondary characters more than I do William. They're more willing to grow and see things outside the normal world. Chief Inspector Brackenreid and Constable Crabtree are a hoot and as nosy as a pair of old ladies, however they're so underused it makes William's plodding through highbrow lectures even more boring.

I can only hope that season 3 picks up more weight. I understand it's hard to continue a series from a strong and critically acclaimed start but let's not fall into cliches.

Wednesday Revews

I'm watching both the Borgias (Showtime) and Game of Thrones (HBO) and am enjoying both thoroughly! I know much of the Borgia history but it's nice to see it so very well acted out. The cast is great and really brings the history to life. If you get the chance, check it out.

Game of Thrones is a monumental series by George R. R. Martin. Monumental! I haven't read them and probably won't only because it's like Lord of the Rings; I can't keep the names straight! To this day I know Orlando Bloom, John Rys Davies, Viggo Mortensen...can't tell you who they play.

Game of Thrones is the same: Sean Bean (yum) Squicky Queen, Ronin from Stargate Atlantis, The Bastard (as in Sean Bean's illegitment son who wveryone calls The Bastard). But that doesn't detract from the story and I love every second of it.

Wednesday Review: Murdoch Mysteries

Based on Maureen Jennings's Detective Murdoch Mysteries, this series takes place in 1890s Toronto. I watched the first two episodes, did NOT like Detective William Murdoch but for some strange reason wanted to watch the rest of the disc.

I don't know if it was because of the time/locale or the supporting cast, but whereas I usually wouldn't have bothered, I ploughed forward. I'm in the middle of Season 2 and am torn between Murdoch's staunch and quite rigid thinkings and the rather fore thinking of the rest of the cast.

For the first time in my TV watching life, I find myself not liking the main character as much as I do the supporting cast. I really like the ME, Dr. Julia Ogden, a woman who has fought her whole life to brush off the stigma of her gender for the career she wants.

Constable George Crabtree is obviously the less educated foil for our brilliant and ahead of his time detective, but Inspector Brackenreid is...it's hard to describe him. I really like him, he's a cross between a stereotype of his time and someone who doesn't like the rules but can't break them just yet. It's a rigid world but it's a changing one, and Brackenreid is caught between that.

If you like police procedurals set in unusual locations, give Murdoch Mysteries a try.

This is from an interview with Maureen Jennings:

“The most surprising thing that struck me throughout all my research,” Jennings says, “is just how vibrant the city was, its complexities, its people. And the things that happened couldn’t have happened anywhere else.” It’s true: at that time Toronto really was caught between a rock and a hard place with Mother England and her Victorian morality on the one side and nose-thumbing Americans on the other. Toronto the Good was the moniker coined in the 1880s by Toronto Mayor William Holmes Howland in an attempt to wear the city’s heart on its sleeve. (He too is the same mayor that appointed an Inspector to the Police Department to fight vice and prostitution!) “A lot of what happened and how things were handled came from the morality of the time, the Church, and the notion of ‘Toronto the Good’,” Jennings points out. “It was very specific to the city.”

Wednesday Review: The Walking Dead

Finally managed to finish the series. I don't like horror, I don't thrive on it, laugh at it, or collect it. I think the last horror movie I saw was Halloween H20...and it was bad. This is my horror level, get it?

But zombies. I wasn't going to watch this, I was perfectly happy ignoring the latest in the zombie trend. But then I heard everyone (and I do mean that literally) talking about it. Not just zombie lovers, but people I wouldn't have thought knew what a zombie was.

So I caved.

And it was pretty good! AMC did a great job with the characterization, with the aftermath, and unlike The Road (2 thumbs down!) they explained the overall world and what happened. Whereas The Road left the apocalypse as a vague explanation you had to guess at and were left wondering if the water they drank and the air they breathed was contaminated or not, The Walking Dead (based on the long-running comic series) created a disease.

A mysterious, deadly, infectious disease, but one that left the survivors unscathed and able to survive without those pesky is-this-safe? questions.

Granted, the sheriff, was entirely too stupid to live, and should have stayed with the always stellar Lennie James, but alas. Because of course I'm going to ride into Atlanta (or any city for that matter!) on a horse amidst a zombie outbreak, with all the cars leaving town now burnt out shells, and not one damn sign of human life.

That's beside the point...it's about the survivors, which all the best post-apocalyptic stories are about. Give it a try, it's worth it.

Hungry for Your Love: An Anthology of Zombie Romance

Taking a break

I love writing. I love the start of it when I have a new idea, the tweaking it all out part to make it work, the writing it all, and eve reading it over again. I can never get over that I wrote this, and hey, it's not half bad!

But sometimes I need a break. Not a long one, a day works. Just to recharge and not write drivel. What's the point in writing when I'm going to delete it all later because it sucks? It's a waste of time ad I only get frustrated.

I have 2 deadlines coming up in January, and fully intend to make them but today I need to step back and breathe. It's a hectic time of year and with shopping, cleaning, baking, decorating, and general running to do in addition to working, writing which is a wholly creative process and doesn't do well under stress, must take a break.

Tomorrow I'll work on Morgana's story, I'll finish the middle third this week and go over the outline for the final 1/3. I'll also flesh out y Valentine's Day short story and hopefully that'll take better shape than it has been.

OK, OK, and I'll watch Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles tonight and House tomorrow night. What? Smart TV is so hard to come by...