Firefly & Serenity (2005)

After spending a few years devouring and writing about my voyages with the entirety of Star Trek: The Next Generation, I thought I would go with a different sci-fi franchise that was quicker to consume. Within a few months, I was able to re-watch all of 2002’s Firefly TV series that had a tragically short 14 episode run, along with its 2005 film to conclude their story arc, Serenity (trailer). I already watched both many years ago, but a few years back, I upgraded both to BluRays, and this was the perfect opportunity to jump in and re-experience the cult hit sci-fi/western hybrid created by Joss Whedon.

Firefly kicks off with a two-part "Serenity" special that establishes the ensemble cast and the catalyst that brings the crew together on the vessel, Serenity. In the far-flung future, the United States and China emerged as the two dominant superpowers to colonize outer space, and thus everyone only speaks English and Chinese. After some time, a civil war brews up between the two dominant powers. This results in Captain Malcom Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) and his second-in-command, Zoë (Gina Torres), on the losing end in the war's final battle to kick off Firefly's opening scene. The opening battle scene is an impressive CG-feast for a TV series budget.

The next scene jumps forward six years, where Malcom and Zoë now command a small independent salvager vessel, Serenity. They work for whoever pays the most, usually transporting sketchy cargo discreetly, which leads them to a heated wild west-esque gunfight on land with other scoundrels after the same shipment. Also aboard Serenity is their trusty mechanic, Kaylee (Jewel Staite), a working companion, Inara (Morena Baccarin), the comic relief muscle, Jayne (Adam Baldwin), the pilot and husband of Zoë, Wash (Alan Tudyk), their mysterious person of faith, Shephard Book (Ron Glass), and the siblings that are fugitives on the run: Dr. Simon (Sean Maher) and his sister, River (Summer Glau). It is quite the crew, but for nearly the entire run of the show, the showrunners do a fine job at balancing out adequate TV time for most of them, and by the end, they have charmingly dysfunctional family chemistry between them all.

Nathan Fillion receives major credit for his tremendous work as the lead role in the series as the charismatic Captain Malcom Reynolds. His never-give-up, DIY spirit to consistently turn the insurmountable odds against him is an irresistible character quality that makes it impossible to hate him. He has a unique relationship with nearly everyone on the ship, and it is exciting to see how those relationships develop and grow during the oh-so-brief run of the show. Pardon the aside, but Nathan Fillion and his character on the show are nearly a dead ringer for the protagonist, Nathan Drake, of the mega-hit Playstation game series, Uncharted. When first playing the original PS3 game, I thought for sure it was him. When there was an announcement that they were going to try and make the game into a movie, there was a huge outpouring of fan support to cast Fillion as Nathan Drake until the movie fell apart and never made it into production. At least Fillion was part of this unofficial Uncharted short film as a nice tease of what would have been. Back to the matter at hand now….

On my notes for Firefly and Star Trek: TNG, I would give a brief description of each episode and would put a star next to it if I enjoyed the episode. It should go without saying how much I enjoyed Firefly when I ended up "star-ing" 11 of the 14 episodes. Here are some highlights from a few of my favorites: "Train Job" is exactly as the episode title indicates, and I was all in on this episode to see the many twists and turns it took for the Serenity crew to evade authorities throughout their heist. "Safe" sees River and Simon kidnapped as more of their past is unveiled. "Jaynestown" is a top three episode of the series that sees Jayne return to a settlement years later after an earlier job where he is adored as a legend by the local townsfolk, complete with the local tavern bard singing a song of his past heroics.

"Ariel" is another standout from the season that sees the gang attempt another heist for medical supplies at a hospital, but naturally, nothing goes according to plan. "The Message" has Malcom and Zoë on an escort mission to deliver a fallen comrade to his home, but like all episodes, not all is as it seems to be. "Heart of Gold" features the best on-land wild west shootouts in the series, as most of the episode builds to a climactic final battle that lives up to the buildup. Finally, the inadvertent series finale, "Objects in Space" sees the crew overcome their qualms with Simon and River and embrace them as part of Serenity….all while dealing with an assassin who snuck onto the ship.

Unfortunately, FOX suddenly pulled the plug on the show after it failed to deliver in the ratings without airing three of the 14 episodes. Thanks to an overwhelming amount of fan support, Universal stepped in to put an exclamation point on the series with a theatrical movie to wrap up as many plot threads as they could in two hours with the 2005 film, Serenity.

A constant in the TV series was how Simon busted his sister out of an experimental center doing eerie treatments. As a result, River is in a precarious state throughout the series. One of the two big plot points in the film reveals the secrets of the experiments on River, and the origins of the menacing threat, the Reavers. The Reavers were only touched upon in a couple of episodes that set them up as a grandiose threat to all life. On top of that threat, and hot on the heels of the Serenity crew, is an unnamed assassin (Chiwetel Ejiofor) who has early encounters with Malcom that prove he is a vastly superior match in wits and combat.

The film is a constant cat and mouse chase with Malcom and company trying to stay one step ahead of the assassin while also discovering the answers to some of these mysteries that were left hanging when the show came to an abrupt halt. It culminates with a fantastic final act that felt similar to the "suicide run" mission in the Mass Effect 2 video game. Here, the crew comes together to put a final front against the Reavers and the assassin while trying to expose some of humanity's deepest and darkest secrets. Watching Serenity again all these years later felt like the cast and crew wrapped everything up as best as they possibly could in the theatrical time allotted.

Both Firefly and Serenity BluRays have a fair amount of extras. The TV series has three worth checking out. Here's How it Was is a half-hour must-watch that details the lore and characters of the show and details the behind-the-scenes drama with FOX. Firefly Reunion is a luncheon with Joss Whedon and cast members that have them reminiscing with the show's stories and memories several years later. Serenity: The 10th Character is a thorough breakdown of the spacecraft and its set design we all fell for throughout the show's run. There are commentaries with various cast and crew members on most episodes and two commentaries for the movie.

I viewed the film commentary track with Whedon and most of the cast, and it is absolutely worth checking out. It has very few lulls and lots of chemistry still there as they shared anecdotes like Glau's fight camp training she had to endure and Whedon's cuts he had to make to ensure a PG-13 rating. Make sure to have subtitles on for the commentary because Whedon cuts off the audio commentary right as the credits start as his stated rule, but the subtitled commentary continues until the end of the credits and seems almost like a secret meeting that should not have been on the disc.

There is a slick "Alliance Database" interactive menu feature on the Serenity BluRay that felt like exploring the galaxy map in the Mass Effect games to learn more info and lore from the franchise. Two other recommended extras on the Serenity disc are Re-Lighting a Firefly, which is a 10-minute piece on how the fans brought the franchise back with this film. A Filmmaker's Journey is a unique 20 minute extra primarily focusing on the first table read for the film's script and interviewing the cast on that special intangible feeling with all of them sitting down together again for the first time since the show went off the air.

I know I am far from the first and last person to be glowing over Firefly and Serenity. If by some chance, you have not seen it and you are a fan of sci-fi, I cannot wholeheartedly recommend this enough. This brand has the mysteries of deep space, an endearing cast worth investing in, and land-based wild-west action that combines to be an exquisite entertainment dish well worth devouring. Regardless of how much of a bow the film put on the franchise, I cannot help but crave more adventures from Mal and company, and any sci-fi fan will be doing themselves a disservice for skipping over Firefly and Serenity.

Other Random Backlog Movie Blogs

3
12 Angry Men (1957)
12 Rounds 3: Lockdown
21 Jump Street
The Accountant
Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie
Atari: Game Over
The Avengers: Age of Ultron
The Avengers: Endgame
The Avengers: Infinity War
Batman: The Dark Knight Rises
Batman: The Killing Joke
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice
Bounty Hunters
Cabin in the Woods
Captain America: Civil War
Captain America: The First Avenger
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Christmas Eve
The Clapper
Clash of the Titans (1981)
Clint Eastwood 11-pack Special
The Condemned 2
Countdown
Creed I & II
Deck the Halls
Detroit Rock City
Die Hard
Dirty Work
Dredd
The Eliminators
The Equalizer
Faster
Fast and Furious I-VIII
Field of Dreams
Fight Club
The Fighter
For Love of the Game
Good Will Hunting
Gravity
Grunt: The Wrestling Movie
Guardians of the Galaxy
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2
Hell Comes to Frogtown
Hercules: Reborn
Hitman
I Like to Hurt People
Indiana Jones 1-4
Inglourious Basterds
Ink
The Interrogation
Interstellar
Jay and Silent Bob Reboot
Jobs
Joy Ride 1-3
Justice League (2017 Whedon Cut)
Last Action Hero
Major League
Mallrats
Man of Steel
Man on the Moon
Man vs Snake
Marine 3-6
Merry Friggin Christmas
Metallica: Some Kind of Monster
Mortal Kombat
Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpions Revenge
National Treasure
National Treasure: Book of Secrets
Nintendo Quest
Not for Resale
Old Joy
Payback (Director’s Cut)
Pulp Fiction
The Punisher (1989)
The Ref
The Replacements
Reservoir Dogs
Rocky I-VIII
Running Films Part 1
Running Films Part 2
San Andreas
ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery
Scott Pilgrim vs the World
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Shoot em Up
Slacker
Skyscraper
Small Town Santa
Speed
Steve Jobs
Source Code
Star Trek I-XIII
Sully
Take Me Home Tonight
TMNT
Trauma Center
The Tooth Fairy 1 & 2
UHF
Veronica Mars
Vision Quest
The War
Wild
The Wizard
Wonder Woman
The Wrestler (2008)
X-Men: Apocalypse
X-Men: Days of Future Past

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Season Seven

-Finally, after three years of watching mostly one episode a week, I have finished my re-watch of all seven seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation (season seven trailer)! I am thrilled to present my final entry here chronicling my adventures with the crew of the Enterprise! For the final season I was able to slightly bump up my viewing habits and mostly stuck to watching two episodes a week, and thus I was able to make faster progress on this final season! Somehow, my horrendously outdated Samsung Galaxy S7 phone has managed to barely limp along this entire journey with me, and the gloriously awful pics featured throughout this article are courtesy of that wonderful device.

-Season six wrapped with an enticing cliffhanger to “Descent” where Lore managed to work some sinister sorcery to recruit a squadron of Borg and hack into the code banks of Data (Brent Spiner) in order to recruit him to join his cause. Season seven had a great kickoff to resolve this new threat, and had a satisfying conclusion at putting an end to Lore once and for all. I would rank “Descent” on the higher end of TNG two-part arcs, as the Lore/Borg/Data combination proved to be an intriguing antagonist to see how they would be dealt with.

Picard is ready for combat on the left, while falling ill on the Enterprise leads to crew members tripping with some wild illusions on the right!

-I was a little bummed to see a complete lack of appearances from Whoopi Goldberg in her role as Guinan in the final season. I am presuming it must have been scheduling conflicts as she has always been in high demand, especially around this time just a couple years after her Oscar win for Best Supporting Actress in Ghost. Whoopi would return as Guinan in two of the four Star Trek movies based on TNG cast.

-A pair of recurring characters that did return for their final episodes this season are Michelle Forbes as Ensign Lt. Ro Lauren and Wil Wheaton as Wesley Crusher. Ro is fresh off tactical training for an important undercover mission that conclusively decides her fate with Starfleet as she would never appear in another Star Trek series or film again after this. According to my research I was surprised to learn it took a last minute agreement with Forbes within a week before filming to get her to reprise her role as she was starting to distance herself from the brand after initial plans to make her a mainstay on Deep Space Nine fizzled. Wesley Crusher’s final appearance had a better payoff in “Journey’s End” where during a vision quest he finally is deemed ready by a previous guest character, The Traveler (Eric Menyuk), to join him on a mystical journey to see Wesley fulfill his supernatural potential. I had no idea they were going to payoff these vague promises The Traveler alluded to in Wesley way back in season two, so big props to the cast and crew making that happen!

-Other past recurring characters returned, but only to see them casted in middling-to-disappointing episodes. This is the case for Reginald Barclay (Dwight Schultz) in the head-scratching “Genesis” episode that has the Enterprise staff fall victim to a virus that de-evolves them into various primates. The love-or-hate mother of Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis), Lwaxana (Majel Barrett), has a major sendoff in her final episode where we learn all about her tragic backstory.

-Speaking of mediocre episodes, season seven has a bit more than previous seasons. A two-parter sees Riker and Picard go undercover to form a fake mutiny to sniff out a Vulcan double agent, and while it is not terrible by any means, the whole arc seems bloated and the second episode feels unnecessary. “Phantasms” is as bizarre as the dreams Data (Brent Spiner) has in the episode, but Data later has a redeeming character episode in “Inheritance” where he meets his mother…..then later hits another stumble in “Thine Own Self” where his radioactive experiments causes a planet’s population to become seriously ill. I will give season seven the benefit of the doubt for the noticeable bump up in lackluster episodes because several of the bonus interviews own up to this and attribute it to the cast and crew being spread thin with the final season of TNG, the second season of Deep Space Nine and being in pre-production of the first season of Voyager and the upcoming movie with the TNG crew, Generations.

-The holodeck’s sendoff in TNG, “Emergence” is a decent affair that sees the crew go aboard the Orient Express to solve the mystery of how the holodeck becomes self-aware. The episode had a few promising moments, but could have been better. While I enjoyed the quality of holodeck episodes overall in TNG, from what I understand the holodeck episodes greatly suffer going forward and falls victim to holodeck malfunctions and sexual fantasy tropes.

Worf once again has a strong set of character-focused episodes this season. You have not lived until witnessing Worf adopt a cat for an episode, and experience a birthday party time-loop.

-Worf (Michael Dorn) has one of the strongest slate of character episodes this season. Seeing Worf being a curmudgeon at his birthday party was pulled off to perfection! “Homeward” is a feel-good family episode where Worf resolves his rocky relationship with his foster brother, Nikolai (Paul Sorvino). The best Worf-centered episode is saved for last where he trains Alexander (James Sloyan) in the arts of becoming a Klingon warrior with the help of a mysterious Klingon friend.

-A couple other episodes that made strong impressions on me this season are “The Pegasus” and “Lower Decks.” In the former, Terry O’ Quinn of Lost fame, appears here as a higher-up from Starfleet to track down the lost USS Pegasus, but Picard (Patrick Stewart) eventually discovers a grand cover-up that has an enticing way of finding the truth of what Quinn’s character is hiding. “Lower Decks” is entirely focused on the background Ensigns and ancillary characters like Nurse Ogawa (Patti Yasutake). The last couple years saw the streaming service, Paramount+ (formerly CBS All Access) launch a Star Trek: Lower Decks animated series with the very same premise, and if you are a fan of the cartoon, you owe it to yourself to track down this episode as its source material.

“Interface” and “Bloodlines” are both strong episodes dealing with long forgotten family members. The former has Geordi (LeVar Burton) risking his life with prototype tech to save his mother (Madge Sinclair), and the latter deals with Picard’s surprise of finding out he had a son (Ken Olandt) from a decades-prior relationship.

-Now to the moment of truth, it is time to cover the final two-part episode, “All Good Things…” The series finale naturally focuses on Jean-Luc as he finds himself constantly time-warping between three different time periods to solve a new challenge bestowed onto him by none other than Q (John de Lancie). I loved how they brought it back full-circle with one of the time periods emanating from the same setting as the original pilot episode of TNG where Q puts the then-newly assembled Enterprise crew on trial. The cast and crew hold nothing back for the final episode with an enthralling narrative as Picard pieces together Q’s final challenge, and has an emotional final scene where after seven seasons, Picard finally joins his crew for a round of poker.

-Here is the paragraph with my obligatory kudos to the countless hours spent remastering TNG in HD for the BluRay set. I am not a video-phile and cannot immaculately explain with the proper tech verbiage on how they did it. All I can say is the staff painstakingly made it look like they shot it today, and it does not have any of the old fuzzy standard definition effects that would happen when forcing an SD resolution onto an HD set. Just watch this indicative video that overlays the remastered HD transfer over the SD version to see for yourself. I will also give yearly props to the podcast, Star Trek: The Next Conversation which chronicles every individual episode of TNG and has served as the best supplementary listening material to get the most out of every episode for me. The podcast took a hiatus during the pandemic, and only recently picked up again and are only a couple episodes into season seven as of this writing, so I will pat myself on the back at catching up to them when I was nearly a season and a half behind them when I started from the beginning of TNG.

-You guys know I love covering the bonus features, and season seven of the BluRay is absolutely jacked with them with previous bonus interviews and specials, and all new HD extras. According to my notes, it all added up for just over five hours of bonus materials, and that is not including a handful of commentary tracks on selected episodes. Going over each and every piece of bonus content will kill me, so instead I will highlight the handful that I got the most out of:

-----Captain’s Tribute (16 min) – Stewart gives loving testimonials to the cast and crew. A lesson he learned from a dialog with Michael Dorn and LeVar Burton was a key takeaway here.

-----In Conversation: Lensing ST: TNG (42 min) - This one is a new HD extra aimed at special effects enthusiasts where a roundtable discussion with camera operators and directors of photography reunite to talk shop of the many highs and lows of on the set production. While a fair amount of trade vernacular went right over my head, they provided ample context and their enthusiasm for their craft is irresistible!

I know it is asking a lot to dive into the many hours of bonus interviews, but nearly most of it is incredibly insightful and well worth your time!

-----Starfleet Moments & Memories (30 min) – Awesome feature showcasing the camaraderie and humor between takes that indicates a true sense of friendship among the cast and crew.

-----Closed Set: Tour of Real Enterprise (11 min) – The Okundas give a private, narrated, tour of the Enterprise filled with fun facts like how the set for sickbay gained a reputation among cast and crew as “nap-bay.” Every person should have their own nap-bay!

-----Journeys End: The Saga of TNG (45 min) – Original 1994 TV special hosted by Jonathan Frakes celebrating the end of an era.

----Sky’s the Limit: Eclipse of TNG (89 min) – Three part special with part one primarily focused on the cast and crew having a lot of projects on their plate the final year and lovingly throwing shade at Picket Fences for stealing their Emmy award! Part two interviews various directors of episodes about their process, and Seth McFarlane shares a special moment he had with a fan on how the show saved their life. The third part interviews a lot of the cast on how they felt the show wrapped, with a couple highlights being Sirtis not being fond of the Worf/Deanna courtship, and Patrick Stewart remarking when asked about future projects that he would consider them, but thought they would ultimately be unnecessary. This was obviously recorded several years before Stewart would return as Picard in the current Paramount+ series, Picard.

-Suffice it to say, the extra features do not disappoint! As I foreshadowed above, there is an apparent dip in quality this season overall compared to the high bar set from seasons three through six, but I will cut the cast and crew some slack since they were seriously overworked during the 1993-94 season. There are still many excellent episodes though as I dissected above, and a terrific series finale that puts the best damn bow they possibly could on the TV series. Thank you so much for joining me on this ride over the past three years and bearing with me on my never-ending entries covering the series. If you missed out on previous entries, click here to see all my previous season recaps of The Next Generation, or click here to continue my journey with TNG crew with my reviews of all the Star Trek motion pictures.



Past TV/Web Series Blogs

2013-14 TV Season Recap
2014-15 TV Season Recap
2015-16 TV Season Recap
2016-17 TV Season Recap
2017-18 TV Season Recap
2018-19 TV Season Recap
2019-20 TV Season Recap
Adventures of Briscoe County Jr: The Complete Series
Baseball: A Ken Burns series
Angry Videogame Nerd Home Video Collections
Cobra Kai – Seasons 1-2
Mortal Kombat: Legacy - Season 1 | Season 2
OJ: Made in America: 30 for 30
RedvsBlue - Seasons 1-13
Roseanne – Seasons 1-9
Seinfeld - Final Season
Star Trek: Next Generation – Seasons 1-7
Superheroes: A Never-Ending Battle
Superheroes: Pioneers of Television
The Vietnam War: A Ken Burns series
X-Men – The Animated Series: Volumes 4-5

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Season Six

-I am indefinitely grateful for your patience awaiting my semi-annual Star Trek: The Next Generation season recaps. Today I bestow upon you all my thoughts for the penultimate sixth season (trailer) of TNG. It is already a little jarring to realize I am down to one season left on this series I have gradually-yet-steadily been picking away at the past three years. Once again, all the screens here are courtesy of me pointing my outdated Samsung Galaxy S7 phone at the TV screen so you have my apologies for the questionable fidelity of the pics!

-For notable cast changes, there are several I want to make sure to address. Transporter Chief O’Brien (Colm Meaney) departs midway through this season to be a regular cast member on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine which started in January of 1993. I knew of Colm’s switching shows during this season for a while now and was anticipating some big episode or climactic scene explaining his departure from TNG. While there was a crossover episode introducing some of the new Deep Space Nine characters right before its debut, there was never a scene this addressing O’Brien leaving the Enterprise….unless it was a quick passing line of dialogue that went right over my head! Another notable change is halfway through the season Counselor Troi (Marina Sirtis) gets chastised by a new interim commander for her unorthodox uniform and makes her fall in line wearing matching Enterprise uniforms with the rest of the crew. In the bonus interviews on the BluRay, Marina states how she had to fight for a matching uniform for many years and it was one of the few things the higher ups finally granted her.

-I am glad TNG compensated for the lack of a Q (John de Lancie) episode last season and had him in two episodes in season six. The first episode is a middling affair where he steals a Starfleet prospect who discovers she is a long lost member of the Q Continuum. The second Q episode fares much better where Q helps a stuck-in-purgatory-Picard (Patrick Stewart) after Doctor Crusher (Gates McFadden) has a return of poor doctoring and loses Picard on the operating table. The two travel back to pivotal moments in Picard’s younger days to see if he would change the past in order to get a second chance at the future in an investing episode. Speaking of Crusher’s poor doctoring, there is another episode this season where it feels like the writers are in on the joke and have an episode where Crusher is disbarred after some major bad doctoring again on her part….but of course Crusher manages to change that by the episode’s end.

If my notes are accurate (no promises!), than I believe this is the first season with no appearance from Troi’s mother, Lwaxana (Majel Barrett)! I would not be surprised if she has two episode next season. Season six also does not feature an appearance from Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton), but I understand he will return in time for the series finale in season seven. A recurring character who does return is everyone’s favorite engineer, Reginald Barclay (Dwight Schultz), who is in a couple episodes this season, with him playing a key part in a holodeck episode with another long overdue returning character I will touch on soon.

Not only does Worf has some killer episodes this season, he also demonstrates his prowess at Yoga this season....while Crusher continues to demonstrate her prowess at poor doctoring.

-There are a pair of excellent holodeck episodes this season. The first one is easily the best named episode of the entire series in “Fistful of Datas.” It sees Troi, Data (Brent Spiner), Worf (Michael Dorn) and his son, Alexander go on a wild west adventure where problems with the holodeck causes Data to take over nearly all the AI personas in the simulation. Swashbuckling hilarity ensues! The other holodeck episode sees the return of Professor Moriarty (Daniel Davis). This was long anticipated since Moriarty’s last appearance in season two as the Sherlock Holmes antagonist who became self-aware and whose consciousness became trapped in the holodeck in the following four years. In “Ship in a Bottle,” Moriarty attempts a master plan to connive his way out of the holodeck as a program and as an actual living being. The twists and turns that lead up to the gratifying resolution for everyone was a memorable ride and sadly Davis’s last guest appearance on the show. Daniel Davis and Patrick Stewart have a natural chemistry with each other that shines whenever those two share the screen, so I highly recommend tracking down and viewing both of his episodes!

-The flute that Picard was gifted in the previous season once again returns for a couple of memorable scenes when Picard starts courting another crew member who plays keyboard. Naturally this leads to the two having an emotional duet together that starts off kind of hokey, but by the end the pair had me reeled in all the way! Just click or press here to see for yourself.

-Worf has a few notable dedicated episodes this season. A two episode arc sees him track down a long lost colony of Klingons imprisoned by Romulans that has Worf encouraging them to relearn and embrace Klingon customs. Another episode has Worf dealing with the fallout of seeing the return of the Klingon god, Kahless, and the fascinating drama that unravels with another satisfying conclusion for all conflicting parties involved.

-Even though by season six nearly the entire cast and writing team was firing away on all cylinders, I would be lying if there were not a couple clunker episodes. Riker (Jonathon Frakes) portrays a mental patient in a play he is rehearsing for, but the play starts going to his head and he starts losing it for real, but the way the plot unfolds is a mess and a half to follow along with. The other dud is TNG’s homage to The Thing which sounds promising on paper, but instead features lousy CG of its “Thing” and a groan-inducing twist that was not entertaining whatsoever.

-As much as I enjoyed Leonard Nimoy returning to play Spock last season, I was delighted even more with The Original Series star James Doohan dusting off his communicator to portray Scotty. Watching him overcome his differences and exchange engineer expertise with Geordi (LeVar Burton) was a treat. The scene with Scotty and Picard sharing a drink on a holodeck reimagining of the original Enterprise gave me nostalgic goosebumps throughout.

-Season six started off with the conclusion to “Time’s Arrow” that saw the TNG crew time travelling back to the 1890s where they first encountered Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg) and were forced to alter the timeline to rescue Data, and win over an aggressive Mark Twain. While not on the level of the “Best of Both Worlds” two-parter season finale, it was still a highly entertaining two-parter in its own right, and as I alluded to earlier, I am all for seeing the TNG crew in an old west setting. Season six ends with another cliffhanger that sees the Enterprise encounter the Borg again, and they manage to convince Data to flee the Enterprise to seemingly join the Borg as their new leader. Suffice it to say, I am intrigued to see how this pays off in season seven!

-I referenced a few times before here how I was keeping up with podcast reviews of every TNG episode with the show, Star Trek: The Next Conversation. It looks like I have finally caught up with where hosts Andrew Secunda and Matt Mira have recorded their latest shows just a couple episodes before the end of season six. It looks like they took a few extended breaks this season, and I cannot fault them for that at all when dealing with everything the pandemic has wreaked upon us all this past year. I still enjoyed their takes as usual, and plan on going back and listening to whenever they post new episodes to catch up with their remaining casts covering TNG. I understand they have a Patreon companion with exclusive podcasts dedicated with them marching through both Deep Space Nine and Voyager now, so who knows, I may have to start working my way through those series down the line.

-You know the drill by now, this BluRay is loaded with carried over DVD extra features and all new ones for the BluRay. Not including three commentary tracks for this season, there are just over three hours of behind-the-scenes interviews and documentaries. Almost all of them are informative, but I will only recommend a few of the must-see ones here. Mission Overview: Year Six has introspective reflections from Whoopi on “Time’s Arrow” and James Doohan on “Relics.” Bold New Directions has some fond insights on “Fistful of Datas” and fascinating memories from Stewart and Burton from getting their shot at directing episodes this season.

Beyond Five Year Mission – Evolution of Star Trek: The Next Generation is the headlining all-new bonus feature. It is an hour and a half, and split into three parts. Part one has plenty of love for being the cast and crew’s personal favorite season of the show, debuting Deep Space Nine concurrently during this season and trying their best to work within Gene Roddenberry’s “no conflict” framework of the series. Part two is themed around TNG being more serious when compared to TOS, and highlighting how several episodes were scored. Part three stands out the most with an awesome story from Whoopi on what lead to her becoming involved on the show, Sirtis dealing with a lot of pushback from studio executives and Spiner’s love/hate relationship with the cat that played Spot.

There may be many hours of bonus interviews to sift through, but most of it is worth it for endearing moments above like Burton and Frakes sharing a laugh, and Spiner sharing his disdain for a certain feline.

-Season six is a step up from the minor-yet-noticeable dip in quality from season five, and brings it back to the high bar established with seasons three and four of TNG. The highs were remarkably prominent this season with some standout holodeck episodes, memorable two-parters, and a scintillating season finale that has me anticipating the kickoff to the season seven. I cannot believe it, after a few years of starting this, I am finally down to just one season left of this legendary show. Please join me one last time here in a few months for my thoughts on the final season of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Past TV/Web Series Blogs

2013-14 TV Season Recap
2014-15 TV Season Recap
2015-16 TV Season Recap
2016-17 TV Season Recap
2017-18 TV Season Recap
2018-19 TV Season Recap
2019-20 TV Season Recap
Adventures of Briscoe County Jr: The Complete Series
Baseball: A Ken Burns series
Angry Videogame Nerd Home Video Collections
Cobra Kai – Seasons 1-2
Mortal Kombat: Legacy - Season 1 | Season 2
OJ: Made in America: 30 for 30
RedvsBlue - Seasons 1-13
Roseanne – Seasons 1-9
Seinfeld - Final Season
Star Trek: Next Generation – Seasons 1-7
Superheroes: A Never-Ending Battle
Superheroes: Pioneers of Television
The Vietnam War: A Ken Burns series
X-Men – The Animated Series: Volumes 4-5

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Season Five

-Greetings and thanks for joining me for my semi-annual coverage of marching through Star Trek: The Next Generation. Today I am covering season five (trailer) of the BluRay collection that I continue to ever-so-slowly progress through at one or two episodes a week. I started season five off in February and wrapped it up a couple days ago by watching at this rate. Part of the side effect of that was taking advantage of extended free trials of CBS All Access and binging through all of Picard and the first two seasons of Discovery within two months while keeping up with an episode or two a week of season five of TNG. There happens to be a couple episodes of this season of TNG that play a notable role in Picard, so the timing of it all gelling together was a lucky coincidence. I gave brief recaps of both Picard and Discovery in my annual TV season recap blog that can be found by click or pressing here. I apologize in advance for the questionable-in-quality pics in this entry from my ancient Samsung Galaxy S7 which makes it worth it to grab so many subtitle moments from this season!

-The only notable cast change this season is the addition of Ro Laren (Michelle Forbes). She becomes a recurring character this season as someone who is essentially introduced as coming off work release after a court martial and working her way back into Starfleet in the lowest rack of Ensign and serves primarily at the helm of the bridge. Forbes is fantastic as Ro and she has a few landmark episodes this season with my favorite of hers being “The Next Phase” where Ro and Geordi (LeVar Burton) are de-moleculed and appear as ghosts to the rest of the ship who responds by throwing a funeral for them in the form of a Mardi Gras-esque party at Ten Forward. Forbes is absolutely sublime here in Ro’s pining curiosity at how Riker (Jonathon Frakes) will eulogize her.

-This was a big episode for other recurring characters this season too. That is kind of a big deal considering season five is the only season of the series without a Q (John de Lancie) episode. I like how they find new ways to bring back Denise Crosby, who was shown as a mysterious cliffhanger to the end of the two-part arc of “Redemption” that finished off season four. It picks up in a big way with how Denise Crosby’s new character is connected to Tasha, and how the Romulans get involved in the never-ending civil war of the Klingons that eventually has the gratifying conclusion of Worf winning back his honor among Klingons. Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg) has her biggest role yet in the series this season in the two-parter “Time’s Arrow” that has the first part wrap-up season five where we discover the origin of Guinan in the 1890s as the Enterprise crew time travels back then and also encounters an antagonistic Mark Twain in an intriguing episode.

Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton) returns for two episodes this season. One is an oddball episode where all on the Enterprise but Wesley and Ensign Lefler (Ashley Judd) are mind controlled by a mysterious augmented reality game. The other episode is much better as Wesley and a few of his squad mates deliver prepared depositions as they are ruthlessly interrogated on the death of one of their peers. The annual Lwaxana (Majel Barrett) episode is about the expected chore to get through in her continued struggles to find a partner where she sets up an arranged marriage that is doomed from the beginning. Props to Chief O’Brien (Colm Meaney) having a kid this season!

-Season five marks the addition of two major personal belongings to one Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart). One is the iconic jacket he dons throughout most of the season. I have no idea yet if he wears it in the remaining seasons, but it is a slick jacket and gives him a space cowboy type of vibe to him! I bet it sold boatloads in merchandise! The other item is a special flute that is gifted to him in “The Inner Light” when Picard’s mind engages in a Inception-like lifetime of memories in the span of under a half hour where he experiences an all new culture and life. It is a delight of an episode I appreciate the more I reflect upon it. I later learned in the bonus interviews that this flute melody became a common occurrence at weddings.

-I want to make sure to give kudos to some of my other favorite episodes this season. I loved seeing Spock (Leonard Nimoy) finally make an appearance on TNG. At this point of the show, appearances from the core Original Series crew has been extremely rare and limited, but TNG gets the most out of Nimoy with him playing a major role in another two-part arc where Spock tries to reunite the Romulans back into the Federation of Planets. One of the top episodes this season is “Ethics” where an accident leaves Worf (Michael Dorn) paralyzed and according Klingon ritual must self-sacrifice himself for the greater good. This results in some of the best speeches of the season where Riker and Picard implore Worf to reconsider before Dr. Crusher (Gates McFadden) impresses with her surprisingly improving doctor skillset to resolve Worf’s paralysis.

An episode that initially appears to have a silly premise, but I outright loved by the end is “Darmok.” Picard winds up stuck on an island with an individual of an undiscovered species that only speaks in metaphors. Picard is as baffled as me trying to decipher the metaphors at first, but gradually picks up on it and by the episode’s end forms a kindship with him as the duo team up against a new threat. “I, Borg” is an episode that plays into Picard later on that sees the Enterprise take in an injured Borg and give it the ability to have independent thought again.

A guilty pleasure TV theme of mine in recent years is the time loop episode theme in the form of Groundhog’s Day. Discovery had a terrific rendition of it in its second season. I was thrilled to see TNG do their version of a time loop episode in “Cause and Effect.” It has a banger of an opening that sees that Enterprise exploding and eventually the scenes start to repeat that sees the crew start to recognize their situation and attempt to find a way out of the time loop. I came to discover in the bonus interviews that this episode preceded Groundhog’s Day by nearly two years, and unlike that film and all the TV shows that have pay homage to it over the years, TNG plays it in a serious manner and not as a comedy, but the writing for it is so well done that it works and is pulled off in a way that had me invested until the end!

-While there were a fair amount of standout episodes this season, I would be remiss if I were not to go this far and fail to mention there were several clunkers. Some of the ones I recommend skipping is where Riker falls for an androgynous being that has a non-committal ending and the episode plays out totally differently today than it was intended then. Another dud is where them dang Ferangi are up to no good again in failing to kidnap a seductive being that has a strong desire for Picard. The biggest abnormality this season is where according to my notes I surmised the episode as ‘imaginary friend comes to life, blargh!’ Trust me on that being all you need to know on the astutely titled episode, “Imaginary Friend.”

-I want to once again give a shoutout to the podcast, Star Trek: The Next Conversation. Hosts Andrew Secunda and Matt Mira breakdown every episode of TNG and help provide ample background, facts and insight with their analysis of each episode. Because of re-watching TNG and combined with their podcast I have been able to better pickup on countless TNG references in other TV shows and podcasts over these past couple years. Click or press here to give them a listen if you have not already.

-There are nearly four and a half hours of extra features that are nicely spread out across all six discs. In addition, there are also four episodes that have commentary from cast and crew with one noteworthy highlight being Orville creator, Seth McFarlane guesting on the commentary for “Cause and Effect.” A lot of the bonus extra are carried over from the original DVDs, but like previous seasons there are a couple of new HD bonuses for the BluRay. Mission Overview deep dives into the production of a couple of my favorite episodes of the season, “Darmok” and Spok’s return in “Unification.” Tribute to Gene Roddenbury has clips of speeches from various Star Trek luminaries at a building dedication to Gene and has fond memories from the cast and crew of Gene. Intergalactic Guest Stars interviews many of the aforementioned recurring characters on why they keep coming back on.

These next two are new HD bonuses for the BluRay. The Music of TNG is an in-depth 75 minute discussion with three composers from the series that I truly appreciated hearing the composers dissect some of the most memorable scores and melodies of TNG history. Finally, Requiem is a two part, hour long look about writing the controversial conflicts that have been touched on throughout the run of TNG, and also has additional tributes and testimonials on Gene Roddenbury. Both are excellent thorough takes on both subject matters, and if you dig bonus features as much as I do, then I highly recommend both of them!

-Season five of The Next Generation continues the success of seasons three and four. I would only mark it a notch under those two strong seasons because there seems to be a few weaker episodes this season than in the previous two. I gathered from the bonus interviews that it seemed that this season tried to go all out exploring new conflicts and themes, and sometimes it worked exceptionally well in the cause of “Cause and Effect” but other times it worked against them a few more times than usual this season. Overall though I would still rank this in the upper tier of TNG season and hope to see the final two season keep up this high bar of quality.

Troi got a curious jump on Picard! Meanwhile, Worf cannot catch a break at the piano bar!

Past TV/Web Series Blogs

2013-14 TV Season Recap
2014-15 TV Season Recap
2015-16 TV Season Recap
2016-17 TV Season Recap
2017-18 TV Season Recap
2018-19 TV Season Recap
2019-20 TV Season Recap
Adventures of Briscoe County Jr: The Complete Series
Baseball: A Ken Burns series
Angry Videogame Nerd Home Video Collections
Cobra Kai – Seasons 1-2
Mortal Kombat: Legacy - Season 1 | Season 2
OJ: Made in America: 30 for 30 RedvsBlue - Seasons 1-13
Roseanne – Seasons 1-9
Seinfeld - Final Season
Star Trek: Next Generation – Seasons 1-7
Superheroes: A Never-Ending Battle
Superheroes: Pioneers of Television
The Vietnam War: A Ken Burns series
X-Men – The Animated Series: Volumes 4-5

2019-20 TV Season Recap

Previous TV Season Recaps - (2013-14 | 2014-15 | 2015-16 | 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19)

JULY 2, 2020 UPDATED WITH RANKINGS FOR WATCHMEN AND FINAL SEASONS OF GAME OF THRONES CLICK HERE TO JUMP RIGHT TO THEM

Greetings, and welcome to my yearly TV season breakdown of all the shows I followed that were released during the past school year. For newer readers, please take a peek at previous TV recaps above that go as far back to the 2013-14 season. I usually try and watch a couple more shows during the summer and will update the top of this entry with an addendum link to new shows I kept up with during the summer. I will keep up my tradition of beginning with some animation shows….

South Park - This is a slight improvement from last year’s season, and it continues South Park’s return to form of episodic storylines. There were a couple dud episodes sprinkled in, but I was a fan of most of the ten shows this season. Standouts were cable TV installers fighting the war on streaming services, criticizing the Chinese government’s censorship to the point of getting South Park banned in China and an awesome season finale that sees Randy’s pot farm in despair when pot is outlawed during Christmas season so he turns to growing cocaine and gets everyone, including Santa and Jesus, hooked on it. Grade: B

Simpsons - Last few years I have stuck to watching a few episodes a year of The Simpsons and Family Guy to at least have that constant association with those long lasting shows. Usually it is only the season premiere, finale and the Christmas episode of each show. The Simpsons I will also watch its annual Treehouse of Horror special, but something about this season kept me coming back to it where I watched nearly half of their episodes this season. They had their first ever Thanksgiving of Horror special which I was surprised with the amount of gore that got in. With this being the first full season of the show where it officially fell under the Disney ownership umbrella, there are now constant Disney, Pixar, Star Wars and Marvel references throughout, but likely due to the nature of the show it was not that intrusive to put up with. I really dug an episode with the Flanders coming to terms on reconciling with Maude’s death in a ‘special’ episode. Other fun episodes were the return of Sideshow Bob for the Christmas special and a touching season finale centering around Santa’s Little Helper, complete with a flashback to a clip of the very first Simpsons episode in 1989. Grade: B+

The Conners - Loving how most of the cast is settling into their roles by this point. I was thrilled to see the family regain ownership and reopen ‘The Lunchbox.’ Loved episodes that centered on that homey diner in the original. Sara Gilbert and John Goodman continue to carry the show on their backs. Seeing Dan’s dilemma of coming to terms with accepting the passing of Roseanne and committing to Louise was a chase that was worth following all season and had a gratifying payoff. I loved the ups and downs of Darlene and Ben’s relationship this season, and Ben has easily won me over as a regular on the show and I hope he is there to stay. Harris on the other hand…not so much. I would love to see more of DJ and his family in the mix, and it is disheartening to see he seems like such an afterthought of the show. Seeing Becky’s newfound motherhood troubles were a bit much to keep up with but it had its moments. One nagging issue I have with the series that has now been back for three seasons is that they never addressed what happened to Jackie's kid yet from the original run which is kind of ridiculous. Not even in a passing ‘Fred has custody now on the other side of the country’ sort of way. I was hoping to see Fred make a surprise return for an episode or something to address that, but will have to keep my fingers crossed for season four. Loved most of this season minus the Harris-centered episodes, and a couple of plotlines and barbs that felt like overkill. Grade: B+

Arrow – It was bittersweet to see the final episode of Arrow this past January. It was the last show I kept up with in the DC line of CW shows since I dropped the other couple midseason last year because it became too much to keep up with. Oliver had a fond farewell as the entire season built up that Olly would be riding off into the sunset this season. This season saw the continued use of jumping back and forth between current and future timelines where Oliver’s two children, Mia & William are all grown up and doing their own vigilante justice. I watched the entire five part Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover special between all the DC-CW shows. I will not attempt to explain it because my brain will explode in doing so, but it has a major impact dealing with Oliver’s fate and it all comes full circle in the finale with a heartfelt memorial for Oliver in front of a lot of familiar faces that were delightful to see again. The memorial saw an absolutely killer speech from Diggle that had my emotions running wild.

Arrow has consistently remained my favorite DC show on the CW. It had a touch more edge than the other shows which eventually morphed into a carefree, watered down formula I could not tolerate anymore. It sounds like there will be a new spinoff show with Mia and William starting next season, but I think but this seems like the perfect jumping off point from the ever-growing lineup of DC shows. There were times I felt like I needed a guide to keep up with all the time travelling plot threads, but the recaps helped keep me in check, and this was a great way to wrap up my favorite show of the CW-DC ‘Arrow-verse.’ Grade: A

The Witcher – I heard a lot of positive buzz going into this Netflix original series, and being only eight episodes did not seem like too much of a commitment so I dove right in. The videogames this series is based on have been in my backlog forever so I cannot say how they compare, but I was won over by the two main characters of Geralt and Yennefer. Jaskier the bard was also the perfect companion to provide brief moments of levity. Henry Cavill has a tremendous presence as Geralt, and comes off as one powerful badass not to mess with. My favorite episode is where Geralt competes against a couple other factions going up a mountain to hunt a dragon that has many fun twists and turns. It would not be a medieval fantasy show without a big awesome setpiece war of a finale, and Witcher also delivers on that front. Only nitpick I have is sometimes the lore can be a bit dense to keep up with, but at only eight episodes that does not prevent it from being an easy recommendation. Grade: A-

Castlevania – The third season of the Netflix original show based on the hit videogame series is easily my favorite season of the three. There are several separate story arcs transpiring throughout the season, and most of them I was able to get into with the exception of Alucard's odd arc where mysterious loners seek his guidance who oddly turn on him for not revealing all his secrets after only a week under his tutelage. The rest of the cast had vastly more intriguing storylines. Trevor and Sypha are an adorably deadly couple that find themselves helping out a village filled with all kinds of dark secrets. Forgemaster Hector is wrapped up in a pickle of a situation as a prisoner of vampires who want global conquest. Forgemaster Isaac had an arc that I got into where he also is on his own quest for taking over the world. Something about the way it was written this season especially made it pop for me with each episode having one or two standout sessions of conversing. That boat captain especially, I want him to come back after his enticing conversations with Isaac! The last two episodes packed a really mean punch and compensate for the lack of action for the rest of the season. Sure as hell hope to see a fourth season soon enough! Grade: A

Star Trek: Picard - During the early weeks of the global pandemic we are now in, a lot of streaming services offered extended free trials. I took advantage of that for CBS All Access, which is the exclusive home of Picard. Despite being nearly 20 years older since we last saw him as Picard, Sir Patrick Stewart remains masterful in the role. Now that it has been about a month since I wrapped it up, I am kind of 50/50 on the first season of Picard. There were some characters that I did not care for, but the show ultimately came together for a semi-decent season. Loved the expected old faces that returned for rushes of nostalgia I was totally into, and am glad only a few older faces returned to save room for future cameos. Took a while to get use to watching Star Trek in a serialized format with story arcs lasting the whole season, but I liked the crew Picard assembled by the end of the season, and although the season arc spiraled into a bit of a mess by the season finale that I additionally will refrain from attempting to explain, a big part of me is feeling like the cast was starting to organically gel by the last episode which leads me hoping for a better dynamic in season two. Grade: B-

Star Trek: Discovery (Seasons 1 & 2) – That CBS All Access trial wound up getting extended further into two months for me so I once again took advantage of that to plow through the first two seasons of the newest core Star Trek show, Discovery. The first season was a bit of a chore to get through. After an explosive two episode season opener setting up the protagonist Michael Burnham, the show gradually got less interesting as they mixed in plot tropes I despise like time travelling and alternate dimensions that play a major role in the first season. I will give props to a guilty pleasure time loop episode I was all in for however that can easily be watched in its own without taking in the rest of the serialized plot. I was not that into Rainn Wilson before, but his recurring role here as con-man Harry Mudd was my unlikely favorite character of the first season.

My main gripe about the first season is it is all about Michael, with the rest of the crew primarily relegated to B and C plot affairs while most other past Star Trek shows shined the spotlight on the entire crew. The second season is a step up with some noticeable improvements. I liked the introduction of their versions of Captain Pike and Spock on here that drastically helped the rest of the cast to step up. Seeing Spock & Michael’s sibling rivalry and their past revealed as the season went on was an arc that I was able to invest in. Discovery did a little bit of fleshing out of some parts of the rest of the crew, but it could have done better where instead a lot more emphasis was placed on Michael's character making silly Jennifer Garner-esque reactionary faces. She does a mean vulcan eyebrow though, ditto with Spock! Special effects are in a league of their own, no idea how they have the budget for it with nearly every episode having a ton of spectacular action scenes. TNG nut in me would prefer Discovery to dial back the action a notch or two, but supposedly the new Pike spinoff show, Strange New Worlds, will do that next year. Season 1 Grade: C- Season 2 Grade: B-

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UPDATE – July 2, 2020

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A couple weeks after I posted this originally I did one of them free one week trials for HBO Max to crank out two more shows I have been meaning to get to for quite some time so here are my thoughts on them….

Watchmen - The 2009 film is extraordinarily polarizing among anyone I talk to. I have a love/hate/love relationship with it myself. The HBO TV series from several months ago appears to be the same from the first few people I spoke with about it too after finishing it earlier this week. It is set in the present in 2019, some 34 years after the events of the graphic novel. I was hooked by the end of the first episode which had an impactful viewing experience due to the similarities of how the police are portrayed in Watchmen to the recent real life events/riots/protests in recent weeks. Nearly every episode had an interesting hook that spiraled into another arc that had its own callback and references to the original story and how the present world in the show was still enduring the rippling effects from the conclusion of the original saga.

The second half of the season has a different dynamic to it once certain revelations are made of key characters and other characters are introduced. Seeing each episode’s dose of Ozymandias’ journey from the past 34 years had me scratching my head where it was going until his arc came full circle and it all pleasantly came together. A couple little twists and turns did not sit well with me in how the finale played out, but for the most part I was absolutely invested in the series throughout and hopes the show gets picked up for a second season which is currently in doubt because the season one showrunner feels the first season put an overall conclusion to Watchmen all together. Grade: A-

Game of Thrones - I finally got around to watching the eighth and final season of Game of Thrones. I somehow managed to escape spoilers all this time too. Was in no rush to see it due to noticeable step down in quality from the seventh season based on how rushed it felt and how it crammed two seasons of content into one. Unfortunately the same can be said here for the last season. The thing is though the first half of season eight is extremely good. Episode one is all about reuniting the characters and setting up for the battle of all battles against the undead army that has been building since the very beginning of the show. I loved how the second episode gave nearly every character a moment of their own to take in their presumable last evening before the fight ahead as they basked in each other’s fellowship and drink. Then the battle itself was a huge undertaking for a TV show to pull off a battle scene of that magnitude for over an hour, even with a premium HBO budget. There are parts where I can nitpick and see where they tried little camera tricks and implemented other special effects tomfoolery to give the false illusion they were on par with the AAA budget cinematic battles of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, but by and large that battle with the Whitewalkers is an impressive feat of television filmmaking that I will never forget. Loved every chapter of that third episode. If you have fallen off of Game of Thrones after season seven, then do yourself a favor and at least watch episodes two and three of the final season. Now if the series would have ended after that big battle that would have been ideal, but there was still one Queen Cersei to deal with….

…and the final three episodes of the season eight dealt with the rest of the kingdoms building up for one last battle to take over the Red Keep and remove Cersei from the throne. The final three episodes feel overwhelmingly rushed and should have had their own expanded season, and that is saying something because those episodes are all longer than average episodes and around the length of a movie each. While the first half of the final season has key characters meet their demise in a blaze of glory, the final episodes have anticlimactic finales for fan favorite characters and it felt like the writers were trying to make the best of the worst situation for trying to wrap up the show. There are a couple fleeting moments I enjoyed for certain characters having a gratifying conclusion to their stories, but I could not shake this gut-wrenching feeling throughout the final two episodes that the wheels were quickly flying off the rails. For what it is worth, I did like Bran and Jon Snow’s final destinations and scenes for how they were shot and am now relieved I have now got this show out of the way. I avoided reading recaps and spoilers, but had a feeling this was not going to be a good season due to a general lack of reaction and enthusiasm for the final season as it was transpiring, minus a little optimism for the aforementioned midseason battle. The series finale came and went without much of an online reaction to my surprise and in the succeeding months little murmurs of ‘meh’ was what I picked up on in the general sense of how it wrapped up when asking around….and I am essentially on board with that after seeing it myself. Now with that out of the way…should I read the books? Grade: C


Past TV/Web Series Blogs

2013-14 TV Season Recap
2014-15 TV Season Recap
2015-16 TV Season Recap
2016-17 TV Season Recap
2017-18 TV Season Recap
2018-19 TV Season Recap
Adventures of Briscoe County Jr: The Complete Series
Baseball: A Ken Burns series
Angry Videogame Nerd Home Video Collections
Cobra Kai – Seasons 1-2
Mortal Kombat: Legacy - Season 1 | Season 2
OJ: Made in America: 30 for 30
RedvsBlue - Seasons 1-13
Roseanne – Seasons 1-9
Seinfeld Final Season
Star Trek: Next Generation – Seasons 1-7
Superheroes: A Never-Ending Battle
Superheroes: Pioneers of Television
The Vietnam War: A Ken Burns series
X-Men – The Animated Series: Volumes 4-5