TV Show Review: Shadow & Bone S01

Rating: 4/5 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Genre: Fantasy, Adventure, Romance

Review:

So I finally watched Netflix’s Shadow & Bone! It took me a while to get in the right frame of mind to watch it, but I’m glad I waited until after my re-read of the Shadow & Bone trilogy and the Six of Crows duology.

First off, I have to address the issue of racial discrimination in the show. I figure the producers might have wanted to add another chip on Alina’s shoulder along with her being an orphan, but this did not sit well with me. I found myself getting annoyed over this every time I came across it in the show. This was a major unwanted change from the books and I did not appreciate it at all.

From the books I previously did not like Alina and Mal much. But I ended up loving Mal in the TV show. The actor, Archie Renaux, did a great job. He was so authentic, he made Mal look far better than in the books. As for Alina, I still don’t like her. It’s not a stab at the actress, Jessie Mei Li’s performance because she portrayed Alina well. I always emphathized with Alina’s situation in the story – as an orphan, then being alienated, the burden of responsibility but still I just couldn’t warm up to her.

Now, the Crows! Kaz, Jesper, Inej, Nina & Matthias were my favorite part of the show. God, I loved them! The cast selected for the Crows were perfect, absolutely flawless. Watching them come to life in the show was like a dream come true. I had hearts in my eyes like a heart emoji in every Crow, Nina & Matthias scene. I can’t wait to see more of the Crows.

The show stayed about three-quarters true to the books. In my opinion, the changes that were different to the original Alina-Mal-The-Darkling storyline were quite unnecessary and to be frank, a bit irritating. The only change that I appreciated and loved was how seamless the addition of the Crows to the storyline of Shadow & Bone was. They fit in like they had been part of the original storyline from the beginning.

The Darkling. This review wouldn’t be complete without an opinion on him. I loved the Darkling in the books but Ben Barnes wasn’t quite whom I pictured as the Darkling. That said, I can’t find fault with his portrayal as the Darkling but I feel like some of that Darkling intensity was missing. However, that ending scene in the finale was fantastic.

The special effects were pretty good and the depiction of the different Grisha powers and the Volcra was excellent. One thing that I enjoyed a lot was how the opening credit for each episode was different, especially the one with the crows.

Another favorite scene of mine was Leigh Bardugo’s cameo. That was beautiful to see—the author amidst her beloved characters. It wasn’t just touching but felt like a tribute to the author and I loved that.

For a first season, Shadow & Bone showed great promise and potential. I can’t wait to see more, especially the Crows and I am happy the show was renewed for a second season.

Dark forces conspire against orphan mapmaker Alina Starkov when she unleashes an extraordinary power that could change the fate of her war-torn world.
[Adaptation of Leigh Bardugo’s bestselling Grishaverse novels.]

∼Lyn

TV Show Review: Star Trek Discovery S03

Rating: 3/5 🌟🌟🌟

Genre: Science Fiction, Adventure, Drama

Review:

Season 3 started out well enough with a new adventure, a new intrigue, a fascinating mystery and it was vital to find the cause behind those events. That kept me going through half the season because otherwise I wasn’t too impressed with Season 3.

I did enjoy the new characters, especially the delightful, colorful Book. I liked him a lot.

3 Seasons and I still don’t like Michael. I’m a pretty headstrong person myself and I try to always do what’s right, and you would have thought I would have related to her but Michael just grated me wrong with her attitude and her complete disregard of the people who cared about her. That said, there were about 3 very cool, very inspiring scenes that I absolutely enjoyed.

As usual, Philippa Georgiou was definitely my favorite character but I liked her far better as a sole agent rather than an Emperor.

The plot-line of Season 3 had so much potential but the climax, with the mystery revealed, was very anticlimactic. I wanted an epic climax, one that would blow my mind like in Season 2 but that was not the case.

With the way Season 2 ended on that cliffhanger, I had high hopes for Season 3. Alas, it ended up being quite a disappointment.

TV Show Review: Star Trek Discovery S02

Rating: 4/5 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Genre: Science Fiction, Adventure, Drama

Review:

Once I finished binge-watching Season 1, of course mired in my obsession as I was, I jumped straight into Season 2 with Spock and Captain Pike joining Star Trek Discovery. I have to say Zachary Quinto is still my favorite Spock. That said, I did enjoy the sibbling dynamics and ribbing between Spock and Michael. Though I still haven’t warmed up to Michael. She’s the main character and yet she annoys the hell out of me.

The new plotline of Season 2 was pretty intriguing and kept me watching, one episode after the next. The plot twists kept me guessing and pondering what would happen next. I really like Stamets’ character – he’s this supersmart scientist and yet he has this kindness about him I found endearing.

But my absolute favorite character remains the badass alternate Philippa Georgio. She used to be a villain but got stuck with the Federation. She’s mean and sarcastic, has the best snarky retorts. She’s amazing! She did all these horrible things but she doesn’t pretend she’s not what she is. She doesn’t apologize or give a damn what others think of her. How can I not be awed by her?

For a second season, Star Trek Discovery did a pretty good job.

TV Show Review: Star Trek Discovery S01

Rating: 4/5 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Genre: Science Fiction, Adventure, Drama

Review:

I’ve always been more of a Stargate SG-1 fan than Star Trek. I grew up crushing on Richard Dean Anderson on MacGyver (the original TV series) so of course I was crazy about SG-1. I remember watching a few episodes of Star Trek during my childhood but they didn’t really blip on my radar. It wasn’t until I watched the 2009-2013 Star Trek movies with Chris Pine & Zachary Quinto that I totally fell for Spock. And I’ve lost count of how many times I watched all 3 movies.

So a few weeks ago when I was deep in my rut, I decided to binge-watch Star Trek Discovery. I sure as hell did not know Spock had a sister! A foster sister but still, it was quite weird for me to ‘meet’ this human Vulcan named Michael of all things. I never did find out why she was named Michael. She was quite Vulcan in her ways and yet so very human at times.

I loved the modern feel to the TV show and I enjoyed the different character dynamics a lot but I never did warm up to Michael. I liked the other characters way better than her. I definitely prefer Spock to her.

The show hooked me in from the beginning of that first episode with T’kuvma’s Speech in the opening scene. Oh, the irony! I loved that. One of my favorite things about Spock is how he delivers sarcastic barbs with that cool aplomb of his so I loved the irony of T’kuvma’s reason for trying to unite his people against the Federation.

The plot-line kept me entertained and it had a major, fantastic plot-twist. Holy cow, I so did not see that coming. Loved the alternate Philippa Georgiou, who was quite badass. All in all, for a first season, Star Trek Discovery wasn’t bad at all.