TOP 10 TV SHOWS OF 2023

 

 

I'm doing something new! A separate rundown of my TV-watching year. Like with the movies, I kept up with what I've been watching in far greater detail than I ever have before, and because I've been reviewing them as I went along - for the most part - I thought it deserved its own post more than I deserve a good night's sleep. I'll be rating seasons of shows that concluded in 2023, not begun so those that I'm currently in the middle of will not be here. I've seen a surprising amount, which has freaked me out a little, but most has been pretty darn good. Again, I'll be adding my newly-appreciated star system which consists of an inconsistent mix of extreme bias and perceived objectivity but feel free to give your take in the comments. Carry on to find out more...

While I think the quality of TV has been pretty high overall, when it comes to the industry as a whole, it was an annus horribilis. In their premature ambition, streaming services have mostly failed to turn a prophet while their predatory tactics towards creatives was laid bare thanks to the writers and actors strikes. The last time both guilds did this was in 1960 when television threatened the landscape (ironically led by the future union-busting president Ronald Raegan). In the coming decade, this would lead to the decline in popularity of the ubiquitous western genre paving the way for more interesting stories to compete for our attention. It's a little analogous to the superhero movies of today so I can only hope for the creative upturn it will signal.

Before we get that hope, we get despair as many services unceremoniously cut programming including those made solely for the platform. Some were ripped from the internet mere weeks after its debut but the most high profile casualty was Disney's Willow. I'll  give you my thoughts below, but regardless of its quality it didn't deserve to disappear from existence. All the services seem to be doing this making it hard to invest in any new show. It used to be about whether we'll ever see a second season, now it's about whether we'll see that season at all which really goes against why the streaming services caught on in the first place.

Despite all this poor business decisions prioritising tax breaks over art, I've still seen loads of shows this year. I've even caught up on some I missed from the previous one including the incredible 1899 (★★★★★), Archive 81 (★★★★☆) and the Midwich Cuckoos (★★★★☆). I recommend them if you have the time, but not before checking out my Top 10 TV shows of 2023....

10

Extraordinary (★★★★☆) is a fun take on the superhero thing that's still big with the masses. Just about. In a world where everyone has powers, aimless Jen struggles with being one of the only ones who has none. On top of this, the whole adulting thing seems to cause her strife in general too. She lives in a London flat with Carrie, her timid best friend who works at a law firm speaking for the dead, Carrie's layabout boyfriend who dreams of being a vigilante superhero and a stray cat she found on the street. Surprisingly funny and sweet, it's one of the smartest comedies in a long while and easily the best new thing on Disney+ this year. As such, I doubt many will watch it. Great soundtrack too.

9

Much like Amazon's Carnival Row, it took four years for the second season of Terry Pratchett's and Neil Gaiman's Good Omens (★★★★☆) to hit the service. Compared to Netflix, their release schedule has been sparse but when they make something, they at least try to give it their all. Say what you want about Rings of Power, I really enjoyed it so much that I ranked it quite highly in my rankings last year. Saying that, I'd not hesitate to say that Good Omens should be considered the platform's premier fantasy show.

After teaming up to prevent the apocalypse last time, demon Crowley (David Tennant) and angel Aziraphale (Michael Sheen) are faced with another existential threat when the Archangel Gabriel (Jon Hamm) falls to Earth with no memory. Both heaven and hell are after him, potentially starting a holy war with Aziraphale's tiny London bookshop looking to be ground zero. The story moves along at a light-hearted pace evoking the kind of warmth and humour you'd expect from a Pratchett adaptation, even if this one's a wholly original story. Perhaps due to this, its plot isn't quite as deep as the original, but with Gaiman's continued involvement it's just as satisfying.

8

When four identical bodies show up in a London side street in four different timelines with the exact same wounds, it kickstarts an epic sci-fi mystery with some gripping twists and turns. It's rare that such a story would keep an avid consumer of entertainment media like me guessing and surprised, but Bodies (★★★★☆) did just that throughout its 8-episode run. I don't want to go too much further into the story for fear of spoilers, but each era from the 1880s to the 2050s is realised with exceptional detail and the cast of characters that inhabits each of them are complex, compelling and acted with aplomb. Another top-tier Netflix show that I hope won't get buried by its algorithm in the years to come like so many other greats like The Alienist, Behind Her Eyes or The OA - all must-sees in my opinion. 

I wasn't going to put Magpie Murders (★★★★★) on this list, as it wasn't really a 2023 show. It quietly dropped on BritBox, that UK streaming service no-one has, before getting an advertising blitz when it freely aired on BBC earlier in the year (April Fool's day no less). I settled in giving this classic murder mystery a joint position instead (it's my list, I can break the rules if I want). Lesley Manville stars as an editor-turned-amateur sleuth as she attempts to uncover the truth when one of her famous novelists dies before finishing his last novel. Naturally, this novel is an Agatha Christie-style murder mystery and it's only the final killer-revealing chapter that's gone missing. The story also bears an uncanny similarity to an event that happened in a small English village many years ago. Perhaps the two are connected? A gripping mystery that's among the best the genre has to offer.

7

When it comes to Japanese anime or Manga, I tend to baulk at the long-running series in favour of the one-off movies. Ghost in the Shell or Akira will always beat the almost 300 episodes of Dragon Ball Z or the daunting 1089 (and counting) of One Piece (★★★★★). By condensing the first season into a live-action Netflix show, it's become much more palatable for me. With series creator Eiichirô Oda directly involved in the project, it appears to have kept the tone of the original anime. By all accounts, it's one of the best adaptations of a Japanese Manga to come out of the West. I know I found this tale of a stretchy wannabe pirate having adventures in a fantastical nautical world winningly bonkers and immensely likeable. Top tier.

6

When I caught the first season of Schmigadoon! (★★★★★) during a self-gifted month of Apple TV last year, I knew I'd have to do it again when the follow up dropped. The first saw bickering couple Keegan-Michael Key and Cecily Strong get lost on a hiking trip only to find themselves in a 50's era Rogers and Hammerstein-style musical world. Perhaps funnier for the theatre nerds among us than those who aren't, it's still an incredibly fun time regardless. Season Two has our couple actively looking to return and recapture the magic, but this time Schmigadoon has become Schmicago, a darker, grittier city that's inspired by the darker musical turns of the 70s and 80s. Chicago, Sweeney Todd, Les Misérables and more are all referenced in one giant love-letter to the genre and it's just as great.

5

The curse of the video game adaptation is finally over. Say what you want about Five Nights at Freddy's or The Super Mario Bros Movie, they both made massive amounts of money but in my book The Last of Us (★★★★★) is the best one of them all. I'm ashamed to say I've still not played the second game (it's a dark, almost depressing themes weren't as palatable to me when it came out at the beginning of the pandemic), but the first one is definitely an all-time classic. This adaptation builds upon the major plot points to become one of the most effective depictions of a zombie apocalypse on screen. In episode three, it also features one of the most emotionally effecting (and sadly controversial) hours of TV out there. Full marks.

4

It's always time to celebrate when a new Mike Flanagan project is announced. I still stand by The Haunting of Hill House as being one of the best shows to have ever existed with Midnight Mass coming close behind. The Fall of the House of Usher (★★★★★) doesn't quite match those highs, but it's sure a classic in its own right. Being a revisionist take on the stories of Edgar Allen Poe, it re-writes them in a pulpy, almost comedic fashion. A curse on a wealthy family sees all their children and heirs die in gruesome fashion. References to Poe's The Black Cat, The Telltale Heart and others have been ramped up to the goriest of levels with each episode focusing on one of them. Not top-tier Flanagan, but even that makes it a must watch.

3

Despite it being dumped on Netflix in January with very little fanfare (resulting in it not being picked up for a second series - boo), Lockwood & Co. (★★★★★) is a bloody good adaptation of Jonathan Stroud's novels. Now, I'm probably biased. I've long thought Stroud's stories would be ripe for adaptation with his magical djinn trilogy known as the Bartimaeus Sequence being a particular favourite of mine. These read as if Terry Pratchett had written a less tongue-in-cheek Discworld novel for young adults and they're very good. On a different note, the Lockwood series plays as if Stephen King had developed a lighter horror mystery for young adults. And it's just as good. This show is a lot of fun as a precocious trio of teens solves supernatural mysteries in London. Some of the ghosts they encounter are rather effective in their spookiness. It may have dropped in January, but it's the perfect Halloween adventure for all but the youngest of ages. It's a shame we won't be getting any more from this long-running series of novels.

2

Season 2 of The Bear (★★★★★) contains one of the best episodes of television ever. If you've seen it, you know which one. In this intense extra-long flashback episode Carmen (Jeremy Allen White) returns home for thanksgiving from his prestigious culinary school. His brother, Michael (Jon Bernthal), whose eventual drug-related death provides the central conflict of the entire show, ratchets up tension with the family while his mother (played to perfection by Jamie Lee Curtis) stresses in the kitchen cooking the dinner. Knowing the events that would come in the next few months of their lives, the thick tension is palpable and unforgettable. These events parallel the opening of The Bear, a Chicago-based fine dining experience run by Carmen in the sandwich shop left to him in his brother's will. We didn't really need to see this dysfunctional thanksgiving meal in such detail, but it's necessary to dig deeper into the psyche of those involved. Even without its presence, the show would be a triumph but with it, it only serves to make The Bear one of the best things on TV full stop. It alone makes Disney+ worth it.

1

The advertising team behind Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (★★★★★) were sneaky. It promised a straight-up re-adaptation of the graphic novel complete with the same exact cast of the cult classic movie. I would've eaten that up too, but what we got was drastically different. The first episode pretty much retells the same story of Scott Pilgrim fighting off the first of Ramona's evil exes. This time, however, Scott loses and spends most of the following episodes completely absent. He literally took off! From here, Ramona becomes the central character in a very meta plotline that re-contextualises the events of the graphic novel and even the movie adaptation. All of the evil exes return with a far more developed and expanded character that digs deeper into the intentional moral issues presented in the original story. As a result, it's the perfect companion piece full of wit and invention. I'm curious to see if Bryan Lee O'Malley continues the story in future seasons and on the back of this, I'll be first in line to watch.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

African Folktales Reimagined

Even though African Folktale Reimagined (★★★★☆) has the word 'folktale' in the title, few of the six stories are actually based on the legends found in the countries of that vast continent. In fact, with tales of AI-driven afro-futurism, criminal despots and horror-infused djinns it's closer in tone to something like Black Mirror than anything else. The best of the bunch is Katera of the Punishment Island, which sees a raped woman banished to an inhospitable island for getting pregnant out of wedlock. Through ingenuity she escapes this harsh place and returns with violent revenge on her mind. In a partnership with UNESCO, Netflix set up an open casting call for talented filmmakers from all across Africa, offering $90,000 to produce each episode. Like all anthology shows, the stories are hit and miss but each one comes from a fascinating viewpoint that's rarely seen. I hope we'll get to see more.

Afterparty - Season 2

I was late to the party for Apple TV's comedic murder mystery The Afterparty (★★★☆☆). The first season was an unexpected delight with a star-studded cast gathered together so Tiffany Haddish's Detective Danner can solve the murder of a rich and arrogant pop star. Season 2 replaces the LA celebs with silicon valley tech gurus and the result isn't quite as fun as it was before. Other than Haddish, the only two returning characters are Sam Richardon's Aniq and Zoë Chau's Zoë who take on some detective work themselves. The cast isn't as starry and the mystery not as engaging requiring me to reduce the star-rating by one but it's still one of the more visible highlights of Apple TV's ensemble of shows.

All the Light We Cannot See

A four-part miniseries set in a French seaside village during the Second World War in which a blind resistance fighter gets entangled in a Nazi conspiracy. The core story, which involves a cursed gemstone, is a pulpy one that wouldn't be out of place in a well-written Indiana Jones fan fiction. Having not read Anthony Doerr's book, this was vastly at odds with what I was expecting; a serious awards-bothering war story. Even so, All the Light We Cannot See (★★★★☆) was not an unpleasant surprise. I've heard those who are fans of the book have found issue with it, but I enjoyed every episode immensely.

Black Mirror - Season 6

The last few seasons of Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror (★★★★☆) have been hit and miss but I found season 6 to be something of a return to form. Being the comedic one, Joan is Awful swims in a satire that mocks reality TV, unread contract agreements and the power of Netflix itself while still being an entertaining little thriller in its own right. Loch Henry, rather disturbingly, takes on the current true-crime obsession that borders on exploitation. I've already touched upon Beyond the Sea when talking about similar sci-fi films in my movie rundown. It deals with transferred consciousness and love triangles making this episode, in my opinion, the best of the season. The last two aren't as impressive. Mazey Day tacks on a werewolf tale around celebrity culture and stalking paparazzies but takes too long for anything significant to happen and Demon 79 is that same old soul-selling genie conundrum we've all seen dozens of times (or at least genre fans have).

What makes this season all the more interesting is that for a show that casts a dystopian eye on the future, most of the episodes are set in the past. Demon 79 takes place in Thatcherite Britain detailing how her policies alienates immigrants and marginalised communities. Mazey Day is in the mid 2000s when interest in overwhelmed celebrities was at its peak. As the titular pop artist takes refuge at a wellness retreat, it mirrors the public fascination with Britney Spears and how magazines unscrupulously capitalised off of it. The picturesque town in Loch Henry was once a tourist attraction, but by taking place in the 90s, parallels to similarly neglected country locations are easy to make. There's a definite political reading to each of these episodes, and they offer up the most interesting discussions - particularly among the British - since it left Channel 4.

Carnival Row - Season 2

It took a long time - four years - for Season 2 of Carnival Row (★★★★☆) to hit Amazon Prime. I thought it was worth the wait. The subjugated Fae locked in the titular slums have formed a resistance, but some are using tactics not all of them agree with. A violent feral vampire-like creature called a Sparas has been let loose on the streets of London which quickly sparks an escalating tension. Orlando Bloom's outcast half-fae and Cara Delevigne's full-fae make for some interesting leads, even if I felt their motivations to be a bit off at times. With Wheel of Time and Rings of Power filling up Amazon's fantasy quota (not to mention Netflix's impressive output), I feel many people are sleeping on this social allegory of a show. It's just as good.

The Crown - Season 6

I wasn't as keen on the fifth season of The Crown (★★★★☆) as I thought I would be. As the events of the show eek closer to the present day, the lives of the Royal Family aren't so revelatory as they have been. It was also the worst written and edited season out of entire run. Season 6 is better, but it's focus on the death of Princess Diana overtakes everything else. Brits of my generation and older lived through this time and are likely to have seen many a documentary on the subject. It gets better in the second half when we focus on the princes William and Harry growing up with the shadow of their mother looming large over them. And because so much time was spent on Lady Di, these sections seem rushed. It's still a very good show but compared to what came before, I think they may have missed the mark these last few seasons.

Everything Now

After her electric turn as Mia in Talk to Me, Australian actress Sophie Wilde migrates to England to play another Mia in London-set teen dramedy Everything Now (★★★★☆). After a prolonged stay in hospital due her struggles with anorexia, Mia returns to school to find out she has missed out on core teenage experiences such as drinking, parties and sex. Her troubled mind puts extra pressure on herself as she attempts to go through every perceived rite of passage all at once, putting strain on her friendships in the process. In many ways, the flaws and compulsions the lead character has is much the same as Zendaya's Rue Bennett in Euphoria but there's much more levity - and believability - on display here making this the far superior show in my opinion. Along with The Portable Door on Sky and the aforementioned Talk to Me, 2023 seems to have put Ms Wilde on the map. She's certainly a talent to watch.

Gen V

A college-set spin off of The Boys shares the very WTF and NSFW moments of its big brother, Gen V (★★★★☆), as entertaining as it is, doesn't quite stick the social satire. When the elite and egotistical young supers discover an underground prison where undesirable kids with powers are experimented on, they haphazardly vow to expose the conspiracy. Much like those that make up the Seven, the characters shift between annoyingly self-centred and determined in compelling ways, but Gen V will forever be in The Boys' shadow. It's still the GOAT after all.

Great Expectations

This handsomely gothic take on Charles Dicken's classic tale hides an unconventional retelling of the source material. The ubiquitous Olivia Coleman's portrayal of Miss Havisham is more villainous and calculating than the psychologically damaged perpetual widow the character is usually portrayed as, and the trials Pip goes through are far more dark, tortuous and cuss-filled. Great Expectations (★★★☆☆) is not your grandad's Dickens, that's for sure. Along with the curse words, the overly-gruesome side plots derail from the source to emphasise darkness and corruption. It becomes so bleak it's almost hard to watch at times. I preferred the BBC's previous effort from 2011 starring Gillian Anderson as a wistfully hysterical widow. This one errs on depression porn. 

Harlen Coben's Shelter

In it's attempts to be a cool, twisty thriller, Harlen Coben's Shelter (★★★☆☆) comes off as a pulpy conspiracy that could only shock the young adults the original novel was aimed at. In contrast to the spooky haunted house aesthetics of the promotional material, the plot in fact revolves around a group of teens embroiled in an overly complex child trafficking ring. When the thrilling mystery is front and centre, there's some gripping stuff on screen, but it spends a little too much of its runtime on soapy love triangles that cheapens the entire series. That and the high school drama sits at odds with the main narrative. Surprisingly, the biggest complexities of love, lust and matters of the heart are set at the feet of the parents, and not so much the teens who make up the charismatic leads. The production quality is high, with rich visuals missing in the many of the multi-deal Coben adaptations on Netflix (which are mostly bad). Good stuff, even if you really have to suspend disbelief a lot every now and then.

Heartstopper - Season 2

I caught up on both seasons of Heartstopper (★★★★☆) when the second season arrived on Netflix in August. The utterly optimistic and unapologetic queer love story seemed too saccharine and unrealistic at first glance so I baulked when the first season arrived in the April of last year. Now that I've seen it, I can say that it is all of those things; utterly optimistic, completely quixotic and borderline delusory. I attended an all-boys British secondary school in the 90s and it was not like this at all. I've come to believe that this uncomplicated look at growing up gay is precisely the point and when you compare it to other queer media - especially those aimed at teens - this viewpoint is entirely unique and almost revelatory. I'd like to think that the joy of youth found in Heartstopper, while improbable, is very much possible in today's schools. When I was young, it was anything but. By law. I find Heartstopper to be unassuming and more important that anyone could give it credit for. A beacon for queer youth. It's also a warm and sweet love story too.

Jury Duty

Streaming free through Freevee, Jury Duty (★★★★☆) manages to pull of the biggest of feats for what is essentially a reality TV prank show; it's good. Unassuming patsy Ronald Gladden has been called for jury duty and joining him is the famous actor James Marsden. He, and all of the other fake jurors, gamely act weird as the multi-week-long case drags on. All normal guy Ron can do is look on in bemusement. The showrunners have carefully managed the skits and overall plot to make the actors or situation the butt of the joke, not Gladden (who is affectionately referred to as the 'Hero' by the crew), and the result is a show that's warm, funny and refreshingly low on cringe humour. A pleasant surprise.

Loki - Season 2 / Secret Invasion

Much like Marvel's cinematic output, their TV shows have been faltering too. Season two of Loki (★★★★☆) is perhaps the best the entire studio has put out this year that doesn't have James Gunn attached to it. The time-hopping of the first season has unleashed a cataclysmic amount of alternative timelines that threaten to destroy all of them at once, but the moral quandary of having the bureaucratic Time Variance Authority manually trim them is weighing on our lovable god of mischief. Tom Hiddleston plays the role perfectly as always, but even with an exciting and well-written plot, there's something missing with his underused variants. Not as fun or funny as the first, but a worthy if inconsequential addition to Marvel's Phase V.

Secret Invasion (★★☆☆☆) on the other hand is a surprisingly dull Marvel thriller that's only even remotely watchable thanks to its great cast. The quality control at Disney is very lacking of late, and it appears to be affecting their bottom line. Needed a few punchier revisions in the script or editing departments to truly make it worth a watch.

Only Murders in the Building - Season 3

The small-screen's best detective series returns with a stellar cast, adding the likes of Meryl Streep and Paul Rudd to the line up. Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez are also back as true-crime podcasters embroiled in a murder mystery that annually takes place in their apartment building. This time, it plays up the theatricality of it all as tensions around a new Broadway show becomes the catalyst for murder. One of the best things on Disney+, Only Murders in the Building (★★★★☆) is great fun from start to finish.

Poker Face

When Rian Johnson turns his hand to murder mysteries, he can seemingly do no wrong. His stunning feature-length debut Brick is still one of my favourites from 2005 and the Knives Out movies are great fun. Poker Face (★★★★☆) is what happens when he takes that innate inventiveness for murder to a case-of-the-week TV show. Natasha Lyonne (Russian Doll) stars as Charlie, a scrappy casino bartender with a knack for sniffing out lies without fail. When she witnesses a murder at the mob-run Las Vegas casino where she works, she goes on the run taking odd jobs here and there. Unfortunately for her, each dust bowl diner or dramatic dinner show where she lands has a murder brewing just around the corner. And Charlie cannot help but solve it. 

Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story

The Bridgerton series always felt like what Americans thought Britain was like in the early 19th century. It was such pure fantasy that I could never fully roll with it, even if the fluffy romances underneath are effectively swoon-worthy. Queen Charlotte (★★★★☆) goes much further in twisting history to fit into the mis-matched rom-com mould kneading in current progressive values that wouldn't enter the public consciousness for over a century. Somehow, I was completely smitten with the impossibly pretty leads and anachronistic storytelling. Not enough to re-watch the main show, but still.

Sex Education - Season 4

Netflix's premier teen comedy fumbles its final season as Asa Butterfield's Otis and Emma Mackey's Maeve enrol in new schools giving Sex Education's (★★★☆☆) send-off very different vibes. On his new comedically liberal college campus, Otis finds competition transferring his high school sex therapy clinic. This place is every right-winger's worst nightmare and it's so over-the-top, this lefty would judgingly scoff at it with pleasure. Maeve, meanwhile, is across the pond studying creative writing in New York. With the central love story going long distance, it's up to the supporting cast to provide the season's central hook, and none of them quite manage it. All of the new characters are borderline annoying while old, more interesting characters are side-lined until their rushed character arc is needed. A disappointing end to an otherwise stellar show.

That '90s Show / Frasier

If you liked That 70s Show, you're guaranteed to like That 90's Show (★★★☆☆). It's a warm, nostalgic throwback to the Fox sitcom that offered some welcome and familiar laughs at the beginning of the year. It lacks some of the still-safe-for-TV bite that the original show had, feeling like a mid-2000s Disney show at times, but there is enough here to make it worthwhile if you're into sitcoms. The best things about it are the holdouts from the original, but since a new season has been commissioned, the fresh new cast will hopefully have more time to ease into their roles. It has potential.

Frasier (★★★☆☆) was also something of a surprise making me thinks the recent return of multi-camera sitcoms have been pretty successful overall. To my concerning tastes, I still can't say they're anything other than easy dinner-time viewing. I felt the same in the 90s too. Having made his money as a Jerry Springer-style talk show host and his run on the radio we saw depicted in the original show, Frasier is now the new lecturer at Harvard. The same Harvard where his son dropped out earlier in the year. British comedy legend Nickolas Lyndhurst (Only Fools and Horses) joins the cast, but he's no substitute for those memorable characters that aren't returning. Instead of Niles, we're stuck with his cartoon of a son. Still, it managed to eek out a couple of laughs out of me each episode and that's what you want with something like this.

Tore

A timid gay may struggling with the sudden death of his father spirals out of control as he tries anything not to confront his loss. This Swedish drama was written, created by and starring William Spetz who gives a wonderfully tender performance as the titular Tore (★★★☆☆) that allows the compassion and understanding to shine through the character's often questionable decisions. He, and all of the other characters come to think of it, lack agency (and often empathy) as if what transpires is a pre-ordained inevitability. As such, everyone surrounding Tore is jarringly insensitive whether it be his long-term co-workers at a funeral home or his best and only friend, Linn, who makes use of some awful tactics to force Tore out of his shell. A second season has been commissioned and regardless of my critical thoughts, I'm still invested enough to watch it as soon as it comes out.

Wes Anderson's The Wonderful Stories of Roald Dahl

Wes Anderson directed four short films for Netflix based one some of Roald Dahl's least-known short stories. I've put them together here as if it was its own anthology series. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (★★★★☆) is the best of the bunch having Benedict Cumberbatch narrate the time he spent with Ben Kingsley's guru who claims he can see with his eyes closed. At 37 minutes, it is also the longest but the time given to Poison (★★★★☆), The Rat Catcher (★★★☆☆) and The Swan  (★★★★☆) are each worth a watch.

Willow

Good luck if you didn't catch Willow (★★★☆☆) on Disney Plus over the previous Christmas and New Year, cos it's not there anymore. After an incredibly weak first few episodes, the story picks up in the second half where you begin to care for those new characters you once thought were annoying. And boy, they were that and more in the first episode. Unfortunately, it is these new faces who are the protagonists, not Willow who is unfairly side-lined in his own story. A mistake in my view, by even in the scenes he's in Warwick Davis struggles to stretch his dormant acting chops. There's still a lot to like here, but you have to stick with it and look hard. When there's a plethora of other streaming movies and shows out there, it's easy to see why a lot of viewers didn't stick around or waited to watch until later. And now that they can't it kinda defeats the core concept of a streaming service.

Wheel of Time - Season 2

The second season of Amazon's other fantasy show is a lot more confident than the previous one, which got blasted by some when the episodes aired weekly in 2021. I enjoyed The Wheel of Time (★★★★☆) quite a bit back then in spite its flaws. Its direction was a little bland with a distractingly pretty cast that looks like they'd be more at home fronting a Calvin Klein ad campaign but, along with one notable cast change, they all come into their own here where they now get to play in some more intense scenes to showcase their talents. I can't quite shake the feeling that most of the potential budget went into Amazon's Lord of the Rings show, making this appear to be the cheaper version of Rings of Power. Its occasionally sparse set design and effects work is a little underwhelming too. If you've read the books, you'll likely still be reeling at this adaptation, but you'll also know that that there's a gripping tale worth telling in there. This second season does a better job at portraying it.

The Witcher - Season 3

Even with its lead having creative differences with the direction the show is heading, I still find The Witcher (★★★★☆) to be an entertaining and imaginative watch. The narrative can get a tad confused at times, as if they don't know how to portray the many conspiracies, power-plays and secret agendas at play. Compared to Wheel of Time, it's better shot and directed with a more capable overall cast, but in all honesty I enjoy Amazon's offering a little more. Still a bloody and bloody good show though.

Like this? Try These...