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Reviews
The Mandalorian: Chapter 10: The Passenger (2020)
Honestly, disappointing
Firstly- disliking this episode doesn't make anyone a 'typical toxic star wars fan'. As a fan of a franchise, you're allowed to criticise certain aspects of it; especially when they're sub-par.
The score, action and visuals were, as always, great in this episode. However I don't feel they compensated for the hollow story and loose writing. The plot for this episode isn't at all engaging, and neither is the new feature-character who we only actually hear say a few lines of understandable dialogue.
Djin, by complete coincidence, gets a convenient tip regarding the whereabouts of some more Mandalorians. Following the tip, and transporting with him a frog-creature and her eggs, he ends up crashing on a frozen planet following an interception and subsequent chase from two X-Wing pilots. It just so happens that these two pilots have a change of heart after finding out what he did in the prison episode of s1 and come back to save him and his passengers (just when it seems they're completely out of luck).
I loved episode 1, but honestly this episode didn't do anything at all for me. It had no purpose, loose themes and just felt like it was there to fill a gap which, when there's only 8 episodes per season, doesn't seem like a smart idea.
His Dark Materials: The Spies (2019)
This keeps getting better and better
Episode 1 was pretty slow but I suppose that was just to set up the world. From then onwards though we've got a lot of fast paced action, great developments in the story and some change from the books which are done very tastefully. Some of the dialogue was a bit clunky but the acting has been superb, especially Mrs Coulter (Ruth Wilson). I can't wait for the next expose
Stranger Things: Chapter Four: The Sauna Test (2019)
We're back on stable ground
After a rocky start to the season it finally feels like we're back. This episode has the main cast split into 3 groups, with each group trying tackle a different aspect of whatever is menacingly haunting Hawkins.
While it still feels like Dustin and Steve are stumbling on solutions to their problems too easily thanks to Robin, Joyce and Hopper are getting their hands dirty and tracing clues with some gritty detective work which is great, and the rest of the kids are (in vintage Stranger Things style) cleverly coming up with plans to find out what exactly is going on and who's behind it.
The formula is pretty similar to that which we've seen from Stranger Things in the previous 2 seasons, but the writers have thrown in a few curve balls to keep things fresh, and there's definitely a darker tone than we've seen before. The pacing in this episode is great and the acting, as per, is phenomenal. Hopefully the rest of the season is like this and not like the first 2 and a half episodes.
Stranger Things: Chapter Three: The Case of the Missing Lifeguard (2019)
We're finally getting somewhere!
The first two episodes of this season were quite slow and a bit too heavily focused on romance and relationships for my liking. Episode 3 feels like a lot more like classic Stranger Things; it gave us suspense, shocking moments and questions we can't quite work out yet.
The dynamics between characters are working really well so far, although it's a shame all our main characters are off doing different things but there's no doubt they'll be reunited at some point soon.
My biggest disappointment was how coincidental all the stuff with Dustin and Steve in the mall feels, but I'm willing to forgive that because the writing has been solid so far.