The Business Of Selling Used Stuff

A catch up on recently watched shows.

Humans: This has been an excellent summer series and quite easily the best original drama that Channel 4 have commissioned this year. Five episodes in and things are progressing beautifully with Voss being revealed as a Synth (did not see that coming), Niska hiding out at George's and learning more about her origins and both Leo and Matilda trying to help Anita remember her past as Mia. I'm still not that invested in Joe and Laura's marital woes (or Pete's for that matter either) but other than that, this show deserves a second season.

Marvel's Agent Carter: Just like Empire, I did wonder what took so long for this show to get a UK home (Irish viewers, RTE2 from July 25th) and I also wonder if the show might not have lived up to the hype but watching the first episode, it more than did. Hayley Atwell is absolutely terrific as Peggy Carter once again and the partnership with her and James D'Arcy's Jarvis is going to be a blast to watch throughout the series. Some of the commentary on sexism in the work place was far from subtle and while there was a moment or two that riffed off Alias a little, this show already has me watching to keep with it.

Orange Is The New Black: Season 3 has not been the show's best season but some of the backstories have been great though. Both Norma and Leanne in particular got some surprising ones while Alex's current paranoia for her safety has done a lot to derail her relationship with Piper (along with Stella's growing influence on the latter too) but the flashbacks to Tiffany's past and her current situation with an abusive guard though was pretty shocking along with SoSo's increasing isolation. The rivalry with Gloria and Sophia though has been a source of tedium, even if it's finally given the latter more to do.

Selfie: I was a little harsh the last time I talked about this. This time, while I'm not particularly sad that this show was cancelled months, the last few episodes have been better. In fact I actually really enjoyed the fifth episode where Henry and Eliza were at their boss's home for a retreat and again, the chemistry that Karen Gillan and John Cho have is infectious. The writing still isn't great at times but has improved slightly since that awful pilot episode.

True Detective: Okay, I'm going to say it out loud - the main story is boring the crap out of me and I honestly am starting not to care who killed Casper or why. On the plus side, I am enjoying the dynamic between Ray and Ani a lot while Frank has mostly been an interesting gangster. Paul's story on the other hand is polarising. On one hand, Taylor Kitsch is doing an amazing job with the self loathing character but on the other hand, it feels massively dates. More importantly with four episodes left to go, the main story would want to pick pretty fast though.

- Fans of Kingdom will be pleased with the development for Nick Jonas's character in it's upcoming second season.
- Kelly Rowland will be playing the mother of Lucious in flashbacks for the Season 2 premiere of Empire. Marisa Tomei will also be appearing in the show and E4 will air the new season close to US transmission.
- Peter Krause has replaced Damon Dayoub in Shonda Rhimes's upcoming series, The Catch.
- Michelle Dockery has been cast in the lead for upcoming TNT drama, Good Behaviour.
- Both Aquarius and Hannibal's remaining episodes have been pushed to Saturdays by NBC.
- Isaac Hempstead Wright will reprise his role as Bran Stark for Season 6 of Game Of Thrones.
- The Vampire Diaries will be adding a lesbian vampire couple for it's upcoming seventh season.
- Amy Manson, Elliot Knight, Joann Metra, Luke Garrigan and Andrew Jenkins will be playing Merida, Merlin, Guinevere, King Arthur and Percival respectively in the fifth season of Once Upon A Time.
- MTV have renewed Scream for a second season and Teen Wolf for a sixth one.
- Cornelius Smith Jr will be a regular in the upcoming fifth season of Scandal.