They've Been Here All Along

Yeah, it's been a while since I've done one of these. Same as usual, a look into things I've been catching up on.

And Just Like That: After an extremely divisive first season, this Sex And The City sequel series came back for a slightly less divisive second season. For the most part, second helpings does feel like an improvement. In the first seven episodes we've had a deconstruction and break up with Miranda and Che, Carrie recording an audio book for her novel, a temporary romance, losing her podcasting gig and reuniting with Aidan. As for Charlotte, she became a Momager, suffered the effects of a pot brownie and bagged an Italian poet for Anthony. Seema has had some fun one liners and more effort has been made to connect Lisa and Nya with the main group. There's more to be done but it's starting to find it's groove after such a rocky start.

Poker Face: The last four episodes of this first season certainly had their moments. We had race car drama, special effects murders, a creepy cabin adventure with Joseph Gordon Levitt on house arrest and then that finale. The one where Charlie managed to get herself out of one villain's grasp (hello, Ron Perlman) only to land in another's (also hello. Rhea Perlman) while getting a little family time with Charlie's sister and niece. Will I be tuning in for more of these haphazard hijinks? Absolutely.

Secret Invasion: It's disappointing to see the MCU's foray into Disney+ shows go from "must see TV" to "I've seen enough" in less than three years but between too many shows in too little time and some of the creatives choices being made for these shows, it's not surprising. I wanted to like this show but it was largely a mess, fumbled an event that should've been an Avengers movie and despite Samuel L Jackson's best efforts, this ultimately felt like a waste of time with the handling of the Skrulls plot. Not even the talents of Emilia Clarke and Olivia Colman could salvage this.

The Bear: With this show's second season recently released and all the Emmy buzz surrounding it, I finally got around to watching the first season. I can't believe I left it so long. This show is amazing. Jeremy Allen White is a revelation as Carmy and he's back by a fantastic cast playing some genuinely compelling characters. The dynamics between Carmy, Richie. Sydney, Tina, Sugar and Marcus to name a few is brilliant as the show's focus on a struggling restaurant makes for great television. The Review episode alone was some of the tensest twenty minutes I've seen commited to film and the finale was a beautiful way to end the season. I'll be catching up with the second season very quickly.

The Idol: Well, that ended on a weird as hell note. You really telling me that after all this time and everything we'd seen that it was Jocelyn manipulating Tedros? I'm all for a secret twist but that was so poorly done, it reeked of bullshit. I really don't see how this show can justify a second season and I'm hoping that HBO have the sense not to do so but who can tell what they'll do.

• The series finale of Riverdale will air on the CW from August 23rd.
• The third season of Only Murders In The Building premieres on Hulu/Disney+ from August 8th.
• Heartstopper Season 2 is now released on Netflix.
• House Of The Dragon's second season has been able to remain filming in spite of the current strikes. Expect some big book changes.
• American Horror Story: Delicate will likely be moved to 2024, given recent events.
• HBO have renewed The Righteous Gemstones for a fourth season.
• NBC have cancelled Magnum PI. The remaining ten episodes will air later in the year.
• CBS will air the UK version of Ghosts in double bills as part of their autumn line up.
• FX limited series A Murder At The End Of The World will now air from November instead of this month as originally planned.
• AppleTV have cancelled Suspicion after one season.