Emmys 2015 - List/Opinion Piece

It's that time of year again. A few days ago, the nominations for the 2015 Emmys was announced and well, there were moments worth commenting on. Anything in italics is who I would like to see win, not who I think will win.

First of all for drama fans, there are seven shows (actually all main nods are seven choices this year) and those shows are Game Of Thrones, Mad Men, Downton Abbey, Orange Is The New Black, House Of Cards, Homeland and Better Saul Call. Comedy fans on the other hand, the choices are Louie, Modern Family, Transparent, Silicon Valley, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Veep and Parks & Recreation. Gotta admit, with this category as I don't watch any of those shows, I don't really care who actually wins, so no italics for me there. In terms of limited series, the choices are American Crime, Olive Kitteridge, American Horror Story: Freak Show, The Honourable Woman and Wolf Hall.

Meanwhile for Best Actress in a Drama Series, the competition is arguably the hottest. You've got first time nominations for Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black), Viola Davis (How To Get Away With Murder) and Taraji P. Henson (Empire) along with stalwarts Claire Danes (Homeland), Robin Wright (House Of Cards) and Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men). Actor wise in the Drama category, the nods are for Bob Odenkirk (Better Call Saul), John Hamm (Mad Men), Kevin Spacey (House Of Cards), Jeff Daniels (The Newsroom), Kyle Chandler (Bloodline) and Liev Schreiber (Ray Donovan). Comedy wise, the actress category comprises of Julia Louise Dreyfus (Veep), Amy Poehler (Parks & Recreation), Lisa Kudrow (The Comeback), Lily Tomlin (Grace & Frankie), Amy Schumer (Inside Amy Schumer) and Edie Falco (Nurse Jackie) while the male category comprises of  Jeffrey Tambor (Transparent), Louis CK (Louie), Anthony Anderson (black-ish), William H. Macy (Shameless), Matt LeBlanc (Episodes), Don Cheadle (House Of Lies) and Will Forte (Last Man On Earth).

Meanwhile in terms of the Limited Series category, the best actress nods are for Felicity Huffman (American Crime), Frances McDormand (Olive Kitteridge), Jessica Lange (American Horror Story: Freak Show), Maggie Gyllenhaal (The Honourable Woman), Queen Latifah (Bessie) and Emma Thomson (Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street). The male category includes David Oyelowo (Nightingale), Richard Jenkins (Olive Kitteridge), Timothy Hutton (American Crime), Mark Rylance (Wolf Hall), Ricky Gervais (Derek: The Final Chapter) and Adrian Brody (Houdini).

Like previous years, there's a lot of fairly safe/predictable choices, a few surprises (I'm shocked Empire didn't get more nods, delighted that Maslany did) and a couple of snubs. A full list of all nominees can be seen below.

Full List: http://gulfnews.com/leisure/television/emmy-awards-2015-nominees-the-full-list-1.1552087

The 2015 Emmys will air on September 20th and will be hosted by Andy Samberg.

Sense8 - Just Turn The Wheel And The Future Changes/I Can't Leave Her

And here's the recap for the last two episodes of this incredible series. It's been something of a bumpy ride.

Nomi Marks: The last two episodes for Nomi were a group collaboration with Will and the rest of the Sensates into rescuing Riley and it was certainly fun to see Nomi put her hacking skills to the test when she aided Will into getting into Whispers facility in order to get Riley out of there. We also got to see her hacking buddy Bug again as well as another shining moment of how brilliant Amanita was throughout the final two episodes.

Lito Rodriguez: He wasn't in the penultimate episode and Hernando wasn't in the final two episodes and we still don't know whether or not Joaquin will out him but his skills did come in handy when it came to charming a female doctor (his bit in Operation: Rescue Riley) and the moment where he reminded Will that they took part in an orgy half a season ago was certainly priceless.

Will Gorski: The finale was probably the biggest for Will and Riley and their whole relationship in general. He got everyone to get him to Iceland to rescue Riley and also had to experience her traumatic past while they were escaping (along with various interactions with Jonas, Angel and Whispers). He was also left in a bit of a sticky predicament as the episode ended as well.

Riley Blue: Wow, that finale was traumatic as hell for the poor girl. The flashbacks to her husband and baby's death, the current torture she was suffering at Whispers and even being forced to relive her past experiences as she was escaping with Will. Some truly excellent acting from Tuppence Middleton in the last two episodes. I did like that her and Will got a moment together in the end.

Kala Dandekar: We got to see various skills from Kala in the finale (getting Wolfgang out of a stick situation, helping Will to wake up Riley) but even then, there were some bad times for Kala. Going by what she saw with Wolfgang, it might be a while before things go further with them. On the plus side, it's nice that we've seen her interact with more members of the same cluster though.

Wolfgang Bogdanov: Things got bloody and they got bloody rather fast. While Wolfgang was able to get Felix to safety, he then managed to lay waste to his uncle's gang before taking out his uncle in one violent swoop. Actually the flashbacks to when Wolfgang killed another important family member was a good way of highlighting how dangerous he was (along with his method for helping Will/Riley escape). It also put something of a damper on things with him and Kala for the time being.

Sun Bak: And the bad stuff kept on coming for more of the cluster members. While Sun helped Will beat the crap out of several security guards during Rescue Riley, she also had the misfortune of finding out that her father was killed and that her brother intended for her to remain in prison. If the show comes back for a second season, then I'm hoping Sun is freed within the first half of it.

Capheus: Van Damn came through various times in the last two episodes. His skills with stealing cars helped Will and Riley with their escape while in his own life he also managed (with a little help from Sun) protect the mob boss's daughter and save the mob boss himself. As a final note, I also love that one of the last images of the finale was a moment where all eight Sensates were on a boat together and given that the whole Jonas/Whisper/Angel stuff is far from resolved, this show has to come back for a second season. Go on, Netflix, you know you want to.

All of Sense8's first season can be seen on Netflix. If you haven't seen it, do so now.

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.

Comic-Con 2015: American Horror Story/Scream Queens - Panels/Spoilers

The final set of panels I'm going to cover and it made sense for Comic-Con to have merged both of Ryan Murphy's horror/comedy anthology shows. The panel had a string of excellent people - including Kathy Bates, Jamie Lee Curtis, Sarah Paulson, Matt Bomer and Evan Peters to name a few. Without further ado, here's what we learned about both shows.

American Horror Story

- Characters from previous will appear in Hotel. Murphy didn't specify which ones though. Also, once again the chances of Jessica Lange reappearing seem particularly high.
- We got character names. Kathy Bates will play Iris, Matt Bomer is Donovan, Evan Peters is Mr March and Sarah Paulson will be playing Hypodermic Sally. All of these characters are villains, including Angela Bassett's too.
- There will be no musical numbers this season but Gaga's character will have something to do with fashion. Murphy revealed that Gaga actually wrote him a letter for a role on the show.
- Sarah Paulson expressed a delight to guest on Scream Queens. You just know that's going to happen. Her character in Hotel however may not survive the season.
- A brief trailer was also released, featuring Gaga's hand. The start of those little themed trailers before we get a major concept one closer to transmission.

Scream Queens

- A lot of major spoilers for this side of the panel. We'll meet the killer in the opening episode. The cast have to do two shots - one where they're innocent, the other where they're the killer.
- Jamie Lee Curtis's character will do something that is a nod to Halloween. Her character will also kick ass and have sex with an 18 year old. Murphy made it clear on the panel how much he adores Jamie.
- Lea Michele confirmed that Hester is incredibly jealous of Chanel. The earmuffs also worn by Billie Lourd's Chanel minion character are a plot point as well.
- Zayday on the other hand also wants to stop Chanel from running rampant. That's something both her and Cathy seem to have in common.
- A musical episode may or may not happen in this show. Murphy hasn't ruled it out as such.

The panels for both shows were hilarious and informative enough. It's going to be interesting watching both shows side by side over the winter months.

AHS/Scream Queens Panel Info: http://www.spoilertv.com/2015/07/american-horror-story-scream-queens.html

Scream Queens airs Tuesdays 8pm on FOX from September 22nd. American Horror Story: Hotel will premiere on FX from October. UK airdates/broadcasters are yet to be confirmed.

Comic-Con 2015: DC Panels Part 2

Second and final Comic-Con one in relation to DC, this time around covering both Gotham and the upcoming movies, Batman V. Superman: Dawn Of Justice and Suicide Squad.

Gotham

- Season 2 will be known as the rise of the villains and considering that we've got Penguin as king of the city, the early days of the Riddler and the brother/sister duo of Theo/Tabitha along with unstable Barbara, you think that would be enough, right?
- Wrong! It's more or less looking likely that Cameron Monaghan (who is appearing in the opening episode for Season 2) is playing a younger version of the Joker. He certainly went down a storm at the Panel on Saturday.
- Now that Bruce and Alfred have found the Batcave, expect a whole new chapter in their relationship.
- Because this season will be about the villains, the story will get more epic as the city falls into chaos.
- Expect a "darker edge" this year.

Batman V. Superman: Dawn Of Justice

We had the panel attended by Zack Snyder, Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck, Amy Adams and Gal Gadot and along with the above image, we also a) found out that Affleck will be starring in a solo Batman movie, which he'll be co-writing with Geoff Johns and b) a new trailer was released for the main movie itself. Highlights include ...

- The rather slimy introduction for Jesse Eisenberg's Lex Luthor. The words 'smiling assassin' never seemed more apt.
- Alfred repeatedly trying to persuade Bruce that Superman wasn't his enemy. Not to mention the actual face-offs between Batman and Superman as well.
- A little parting gift from the Joker, which suddenly makes those flashback rumours seem more plausible as well.
- Holly Hunter as a very worried Senator. Like everyone else, she's not so quick to embrace Superman.
- Wonder Woman in a few shots as well.

While I still have some reservations about this movie, I have to admit that the trailer released over the weekend did a far better job of selling the movie than the one released back in April did.

Suicide Squad

An edit here because due to the leaks, Warner Brothers have now released the trailer for the movie officially and it's a bloody thing of beauty. Much as I enjoyed the second trailer for Batman V. Superman: Dawn Of Justice, let's just say the Suicide Squad trailer edged it out a bit more. Especially with that haunting song used in the trailer.

- Margot Robbie's take on Harley Quinn certainly looks fairly consistent with the character. There seemed to be a moment where she's being an acrobat in her prison cell.
- Amanda Waller forms the Squad with the sole intention of blaming them if things go wrong. Again, pretty consistent.
- Some good shots of Deadshot and Captain Boomerang, the latter who quips to Harley about crazy ones.
- Jared Leto's Joker definitely has a menacing vibe to him. I think it's safe to say they've struck gold here with Leto's casting.
- More to the point, I'm glad the movie won't shy away from the darker aspects of both Joker and Harley's relationship as well.

Also revealed during the weekend by DC was that The Killing Joke will be getting an animated movie next year with a 15 minute prequel that will surface online as well. Of course the story will be retold in a new way for it's animated debut though while Batman: Bad Blood will add Batwoman into the mix. 2016 is certainly going to be a busy year for both live action and animated Batman related films.

Gotham Spoilers: http://www.spoilertv.com/search/label/Gotham
Batman V. Superman: Dawn Of Justice - 2nd Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WWzgGyAH6Y
Suicide Squad Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLLQK9la6Go
The Killing Joke Info: http://www.superherohype.com/news/346961-animated-batman-the-killing-joke-and-more-officially-announced

Gotham's second season airs Mondays 8pm on FOX from September 21st, Batman V. Superman: Dawn Of Justice will be in cinemas from March 25th 2016 and Suicide Squad from August 5th 2016.

Comic-Con 2015: DC Panels Part 1

Mainly for the main CW shows and a certain series about to make it's debut on CBS during the month of October. Here are the respective bits you need to know from the Comic-Con panels.

Arrow

- Above is a picture of Oliver's new costume, as he will now be calling himself the Green Arrow, which funnily is also the title for the fourth season opening episode.
- Diggle will also be getting a costume this season.
- Former Desperate Housewives actor Neal McDonough has been cast in the role of Damien Darhk. However, the Batman villain Anarchy will also be a threat to the gang this year as well.
- The show will also be adding the character of Mr Terrific, who in the show's version will be gay and a friend of Felicity's.
- New interactions will be key this season, especially between Malcolm, Felicity, Laurel and Thea.

The Flash

- Biggest news revealed was that Masters Of Sex actor Teddy Sears will be playing Jay Garrick in the new season while Shantel VanSanten will play Patty Spivot, a love interest for Barry.
- Wally West will also be popping up at some point while fans can expect to see Grodd back and a Captain Cold/Golden Glider episode early in the season.
- Season 2 will open up months after the first season finale with Iris being a help to Team Flash.
- Barry will regret not saving his mother and Henry will eventually get out of prison.
- Cisco will be dealing with some new abilities and the villain for Season 2 will be Zoom.

Meanwhile the CW also released a trailer for the upcoming Vixen series, which will premiere on CWSeed from August 25th. Although confirmed months ago, we will be seeing both Oliver and Barry in the animated series too. The show looks like a good addition to this particular universe and hopefully, it'll pave the way for a live action version of Vixen to appear in the other shows at some point.

Legends Of Tomorrow

- There's a lot of emphasis from Caity Lotz on her character, White Canary being dangerous and unafraid to die since being revived from the dead.
- The greatest thing about the show will be it's ability for time travel. That will be a big factor in the show.
- Hawkgirl's lover, Hawkman will appear in the series. Ciara Renee is also excited to explore the reincarnation aspects of her character.
- The inspiration for the gang is both The Magnificent Seven and Ocean's Eleven.
- Professor Stein will apparently have the arrogance to think he can mediate a dysfunctional family, according to Victor Garber.

Supergirl

- Peter Facinelli has joined the series as Maxwell Lord.
- The producers want to do both Supergirl and her famous cousin's mythology justice.
- Expect several strong female characters in this show.
- Melissa Benoist on her costume: "It’s impossible not to feel empowered & brave when I’m wearing it.”
-  Executive Producer Ali Adler on Kara: "You'll see her first as female and you'll remember her as powerful. She's a badass."

More Information: http://www.spoilertv.com/2015/07/superhero-saturday-comic-con-panel-live.html
Vixen Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6rSM_0L5pk

Vixen will air in August on CWSeed while Arrow, The Flash and Supergirl will premiere on the CW and CBS from October onwards. Legends Of Tomorrow will air in January 2016.

Comic-Con 2015: Sherlock - Christmas Special & Series 4 Details

To kick off things, the BBC have rather nicely given us a new image from Sherlock's upcoming Christmas special.

While it's not an actual image from the episode itself, it's still a nice reminder of course that the special is set during Victorian times and pretty much in it's own little bubble as well. In some ways, that's a little frustrating as it's likely they won't resolve the cliffhanger we were left with in His Last Vow but on the other hand, the clip they released from the special did poke a lot of fun though ("I'm your landlady, not a plot device"), so that works for me.

Meanwhile while Benedict Cumberbatch couldn't attend the panel himself for Comic-Con (neither did Martin Freeman), he did however take part along with Mark Gatiss in Andrew Scott's amusing video where the three of them explained their absences. As for the panel itself, it was attended by Steven Moffat, Sue Vertue and Rupert Graves and here are some tidbits we did learn ....

- A crossover with Doctor Who could be a possibility. Moffat didn't seem against the idea this time.
- Sue Vertue said they were trying to get Sherlock to air in the US closer/same day as the UK.
- Hint was made at the third Holmes brother.
- Irene won at the end of A Scandal In Belgravia apparently. Moffat doesn't know if the character will be seen again.
- Series 4 hasn't been written yet but Moffat and company do know where they will be going with it. Expect to be "sucker punched into emotional devastation".
- The sexism of the era will be central to the Christmas special. Somehow factors Molly in a way.
- A clue for the Christmas special is also "ghosts".
- The Christmas special will also be shown in selected cinemas worldwide.

Sherlock Panel & More: http://www.spoilertv.com/2015/07/sherlock-comic-con-panel-live-updates.html

Sherlock's Christmas special will air on BBC1 and in cinemas around Christmas. Series 4 begins filming in 2016.

Comic-Con 2015: Doctor Who - Series 9 Trailer & Airdate Confirmed

Kicking off the early days of Comic-Con 2015, the cast and crew of Doctor Who arrived in style to give us the lowdown for the upcoming series.

Hosted by Chris Hardwick, the hour panel comprised of showrunner/executive producer Steven Moffat as well as stars themselves Peter Capaldi, Jenna Coleman and Michelle Gomez - the latter two making their debut at the event. While there was a lot of crypticness in relation to upcoming plot points from the new series (amidst the banter and cosplays), a trailer was then released and here are some of the highlights ....

Not only are the Daleks back then (en masse, even with a 60s model) but going from the various shots in the trailer, it looks like both Karn and Skaro are also making their returns. It's likely for the opening story, The Magician's Apprentice/The Witch's Familiar. While also not officially confirmed, those Davros as a child rumours are also looking likely to be true, given that Peter Capaldi has revealed that the Doctor will help a war victim with disastrous results.

Keeping with the opening story, we had various shots of the Master/Missy in the trailer and between Michelle Gomez, Peter Capaldi and Steven Moffat, there's been a lot of interesting points made on the dynamic that Missy will have with the Doctor this series. She'll definitely be her evil self and no doubt has some kind of a role in the Dalek stuff this series but it also seems we're going to learn more about the Doctor/Master friendship as well.

In terms of other confirmations, it looks like Toby Whithouse's story will feature an underwater city/terrifying ghosts, there's a moment where the Doctor dons some shades and a guitar, some hugging with him and Clara, an alien with two faces as well as some child snatching Zygons. Surprisingly enough, we didn't actually get any clips of Osgood in the trailer though Steven Moffat has confirmed that there will be a 'tough love' element to her returning two parter.

What took you so long, old man? - And then there's Maisie Williams character from the connected episodes, The Girl Who Died/The Woman Who Lived. While the former episode has been confirmed as a Viking on a spaceship story, the latter one has Williams in highway gear, confronting the Doctor - whom she seems to have a history with. Moffat gave us no clues as to who her character will be but the robotic monsters will be named The Mire though.

As trailers go, it's definitely one of the best the show has done and has set up the tone for Series 9 pretty well.

Series 9 Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bB8fh4QUy-A

Series 9 Press Release: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/doctorwho/entries/3c966a53-430b-4764-9b78-b44aef223a17

Series 9 of Doctor Who will air on BBC1 and BBCAmerica from September 19th.

Sense8 - Death Doesn't Let You Say Goodbye/What Is Human?

Getting closer to the end of the season of this wonderful show and these two episodes were some of the best television I've witnessed.

Nomi Marks: What can I say? Her scenes in these two episodes were just sublime. The moment she connected with Lito over their loneliness and being outcasts was just absorbing to watch. A beautifully acted moment between Jamie Clayton and Miguel Angel Silvestre and the reunion with Amanita resulted in some well timed fireworks as well. Not to mention the fact that Nomi along with her other cluster members experienced a concert (courtesy of Riley's father) and relived her own birth as well. Stunning stuff.

Lito Rodriguez: Boy, does Lito really know how not to deal with a break up or not? The poor brooded, ate a lot of ice cream, lost a flip flop and it was the tag team effort of both Nomi and Wolfgang that helped him out of his funk. The fight with Joaquin to get Daniela away from the latter was entertaining but indicative of natural character progression while the reunion with Hernando was very much welcomed. Nice one, Lito.

Will Gorski: The connection between Will and Riley has been building nice over the last few episodes quite nicely but through these two, the general arc seems to be picking up speed as well. Will is getting more and more information about Whispers courtesy of Jonas (Riley through another source) and in the 10th episode, I actually found himself enjoying Will's scenes with his father - and that wasn't something I would've said earlier in the season. I also liked him interacting with Wolfgang and Capheus too.

Riley Blue: Out of all the characters, these last two episodes were fairly major for Riley. The connection to Will, her reunion with her father, seeing his concert, meeting another Cluster who told her not to trust Jonas/get out of Iceland and then there was her backstory. I honestly didn't see it coming and it was certainly well handled and the scenes where she lost her husband/child were harrowing.

Kala Dandekar: Again, the connection with Wolfgang has been handled nicely but I loved the fact that she finally got to interact with another member of her cluster. The scenes where her and Capheus were discussing dancing, violence and a Van Damn movie were just brilliant and I also like that she's getting closer to admitting that she doesn't want to get married as well. Then again, even her father has picked up on her reluctance for marriage now.

Wolfgang Bogdanov: Like Lito, there was some character progression here. If Wolfgang taught Lito how to fight, then Lito showed Wolfgang how to lie effectively during a gang dispute. Then we got that particular bad ass moment where Wolfgang showed off his skills with a rocket launcher. Also on an interesting note, there was a tiny bit of antagonism between Wolfgang and Will when they met up briefly as the latter talked about Independence Day.

Sun Bak: Perhaps a little underutilised in these last two episodes compared to previous ones. It did seem like her father was beginning to realise that having Sun take the rap for her brother's crimes wasn't such a good idea but aside from a few fleeting interactions (with Will and Capheus on the boat) and watching her birth/enjoying the orchestra, not a lot of Sun here. Hopefully that changes for the last two episodes though.

Capheus: Some great moments for Capheus in these last two episodes. His scenes with Riley and Kala for example were sublime, the backstory about his younger sister was devastating and the little moment where he talked about liking fireworks made me smile as well. Also, I might be reading into stuff but could the writers be setting up a future Wolfgang/Kala/Capheus triangle as well? Oh and all of the sensates share the same birthday too - August 8th.

Next blog, I'll recap/talk about the final two episodes, Just Turn The Wheel And The Future Changes and I Can't Leave Her.

Recap/Review: Penny Dreadful's 2x10: And They Were Enemies

And then there was this finale. One that while not quite a game changer was definitely a changing of the status quo (including two character deaths) for next season.

Written by John Logan
Directed by Brian Kirk

Know Your Master: And finally Vanessa and her husband to be faced off with each other - and it was something else. Seeing the devil himself speak through that fetish doll that Evelyn made certainly added a level of creepiness to the whole proceeding along with the temptation of happily ever after life for Vanessa and Ethan with children. Of course, Vanessa was able to resist temptation, managed to defeat (for now) her 'Master' while Ethan took care of Evelyn and revealed his true self to Vanessa. Sadly for those hoping for the start of a beautiful relationship between the pair - well, that didn't pan out with Ethan confessing to murder to Detective Rusk and Vanessa being left on her lonesome but there's always next season though.

Evil Dances In White: Especially if the evil in question happens to be Lily and Dorian. The duo might have had only one scene in this episode but it was enough to set up a plotline for next season where the immortal pair took great delight in taunting Victor about their future as he realised to his horror that he couldn't kill either of them. After being so peripheral for so long, it's nice to know that both Dorian and Lily are going to be more prominent character next season, even if it is the two of them going down the villainous path.

The Quick Escape: If Evelyn's death was somewhat speedier than expected, then so was Caliban's escape from his underground prison. I'm not complaining mind - the idea of him being in captivity for most of next season would've gotten fairly boring in a short space of time, so I had no problem watching him kill his former employers to escape (even though he spared Lavinia). I also liked the brief conversation between him and Vanessa as well and like Ethan and Malcolm, Caliban also got out of London, though like those two I also expect him to return as well next year.

Going Home: Both Malcolm and Victor came close to ending their lives thanks to Evelyn using their failings as fathers but while both of them actually survived the episode, only Malcolm strived for better. Taking Sembene's body back to Africa (sad he died) was the right thing for him to do and now that he has been forced to face up to his failings, perhaps Malcolm can move forward as a character next season. Still a shame we lost Sembene though.

Fabulous Hair: This season has had a lot of highlights and one of them has been Lyle himself. Throughout the season, he's been a joy to watch - whether it's been either helping the gang or forced to spy on them courtesy of Evelyn and for a moment, I did think he was a goner in this episode. Luckily, he lived for another, took a few witches out and even offered some comforting words for Victor as well. Needless to say, I do hope that he comes back next season.

Season 3 will air late spring/early summer 2016 on both Showtime and SkyAtlantic.

First Look: ITV's Jekyll & Hyde

It might be another few months before this series actually airs but ITV are already getting into the promotional spirit for Charlie Higson's upcoming supernatural drama, Jekyll & Hyde, starring former DaVinci's Demons actor, Tom Bateman in the dual leading roles.

Speaking at MCM's Comic Con back in May with Bateman and other members of the cast, Higson and ITV showed audiences a 11 second trailer (I assume a much longer one will surface in the next few weeks), which gave a tantalising glimpse of the series with Bateman certainly capturing the bad boy elements of Hyde particularly well.

Is it possible that after a series of mishaps (Demons, anyone?) that ITV have finally nailed a supernatural show? In a few months time, we'll know for certain with this ten parts series but for now, the signs are looking promising.

MCM Comic-Con Spoilers/Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCseuVodiA4

Jekyll & Hyde will air on ITV in the Autumn. Proper time and date to be confirmed.

Batman V. Superman: Dawn Of Justice - Exclusive Pictures From Entertainment Weekly

It might be another eight months before Batman V. Superman: Dawn Of Justice hits the cinemas but with Comic Con coming next week, Entertainment Weekly have released some pictures and I decided to pick my favourite ones for this blog.

First of all - that cover is amazing. I might still have a lot of reservations for the movie itself after that underwhelming trailer from a few months ago but the cover is a work of beauty. On it, we've got Bruce Wayne/Batman (Ben Affleck), Diana Prince/Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) and Clark Kent/Superman (Henry Cavill). Anyone else notice that Wonder Woman's costume actually has more colour to it than previous pictures had shown? Definitely an improvement.

A further six more pictures were released including a rather suggestive one of Bruce and Diana at a social gathering as well as Superman meeting an eager public. There was also this little beauty as well where we got to see Affleck's Batman with his eyes lit up facing Superman in a fairly intense looking scene. Of course one picture I definitely had to share here ...

Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor. Lex Luthor with a full mane of red hair as well to boot. Now whether he loses his hair throughout the movie or not, it's an interesting look for Eisenberg's Luthor. Meanwhile the cast and crew for the movie will be attending Comic Con next week (July 11th), so another trailer may also materialise.

More Pictures: http://www.ew.com/gallery/batman-v-superman-dawn-justice-first-look-photos/2232978_batman-and-superman-square-first-time

Batman V. Superman: Dawn Of Justice will be released in cinemas from March 25th 2016.