DCU Blog - February 2023 Edition: Pennyworth Ends, The Penguin Cast Round Up And The Flash Debuts Trailer

Well, 2023 has certainly kicked things off for DC in quite a fashion. With the DCU Chapter One slate receiving a mostly positive reception, we've definitely had plenty to mull over. Here we go.

On Superbowl Sunday, the first official trailer for The Flash movie debuted, putting Ezra Miller, Michael Keaton, Ben Affleck and Sasha Calle front and centre to quite a reception, not to mention low-key confirming certain spoilers for the movie as well.

On top of the positive reception for the trailer, CinemaCon will actually premiere The Flash movie in April, though we'll have to wait until June 16th to see it ourselves. Either way, it feels like the WB have a lot of confidence in this one hitting big for them.

Meanwhile there are rumours that The Batman - Part II could begin filming as early as November this year but this has yet to be confirmed by an official source.

Shazam! Fury Of The Gods will be in cinemas from March 17th but whether or not the character will remain in the DCU depends on this movie's box office numbers.

On Valentine's Day, both director Todd Phillips and Lady Gaga posted a first look image of the latter as Harley Quinn with Joaquin Phoenix as Joker for Joker: Folie A Deux.

Recent test screening are reporting that there may be problems with Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom. The movie isn't due until December so there's enough time to work out those potential problems.

In terms of James Gunn's proposed DCU movies, expect an actor for Superman: Legacy that will be a few years younger than Batman for The Brave And The Bold while James Mangold has expressed interest for Swamp Thing.

Rhenzy Feliz, Michael Kelly, Shohreh Aghdashloo and Deirdre O'Connell have been cast in undisclosed rules for The Penguin series for HBO Max, which is now in production in New York.

Netflix have acquired the rights to Dead Boy Detectives which was previously due to be streamed on HBO Max.

Both Superman And Lois and Gotham Knights are due to air on the CW from March 14th. UK dates to be confirmed in due course.

Pennyworth has been cancelled after three seasons by HBO Max. Following the recent axings of both Titans and Doom Patrol, this isn't a shocking turn of events.

The final season of The Flash is currently filming it's series finale, which will feature both Savitar and Cobalt Blue (Rick Cosnett) to name a few returning faces.

James Gunn has confirmed that casting for Creature Commandos is nearly complete. I'd expect that to be revealed very soon.

Steve Agee's John Economos will be coming back to a DC project very soon, as confirmed by James Gunn.

Well, that's it for this month. Quite a bit to get through there, lol. 

My Review of Cocaine Bear (2023)

 

Written by Jim Warren

Directed by Elizabeth Banks

Eddie (to Syd): "A bear did cocaine!"

Well, if there's a future cult classic in the making, it's probably going to be this movie. Except it won't because this will definitely be something of a massive hit. A movie about a bear going feral after ingesting a lot of cocaine. Yup, not as crazy as it sounds folks.

Loosely based on the infamous Pablo Eskobear incident from 1985, this film opened with drug snuggled Andrew C. Thornton II (Matthew Rhys) dropping his bags of cocaine into the forest from a plane by accident and then plumetting to his death in a desperate attempt to retrieve said drugs. Unfortunately for nearly every other character in this movie, it's a black American bear who gets their hands on the coke and the results are messy as anything.

With an extremely feral  bear off it's hinges on the white powder all this movie needed was a group of characters for the bear to go after in it's pursuit of more coke and we certainly got an eclectic group here. Most of them of course not surviving the events of this adventure and some who just about managed to make it out of the incident alive, but just barely.

The few lucky survivors of course included a single mother and nurse named Sari (Keri Russell) who found herself looking for her daughter, Dee Dee (Brooklynn Prince) and the latter's friend, Henry (Christian Convery). Children shouldn't be experimenting with drugs and after this experience, I don't think Dee Dee and Henry will ever touch the stuff again. Outside of the bear herself, Sari might be the most prominent female character in the movie.

Then there was Eddie (Alden Ehrenreich), a grieving husband whose wife recently died and who was also revealed to be the son of another drug lord named Syd (Ray Liotta). Eddie's scenes with best friend, Daveed (O'Shea Jackson Jr) were the strongest of the movie along with their temporary alliance with gang member Stache (Aaron Holliday) in trying to find the cocaine, only to encounter both an overly ambitious Bob (Isiah Whitlock Jr) and of course the bear itself, along with Syd and a climatic final showdown in a cave with not just mama bear herself but also her cubs.

In the end, we got our survivors but what about the victims themselves. Syd learned that not putting family first could be fatal while throughout the movie we got peppered with plenty of cannon fodder for the bear. This included an unfortunate newly wed Elsa (Hannah Hoekstra), two ambulance people, Beth (Kahyun Kim) and Tom (Scott Seiss) as well as a park ranger named Liz (Margo Martindale) and Peter (Jesse Tyler Ferguson), all of who got taken down by that bear in scenes that were suitably gory and even funny in parts. Yes, there was a lot of humour throughout this whole film.

- There was mid and post credit scenes including the dog Rosette having ingesting Daveed's fingers that Bob had shot off him. Elsa's husband, Olaf (Kristofer Hivju) was also a rather fun character.

- The real life bear unfortunately had died from ingesting cocaine, so this movie does take a lot of creative liberties with this story.

- Standout music: White Lines (Don't Do It) by Melle Mel.

- Chronology: 1985 in Knoxville, Tennessee for this movie.

Cocaine Bear was every bit as daft and fun to watch as a movie as the trailers and marketing have been for the last few months. Some genuinely funny scenes, a tiny bit of gory moments and a largely solid group of engaging characters did make for an enjoyable romp. Elizabeth Banks might have her hit and miss moments as a director but this one definitely fell into the hit category.

Rating: 8 out of 10

My Review of Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania (2023)

 

Written by Jeff Loveness

Directed by Peyton Reed

Kang: "You think you could win?"

Scott: "I don't have to win. We both just have to lose."

After the first two movies telling smaller scale but reasonably entertaining stories within the MCU, this third entry decided it was time to up the ante and tell something rather bigger. In other words and what will be a stickler Fr many, this movie felt like an entire prequel for Avengers: The Kang Dynasty than a third Ant-Man adventure.

Since his brief appearance in the first season finale of Loki, there have been certain expectations for Jonathan Majors as Kang and whether or not the latter could pose as a big a threat as Thanos did during the Infinity Saga and this movie certainly proved that the potential was definitely there. Without a doubt, Kang was the best thing about this movie.

This varient in particular found himself trapped in the Quantum Realm and had befriended Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) until the latter betrayed him. Kang got his revenge by conquering the Quantum Realm but ruling one place wasn't enough for Kang. He wanted the rest of the rest of the universe and he was determined that Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) was going to help, no matter what.

Having Ant-Man be the first Avenger to encounter Kang was an interesting choice as was this movie's decision to be largely stuck in the Quantum Realm, due to Cassie's (Kathryn Newton) experiments going wrong. If you loved the father/daughter dynamic with Scott and Cassie in the first two movies, then it's upped here along with Cassie getting her own suit and literally getting stuck into the action, not only with Kang and a rebellion but also the return of an old enemy with a new guise.

Did anyone really really miss Darren Cross/Yellowjacket (Corey Stoll)? Well, even if you didn't he came back but with something of a homicidal upgrade? Hump Cross became MODOK, worming under the thumb of Kang before a confrontation with Cassie saw MODOK having a sudden change of heart. It's a pretty undercooked arc and the MODOK design was hideous. It's easily one of the weaker elements of the movie.

Fortunately though, while MODOK's story was lacking, Kang did pack enough of a punch as a villain to mostly keep things moving along nicely. Kang we given some great scenes with Scott, Cassie and especially Janet, though he had far less interactions with either Hope (Evangeline Lilly) and Hank (Michael Douglas). Speaking of Hope and Hank, both of them had their moments in the movie, especially with the latter and a commentary on ant socialism.

The recurring theme of family continued to be a dominating  factor within this movie. Kang in some ways was exiled by his own while Scott and Cassie had to rely on another as Hope learned more about both of her parents. Even Janet found herself having to open up about her past deeds when confronted with the consequences of her past. In the end, family ties got strengthened and Kang will be an even bigger problem for everyone moving forward.

- A lot of the recurring/supporting characters were absent here, though David Dastmalchian appeared as a new character named Veb. The character being somewhat fixated on holes.

- Scott's book Look Out For The Little Guy is actually available to buy. Even Hank admitted to reading it during a character moment.

- I hate to admit it but actors like Bill Murray and William Jackson-Harper were fairly wasted in the minor roles they had in the movie.

- Both Kang and MODOK aren't generally Ant-Man related enemies. The latter character had been considered for previous MCU entries. 

- The mid and post credits scenes involved multiple versions of Kang, including Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and Mobius (Owen Wilson) observing one in Victorian times.

- Chronology: Ten years since the events of the first movie.

Let me just say that while Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania certainly has it's flaws as a movie, it's nowhere near as bad as some critics made it out to be. For the most part, it's a decent enough romp with some action sequences, family drama and a decent outing for Kang. It's far from the worst entry in the MCU, even if it's not the greatest opener for Phase 5.

Rating: 7 out of 10

My Review of Ant-Man And The Wasp (2018)

 

Written by Chris McKenna And Erik Sommers And Paul Rudd And Andrew Barrer And Gabriel Ferrari

Directed by Peyton Reed

Scott: "I do some dumb things and the people I love the most, they pay the price."

Remember back in 2018 when most of the Avengers were getting their asses handed to them and then a certain snap took out half the universe? Well, other stuff was going on a bit before the latter part, notably with Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) and company.

Two years since a certain civil Scott kind had no choice but to retire the Ant-Man gig and serve a house arrest, which he was nearing completion. Then chaos ensued in the form of Scott sharing visions with the once thought dead Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) in the Quantum Realm and as a result, Scott found himself getting reunited with Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and his daughter, Hope (Evangeline Lilly). Quite the reunion too I might add.

Since the last time Scott saw either one of them, Hope assumed her Mother's former mantle of Wasp and Hank was just annoyed with Scott's recklessness in general but both of them needed him for their ultimate  goal of going into the Quantum Realm and retrieving Janet. Unfortunately for all three of them, they had quite a few obstacles in their way.

The most notable one being the main antagonist of the piece - Ava Starr, aka Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) whose motivations for Janet were quickly revealed to be more survival than world ending based. Ghost along with Hank's former friend, Bill Foster (Laurence Fishburne) had the unenviable ability of being able to pause in and out but it had gotten to the point where her very life was at stake and she was close to death.

That largely put her at odd with both Ant-Man and the Wasp and many decent enough fight scenes between the three of them as a shrunken lab became the hottest commodity of the movie along with getting Janet back into the present day. Hank succeeded in getting Janet but their reunion while nice also felt a tad rushed. However despite her actions throughout the whole movie, Ghost did manage to mostly get what she wanted, bucked an MCU villain trend (which some others have since bucked) and even took a little accountability for her actions.

In terms of villains, Ghost wouldn't be on anyone's favourite list for the MCU but she was somewhat better compared to black market dealer Sonny Burch (Walter Goggins). I didn't really care for him as a secondary villain but he did have some decent scenes with Luis (Michael Pena), Kurt (David Dastmalchian) and Dave (Tip 'TI' Harris) and I did think those three were better used in this movie compared to the first one.

As for the family, it's again the strength of the Ant-Man movies. Scott had great scenes again with Cassie (Abby Ryder Fortson) while the Van Dyne/Pym and Bill/Ava dynamics also worked similarly well. There was also the introduction of Agent Jimmy Woo (Randall Park) who seemed to have a more friendlier antagonistic banter with Scott to boot.

- The mid and post credit scenes saw Scott trapped in the Quantum Realm while his loved ones were getting the snap.

- Scott's suit constantly malfunctioning had it's funny moments but at least we did get one moment where it had severe consequences with Hope having to save his life.

- Hope had a little too much fun with mocking Scott for being Team Captain America. 

- Chronology: Yup, it's 2018, set during the events of Avengers: Infinity War.

Ant-Man And The Wasp made for a decent sequel, keeping the action relatively smaller scale and more personal. It's not a better or worse film than the first one, though in some respects a bit more of the same way. Overall, it's pretty decent stuff. 

Rating: 7 out of 10

My Review of Ant-Man (2015)

 

Written by Edgar Wright And Joe Cornish And Adam McKay And Paul Rudd

Directed by Peyton Reed

Hank: "Scott, I need you to be the Ant-Man."

Scott: "One question ... Is it too late to change the name?"

Of all the Marvel characters who would've bagged himself a trilogy, I bet no one expected this little guy to be one of them, huh? Let's just say, it's a combination of the security of the MCU and the general appeal of Paul Rudd, because like Thor, Ant-Man's foray on to the big screen has been a mixed bag at the best of the times. However this movie mostly kicked things off to a decent start.

Former career criminal Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) gets himself out of prison but in order to actually support his daughter, Cassie (Abby Ryder-Forstan), the former criminal got in with his old crew, robbed the wrong place and acquired a certain suit that he really had no place in taking and as a result, thongs took something of an interesting turn with Scott Lang becoming the title character of the movie

In the comics, Scott Lang wasn't the first Ant-Man and his predecessor, Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) is a huge presence in this film. Mostly to help Scott but largely to test him as he orchestrated the events that lead to Scott getting the suit in the first place. This also included fun scenes involving Scott to train with and ultimately control actual ants while introducing Pym's daughter, Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) into the mix.

As the only female character with more prominence than either Cassie or Scott's ex-wife, Maggie (Judy Greer), Hope many served as something of a foil for both Hank and Scott, though the movie doesn't waste a huge amount of time in setting up a romance between Hope and Scott. While the MCU has had stronger female leads, Hope's a good character with Evangeline Lilly more than holding her own with both Paul Rudd and Michael Douglas here.

As for the baddie of the piece, I found Corey Stoll to be something of a mixed bag as Darren Cross /Yellowjacket. To his credit, he does get some good fight scenes with Ant-Man during the third act of the movie and his costume was pretty striking as was the titular character's too bur he's more of a middle tier villain nonetheless. Fine for this movie but not as compelling as other villains have been in this franchise.

As for the rest of the characters of the movie, I didn't really care for Scott's gang friends, Luis (Michael Pena), Dave (Tip 'TI' Harris) or Kurt (David Dastmalchian). They're okay enough supporting characters but that's really it. Likewise, didn't greatly care for Maggie or her cop boyfriend, Jim Paxton (Bobby Cannavale) but I did like Scott's scenes with Cassie and anything involving the Quantum Realm was interesting to see play out in this movie.

- The credit scenes involved Hank giving Hope a prototype Wasp suit as well as Steve and Sam getting a hold of Bucky, setting up Captain America: Civil War.

- Edgar Wright originally was slated to direct the movie, but left due to creative differences. He does get a writers credit and he did cast Paul Rudd.

- The movie did a lot to lay the ground work of bring able to survive in the Quantum Realm and introduce original Wasp (and Hope's mother) Janet Van Dyne in the next movie. 

- Chronology: I'm assuming 2015 and shortly after the events of Avengers: Age Of Ultron.

Ant-Man might not be a Top 10 MCU movie (and neither are it's sequels) but this movie does have enough charm to make it a pleasant enough experience. That's largely down to Paul Rudd in the title role, some family connections and a decent third act though.

Rating: 7 out of 10

My Review of Knock At The Cabin (2023)

 

Written by M. Night Shyamalan And Steve Desmond And Michael Sherman

Directed by M. Night Shyamalan

Leonard (to Andrew/Eric): "It's time for the next sacrifice. Are you willing to make a choice?"

As a gay guy who loves the horror genre, the one thing I've wanted was more was to have prominent LGBT characters front and centre with LGBT actors in the roles while at the same time giving us a quality movie. With this entry from M. Night Shyamalan, I more or less got that wish here.

Focusing on a gay couple named Andrew (Ben Aldridge) and Eric (Jonathan Groff), this apocalyptic themed outing based on Paul Tremblay's book, The Cabin At The End OF The World saw the pair taking a vacation in in the titular cabin with their eight old year daughter, Wen (Kristen Cui), only to find that a break away from their city lives attracted some very unwanted visitors too.

The visitors being mild mannered grade school teacher, Leonard (Dave Bautista), nurse Sabrina (Nikki Amuka-Bird), single mother and line cook, Adriane (Abby Quinn) and gas company man, Raymond (Rupert Grint). The foursome are convinced that the world will end and the only way to save will be for Andrew, Eric and Wen to make a horrible sacrifice.

Needless to say, both Andrew and Eric (who spend a fair chunk of the movie tied up) have somewhat different thoughts about the pickle they've been placed in. Andrew's completely skeptical of Leonard's doom mongering prophecy and believed him to be a charlatan and challenged Leonard at every turn. This included Andrew getting free and coming close to nearly killing Leonard before the latter took himself out of the equation, so to speak.

Then there was Eric. Unlike Andrew, Eric did believe in Leonard's bad omen and at first it did seem like he had been influenced by largely being concussed but as the final few minutes unfolded, it became sort of clear that perhaps Leonard had a point. If you've read the book, you'd know what the outcome of this movie would be. However, things were changed and it's probably a change that made sense for the general audience if nothing else.

It's a change that I'm not too mad about but one that might divide fans of the book or even Andrew and Eric here. As a couple, there's good chemistry between Ben Aldridge and Jonathan Groff. Also while I appreciated the use of flashbacks to flesh out their relationship, I do wish we had seen a bit more intimacy with the pair of them. Saying that, this does seem like a better step forward for mainstream gay couples in the genre, so there's that.

As for the doomsday guys in question, both Leonard and Sabrina were the only two that the movie dedicated enough time on and both Dave Bautista and Nikki Amuka-Bird were excellent. I did feel a bit bad for Adriane but Raymond (or Rory) was definitely the most antagonistic of the group before his rather quick demise. 

- This is the second movie from Shyalaman to be an R-Rated one. There's a bit of a Tarantino influence as well with certain scenes.

- Each of the strangers wore a different colour (Leonard/white, Sabrina/yellow, Raymond/red and Adriane/blue) to represent being one of the horsemen of the apocalypse.

- Standout music: Boogie Shoes certainly got used in a rather interesting way, especially towards the end of the movie.

- Chronology: I'm going to assume 2023 for most of this movie.

Knock At The Cabin made for a tense thriller with excellent performances from Ben Aldridge, Jonathan Groff, Dave Bautista and Nikki Amuka-Bird. Shyalaman (who even had a brief cameo in the ,movie) delivered with the script and this will probably be regarded as one of his stronger of movies.

Rating: 8 out of 10

My Review of Harley Quinn: A Very Problematic Valentine's Day Special

 

Written by Justin Halpern And Patrick Schumacker And Dean Lorey

Directed by Cecelia Aranovich And Jennifer Coyle 

Harley (to Ivy): "Oh you can't possibly be mad at me for getting you off too good. That is not a thing."

With so many DC shows on the way out and others soon to arrive in a more connected universe, it's nice to see that we're not quite done with this particular show just yet. Season 4 might be a few months away but until, how about a very horny Valentine's Day episode for funsies?

That's exactly what this episode provided in spades as Harley was determined to give Ivy the best Valentine's Day of her life, in spite of the latter being more keen to stay home, watch a streaming show and have sex instead. This being Harley though, Ivy was going to get a little more than a quiet night in and then some.

Harley arranged a dinner at Ivy's favourite restaurant and a chase in order to save the secret of a recipe she liked. When Ivy admitted the night was in her top three, Harley took it that one step further and got Etrigan to give he a sex spell that worked too well. Let's just say that Ivy gets off, so did the rest of Gotham and then some in the biggest way ever.

As usual this episode not only helped us root for Harley and Ivy as a couple but it also highlighted that they still have work to do as a pairing too. Harley definitely needs to listen more to her green connected paramour and Ivy could do with having more fun. However, out of everyone, it was Bane who really felt the true effects of Harley's antics.

Bane spent a good portion of the episode lamenting being single on Valentine's Day before accidentally getting involved in a BDSM session with a dominatrix named Betty, who seemed genuinely smitten with Bane. Even though a gigantic Bane humped way too many Gotham buildings and very nearly Brett Goldstein (as himself), the special did end with him getting lucky with Betty nonetheless.

As for Clayface, he too wasn't having the best time on Valentine's Day either. He got robbed and split in half by Captain Boomerang, had a doomed romance with his bottom half (I'm not kidding) and then thanks to Bane, he was forced to reabsorb himself. In an episode full of insanely horny moments, Clayface's story about self love really took the most literal of turns. 

- Other romances we saw were Batman/Catwoman, Superman/Lois, Riddler/Clock King, Kite Man/Golden Glider, Joker/Bethany, King Shark/Orca, Hawkman/Hawkgirl, Darkseid/Talia, Aquaman/Mera, Killer Croc/Enchantress, The Flash/Zatanna and Wonder Woman mourning Steve Trevor.

- The episode was longer than usual and it definitely had fun referring to shows such as The Office, Ted Lasso and The Vampire Diaries. Ivy's even a fan of HBO Max funnily enough.

- Aside from one scene with Bruce Wayne at the start, there wasn't much continuity from the previous season finale.

- Chronology: Valentine's Day 2023 of course.

A Very Problematic Valentine's Day Special was a delightful return to form for this utterly madcap series. Romantic in the right places, very funny and very horny as well, there was a lot to enjoy with this one. It'll serve as a nice starter for the next season.

Rating: 8 out of 10

My Review of The Lighthouse (2019)

 

Written by Robert Eggers And Max Eggers

Directed by Robert Eggers

Thomas Wake (to Winslow): "How long have we been on this rock? Five weeks? Two days? Where are we? Help me to recollect."

Without a doubt, this will go down as one of the strangest movies I've watched. I watched this one with a relative and they were not thrilled with this choice of movie. My feelings are definitely more mixed. It's a stunning movie, but it's also rather all over the place too.

Two men on an island, guiding a lighthouse. One named Thomas Wake (Willem Dafoe) and the other going by the name of Ephraim Winslow (Robert Pattinson), only later to be revealed really Thomas Howard. They've a job to do and they're stuck with one another and it's largely an endurance test for the latter.

The former of the two, that being Wake seemed to take a bit too much pleasure in constantly undermining Winslow/Howard and getting him to do every dogsbody chore and redid them to the point where Winslow came close many times to losing his temper with Wake's domineering behaviour. As the movie progressed, the tension between both men well and truly reached boiling point.  

Repeatedly getting shitfaced drunk and badly singing cooled their mutual animosity for a bit, only to later intensify it as the two of them preyed on the others insecurities, before trying to  murder one another for good measure. Along with that, there was also the one awkward scene of Winslow having sex with a mermaid (Valeriia Karaman) for the sake of it, but it did make for a rather strange moment in an already strange enough movie.

As for both Thomases, when the alcohol ran out and temper fray even worse, both men actually did snap and came very close to killing the other. In fact, thing even got that much weirder when Wake was made to crawl around and bark like a dog by Winslow before nearly being buried alive by the latter. However it's Winslow's fate that took the more interesting of turns.

Throughout the movie the man was slowly losing his mind, seeing things that weren't there, drinking the worst substitutes for booze and being driven mad by his own past misdeeds as well as the antagonistic relationship he had with Wake. The final scene alone with Winslow certainly a bittersweet and bizarre ending to this off-kilter movie.

- The whole movie was in black and white and Willem Dafoe would later go on to work with Robert Eggers for The Northman (2022).

- No seagulls were really harmed during the making of this movie.

- Robert Eggers talked about both men representing figures in Greek mythology. Wake represented Proteus and Winslow represented Prometheus.

- Chronology: 1890s New England.

The Lighthouse marked a strong but very strange second outing for Robert Eggers. After the success of his debut with The Witch, this movie effectively played out as a two hander between Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson and both men are certainly put through the ringer here. This was something of a very strange but nonetheless fascinating movie.

Rating: 7 out of 10

My Review of Nolly (2023, ITVX Miniseries)

 

Written by Russell T. Davies

Directed by Peter Hoar

Nolly (to the press): "I am shattered and devastated. I have been brutally axed and my heart is utterly broken."

Like many people, I do tend to watch soaps and while Crossroads was something I was familiar with, it wasn't something I ever really watched.  I know it had something of a brief revival in the early 2000s but essentially, it's heyday was it's original run and part of that was down to the show's focus on a particular character. 

The character in question being motel owner, Meg Mortimer, as played by the rather indomitable Noelle Gordon (Helena Bonham Carter) or Nolly to all her friends. This three part series from Russell T. Davies opened with a young Noelle getting her first big break before jumping quite a few decades into Noelle's career as queen of daytime television. With Crossroads, Nolly was on top of the world, only for the whim of reckless men to make it all coming crashing down on her.

The men in question being ATV executive Charles Denton (Tim Wallers) and director Jack Barton (Con O'Neill) who not only fired Nolly from her own show but even teased the idea of killing her character off before relenting with a departure that would eventually allow them to bring her back for a temporary gig when the ratings for the show began to slide. Needless to say, along with Nolly's own devastation of losing her own job, there was also something of a public outcry with her sacking to boot.

In these three episodes, Nolly's downfall was explored rather well. Acknowledging her limitations as an actor and the stigma attached to soap opera, it's no wonder that comforting words from people like Larry Grayson (Mark Gatiss) or Nolly's former co-star and best friend, Tony Adams (Augustus Prew) couldn't quite get her out of her initial funk. Nolly's relationship in particular with Tony was a highlight of this miniseries with him being a genuine ally to her when it mattered the most, even down to a beautiful scene where Tony gave Nolly some tough love as she tried to make the transition into theatre. 

There are two scenes in this miniseries that really stood out the most. The first would be in the second episode when on a bus with Tony and some soap fans, Nolly gave a rather dismissive male passenger a dressing down over his disdain of soap. Given Russell T. Davies own background in soaps, there was a part of me that wouldn't be surprised if that was some of his own views on the genre coming across through Nolly's dressing down but it's a gorgeously written scene. 

The best scene though in the entire miniseries would be Nolly talking to her Gypsy co-stars and director about an affair she had with a married producer and sharing the man with his wife, something which seemed to almost endear her to her young co-stars while a trip to Bangkok had her learn the real reason behind her sacking. 

The confrontation Nolly had with Jack was sublime, leading to her return to her most infamous role as the series then ended on a poignant note with the conclusion of her death from stomach cancer. In the space of these three episodes, it's not difficult how we saw the impact that Nolly had on those around her and the legacy she had left behind.

- There are some Doctor Who connections here. Notably, Russell T. Davies, Mark Gatiss, director Peter Hoar as well characters such as Tony Adams and Nolly's agent, Michael Summerton (Max Brown) all appeared in the classic series. Freema Agyeman prior to appearing in Doctor Who also appeared in the revival of Crossroads.

- Tony's boat story sounded outrageous that I'm not surprised that many didn't believe him. I was surprised to learn he was straight but I loved his rapport with Nolly throughout the series.

- I'm sure there were moments when some archive footage of Nolly, especially at an awards ceremony popped up here. 

- Chronology: It started in 1938, took in most of 1981 before ending with Nolly's death in 1985. 

Nolly is another triumph for Russell T. Davies with an absolute star performance from Helena Bonham Carter along with exceptional performances from Augustus Prew, Mark Gatiss and Con O'Neill to boot. It's a fantastic miniseries, doing justice to Noelle Gordon's story and further demonstrating why Russell T. Davies remains one of the best writers on British television.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Witches, Pirates And Clickers

It's been a slightly slow couple of weeks with watching new stuff and here, I'll talk about the latest HBO juggernaut among other stuff.

I Hate Suzie Too: The second series of Billie Piper's ambitious and slightly autobiographical show might have taken a long time to come but even with three episodes spread out over the space of Christmas week, it was definitely worth the wait. Six months passed since the events of the first series, and Suzie tried to salvage her image with a dance competition that despite winning, still managed to bring her world crashing down around her. While the show went by too quickly, the episodes were gripping to watch (including an ill advised affair with a bisexual footballer) and Billie Piper delivered an exceptional tour de force. I'm hoping maybe just maybe we get a third helping of this chaotic series.

Mayfair Witches: Last year, we had seven weeks of Interview With The Vampire and AMC to their credit are determined to build out an Immortal universe. This second show, five episodes in has Alexandra Daddario having to come to terms with her witchy heritage, an overzealous supernatural creep named Lasher attaching himself to the women of her family and a rather murderous grandaunt in the form of Carlotta. On the other hand, she does have an ally in Ciprion and there's something rather entertaining in Courtland as a character. While this show hasn't been as gripping as it's vampiric parent show yet, it's still a good Gothic adventure so far.

Our Flag Means Death: Released on HBO Max nearly a year ago, it really did take BBC2 a long time to get this show. You've got the hapless Gentleman Pirate taking over a crew as they get into a variety of scrapes and with a little over half of the first season now, it's mostly a fun if slight series. There's good performances from the main cast, including an amusing turn from Taika Waititi as Blackbeard, whose scenes with Rhys Darby's Stede are enjoyable to watch.

The Last Of Us: HBO have been on fire for the last while and the adaptation of this apocalyptic game series has won over everyone alike in the space of three episodes. As someone who has never played the game, this show has done a good job at feeling accessible to the casual audience with excellent leading performances from both Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsay as Joel and Ellie. The first two episodes did wonders setting up the world and showed the gruesomeness of the Clickers (poor Tess) while the third episode gave one of the most beautiful if not tragic of love stories with Bill and Frank (truly amazing performances from Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett) while still moving things along at a great pace. It's no wonder HBO quickly renewed this show for a second season.

• Kathy Bates will lead a female led  reboot of Matlack for CBS. The network are also planning a Watson & Moriarty series without Sherlock and will do another spin off of The Good Wife.
• Frasier reboot for Paramount+ has cast Nicholas Lyndhurst as an old friend of Frasier. Other cast members include Jack Cutmore-Scott, Anders Keith and Jess Salgueiro.
• A prequel series for Dexter is being considering while Showtime will be folded into Paramount+.
• CBS have renewed So Help Me Todd for a second season. 
• Nicole Maines has joined the cast of Yellowjackets second season, due to air on March 26th.
• The second season of House Of The Dragon will begin filming in the UK and Spain from March. 
• Phoebe Dynever will not be returning for the third season of Bridgerton.
• Wednesday was renewed for a second season by Netflix.
• All American is one of the few CW that will survive the folding into Nexstar. The fates of remaining shows have yet to be confirmed.
• HBO Max have cancelled Gossip Girl after two seasons.
• The third season of The Mandalorian will stream on Disney+ from March 1st.
• Mayfair Witches has been renewed for a second season by AMC.
• Annette Bening will star in Peacock limited series, Apples Never Fall.