Detecting BS, Royalty Early Days And Pop Starlets

Yes, it's been that kind of a month with the shows I've been playing catch up with.

Poker Face: The last decade has been great with streaming reminding us all how talented Natasha Lyonne really is as an actor. She was excellent in both Orange Is The New Black and Russian Doll but with this show, Knives Out creator Rian Johnson has brought out some of her best performances yet as cocktail waitress/human lie detector Charlie Cale with each episode putting her in a different location with a different cast while solving whatever the murde of the week happens to be. That being said, Charlie does have a tendency to attract chaos in her wake too.

Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story: With the main show due for release on Netflix later this year, the arrival of this prequel series had a lot to live up. The love story of Queen Charlotte and King George was the anchor for this show and both India Amarteifio and Corey Mylchreest absolutely delivered in their respective roles along with Arsema Thomas as the younger Lady Danbury. Add a secondary love between younger versions of Brimsely and Reynolds and moments where the show updated viewers on the current versions of Charlotte, Agatha and Violet and this was a winner. 

The Flash: After seeing the movie, there was also the remaining episodes of the show and the Cobalt Blue arc was not only a nice way to bring back Eddie Thawne, several other villainous Speedsters but it provided a solid ending to the series nonetheless. Barry and Iris finally became parents, Khione restored Caitlin and new Speedsters were created. The show hasn't been perfect and nine seasons might have been too long but overall, this was a good ending for the show.

Yellowjackets: I had watched the first season almost in a vacuum that I tried to give myself some breathing room before I started the second season. At least two weeks. Then I watched the second season and that too was like a vacuum. Now I agree it's not as strong as the first season and it seemed like certain plots were halted in favour getting Shauna, Misty, Natalie and Taissa to that centre to face off with Lottie and also reunite with Van too. Saying that, I liked new characters such as Lisa and Walter (Matt, not so much) while Callie and Jeff stepped up as characters and that finale death provided an interesting conundrum for next season. Not to mention learning more of Ben's relationship with Paul in flashbacks, the gory way Jackie's corpse was dealt with and the harrowing episode where Shauna gave birth. Actually I liked this season a lot.

The Idol: If there a show this year that can be summed by the following words "great premise, questionable execution" then the latest vanity project from Euphoria creator Sam Levinson and The Weeknd (who cannot act to save his life) would be it. On the surface this show wants to say interesting things about mental health and sexual exploitation and tries to do that with struggling pop starlet Jocelyn (Lily-Rose Depp). Two episodes in and some of the trashiest sex scenes committed to cable television, it's failing on every level. You'll feel for Jocelyn as a character but you'll also feel exhausted watching this series as well.

• The CW have gone on a spate of cancellations where even the likes of The Winchesters and Walker Independence were not spared.
• Jenna Ortega will have a producer role for the second season of Wednesday.
• Loki Season 2 will premiere from October 6th on Disney+ while the entire season of Echo will be released from November 29th.
• Filming for Agatha: Coven Of Chaos has wrapped while filming for Daredevil: Born Again has been halted until the writers strike concludes.
• The second season of House Of The Dragon has added Freddie Fox, Simon Russell Beale, Gayle Rankin and Abubakar Salim to the cast.
• Amazon have renewed Citadel for a second season.
• Kim Cattral has filmed a cameo scene for the second season of And Just Like That. 
• Monsters: The Lyle And Erik Menendez Story will be the follow to Dahmer and will premiere on Netflix in 2024.
• The second season of The Last Of Us will air on HBO in 2025.
• 911 has been renewed for a seventh season but will air on ABC while 911: Lone Star will remain on FOX for its fifth season.