Revenge - Season 2 New Promo

Well, it's been a month and Revenge seems to be back in business with ABC clearly using some of Tyler Shield's recent photoshoots in order to promote the second half of Season 2. And it certainly looks like it's going to be an interesting batch of episodes as Emily and Victoria form an unholy alliance of sorts and Daniel finds himself even more over his head with the initiative lurking by.

The first three episodes of the second half of Season 2 are called Power, Sabotage and Collusion and it seems that the last of the three will guest star former Nip/Tuck actor Dylan Walsh as a rival for Conrad with as much wealth and style as the Grayson patriarch. He'll be around for a few episodes during the second half of the new season.

Season 2 - A Beautiful Thing Promo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rjb5X841cmc
Photoshoot: http://emilythorne.org/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=180&page=1 
Photoshoot 2: http://emilythorne.org/gallery/index.php?cat=56

Revenge Season 2 continues Sundays at 9pm on ABC from January 6th and will air on E4, Mondays at 9pm from January 7th.

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2012 - A Year In Review

With 2012 near over, here are some of the things that piqued my attention over the last 12 months. I should warn you, there are some different choices/opinions here ...

Best TV Show (UK): Doctor Who. I know we only got six episodes so far but Series 7 truly has been incredible.

Worst TV Show (UK): TOWIE. Because ITV2 really do need to axe that pointless pile of shite.

Best TV Show (US): Homeland. Mainly it’s first season more than it’s second though at times.

Worst TV Show (US): The Inbetweeners. Watch at least five minutes and you’ll see why the damn thing got canned after one season.

Best Villain: Jim Moriarty in Sherlock. I know Andrew Scott’s version of the character is polarising to some but I enjoyed him.

Worst Villain: Salome/The Authority in True Blood. Too much Lilith dithering and not enough kills made them a dull bunch to watch at times.

Effortless Cast Shake-Up: Being Human losing Mitchell/George/Annie/Nina and having Tom/Hal/Alex fit so naturally into the mix.

Best TV Death: Lori’s in The Walking Dead and that’s despite the unfair vitriol that character’s generated.

Worst TV Death: Russell Edgington in True Blood. Such an anticlimax for a wonderful character.

Surprising TV Moment: The audacious way that Doctor Who decided to introduce new companion Clara Oswin Oswald in it’s seventh series so far.

Unsurprising TV Moment: Emily’s mother being alive in Revenge. I think everyone saw that one coming, didn’t they?

Best Finale: Game Of Thrones second season finale certainly delivered once again.

Annoying Kids Alert: Frankie in Skins at times during it’s sixth series.

Useless Character: Quinn in Dexter. And he’s still on this show, why again?

Awesome Couple (Gay): Vastra and Jenny in Doctor Who.

Not Awesome Couple (Gay): Brittany and Santana in Glee.

Awesome Couple (Straight): Tyrion and Shae in Game Of Thrones.

Not Awesome Couple (Straight): Finn and Rachel in Glee.

Improved Show: Dexter, bouncing back wonderfully with it’s seventh series.

Least Improved Show: Glee. Now I still watch it but you know, it’s been a bit disappointing in certain areas for a while.

Best Male Characters: Hal Yorke (Being Human), 11th Doctor (Doctor Who), Nolan Ross (Revenge), John Watson (Sherlock) and Dexter Morgan (Dexter).

Worst Male Character: Adam in Girls.

Sexiest Male: Joe Manganiello in True Blood.

Best Female Characters: Clara Oswin Oswald (Doctor Who), Emily Thorne (Revenge), Carrie Mathieson (Homeland), Deb Morgan (Dexter) and Lana Winters (American Horror Story: Asylum).

Worst Female Character: Hannah in Girls.

Sexiest Female: Lara Pulver in Sherlock.

Best Duo: I’m giving it to Sherlock/Watson in Sherlock. Other candidates include Hal/Tom, Eleven/Clara and Emily/Nolan.

Worst Duo: Merlin/Arthur in Merlin. I hate to say it but I kind of went off them this year, despite the excellent acting from Colin Morgan and Bradley James.

Sad To See It Go: Merlin, because despite some dodgy writing in Series 5 at times, it is sad to see the show end.

Glad To See It Go: Gossip Girl. One less vacuous CW show off the air. Rejoice.

Missed Opportunity: I wish we had gotten more of Jason and Steve in True Blood.

Shoutout 1: The Bridge. Now there was a Danish drama I got into.

Shoutout 2: RAW. I would’ve picked Love/Hate but everyone gushes about that one, so let’s be different, eh?

2013 Hopeful: Joss Whedon’s S.H.I.E.L.D if it airs in time on ABC. The Americans also looks pretty promising.

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Festive Treats

Christmas might be nearly over but here's a look at some of the other programmes I managed to watch over the last few weeks.

Downton Abbey: Okay - who didn't see Matthew's death coming? Seriously, even if you were unable about the hemming and hawing with Dan Stevens involvement with the show, then the fact that creator Julian Fellowes is incapable of subtlety surely didn't help matters? In the space of two hours during the only non Christmassy Christmas special going, Mary gave birth to a baby boy and lost a husband while the servants attended a fair, we've gained Rose for all of next season and well, not much else aside from Branson being made feel slightly embarrassed about his new position by Edna. The special wasn't quite as awful as some critics have made out but it was certainly lacking something.

Him And Her: I enjoyed pretty much all of the third series and this little one off special was also a lot of fun as well. A fun, simple solid way of enjoying Christmas with a nice emotional centre as Steve and his father had some catching up time together while Laura proved that she can even make karaoke ten times more painful than it usually is. On the down side, the lack of fall out from the previous episode bothered me a bit though.

Homeland: Um, the last two episodes weren't as good as I'd hope they would be to be honest. While I do think the second season has been enjoyable, I am beginning to wonder if logically this show can really sustain itself for a third season and beyond. Even the finale, while hugely enjoyable seemed like it could've ultimately been a series ender for the show as a whole (with some tweaking). That being said, at least we've seperated Carrie and Brody for a bit and next season with Saul could be very interesting as well.

Merlin: The final three episodes of this show really did seem to hurtle towards a rushed conclusion. Why did the writers wait until literally the last minute to reveal everything? I think my apathy towards the show has made some of the deaths we got in the last episode in particular less moving as well (I only cared about Gwaine and Mordred - Arthur and Morgana, not so much) and it really feels that after five series, the writers didn't really live up to the promise of Merlin actually making a difference at all. Maybe I need to watch these episodes again. I might not feel as disappointed as I did.

Mrs Brown's Boys: This will never go down as a politically correct show but with RTE1 due to air the third series tonight, I have to admit the two-part Christmas special was a lot of ridiculous fun. Only this show would make a holy shambles of the nativity, only for Maria to salvage it with a version of A Spaceman Came Travelling. Without a doubt, one of the funniest things to air all over the Christmas period. You might not want Agnes Brown as your mammy but she's certainly a riot to watch.

- Charlene McKenna will be guest starring in the final series of Skins. Her role hasn't been revealed yet.
- Ashley Fink will be reprising her role as Lauren Zizes for an upcoming episode of Glee.
- Mockingbird Lane has not been picked up by NBC.
- Happy Endings and Apartment 23 will be moving to Sundays now, following the cancellation of 666 Park Avenue.
- Leverage has been cancelled after five seasons.
- Game Of Thrones is the most pirated show of 2012.
- Julian Morris will be returning soon as Prince Philip in Once Upon A Time.
- Allen Leech will have a bigger role in the upcoming fourth series of Downton Abbey, following the departure of Dan Stevens.

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Soap Discussion - December 2012

And here's a look at the events of December in soap land.

Coronation Street: So it wasn't really the soap wedding of the year with Nick and Leanne after all then? I think it's a bit unfair that when they start to be kind of enjoyable, we've got the likes of Peter, Carla, Eva and surprisingly even Kylie all being kind of deterrents in this relationship but then again, it is a soap after all and even this show needed something bigger than the ongoing triangle with Kirsty/Tyrone/Fiz as well or the growing attraction between Sophie and Jenna to contend with for the month.

EastEnders: Ding dong, Derek's dead and boy, in such an anticlimatic manner as well. I was expecting something a lot more dramatic after they spent his last week making sure half the square wanted to drop him from a great height. Christmas in Walford wasn't really that much really - Kat's tedious affair with Derek was revealed, Max seemingly forgot to tell Tanya that he had another wife (Kirsty could be interesting though), Bianca was skint once again and both Shirley and Lauren were their usual unpleasant selves as well. On the plus side, I bet the BBC were happy with the ratings though.

Emmerdale: Okay, another overly Dingle centred month where virtually any sympathy for Debbie and Charity has long been evaporated given the monstrous and entitled manner in which both of them are behaving. On the plus side, while Alex wasn't the most interesting of characters on the show, at least his death will actually facilitate Cameron's even more inevitable downfall.

Hollyoaks: A big month. Let's see - John Paul returned with a secret, Ste ditched Doug for Brendan while the latter's father made an unwelcome visit to Chester as Esther's bullying storyline continued and Jacqui found out about Rhys/Sinead/Cindy while Dodger's other father (Patrick) and sister (Sienna) are two potentially interesting characters and there was some lighthearted banter with Mitzeee and Maxine, which is not enough to make you forget the sheer implausible result in both Mercedes and Browning being back on the street.

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My Review of The Snowman And The Snowdog

Written by Raymond Briggs And Joanna Harrison
Directed by Hilary Audus

Sequels are a tricky thing to do, especially when the original is such an iconic piece of television that everyone has an opinion on. To this sequel's credit, it waited thirty years before deciding to surface and while it might be a source of tedium for some, I was pleased that The Snowman And The Snowdog followed a similar plotline.

This time around, it's a young boy named Billy who's moved into the old house that once James lived into with his mother and ailing dog. Sadly, the dog died within the first five minutes of this story and Billy gets the idea of building both a snowman and a snowdog, both of which come to life, much to the young boy's delight.

From there, the story goes the same way as the original with some hijinks ensuing and a trip to the see the Snowmen festival and meeting Santa as we get to witness the childlike delight all over for a second time. Of course, while the outcome for the snowman once again remains the same, a different fate awaited the snowdog and as twee as it was, I was delighted with that particular outcome.

- Channel 4 did a timely repeat of The Snowman the day before this story aired.
- There was no new version of Walking In The Air in this one but instead a new song called Light The Night. It's not as memorable but it's certainly good though.
- Like the original movie, it took over 200,000 hand drawn images to create this movie.
- It took ages for author Raymond Briggs to be persuaded into doing a sequel for this, given his original opposition for such a thing.

Despite some of the criticisms I've read for this, I have to admit that I personally think The Snowman And The Snowdog is an extremely worthy sequel to The Snowman and deserves to similarly go down as a Christmas themed classic. I definitely enjoyed this immensely.

Rating: 9 out of 10.

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Doctor Who - Series 7 Part 2 Trailer

The Doctor: Running away with a spaceman in a box, anything can happen to you.
Clara: That's what I'm counting on.

After The Snowmen a trailer for the second half of Series 7 commenced and it was certainly an interesting one as the mystery of Clara Oswin Oswald looks set to (obviously) be the main arc for the eight episodes due to air in 2013 and is it me or is there definitely some flirting with the Doctor and his new lady friend?

We all love Madame Vastra (Neve McIntosh), Jenny (Catrin Stewart) and Strax (Dan Starkey) and the Paternoster gang will be in two episodes of the 2013 series assisting the Doctor and Clara once again. Though not seen in the trailer at all, River (Alex Kingston) is also rumoured to be in the finale as well for this series.

And here are the newly designed Cybermen as well, due to appear in the penultimate episode of the series, written by Neil Gaiman and if he can give us a gorgeous TARDIS story, then surely his Cybermen one will be another imminent classic too.

Ashley Walters and two other fellas in an episode that already has the confirmed titled of Journey To The Centre Of The TARDIS. This one is written by Sherlock scribe, Steve Thompson I can't wait to see what he's going to do with this episode after his previous one being a damp squib.

Celia Imrie seems to be one of a few people intrigued by Clara, describing her as pretty. She's in the first episode to air in 2013, which has been described as an urban thriller. Other people seem to be a group of monks with a portrait of her and of course, the Doctor seems curious to find out who Clara really is as well.

Last picture of Clara looking all kinds of bad ass with a gun but at the same time, the trailer also showed some clips of new aliens, antics on an airplane, Clara running from an inferno, the Doctor with marking on his face, both of them in a submarine, Strax getting trigger happy and some new aliens. 2013 is going to be one hell of a bumpy ride, isn't it?

Series 7 Part 2 Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXqXZepqgMQ
Series 7 Part 2 Theme: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QGbsNIZ-uo

Series 7 Part 2 of Doctor Who is rumoured to air on BBC1 from April 2013.

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My Review of Doctor Who's 7x06: "The Snowmen"

Written by Steven Moffat
Directed by Saul Metzstein

The Doctor: “I never know why. I only know who.”
Clara (re TARDIS key): “What’s this?”
The Doctor: “Me, giving in.”

Is it me or did the Doctor’s attempts to stay out of people’s affairs and the like really seem to backfire on him? Even if Clara hadn’t been interrogated by the Paternoster gang comprising of Madame Vastra, Jenny Flint and Strax (in butler form) and persuaded the Doctor to help her by uttering the word ‘Pond’, then something would’ve prompted him to take an interest in the sinister goings on in this episode.

I like that the Doctor’s anguish over losing Amy and Rory was simply more than just him moping. He adopted to live the Victorian lifestyle and was even investigating the Snowmen himself before Clara managed to get caught up in the saga herself and when the two of them, already a new team was set in motion.

Matt Smith and Jenna-Louise Coleman just seem like a natural fit together and while both of them were on fine form, this episode really was Coleman’s chance yet again to truly shine and if you didn’t love Clara throughout this hour, then shame on you. Because she really is going to be a fantastic companion and already a good mystery is set up with her.

Moffat and Coleman might have described the ongoing arc for Clara as a soft mystery but this episode wasted zero time in actually drawing the obvious connection between Clara and Oswin or should I just say – Clara Oswin Oswald in the first place. Unfortunately for Clara though, she ended up getting a similarly horrible fate to Oswin.

Being killed by the icy form of the previous governess was certainly an interesting way to go but the fact that the Doctor has made the connection between Clara and Oswin means that he’s got a whole new mission on his hand, one made even more thrilling when a present day version of Clara managed to crop at the end to look at her Victorian counterpart’s gravestone as well.

Clara really was the selling point of this episode in such a manner. Her (re) introduction felt pretty natural as she flipped between accents and professions (barmaid and governess) and her scenes with the Doctor were an utter delight. After 49 years on screen, he’s finally met someone who can actually talk faster than him as well.

The scenes with the two of them running from Ice Ladies and Snowmen were a delight but it’s the moment where Clara got to see the TARDIS for the first time that really struck a chord as well. I think it’s safe to really say that she’s going to be an amazing companion once the show returns in 2013.

Of course while Clara was an absolute highlight in this episode, I have to admit that the Paternoster gang were also similarly delightful. Madame Vastra, Jenny and Strax all seemed to be delighted to see the Doctor back into the swing of things and as a set of recurring allies, they work brilliantly. I’m definitely glad that Moffat decided to bring them back because they certainly were a highlight in this episode.

As for the main antagonist itself – the Snowmen and the Ice Lady managed to be suitably creepy but the return of the Great Intelligence (nicely voiced by Ian McKellen) was a pleasant surprise as was the referenced to "The Web Of Fear". It also seems that despite the Doctor and Clara managing to stop it’s scheme for a world filled with ice people, it will be also be something of a recurring threat in the second half of the season as well.

Richard E. Grant felt a little underused as the easily manipulated Dr Simeon though. He gave a good performance and played well against the rest of the cast but I sort of felt that he could’ve been a little better though.

In terms of the Christmas theme though, this one definitely felt less Christmassy than Moffat’s previous two efforts. In some ways that wasn’t actually a bad thing as it meant that the story flowed a bit more naturally compared to last year’s special but the tone was also pretty dark as well for a Christmas episode. However, this also wasn’t a bad thing when you really think about it.

Also in “The Snowmen”

The new credits are pretty nice – a feel of Classic and Modern Who with even Matt Smith’s face briefly seen in them too.

Simeon (to workers): “I said I’d feed you. I didn’t say who to.”

Clara’s employer was a man named Captain Latimer who hired her as a governess to his kids, Francesca and Digby. Oswin was also a Junior Entertainment Manager and modern Clara is rumoured to be an au pair. She was also born on November 23rd 1866.

The Doctor: “What’s wrong with silly?”
Clara: “Nothing. Still talking to you, ain’t I?”

Clara: “Doctor. Doctor Who?”

The new look TARDIS definitely translated as looking better onscreen as it did in the spoiler pictures leaked for it. It also seems to be a nice nod of sorts to the original look for the machine.

Madame Vastra: “The Doctor is not kind.”
Clara: “No?”
Madame Vastra: “No! The Doctor doesn’t help people, not anyone, not ever. He stands above this world and doesn't interferes in the affairs of it’s inhabitants. He is not your salvation nor your protector. Do you understand what I’m saying to you?”

Great Intelligence: “We are the Intelligence.”
The Doctor: “Talking snow, I love new things.”
Great Intelligence: “You are not of this world.”
The Doctor: “Takes one to snow one.”

The reference to Sherlock was delightfully shameful and silly to the hilt. Does this mean we’ll get Benedict Cumberbatch talking about bowties being cool in his hit show next year?

Clara: “It’s why you like me.”
The Doctor: “Who said I like you?”
Clara: “I think you just did.”
The Doctor: “You kissed me.”

The Doctor (re TARDIS): “Go on, say it, most people do.”
Clara: “It’s smaller on the outside.”
The Doctor: “Okay, that is a first.”

Clara kissed the Doctor in this episode and she made a reference to making soufflés in this one too. In fact, Clara was largely flirtatious with the Doctor but even she was beaten with Vastra and Jenny declaring they were married to each other.

Great Intelligence: “Do you feel it? Winter is coming. Winter is coming.”

The Doctor: “We saved the world, Clara, you and me. We really, really did.”
Clara: “Will you go back to your cloud?”

A trailer for the second half of Series 7 showed the return of the Cybermen, some people very interested in Clara, a submarine based story and many other interesting things to speculate until the show returns next year.

The Doctor (to Madame Vastra/Jenny, re Clara): "I never knew her name, her full name. Souffle girl. Oswin, it was her. It was Souffle girl again."

Clara (to her friend): “Nah, I don’t believe in ghosts.”

Chronology: Mostly 1892 Victorian London for this episode and perhaps 2013 with that little scene of the modern Clara we saw in this one.

As Christmas specials go, Moffat definitely got it right with “The Snowmen”. This episode really did highlight an exciting new chapter about to emerge with this series and I definitely cannot wait to see it unfold and Clara has already made a solid impression as the new companion.

Rating: 10 out of 10

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