Futurama – Season Six – Episode One: “Rebirth” Review

Futurama’s return to UK screens was something of a mixed bag.

Shameless U.S. – Season One –Episode Five: “Three Boys” Review

What a relief it was to find Shameless U.S. back on top form this week. After last week’s average outing, Veronica’s fake wedding and Frank’s health scare at the doctor’s resulted in a welcome return to Aunt Ginger levels of quality entertainment.

Dexter - Season Five – Episode Six: “Everything Is Illumenated” Review

Season five finally found its feet with Everything Is Illumenated, and didn’t it feel good to be back in the midst of a genuinely gripping chapter of Dexter Morgan’s story? Not since My Bad have the stakes felt so high. That episode had audiences screaming at their screens with frustration as Dexter’s reaction to Rita’s death threatened to expose his secret life. Everything Is Illumenated teased fans of the show like no episode has before and it was exactly what we’ve been craving for since the season began.

Falling Skies – Season One – Episode Three: “Prisoner of War” Review

Tom’s determination to rescue his son increases tenfold after he discovers that the harnessed children are performing manual labour for the Skitters, zombie-like and grassy-eyed. Back at camp, the arrival of a doctor claiming to be able to safely remove the harnesses from the children brings fresh hope to the survivors but he needs a subject to perform the risky new procedure on.

Carnivale - Season One - Episode Three: "Tipton" Review

Carnivale rolls into Tipton, Missouri this week but Samson and the gang’s arrival in town isn’t appreciated by the local sheriff. Elsewhere, Brother Justin is making progress with Chin’s, but a complication with the building threatens to ruin the preacher’s plans for his new church.

Dexter – Season Five – Episode Five: “First Blood” Review

Dexter’s attempts to persuade Lumen to return home are met with granite-like resistance from the troubled young woman, but her presence in Miami is a distraction Dexter can do without and her departure becomes his top priority.

Shameless U.S. – Season One – Episode Four: “Casey Casden” Review

It was disappointing to find that the writers of Shameless U.S. had chosen to rehash the plot of an old UK episode again this week. The series took a huge, progressive leap forward with the surprisingly original Aunt Ginger, and although Casey Casden was still highly watchable, this near-exact recreation of the original UK episode stirred up an unwanted feeling of déjà vu.

Falling Skies – Season One – Episode Two: “The Armory” Review

The Armory was a big improvement over last week’s Live and Learn. Although the alien presence in this series is undeniably intriguing, The Armory benefitted from a concentration on the humans in Falling Skies’ story, which was a relief after the less than favourable first impression left by the survivors in episode one. For the first time, there was an air of validity to their situation, something which had felt missing previously.

Carnivale – Season One – Episode One: “Milfay” and Episode Two: “After the Ball is Over” Review

For viewers with a penchant for brooding mystery, look no further than Sky Atlantic’s Carnivale to give you your fix. Set in the 1930s, the show follows two threads of corresponding storyline: the path of Brother Justin Crowe (Clancy Brown) who is convinced that God has bestowed upon him His designs for mankind and the journey of young chain gang fugitive Ben Hawkins (Nick Stahl) as he adapts to life as a carnival roustabout. These opening episodes provide us with enough enigmatic characters and situations to satisfy even the most stubborn of mystery lovers, and those who are already hooked will agree that the rabbit hole is destined only to go deeper.

Dexter – Season Five – Episode Four: “Beauty and the Beast” Review

Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) has almost always had things under control. He is the king of cool when it comes to tricky situations and no matter how close to being exposed he has come, Dexter has always recovered, and usually with style. But that all changed when he came into contact with Arthur Mitchell, the Trinity Killer (John Lithgow), a man with thirty years experience in the act of murder.  He should have been Dexter’s prized kill and for about an hour he was, but, that all changed when Dexter found his wife, Rita (Julie Benz), in a bath of her own blood, murdered by Mitchell hours before Dexter took his opportunity to add Trinity to his blood slide collection.

Shameless U.S. – Season One – Episode Three: “Aunt Ginger” Review

There was a very strong feeling of real grit and soul in this third episode of Shameless U.S.  Aunt Ginger was the first time the series has felt truly authentic, like we were watching a real family with real troubles and problems. This being a comedy, the underlying tongue-in-cheek qualities of the first two episodes continued to wash over the drama, but we now seem to have settled into the world of the Gallagher family; we aren’t simply watching actors caricaturing their U.K counterparts anymore.

Falling Skies – Episode One – "Live and Learn" Review

The opening scenes of Live and Learn, the first episode in FX’s new alien invasion series Falling Skies, were exciting and well executed. Children narrate their tales of the invasion, which has seen mass devastation across the globe, while painting pictures of their experiences. We pan out to reveal a child who confesses that he doesn’t know whether his dad is dead or not. “Where is he?” asks the woman looking after him. “He’s fighting,” he replies. Cut to an explosive opening sequence.  We see the state of things since the aliens invaded, we see the aliens themselves, we see explosions and we see death. It’s fantastic stuff which sets high expectations for what’s to come, which is why it came as such a disappointment that the majority of the rest of the episode was fairly mediocre.

Spartacus: "Gods of the Arena" - Episode Three - Paterfamilias

Paterfamilias finally introduced us to Quintus Batiatus’ father Titus, and the old man’s return to Capua sends shockwaves through the ludus.

Spartacus: “Gods of the Arena” - Episode Two: Missio Review

An exciting, excellently-plotted second episode of Gods of the Arena ended with possibly the most gut-wrenching moment in the Spartacus saga. Shocked and repulsed, we watched as, for the entertainment of a high-powered magistrate, Gannicus was forced to have sex with Melitta, the wife of his best friend, Oenomaus.

Spartacus: “Gods of the Arena” - Episode One: Past Transgressions Review

The world of gladiatorial bloodsport returned to UK television screens this week with Starz's prequel series to its acclaimed Spartacus: Blood and Sand, Gods of the Arena, debuting on Sky1. As a huge fan of Blood and Sand, I have been anticipating a return to the ludus for some time and was not disappointed by the blood-soaked hour of television that followed.