TV Review: Black Lightning Series 1 Episode 1 "The Resurrection" - Series Premiere [Emz]

So this is the latest TV show to come from the DC TV universe, following after Arrow, The Flash, Legends Of Tomorrow and Supergirl.

The show is currently airing on The CW in america and unlike the other DC shows which air on Sky One in the UK, it is currently airing weekly on Netflix.

The first episode was released on the 23rd January on Nexflix.

The show stars Cress Williams as Jefferson Pierce/ Black Lighting, China Anne McClain as Jennifer Pierce, Nafessa Williams as Anissa Pierce, Christine Adams as Lynn Stewart, Marvin "Krondon" Jones III as Tobias Whale, Damon Gupton as Billy Henderson and James Remar as Peter Gambi.

Here is the Synopsis

A former superhero with the power to control and harness lightning, Jefferson Pierce, otherwise known as Black Lightning, unrolls the secrets of his past to protect his city and his family.

Review:

So there are a couple of familiar faces in this show. Cress Williams has previously starred in Hart Of Dixie, China Anne McClain has starred in ANT Farm on Disney Channel and most recently portrayed Uma in Disney's Descendants 2. Finally I recognized the actress who plays Jefferson's ex-wife Lynn Stewart, She is portrayed by Christine Adams, I remember her from an episode of Doctor Who in 2005 called The Long Game, her characters name was Cathica.

Anyway, I have currently watched 3 out of 4 episodes that have been released on Netflix ( I will watch the latest one tonight.)

So I find the themes of this show interesting, Gang Violence, Racism, drugs and alcohol to name but a few. 

Racism is shown when Jefferson gets pulled over by Police and is handcuffed before he is identified as not being the culprit behind a robbery. Drugs and Alcohol are shown when Jefferson's youngest daughter Jennifer, goes to a club and uses drugs and drinks alcohol, Gang Violence is shown when Jefferson's daughters are kidnapped by a member of the 100 gang and are to be used as prostitutes.

So When the show first airs we are treated to flashbacks of Jefferson as Black Lightning almost dying after trying to kill Tobias Whale and he tell Lynn (his then wife) that he is going to give it all up. (Jefferson has the ability to harness and control lightning). So when we return to present day, he hasn't masqueraded as Black Lightning in quite some time. In his retirement he has become the Principal of Garfield High School.

Jefferson bring Black Lightning out of retirement to save his daughters lives, his tailor, Peter Gambi is behind the Black Lightning outfit and has given him an upgrade.

Following Jefferson reusing his powers to save his daughters, we are treated to a clip of Anissa having a panic attack and breaking the bathroom sink, this could be a sign of things to come as in the comics both Jefferson's daughters are superhero's also.

I will be posting about the following episodes soon.

Till then

Emz x

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TV Review: Salvation Season 1 Episode 1 "Pilot" - Series Premiere [Emz]

Finally a new post! So I have been taking a break from here but that doesn't mean I've stopped watching shows.

I have completed watching all episodes of  The Librarians so there will be no more posts on that but I have started watched a new series called Salvation. It aired of CBS in America and all episodes are currently on Netflix UK

I spotted this series on Netflix earlier this month. It stars Santiago Cabrera as Darius Tanz. Santiago is best known for portraying Isaac Mendez in Heroes and Lancelot in Merlin.

Here is the Synopsis from IMDB:

When MIT grad student Liam Cole (Charlie Rowe) discovers an asteroid is set to collide with Earth in 186 days, he joins forces with tech billionaire Darius Tanz (Santiago Cabrera) and the U.S. government to try and stop it - and together they stumble onto the greatest conspiracy never told.

Review:

I enjoyed this episode. So we start with MIT student Liam oversleeping due to him working on his algorithms all night. He is due to attend Darius Tanz's lecture and when he shows up he is barefoot - his shoes are in his backpack (which makes an impression on Darius and other students), this part really made me laugh as it happens again later in the series and it is seemingly memorable. Following this he spots a girl at a bar whilst he is with friends, that he recognizes from Darius lecture, her name is Jillian and it turns out she is not a student but a big fan of Darius.

After spending the night with Jillian,  Liam finds that one of his algorithms has works and learns there is an asteroid on a collision with earth in 186 days. Liam informs his Professor in the early hours of the morning, only to be dismissed as it is so early, he mentions he will talk about it the next day after class. The Professor is seen to be calling someone after he leaves. 

After class the next day Liam goes to find his Professor as he doesn't show up for class, ok... so little unusual, He find his professors house ransacked and notices that he had left his glasses behind, which to Liam screamed trouble. He is then chased by someone and Lima manages to avoid them but ends up in an Elevator with Darius Tanz. 

This is where it gets interesting, Liam informs Daruis of everything from discovering the algorithm to being chased after his professor disappears. Of course Darius recognizes him as the "shoe-less guy" 

The story gets interesting from here and after going to the Pentagon and after they originally play dumb and act like they had no idea about the Asteroid, they cave in and inform Darius that they already knew about the said Asteroid. They have modified one of Darius older rockets and are soon to be testing.

Darius later shares with Liam about his Ark to save the human race if all else fails. It currently will only take 160 people (this gave me a The 100 kind of vibe, only I know it's a bit different) and eventually take them to live on Mars. 

Grace Burrows (Jennifer Finnigan) the PA to the Deputy Secretary of Defense Harris Edwards becomes Darius' "inside man" after a little persuading and an emotional Valedictorian speech from her daughter.

Harris tests the modified rocket, which he informs Grace of it being a huge success, turns out to be a big failure after she asks one of the tech guys to show her the footage, he later ends up dead..

So it's all kicking off! whatever happens next it's bound to get more interesting by the minute.

Thats all for now 

Till next time

Emz 

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TV Review: Beyond Season 1 Premiere "Pilot" [Emz]

So I have just started watching this show. I kept seeing it advertised when following Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments.

Here is the Premise for the first episode:

Holden Matthews miraculously wakes up from a devastating coma to the wonderment of his parents Tom and Diane and younger brother Luke. But the world has changed since Holden went to sleep, and he now has to navigate being an adult when all he remembers is being a child. At the same time, Holden is experiencing abilities and memories he can't explain, and a mysterious woman named Willa warns him not to trust those around him. When a sinister stranger attacks Holden and claims he knows about his new powers, Holden is faced with uncovering just what happened to him while he was in a coma.

Review:

Well this was certainly different. Its still sci-fi and fantasy but at least it's not time travel or people would think I was obsessed. 

Anyway, I quite liked this. The fact that he is trying to catch up with what he has missed whilst he was in a coma, but not knowing why everyone seems to be out to get him. It's a little different from your usual coma stories. 

After being given a message on not being able to trust anyone and then a stranger saves him, but doesn't remember them. That makes for an interesting story-line. Having amnesia from a coma is one thing but in this case having amnesia from what happened while he was in the coma is very different.

I look forward to seeing whats to come.

Till next time

Emz x

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TV Review: 12 Monkeys Series Premiere: "Splinter" [Emz]

So I just watched the very first episode on Netflix. I'm not sure what I expected but it was certainly different to what I had in mind.

For those of you who haven't seen is here is the series premise:

 A man from the post-apocalyptic future, Cole uses a dangerous, untested method of time travel to get from 2043 to the present day. He is on a mission to locate and rid the world of the source of the plague that will eventually annihilate the human race. Assisting him is Dr. Cassandra Railly, a virologist who must decide whether to do harm in order to save the world -- regardless of the fact that she has taken the Hippocratic oath. The sci-fi series is based on Terry Gilliam's 1995 film, which starred Bruce Willis as Cole.

Review:

So, I haven't seen the original movie that this series is based on, but this episode was completely Sci-fi all the way through. I loved the way the characters connected with past, present and future, from comments thrown out there to thing we and the characters are yet to explore to the way time travel affects them.

The title of the episode refers to the type of time travel depicted in this series.

Amanda Schull who plays Dr. Cassandra Railly, is not stranger to playing complicated characters as she played Sara Evans / Katie Ryan in One Tree Hill and for those of you who have watched the series well she is definitely not a wallflower of a character.

There are currently 2 seasons on Netflix, with the third season hopefully coming soon after ending in the US in May.

I will review episode 2 soon.

Till Then

Emz x

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TV Review: Timeless Season 1 Premiere "Pilot" [Emz]

So I finally started watching this tonight on Netflix. I have to admit it's not bad. I'll happily watch anything that features time travel (*cough* nothing beats Doctor Who *Cough*) haha!! Anyway, I'm only one episode in and there were alot of faces I recognised but I did have google them to make sure I was correct.

The actors that portray two of the main characters, Abigail Spencer (Cowboys & Aliens, This Mean War) and Matt Lanter (90210, Star-crossed, Vampires Suck) I recognised them but its the actors portraying the recurring and guest characters that  took me by surprise.

So the first is the actress who played the guest character Kate Drummond for this episode, Shantel VanSanten, she has starred in One Tree Hill and The Flash, she is currently starring in Shooter. Also in a recurring are Matt Frewer who I am currently watching in The Librarians (season 1) and Susanna Thompson who for me is best known for playing Moira Queen in Arrow.

Here is the premise from IMDB for this episode:;

An unlikely team must travel through time and stop a criminal mastermind from destroying the past.

Review:

So I've only watched the first episode but, so fat so good. The twists in the story and how they struggle to keep everything as it was in the past, not always with success is very interesting. I am looking forward to seeing how the season progresses. 

That's it for now. I will hopefully review another episode of this in the future,

Till then

Emz x

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DVD Reviews: The Librarians Season 1 Premiere "And the Crown of King Arthur" [Emz]

So I have watched the series before, but not for a while. I was given the complete first season on DVD for my birthday so it's time to watch again.

Here is the Synopsis:

Someone is killing off potential Librarians and it's up to Flynn Carsen and his new Guardian, Colonel Eve Baird, to save the three that are left.

So *Spoilers* from here on out if you haven't seen this TV show.

So this TV series is a Spin-off from the original 3 films. The Series airs on the SyFy channel in the UK and TNT in the USA.

Review:

So we have a NATO anti-terrorist agent who ends up getting roped into working for a Librarian who works to keep magic out of the wrong hands. Collecting artefacts and storing them in the library.

The shows basic idea reminds me a little of Warehouse 13 (I miss that show) 

So this is the first time I have seen Rebecca Romjin in something, since she played Mystique in the original X-men trilogy. She plays Eve Bird she was a NATO agent and was chosen by the Library to become the Guardian.

I like the whole idea of this show. Someone is killing people who were sent invitations to become the Librarian. The whole story is based around finding the crown of King Arthur.

The show has a comedic tone to it also. 

of course the first episode end of a cliffhanger leaving you waiting till the next episode.

I like fantasy and sci-fi Shows, it always gives you little bit extra which you know is not real but is still awesome all the same.

This is a show I would recommend.

Thats it for my review.

Till next time

Emz x

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