***The following review contains major spoilers for 208, "The Reality War." A recap is also available***
“The Reality War,” the season finale of Doctor Who, dropped later than usual this Saturday on Disney Plus, as this afternoon it was simulcast with the UK. In the episode, the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) faces off against the Rani (Archie Panjabi) as she prepares to open a door to Omega (voiced by Nicholas Briggs). The Doctor must not only stop the threats and save the planet, but rewrite reality to save an innocent life that could mean the end of his own.
There is a lot to unpack with the episode, which was jam packed with craziness and timely-wimey that only the Doctor can bring. First off, out of the gate, I loved Anita (Steph De Whalley) coming from the Time Hotel to save the Doctor. She was a great one-off character originally, and I also was delighted with the bits in this episode of old footage with her visiting other incarnations of the Doctor. Although her arrival was a way to a quick resolution to the conundrum that the Doctor (and the rest of the world for that matter) found himself in at the end of the previous episode, with him plummeting to the disintegrating Earth, it worked and left room for the rest of the action in an already extra-long episode. It also brings more examples in this season that have been throwbacks to earlier episodes in the current Doctor’s run as well as the classics.
“The Reality War,” the season finale of Doctor Who, dropped later than usual this Saturday on Disney Plus, as this afternoon it was simulcast with the UK. In the episode, the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) faces off against the Rani (Archie Panjabi) as she prepares to open a door to Omega (voiced by Nicholas Briggs). The Doctor must not only stop the threats and save the planet, but rewrite reality to save an innocent life that could mean the end of his own.There is a lot to unpack with the episode, which was jam packed with craziness and timely-wimey that only the Doctor can bring. First off, out of the gate, I loved Anita (Steph De Whalley) coming from the Time Hotel to save the Doctor. She was a great one-off character originally, and I also was delighted with the bits in this episode of old footage with her visiting other incarnations of the Doctor. Although her arrival was a way to a quick resolution to the conundrum that the Doctor (and the rest of the world for that matter) found himself in at the end of the previous episode, with him plummeting to the disintegrating Earth, it worked and left room for the rest of the action in an already extra-long episode. It also brings more examples in this season that have been throwbacks to earlier episodes in the current Doctor’s run as well as the classics.
The War Between the Land and the Sea - Coming Soon
Based on the novel by Arafair Burke, The Better Sister, which premiered yesterday on Prime Video, follows Chloe Taylor (Jessica Biel), a high-powered magazine editor whose seemingly perfect life is shattered when her husband Adam (Corey Stoll) is murdered in their Hamptons home. The tragedy forces Chloe to reunite with her estranged sister Nicky (Elizabeth Banks), who is also Adam’s ex-wife and the biological mother of their teenage son, Ethan (Maxwell Acee Donovan). As suspicion falls on Ethan and the investigation uncovers hidden family secrets, Chloe and Nicky must confront their painful past and work together to protect Ethan. Throughout the ordeal, Catherine Lancaster (Lorraine Toussaint), Chloe’s mentor and friend from her publishing world, provides crucial support and guidance, helping Chloe navigate the media storm and personal crisis that follows Adam’s death.
Based on Martha Wells’ award-winning book series, Murderbot is a science fiction comedy thriller which follows a security android known as SecUnit (Alexander Skarsgård), who figured out how to hack his own governor module, gaining free will. Although now free, SecUnit, pretending to still be under corporate control, decides to stay with the group of humans who have rented him for protection, even if he would prefer to binge-watch soap operas then interact with them. In the most recent episode, the team heads across the planet to find the fate of the DeltFall team who they fear might be in danger. SecUnit arrives to find that not only has the DeltFall team been killed, but someone has also hijacked their security unit’s programming by installing a combat override module, and whoever is responsible, is still lurking nearby.
The Librarians: The Next Chapter brings a new story to the franchise, this time taking place in Belgrade, Serbia. Vikram Chamberlain (Callum McGowan), a Librarian from 1847 finds himself stranded in the present-day world. Upon his arrival, he accidentally unleashes dormant magic across the country, forcing him to join forces with a new team of unlikely heroes each with their own unique skills, including a tech-savvy historian (Bluey Robinson) a scientific genius (Olivia Morris), and a formidable Guardian-in-training (Jessica Green), to recover magical artifacts and prevent the threat from spreading.
Written by Jon Avnet, Neal McDonough, and Derek Presley and directed by Avnet, From Angel Studios comes The Last Rodeo. When the grandson (Graham Harvey) of a fifty-year-old retired rodeo legend needs expensive life-saving surgery, ex-bull rider Joe Wainwright (Neal McDonough) decides to ride again. Facing his own painful past and his strained relationship with his headstrong daughter (Sarah Jones), he puts everything on the line as he steps into the bull-riding arena in a high-stakes competition as the oldest contestant ever. Through the journey, he mends his fractured relationship with his daughter and shows that real bravery comes from fighting for the ones you love.
In Bavaria in 1865, the Rani (Archie Panjabi) visits the cabin of the Zufall family on horseback. She greets Otto Zufall (Atilla Akinci), who is the seventh son of the seventh son and himself has seven sons, his wife, Violett (Leni Adams) having just given birth to the latest. Letting them think she is the midwife, she asks to hold the baby, only to say she is taking him. When they protest, she blows on them, turning Violett into flowers, the other six children into ducks, and Otto into an owl. Taking the baby, she leaves, telling him that they have things to do in 160 years time with one very special wish.
In season two of the crime drama Black Snow, Detective Cormack (Travis Fimmel) takes on two different missing persons cases. For work, when possible new evidence comes to light, he investigates the disappearance of Zoe Jacobs (Jana McKinnon), who vanished from her own 21st birthday party in 2003. In his personal life, he searches for his own younger brother who went missing when they were both children and he now has reason to believe may be alive.