Star Trek : Discovery S03E12 is the penultimate instalment of the third season of this scifi space opera streaming TV drama series. Entitled “There is a Tide …” Star Trek : Discovery S03E12 is the middle part of a 3-episode story to wrap up the season. Sadly, the episode also highlights the primary flaw with Season 3.
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The Expanse S05E05 signals the halfway mark in the latest season of this scifi space opera streaming TV drama. Entitled “Down and Out”, The Expanse S05E05 continues to explore the ramifications of Marcos Inaros’ asteroid attack on Earth on our key characters. Suffice to say, things are not going well at all.
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As mentioned in our Best Movies of 2020 piece, it is clear that there is much better quality material in the Best TV Series of 2020 in contrast. Perhaps long form story telling is the way forward especially in this streaming era. Anyways, there was an abundance of TV series to choose from in 2020, so our preference for genre fiction held sway in this Best TV Series of 2020 list. (In alphabetical order)
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Washington is a three-part documentary cum drama miniseries on the life of George Washington, the first President of the United States of America. Now, I have personally avoided these kinds of historical ‘docudramas’ believing that a dramatised documentary would be neither good documentary or drama. However, the excellence of Washington may have got me rethinking this approach.
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Bridgerton is a British historical streaming TV drama produced by Shonda Rhimes and created by Chris Van Dusen. The series is based on the multi-book novels written by Julia Quinn. The series is set in early 19th century Regency England during the reign of King George III, well known as the era of romance writers Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters.
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2020 has been a good year for actress Anya Taylor-Joy. Her performance in The Queen’s Gambit, a Netflix breakout hit sensation has enhanced the profile of Anya Taylor-Joy worldwide. She was starred in the period drama Emma. and appeared as Magik in the chronically delayed The New Mutants.
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Star Trek : Discovery S03E11 marks the beginning of the end of Season 3, as Discovery and its crew set about resolving a couple of key problems. First, discovering (sorry) the root cause of the Burn and saving the Federation of Planets from the Emerald Chain.
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The Expanse S05E04 brings us squarely into the business segment of the season as Marcos Inaros executes his plan to bring the inner planets (i.e. Earth and Mars) to their knees. The asteroid bombardment of Earth and the theft of the protomolecule from Tychos is justified as revenge for the generations of oppression of the Belters by the Inners.
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The Mandalorian is the well-received, critically acclaimed Star Wars Disney+ streaming TV series that has taken the world by storm! Even as last year’s first season whetted the appetite of Star Wars fans – young and old – for a return to the world that George Lucas created over forty years ago, nobody expected The Mandalorian Season 2 to well and truly up the ante like it did!
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His Dark Materials S02E07 is the season finale of this scifi fantasy adaptation of The Subtle Knife, the second book in Philip Pullman’s series. Entitled “Æsahættr”, His Dark Materials S02E07 finally reveals to us, the true nature of Lyra’s identity, as preposterous as that revelation is.
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The Mandalorian S02E08 is the season 2 finale of this well-received Star Wars streaming TV drama series. It is no exaggeration to proclaim that success of The Mandalorian has ‘saved’ Star Wars fans and has redeemed the franchise in the eyes of many hardcore fans disillusioned with the way the sequel trilogy turned out.
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The Stand Episode 1 is the premiere of the post-apocalyptic dark fantasy drama miniseries based on the beloved 1978 Stephen King novel of the same name. The Stand Episode 1 entitled “The End”, introduces us to the setting and starting premise of the miniseries.
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The Expanse S05E03 continues the new season narrative for the highly acclaimed scifi space opera streaming TV drama series. Entitled “Mother”, The Expanse S05E03 focuses on key character plot events as they impact on the underlying new season narrative – Marco (Keon Alexander) Inaros’ devious plan to attack Earth with stealth asteroids.
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The Expanse S05E02 continues the new season of this scifi space opera drama streaming TV series. The opening episode revealed that the Rocinante was undergoing repairs and thus its crew was undertaking a valuable furlough to take care of unfinished business. The Expanse S05E02 picks up on some of these plot treads but not all of them.
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Star Trek : Discovery S03E10 is the penultimate episode of Season 3. Entitled “Terra Firma Part. II”, Star Trek : Discovery S03E10 continues Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) journey back into the past in the Mirror Universe where she has to deal with a rebellion led by her daughter Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green).
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The Expanse S05E01 is the first instalment in the ongoing science fiction space opera streaming TV drama series developed by Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, based on the series of novels of the same name by James S. A. Corey. James S.A. Corey the joint pen name of authors Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck. Thus far, there have been nine books in The Expanse novel series since 2011 and is due to be concluded with Leviathan Falls in 2021.
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His Dark Materials S02E06 is the penultimate episode in Season 2 and thus, story events needed to progress beyond the static. His Dark Materials S02E06, entitled “Malice”, certainly shook up the status quo as far as this series is concerned. One main flaw of the series so far is the slow moving plot and sloppy pacing issues. While less than perfect, at least this episode seemed to move the plot forward.
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The Mandalorian S02E07 turned out to be another half an hour episode. However, The Mandalorian S02E07 “The Believer” was a much stronger instalment of this Star Wars bounty hunter epic series as fans were given a deeper insight into the character of Migs Mayfield (Bill Burr) last seen in Season 1.
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Star Trek : Discovery S03E09 is the opening instalment of a two-parter that is dedicated to an exploration of the deliciously wicked character that is Emperor Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh). Star Trek : Discovery S03E09 entitled “Terra Firma Part 1” contains a wonderful setup before bringing us somewhere entirely unexpected.
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Room 2806 : The Accusation is a four-part Netflix documentary series focusing on the allegations of sexual assault made against French politician Dominique Strauss-Kahn (“DSK”) in 2011. While Room 2806 : The Accusation is ostensibly concerned with a particular historical incident, thematically it addresses the wider issue of sexual abuse carried out by men of power and status.
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His Dark Materials S02E05 was built around a highly anticipated confrontation. Things had come to a head in the previous episode as the machinations of Lord Boreal (Ariyon Bakare) to acquire the Subtle Knife reached the point of hopeful fulfilment. Not only does Boreal bring Mrs. Coulter (Ruth Wilson) into his confidence, he takes her to our world, where he has set up a trap to lure Lyra (Dafne Keen) and Will (Amir Wilson).
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Heaven’s Gate : The Cult of Cults is a 4-part HBO documentary about the religious cult that committed mass suicide in 1997. Heaven’s Gate as a cult documentary is bound to be compared to The Vow, which was about the NXIVM sex slavery cult. Which I guess is an appropriate starting point in discussing Heaven’s Gate : The Cult of Cults.
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The Mandalorian S02E06 provided Star Wars fans a memorable moment with the proper return of fan-favourite Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison). Entitled “The Tragedy”, The Mandalorian S02E06 certainly telegraphed that the episode would be a difficult one for Mando (Pedro Pascal) as Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito) set his plan in motion to capture Grogu.
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Star Trek : Discovery S03E08 focused on Book (David Ajala) and his home planet of Kwejian, which is in league with the Emerald Chain (reluctantly). Now, the Emerald Chain is the villain of Season 3 and is a syndicate of Andorians and Orions that rose to prominence in the wake of the Burn, the cataclysmic event that has defined the 32nd century.
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Glad to report that His Dark Materials S02E04 carries on the quickening of the pace, the improvement in quality first seen in the previous episode. His Dark Materials S02E04 finally reveals the role of Will Parry (Amir Wilson) in the storyline. Strange to witness Lyra (Dafne Keen) being relegated to a supporting role but that’s essentially what happened in His Dark Materials S02E04.
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