Travelers – season 1

Travelers is a Canadian-American science fiction television series …

In a post-apocalyptic future, thousands of special operatives are tasked with preventing the collapse of society. These operatives, known as “travelers”, have their consciousnesses sent back in time and transferred into the “host” body of present-day individuals …

… each traveler must maintain the host’s pre-existing life as cover for the rest of their lives, while carrying out missions …

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

It’s OK. An interesting premise.

Patrick Gilmore as David Mailer is my favourite character.

I wasn’t hooked enough to download season 2.

Handmaid’s Tale – season 2

What can be said that hasn’t already been said?

It’s fantastically well done.

Elisabeth Moss as June Osborne must win every acting award.

Madeline Brewer as Janine should win the rest. And Ann Dowd as Aunt Lydia, of course.

In season 2 I could finally relate to Yvonne Strahovski as Serena Joy Waterford. Her backstory is fascinating.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

… That all said, I’m not sure I can continue with season 3. It’s too violent. Too sad. Too believable in an age where a potential leader of the Gilead theocracy is VP. ☹️

Justified – season 1

Love it.

A Western set in modern times.

It reminds me a bit of Firefly.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

The series … based on Elmore Leonard‘s novels Pronto and Riding the Rap and his short story “Fire in the Hole”.

Its main character is Raylan Givens, a deputy U.S. Marshal. Timothy Olyphant portrays Givens, a tough federal lawman, enforcing his own brand of justice in his Kentucky hometown. … 

TV Guide critic Matt Roush:

“The show is grounded in Olyphant’s low-key but high-impact star-making performance, the work of a confident and cunning leading man who’s always good company …”

The rest of the cast is consistently good too.

It’s 91% on Rotten Tomatoes.

It’s set in rural Kentucky and takes every opportunity to make fun of white, trailer trash rednecks.

All that said, I’m quitting now. Too much glorification of gun violence.

National Geographic’s MARS season 1

We have to go to MARS.

I’m convinced. Our species could easily go extinct on this planet.

National Geographic’s MARS blends elements of real interviews with a fictional story of a group of astronauts as they land on the planet Mars in 2033.

Though reviews have been mixed, I feel it’s a brave and important TV show.

I was also convinced (by Elon Musk) that man should try to merge with machine sooner rather than later. If our species is to survive long term, that will be the way.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

related – Elon Musk wants to live on Mars, even if it kills him

Bosch season 4

I watched season 4 on Amazon Prime Canada.

As good as any of the first 3 seasons, this one is 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.

… when an attorney is murdered on the eve of his civil rights trial against the LAPD, Bosch is assigned to lead a Task Force to solve the crime before the city erupts in a riot.

Bosch must pursue every lead, even if it turns the spotlight back on his own department. One murder intertwines with another, and Bosch must reconcile his past to find a justice that has long eluded him.

Season 5 is in the works. This is Amazon’s longest running series so far.

Dragon Teeth by Michael Crichton

Michael Crichton died in 2008 at age-66.

I’d read most of his books.

Dragon Teeth was written beginning in 1974 and published posthumously in 2017.

I enjoyed it. And a National Geographic TV version is planned.

… set in the American West in 1876 during the Bone Wars, a period of fervent competition for fossil hunting between two real-life paleontologists noted for their intense rivalry, Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope.

The plot follows the protagonist William Johnson, a Yale student who works during the summer alternately for the two paleontologists. …

Don Oldenburg of USA Today gave the novel four stars, describing the book as “Plain and simple, it’s Crichton fiction — a fun, suspenseful, entertaining, well-told tale filled with plot twists, false leads and lurking danger in every cliffhanging chapter.

 

 

 

City of Bones by Michael Connelly

City of Bones is the twelfth novel by American crime author Michael Connelly, and the eighth featuring the Los Angeles detective Hieronymus “Harry” Bosch. …

On New Year’s Day, a dog digs up a bone in Laurel Canyon outside of Los Angeles. The dog’s owner, a doctor, recognizes the bone as human and calls it in to the police.  …

Good story, as usual for Connelly.

Harry’s partner in this early book is Jerry Edgar. This time frame used in the Bosch TV series.

Julia Brasher is Harry’s love interest in this one. In the book she accidentally shoots herself. In the TV series she survives.

Bosch – season 3

Gripping. This is the closest I’ve yet come to binge watching.

Great story. Excellent acting. Best season, so far. 

Bosch is written by Eric Overmyer, the guy who did the final two years of The Wire, my favourite TV series. Two actors from the Wire appear in Bosch, as well.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Bosch is an American police procedural web television series based on Michael Connelly’s novels.

I’m pretty much binge reading the books, as well.

Running out of book, I was happy to hear Bosch TV has already been green lit through season 6.

The Expanse – season 3

I’d complained that seasons 1 and 2 were slow at times.

Not so in season 3. It’s all action.

On Rotten Tomatoes, the season has a score of 100% with an average rating of 8.75 out of 10 based on 12 reviews.

Click PLAY or watch a trailer on YouTube.

I liked two new characters.

Commander Klaes Ashford

Syfy dropped the series. Happily Amazon took over.

Season 4 could plausibly arrive by June 2019.

Humans season 3

This might be the final season despite excellent reviews.

I do recommend it.

Humans (stylised as HUM∀NS) is a science fiction television series …

… the series explores the themes of artificial intelligence and robotics, focusing on the social, cultural, and psychological impact of the invention of anthropomorphic robots called “synths”. The series is produced jointly by AMC in the United States, and Channel 4 and Kudos in the United Kingdom. …

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.