Category Archives: TV Talk

TV Review: Loki, Season 1

Posted on by
Reply

When it comes to Marvel, the audience falls into three distinct groups, those who obsess over all things Marvel and can cite all sorts of interesting facts. Those who watch the movies when opportunity arises and enjoy them for their entertainment value. And, well, everyone else. I fall solidly into the second group. If an opportunity comes up to watch a Marvel movie, I do it and usually enjoy it. I know I’m not watching them in order and am probably not getting all the references, but that aside, they are still pretty entertaining on their own.

Loki, a Disney/Marvel Studios creation, gives a new story and new challenges to everyone’s favorite character, Loki. So, yeah, when the opportunity came up to watch it with one of my kiddos, I was looking forward to being entertained.

Photo credit: Disney/Marvel Studios

The Story

In this timeline, Loki escapes the Battle of New York at the end of Avengers: End game using the Tesseract. This creates a breech in time and the Time Variance Authority (TVA) capture him and take him to be processed for his crimes against time. He’s given the choice, be erased from the timeline to fix the error he caused, or help fix the timeline against something much worse.

And, what could be worse than Loki’s from other timelines running amok? Loki discovers that the criminal he’s been charged to track down and eliminate is none other than an alternate version of himself, or variant, from another timeline. Loki uses his intuition paired with the TVA’s massive store of information to discover a pattern and plan where he believes this variant Loki will strike next.

When Loki finds the variant, he’s surprised to learn it’s a woman and is intrigued by her story and how it all ties in with the TVA. There’s far more to this organization than meets the eye. Loki betrays the agent he’s been assigned to in order to follow her as she jumps into another timeline.

The two of them learn truths that don’t align with what they’ve been told and feel compelled to answer one critical question: Who is behind the TVA and why? What are they hiding?

Loki and variant Loki, Sylvie

My Review

I’m all for an adventure flick, especially if it’s got a fantastic actor at the helm, such as Tom Hiddleston. This one delivers on plenty of action, amazing sets, and a complicated story line that only a time travel trope can create. Hiddleston has this amazing knack of projecting vulnerability one minute and something entirely different the next, which is why he’s so incredible to watch.

While there’s a lot of awesome going on with the show, I find that it tends to lag far more often than what I’d expect from a superhero spinoff. I understand why, it’s tough to set up these elaborate time loop story lines without including some serious exposition here and there. But, even when we’ve got the idea, there seems to be an abundance of dramatic pausing for sheer drama’s sake.

I also super appreciate the addition of Owen Wilson to the cast, in the role of Mobius, as he provides a perfect counterpoint to Hiddleston. He’s a different flavor of sincere without all the broody intensity. It totally works.

Hiddleston and Wilson

Recommendations

As this is a Marvel/Disney production, it’s pretty clean. There’s the necessary superhero intensity and drama, but as for everything else, there’s minimal offensive language, excessive violence, or innuendo. I was very comfortable watching it with my teen. Because of it’s complexity, I would recommend it for 12 and up just so it can be enjoyed without being too confusing.

I rate Loki 4/5 for being excellent (but slow at times).

Thank you for joining me as I shared my review of Amazon’s Cinderella today on the blog. If you enjoyed reading this review and would like to see more, please consider connecting with me by either following the blog here on WordPress, liking my Facebook page, joining my Facebook group, or subscribing to my newsletter. As an added bonus, newsletter subscribers receive free books, stories, and special offers every week.

TV Review: Castlevania, Season 4

Posted on by
Reply

It’s always sad to come to the end of a story that I thoroughly enjoyed. Season 4 of Castlevania takes us to the end of each of the storylines created in the previous seasons with fabulous success.

Through the previous seasons we saw the rise of Trevor and Sypha’s partnership as they grow from rivals to friends to more than friends. We saw the growth of Alucard’s humanity and desire to undo the evil unleashed by his father. We saw the rise and fall of two of Dracula’s necromancers as well as the rise and fall of the four vampire sisters. Add to that the late insertion of St. Germain into the story to put in place the concept of the infinite corridor, and season 4 had a lot of work to do to give each of these stories a worthwhile ending.

Our three heroes back together at last.

Season 4 Synopsis

There’s a lot going on as we enter season 4 so definitely don’t start watching the series here or you’ll be completely lost.

The big forces at work here are those trying to bring Dracula back, those trying to keep that from happening, and the vampire sisters who wish to become the new queens of all the vampires and fulfill Dracula’s dream of enslaving all humans and making them breeding stock to feed the vampires of the world.

Trevor and Sypha end up in Târgoviște, the village that started this whole mess by burning Dracula’s wife at stake back in season 1. They find the night creatures still tormenting the survivors and a small force trying to keep them back and the people safe. Once they’ve proven their worth to the head of this force, the discover the underground secret court that the fighters at Târgoviște were trying to protect. Through a series of events involving lots of fighting and the recovery of a special weapon, Trevor and Sypha pass through a mirror portal and find themselves back at Dracula’s castle where Alucard is engaged in his own battle.

Despite Alucard’s reluctance to trustpeople, he finds himself in a position to prove what he’s always said, that he wishes to undo the evil of his father. A nearby town which has been overrun by monsters enlists his aid. To keep them safe, he allows them to come stay in his ample castle, a crucial move as the night creatures are organizing into an army to fight against them.

Then we shift to the vampire queens and their armies and the necromancers who want to bring them down. Carmilla, the most ambitious of the queens, continues in her mad desire to reach further than needed for survival until she takes over the entire world in her greed. The necromancers work to take her down from within.

It all gets very exciting near the end with plenty of monster fighting, final decisions, and self-sacrifice.

Trevor vs Death. Did I mention self-sacrifice?

My Review

I knew this was the last season going in, so I had a bucketload of hopes and theories. I’m glad to say that most of the endings fell into the surprising, but inevitable, category as those are my favorite. And, for the characters I’d come to like, they got endings that made sense, and in several instances, made my heart happy.

My biggest worry was that they’d end the season on a question, as if they were hoping for another season. There’s nothing worse than feeling that there wasn’t a satisfying conclusion to a big problem. There is room for a spin off, which if the rumor mills are to be believed, are most definitely in the works.

In the end, this is a story of courage, grit, and determination. Each main character showed what could be accomplished if they simply did not give up.

Hector and Lenore. A surprising power couple.

Recommendations

As with the previous seasons, this is a show for older teens and adults only. The violence and gore are over the top and the story lines tend to be complicated. While in season 4 we don’t see any of the sexuality of season 3, we do see a handful of surprisingly caring relationships progress.

I give Castlevania, Season 4 (and the whole series) 5/5 for an amazing story, fantastic art, and great character creation.

Thank you for joining me as I shared my review of Castlevania, season 4 today on the blog. If you enjoyed reading this review and would like to see more, please consider connecting with me by either following the blog here on WordPress, liking my Facebook page, joining my Facebook group, or subscribing to my newsletter. As an added bonus, newsletter subscribers receive free books, stories, and special offers every week.

TV Review: Castlevania, Season 3

Posted on by
Reply

I’ve almost caught up to the current season! Woot. At this pace, they’ll put out season five before I get through season four. Not a bad thing at all. Lately, I’ve been using episodes of Castlevania as small rewards for completing edits on scenes of my next book. Motivation takes all forms, and this was compelling enough to get me moving forward.

In season 1 of Castlevania, we got an introduction to the world and key players as well as the main conflict. In season 2, we dove headfirst into each of these players, getting to know their backstories and what drives them.

Alucard with Taka and Sumi who are apparently super cuddly when they aren’t vicious assassins

Season 3 Synopsis

After the giant battle and Dracula’s defeat our cast breaks into four storylines; Alucard, Hector, Issac, and Trevor and Sypha as a team.

Alucard stays alone at where Dracula’s castle ended up parked, right next to the destroyed Belmont Estate. He misses Trevor and Sypha but believes he’s better off alone, although he fears he might go insane. Everything changes when he’s visited by two vampire hunters, Taka and Sumi. He chooses to trust them, as they are escaped prisoners of one of Dracula’s council members, Chō. He agrees to teach them with the hope that they can return to best the next vampire to take Chō’s place. Things go well, until they suddenly don’t and it breaks Alucard’s trust in people once more.

Meanwhile, the two necromancers Hector and Issac are having opposite adventures. Hector is in captivity under the wiles of the Council of Sisters, four vampire women intent on filling the power gap left by Dracula’s death. They need him to create more night creatures for them to build an army. One of the sisters, Carmilla, uses a potent mix of kindness and cruelty to entrap him to do their will. It’s kind of messed up.

Isaac, on the other hand, walks free and is assembling his own army as he makes his way toward Hector in Styria to exact his revenge. He travels across the land, passing through cities and leaving corpses in his wake. He ends up in a town in control of “the Magician” who has enslaved tens of thousands of people with his magic to build up a great city to himself. If Issac defeats the Magician and his minions, he gets access to a massive transmission mirror that will move him and his army to Styria.

Finally, we get to Trevor and Sypha. They find themselves in the small town of Lindenfeld where the local priory are sympathetic to Dracula’s cause. They also meet Saint German, who recognizes Trevor as a Belmont. They begrudgingly offer to work together and unfold what’s really happening within the priory only to find that the church is built over a portal to hell and they are keeping a monster in the basement. Good times. All of this crashes together when the priests strike out at the town using alchemical symbols to murder it’s inhabitants to give the monster the power it needs to open the portal. Trevor and Sypha must prevent the Priest Sala from completing the process and prevent Dracula from returning.

Carmilla and Hector, who finally gets some clothes mid season

My Review

Season 3 of Castlevania returns the viewer to learning about the world once more as everything shifts in new directions. The board is being set and the players put in position for moves that are both tactical and necessary to reach the next big climax which I’m guessing will come at the end of season 4. While this is what’s required to stoke the fire for the next big thing, it returns the viewers back to the overwhelm of the world and stakes not being completely understood like we had in season 1.

Four story lines scattered across 12 episodes tends to do that. This time, each of the four story lines carry close to the same weight as that of our main characters, which also makes it hard to choose who to cheer for. I’m still totally team Trevor but Hector is also starting to grow on me.

As each of the stories amp up the tension, we see a fair amount of violence, but we also see more cruelty in several different forms. This is more than indiscriminate killing, it’s intentional foul play. And, at the climax of the season, we also find ourselves in two very manipulative trysts.

I’m eager to see where each of these story lines go and how they all collide together, because they most definitely will.

Yep, Trevor and Sypha are still all sorts of adorable when they aren’t kicking butt.

Recommendations

Still not a kids show, like at all. I feel like a broken record at this point, but this one’s for adults and perhaps the high schoolers they let play. Violence is still the biggest offender, but there are also adult situations (including nudity), some cursing, and plenty of good vs evil where it’s not clear who to root for.

I give Castlevania, season 3, 4/5 stars for branching out a little too far and diluting the main conflict, but still being amazing.

Thank you for joining me as I shared my review of Castlevania, season 3 today on the blog. If you enjoyed reading this review and would like to see more, please consider connecting with me by either following the blog here on WordPress, liking my Facebook page, joining my Facebook group, or subscribing to my newsletter. As an added bonus, newsletter subscribers receive free books, stories, and special offers every week.

TV Review: The Dragon Prince, Season 2

Posted on by
Reply

Today, we move boldly into season 2 of The Dragon Prince and continue the story. If you missed the review for season 1, it can be found here.

My expectations for season 2 were higher than I’d normally give to most shows. Season 1 nailed all of the critical elements to create a perfect opening into a long form story, we learn the essential relevant history of the world, we are introduced to our key players, and we discover what forces are at work. In season 2, it needed to dig deeper into the motivations of the characters, learn their weaknesses, and watch them try and then fail to meet their goal.

And it totally does.

The Story

We end season 1 with the dragon egg hatching, which gave us a little closure as well as changing up the challenges going forward. In season 2 we see three distinct groups at work; Viren, the advisor to the assassinated king who has taken control of the Kingdom and wants nothing more than to eradicate the elves once and for all; the elves who want payback for what the humans have destroyed; and our heroes who are caught in-between as they work to restore the now baby dragon to it’s mother.

Season 2 gives us a more in-depth view of why Viren is trying so hard to vanquish the last of the elves by sharing the story of what really happened when they ended up killing the Dragon king. Like many antagonists, he believes that his actions were justified for the good of the people. In this case, he needed a powerful magical ingredient from the heart of a Xadia magma titan to bring an end to the drought and provide food for two starving kingdoms. To succeed in his quest to vanquish the elves, he needs the support of all five kingdoms to agree to go to war – and they won’t give it to him. He turns to more dark magic to force their hands.

Meanwhile, Callum hasn’t told Ezran that his father, the king, is dead and struggles to find the right way to do it without breaking Ezran’s heart. They continue their quest of taking the baby dragon back to its mother, knowing now that it’s more important than ever to heal the rift between elves and humans. When Ezran learns of his father’s death through other means, he feels compelled to return home.

We end season 2 with Ezran being crowned king and taking on a responsibility that he knows he’s not ready for.

My Review

Season 1 excelled in building the frame of the story and giving us just enough to want to know more. Season 2 charged ahead in filling out that story and gave even more emotional depth to the many conflicts that weave themselves together. Every character has a significant challenge they they are working to overcome and all of these challenges work together in a way that makes the story that much greater as we see the successes and failures start adding up.

Season 2 also dives deeper into the contrast between dark magic, which is stolen magic that is practiced by humans, and the natural magic of the elves who can pull power from their assigned nexus. We see this in Viren’s growing desperation to gain the power and support he needs from the five kingdoms by cooperating by a mysterious mirror artifact. We also see this in Callum’s efforts to access natural magic, even though as a human it should be impossible for him.

There is quite a lot of drama in this season, and all of it fits beautifully into the story to amp up the tension and make things that much more compelling, which I love. When this is done right, it’s amazing. When it’s done wrong, it feels artificial and forced.

Dragon Prince totally does it right.

Recommentations

There’s so many good things going on in Dragon Prince that there is something for every fantasy lover out there ranging from danger and adventure, to the political intrigues and quests for power. My only warning is for those sensitive to the idea of dark magic and subversion, Viren does dabble in quite a bit of it during season 2 and doesn’t let up going forward.

I give The Dragon Prince, Season 2 5/5 for maintaining it’s awesomeness.

Thank you for joining me as I reviewed Dragon Prince, season 2 today on the blog. If you enjoyed reading this review and would like to see more, please consider connecting with me by either following the blog here on WordPress, liking my Facebook page, or subscribing to my newsletter. As an added bonus, newsletter subscribers receive free books, stories, and special offers every week.

TV Review: Dragon Prince, Season 1

Posted on by
1

Looking back, I did something a little weird. I reviewed season 3 of Dragon Prince all by itself instead of posting the different seasons in order. Seeing as we might be getting close to the release of season 4, which is slated for the end of eternity, erm, in 2021, it’s a great time to remedy that.

If you’ve been following along, I do have a soft spot for 2D animation films created to showcase art and story. This is true with my fascination with Castlevania as well as the Studio Ghibli universe. It’s no surprise that Dragon Prince is among my favorites.

Callum and Ezran

The Story

As with all opening seasons, there is the expected setting up of all the different forces at work. We see this done masterfully here in the first season of Dragon Prince. The world is essentially divided into two groups, the humans and the elves. The humans, believing they were protecting their world, destroyed the dragon king and his egg which earned them the elves as an enemy.

In retaliation, elven assassins hunt down the human king responsible for the dragon king’s death. What they don’t know is that the dragon egg was not destroyed, but stolen by the human king’s advisor.

All of this big story leads us to focus on the two most important characters, the human king’s son, Ezran, and Rayla, the elven assassin who has a change of heart when she learns that the egg hasn’t been destroyed. Together, along with Ezran’s older half brother, Callum, they vow to return the egg back to the Dragon queen.

Along their journey they encounter all manner of obstacles and difficulties, both in the form of monsters in the world and also from hunters from the kingdom trying to rescue the crown prince Ezran from Rayla, who they believe has abducted him.

With the death of the king and the prince missing, the kingdom falls into the hands of the king’s advisor, Viren, a powerful sorcerer who uses dark magic. While his intentions have always been good, his methods are questionable at best. With each turn, he digs himself deeper into a hole that will bring the kingdom to ruin.

Rayla and Lujanne

My Review

This show has everything I love in a story. Noble characters, dark and light magic pitted against each other, plenty of humor, and some adorable friendships/relationships. It also has amazing art design, great music, and awesome dialogue.

Honestly, if I were to pick one thing about this show that I didn’t like, it would be that they chose to give Rayla a very distinct Scottish flavored accent. It took a few episodes to get used to it, but after that it felt like it totally worked.

There’s also two different sibling relationships that are beautifully contrasted against each other. One is between Ezran and his half brother Callum which is supportive and playful. The other is between Soren and Claudia which is fraught with issues caused by having a dark sorcerer as their father. Soren, who is as naïve as they come, wants to be an amazing knight of the realm and Claudia, who inherited her father’s intellect and magical talent, wants to please her father.

My Recommendations

My eight-year-old loved all of this show, even the parts that I thought would be too intense and scary. Yes, the plot is fairly intricate and yes there is plenty of tension and also yes, there is the use of dark magic which involves sacrifice of living things to make work, but beyond that, there are hundreds of examples of people making the right choices even though they are hard. I count that as a win.\

I rate Dragon Prince, Season 1 5/5 stars for being all around awesome.

Thank you for joining me as I reviewed Dragon Prince, season 1 today on the blog. If you enjoyed reading this review and would like to see more, please consider connecting with me by either following the blog here on WordPress, liking my Facebook page, or subscribing to my newsletter. As an added bonus, newsletter subscribers receive free books, stories, and special offers every week.

Book Review: Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman

Posted on by
Reply

How perfect is this? A book by two of my favorite authors which was later made into a TV series starring two of my favorite actors. It’s like a gift from the universe specially made for me. And even better, it’s pretty amazing.

The Story

There is a lot going in in Good Omens. We have three distinct story lines following the key players. First, there’s main story of how an angel and a demon are trying to prevent the apocalypse because frankly life in the 20th century is everything they’d ever want it to be and they would rather not see it end.

Then, there’s the story of the boy who is supposed to be the Antichrist and bring about the apocalypse.

There’s also a thread of the story as we watch the four horsemen of the apocalypse organize themselves and set things into motion.

Lastly, I’m going to lump together the characters revolving around the Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, a book of prophecies which is distinct from other books of prophecies for one reason alone – It’s 100% accurate, this includes the descendant of Agnes, Anathema Device (best name for a character, ever) Newton Pulsifer, and Witchfinder Sergent Shadwell.

We see the book in three main time periods; the events surrounding the placement of the baby Antichrist into a suitable family; the key points of the boy’s growing up when both the angel Aziraphale and the demon Crowley work to ensure he’s given a proper education so when the time comes for the apocalypse, he’s ready; and then the time when the apocalypse is supposed to happen.

Like I said, there’s a lot going on here.

My Review

The one thing that I always find delightful in Pratchett’s books is his use of distinct and likable characters. We see loads of this here. The cast is absolutely massive in this book and yet each character is built in such a way that they walk fully formed off of the page. Take the demon Crowley, for example. He could have been played like a stereotypical villain and not been anything more than that. Instead, we have a man who loves his vintage Bentley (even if every cassette he tries to play in it in time turns into a Queen album), raises houseplants like children (which he sacrifices regularly to threaten the others to grow better, he is a demon after all), and created the M25 just to annoy humans.

Then, we mix all these amazing characters into a story line that’s both so complicated and yet so simple which screams iconic Gaiman.

It’s a hard combination to pull off and yet, for me, was 100% successful in creating an delightful romp through something running just parallel enough to the truth that it can be enjoyed first while reading, but also again as you think about all the bits and how they fit together.

Recommendations

If you’re already a fan of Pratchett and Gaiman you’ll already know that they both love to walk on the edge of the acceptable and explore what is considered right and wrong and why. That said, if reading about the Antichrist as a very real person, and worse, a child, makes you a little squeamish, then this whole book might be a little too much for comfort.

Age recommendations – I’d stick this one to adult readers and the older teenagers they let play. Besides the playful religious overtones ranging into the questionable at times, there only a sprinkling of curse words, I think f*^# is said once, and the violence and romantic content is present but subdued. The reason I recommend older readers is that the story won’t make much sense without context and life experience.

I rate Good Omens 5/5 for its excellent characters, delightful unlikely situations, and the most unusual of friendships.

Thank you for joining me as I reviewed Good Omens today on the blog. If you enjoyed reading this review and would like to see more, please consider connecting with me by either following the blog here on WordPress, liking my Facebook page, or subscribing to my newsletter. As an added bonus, newsletter subscribers receive free books, stories, and special offers every week.

TV Review: Castlevania, Season 2

Posted on by
1

Back in February I reviewed Castlevania, season 1. It’s high time to move onto season 2. I’ll leave my warning upfront and center for anyone who’s made it this far.

Castlevania is not for kids. Don’t let the animation fool you. There is extreme gore, violence, innuendo and mature themes.

And, I still think it’s amazing. All the elements that make up my favorite stories are in here so I’m certainly going to continue watching.

Meet one of the necromancers, Hector.

The Story

At the end of season one we left Trevor Belmont and Sypha Belnades in the aftermath of a massive battle between Dracula’s forces and the people of Gresit. During the battle, the two of them fall into deep catacombs beneath the city and find Adrian Tepes, who is the half vampire son (also known as a dhampir) of Vlad Dracula Tepes and his wife Lisa.

Adrian, now known as Alucard (which is dracula spelled backwards) fights Trevor and Sypha to test them before joining them to challenge Dracula and stop him from wiping out all mankind.

Season two follows their journey and also steps back to fill in the gaps left by season one. We see details on Lisa’s arrest and subsequent execution – the reason why Dracula has become incensed and feels driven to make the world of men pay. We also see Dracula’s world and the political forces within it, including a few human necromancers who create the undead army of grotesque creatures. This is important, because not only is this a fight between Dracula’s forces and the world, but there is also plenty of tension between the vampires and the necromancers.

Meanwhile, Trevor, Alucard, and Sypha return to Trevor’s destroyed childhood home and uncover the massive secret underground library which contains the answers about how they can possibly stop Dracula’s forces, as well as several specialized monster hunting weapons.

All of this leads up to several heated conflicts and battles. Several of Dracula’s vampires have agendas of their own, and will stop at nothing to see them through. There is an attack on another city as well as a showdown at the Belmont Estate where undead creatures work to eliminate our three heroes.

We end the season with a epic vampire battle between Alucard and Dracula, the outcome of which changes everything.

We also meet Carmilla, one of the vampire queens with a massive agenda.

My Review

Where many second seasons suffer from a lack of focus and a sense that the writers never planned on continuing the story, Castlevania flourishes. All the hectic story building in season one slows down and we finally get to see things happen at a much more reasonable pace. When there needs to be a flashback, it’s satisfying and fits into the story in a way that enriches the experience instead of distracting from it.

The complexity of the plot is Castlevania’s two-edged sword. People are going to love it or hate it because of just how many storylines are running amok. This complexity comes from the massive cast of important characters, all of which have relevant backstories that need to be explored to make the decisions they are making in the present make sense. This means lots of flashbacks to build up these stories. Some might feel this slows down the story and the action too much and takes away from the good parts of the story that’s unfolding in the present.

For me, it makes the conflict all the more interesting and meaningful. No one in this story is a mindless puppet. Each one carries an emotional wound that they are desperately working to heal in often the most dramatic way possible. In a way, Game of Thrones tried to do the same thing. Each kingdom had an agenda and the viewer spent lots of time learning the motivations behind them. Where GOT fell short was not fulfilling any of those agendas even in a clever way. No one in GOT found satisfying closure to their stories, which is why everyone hated the end of season eight.

For Castlevania to be successful, each character with an agenda needs to end up with what they deserve and it needs to be a poetic twist on what they wanted.

Trevor gets a new powerful toy, an enchanted morningstar.

Recommendations

While season one seemed to delight in shocking the audience, season two made up for it by adding additional depth. There is still plenty of gore and violence, but it now feels balanced to what the story is trying to accomplish.

This one is for high school aged viewers and up. Period.

I give Castlevania, Season 2, 5/5 stars for it’s depth of story, stunning art, and complex characters.

Thank you for joining me as I reviewed Castlevania, season 2 today on the blog. If you enjoyed reading this review and would like to see more, please consider connecting with me by either following the blog here on WordPress, liking my Facebook page, or subscribing to my newsletter. As an added bonus, newsletter subscribers receive free books, stories, and special offers every week.

TV Review: Castlevania, Season 1

Posted on by
2

Warning – this dark animated horror fantasy isn’t for the kids and contains extreme gore, violence, foul language, innuendo, and mature themes.

That said, it’s awesome. I’m a sucker for great characters, engrossing stories, and in this case, some very impressive artistry. Castlevania has all three.

The Story

A little history. Castlevania was originally a Japanese video game series by Konami and follows the story of Trevor Belmont, Alucard, and Sypha Belnades as they defend their homeland against Dracula and his minions.

We begin with the story of Vlad Dracula Tepes and see his love for Lisa, a vivacious and determined human woman who forced herself into his life, grow into something special. Twenty years later, she is accused of witchcraft and burned at the stake – an event that destroys Dracula’s faith in humanity and sets him on the path to kill every citizen who lives in Wallachia.

Enter Trevor Belmont who comes from a long line of famous monster hunters. The Belmont family is legendary in their efforts to rid the world of dark monsters. Here in season 1, Trevor is still reluctant to take up the family tradition and instead stumbles from town to town seeking out the next tavern and mug of ale. That is until he meets Sypha, a magician historian who is seeking a way to end the monster attacks plaguing the countryside. She’s got the knowledge, he’s got the brawn.

Sypha follows a legend saying that there’s a sleeping soldier in the catacombs deep beneath the city of Gresit who is capable of stopping Dracula. This soldier turns out to be the cast off half-vampire son of Dracula himself, Alucard.

The season ends with Alucard agreeing to help Sypha and Trevor challenge Dracula and end the conflict between vampires and humans for good.

My Review

Season one of Castlevania is super short, only four episodes. In that time, the history of why Dracula turned on humans needed to be revealed, Trevor and Sypha needed to be compelled to work together, and the first big enemy, the Bishop of Gresit, faced and defeated. That’s a lot of ground to cover so it’s no surprise that the story feels a bit disjointed as we get to know the characters and what’s at stake for each. The sheer immensity of the backstory trying to break through is impressive. By the end of the first season the viewer knows that there is so much more going on, but isn’t quite sure what.

Yes, they fridged Dracula’s love interest. It’s a common trope in the genre as a reason for the bad guy to be bad or the good guy to keep fighting. In this instance there are enough other factors also in place that it doesn’t feel forced.

Overall, I enjoyed the story and I found the characters to be likable and charming each in their own curmudgeonly way. The gore is a little much for what is needed to tell a good story, but is an expected aspect of the genre so is forgivable.

I look forward to seeing how the story unfolds and how the stakes are raised.

Recommendations

This series makes a place for itself by offering over-the-top brutal violence in an animated feature. I’ll say it again. IT’S NOT FOR KIDS. Highschoolers, maybe. But not kids. Beyond the violence and gore, there is also frequent swearing and reference to plenty of mature themes.

That said, compared to other similar stories, Castlevania has strong moral undertones. They characters show grit and determination to do what’s right, not because they’ll gain from it, but because it’s the right thing to do. They stand up against evil, protect the weak, and are willing to sacrifice themselves should it come down to it.

I give Castlevania 4/5 for amazing characters, a solid story, and a compelling villain.

Thank you dear reader for stopping by! If you’d like to be notified of future posts here at JodiLMilner.com, be sure to ‘subscribe’ using the handy links. Or, even better, sign up to be part of my mailing list and get a bonus goodie from me.

TV Review: Mandalorian, Season 2

Posted on by
2

Can you get too much of a good thing? Yes. Yes, you can. While I proudly say that I’m fond of the Star Wars universe, I can also say that there are elements of it that drive me batty. We might get into some of those.

Exactly a year ago I posted my review of the first season of the Mandalorian. Should you need a brief tutorial of the general idea of the series or who the Mandalorian is, go check it out here.

For the rest of you, let’s dive right into season two and all its hits and misses.

The Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal) and Grogu in Lucasfilm’s THE MANDALORIAN, season two, exclusively on Disney+. © 2020 Lucasfilm Ltd. & ™. All Rights Reserved.

The Story

Mando’s goal remains the same: protect the child (We finally learn his name! It’s Grogu.) and deliver him safely to the Jedi who are hiding somewhere in the universe after their near extermination. This is harder than it sounds as now members of the Imperial Fleet, namely Moff Gideon, wants to harvest his blood to create magical super soldiers. I wish I was making this up. (It really doesn’t help that Moff Gideon is played by the same guys who plays Gus Fring on Breaking Bad – owner of Pollos Hermanos and cold methodical drug lord). Chicken anyone?

This goal is challenged by literally everything. Mando struggles to find the hidden Jedi and is forced to perform task after task to get tiny clues that bring him closer to his goal. This turns the beginning of the season into a monster of the week montage where the point of each episode is to defeat a literal monster. We’ve got a massive sand worm ala Dune, some freaky spiders ala Harry Potter, and a sea monster that kind of eats Grogu’s baby pod at one point. When Mando finally thinks he’s reached his goal, Moff Gideon’s robot warriors steal the child away.

Bad news for Mando. Great news for watchers. Ooooh, the tension! We finally get to the climactic action scenes between Mando and his motley crew of fighters and Moff Gideon’s super army and, well, a BIG THING happens.

I’m told if I give away this big thing a nice man will come and break my thumbs – and I need those for typing.

Meet Bo Katan, another Mandalorian who follows a different set of rules.

My Review

I struggled with season two. All of the cool stuff to set up the story already happened in the first season which left season two adrift in what we writer’s call the “murky middle.” This is where the characters know what they need to do but are missing a critical element and have to wade through plot bunnies to find it. When it’s handled well, the murky middle is a great time for character development, increasing the stakes, and deepening relationships – or challenging them depending on the story.

Mando spends a lot of time and effort trying to find where the Jedi are, the critical piece to the story. During that time there isn’t a significant amount of deepening the characters or raising the stakes in a way that felt meaningful. We do get reunited with old Boba Fett, which is nice. One of the criticisms of season one is they held back on using characters from the already established universe. Season two does make up for that.

When it comes to quality, I’ll say it again – the cinematography is stunning, and the artistry is amazing. These worlds feel real and the characters fit in without feeling puppet-like. On the other hand, the dialogue on season two felt way more clunky than the first season and many of the action scenes felt forced into something that seemed way over the top.

That said, should there be another season – although I can’t imagine how considering how this season ended – I’d probably watch it.

Moff Gideon, the complex but underexplored villain. And, yes, he rocks a dramatic cape.

Recommendations

Mandalorian season two is entertaining with some little depth, but not so much that it would push away those who are just here for the action. It’s got a fair amount of shooting and killing, which for me felt way more than needed, but not any significant blood or gore. I’d consider it fairly family friendly to the same extent that Return of the Jedi is family friendly.

Would I love it to be a little more meaningful? Of course. There are a few tender moments, but in all nothing that resonated as deeply as it could have.

All in all, it’s entertaining and that’s what we came for.

I give Mandalorian, Season 2 3/5 stars for leaning too heavily on the shooty bits and missing a few critical chances to give needed depth.

Thank you dear reader for stopping by! If you’d like to be notified of future posts here at JodiLMilner.com, be sure to ‘subscribe’ using the handy links. Or, even better, sign up to be part of my mailing list.

2020 Year in Review

Posted on by
Reply

Well, my pretties, we’re here at the end. If you’re reading this then you’ve made it this far. Congratulations. This has been a different year for everyone, myself included.

At the beginning of this year, I had some pretty big dreams. I was going to power through editing and publishing the rest of the Shadow Barrier series and had two more books on stand by just waiting for attention. With enough good planning, I was going to get those out this year as well.

And, that didn’t happen.

But, I did get two books out:

In January, I rereleased Stonebearer’s Betrayal, with it’s fabulous new cover. And in June, it’s much awaited sequel – Stonebearer’s Apprentice. The third book in the series, Stonebearer’s Redemption, is a few months from completion. Huzzah.

I don’t think I missed a single week of posting on the blog which resulted in lots of book reviews, movie reviews, and some deep thoughts as I figured out how to live with all the COVID changes. It’s always fun to look back through the work of the year, and this year it’s interesting to note the change in tone of the personal essays as the months of isolation started to take effect.

Anyway, enjoy this end of year list post!

Christmas Movie Review Posts:

Book Reviews of Author Friends

Book Reviews

Non-Fiction Book Review

TV Reviews

Throwback Movie Reviews

Movie Review

Personal Essays

Miscellaneous

Thank you dear reader for stopping by! If you’d like to be notified of future posts here at JodiLMilner.com, be sure to ‘subscribe’ using the handy links. Or, even better, sign up to be part of my mailing list.