Game of Thrones
Season 3, Episode 7 – “The Bear And The Maiden Fair”
Directed by Michelle MacLaren
Written by George R.R. Martin
Starring: Mark Addy, Alfie Allen, Emilia Clarke, James Cosmo, Liam Cunningham, Charles Dance, Stephen Dillane, Peter Dinklage, Natalie Dormer, Michelle Fairley, Jerome Flynn, Aidan Gillen, Jack Gleeson, Iain Glen, Kit Harington, Lena Headey, Conleth Hill, Ciarán Hinds, Carice van Houten, Sibel Kekilli, Harry Lloyd, Richard Madden, Patrick Malahide, Rory McCann, Sophie Turner, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Maisie Williams, and Issac Hempstead-Wright
HBO
Air Date: May 12, 2013

I find it rather fitting that the title of Game of Thrones‘ seventh episode focuses so much on a particular pairing, considering that the episode spends so much time on duos of characters instead of individual characters. “The Bear And The Maiden Fair” is a quieter affair, (scripted by George R.R. Martin and directed by the incredible Michelle MacLaren), that works as what will probably become the calm before the storm, leading into the final three episodes of this season. [...]

Game of Thrones
Season 3, Episode 6 – “The Climb”
Directed by Alex Graves
Written by David Benioff & D.B. Weiss
Starring: Mark Addy, Alfie Allen, Emilia Clarke, James Cosmo, Liam Cunningham, Charles Dance, Stephen Dillane, Peter Dinklage, Natalie Dormer, Michelle Fairley, Jerome Flynn, Aidan Gillen, Jack Gleeson, Iain Glen, Kit Harington, Lena Headey, Conleth Hill, Ciarán Hinds, Carice van Houten, Sibel Kekilli, Harry Lloyd, Richard Madden, Patrick Malahide, Rory McCann, Sophie Turner, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Maisie Williams, and Issac Hempstead-Wright
HBO
Air Date: May 5, 2013

“Chaos isn’t a pit. Chaos is a ladder. Many who try to climb it fail and never get to try again. The fall breaks them. And some are given a chance to climb, they refuse, they cling to the realm or the gods or love or illusions. Only the ladder is real. The climb is all there is.”

Littlefinger’s (Aidan Gillen) speech is a very much on the nose, as “The Climb,” the sixth episode of season 3 of Game Of Thrones, sees various characters trying to progress forward in some capacity, but the core of his speech – that often those who are provided opportunities normally only get one chance at something – rings true for many characters tonight [...]

Game of Thrones
Season 3, Episode 5 – “Kissed by Fire”
Directed by Alex Graves
Written by Bryan Gogman
Starring: Mark Addy, Alfie Allen, Emilia Clarke, James Cosmo, Liam Cunningham, Charles Dance, Stephen Dillane, Peter Dinklage, Natalie Dormer, Michelle Fairley, Jerome Flynn, Aidan Gillen, Jack Gleeson, Iain Glen, Kit Harington, Lena Headey, Conleth Hill, Ciarán Hinds, Carice van Houten, Sibel Kekilli, Harry Lloyd, Richard Madden, Patrick Malahide, Rory McCann, Sophie Turner, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Maisie Williams, and Issac Hempstead-Wright
HBO
Air Date: April 28, 2013

While we often think of fire as a heat source or a weapon, more often than not, fire illuminates our path and helps shows us what’s true. After weeks of epic television, Game of Thrones‘ fifth episode, “Kissed by Fire,” allows most of characters to look at the paths they’ve chosen before deciding (or having someone choose for them) their new fate.

Jamie’s life has certainly turned out much different than I believe he originally intended. In the episode’s strongest scene, Jamie (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) explains to Brienne (Gwendoline Christie) the ‘secret origin’ of the Kingslayer name, detailing the mad king’s obsession with wildfire and how he planned to burn the city down, men, women, and children all. So, Jamie took matters into his own hands. This is battered and beaten Jamie Lannister, far different from the attempted child-killer we saw in the first season. We know that version of Jamie still lurks below, but the journey and evolution of the character is very different now than before [...]

Game of Thrones
Season 3, Episode 4 – “And Now His Watch Is Ended”
Directed by Alex Graves
Written by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss
Starring: Mark Addy, Alfie Allen, Emilia Clarke, James Cosmo, Liam Cunningham, Charles Dance, Stephen Dillane, Peter Dinklage, Natalie Dormer, Michelle Fairley, Jerome Flynn, Aidan Gillen, Jack Gleeson, Iain Glen, Kit Harington, Lena Headey, Conleth Hill, Ciarán Hinds, Carice van Houten, Sibel Kekilli, Harry Lloyd, Richard Madden, Patrick Malahide, Rory McCann, Sophie Turner, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Maisie Williams, and Issac Hempstead-Wright
HBO
Air Date: April 21, 2013

Well. That was certainly something.

With the nature of the Internet and spoilers, I already knew about this week’s big Game of Thrones event. But as the episode progressed, I realized there was plenty of excitement to be found before Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) blows the doors clear off this season.

Continue reading for more, but beware of spoilers if you’re not yet caught up. [...]

Game of Thrones
Season 3, Episode 3 – Walk of Punishment
Directed by David Benioff
Written by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss
Starring: Mark Addy, Alfie Allen, Emilia Clarke, James Cosmo, Liam Cunningham, Charles Dance, Stephen Dillane, Peter Dinklage, Natalie Dormer, Michelle Fairley, Jerome Flynn, Aidan Gillen, Jack Gleeson, Iain Glen, Kit Harington, Lena Headey, Conleth Hill, Ciarán Hinds, Carice van Houten, Sibel Kekilli, Harry Lloyd, Richard Madden, Patrick Malahide, Rory McCann, Sophie Turner, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Maisie Williams, and Issac Hempstead-Wright
HBO
Air Date: April 14, 2013

“Walk of Punishment” is another keeping up with the Joneses episode of Game of Thrones, but when we’re juggling as many characters as this show does, that’s bound to happen. What’s important about this episode is the set up. Lots of fuses are beginning to be lit and by the time the episode is over, a few of them already beginning to explode.

The biggest fuse has to be Daenerys (Emilia Clarke). As the Mother of Dragons walks along the episode’s namesake, we see her gamble the biggest thing she has to lose. I use the word gamble here very specifically. I think Daenerys is building something here. To give away what she does in the manner she does it speaks to a larger plan. It’s a shocking move (in an episode with a totally shock ending) that will have some real consequences [...]

Doctor Who
Series 7, Episode 9 – “Cold War”
Directed by Douglas Mackinnon
Written by Mark Gatiss
Starring: Matt Smith, Jenna-Louise Coleman, Charlie Anson, Nicholas Briggs, Liam Cunningham, Tobias Menzies, James Norton, Josh O’Connor, David Warner, and Spencer Wilding
BBC America
Air date: April 13, 2013

“It never rains, but it pours.”

It’s funny how that simple phrase so fittingly ties into the theme for “Cold War,” the latest episode of Doctor Who. Once The Doctor (Matt Smith) and Clara (Jenna-Louise Coleman) materialize on the Soviet submarine, chaos has already ensued and things continue to progress and get worse.

And then the bottom really falls out.

Written by Mark Gatiss (whose past Doctor Who episodes have been rather hit or miss), “Cold War” certainly plays into the themes and fears of the time and makes them a tangible threat that seeps through the episode like the drops of water that constantly drip through the nuclear submarine. The threat is real. And it’s here [...]

Da Vinci’s Demons
Season 1, Episode 1 – “The Hanged Man”
Directed and written by David S. Goyer
Starring: Tom Riley, Laura Haddock, Blake Ritson, Elliot Cowan, Lara Pulver, Gregg Chillin, Hera Hilmar, Eros Vlahos, James Faulkner, David Schofield, Alexander Siddig Al-Rahim, Tom Bateman, Allan Corduner, Michael Elwyn, Michael Culkin, Nick Dunning and Elliot Levey
Starz
Air date: Friday, April 12, 2013

Outside of episodes of Party Down, I’ve not not watched a lot of Starz shows. However, I do feel that the network is working towards building a larger theme with each of its respective programs. It’ll be interested to see how Da Vinci’s Demons, the network’s newest series, falls into that overall identity.

Da Vinci’s Demons reminds me a lot of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys or Xena: Warrior Princess. Depending on how excited or apathetic you just got after reading that statement will serve as a good indicator of your interest in the show, which is an eight-part series. Created, written, and directed by Dark Knight trilogy co-writer David S. Goyer, Da Vinci’s Demons sees the infamous artist rebranded as a young action hero [...]

Archer
Season 4, Episode 13 – “Sea Tunt: Part 2”
Directed by Bryan Fordney
Written by Adam Reed & Rick Cleveland
Starring: H. Jon Benjamin, Judy Greer, Amber Nash, Chris Parnell, Aisha Tyler, Jessica Walter, Eugene Mirman, Kristen Schaal, and Jon Hamm
FX
Air date: April 11, 2013

What always works so well for me in a comedy like Archer is how well developed each and all of the characters are. Guest stars or series regulars, Adam Reed and company nail the interactions between all involved. “Sea Tunt: Part 2” fully capitalizes on some of the exact situations you’d expect to happen when Archer (H. Jon Benjamin) and the rest of the ISIS field agents go to an underwater base. But there are still just enough swerves and twists and turns to make the episode enjoyable and downright hilarious. [...]

Doctor Who
Series 7, Episode 8 – “The Rings of Akhaten”
Directed by Farren Blackburn
Written by Neil Cross
Starring: Matt Smith, Jenna-Louise Coleman, Aidan Cook, Michael Dixon, Feth Greenwood, Emilia Jones, and Nicola Sian
BBC America
Air date: April 6, 2013

“We’re all stories in the end. Just make it a good one, eh?”

If you talk to any avid television fans, they’ll often tell you the exact moment in which they fell in love with their favorite show. But I don’t know many fans who can tell you the exact context in which they fell in love with that show.

Doctor Who was something I was always hesitant to get into, mostly because I felt it was something with such a storied past that I’d never be able to get caught up enough to a point where I’d be able to appreciate it as much as a hardcore fan does. It took months of pressure from friends to jump into the series. I started with Series 5, because many of my friends felt that was the most accessible episode of the series for a new fan. In January of 2011, during a rare snowy day in South Carolina, I fired up “The Eleventh Hour.” [...]

Game of Thrones
Season 3, Episode 2 – Dark Wings, Dark Words
Directed by Daniel Minahan
Written by Vanessa Taylor
Starring: Mark Addy, Alfie Allen, Emilia Clarke, James Cosmo, Liam Cunningham, Charles Dance, Stephen Dillane, Peter Dinklage, Natalie Dormer, Michelle Fairley, Jerome Flynn, Aidan Gillen, Jack Gleeson, Iain Glen, Kit Harington, Lena Headey, Conleth Hill, Ciarán Hinds, Carice van Houten, Sibel Kekilli, Harry Lloyd, Richard Madden, Patrick Malahide, Rory McCann, Sophie Turner, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Maisie Williams, and Issac Hempstead-Wright
HBO
Air Date: April 7, 2013

Trust has always been a common thread throughout Game of Thrones, and that theme takes center stage in “Dark Wing, Dark Words.” This second episode of Season 3 checks-in with the rest of the cast missing from last week’s episode and works as the second part of that premiere. So much so that I wish HBO had just put the two episodes together. Alas, we’re finally ready to move into the season proper now that all the pieces are seemingly in place.

First and foremost, Arya (Maisie Williams) continues to be one of my favorite characters. The young Stark finds herself far out of her league when she run across the Brotherhood Without Banners. I have a feeling this is where she’ll stay for most of the season, which is interesting considering how strong I find her interactions with the group to be [...]

Season 3 of Game of Thrones premiered tonight on HBO after a long year of waiting. What’s the latest in the Seven Kingdoms? Hit the jump to find out.

Game of Thrones
Season 3, Episode 1 – Valar Dohaeris
Directed by Daniel Minahan
Written by David Benioff & D.B. Weiss
Starring: Mark Addy, Alfie Allen, Emilia Clarke, James Cosmo, Liam Cunningham, Charles Dance, Stephen Dillane, Peter Dinklage, Natalie Dormer, Michelle Fairley, Jerome Flynn, Aidan Gillen, Jack Gleeson, Iain Glen, Kit Harington, Lena Headey, Conleth Hill, Ciarán Hinds, Carice van Houten, Sibel Kekilli, Harry Lloyd, Richard Madden, Patrick Malahide, Rory McCann, Sophie Turner, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Maisie Williams, and Issac Hempstead-Wright
HBO
Air Date: March 31, 2013

Due to the sheer number of characters and plots that Game of Thrones juggles at one time, it’s not entirely surprising that we didn’t check in with everyone in this premiere episode. And that’s fine, considering how strong the material was that we were shown tonight, I’m perfectly all right with the fact that next week’s episode will probably highlight some of my favorite plots and characters (Arya and Jamie storylines come specifically to mind).

That aside, tonight’s quieter season premiere was very, very strong [...]

Doctor Who
Series 7, Episode 7 – “The Bells of Saint John”
Directed by Colm McCarthy
Written by Steven Moffat
Starring: Matt Smith, Jenna-Louise Coleman, Manpreet Bachu, Sean Knopp, Eve De Leon Allen, James Greene, Kassius Johnson, Geff Francis, and Celia Imrie
BBC America
Air date: March 30, 2013

The seventh series of Doctor Who returned tonight with a brand new episode, “The Bells of Saint John.” As those began to ring, what adventures did our faithful Doctor encounter, and what role did Clara Oswald play in them? Hit the jump to find out.

“The Bells of Saint John” works fairly well as a mid-series premiere. There’s enough here to certainly build towards an ongoing arc for this back half, but I don’t think it works quite as well as an individual episode as others have in the past [...]

Justified
Season 4 Catch-Up
Starring: Timothy Olyphant, Nick Searcy, Joelle Carter, Jacob Pitts, Erica Tazel, and Walton Goggins.
Tuesdays at 10pm; FX Network

With Justified hitting its final stretch of episodes, William takes a look at the latter part of the season to see how the show has come together through the course of its fourth season.

“We just gotta figure out how to get out of Harlan alive.” [...]

Justified
Season 4, Episode 3 – “Truth and Consequences”
Directed by Jon Avnet
Written by Benjamin Cavell
Starring: Timothy Olyphant, Nick Searcy, Joelle Carter, Jacob Pitts, Erica Tazel, Walton Goggins, Joe Mazzello, Lindsay Pulsipher, Ron Eldard, David Meunier, Jesse Luken and Jere Burns
Tuesdays at 10pm; FX Network

The truth really does hurt.

That old axiom has never been more true to a majority of the characters in this week’s episode of Justified. Aptly titled “Truth and Consequences,” the third episode of Justified‘s fourth season sees Raylan (Timothy Olyphant), Boyd (Walton Goggins), and Billy (Joe Mazzello) place gambles on situations, feeling that they have the upper hand, only to find out just how out of control things really have become [...]

Justified
Season 4, Episode 2 – “Where’s Waldo?”
Directed by Bill Johnson
Written by Dave Andron
Starring: Timothy Olyphant, Walton Goggins, Nick Searcy, Joelle Carter, Erica Tazel, Jacob Pitts, Joe Mazzello, Lindsay Pulsipher, Patton Oswalt, Ron Eldard, Abby Miller and Jere Burns
Air Date: Tuesday, January 15, 2013, 10pm ET/PT<

“There ain’t no salvation for people like us.”

Salvation and sin have been consistent themes throughout Justified. With the arrival of Preacher Billy (Joe Mazzello), however, it’s looking like those themes are really coming home to roost. Ava’s (Joelle Carter) line about salvation (or lack thereof) drives it home: there’s not going to be salvation for the Crowders. They’ve fallen so far that it’s easy to understand why Boyd (Walton Goggins) would address himself as the Devil (it’s in jest — or is it?) when he appears at Preacher Billy’s in the back half of tonight’s episode [...]