The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, has just concluded its second season titled, The Book of Carol, featuring Melissa McBride as a series regular in a return to the show's original concept. The second season landed on Stan late September, concluding this Monday. These short and sharp six episode seasons are an easy watch.
In July 2024, the series was renewed for a third season. We will see what next season is titled soon enough I'd say. They are already filming the series in Spain this time around.
So maybe the series will include some Spanish in place of French for the first two seasons of this spin-off.
The fifth spin-off and overall sixth television series in The Walking Dead franchise, sharing continuity with the other series and set after the conclusion of the original The Walking Dead television series.
Norman Reedus is back as Daryl Dixon joining returning TWD family member Melissa McBride as Carol.
In the finale, Au Revoir les Enfants, Daryl and Carol argue about which one of them will stay behind, although Daryl convinces Ash to take Laurent to the Commonwealth.
While on a supply run, Fallou, Codron, and their new friend Akila are attacked by guerriers searching for the plane while Jacinta ambushes Anna, eventually making a deal to give her the plane and pilot.
However, Anna, who remembers Laurent kindly, betrays Jacinta and leads her into a parking garage full of burners, causing Jacinta to lock Anna in to be devoured, but not before Jacinta is bitten.
The Union and Pouvoir attack the race track, but Daryl, Fallou, and Codron buy time for Ash and Laurent to escape, joined by Carol who chooses to stay behind at the last minute as well.
Devastated, Jacinta commits suicide. Daryl finally reveals the truth about Michel's death to Codron while Fallou decides to stay in France with Akila, having fallen in love with her. Fallou's friends, Scottish couple Angus and Fiona, lead Daryl, Carol, and Codron to attempt to cross to England using the Chunnel; they encounter a group of dead English soldiers and walkers who, like much of the Chunnel, are bioluminescent.
The psychoactive effects of bat guano cause everyone to hallucinate: Codron hallucinates Michel, eventually running off after him after fighting with Daryl who he thought killed Michel as a walker, while Carol hallucinates herself as a walker, and also her daughter, finally helping Carol to come to terms with her death; Daryl hallucinates Isabelle, who encourages him to fight, and his grandfather.
Daryl is forced to kill the treacherous Angus and Fiona in self-defence, and he and Carol put on gas masks and finally leave France, heading for England.
So how do they wind up in Spain for season three? No doubt it will be back in 2025 on Stan. Yes these Walking Dead series live on Stan not Binge like the parent series and OG spin-off Fear the Walking Dead.
Oh Australia and too many streaming services.
Stan however has done well to get these Walking Dead spin-offs. They may be short in run time but there has already been three.
Up next more Ryan Murphy with American Horror Stories.
The Australian Office landed mid last month on Amazon. Landing after a large number of negative comments following the upload of the trailer. Now that made we want to watch it more. Could this version of the British series of the same name created by (and starring) Ricky Gervais & Stephen Merchant, be that bad?
Felicity Ward is the boss in the office. With the eight episodes set around the hot button issues of 2024, WFH.
Also starring in the workplace comedy, Edith Poor, Steen Raskopoulos, Shari Sebbens, Josh Thomson, Jonny Brugh, Susan Ling Young, Raj Labade, Lucy Schmidt, Zoe Terakes, Pallavi Sharda, Claude Jabbour, Jason Perini, Christian Manon and Olga Tamara.
We have had a sea of Australian content over the past couple of months. Plum, Fisk over on ABC, Last King of the Cross on Paramount+ with NCIS Sydney set to return in the new year. Thou Shall Not Steal over on Stan (post to come) and Territory landing on Netflix.
So it's a good time for Australia, homegrown stories.
This (Australian) version of the series, is the first female-led series in The Office franchise, and the 13th overall adaptation. It is the third English-language version of The Office, after the British and American iterations.
Hannah Howard (Felicity Ward) is the managing director of Sydney's branch of Australia's fourth largest packaging company Flinley Craddick. When she gets news from Head Office that her Rydalmere-based branch will be shut down and everyone will go remote, she goes into survival mode, making promises she can't keep in order to keep her "work family" together.
This issue is playing out in offices all across the nation. People are either digging in their heels to stay at home, or getting off their asses and heading back to either the CBD or new CBD's like Parramatta.
I actually really enjoyed these bite sized twenty something minute episodes.
The supporting cast were great. We have also all had a boss like Ward. If you are in a workplace struggling with the "hybrid" ways of working. Corporate speak, a dodgy office, this is for you.
Don't believe the hate, this was actually fun. Good on Amazon for pumping some money into local content. Bring on Top End Bub and Deadloch next year!
Teacup gives massive Under the Dome vibes as yet another Halloween horror series came to a close last week in time for Halloween. It just gets bigger and bigger every year right!
Teacup is created by Ian McCulloch and inspired by the novel Stinger by Robert R. McCammon.
The latest Peacock series commenced earlier last month, with two episodes weekly. Featuring a tight eight half-hour episodes. I originally thought this was a miniseries. However the eighth episode left us on a massive cliffhanger.
For this new series, no spoilers will be found here. So what's the drum? On an isolated ranch in rural Georgia, several people are forced together to face a mysterious threat.
Australian and former Dexter legend, Yvonne Strahovski stars as Maggie Chenoweth. alongside Scott Speedman, Chaske Spencer, Kathy Baker, Boris McGiver, Diany Rodriguez, Caleb Dolden, Émilie Bierre , Luciano Leroux, Rob Morgan and Bill Heck as Lt. Olsen.
The series was an easy watch. Along with Under the Dome vibes it has a real Stephen King feel.
For the most part it's not too scary (particularly when you get a better understanding of what is really going) but the rural setting along with the isolation that comes with being distant, is a little creepy.
Overall, Peacock is starting to be a bit of a player in the streaming game. I am hoping for more Dr. Doctor (which will stream on Stan), Poker Face , Twisted Metal and Bel-Air which will actually all stream as legacy titles on Stan. Poker Face and Twisted Metal are all set to return, however decisions seem to be slow to be announced at the NBC adjacent streamer.
Teacup and newer titles however all stream on Binge.
So if you can't wait for the final season of The Handmaid's Tale for Yvonne Strahovski, all eight (short) episodes of Teacup stream now!
Venom: The Last Dance is the final instalment of the Venom trilogy. But is it as bad as people are saying? Yes and no.
Apparently this is the final time we will see Marvel Comics character, Venom.
Following Venom (2018) and Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021), starring Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock and Venom, alongside Chiwetel Ejiofor, Juno Temple, Rhys Ifans, Stephen Graham, Peggy Lu, Clark Backo, Alanna Ubach, & Andy Serkis.
So it has a solid cast, right?
The film premiered at the Regal Times Square theatre in New York City late last month. Being released the following week, receiving mixed reviews from critics & has grossed $194 million worldwide. That is as of today 3 November 2024.
I did say this was the last time we would see Venom on the big screen. However. ahead of the film's release in October 2024, Kelly Marcel said that while The Last Dance concludes with the story arc of Eddie Brock and Venom, it sets up the character Knull for future appearances within the SSU and is the beginning of the character's story.
While the film was intended as the conclusion of the Venom trilogy, Hardy expressed interest in reprising his role in the future and having his character cross over with Spider-Man, saying "never say never".
So what's good about the film? The run time, a superhero under two hours, brilliant! The action scenes were great! The story as well did move along very well too. You could tell it was coming to an end of the series and it times it did rush there. However at least it wasn't a drawn out bore fest.
The bad. It was a bit all of the shop. We jump around from one character to another. The dialogue is shit.
But overall it was not the worst superhero film of all time.
I will pass this one as the run time won me over. No 3 hour super shit hero film here. 2.5 Stars
Ryan Murphy is a busy man! Murphy works with Jon Robin Baitz, and Joe Baken for a new horror series, Grotesquerie.
In the USA it streams on FX, however in Australia, it's just another Disney+ title I have been watching for the past month or so.
Starring Monster/Claws legend Niecy Nash-Betts stars as Detective Lois Tryon, so it seems Nash-Betts is now a Ryan Murphy staple.
Nash-Betts stars alongside Courtney B. Vance, Nicholas Alexander Chavez, Micaela Diamond, Raven Goodwin, and Lesley Manville.
Only commencing late September, the series almost ran for five weeks airing double episodes weekly. However there were some weeks with a solo episode, others leading up to Halloween with doubles.
Also some episodes were short!
The series also stars Mr Taylor Swift, Travis M. Kelce as Ed Laclan! But what's it all about?
Detective Lois Tryon must work with Sister Megan, a local nun, to figure out the source of a series of heinous crimes that is affecting both their community and their personal lives.
There is an episode where it all flips on its head. Before then it was my favourite of Murphy's current series. That said I am not one of the gays who has watched the Menendez Brothers Monster series.
This was definitely a step up from the Nip/Tuck on a boat, Doctor Odyssey, however the twist made me think twice of how highly I could recommend this series.
Its horror, thriller with a touch of camp and racy storylines.
Murphy definitely has a bit of a sick mind with gruesome crimes along with horny nuns. All ten episodes of Grotesquerie, stream now on Disney+.
Agatha All Along is a miniseries streaming now Disney+, based on Marvel Comics featuring the character Agatha Harkness.
It's a spin-off (a comic book spin-off, what! SURPRISE) from the series WandaVision (2021).
Agatha All Along is also the 11th television series in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The series is part of Phase Five of the MCU.
Kathryn Hahn reprises her role as Agatha Harkness from WandaVision, with Joe Locke, Debra Jo Rupp, Aubrey Plaza, Sasheer Zamata, Ali Ahn, Okwui Okpokwasili, Patti LuPone, Evan Peters, Maria Dizzia, Paul Adelstein, and Miles Gutierrez-Riley.
Agatha commenced mid-September, with its first two episodes. Then the final two episodes were released in time for Halloween. It was a short, sharp run for this Marvel/Disney+ series. Watch out - SPOOKY! Spoilers below the trailer.
We flashback to 1750, in episode nine with Agatha giving birth to Nicholas, but is warned by Death that she will eventually take him.
Agatha spends the next six years absorbing other witches' essences while raising Nicholas. Together, they create what will eventually become the Ballad of the Witches' Road, a simple children's song. Eventually, Nicholas grows sick and Death takes him, greatly saddening Agatha.
With nothing to hold her back, she spends the next centuries absorbing other witches' magic by tricking them into gathering covens to open the Road then aggravating them into attacking her.
Then we land in the present, Agatha, now a ghost, tells Billy that he created the Road. He despairs, blaming himself for the deaths of Lilia, Alice, and Sharon, but Agatha tells him that she was going to kill them anyway and that he did rescue Jen.
Billy returns to the house and tries to banish Agatha; she reveals that she is afraid of dying because she cannot face Nicholas. Billy allows Agatha to remain as a ghost. Deciding to take her on as a guide, closing the door of the Road and recording the names of Sharon, Alice and Lilia, Billy and Agatha set out to find Tommy.
So next up in this world of witches and WandaVision, Vision Quest is set to stream on Disney+ in 2026. Yes that's right Marvel are plotting and planning well into 2026.
Marvel are currently referring to the series as Vision Quest, though this was reported to not be its final title. The series is intended to conclude a trilogy of series that includes WandaVision and Agatha All Along.
Filming is expected to begin in early 2025 in England. The Blacklist's James Spader is set to reprise his role of Ultron from Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Happy Halloween! What better way to spend the night after getting hit by a flash storm, than seeing a local horror film. The Moogai opened tonight with select sessions at select cinemas.
Written and directed by Jon Bell, based on the 2020 short film of the same name. Starring the Australian version of The Office's Shari Sebbens, Meyne Wyatt, Tessa Rose, Clarence Ryan, Toby Leonard Moore and Bella Heathcote.
The Moogai had its world premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival back in January 2024, I though thought Halloween was a way better time to check out the local horror picture.
The Moogai is about a young Aboriginal mother who believes that her child is possessed, and includes Indigenous Australian themes related to the Stolen Generations (a government policy of forced removal of Aboriginal children from their parents) and The Dreaming.
Moogai is the Bundjalung word for ghost.
So is The Moogai scary enough for a Halloween release? Well no, but it is a damn fine tale told for modern audiences of the shame of Australia's past. Which is indeed if you watch Ryan Murphy's long running series, American Horror Story, this could be titled Australian Horror Story. Our sad origin story.
I am currently binging the Australian version of The Office, where Shari Sebbens plays a much different role, so it was nice seeing her in a different role.
Meyne Wyatt is also great as Fergus.
For me this was short, sharp and to the point. Great new local flick, 3 Stars.
