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Coronation Street: Episode #1.1 (1960)
Ena Sharples Is The Queen Of Coronation Street
I'm not a big fan of Coronation Street but my mother loves it alongside Emmerdale.
I've been wanting to watch the 1960s Coronation Street after I saw the film The Road To Coronation Street which showed the passion and authenticity that they put into the original series.
I love the 1960s and think it was a magical time full of beautiful music and an ever changing enlightening landscape.
The first episode of Coronation Street was awesome and found Ena Sharples to be my favourite character, what made my mouth open in awe was the fact that the first episode was live and she could memorise all of the dialogue in the grocery store.
Ena Sharples is an interesting character because she was trying to pry and get information whilst ordering her groceries and it blew my mind.
It was a solid first episode and loved everything about it.
General Electric Theater: The Dark, Dark Hours (1954)
James Dean Is The Beatnik King
James Dean was an incredible actor he could convey so much emotion in the simplest of gestures.
I had no idea that General Electric Theatre existed until a month ago and was pleasantly surprised Ex-President Ronald Reagan would be both producing and acting in this series.
The story is simple, two beatnik teenagers take over a doctors office after hours because one of them has been shot.
Seeing James Dean being erratic and listening to jazz was amazing! I also loved the raw emotion he brought to the role breaking down and acting erracting throughout the episode terrorising the doctor and wife.
It was a solid playlet and loved the acting, plot and cinematography because it felt so claustrophobic.
Steptoe and Son: The Offer: Pilot (1962)
Trapped Harold In His Junkyard Kingdom
I watched Steptoe & Son on television when I was a young man with my mother, I haven't watched it in years and can't recall much about the series.
As an adult I wanted to watch the whole series and decided to watch the pilot episode.
I had no idea that Steptoe & Son started off as a Comedy Playhouse playlet and that the pilot was assumed "lost" for years until they found the creators copies.
Harold Steptoe (Harry H. Corbett) is an ex-army man who runs his father Albert's (Wilfred Brambell) rag & bone man business.
I loved the pilot episode because it felt like a play, it felt very natural and the actors captured their characters perfectly. The pilot featured 90% of the junkyard making it a character in itself and loved that they were constantly moving the props around talking about the business.
Albert is a narcissistic sociopath preying on his sons kindness and love, he pretends to have a heart attack constantly to guilt trip his son and when he hears that Harold has a job offer he does everything in his power to make him stay.
The ending stayed with me because it shows that family can emotional blackmail you to stay tethered to them. Its a depressing undertone to a great comedy but loved every aspect of the multilayered playlet pilot.
I can't wait to watch all the episodes.
Decoy: Stranglehold (1957)
Policewoman Casey Jones Is The Best
I didn't know Decoy existed until a month ago. I saw it on Amazon Prime and was intrigued when I read the synopsis for the series as well as watching the trailer on YouTube.
I decided to purchase it on Amazon Prime and delved into the first episode head first and was more than pleasantly surprised.
Decoy only lasted one year (1957-1958) which blew my mind because episode 1 was geniusly executed, I loved that they didn't make Policewoman Casey Jones (Beverly Garland) a damsel in distress but a strong and beautiful woman that takes no nonsense from man or woman.
Seeing Casey Jones strangle her colleague at the start of the episode was both shocking and hilarious in equal measure because in my jead I thought "Casey Jones is insanely strong and could kill a grown man".
The acting in the first episode was flawless and I was astounded at the raw emotions portrayed on screen, Decoy was ahead of it's time and it's a crying shame more people haven't heard of it.
Policewoman Casey Jones (Beverly Garland) is both staggeringly beautiful and hard-boiled and loved that she has a big heart. She loves what she does and wants to protect people and a lot of shows of this ilk try to execute the balance of beauty and reality and they can never quite get it but Decoy does.
The Walking Dead: World Beyond (2020)
A Phenomenal Show Among An Increasingly Stale Franchise
In my humble opinion The Walking Dead has become increasingly formulaic and boring, I stumbled upon the trailer of The Walking Dead: World Beyond and was excited to see the franchise go in a different direction and centered on teenagers instead of adults because teenagers have completely different problems than adults and it would be interesting to see them survive during the zombie apocalypse.
The first episode of this show did not disappoint showing us 10 years into the future of the zombie apocalypse,
society has rebuilt itself in a college campus in Nebraska with the first generation of teenagers who survived first hand during the zombie apocalypse become the hope for the future studying science, martial arts and fighting with weapons to kill the undead if the need arises.
I found the sister dynamic between Iris (Aliyah Royale) and Hope (Alexa Mansour) Bennett to be one of the best elements of the show, each sister is traumatized in their own way due to them witnessing the start of the zombie apocalypse first hand as children showing us how the trauma of the past can catch up with you as a young adult and into adulthood adding depth to the show.
Present day, as teenagers they are both deeply scarred by the trauma they witnessed; Iris goes to a therapist because she froze and let go of her mother's hand during the chaos of the apocalypse and has nightmares of herself being undead, Hope rebels against the establishment and becomes distant to others because she killed the pregnant woman who shot her mother and witnessed grotesque zombies in an airplane.
The four teenage protagonists; sisters Iris (Aliyah Royale) and Hope (Alexa Mansour) Bennett, Silas Plaskett (Hal Cumpton) and Elton Ortiz (Nicolas Cantu) come together to find Iris and Hope's scientist father after he sends messages by fax that not everything is fine with him in New York after his mysterious exchange program with The Civil Republic.
They sneak out and go to find him in New York with weapons and provisions to survive this long journey from Nebraska, unfortunately! After they leave all of their people in Nebraska are killed by Elizabeth Kublek (Julia Ormond) a high ranking official of the Civil Republic, a well armed authority who kill zombies with ease and drop sound charges to mask themselves from the hordes.
They decide to go on a road trip and huge twists are revealed, Hope killed Elton's mother and unborn sister and it's revealed to the audience that the world may not be as safe as they think it is when various zombies are shown as their journey starts and a zombie comes shuffling towards them at the end of the episode.
Iris, revealing that she can actually sleep being outside of the safe haven of the Nebraska college hits the zombie in the head with her spear killing it with a new sense of empowerment wanting to live in the present.
In Conclusion:
The zombies look grotesque and even more decayed and scary than The Walking Dead, each time a zombie is shown it's extremely unsettling because we see the zombies through the children and teenagers eyes making them appear as monsters to the viewer adding that much needed horror element TWD lacked.
The one zombie scene that has lingered in my subconscious was when the zombies fused together on the plane and one of the zombies was caught in wires or cables and little Hope and her mother is witnessing the horror of the freshly reanimated corpses come to life wanting to eat them, that was nightmare fuel and I have to give a special mention to the gore and blood effects on the zombies it was flawless throughout episode 1.
The acting throughout the first episode was perfect with special mention going to both Nicolas Cantu because his acting was flawless and Aliyah Royale who was phenomenal, the scene with the reanimated therapist and Iris being visibly shaken and disturbed showed incredible range as an actor revealing that this show will be very emotional and deep as the two season's progress.
The directing and plot direction was perfect and I found the cinematography to be breathtaking, I highly recommend this show to all horror and drama fans
Naruto: Sanjo! Uzumaki Naruto (2002)
Uzumaki Naruto, Ramen King Orphan
12-year-old boy Uzumaki Naruto wants to become the next Master (Hokage) Ninja in his village and decides to steal one of the forbidden village scrolls after being enticed by accomplished Ninja Mizuki. Naruto decides to learn the forbidden techniques and pass the last test in his Ninja school wanting to make his teacher Iruka proud.
Naruto is hated by most of the adults in the village who know a forbidden secret about him, it is revealed by Mizuki that Naruto used to be a 9-tailed-fox-demon who caused chaos and death around the world and after an intense battle with the village Ninjas the demon fox was placed into a vessel (a baby boy who died at birth) and was reborn as Naruto.
Without knowledge of his past Naruto lived on his own shunned by those around him until one of the adults Iruka (who's parents died by the demon fox) befriended him and loved him showing that someone truly cares for him in this world.
After an intense battle with Mizuki, Naruto gains the upper hand and replicates himself completing the last test in his school becoming a Ninja-in-training.
Review:
I found the first episode to be fresh and full of heart, it showed Naruto as a troubled and lonely individual who yearns for love and respect. His hunger for being an Hokage is heartwarming because he doesn't want it for selfish reasons.
All he desires is to be known by his village to be a good person and that truly struck a cord with me, what I loved best about the first episode (which I watched in original Japanese language and English subtitles) is that the voice acting is perfect and each character's voice fits. (Special mention goes to Naruto's voice actor who nailed the role effortlessly).
The plot is incredible and drew me in straight away giving me a flood of emotions, I found the action scenes to be intense and when Iruka was attacked by Mizuki with his blood spraying out I was in shock because for an Anime to show such violence in the first episode made you realise that anyone could be hurt or die in Naruto..
The cinematography and use of the musical score was exceptional and should not be overstated! Everything about the production is flawless and I am lost for words because I wasnt expecting much from this show not believing the hype but boy was I wrong.
I highly recommend this show because it's perfect.
The End of the F***ing World: Episode #1.1 (2017)
A Psychopath Meets A Spirited Girl
Plot Breakdown:
James is a 17-year-old school student who loves skateboarding and killing animals in his spare time, he realises early on in life that he's a psychopath and murders his neighbours cat..
He has fantasies of killing "something bigger" than an animal and starts to look for a suitable candidate to kill to fulfill his dark urges, new student Alyssa is troubled at home and lashes out at those around her and becomes drawn to James.
She starts "dating" James awkwardly making out with him and they begin to get closer, James starts to set up his plan to murder her when they're alone and intimate but he never gets the chance to because they steal his dads car and drive off on a road trip.
Review:
Scrolling through Netflix I thought to myself "let's watch something during this isolation period" and came across this show, The End Of The Fucking World surprised me in a good way because it had comedy aimed at adults and teens dealing with subject matter only the Showtime series Dexter has tackled, It had him dispatching evil people branding his signature knife and plastic wrap showing him to be an old pro at killing instead of James who wants to kill this innocent troubled girl with a knife and unspecified plan of disposal unprepared and full of raw emotions.
I thought the flashes of James' dark urges (killing Alyssa and seeing her bloody body on the floor among other things) to be an interesting way of conveying that James is not a normal human being fantasizing about committing murders in his head.
The actors were phenomenal! James (Alex Lawther) and Alyssa (Jessica Barden) have great chemistry together and I enjoyed Jessica's portrayal of Alyssa immensely because I loved the attitude she brought to the role when she went on her little outbursts showing that she is deeply troubled and broken.
I found Alex's portrayal of James to be overwhelmingly uncomfortable and unsettling at times and when I saw him fantasizing about killing I could feel the desire ooze onto the screen, he acted brilliantly showing that with limited psychopathic emotions he could convey a lot with body language and the like.
The soundtrack made it feel like an Indie film and I loved the way it was shot because it felt like it could be in America or England, I found it intriguing that I've never seen that part of England before because I enjoyed the scenery and colour palette immensely. It was bright and vibrant and even the blood was strikingly bright red commanding attention to the eye.
Even though it may seem to be cliche that James has all the textbook psychopathic traits a person could have it's plausible a person can have these traits in real life, it isn't out of the realm of possibility that this young man would try killing a human being to see what it feels like because of their dark urges.
I highly recommend this first episode because it's quirky, funny and dark full of teen angst and awkwardness. It's the 21st century teen comedy the world needs in this uncertain climate.