In fact, it’s kind of deeply, infinitely layered, all with the aim to set you off guard. Even the finale, which seemed like it could have been any other random, slapdash adventure through space, just like the show had conditioned us to believe, was a true finale in every sense of the word (it’s even two parts). As if saying you should have never doubted them. This year, more than ever, they proved why you should have never doubted them, and considering #SpaceDandyFinale was actually trending after the episode aired, it seems to have paid off....

Splice, in every trailer I’ve ever seen for it, is being sold like a classic science-gone-wrong monster movie, in which Dren (played as a child by Abigail Chu and as a teen/adult by Delphine Chaneac) basically goes off the rails and starts doing evil things with her stinger tail and general creepy appearance. Clive Nicoli (Adrien Brody) and Elsa Kast (Sarah Polley) are two biochemists working on the cutting edge of gene-splicing technology....

In my first review of Code 9 I suggested was Spooks-lite, and in retrospect it was exactly that. The problem was that it was also light on just about everything that made Spooks so watchable: character development, plot development, action and viewer involvement. You can add horribly inconsistent to that list, which I can only attribute to having a different writer for every one of the six shows, and three different directors involved....

After my assumption last week that Callum was a bit of an arse, my initial feelings for his character seem to be right. And while it’s not really his fault that the suitcase he was carrying was stolen (to order) during a mugging, his moody response and digs at Tariq later in the episode make me feel that this character should go the way of the majority of Spooks cast members, and be killed off in the most horrible way....

1.10 What Storm Is This That Blows So For all of the talk of war and integration, this was the first episode of the show that felt like it mattered. Featuring only the high schoolers on lockdown, the events of the episode showed us a microcosm of this future world we’ve been exploring for the past few weeks, with Roman and Emery’s newly public romance providing the catalyst for lots of drama....

Gene Roddenberry introduced the concept of the transporter to avoid the high cost of effects for away teams travelling down to planets, but he didn’t entirely give up with the idea of mothership reconnaissance. In The Galileo Seven we see the shuttle craft housed in the Enterprise’s hanger that can deliver teams of star fleet personnel in their own short range spacecraft. Whatever the true inspiration, I like to think this story was introduced as a way of explaining why Spock isn’t the captain of the Enterprise and Kirk is....

3.14 Witches Of The Mist Actually, I say “orgy”, but it’s much, much better than that. The triumvirate of bad ass, and I mean bad ass, Sith have taken over The Clone Wars in the past few weeks and here, in the final part of the three-episode story arc, their battle comes to a glorious finale. But more on that later. Concluding one of the most memorable stories of the Star Wars animated spin-off is this game of two halves....

Steven Universe Season 5 Episode 6 I sometimes get the feeling the Steven Universe crew enjoys playing with fan expectations. In one of the previews leading up to this patch of episodes it looked like Pearl was going to give some back-story to the Gem conflicts but… nope! To Steven, Connie not getting back in touch with him is the worst possible thing that could ever happen. Just watch him throughout this episode....

It’s been six years since the last Super Smash Bros. graced a home console. It’s been even longer since the last truly great Smash console title, if you listen to pro players who claim that the GameCube’s Melee is still the definitive title in franchise history. Even Nintendo almost admits as much, by making Super Smash Bros. for Wii U compatible with a GameCube style controller. Fans of the series had high hopes for the Wii U release after the 3DS version brought in stellar reviews, and it turns out that the extra two months were worth the wait....

It was super appropriate that the intro showed clips from earlier episodes not only because we’d have a flashback to when Dean was a kid, but also because the episode hearkened to the Supernatural of old, pre-angels and apocalypses. There are several moments that feel like classic Supernatural, such as the first scene with the farmer gruesomely impaled on the tines of a tractor. There’s also the age-old “Don’t put your hand in there” scenario with a lawnmower (take that any way you like)....

Supernatural Season 12 Episode 20 We’re gearing up for the season finale by revisiting a couple of characters from episode six this season: Alicia and Max Bane, the twin siblings from the hunter-heavy episode “Celebrating the Life of Asa Fox.” Supernatural does like the occasional random-character-name episode, doesn’t it? Our villain in this episode was a twist on the classic witch I’m glad she wasn’t like the average witch on Supernatural....

3.18 Riddled It seems weird to be so full of praise for Dylan O’Brien, but of all the young actors on the show, he’s the one that remains the most impressive, week in and week out. This week is no exception to that, as Stile once again carries the bulk of the episode despite not being seen for much of it. Stiles has been sleepwalking again, or so he thinks, and has found himself trapped in a dank, cold basement with some sort of metal trap around his leg, thereby putting him at the mercy of the elements and a bandage-wrapped stranger with crazy metal teeth and a penchant for speaking in zen koans and goofy riddles....

5.4 Condition Terminal The presence of the Dread Doctors is a good sign that the viewing audience is going to endure something disturbing, and they definitely live up to that promise this week. Some people don’t like eyeball gags. Some people hate things moving beneath skin. I hate things involving teeth; blame it on my years of orthodontia. Picking up where last week left off, the doctors have Donovan strapped down into a chair, and now the experiments begin....

2.10 Survival Of The Fittest Right now, The Sky People and the Grounders have an uneasy alliance based on the fact that both groups stand a better chance of bringing down Mount Weather if they have each other’s backs. Both are expecting some grand betrayal at any given moment, which keeps things interesting to watch, and the show’s dedication to the grey area means that it’s really a toss-up as to whose side we should be on as an audience....

Music videos are no longer the force that they were back when “Papa Don’t Preach” accounted for all of MTV’s teenage pregnancy related programming. While movie soundtracks are still big business, no one wants to inextricably tie a single to a film that might flounder at the box office. On top of that, marketing campaigns just seem to be a little bit more grand, focused, and dull now. Whatever the reasons are for this change, though, thanks to YouTube, we will always have heirlooms like Bobby Brown’s Ghostbusters 2 ode “On Our Own” and El DeBarge’s Short Circuit jam, “Who’s Johnny?...

The Affair Season 3 Episode 1 “Besides, I think you’re innocent.” And doesn’t that say it all? Noah might not actually be guilty for the crime that he went to prison for (at least not fully), but he is certainly responsible for a glossary section full of other crimes and misdoings. So are a lot of people on this delightfully despicable little show, and that’s sort of the point. During the first two seasons, The Affair would mine material from presenting two perspectives of mostly the same event, letting the small differences blossom into topics of debate....

Just when I thought that The Apprentice had peaked for this season and was about to descent into reality show hell, it turns out another really interesting episode, and ends in a logical way too. Sralan, you proved me wrong, and after the shambles of last week, even the firing didn’t feel like a ratings decision. Phew. Sralan, of course, had laid a trap in the midst of it. This time, he’d lined up two appointments with big stores in the North West, for the teams to take their products off to....

11.20 The Reclusive Potential As such, The Reclusive Potential makes the most of how well we know these characters by presenting us with a standard set-up and then flipping it on its head at the last minute. When Sheldon is invited to the home of a reclusive scientist he’s been corresponding with – one who might help him with his string theory research – Amy insists on him taking Leonard with him for safety....

11.21 The Comet Polarisation The episode begins with the whole group watching planets on the roof. Blah blah something about Mercury, blah blah something about Penny not knowing anything about science. For a moment I thought we were going to get a bottle episode, perhaps because Stuart so rarely gets invited to simple group scenes, but then the truth is revealed when the down on his luck businessman suddenly finds a whole boatload of luck in the form of a Twitter recommendation....

3.2 The Purge However, this is the 1400s so they go hey, I know what we should do? Lets drag Cardinal Deluca off to be tortured! Torture always works except, according to Micheletto, who appears out of the darkness like the death he carries, for the fact that it doesn’t. During the course of their conversation, Micheletto tells Deluca that he is familiar with instruments of torture from both sides, and that they are teachers – of how to lie....