In its final episode, Beowulf: Return To The Shieldlands finally starts to deliver on the promise of its concept. This isn’t a perfect episode, but it’s far more effective than most of the preceding eleven, as the plot finally starts to kick into gear and the action is driven by understandable character choices. When it turns out the ‘mud-born’ Elvina has been caring for is Grendel and she is his mother, the revelation forces anyone with any knowledge of the poem to re-evaluate the whole series, and especially Elvina’s relationships, in the light of this revelation....

Set in the mountains of northern Finland, it introduces Oskari (Onni Tommila, the returning star of Rare Exports), a 13-year-old boy nervously attempting to pass a coming-of-age test. It’s the custom in Oskari’s community for a boy to head out into the forest and hunt down the biggest animal he can find; as one elder puts it, “A boy goes into the wilderness and comes back as a man.” The problem is, Oskari’s far from a born hunter; unlike his father (Jorma Tommila), who managed to off a bear with a single arrow when he was 13, Oskari barely has the strength to pull the string back on his bow – Katniss Everdeen he is not....

But, to be honest, the quality of the jokes which were bandied about for the rest of the afternoon weren’t dissimilar to the program I settled down to that evening: nearly there, making the effort, not offensive, but ultimately not quite worth it. This is not what I got. Instead, we were put through what I can only describe as a kind of mutant hybrid of Springwatch, Survivor and The Krypton Factor, with teams of nonebrities competing against each other for…well, for some reason....

1.1 Pilot Now here comes Showtime’s Billions, a promising TV show with a promising premise that’s nearly ruined by a weak pilot. There is no reason why Billions first episode should be called Pilot or have to paint in the broad thesis statement-y strokes of a CSI spin-off’s premiere episode. It’s on pay cable for one and it has an absolute murderers’ row of talent involved. TV and movie stars like Oscar-nominee Paul Giamatti, Damian Lewis (Homeland), Malin Ackerman (Watchmen) and Maggie Siff (Sons of Anarchy) are featured in front of the camera with show runners Brian Koppelman, David Levien (both of Rounders) and Andrew Ross Sorkin (author of Too Big To Fail) behind it....

After the understated melancholy of Be Right Back, and the aggressive aural assault of White Bear, we were wondering where the third and final Black Mirror episode might take us. Somewhere in the middle is the answer, with a dystopian political satire told with bleak humour, yet lacking either the emotional tug of the first episode, or the second’s palpable sense of outrage. In the second story strand, there’s Jamie (Daniel Rigby), a 30-something comedian behind the popular television character, Waldo....

M’Baku still leads the White Gorilla Cult and still shows disdain for Wakanda’s futuristic high tech in the movie Black Panther, but the name Man-Ape is nowhere to be found. As played by Winston Duke in his first feature film, he has his own kind of dignity, a kind of mirthful irreverence, and a sharp, strategic intelligence that gives him a crucial role to play as the movie’s plot unfolds....

Welcome back to Broadchurch, a place where so much happens in slow-motion that come the series finale, the town will lag a full hour behind Greenwich Mean Time. This week’s visit was about getting back to normal when there’s no such thing, and narrowing the field of murder suspects. It’s eight weeks since Danny’s murder, and the change in season has forced the Latimers out of stasis (remember those stopped clocks in episode one?...

This episode of Campus taught us three important lessons. One, running away from an Olympic class athlete isn’t easy. Two, inside Matt’s chest beats the butter-soft heart of a lovestruck poet. And three, people really should have stuck with this show. I’m not only saying that because of some maniacal, ego-driven need for other people to validate my opinions (that only accounts for about ninety percent of it), but because I genuinely think the early naysayers would enjoy what Campus has developed into....

7.10 Bad Santa This season of Castle has not been one of their best. From ridiculous plots (involving inter-dimensional travel) to non-existent ones (where any useful evidence is withheld until seconds before the killer is revealed) to the explanation that is nothing of the kind (Rick ran away from last season’s wedding to do what exactly?), it’s been pretty disappointing. So honesty, I wasn’t expecting much this last week. And that’s especially sad considering the episode, Bad Santa, includes two actors I generally love: Vincent Spano and Paul Ben-Victor....

Finally, after weeks—nay, months of pissing and moaning about Ricky and Crisco, we finally get a Ricky and Crisco episode, and it’s so, so good. I mean, it’s as much their episode as any episode of Chozen isn’t about Chozen. Best part? All the comedy was about Ricky and Crisco, not Wetback and Darky. The humor wasn’t based around their ethnicity. It was actually about their characters. What a fuckin’ concept, right?...

Hence why after being essentially exiled from the industry following Superman Returns’ muted reception, the man who helped co-run Columbia Pictures into major losses during the early ‘90s remains a controversial figure. And in his latest profile piece with THR, that skepticism apparently spread all the way to Christopher Nolan and Zack Snyder while making 2013’s Man of Steel. While Jon Peters received an executive producer credit on Man of Steel, as well as a hefty paycheck along the liens of $10 and $15 million, it all came with one caveat: please, go away....

This review contains spoilers. British television has historically not been great at delivering the kind of sleek, aspirational and/or scandalous young adult television that the US has cornered the market on since the 90s. Where the US has Gossip Girl and 90210, the UK has Hollyoaks and Made In Chelsea. But there have been some notable exceptions. One of these anomalies was Skins, a show that Jess Brittain – creator of BBC Three’s latest attempt to woo that 12-24 demographic, Clique – worked on as a writer....

Idiotsitter’s premiere on Comedy Central is a reboot of the web series, though the plot for the pilot is more or less the same as episode one of the original. Harvard-grad Billie (co-creator Charlotte Newhouse) interviews for a position as a Nanny for the wealthy Russell family only to discover that what she’s really interviewing for is to be a court-appointed guardian for criminally-inclined adult Gene (co-creator Jillian Bell). Billie doesn’t want the job, but can’t refuse the salary so ends up moving into the mansion and trying her luck with Gene....

Although set in a college and involving teenagers, both chronologically and emotionally, Community doesn’t make as much use of its setting as you might think, preferring instead to explore the character comedy arising from the group’s archetypes, along with Troy and Abed’s bromance. This week, however, Community goes all after school special on us, giving us their very unique take on a morality tale in two acts. The evils of drugs, dependency of any kind and underage sexting all get the Russo treatment....

Racing towards the end of its sophomore year, Community treats us all to a lesson or two in Applied Anthropology And Culinary Arts. While there’s very little culinary artistry on display, there’s a ton of anthropology applying, as a certain expectant member of our favourite study group goes to extraordinary lengths to pass the exam, by producing a brand new human being. Little unfair on the rest of the class, but that’s academia for you....

“We will always celebrate George’s birthday and this year we are releasing Concert for George in a very special package in memory of a special man,” Olivia Harrison said. The slow hand guitarist wasted little time in showing his appreciation for the former Beatle and organized a performance tribute in his honor. Clapton pulled together Harrison’s closest musical friends, and a few rivals. Besides including both surviving Beatles Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney, Clapton assembled an all-star backing band....

Damnation Episode 6 Tonight’s episode shed more light on who and what made Seth and Creeley into the men viewers have seen in fits and starts over the previous five installments. Their father was a small-minded, greedy, and macho man who’d be coined as toxic masculine in present-day vernacular. It’s difficult to connect the title, In Wyoming Fashion, as representative of the chapter. What was unique in 1924 in Wyoming, during the time of the flashback?...

Ah, now here’s that episode of Doctor Who series 10 with scary monsters that you were waiting for. An episode that just happens to be terrific. The set up on the surface seems your standard Doctor Who base under siege, but there’s a good deal more to it. This time, the Doctor, Bill and Nardole find themselves on a space station, with oxygen running down, and, well, foes who aren’t keen on them surviving....

Documentary Now! Season 2 Episode 5 “At some point you have to pull down the curtain and put on your pajamas.” Armisen (who wrote all the music in this episode) is no stranger to doing tangential musical performances at events that have been inspired by his musical riffs on programs like Saturday Night Live and Portlandia, but this musical group feels especially important to both him and Hader. Hell, the duo even did a separate musical documentary (that was a two-parter, at that) last season, but the passion here in their Talking Heads approximate, Test Pattern, is very real....