1.8 Snow Maiden The series finale provided few of the answers we were waiting for (what it is that Sam experienced at that Oast House; the identity of the Polyhedrus MILF and the short-fingered man; Aidan’s real name; whose side the fake Dr Goebel is really on…) and plenty we weren’t (Rafi-the-Rabbit-killer Tyrone is Turner’s illegitimate son; Stephen’s wife was poisoned and drowned; Polyhedrus was behind the mutilation and murder of Turner’s eldest; Sam and Aidan’s baby daughter is alive and well and continuing the family tradition of wearing knitted headgear…)....

I’m not sure how many bent coppers that Hustle has endured, but it’s a fair number over the years. So did this one add anything new? No, if I’m honest, even if this slice of conman pie was as succulent as ever. Each season, its writers throw a story in where the viewer is kept out of the loop from the outset, like you’ve came to a party late and missed the joke that everyone found hilarious....

The 2014 book follows a mysterious spy called Pilgrim, the code name for a man who doesn’t exist. Once the head of a secret espionage unit for U.S. intelligence, he lives anonymously in retirement but is summoned back into action in order to save America from a ruthless and cunning terrorist. But Vaughn left the project, which put it in limbo for a while even though Hayes himself — who has written scripts for films like Dead Calm and The Road Warrior — had penned a screenplay for the picture....

And then there’s Immortals, which is arguably the worst of them all. I adore my period sword movies, whether they happen to be mythical, historical or surrounded by sorcery, having taken great delight this year in the mega-violence of Ironclad and the 80s insanity of Conan The Barbarian. Immortals had been on my radar for some time, though, although I’m sure when I initially started looking into the film a good year or so ago, that the cast list was somewhat more impressive....

Incorporated Season 1, Episode 3 The opening scene with the Inazagi indoctrination cartoon is a good example of such a detail, and it had the added benefit of providing the defector with a reason to ask for extraction in the episode’s central plot. Together with details like the Spiga scout selling candy, the dirty water dispensed in Elena’s diner, or the executives maintaining eye contact will bowing, 2074 is starting to take on a greater scale that provides context for the characters’ actions....

3.5 Diddle Diddle Dumpling What started as a light and witty portrait of an eccentric obsession ended as the darkest picture of a mind unhinged by grief. Over a spring, summer and winter, a lone shoe seemingly discarded in front of his house became the focus of David’s spiralling breakdown. Though as the CCTV footage playing over the end credits showed, his unravelling was already well underway when first we met him....

And the world and it’s cloned pooch is supposed to sit through what seems forever to hear some American starlet thank God or just blub uncontrollably, or a British Thespian deliver more pathos than their last three film roles provided. I like films, but I couldn’t really care less how much the jewelry Julia Roberts has borrowed cost, or who made the tux Brad Pitt is perspiring into. I’m also not sure that it makes a hill of beans who wins, or how much the sticker ‘nominated for 8 Oscars’ impacts on the DVD sales, never mind the box office receipts....

1.13: Blaine’s World The brain of the week is barely a factor, backing up my suspicion that iZombie would be a much better show if this element was dropped or at least played down, and the episode instead doubles down on the fan-pleasing moments while simultaneously defying expectations as to how Liv is going to react to certain situations. Correctly assuming that what the audience really want to see is a moment or two of triumph for Major, for example, we spend a lot of the episode dealing with him and Blaine, and all of Liv’s big emotional moments are related to those two supporting characters, rather than the other way around....

Doubt was the engine of writer Jack Thorne’s previous Channel 4 drama National Treasure, in which Robbie Coltrane played a popular entertainer on trial for multiple sexual assaults. Was Coltrane’s character guilty or not? Whose memory of events was reliable? Who was lying and who was telling the truth? Kiri, Thorne’s latest, directed by Euros Lyn, is driven by blame. When a child in care is murdered, where should the blame land?...

About half an hour into this gambling comedy-drama flick, we are introduced to the concept of ‘laying’ the favourite, in one of those groan-worthy moments when someone on-screen mentions the film’s title, and you half expect the assembled cast to drop character and wink at the camera (see also: The Prestige, Face/Off, Top Gun). But they don’t, and the plot moves on, as if the authorial hand hadn’t just strayed into frame and given a very indulgent thumbs-up....

This is entirely in keeping with the title character Leon (Jean Reno), a childlike foreigner who moves from apartment to apartment like a ghost, seemingly unnoticed among the city’s bustle and thrum. An Italian migrant, Leon works as a contract killer for Danny Aiello’s mafia boss Tony, who runs his operation from a restaurant in Little Italy. A solitary figure, Leon’s only friends are a pot plant, which he diligently places on the windowsill each morning, and the imaginary characters in the Hollywood musicals he watches at the cinema....

Lethal Weapon Season 1 Episode 2 “I miss you too, Rog.” Lethal Weapon’s second episode thankfully keeps the same momentum and semi-screwball nature that last week’s pilot set as its standard. Not only is there no discernible drop in quality, but if anything the show feels (if only a little) more confident in establishing its own voice. “Surf n’ Turf” kicks off with a charming piece of misdirection involving a naked Riggs which is fun, entertaining stuff, yet I can’t help but feel that this behavior would get Riggs in a little more trouble, or that Beach Cop would at least want to see some credentials....

Crossroads And Morales is no two-bit schmoe, either. He’s been built up by the show as full blown monstrous bad ass. A convicted rapist, fresh out of prison, at the weigh-in, he’s shown smoking on the scales, wildly brandishing a machete, and in a rather unlikely reference, quoting the Saddam Hussein character in Hot Shots! (“I will kill you until you die from it!”) All this is for naught in the fight, however....

Lucifer Season 3 Episode 12 “If I wasn’t on the road to virtue and righteousness, I would crush you like a cockroach.” This week’s case features a dead surfer, and while it gives Chloe and Lucifer the opportunity to mend their broken relationship, it also allows Detective Espinoza a chance to play a more active role in the investigation. Ordinarily the butt of Lucifer’s condescending remarks, Dan does not waste the opportunity to shine tonight, and even though the part he plays in solving the murder may be small, it’s critical nonetheless....

Lucifer Season 3 Episode 13 “I’ve got to go hogtie a fugitive in an ice truck, but I will definitely be back.” From the start, the show’s visual language makes a statement that “Til Death Do Us Part” is going to hold nothing back and establishes itself as a cornerstone episode for the season’s second half. Wearing a leather apron and wielding a chainsaw, Lucifer stands ready to slice Lt. Pierce in half in an attempt to give the world’s first murderer what he wants....

The show feels like a Marvel Comics story: snappy and fantastic characters with human foibles, an indulgence in gadgets, a devotion to past history and continuity…all the elements that have made Marvel special in comics and on film are here. One of the elements that old time fans will appreciate the most is the sense that SHIELD has existed for a while, that it has a history. That all the old Kirby and Steranko mod adventures could have happened....

When interviewed about The Beatles song “Blackbird” in 2002, Paul McCartney said that the song is all about “waiting for this moment” to arise, and this episodeo of Masters of Sex, at the halfway point of the season, is absolutely bursting with moments of tension and near-climax as you’re just waiting for the other shoe to fall. A lot of the machinations of this episode are opened up when it’s revealed that Hendricks at Buell Green has been forbidding his staff to take part in Masters and Johnson’s study, wanting their focus to be solely on white subjects....

The topic of masculinity has become increasingly popular in recent years, as series like The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, and House of Cards all keenly put it under the microscope. And it’s not without good reason. People have become fascinated with the elastic idea of what a man is these days, or what they’re expected to be, especially in these hyper-masculine roles that they are often inhabiting. One of Masters of Sex’s most effective moments in its first season is when Bill finally breaks down and cries....

4.5 His Father’s Son Agravaine, realising that they have captured a knight, convinces Arthur that he must be a strong king, ruthless against those who may threaten the Kingdom. It’s an easy enough task: all the conniving Lord has to do is tell the young King how powerful Uther was during his reign and how he was both respected and feared by the other kingdoms. This responsibility weighs heavy on Arthur’s mind, and even Merlin’s ministrations do nothing to assuage the shadow of his father....

5.2 Arthur’s Bane (Part 2) This week, Morgana is having nightmares. She’s trapped with her dragon and spends a number of scenes in bed looking ravishing, and out of it unleashing fury upon one and all. Still in the hands of their captors, Merlin and Arthur are planning their escape, whilst the Saxons are portrayed as a classless, brutal people, led by Ragnor (Stephen McCole.) He has no love for the King and plans to sell him to Morgana, thanks to the suggestion of Mordred....