Showing posts with label TV show. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TV show. Show all posts

19/04/2016

P - Pretty Little Liars


First airing back in 2010, Pretty Little Liars is an american drama/mystery-thriller TV show. The pilot episode begins with the 5 lead girls having a sleepover in a barn when one of the girls - Alison DiLaurentis goes missing. Fast forward to a year later and the discovery of Alison's body, the four remaining girls - Emily, Spencer, Hanna and Aria - begin to receive messages from the mysterious "A". Who's identity isn't revealed to the audience until the finale episode of season 6A (5 years later).

I began watching the TV show in January 2015 after being told for years by various friends how good the show was - I binged watched through the 110 odd episodes in a month; until I had finally caught up with the currently airing season at the time, Season 5B. I was hooked on the show - the first seasons had so much drama and so many cliffhangers once I start watching it was impossible to not want to carry on and spend every spare minute I had watching another episode (I even spent some Media lessons watching the show instead of doing work oops). I think my favourite episode has to be "How the 'A' stole Christmas" because all the lead girls and boys come to together and enjoy the festive season by embracing the fact that they all get to be together even though there's still a threat hanging over their heads. Some episodes were so dark and mysterious, I'm not ashamed to say I had to sleep with the light on a few times - after watching a freaky Halloween episode or a particularly creepy A situation that the girls had gotten themselves into - late at night I refused to sleep in a pitch black room when I had just watched a TV show where the characters were constantly being watched and spied on by a character that lurked in the shadows. Saying that though, I did also really enjoy those episodes, the really tense and creepy moments made the show even more exciting because you just want to know how they're going to deal with it and what was going to happen to them next. 

It's because of those kind of episodes that the earlier seasons were definitely my favourite. Lately in seasons 5 and 6 the show seems to have lost it's interesting aspect. I think it's because the show has been going for so long, the writer's have just lost new and unique ways of continuing the story and the scary situations the character's get themselves into don't really seem scary any more; they seem more deadbeat than sit-on-the-edge-of-your-seat. The huge A reveal was also quite disappointing - the way the writer's had managed to twist all the clues that had been revealed during season 6 made the whole thing very anti-climatic. If I remember correctly my reaction was "That's not A that's just their decoy". The cast and crew had also made a huge deal out of the reveal by creating an episode and day countdown to the finale, so when it didn't turn out quite as good or as big as we expected, it was annoying, as this character was supposed to have done all these horrible things to the girls we had come to love, and the identity wasn't even that good. 

But, although the A reveal was a disappointment and the following season (Season 6B) didn't have the most interesting or attention capturing story lines, the winter finale of 6B did have a lot of shock moments which made watching the frustratingly, boring, previous episodes actually worth while. And the wait for Season 7 seem even longer as the now rare, dramatic cliffhangers seemed to make a return and the anticipation to find out what happens to our favourite characters makes me hope the (apparently) last season of the show is more like the early seasons rather than the more recent ones. 

You can watch Pretty Little Liars on Netflix where they add the new episodes weekly when the show is airing.

Me and my best friend, Meg, also did the PLL Tag on our youtube channel - so if you're already a fan of the show give that a watch (beware it does contain spoilers).

"Things change you know, people grow" 

Until Tomorrow, 

Alice x 


Continue Reading...

07/04/2016

F - Favourite TV Show (Teen Wolf)



Teen Wolf is an American TV programme that started back in 2011. The show is based around a teenager called Scott Mcall (played by Tyler Posey), who is bitten by a werewolf in the very first episode of the show, and he must cope with how the change effects his life - how he has to fight off different supernatural creatures in order to protect his town as well as keep up with his school work and how it effects the people close to him, including his best friend Stiles Stilinski (Dylan O'Brien). The shows premise actually originates from the 1985 film "Teen Wolf" however apart from the similarity of a teenager being bitten by a werewolf the plot is completely different.

 I first started watching Teen Wolf in 2013. My friend, Paige, had come across the show earlier in the year, so when she started talking about it, I read up on the plot and before we'd even watched the first episode we were invested in the lives of both the characters and the actors as well as the constantly twisting storyline. We had to wait till December to watch the first two seasons as Paige was getting the DVDs for Christmas, however we quickly binge watched through those 24 episodes and I've since kept up to date with the weekly aired show. I've also re-watched the first two seasons several times. Not long after me and Paige watched them, I bought the DVDs for myself and made my sister and my best friend, Meg, watch them as well. I think it's safe to say the first two seasons are definitely my favourite. All the original main characters were still appearing in the show and there's still a lot of light hearted banter between the characters, before things got more serious, dark and dramatic for the characters in season 3. However, that doesn't mean I don't enjoy the latest seasons, I do, they're just more tense to watch and you're constantly on edge as you watch the loveable characters fight life-ending battles with these supernatural creatures that you know are much stronger than them. You fear for their lives as you constantly wonder how they will actually beat this creature and come out alive the other side, however, most of the characters do (of course there are some character deaths - it wouldn't be a dramatic TV show without them), and at the end of the last episode of the season there's always heart-warming scenes that show them laughing and smiling together like normal teenage friends (and they also give a hint of the supernatural creatures to come next season).

Although I enjoy the show, I think my main investment is in the the three remaining original characters, and that's why I continue to watch the programme. The plot, although it can be good in places, does have continuous plot holes and sections that just don't fit in with the situation the characters are in. The writer Jeff Davis is constantly not giving enough character development to certain characters or just using them - especially in the more recent seasons - as an object. For example, Malia is introduced in season 4, however for the whole season her whole purpose is represented as to be with Stiles, so Stiles finally gets the girl and has a girlfriend. Another example is in the most recent season - season 5b - the pack reunite however part of the time Lydia is stuck in the Eichen house (where unstable supernatural's go) but none of them even mention her for the first few episodes - when normal friends would be constantly worrying where she is. This is the same for Kira, she is working on her own problems throughout the season and it's obvious she hasn't spoken to the pack about where she is or what she's doing, but again, when she's not at pack meetings, none of them mention where she is. 

Although there are issues with the shows writing, the characters are so loveable I feel I can't stop watching the show until at least my favourite characters have left. The sarcastic and awkward, Stiles Stilinski is definitely my overall favourite character he's so relatable and the constant battle he has to feel like he fits in with pack as a human member who is better at researching the supernatural creatures than fighting them. He kind of represents every teenager who is having an internal battle with themselves and is struggling to find their place with their friends. 

The only place Teen Wolf is aired in the UK is 5 Star who are currently airing season 2 of the show. To be able to keep up to date with the show I have been watching it online, however I would also recommend buying the DVD's after each season has aired as it means you can watch the episodes in good quality. To find out more about the show click here.

"Why do we fall? So we can learn to pick ourselves up again" 

Until tomorrow, 

Alice x 
Continue Reading...