Men and women live in a giant silo underground with several regulations which they believe are in place to protect them from the toxic and ruined world on the surface.(source: IMDB)

I can count on one hand the amount of times that a workmate advised me to watch a TV show that was really good and Silo is one of them. It ticks all the boxes: great ambiance, mystery, no unnecessary drama and, above all, a fantastic casting.

I think that Rebecca Ferguson is one of the most talented actress of this generation. From the mother of Paul Atreides to Juliette Nichols, she’s exceptionnal.

Hugh Howey, on whose books the show is based, was one of the first self-published authors who found success using the then-new Amazon Kindle format and manage to live solely from writing and self-publishing books.

AppleTV+ ordered the second season, phew!

I don’t think that I could spend my lunchtimes at home without watching a TV show anymore. It’s an habit that comes from the time when I was still living with my mum, she would watch The Bold and The Beautiful everyday at lunch. 

We also watched all the soaps that would play on TV, from Dallas to Falcon Crest and Knots Landing. Those are amazing memories of my youth… Since then, I became a soap fan, I can’t help it: the romance, the plot twists, the betrayals, I’m addicted!

Since the confinement, we can stay home 4 days a week, so I kind of got Soforah addicted to the lunchtime soap and it became one of our most sacred daily ritual.

Which brings us to Vampire Diaries. It’s soapy and it’s about vampires who all seem to come out of a modelling catalogue, what is there not to love?

We’ve just completed our first rerun and I’m so sad that it’s over. They’ve been with us for 171 lunchtimes and I’ll miss them all, even Nina Dobrev. *Grab a Kleenex*

Anyway, it’s not that they’re gone forever and we both know that there will be another rerun, some day.

I’ll miss these vamps.

We had a good time watching Wednesday… Jenna Ortega is great in her role, even if, let’s be honest, the real star of the show is The Thing. 

If I can nitpick (again, sorry): Gomez is a bit overacted, Morticia loves life too much, Wednesday isn’t murderous enough and the dance scene is cringe as fuck. However Gwendoline Christie is perfect, as always. 

Let’s just say that Wednesday is Tim Burton’s vision of The Addams Family, crossed with Scoobidoo.

House of the Dragon is a great show and we’ve enjoyed watching it in our Christmas-decorated living room.

Unfortunately, we both have been very disappointed by the actor swap after the fifth episode. Replacing Milly Alcock by Emma d’Arcy was the biggest downgrade they could have possibly done. Milly Alcock is atypical and beautiful, she created a real sexual tension between her and Daemon. Emma d’Arcy is common, tasteless and asexual (in the show and in reality).

I’m certain that Milly Alcock could have perfectly portrayed an older Rhaenyra. However, if they absolutely wanted to replace her because of the time jump, they could have casted another actress than Emma d’Arcy, whom I believe was among the worst possible choices.

SPOILER: The actress swap ruined the sex scene on the beach. But, hey, it’s not like we were waiting for it SINCE THE FUCKING FIRST EPISODE!

I also think that Emily Carey shouldn’t have been replaced, she was a better queen Alicent than Olivia Cooke and the difference of age appearance is negligible.

Beside the mid-season casting changes, we love the show and we’re impatiently waiting for the second season (even if it’ll apparently take two years, sigh). 

The Belgian police has arrested Robert Hendy-Freegard – aka The Puppet Master – in Groot-Bijgarden, Brussels (pretty close to where I live, actually).

He’s a famous British conman who masqueraded an MI5 agent to coerce money out of people and to pressure them to do his bidding. If you wanna know more about him, I advise you to watch the Netflix documentary The Puppet Master: Hunting the Ultimate Conman, it’s very entertaining.

One last question won’t probably be answered… While most of his victims were coerced, the woman with whom he disappeared didn’t seem persuaded to follow him. Her kids seem certain that he dragged her into his schemes, the way he did with his previous victims, but I’m not sure that she didn’t follow him willingly.

Apparently, Freegard and Sandra Clifton were working in the beagle breeding business in the French country and performing in pedigree shows. To me, it doesn’t feel very glamorous, but who knows what her previous life really was like.

Anyway, it’s not the first time that the Puppet Master gets caught… He already received a life sentence for his past crimes. He was freed after the conviction was overturned by the court of appeals. Who knows if they’ll manage to keep him, this time.

We’ve finally watched the final season of Ozark. While there was definitely something good in the show, there was also much I hated, starting by the Byrds. I hate them so much and I’m not sure that it’s only because of the characters. Laura Linney’s voice worked on my nerves since the first episode and Patrick Bateman always plays the same way in all of his appearances.

There are two reasons why I came back for more:

1. Ruth Langmore. She’s absolutely fantastic, the character and the actress (Julia Garner) who portrays her. To me, she carried the entire show.

I especially loved the episode where a vengeful Ruth listens to NAS – NY State of Mind. I didn’t even know that song and I’m heavy on 90s music.

I know that it’s a very controversial opinion. But, even weeks later, nothing can change my mind.

2. Warning: spoilers.

I made it until the end because I wanted so much to see Wendy Bird’s head explode with a Cartel bullet. Why did this have to happen to Ruth instead of her? The ending felt like a ruined orgasm after having been wanked for five seasons.

When archivist Dan Turner takes a mysterious job restoring a collection of damaged videotapes from 1994, he finds himself reconstructing the work of documentary filmmaker Melody Pendras and her investigation into a dangerous cult. As Dan is drawn into Melody’s story, he becomes convinced he can save her from the terrifying end she met 25 years ago. – IMDb

This TV-show is amazing, I absolutely loved it. First of all, I had no idea that nowadays people would be interested in restoring old tapes. I googled “restoring old tapes”, the amount of results that appeared surprised me. Watching Dan working his magic in Archive 81, was hypnotic. Granted, it was shot in a way that I looked like eye candy. I think that I would have really liked this job.

The videotapes Dan needs to restore, were shot at the Visser in the 90’s. The decade that gems like Twin Peaks and the X-files were created. Archive 81 belongs on that same shelf to me. I think that the reason why I love this TV-show this much is because so many boxes are checked for me. 

Imagine taking on a mysterious job restoring a collection of damaged videotapes in a remote location where there is absolutely no connection, and no way to get in contact with anyone but your shady employer. Things start to happen, and none can be explained scientifically. All you know is that it’s real. If I would have been in Dans’ shoes, I would have gone insane.

I think that this concept mixed with Cthulhu-esque elements like alternate timelines, comets, some otherworldly intoxicating mould, a cult who worships a demon / god named Kaelego,… works like a charm on me. 

Archive 81 is based on a podcast with the same name so I started researching about Kaelego, hoping I would stumble on some ancient historical facts. Of course, like expected, it’s pure fiction (one can only dream). However, I did read an interesting article on Den of Geek about the deity / demon Kaelego, the comets, the Vos Society, the Baldung witches, the Otherworld,… All I can say is that I’m awestruck by the world they’ve created.

There are many references to Dante’s Divine Comedy. The main character’s name is Dan T. (Dante) and he’s being taken on a journey with a man named Virgil (Dante’s guide). I still can’t believe I’ve read those books one day though, it’s not exactly light reading.

The music Ben Salisbury and Geoff Barrow created for the show is haunting. It crawls under your skin and gives a dark and intense vibe to the show. You feel something building up, like they’re trying to create a rift between two worlds. It’s daunting and tense. It reminds me a lot of Eyes Wide Shut, The Lords of Salem, and Twin Peaks.

There are only a few jump scares in the entire first season, but it weren’t those that scared the living hell out of me. This show is more about a lingering feeling of eeriness / creepiness which creates a tense atmosphere. I absolutely love this kind of thing, and I was sad to hear that Netflix cancelled the show without giving any reason. Regardless, I still don’t give up hope that it’ll be renewed one day.

One of the overall least popular seasons of American Horror Story is Roanoke. Granted, it isn’t my favourite either. It started off well, but instead of building up the story slowly, they directly went into full blow action and horror. They could have managed that better, in my opinion. While the first part let itself watch, the second became a drag and the end was mediocre. The reason why we went on to watch the show, is because we love the AHS cast. The actors are amazing, we got so attached to them that even a lesser season got us clung to the tv.

My Roanoke Nightmare is based on the true mystery of the Lost Colony of Roanoke:

In 1587 a small colony was founded on an island off the eastern coast of North America. The settlement would have been the first permanent English colony in the New World, had the settlers not disappeared owing to unknown circumstances. The lost colony of Roanoke is one of the most-notorious mysteries in American history; the cryptic clues left at the abandoned settlement and the lack of any concrete evidence make it the focus of wild speculation and theories. (source: brittanica.com)

An interesting topic which indeed leaves space for a lot of wild theories. I’ve read crazy ideas about zombie outbreaks, insane massacres, and all kinds of creepy stuff that only belong in horror movies. Nevertheless, I wonder how close AHS got to reality. Hopefully (most certainly) they are far off cause one thing is for sure, My Roanoke Nightmare is gruesome. From cannibalism to slaughter, they didn’t hesitate with the gore and were quite creative with the deaths of certain characters.

TLDR, I loved the first part of the show, but only went on watching it thanks to the excellent cast. The next and 7th season will be “AHS Cult”. I haven’t read anything about it so, I wonder what kind of horrific adventure Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuck have in store for us this time.

Based on the science fiction novel series of the same name by James S.A. Corey, The Expanse takes place in a future in which humanity has colonized the solar system and a cold war threatens the balance of power. The heroes at the center unwind a conspiracy theory that changes the course of human history. (Source: Polygon)

I believe that what makes The Expanse so great is the balance between the science and the persons. As N. Shankar said in an interview for Art Technica: “That’s always the challenge, balancing multiple storylines, balancing the weight of personal, emotional character stuff with the gigantic geopolitical [elements], the big, beautiful space battles, all of the scope and spectacle. This is always the conversation in our writers room when we come into any season on the show. If we’re doing it right, it does have that balance between the personal and the epic.”

We’ve finally watched the 5th season of The Expanse and I can safely say that this show is not only my favorite Sci-Fi TV shows (just after Star Trek), but also one of my favorite show ever.

The 5th season sees many developments and I enjoyed them all: Marco Inaros’ multiple plots, Amos and Peaches’ hike through the snow, Avasarala’s new rise, Bobby and Alex adventure aboard the Razorback,… Many storylines that each bring their own thing to a fantastic bigger picture.

Jeff Bezos did one of the only good things I’ve ever seen a billionaire do by swooping in to save the show after it was cancelled on Syfy as it was a personal favorite of his. Unfortunately, despite what the authors say, the 6th season may very well be the end. Which means that not all the content of the novels will have been covered by the show. As a fan, I can only wish for more but, sometimes, it’s good when a great show reaches a good place before ending.

By the way, if you click on the image at the top of the post, you’ll be able to download this awesome wallpaper in many resolutions from the website theexpanselives.com.

A young woman is found brutally murdered in a playground and one of her hands is missing. Above her hangs a small man made of chestnuts.(source: IMDB)

We enjoy a good Nordic Noir on Saturday evening, especially when it’s raining outside and the apartment is lit up with candles. It’s without surprise that we enjoyed The Chestnut man since it’s based on a book written by Søren Sveistrup, the creator of the hit television show Forbrydelsen (The Killing), which we also enjoyed very much.

The Chestnut Man is in the same vein, cold, brutal and free from unneeded drama. We watched two episodes per evening and we enjoyed each of them so much that we were actually counting down to the next Saturday.

The chemistry between the characters grows as the suspense intensifies and it was almost impossible to guess the identity of the killer. At least, we didn’t.

At this time, a second season hasn’t been green lit yet. Fingers crossed!