The Toad's Burrow

      I understand the criticisms of this season of Peaky Blinders  after all so many characters get shoved to the side in order to create a cohesive narrative, I mean most characters end up doing nothing and it becomes less character driven and more event driven. However, under the extraordinary circumstances that was the death of actress Helen McRory, I understand the sudden shift from what made Peaky Blinders  so successful in the first place. The reality is Polly was such an integral character, a fact that was proven since the entire season had to become scrapped after her death, and therefore it is important to look at this season with a more optimistic lens than usual.     Now I know, typically I'm very critical of this show in my reviews, but that's for good reason, because the reality is Peaky Blinders is an excellent show, and frankly its much more interesting for me to point out what has changed rather than report back and say that a sho...

      I would be lying if I said that I expected Only Murders in the Building  to live up to the hype it had built in the first season. After all, making two good seasons of a TV show that is about a fake murder podcast sounds difficult to pull off, like catching lightning in a bottle twice. Luckily, the showrunners seemed to have figure out what worked last time around, and have honed in on making sure that viewers were given a season that didn't feel too similar to the last to prevent a sophomore slump.     To be frank I was quite scared when this season first started, I mean some of the new characters focused on/introduced are great, while others are absolutely awful. I mean Cara Delevingne and Amy Schumer single handedly almost ruined my expectations for the rest of the season, because they both seemed to be absolutely terrible in any scenes they were in. Luckily for viewers, their screen time tapers off significantly, and for the better since both...

      I'm starting to get the feeling that Peaky Blinders  is suffering from what every great TV show eventually suffers from, stretching itself too thin. Its not its own fault that the show has managed to sow seeds of interest in every character, but its starting to get a bit crowded, and then characters must be killed in order to allow the most bountiful seeds to sprout. While necessary, it still always feels disappointing to some extent, as viewers begin to question which      Take for example Aberama Gold, a character who was promoted to series mainstay this season, he dies in such a fashion that leaves you questioning, is that it? I mean his son died, and he was about to be accepted into the family, but then he is simply murdered off for the sake of making the stakes against Tommy feel even higher. Personally, I would have liked to see more of what he could have offered, although I am biased towards the former Game of Thrones actor, as he was phen...

       I'd be lying if I said this season wasn't one of my favourites because while the Economic League was cool, I enjoyed Luca Changretta significantly more. I think out of all the villains showcased in the show he was my favourite, because it felt like he actually had some bite to his bark and he really made me question if Tommy was out of his league(spoiler alert: he was not). While I do think some of the concepts in this season felt underutilized, overall I thought this season did a great job of making it feel consequential.     Since it happens so early in the season, I feel it is important to address the death of John Shelby, who was one of my favourite characters in the show. I'm going to be honest with you, I was so disappointed he died, as I felt he had more to bring to the show, and they had been focusing on Arthur for quite some time(in their defense, I really enjoyed Arthur this season). I mean John basically developed guilt over killing innoce...

      As someone who became a theatre kid at a fairly late age, I had always heard of A Streetcar Named Desire, and understood that both it, and by extension Tennessee Williams, had some important role in the history of theatre. Specifically, I first remember hearing it in the Panic! At the Disco song, Memories, and since then I began to grow this idea that perhaps it was a love story, an overall sad one, but one for the ages, and with a cute name to boot. Sadly, or perhaps happily depending on your point of view, I have to report that my assumptions were wrong, and I couldn't have been more impressed by this play if it tried.     Personally, as someone who had to read a lot of plays during high school I think something that many plays lacked was the ability to be read as a play rather than performed. Like if one were to ask high school students what they enjoyed least, it would be Shakespeare, and for good reason, as it was meant to be performed, and without ma...

      To address the title of this article, I have to preface by saying that I don't think that the Peaky Blinders  gang is actually one filled with saints, I mean they are British gangsters, and one does not exactly crawl out of poverty by being the nicest bloke on the block. However, in my eyes, the most notable change was Thomas Shelby's transition into someone who put family first, to someone who was willing to gamble them away. Like, you can't seriously tell me that by the end of season 3, people were rooting for the Shelby's other than the fact that they were technically the "lesser evil" when compared to the economic league.     In fact, dare I say it, I'm starting to feel shades of Breaking Bad  when watching Peaky Blinders  and I don't make this comparison lightly. It's sort of how in Breaking Bad , fans root for Walter not because he is someone who uplifts his family, but rather because its entertaining to watch his slow descent into bec...

      I had an interesting conversation with my friends yesterday, wherein we discussed our favourite Netflix TV shows, and I brought up Peaky Blinders as a show that had recently impressed me. Specifically, one of my friends mentioned the show was a bit of a slow burner, but absolutely worth it once it picked up, and I was incredibly confused at what he meant, considering the fact that I absolutely adored season 1. However, after watching the finale of season 2, I can understand the perspective my friend was coming from, as there absolutely is some pacing issues that could be amended with the second season.     While I didn't by any means dislike the second season, I just felt that it was a lot of set up for a lot of nothing? Like the idea of this season was to go bigger and better, with the Shelby's expanding to London, but while they claimed the scope was bigger, it didn't feel as if anything got bigger. While technically the family got bigger, with the intro...

      As someone who tends to love complaining about TV shows, when it comes to Peaky Blinders, I came out of season 1 surprisingly satisfied. Typically, I complain about the six-episode format, especially in regards to Disney+, feeling that it tends to cramp creativity and lead to mediocre slop that has ruined my favourite universes, however I feel the complete opposite with Peaky Blinders.  In fact, I'm tempted to say that it makes the most of the format, and that British television has seemed to master it to perfection, leading to a TV show that has left me more satisfied than I have been in ages.     Specifically, one of the aspects of Peaky Blinders  that I absolutely adore is the politics that must occur between different players of the game. Ever since Game of Thrones  ended so unceremoniously, I have been itching for the complex storylines where all pieces on the chess board are working to sabotage one another, and while this show is ...

      I'm going to be honest, I was a bit afraid that Grease was going to be hot garbage, I mean I'm not exactly the most versed in musicals, and West Side Story  left sort of a sour taste in my mouth. Luckily  Grease  holds up much better than West Side Story  ever could, and I definitely see why it was so iconic looking back at it. I mean what originally hooked me to the musical first was not only its status as a cult classic, but Olivia Newton-John absolutely pouring her heart out in Hopelessly Devoted to You.     However, that doesn't mean this film is without its faults, and frankly as far as musical goes its very weak story-wise. Luckily, it doesn't include much story in-between songs but during those moments of peace viewers simply end up feeling as if they're just waiting for the next musical number to be performed. I mean, the entire film hinges on the fact that Danny has too much of a bad boy persona that he's afraid might be tainte...

      I'm going to be honest, this movie kind of underwhelmed me, while I wasn't expecting anything spectacular, the only real scene that really even piqued my interest was basically bits of the abortion storyline and the final scene. I'm not too sure what I expected going into Dirty Dancing but I'm struggling to see what others saw in it that made it so memorable. I mean perhaps this was just a me thing but I didn't even realize the most iconic song from the movie "I've Had the Time of my Life" was from this movie, and had originally heard it sampled by the Black Eyed Pea's.     Personally, one of the biggest flaws of this movie is that it doesn't have enough of what it advertises, which is a mix of both Dirty Dancing  and music, like the dance they perform isn't even as raunchy or as dirty as I thought it'd be. Instead of a mildly corny storyline about dancing the way you want to and learning to express oneself despite the expectation...