LisaM

New Vera episodes (Season 10) begin on Britbox on January 21. 4 new episodes in this season.

I finally watched the Halloween movie and didn't love it as much as some of the earlier episodes. It seemed to be a bit too long. Also - Agatha bothered me with all of the screaming in the "haunted house". Was she always this much of a shrinking violet? I did appreciate how Sarah finally mentioned her missing husband (at the end while hoping for some of the treasure). Toni was an interesting addition to the team - with an actual skill! Not enough Wilkes bumbling around.

Season 6 of Brokenwood Mysteries starts on Monday, January 6 on Acorn.

I don't watch Good Trouble but I was thrilled to see the entire Adams-Foster family again! Can't stand Jude's hair. I could easily watch a spinoff of Lena and Stef; too bad that Freeform doesn't cater to that age demographic. What is Callie doing for a job now that she quit the clerkship?

Finally catching up. Loved Susie staying the Weissman apartment and Zelda leaving her sandwiches. Giving Joel a purpose outside of Midge was a smart idea. He instantly became someone to root for. Loved the accountant and Joel's mother's explanation of the books.

I don't think that they will kill their only agent of color.

Just watched the first episode of Season 21 - the ballroom dancing one. What happened to Winter's hair? I thought the dancing was great but the overall ending was a miss. Fleur is still wonderful. ETA: Watched the second episode with the miniature dollhouses. Fleur and her motorcycle! I think she is the best pathologist of all.

I really did not like this episode. Not big on gang violence.

Wherever Joyce went, murder followed. I miss that about Sarah; I half expect to see her in the crowd at an event - followed by a dead body. ETA: Season 21 drops on Acorn on December 1. ETA again: Watched Winter's first episode tonight. Not thrilled. I really liked Nelson, who seemed competent. Also - RIP Sykes!

I cannot stand Maggie. It felt wrong to say that when she was battling cancer but now that she is in remission, can she please just go away? It would be nice if she left Jason Ritter but I would sacrifice his presence on the screen to be rid of her. Loved Rome on the roof. I doubt we will ever see PJ and Barbara Morgan again. He served his purpose as a cautionary tale for Delilah to let her secret out to her kids. We'll probably hear a line about how Barbara took the money and PJ is at RISD (wasn't that the school he wanted to go to)? I would have liked to have heard Delilah talking to Sophie and Danny. What exactly did she say? Perhaps Regina intends to adopt an older child so that she can continue to run the restaurant at the same time? I don't see two babies on the show at the same time.

I'm looking forward to Mary finding out the truth about Kate/Batwoman and becoming a member of the Team. Rachel Skarsten does great scenery chewing.

It only took me a year and a half but I finally binged the 3 episode wedding finale. I'm not sure why I waited so long - other than I really liked the college graduations as a series finale. Overall, I liked the extended finale. Interesting to see Stef as a social worker - complete with a softer wardrobe. I thought the choice to have Corey's mother recover - and for Stef/Lena to lose the chance to adopt him - was also interesting. It shows a different side of the foster care system. I loved seeing the flashbacks during the wedding ceremony - so many of my favorite series moments were there. Surprising that Mike was only in one short scene; I liked that Eliza's parents mentioned that Brandon's dad was married to the twins' birth mom. The final scenes in front of the newly sold house were very good: the family reuniting and then going their own ways as adults. I don't watch Good Trouble because my main interest are the Mamas but I will tune into the upcoming Christmas episode when the whole family comes back again. It's a shame that Freeform didn't decide to spinoff the Mamas but that would likely skew too old for their viewers. Terrific show - This extended finale reminded me how much I miss it.

I liked seeing Evan running the HOA again - and it was nice to see the same ladies from the HOA. I liked Honey's plot a lot - and particularly the emphasis on her having too much integrity to make money off of her blog.

Brokenwood is very good. There is quite a bit of humor mixed in with the murders. Some of the murders are horrendous but, from memory, they aren't really seen so the gore factor is low. It reminds me a lot of Midsomer Murders (quirky townspeople, unusual and horrible murders but not gross, unusual detective team, small town with a ton of murders). I am eagerly awaiting Season 6 which is supposed to drop at some point soon.

I will miss Eddie's friends the most. I wish that Nicole would come back from NY for an episode.

I am up to Season 15's episode, "Written in the Stars" which starred two Indian characters. I recall reading that Brian True-May, the producer of all of the other seasons, was fired for commenting that MM needed to be all white to preserve the English character and appeal of the show. I think this was one of the first episode with any ethnic minorities in the main cast. Edited to add: I'm watching the prior episode, "Death and the Divas" which I somehow skipped and there is a black man as one of the suspects -- again, a first.

I like seeing Kristen in the field. It opens up the bullpen area for more techs to have a bit role. Also like Scola, who I recall from the last season of Bones. I still miss Dana.

I had to skip through most of Beth's captivity; too sad and harrowing for me to actually watch. I Rachel Skarsten is doing a tremendous job; she's come a long way since she was Dinah in Birds of Prey. I too look forward to Mary finding out about Kate being Batwoman and joining the Team. She is a great character and the actress is quite good. I also look forward to Batwoman taking on a villain other than Alice. Surely there must be other criminals in town?

A bit behind on the episodes. I really like the Pac North idea. Let's see if/how some of the brilliant surgeons can rescue a shitty hospital. Plus - I like seeing Alex in charge. Perhaps he can convince Arizona to come back and run the Peds surgery area? I'm still a huge Meredith fan even though leaving the work crew early to apologize to Bailey made no sense. Have never been a fan of Meredith/DeLuca. I would prefer to see her with someone her own age. I like Jackson/Firefighter from Station 19 a lot. She is a very appealing actress and they have chemistry. Annoyed that TPTB screwed up Tom Karasick's quirky and fun personality in favor of making him a dick.

I'm in the middle of Series 14 - been watching them in order from the beginning over the past few months. By watching so closely together, you definitely see some actors who have been in previous episodes. For example, the "dead" sister in Dark Secrets was also in one of the Tom Barnaby episodes playing the older sister in a strange family who was eventually killed via a rigged shotgun during a hunt. I've noticed that TPTB changed Ben Jones' character just a bit - for the worse. Now he is used to toss out some incorrect murder assumptions in every episode - which John Barnaby is able to shoot down in favor of the real murderer. With Tom, Jones functioned as more of a true assistant and seemed to be much smarter. With John, Jones is more of a lackey and reminds me of Troy in his willingness to go off on tangents.

Does anyone know why Katy Wix wasn't in this episode? Is she gone for good? (I have yet to watch it.)

Something interesting I found last evening as I was watching the final episode of Series 13: John Nettles' last show. On Britbox, the episode ended with a birthday party. Cousin John was listed in the credits but only visible through the window. I had read somewhere that Tom makes a retirement speech but this was not in the Britbox episode. I then turned on the same episode on Acorn and - lo and behold - there is a whole scene with Tom announcing his retirement and stating that Cousin John had just transferred to Midsomer. I later read someone online that they had filmed two endings for this episode so that international stations which played MM over and over without any sense of continuity would not have to worry that their viewers would be confused by Tom's retirement. I found it interesting that Britbox had one version and Acorn had the other. If I had not known that Nettles/Tom was retiring, Series 13 would have just ended the same way that the other ones did.

Vera and Viv - my two favorite characters on British TV.

The new Agatha Raisin movie debuts on Monday on Acorn.

Thanks very much for the podcast link! I have been binging MM in order over the past few months - I am in the middle of Season 13 now and haven't really found any review sites which go into detail on each episode. I will have to check out the podcast. I know that I am almost at the end of the Tom Barnaby episodes and I'm really going to miss him - and Joyce!