jim_taltontish

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

It took me a few eps to really appreciate how good and creepy this show is. Initially I thought it was cheesy, low effort attempt at a more diverse X-Files with a heavier supernatural slant. It's definitely both diverse and focused on the supernatural, but the cast and writing are both excellent. Nothing feels forced or preachy. The season overall was excellent. I'd give it an 8.5 but not quite a 9 for me.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

BSG and SG:U had a baby, and they asked J.J. Abrams to be the godfather. To me, this is by far the worst Star Trek series to date. Given the lack of options for my sci-fi cravings, this is still worth watching. I remember thinking how awful ST:TNG was, but by the third season, it was my favorite show of all time. I'm praying that this show will follow suit. There are a lot of great cast members, and it's still too early to write this show off. I hope they can tone down the semi-shaky cam and the overly earnest emotional discussions where everyone looks like they're about to cry. The Orville, Dark Matter, BSG, all the other Star Trek series, SG-1, SG:Atlantis, Babylon 5, and Firefly made us care about multiple characters by their respective episode 11 airing. I'm hoping by the end of season two they can greatly improve both their storytelling and character development.

Season 1--great! Season 2--really good. Season 3--sure hope it gets **** it was the best season so far. Should've known better than to give an early review without finishing up the entire season. Now I hear they canceled the show--wtf??? This is one of the most enjoyable, true sci-fi shows in existence. Dark Matter is too good to drop. Netflix, please step in and grab this gem. The open-ended series finale provides virtually limitless, mind-blowing options for at least one more season. It has a lovable cast with strong chemistry, alien threats, alternate universes, time travel, clones, sentient AI, heart-felt character back stories, and finally, it must be repeated--a lovable cast with strong chemistry. Raza crew, I hope we get to see more of you soon.

Five episodes in and I'm loving it. For all the critics saying this is derivative, of course it's derivative--it's a spoof on ST:TNG. I thought the first episode was pretty weak, but eps two through five are right up there with good eps of their inspiration. There's certainly more drama and plot than humor. It has enough wiggle room to inject silly gags, yet it takes itself seriously enough to tell satisfying stories. Live long and prosper, Orville!

Loved the first three seasons, hated season four, but this was a huge improvement over last season. Not sure where the hate is coming from, and I was about to give up on this show after the boring Stamper storyline last year. The season finale was unpredictable and satisfying. Chaos reigns and deception prevails. The chess is back. Bring on season six, please!

This series started falling flat for me after season 3. I still enjoyed many episodes, but far too frequently plots went beyond silly, and not in a good way. I thought Andy's character in particular was taken too far into the dummy plane, but damn it's still hard not to love him. After finally finishing the series finale, it was all worth it. Wow, what a strong finish! Reminds me quite a bit of the finale of "Six Feet Under." Putting the whole show into perspective (minus the Mark B character), it was an overall joyful experience to watch this series from start to finish. Oh, and Ron Swanson rules!

This is the kind of show that would have been on the Sci-Fi channel of yore. It has a decent enough budget to depict events with a satisfying luster. It displays the swordplay elements of Kill Bill, style of Firefly, and mystique of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. While it doesn't rise to the heights of any of those aforementioned masterpieces in each category, it combines their strengths to present a compelling and thoroughly engrossing experience. Love, love, love this show.

As I was watching the fourth season, I didn't realize until the last episode that it was the series finale. Jeez, I wish they could've stretched it out one more season to wrap it all up a little less succinctly. It took me a few tries to get past episode one of the first season, but once I did--wow! Great multi-dimensional characters really make this show stand out. Teddy in particular is a character you both despise and completely empathize with at different times throughout the show. Overall, an outstanding, unique drama with a satisfying conclusion.

Seasons 1 and 2 were fantastic, but the first was my favorite. Season 3 started out great, but there was way too much filler (e.g., the writer, most of Doug's story). I'm guessing they're required to produce 13 episodes, but it could've easily been cut in half. Claire's character has almost completely flaked out compared to how I understood her in the past. Frank stays pretty consistent, but the dialogue is sounding tired when stretched over so much irrelevant material. Spacey also sounded congested, as if he had a cold, in many of the episodes, so I wonder if filming was rushed. Overall, I'm very disappointed with the direction the show has gone. It has greatly reduced the amount of focused political chess, and diluted it with boring, almost meaningless drama. I love good drama, but the writing quality just isn't there this season. All the filler has caused Season 3 to lose its bite. Not sure why the professional critics are rating it on par with past seasons, because it's not.

Loved the first episode of season five. Second and third episodes were still consistent with the previous seasons. Somewhere in the fourth episode, it almost felt like a different team took over writing and directing. Even the music was uneven. By the end of the eighth episode, I felt very sad that an otherwise excellent series was given such a shabby, rushed send-off. I can't believe there hasn't been a greater outpouring of fan disappointment. It was a great series overall, but damn, i wish it could've ended strongly.