Netflix
Away Review – Goodnight Mars (1×07)
We’re more than halfway finished with Away, so I thought it would be a good time to look at the series overall.
For a show about going where no man or woman has gone before, not much has happened since the pilot episode. Sure, the Atlas crew launched into space and yeah, they’ve spent months together getting closer and closer to their destination each day, but the pacing of the show has been very leisurely. I guess if we’re to get a sense of how they feel up there, then it’s hitting the mark because being stuck in a tin can for months has got to be draining.
I’ve seen plenty of criticism about the show pointing out its inaccuracies and that it seems like they never consulted NASA or even an astronaut, and I’ll admit, those inadequacies do add up. The whole mission control has been shown to be inept and it’s concerning how great their cell service has been even now when they can only communicate via email and texts. It’s astonishing considering I lose service every single time I drive down a heavily wooded road here on Earth.
But if you throw all those concerns out the window, you see the show for what it’s really meant to be. Space is used as a backdrop for the drama building up between family and co-workers. It’s about relationships and how they fluctuate far more than it is about space travel. And most importantly, it’s about hope and achieving your dreams. When I look at it from that perspective, I get especially peeved with Away Season 1 Episode 7 and with Emma in general.
From the beginning, she’s been weighed down by her sacrifices, but seven episodes in, she still hasn’t gotten a handle on her emotions proving that maybe Misha and Lu were right all along — she’s not fit to be Commander.
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Right now, she’s on a spaceship millions of miles away from her family. No one ever said it was going to be easy, but her priority right now needs to be the “family” on the ship, not the one on Earth.
There’s a difference between checking in with your husband and daughter and wanting to parent that’s in control at all times. When you’re in space, it’s impossible to be both. And if Emma didn’t realize that going into this mission then she was living in denial.
Lu said herself that she understands the task at hand and the circumstances she’s in. It doesn’t make her a bad mom or a less caring one, she’s simple looking forward and not stuck in the past, which seems to be Emma’s problem.
Even her advice to Lex about Isaac and “flying” was hinged on her own experiences of getting pregnant and thinking she’d ruined her future. Lex finally found something that made her happy, that allowed her to breathe, that made her feel free, and instead of getting some sound advice from her mother, she told her “boys are distractions.” It may have been well-intentioned, but it completely backfired.
Space takes a heavy toll on everyone and they’re supposedly in the “hardest part of the journey,” but it’s only Emma that seems to be cracking. And she shouldn’t be — she’s worked her whole life to be here. She prepared for this, she knew this was coming, and she’s supposed to be one of the best astronauts in the world.
It’s problematic that the episode found her coming to a revelation that there are more important things than Mars as she’s on her journey to Mars. Honestly, no, there’s nothing more important right now than the mission you signed up for and trained your whole life for.
It doesn’t mean that you don’t care about your family. Despite the struggles they’ve faced with Emma away, Matt and Lex are immensely proud of her and her accomplishments.
She needs to honor that.
If she didn’t care about Mars, she would’ve pulled a Melissa and given up the dream when she decided to have the baby. But she didn’t — she went ahead and proved that you can have a career and become a mother, which makes her a hero and an inspiration. It proves that women are just as capable as men even if it costs them a higher price. Emma needs to shine in that space and own it rather than trying to prove her belief that she’s “less of an astronaut” because she’s a mother. Otherwise, she’s just proving everyone right and last I checked, I signed up for a dose of female empowerment.
It would help if Emma trusted everyone around her and recognized that her family can take care of themselves. She’s not Melissa because she’s lucky to have had a better man than Scott. Scott bolted when things got tough, but Matt buckled down for the ride despite his own struggles.
There should never be a moment where the team has to worry about breaking any type of news to their Commander out of a fear that she’s not in the mental space to handle it. If it comes down to it, it means their leader is again, not capable.
There’s no denying Lex is Emma’s daughter — she’s just as reckless and irrational as her mother. They’re also both flying way too close to the sun and if they keep it up, they’re going to get burned.
She wanted to prove something after getting her mother’s email, which is why she got a little carried away on the dirt bike. She didn’t think about how dangerous it was or what could have happened to her.
She’s lucky the outcome was just a “small concussion.” Though, it doesn’t bode well for her seeing Isaac again.
Similarly, Emma made a poor decision when she began rationing her rations to keep a dandelion alive. Yes, proving that life can grow on Mars is one of their main missions but not at their own expense. She was careless and ignored the very real risks that came with dehydration, which could have hindered the mission for everyone.
Emma’s smart, but she can be so incredibly stupid. The whole family is their own worst nightmare. Surprisingly, Matt was tolerable during this episode probably because he was so focused on Emma and Lex. It’s beginning to become obvious that his recovery has been put on the sidelines as he dedicates all his time “consulting” at NASA.
It was funny how Lu and Kwesi both had different scientific theories for why the flower continued to grow when it was so obvious what was happening with Emma.
Ram missed the signs, which would have been surprising if he didn’t have such a blind spot for Emma. He has her back without hesitation, which can be a good and a bad thing. In this case, he didn’t see what was going on with her even though the symptoms were right in front of him. Towards the end, after he gave her saline, I couldn’t figure out if the “moment” between them was supposed to be something romantic and Ram’s realization that he has feelings for her or that he’d finally come to a point where he didn’t fully believe she was the best person to lead the mission.
It’s unclear, but I’m hoping it’s the latter for the sake of drama.
How are you enjoying Away so far? Are you just as frustrated with Emma as I am?
Berlin is the Money Heist spinoff we never knew we needed… but we’re so glad it’s almost here.
Since Berlin (Pedro González Alonso) was hands-down the most captivating (and problematic) character in the Spanish heist drama, fans always wanted to get to know more of him, especially after he sacrificed himself in the season 1 finale for his team, largely due to his terminal illness, redeeming himself in the process.
Quickly rising the ranks as a fan-favorite, the writers kept Berlin’s spirit alive in the following seasons via flashbacks, noting that he always had a hand in the planning of the heists, even if he wasn’t around to see them through. And it became more and more clear that there was an unsatiable thirst from audiences to explore additional parts of the character’s origin story; thus, a prequel to Money Heist focusing solely on Berlin’s prior escapades only made sense.
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As seen in the later season of Money Heist, or La Casa de Papel, Berlin garnered even more intrigue when his son, Rafael (Patrick Criado) joined the heist. The former Electronics Engineer from MIT is Berlin’s prodigal son, whose only request was not to end up a thief like his father, also drew attention after entering a relationship with his father’s wife, Tatiana. It’s a lot to unpack, clearly, but it’s also proof that there was nothing boring or mediocre about Berlin’s life in the slightest, at any point.
So, again, it warrants a spinoff that digs even deeper into this complex, charismatic, and morally questionable character we’ve all come to love.
When he joined the Professor’s group in the series, he was already one of the most seasoned robbers of the bunch, having a plethora of experience mapping out and executing heists of ranging scales.
With Berlin: Money Heist, we’re not only going to get to see one of those previous heists in action, but we’re also going to get a sense of the man he was before attempting the biggest heist in history, which made him the beloved criminal we’ve come to know.
Capitalizing on the love already established for the series—one of Netflix’s most popular shows of all time—the prequel finds Berlin, in all his glory as Andrés de Fonollosa, the mastermind behind a heist targeting the biggest auction house in Paris to steal €44 million.
The series trails the planning of a new heist as he recruits his crew: “Michelle Jenner (Isabel) plays Keila, an eminence in electronic engineering; Tristán Ulloa (Fariña) goes into the skin of Damián, a philanthropic professor and Berlin’s confidant; Begoña Vargas (Welcome to Eden) plays Cameron, a kamikaze who always lives on the edge; Julio Peña Fernández (Through My Window) brings to life Roi, Berlin’s faithful squire; and Joel Sánchez plays Bruce, the relentless man of action in the gang.”
While it’s mostly an all-new cast, we’ll see a few familiar faces with Alicia Sierra (Najwa Nimri) and Raquel Murillo (Itziar Ituno) appearing at some point, though it’s unclear what their connection is to the storyline. Is it possible that their paths have always crossed and Berlin was always on their radar way prior to the action at the Royal Mint?
We may not be getting the version of Berlin from the original series, but don’t fret, as the teaser trailer evidenced, he’s still as ruthless, dapper, and flirtatious as ever, meaning that they really did this character–and prequel—justice. The fact that it hails from the original showrunner, Alex Pina, is also a sign that it won’t let the fandom down.
“It’s a trip through the golden age of the character, when he robbed around Europe crazy in love,” Pina previously told TUDUM, adding, “That’s the most surprising, the comedy. You’re going to make people laugh a lot.”
Berlin in his prime, in love, and flexing his comedic bone? As the beloved criminal says in the trailer, “it’s all the things worth living for.”
The full synopsis for the series reads:
“There are only two things that are sure to turn a bad day into a great one: love, and a payday worth millions. They’re what keep Berlin going through his golden years, a time when he still has no inkling of his illness and hasn’t gotten trapped like a rat in the Spanish Mint. This is where he starts preparing one of his most extraordinary heists: making jewels worth 44 million disappear like some sort of magic trick. To do it, he’ll enlist the help of one of the three gangs he’s ever stolen with.”
Watch the Berlin trailer below:
Berlin arrives a few days prior to New Year’s Eve on Dec. 29, 2023, which means you’ll have plenty of time to binge watch while counting down to 2024.
To prepare, you can stream Money Heist on Netflix and read our coverage here.
Virgin River Season 5 concluded with a tiny time jump four months into the future, bringing the timeline into the Christmas holiday season.
Disclaimer — this post includes spoilers from the episode — proceed with caution.
On Virgin River Season 5 Episode 10, as Mel (Alexandra Breckenridge) and Jack (Martin Henderson) decorated their cabin in anticipation of Joey’s arrival with the kids for their first-ever Virgin River Christmas, Mel received quite a shocking piece of information.
Her sister informed her that she found a stack of love letters between Mel’s mother and a mystery man in Virgin River that she believed could be Mel’s real father.
And this obviously lends itself to the question—who is the secret admirer?
There aren’t that many elderly men in Virgin River aside from Doc (Tim Matheson), and it would be next-level if he had another secret child in addition to Ryan, Denny’s late father. Though wouldn’t it be funny if Mel thought she just escaped to this random small town only to learn that it wasn’t random at all and she’d been working with her dad this whole time?
Aside from Doc, there’s really only Nick (Keith MacKechnie), Bert (Trevor Lerner), and Charlie (Patrick Keating), that we are familiar with, anyway.
Naturally, there are probably plenty of residents that audiences have never met (and they have to keep us on our toes and think of new directions for the storyline), and it’s possible her dad isn’t even alive anymore.
It would be extremely fitting if it was Lilly’s late husband, Buck, making Mel sisters with Ava, and Tara. Considering her strong bond with that family, her sisterly relationship with Ava, her love baby Chloe, and how drawn she is to that farm, this would be such a sweet twist. Mel always had a soft spot for Lilly as well, so this would be a unique way to keep her memory alive.
Mel’s father will be the major storyline addressed in the two bonus holiday episodes dropping in November, as the trailer revealed Mel starting the search for her biological dad before informing Jack shortly after that they found him, with Preacher noting that he’s “still in Virgin River.”
The way he says it makes it seem like he’s still alive, which limits the possibilities even more. Who do you think it is?
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Either way, Mel actually has roots in this small town that’s always felt like home.
Will There Be a Season 6 of ‘Virgin River’? And If So, When?
Riverdale’s seventh and final season is now available to stream on Netflix in the U.S.!
Merely a week after the long-running CW series aired its final episode ever, the streaming giant has added the series in its entirety.
All the episodes are available for fans all over the world to binge-watch on September 1, and going into a long weekend, that gives you plenty of time to catch up on all the shenanigans happening in the Town with Pep.
Credit: Netflix
Many fans weren’t interested in the weekly release model as it wasn’t ideal having to wait for new episodes to drop every week, but having them available all at once on Netflix allows you to catch up with ease.
And if you’ve never seen Riverdale and are curious about all the nutty twists and turns that eventually get all of our characters to—spoiler—the 1950s, well, all seven seasons are on the streamer for your viewing pleasure.
You can rewatch those previous seasons and relive the series in all its glory (including anything you may have missed/forgotten about), or you can just tune in for the final season—it’s up to you!
As mentioned before, the final season hit the reset button of sorts as Archie (KJ Apa), Betty (Lili Reinhart), Jughead (Cole Sprouse), and Veronica (Camilla Mendes), along with many of their loved ones and friends, went back in time to 1955 and found themselves reliving their high school days all over again.
Of course, as you rewatch any and all episodes, you can read all our reviews of the series that we’ve covered since its inception in 2017!
Enjoy your Labor Day travels to Riverdale—just remember that before it was redubbed the “Town With Pep” it was known as “Murder Town of the World.” You’ve been warned.
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