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Da Vinci’s Demons, Ep. 2.02, “The Blood of Brothers”: Weirdly structured, surprisingly moving

For as much fun as Da Vinci’s Demons is sometimes capable of being, there hasn’t really been a moment in its early run that’s been moving–a scene that has executed a payoff after building emotional attachment either to a character or situation.

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Da Vinci’s Demons, Ep. 2.01: “The Blood of Man” is an action-packed season premiere

“The Blood of Man” earns a bunch of credit for being a satisfyingly action-packed return to this world. Florence is on the brink of collapse, the Medicis are in death’s line of sight and Leonardo can’t catch a break.

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Black Sails, Ep. 1.08: “VIII.” has just enough firepower to hold interest

All that being said, when the curtain closed on “VIII.” and the first season, I couldn’t help but feel intrigued and satisfied with having spent eight hours with the show. If Black Sails hasn’t quite reached the notes a pirate series on the Spartacus network ought to, it has laid a great foundation that highlights a lot of potential going forward.

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Black Sails, Ep. 1.07: “VII.” – not much calm before the storm

It’s amazing to see the differences between an exposition-heavy episode of Black Sails in its seventh episode and an exposition-heavy episode in its second or third. By now, most of the characters are fleshed out so that even if you might not be invested in them and their conflicts, their intentions are clear.

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Black Sails, Ep. 1.06: “VI.” continues a strong second half

After an excellent episode last week, Black Sails picks up right where it left off. Following a beautifully-shot ship battle, Flint and his crew find themselves in a bit of a stalemate after boarding the ship they’ve attacked. Most of the action here takes place a night, giving the scenes an appropriately dark atmosphere as Gates tries to come up with some kind of plan to infiltrate the holding without getting his men killed.

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Black Sails, Ep. 1.05: “V.” is the showcase episode of the season

Much of Black Sails’ first season has been methodical character-building, and while “V.” doesn’t let up on putting effort into constructing these people and their lives, its centerpiece is something the season has been needing since its opening moments – a battle on the open seas.

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Black Sails, Ep. 1.03: “III.” continues to tread lightly

When Black Sails premiered, I welcomed its slow pace and narrative interest. Going the less obvious route, the series has – so far – avoided laying the action on too thick and, instead, has stuck close to its main characters. However, these characters have mostly been conniving and stressing out, wanting to kill certain people but being unable to for whatever reason

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Da Vinci’s Demons, Ep. 1.08: “The Lovers” brings the debut season to a close

  Da Vinci’s Demons, Season 1: Episode 8 – “The Lovers” Directed by Michael J. Bassett Written by Brian Nelson, Corey Reed and David S. Goyer For those of you not following along, that’s Zoroaster and Nico up there with very what-the-fuck expressions. Nico looks downright peeved. While the thoughts going through their heads might …

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Da Vinci’s Demons, Ep. 1.07: “The Hierophant” – Trial by Water

Da Vinci’s Demons, Season 1: Episode 7 – “The Hierophant” Directed by Michael J. Bassett Written by Sarah Goldfinger and Corey Reed Airs Friday nights at 9 on Starz After a week off, Da Vinci’s Demons returns just as bat-shit crazy as ever. In this penultimate episode of the season, most of the show’s weaknesses and …

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Da Vinci’s Demons, Ep. 1.06: “The Devil” is a friend of Vlad the Impaler

Late in its recent third season, The Walking Dead aired an episode – “Clear” – that really didn’t serve a purpose in the context of that season’s arc. The main conflict was put to the side in favor of a more removed episode, which at the very least had a chance to make the viewers more anxious to reach the climax of the season.

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Da Vinci’s Demons, Ep. 1.05: “The Tower” – Leonardo da Vinci to the Dark Tower Came

So, to continue the trend of piecing together seemingly unrelated things in these Da Vinci’s Demons reviews (I consider this completely appropriate because of the outrageous fashion in which da Vinci solves his problems in this show), let me turn your attention to Bruce Dickinson’s song, “The Tower,”

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Da Vinci’s Demons, Ep. 1.04: “The Magician” – History is alive

Da Vinci’s Demons, Season 1: Episode 4 – “The Magician” Directed by Jamie Payne Written by David S. Goyer and Jami O’Brien Airs Friday nights at 9 on Starz Something that might interest me more than it should is how seemingly unrelated shows can connect on any given week, much like how Leonardo reminds Clarice …

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Da Vinci’s Demons, Ep. 1.03: “The Prisoner” wants to play a game

The conceit of “The Prisoner” is that the episode is structured to parallel a game of Go played by Riario and the eponymous, mysterious prisoner. This conceit, along with the comparisons of a caged bird to Lucrezia, plays out rather heavy-handed and isn’t really necessary for us to understand what’s going on in Da Vinci’s Demons at this point. It’s a freshman mistake made by a freshman series, but the over-the-top nature of it lends itself well to how these first few episodes have been executed. Da Vinci’s Demons is still finding itself as a show in these first three scripts, much like how it took Spartacus: Blood and Sand a little while to get going on the same channel, and it’s up to us to trust the writers to pick up on where their ideas are strongest.

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‘Spartacus’ creator Steven DeKnight reveals details about his newest show, titled ‘Incursion’

One of the more highly praised but little-seen shows of the past few years has been the swords-and-sandals epic Spartacus. The show came to a pre-planned end last week; however, television writing veteran and series creator Steven DeKnight is not resting on his laurels, already in the midst of negotiations with Starz, the channel on …

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Why Spartacus is better than your favorite show

This coming Friday, Spartacus: War of the Damned ends its run on Starz, concluding the overall series run for good after only 39 episodes, a decision made deliberately by showrunner Steven S. DeKnight and company. The finale, “Victory,” will conclude a series that has overcome unbelievable obstacles only to become one of the greatest currently airing, and one of …

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Boss, Ep. 2.07: “The Conversation” sets this season’s endgame in motion

Boss Season 2, Episode 7: “The Conversation” Written by Angelina Burnett Directed by Nelson McCormick Airs Fridays at 9pm (ET) on Starz Kane returns from his treatment in Toronto a ‘new’ man. Which is to say, he’s back to his old ways- politically cunning and almost without sympathy for those who suffer under him. He’s apparently no …

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Torchwood: Miracle Day, Ep. 10: “The Blood Line”

Torchwood: Miracle Day Review, Episode 10: “The Blood Line” Written by Russell T Davies and Jane Espenson Directed by Billy Gierhart Airs Fridays at 10pm (ET) on Starz This week, on Torchwood: We get an expodump, re:Blessing, Jilly drinks the kool-aide, there’s blood-letting all over the place, and Rex wakes up It’s been a long …

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Torchwood: Miracle Day, Ep. 8: ‘End of the Road’

Torchwood: Miracle Day Review, Episode 8: “End of the Road” Written by Jane Espenson and Ryan Scott Directed by Gwyneth Horder-Payton Airs Fridays at 10pm (ET) on Starz This week, on Torchwood: Angelo returns, Rex calls in the cavalry, Oswald tries to turn over a new leaf, Jilly gets a promotion, Gwen is deported, Jack …

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Torchwood: Miracle Day, Episode 6: “The Middle Men”

Torchwood: Miracle Day, Episode 6: “The Middle Men” Written by John Shiban Directed by Guy Ferland Airs Fridays at 10pm (ET) on Starz This week on Torchwood: Rex gets captured, Esther gets her hands dirty, Gwen plays with explosives, Jack digs up some dirt, and the endgame (presumably) finally starts up. This episode is hit …

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