Tag Archives: Season 5

Foxtel, FRONT, Wentworth

Tales of Freedom and Revenge in Wentworth’s Season 5 Finale

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Did Ferguson get her comeuppance?  images credit: Foxtel

There are no words to describe just how shocking the season five closer episode of Wentworth was!

NO WORDS!

That said, my last post – “Eight Wentworth Season Five Endgame Suspicions” once again proved that either i’m a) terrible at reading the set ups and misjudged quite a few things or b) at the whims of the talented team behind the show who masterfully created one of the best finales this show has seen to date and threw every viewer for a six.

My score card from that last post was a measly 3.5 out of 8…same as last season so let’s look back at that finale and how my predictions played out.

SPOILERS BELOW!!  Do not continue if you have NOT watched the season FIVE finale!

1: Franky and Allie make their escape /// Taking this as a point from not only the escape plan itself (which we all knew about) but also down to Franky (Nicole da Silva) being the only one who successfully escaped inside one of the Greenwall Project boxes.  With Allie (Kate Jenkinson) busted by Jake (Bernard Curry), Franky made her successful escape and made a touching and fleeting reunion with Bridget (Libby Tanner) before fleeing off into the open darkness!

2: Sonia steps up for ‘top dog’ status ///  Well, that one is clearly a no!  With Ferguson (Pamela Rabe) recovering from her wounds, top dog status went immediately back into the hands of Kaz (Tammy Macintosh).  As it turned out, Sonia (Sigrid Thornton) did not even make an attempt to claim a throne that should clearly have been hers!

3: Liz winds up all alone inside Wentworth ///  Errrrrm.  Another missed point here. Utterly freaked with the knowledge that Sonia had set her up all along and worried for her safety, Liz (Celia Ireland) approaches Franky for protection but after Allie informs her of the escape plans, Liz makes her boldest move to date to protect herself and doses Sonia’s tea with a whole vial of drugs found inside a shipment of mulch causing a very critical overdose.

4: Kaz and Allie team up against Ferguson ///  Gave myself half a point for this one as Allie pleads with Kaz to steer clear of Ferguson while Kaz abandons her ‘no violence’ stance to finally take Ferguson out for good but, another plan that was in the works stops Kaz from getting to her.

5: Ferguson makes a plan to escape ///  Tick!  While I had envisioned Ferguson using Jake’s knowledge of Franky’s escape plan help her get out, it seems when Jake busted Allie, she revealed all to him allowing a plan to be set in motion that saw several people including Allie giving up her escape route, to get Ferguson out of Wentworth for good.

6: Vera sets her sights on Channing and Jake ///  Total miss here.  Not a single shred of evidence to show that Vera (Kate Atkinson) even planned to tackle Channing (Martin Sacks) though Vera’s “I’m a big girl, fuck you” speech to Jake in the staff meeting room was not only utterly vicious but so so so so good!

7: New inmates arrive to shake things up ///  Another miss here.  With so many inmates gone this season, there seems to be a vast wasteland of empty beds and tables in the cafeteria – even the head count towards the end of the episode showed just how few prisoners are currently left inside some of the living quarters, and yet not a single new face was presented.

8: Bea Smith returns to Wentworth /// Biting my tongue here as not only was this another miss, this could have made for a killer final scene reveal had it not been for another even more stellar final reveal.  BEA SMITH DID NOT RISE FROM THE DEAD.

That final reveal – yes, Allie teamed with Jake to get Ferguson out of the prison using the Greenwall Project box and before Franky could get out of her box, Ferguson’s was taken away by a mysterious person.  By the time Vera realized she was gone, Ferguson was BEING BURIED ALIVE in her wooden case of freedom (looking at a drawing of Bea Smith done by Allie mine you) BY WILL JACKSON (Robbie Magasiva)

So what does season six (currently in production and slated for 2018) hold for us?  Will Sonia survive her overdose?  Will she discover it was Liz that did it to her?  Will Jake and Will make amends while bonding over BURYING SOMEONE ALIVE?  Will Franky find the evidence she needs to clear her name of double homicide?  Will Vera reclaim the position of Governor?  Will Kaz finally take control of Wentworth with her reclaimed top dog role?  Will the Greenwall Project continue to operate?

Will Ferguson pull a Richard Hart (Patrick Muldoon) from Melrose Place and….

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So many questions and such a long wait!  Sound off in the comments section!

 

 

Foxtel, FRONT, Local TV, Wentworth

EIGHT WENTWORTH SEASON FIVE ENDGAME SUSPICIONS…

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Another season of the fantastic Wentworth is almost upon us which means it’s time for that annual “Wentworth Endgame Suspicions” that I have been doing for the past few seasons.

Season five took Wentworth into new territory by confirming the death of Bea Smith (Danielle Cormack) and bringing fan favorite Fanky Doyle (Nicole da Silva) back behind bars while we also said goodbye to Maxine (Socratis Otto) who left for cancer treatment Juice (Sally-Anne Upton) who copped the unkindest cut of all and Doreen (Shareena Clanton) who finally made parole.

The battle for Top Dog status saw Kaz (Tammy Macintosh) loose out to Ferguson only for her to be stripped of the title when all her past murderous indiscretions come to light while Jake’s (Bernard Curry) troubled dealings were finally revealed to Vera (Kate Atkinson) but her dealings with allowing Bea to escape at last seasons end be held against her from taking action against him.

So here we go, my eight season five end game suspicions and as per the norm, none of this is confirmed! – POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THOSE NOT UP-TO-DATE!

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Prison Break?  images copyright – Foxtel/Showcase

1: Franky and Allie make their escape /// Franky’s bid for freedom has, this season, hinged on her need to escape and find the evidence to prove she did not kill Mike Pennisi (Felix Williamson).  Along the way, she has managed to bring Allie into the plan but with the revelation that Iman (Zahra Newman) was not only his killer, but his lover too, Franky’s bid to escape is more dire than ever.

Franky and Allie make their escape plan but only one makes it outside the walls of Wentworth.

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New Top Dog?  images copyright – Foxtel/Showcase

2: Sonia steps up for ‘top dog’ status /// She’s garnered the praise of her fellow inmates with the Green Wall Project, has managed to get Boomer (Katrina Milosevic) on total trust levels and is not partial to a bit of causal murder.

With the status of ‘Top Dog’ currently vacant, Sonia (Sigrid Thornton) will take the opportunity to nab the position with the full backing of the inmates.

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All alone within the walls of Wentworth.  images copyright – Foxtel/Showcase

3: Liz winds up all alone inside Wentworth ///  After her meeting with an investigator into her perjury and mistrial, Liz (Celia Ireland) discovers that Kaplan (Steve Bastoni) and Sonia had in-fact targeted her all along to be ‘witness X’ in Sonia’s murder trial.

With Bea dead, Doreen and Maxine both gone, Boomer struggling to contain her wrath at Liz’s ‘lagging’ and Sonia out for revenge, Liz suddenly finds herself without any support within Wentworth but she has the knowledge that Sonia set her up from the get-go, but what will she do with that information?

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Red Right Hand.  images copyright – Foxtel/Showcase

4: Kaz and Allie team up against Ferguson /// A strong champion of a violence free prison, Kaz has often resorted to the use words as her weapon of choice, a move that earned her ‘top dog’ status but also saw it as the reason for it being taken from her.  Allie is still desperate for revenge against the woman who murdered her one true love.

With Ferguson surviving her surprise lynch mob hanging and the fear of retribution, Kaz will abandon her no violence stance to team up with Allie in an attempt to take Ferguson out once and for all.

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Prison Break Part Two? images copyright – Foxtel/Showcase

5: Ferguson makes a plan to escape /// With thanks to Vera, she survived the hanging from the inmates but now Ferguson finds herself vulnerable prey and with no protection from acting governor Channing (Martin Sacks).

Getting wind of Franky and Allie’s escape plan, Ferguson uses Jake to help her with her own plan to get out that involves revealing Franky and Allie’s plans to the guards and using the ensuing fracas to make her escape with Jake and his swipe card.  But will she make it out?

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Cleaning up the trash.  images credit Foxtel/Showcase

6: Vera sets her sights on Channing and Jake ///  Stripped of her role of governor (thanks to Channing), Vera finds herself in precarious waters struggling to maintain a grip on her life which has become even harder after discovering her entire relationship with Jake was a fabrication created by Ferguson to bring her down.

While Jake knows Vera was the one who allowed Bea to escape in season four’s finale, Vera will take aim at bringing him down along with Channing so as to reclaim her role as Governor.

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images credit – Foxtel/Showcase

7: New inmates arrive to shake things up ///  There were some major cast adjustments this season with Bea Smith, Maxine, Iman, Juice and Doreen all leaving Wentworth, leaving it a lot emptier than it has ever been.

New inmates will arrive to Wentworth to fill those empty beds but will any of them bring a familiar face to some of the current inmates?

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Back from the dead?  Images credit – Foxtel

8: Bea Smith returns to Wentworth ///  It’s been a suspicion all season long that Bea did not die at the hands on Ferguson but was gravely injured and put into protective custody for her own safety.  Could the season five finale reveal this to be true and bring Bea back into Wentworth?

The move could be the driving force for season six with Allie beginning to show feelings for Franky, Ferguson now at her weakest and the position of top dog up for grabs.

So there we have it!  From escape plans to attempts to reclaim the throne to a surprise return, these are my season 5 endgame suspicions.  Agree, disagree or have I missed something?  Sound off in the comments!

 

ABC, FRONT, TV

Lady Gaga Confirmed for AHS: Hotel

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Mother Monster will see you now!

Yep, Lady Gaga has been confirmed to star in the fifth season of the freaky franchise, currently titled American Horror Story: Hotel. Taking to twitter, Gaga posted the following tweet..

Aside from the new title, theme, Gaga’s casting and the premiere month of October, no other news has been announced regarding the show.  Sarah Paulson and Emma Roberts are currently working on other Ryan Murphy projects (American Crime Story and Scream Queens respectively) and series leader Jessica Lange’s possible involvement with season 5 is still unknown.

While noting Freak Show would be her last outing, Lange did reveal to E! back in November that she could be willing to return.

Channel 7, Comedy, Cougar Town, TV

Drink Up! Cougar Town Returns to Seven on Sundays

Dan Byrd and Busy Phillipps return for more fun on Cougar Town
Dan Byrd and Busy Philipps return for more fun on Cougar Town

It sure has been a long time in between drinks!  One of my all-time favorite ensemble comedies and one that is highly underrated (and suffers from bad show name syndrome) is back on Channel 7, although at a rather poor time slot.

The very funny Courteney Cox led Cougar Town is back on Aussie TV’s, starting from season 5 (which finished airing almost 12 months ago in the US) filling the Sunday night 11:30pm time slot.

I somehow managed to miss this news (or actually never expected 7 to bring the show back) as Cougar Town started last Sunday night (Dec 5th) but fans will be happy to know that this weeks episode will see the appearance of Cox’s former on-screen husband, Matthew Perry, guest starring.

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The 13 episode series 5 focuses heavily on the budding romance between Jules’ (Cox) son Travis (Dan Byrd) and one of her best friends Laurie (Busy Philipps) and Jules’ struggle to accept the inevitable.

Cougar Town continues Sunday nights at 11:30pm on Seven.

Channel 7, Drama, FRONT, Local TV, TV

More Winners and Losers for Channel 7

Back for season 5, Winners and Losers on 7
Back for season 5, Winners and Losers on 7

It’s great to see Channel 7 showing faith in one of it’s locally produced dramas after the announcement of a fifth season of Winners & Losers to come in 2015.

The drama, currently half way through it’s fourth season, has been officially greenlit for season 5, Seven said yesterday.  “At its heart, Winners & Losers is about the unbreakable bond of friendship and that’s why it resonates with so many Australians,” said Seven’s head of drama, Julie McGauran. “It’s an evolving story about young women trying to make their way in life, connected by shared experiences and supporting each other along the way. We’re delighted the journey continues.”

There’s no real surprise though with the renewal seeing the series averaged 1.05m metro viewers through it’s run in 2014 and is also Sevens highest-rated locally produced drama series in the younger demographic, even ahead of Home and Away.

To refresh you all, last time we saw our favorite winners, Frances had just given birth to her baby girl, Sophie was contemplating single life after another break-up, Jen was struggling to deal with life after her double mastectomy and Sam was left dealing with a dying Luke in her arms.

Season 4 continues in 2015 on Channel 7.

Drama, FRONT, Game of Thrones, HBO, TV

GoT Season 5 Will Not Feature Bran Stark and Hodor

Kristian Nairn as Hodor in Game of Thrones
Kristian Nairn as Hodor in Game of Thrones

In a bit of rather interesting news from the world of Game of Thrones, it seems Bran Stark and loyal follower Hodor will be absent in the upcoming fifth season.

Speaking to Yahoo, Kristian Nairn who plays Hodor revealled neither he nor partner in crime Isaac Hemptead-Wright (who plays Bran Stark) will be seen in GoT’s season 5.  “We have a season off and we have a year’s hiatus, solely because I imagine our storyline is up to the end of the books,” he said. “So, I get my year off now to do Rave of Thrones and gallivant all over the world.“

Bran and Hodor’s travels to beyond the wall played a significant part in season 4’s story to which we were left with them meeting the mysterious ‘children’ at the Weirwood tree beyond the wall with the three eyed crow who revealed more about Bran’s greensight ability.  

Game of Thrones returns soon on HBO

Drama, Fantasy, PayTV, The Walking Dead, TV

The Walking Dead Season 5 First Sneak Peek Clip

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Now this is just being mean.  We’re salivating here, hoping for any news or tidbits about what to expect when The Walking Dead returns for it’s fifth season only to be given a very short clip that leaves us screaming WE WANT MORE!!!

During the Talking Dead season preview special that aired on AMC, a small 30 second clip from the premiere episode of season five was shown, smashing us right into zombie territory with Carol (Martina McBride), Tyreece (Chad Coleman) and baby Judith on the run.

 

So we now know that Carol, Tyreece and Judith have not yet made it to Terminus and that obviously, they’ll be blind as to what has happened to Rick, Darryl, Maggie and the rest of the gang – with exception to Beth whom no one knows where she is (or if she is even still alive).

AMC also announced via twitter that the first full trailer for season 5 will drop online July 25th!

 “We’re counting down to the release of #TheWalkingDead Season Five trailer 7/25. RT to win a #20DaysofDead prize pack!” tweeted The Walking Dead AMC.

Sadly, there’s still four months until the show’s return in October.

 

Drama, Fantasy, Foxtel, FRONT, Game of Thrones, HBO, TV

Michelle Fairley Reveals Game of Thrones Lady Stoneheart Absence

Michelle Fairley as Catelyn Stark
Michelle Fairley as Catelyn Stark

Fans of the “A Song of Fire and Ice” books (which is the source material for Game of Thrones) might have felt they missed something quite pivotal when the season four finale of GoT came and passed.

 Where the heck is Lady Stoneheart?

It was a question that rang out after the season four finale when Lady Stoneheart didn’t show up, as she did in the epilogue of “A Storm Of Swords” and now fans of the book and television series are wanting to know where she is.

Alex Graves, who directed the final episode, revealed that there were no plans whatsoever to include the pivotal character during that time, though it didn’t necessarily mean that we would not see Lady Stoneheart in the future.

Is this good news?  It was until actress Michelle Fairley spoke with EW recently.  “The character’s dead,” Michelle told EW. “She’s dead.” EW revealed that Michelle was told it would likely never happen, and when asked about a preference — Lady Stoneheart or no Lady Stoneheart — Michelle said, “I knew the arc, and that was it. They can’t stick to the books 100 percent. It’s impossible— they only have 10 hours per season.

“They have got to keep it dramatic and exciting, and extraneous stuff along the way gets lost in order to maintain the quality of brilliant show.”

For those not familiar with the books and are sitting there wondering who the heck is Lady Stoneheart and why does it involve actress Michelle Fairley…well, Lady Stoneheart is Catelyn Stark’s reanimated corpse and of course, Catelyn Stark was played by Michelle Fairley.

After her throat was slit at the Red Wedding, Catelyn was thrown into a river and left to float there for three days before she was pulled out by Lord Beric Dondarrion (who you will know as the leader of the Brotherhood without Banners) and who resurrected Catelyn by giving his life for hers.

The somewhat-brought-back-to-life Catelyn then adopted the name Lady Stoneheart as she joined the Brotherhood Without Banners to lead them in mercilessly executing all traitors – with special attention paid to the Lannisters and Freys, and anyone who associates with them.

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The purposeful cutting of Lady Stoneheart has left many people wondering how this will affect the story-arcs for certain characters including Jamie Lannister and Brienne of Tarth for the shows fifth season as all three characters feature quite heavily in season five’s source material “A Feast of Crows”.

Says Alex Graves “”No, they didn’t do it. It was never on the docket to do this season — ever.”

Game of Thrones returns in 2015.

ABC, Drama, FOX8, FRONT, Pretty Little Liars

Returning: Pretty Little Liars Season 5

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Big things are in store for Alison when Pretty Little Liars returns next week

When Pretty Little Liars returns for season 5 on June 10th (June 13th in Australia on FOX8) there’s some big things in store for our liars, especially the once-thought-to-be-dead Alison (Sasha Pieterse).

When we last saw Aria, Spencer and the rest of the gang, Alison was revealed to actually be alive, Ezra (Ian Harding) was shot and left bleeding to death in Arias (Lucy Hale) arms and Jessica DiLaurentis (Andrea Parker) was being buried alive by an unknown assailant – talk about drama!

In the sneak peek below, Alison will come face to face with the person she has been hiding from all this time – A!

So what else can we expect from this all new season?  Some answers that we’ve been begging to be answered will finally been revealed!

The identity of A: Executive Producer Oliver Goldstick revealed during PaleyFest that we would discover the identity of A very soon but didn’t set a   time-frame for this reveal.  One can only hope that season 5 brings us this big answer!

Caleb is Back!: With the cancellation of Tyler Blackburns supernatural themed Ravenswood, it left his character Caleb Rivers open to return to Rosewood and possibly his ex girlfriend Hanna (Ashley Benson) but will the two re-unite romantically?  Ever since Caleb left, Hanna has been playing flirty-eyes with Travis (Luke Kleintank)

Melissa’s Secret Whispers to Mr.Hastings: Wasn’t that one of the big what-the’s?! of the season four finale?  Melissa (Torrey DeVitto) tells her father Peter Hastings (Nolan North) that Spencer didn’t kill the girl in Ali’s grave and then proceeds to continue the sentence as a whisper into her fathers ear.  According to writer Joseph Dougherty, we will learn what Melissa actually whispered!

Will Ezra Survive His Shooting?: It’s highly unlikely the show will kill off one of it’s loved characters.  Even when we were all led to believe Ezra was working with A, we all still loved him, so the odd’s of surviving the gun shot wound look good for Ezra, plus he’s got a lot of unfinished business to deal with regarding his book and Aria!

While a lot of the focus for season five seems to stem off from Alison not being dead, there’s still some issues that I think need to be addressed…

Will Ashley Marin Learn the Truth About A?:  Ashley Marin (Laura Leighton) seems to be the only parent in Rosewood who is switched on enough to know things are amiss, but seems to be missing out on that vital sign to clue her in to the existence of A. Plus where is her boyfriend Pastor Ted?  It’s been a while since we saw him last.

Where the heck is Lucas?: Lucas (Brendan Robinson) played such an integral part in season 3 (it was revealed he was part of the A team and that he was the one that gave Emily the massage back in season 2) yet after choosing to be home schooled, we never saw him in season 4.

Mona! Mona! Mona!:  So upon Ali’s not being dead reveal, Ali also let it be known that Mona (Janel Parrish) was the one to convince her to fake her own death and keep it hidden from her closest friends.  One has to wonder if Mona will face some fallout from this revelation!

Pretty Little Liars Season 5 premieres Wednesday June 10th on ABCFamily and Friday June 13th on FOX8 in Australia.

Channel 10, Comedy, FOX, FRONT, TV

Does GLEE Still Have an Audience?

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Kurt (Chris Colfer) and Blaine (Darren Criss) Cuddle Up in the Glee Season 5 Finale -Source Provided

Does anyone still watch Glee anymore?  It’s a fair question to ask now that the phenomenon that was once everywhere and totally unavoidable has seemed to slowly fade away and die off.  The show that gave us the term ‘Gleeks’ and were constantly featured in the iTunes singles and album charts and even gave us a 3D concert movie now no longer seems to have the pulling power it once had.

In America, the season 5 finale drew only 1.9 million viewers (in it’s hey day – season 2, Glee was pulling in over 12 million viewers) and was even beaten by the finale of the CW’s The Originals.  So dire are the ratings that Fox Entertainment chairman KevinReilly stated that they plan to trim Glee’s final season from it’s standard 22 episodes to just 13.

Here in Australia, the musical comedy drew big ratings for network ten, but now, 5 seasons on, the show has been relegated to the channel’s second station – Eleven, with the season 5 finale airing tomorrow night, May 16th at 7:30pm.

Remember the last time Glee appeared in the iTunes charts?

So the question begs to be asked.  What happened?  Have audiences grown too old for the show?  Did Glee jump the shark somewhere along the way?  Could the death of star Cory Monteith play a part in people turning off?

Either way, die-hard Gleeks will be happy to know that they still have at a minimum another 13 episodes for the final season.

GLEE season 6 story line speculation

 

What do you think?  Is it time for Gleeks to close the curtain for the final time?