Michael*

I had that same thought after... I've no doubt that they'll be throwing out a few more curveballs like that one between now and the finale, though.

That's interesting. If the plan is to have Carter cross the country for an assignment of some kind, it's probably safe to assume that not everybody will be coming with, unless they're going down the 'coastal hopping' route. It's possible that viewers could be put off a bit if Peggy (even though she's the title character) is the only returning cast member.

It was partially covered towards the end of the episode, but in a very 'blink and you'll miss it' kind of way.

I think ‘Mad Max’ is to the post-apocalyptic genre what ‘Blade Runner’ is to sci-fi. Watching them now, you feel like you've seen almost everything in them a thousand times before, and truthfully you have, but it’s because so many people have since conceptualised their love of both movies that they've come to feel so familiar. Almost everyone who made a sci-fi piece after 'Blade Runner' cribbed from it, while the imagery of Max has been borrowed by everyone from Duran Duran to Beyonce. The 'Fallout' series has pretty much been a love letter to ‘Road Warrior’ and its desert wasteland setting since the first game, right down to the single-sleeved leather jacket you can wear in-game.

Great news, hopefully I won't be too out of touch with the continuity by then. In a perfect world, Fox would take it one step further by obtaining the rights to the second season straight away and showing it 24 hours after the US broadcast, like they do with The Walking Dead.

It obviously wouldn't be the first time they'd utilised the dual time period ploy, I suppose they could do it again with a moustache-less Farrell. However, they've already gone into so much detail regarding Ray's backstory, much more so than any other character. He's the core of the show, both thematically and in terms of performance. Kitsch is still the most crudely two dimensional of the main cast so far, although I thought it was quite a nice touch to have Paul be the only one of the three cops who didn't react to the injuries on the corpse. He's seen some things, man, and some stuff. He wouldn't recommend it.

It wouldn't have helped, but I suppose it could have had just as much to do with Pearson's own antics over the last year or so. Leicester's turnaround towards the end of last season was quite remarkable, though. Despite his rough edges (to put it politely), I can't see him staying unemployed for long. As for his replacement at the Walkers, Steve Bruce comes highly recommended. By Steve Bruce.

The lack of blood seemed to suggest that it was probably just rubber shells, meant to disable rather than kill. Plus, if the Birdman really was going in for the kill, you'd think he'd have just put the gun to Ray's head while he was incapacitated. Either that or the upcoming episodes are going to be unbelievably heavy on flashbacks.

So, does this count as the earliest or latest ever managerial sacking in a season?

I couldn't quite put my finger on what it reminded me of at the time, but that's exactly it. Weekend At Bernie's last week, now this. Who says Pizzolatto doesn't have a sense of humour?

England overachieving at a World Cup. It'll never catch on!

I understand the argument and don't disagree, but honestly, I'm not sure the men are faring much better. It seemed very deliberate that the first thing we learned about each of the main characters was sexual in nature. The early scenes involving Kitsch, for example. McAdams seems to have the most interesting backstory and hopefully, the rest of the script allows her to continue lending depth to the part. There was Vaughn's wife too, she seemed much savvier than him and more capable of smoothing things over with the various shady factions they're trying to court. S1's occult themes have been scaled back, but they amounted to little more than a smokescreen anyway. I would go so far as to say the payoff to the whole murder mystery was pretty unsatisfactory really, it ended on a weird half resolution with a decidedly tenuous leap of logic required to solve it. For me, the most compelling thing about the story was the toll the case took on the two very different detectives investigating it. I hope this new season keeps that theme going.

That sequence in episode two - you know, that one... I think the quality of that scene is representative of the show as a whole. Honestly, it's brilliant and I can't wait to see what they do with Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist.

Anyone catch the beginning of round two yet? It didn't start with the same energy as S1 and wasn't as immediately gripping. I always think there's a lot to be said for the double premiere approach, and a show like this needs it more than most. By the time you've introduced and tentatively established four main characters, your 60 minutes is up, with very little interaction having gone on between them. I expect things to rev up and the story to be centralised a bit more as it progresses - it's easy to be put off by outlandish reviews saying it was rubbish after one episode, but my hopes for the season are still high. If there’s anyone in with a chance of enjoying a McConaissance, it’s McAdams. The others seemed hampered a bit by obvious cliches. Gangster who wants to go straight, boozy corrupt cop, ex-soldier with a dark past, and so on.

Another clip I was pretty knocked out by was this one, from The Last Guardian on the PS4. Fallout 4 has a dog (and a robot), ReCore has a robot dog, MGS5 has wolves and this has a sort of giant griffin creature. Video game characters with pets seem to be in this year.

I wouldn't bet against Liverpool finishing above Man United next season, although the difference between 5th and 6th is only a few million quid. Still, all joking aside, Firmino does look pretty good. I'm sure Brendan will be playing him as a wing-back before long.

So, we have our new Spider-Man at last. Tom Holland has been confirmed to play Peter Parker in the franchise reboot, and as part of the deal between Marvel and Sony, he's expected to debut in 'Civil War' before starring in his own movie, which will be out in July 2017.

:Dinah:

Lots of new pictures from the set just landed... http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/batman-v-superman-dawn-of-justice/36026/batman-v-superman-lots-of-new-pictures-land Jesse Eisenberg appears to be playing Spencer Reid from 'Criminal Minds' in his shot, although they've already released a picture of him sporting a closely shaved head. I assume we'll just have to see what happens.

Yeah, the scale and ambition of MGS5 is going to be pretty staggering, although I was mildly underwhelmed by the new trailer until the very last scene when it showed the two Snake twins. That piqued my interest again. It looks like being an expensive rest of 2015, from more or less resolving not to bother upgrading to a PS4 anytime soon, to looking at getting Abzu, MGS5, Star Wars Battlefront and Arkham Knight at the very least. Then probably the new Tomb Raider and either FIFA or PES. Does anyone want to buy a kidney?

The general consensus will be that Fallout 4 was the game of the show and understandably so, looks as if they're trying to make it a more satisfying shooter this time around. It's already been in development for four years though so I wouldn't be surprised if, like many games these days, it was delayed again. Several other candidates for best in show, but for me the standout was Abzu on the PS4. The underwater landscape looks amazing and the potential for online play is going to be colossal. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wK65xb2kSbo

It would be good if Carey had twin boys who went on to make music with Marcus. Of course, they'd need to think of an appropriate name for a band featuring him and his sons first...

Victory rolls at the ready, the show has finally been snapped up by a UK broadcaster. Should be hitting our screens next month.

I think it's one of those shows where, if you get out of sync with it, you have to push yourself a little bit to keep on watching. But once you do that, it can be really quite addictive. Surprisingly forthright in its structure and pacing, with the added bonus of there being no irritating cliffhangers to negotiate at the end. Plus, Shannyn Sossamon.

I won't go into too much detail then, but it was the type of episode you'd expect them to save for later. One can only assume that they have something even bigger lined up for the finale.