Following the review is a detailed recap. Both contain spoilers for 2.05, “The Story & The Engine.”

The fifth episode of the season of Doctor Who, “The Story & The Engine,” just dropped on Disney Plus. In the episode, the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) visits his old friend, Omo (Sule Rimi), who runs a barbershop in Lagos, however, upon entering a place where stories hold real power, he discovers that a mysterious figure known only as the Barber (Ariyon Bakare) has taken over, and no one is able to leave.

This week’s episode of the series touched on themes of belonging and community, which is universal and relevant and I enjoyed. Overall, story-wise it was interesting, and I liked it, because was a novel idea, and the notion of stories actually having true power was a unique concept, and visually bringing them to life the way they did on the screen was smart. Adding in the regrowing hair, though a bit silly, made sense with the plot and was unexpected. The creature was also very different, and I appreciated how they incorporated both African culture as well as various gods into the story. Although I’m not quite sure we needed another storyline involving the gods, this one was done in a way we haven’t seen, and I’m really curious to see why some of the barber’s “stories” involved the Doctor and what that actually means. I also really liked how this time, by the end of the episode, the villain was able to change, as was not the case last week, so it was fun to mix it up.

That being said, I have a couple problems with the episode. The main point, which is a big one, is that once again Belinda (Varada Sethu) was sidelined. We are only getting eight episodes this season and have not had much time to get to know Belinda as a companion, and once again, she was cut out of the episode almost entirely, and it’s becoming a problem. The writers want us to connect with her and her relationship with the Doctor, and viewers need the time to do that.

In season two of The Walking Dead: Dead City, which premiered on Sunday, to stop her son Hershel (Logan Kim) from being conscripted, Maggie (Lauren Cohan) is forced return to the dangerous ruins of New York City to face new threats. Meanwhile, Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) is now a captive figurehead for the Dama (Lisa Emery), the Croat (Zeljko Ivanek), and the Burazi, forced to wield a new electrified Lucille bat to enforce order and unite the factions of Manhattan against the New Babylon Federation, the group Maggie has been coerced to travel with.

Perlie Armstrong (Gaius Charles), the Marshal of New Babylon who lied about Negan’s fate, continues to navigate the city’s politics, along with Major Lucia Marvaez (Dascha Polanco), who enforces New Babylon’s harsh rules with public executions.

On the other side is Bruegel (Kim Coates), an unpredictable new threat who commands one of the city’s gangs that the Burazi are trying to pull in to join their cause.

Recently, Charles, Polanco, and Coates spoke with SciFi Vision about working on the second season, including their characters’ adaptability and more.

Following the review is a detailed recap. Both contain spoilers for 2.04, "Lucky Day"

In this week’s all-new Doctor Who, which just premiered on Disney Plus, Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) tries to adjust to life without the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa), when she meets podcaster Conrad Clark (Jonah Hauer-King), who is eager to have her share the stories of her adventures. But when the terrifying Shreek has its sights set on her new boyfriend, she and UNIT must work to save him as well as reveal some truths to the world before irreversible damage can be caused by a devious prank.

I really feel split about this episode. While I liked the way it fell in the timeline and it was nice to see Ruby back in action, as she was an enjoyable companion, I would have preferred to see her go on an adventure with the Doctor and Belinda (Varada Sethu). While scheduling conflicts may have been unavoidable, in a season with only eight episodes, having one that is Doctor-lite was rather disappointing, and also cutting out Belinda almost entirely made it only more so. That being said, it was great to see Ruby team up with Kate Lethbridge Stewart (Jemma Redgrave) and the gang, who it’s always a treat to see. I’m excited for the upcoming UNIT spinoff and am always happy to see them involved, whatever the alien threat may be.

Grosse Pointe Garden Society is a dark dramedy set in the wealthy Detroit suburb of Grosse Pointe, Michigan. The series follows four members of the upscale local garden club whose seemingly perfect lives unravel amid a murder investigation.

Jennifer Irwin plays the character of Marilyn, the president of the garden club who appears composed on the outside, but is dealing with her own struggles in secret, including her unhappy marriage to the town mayor, Buzz (Michael Houston King), who she suspects is having an affair.

Recently, Irwin spoke with SciFi Vision about playing Marilyn, including her character’s lack of self awareness, her unhappy situation with Buzz, if she thinks Marilyn and the other members of the club could be friends, and more.

Grosse Pointe Garden Society airs Fridays on NBC and can also be streamed on Peacock.

In season three of Leverage: Redemption, which recently premiered on Prime Video, the team faces high-stakes cons as the crew take on new corrupt targets, including a mayor who also stands as both judge and jury of a town, an international extortionist, an industrialist exploiting child labor, and much more, as they are met by old friends as well as dodge past enemies. They must fight for justice against powerful adversaries all while proving their greatest leverage of all is their humanity.

Recently, stars Beth Riesgraf, who plays the thief of the crew, Parker, and Aleyse Shannon, who plays tech master and hacker Breanna Casey, spoke with SciFi Vision about working on season three, their favorite costumes and identities of the new season, the stunts this time around, and more.

Doctor Who Trailer - 5/03/25
2.04 - "Lucky Day"
Next Time Trailer

Ruby Sunday faces life back on earth without the Doctor. But when a dangerous new threat emerges, can Ruby and UNIT save her new boyfriend, Conrad, from the terrifying Shreek?

Below is a trailer from the second season episode of Doctor Who, "Lucky Day." Doctor Who airs Saturdays at midnight PT/3:00am ET on Disney+. Check it out below.

Following the review is a detailed recap. Both contain spoilers for 2.03, “The Well.”

The newest episode of Doctor Who, “The Well,” which was just released on Disney+, starts off with the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and Belinda (Varada Sethu) venturing to a planet in the distant future after the TARDIS has once again bounced off of Belinda’s timeline. Immediately it throws them in the middle of the action when they are forced to jump out of a moving spacecraft, leaving them sans TARDIS for the next five hours. Joining a rescue mission to a planet where contact was lost with a group of people mining Carbon 46, they arrive to find everyone dead, surrounded by broken mirrors, except for one woman, Aliss Fenly (Rose Ayling-Ellis), who has somehow been spared from an enemy the Doctor met a long time ago. The other problem? No one has heard of Earth or the human race.

“The Well” is classic Doctor Who creepy. How can you defeat something you can’t approach, that you can’t even see without it attacking?

I like that the story brought back an alien from a previous story, that of “Midnight,” and loved the build up of the reveal that the Doctor has met the creature before, because it was unexpected and packed a punch. As a fan, I appreciate that it didn’t feel spoon-fed to me. The Doctor doesn’t recognize the antagonist at first either. It’s only when you hear about Xtonic radiation and that the planet’s surface was once diamonds that something clicks. Where have we seen this before? The mention of carbon was there to clue you in early on from the beginning, but like the Doctor, I saw it only in hindsight, yet I knew what the original name of the planet was before Shaya (Caoilfhionn Dunne) even said it.

The new animated comedy Sneaks follows a pair of one-of-a-kind, collector sneakers, Ty (Anthony Mackie, Captain America: Brave New World) and Maxine (Chloe Bailey, The Little mermaid). When Ty ends up lost and alone on the mean streets of NYC, he falls in with an eclectic cast of shoes who help him learn that your best life begins when you get out of your box.

Rico Rodriguez (Modern Family) spoke with SciFi Vision about his role as Ice, a brash basketball shoe he describes as “a hard-nosed, bully type on the basketball court [who] trash talks, all that, but likes to settle it on the court.”

“Yes, it’s a movie about talking sneakers but it’s a lot more,” he told us. “The message is individuality, trusting yourself and putting your best self forward.” A shoe collector himself, Rodriguez knows what the right sneaker can mean. “These shoes are an extension of yourself and by wearing them you’re more confident, you walk better, you walk taller. And [Sneaks is] about finding the right pair and I love that. It’s a fun movie, and I’m glad to be a part of it.”

In our short interview, Rodriguez also told us how a shoe won him the role, why he loves collecting shoes, and where he stands on the wear-them-or-display-them question.

The crime drama Godfather of Harlem, which recently premiered on MGM Plus, tells the fictionalized story of "Bumpy" Johnson (Forest Whitaker), who works to become a major crime boss after leaving jail in the early 1960's. While he was away, the Italian Mafia took over his neighborhood, so he must fight against them to regain his control.

Michael Raymond-James joined this series in 2023 as crime boss Joe Colombo, one of the Mafia Five Families in NYC. In real life, Colombo was an activist for Italian rights in the 60's and was shot and paralyzed as he was protesting. In the show, Colombo is one of the up-and-coming mobsters, vying for a spot in the Five Families. He's had a relationship with Stella Gigante (Lucy Fry), the daughter of another mobster, Vincent Gigante (Vincent D'Onofrio), head of the Genovese crime family.

Raymond-James and Lucy Fry recently chatted with SciFi Vision about season four of the series, their characters' relationship, acting with the new addition of Rome Flynn (who plays Frank Lucas) and playing alongside so many legendary actors like Whitaker, D'Onofrio and others.

Set against the backdrop of 1969 Los Angeles, Government Cheese, which premiered recently on Apple TV+, follows Hampton Chambers (David Oyelowo), a convicted burglar recently released from prison, as he returns to his home in Chatsworth, Los Angeles and tries to reconnect with his family and reinvent himself as an inventor. Hampton’s plan to launch his invention, the “Bit Magician” power drill, is disrupted by the new, unconventional family dynamic that developed while he was away. His wife Astoria and sons Einstein (Evan Ellison) and Harrison (Jahi Di’Allo Winston) have grown independent, complicating his return. Adding to the chaos is Bootsy (Bokeem Woodbine), Hampton’s old friend and former accomplice, who brings his own unpredictable influence as Hampton contemplates one last heist, creating additional hurdles for his fresh start.

Winston and Ellison recently spoke with SciFi Vision about playing the brothers on Government Cheese, which is now streaming on Apple TV+.