roundup

Look out! There’s a veritable avalanche of TV box sets this month! The key one for luddites: daredeVIl SEASON ONE (OUT NOW, Blu-ray/ DVD). Netflix’s gritty, hard-as-nails take on blind lawyer/vigilante Matt Murdock gives gangster politics a Marvel makeover. Beautifully crafted, with a magnificent cast, it’s psychologically sophisticated, giving even Vincent D’Onofrio’s brutish villain Kingpin relatable motivation. Elsewhere PeNNy dreadFul SEASON THREE (24 October, Blu-ray/DVD) sees the end of Sky’s surprisingly kooky supernatural saga. Bringing in none other than Dracula himself was a gamble, but it pays off, and some Wild West action with werewolf Ethan is welcome (even if it was actually shot in Spain – shh). Eva Green – as always – steals the show as the haunted Vanessa Ives. SuPerNatural SEASON ELEVEN (OUT NOW, Blu-ray/DVD) contains one of the show’s finest hours: the episode “Baby”, filmed entirely from – of all things – the POV of the Winchester brothers’ car. The rest of the season isn’t bad, either; Supernatural is maturing like a fine (blood) wine. It’s just a shame this year’s Big Bad is a more of a Small Kind Of Meh. And that’s only the tip of the iceberg – hang on, we’re mixing our metaphors now, aren’t we? Soz. tHe 100 SEASON THREE and darK Matter SEASON TWO are out now, while 17 October brings GrIMM SEASON FIVE and tHe OrIGINalS SEASON THREE, with tHe VaMPIre dIarIeS SEASON SEVEN following on 24 October. Phew!