[8.2/10] What a blast this is. I’m impressed both at how well WandaVision is able to replicate the 1950s sitcom vibe, especially for supernatural-themed comedies like Bewitched mixed with The Dick van Dyke show, while also including a subtle but palpable sense of existential terror beneath the three camera confines of the show.
I really enjoy how this first episode plays on the classic sitcom tropes: a couple not remembering an important date on the calendar, a wacky neighbor, a boss coming over for dinner who needs to be impressed. The show does a nice spin on them, while also feeling true to the sitcoms it’s paying homage to. I’m particularly stunned by the cast, who are able to replicate that acting style, and the editors and other behind the scenes craftsmen, who are able to replicate the rhythm, to such perfection.
What’s neat is that the episode works pretty perfectly separate and apart from its larger MCU connections as a solid old school sitcom pastiche. There’s a lot of nice setup and payoffs of gags, like Wanda repurposing a magazine's “Ways to please your man” article to distract her husband’s boss and his wife, or Vision singing “Yakety Yak” after decrying it earlier. Even the lobster door knocker routine was a fun and comical grace note to an earlier bit. As cornball as it is, there’s something charming about this sort of thing, right down to the “What do we actually do here?” gag about the computer company. And despite the light spoofing at play, this works as a solid meat and potatoes sitcom episode.
But the show goes a step further and has real fun with the fact that its leads are a self-described witch and a magical mechanical man respectively. There’s tons of amusing gags, starting with the intro, about the pair using their powers in trifling 1950s household sorts of ways. At the same time, it does well with the jokes about hiding their true identities. Vision writing off Wanda’s behavior as “European”, Wanda reassuring her neighbor that her husband is human, and Vision taking offense when a coworker tells him he’s a “walking computer” are all entertaining bits that make the most of the weird premise.
And yet, what really elevates this episode is the unnerving hints that there’s something terribly wrong going on here. It’s not hard to guess that after the events of Endgame, there’s still concerns about what happened to vision. The show plays with the melodic rhythms of the sitcom form to suggest something off at the edges here, in a really sharp way.
For instance, there’s an interstitial commercial featuring a Stark toaster, and not only does it feature the only bit of color in the black and white presentation with the beeping light, but the toasting takes just a beat too long for comfort. Likewise, the fact that Wanda and Vision can’t remember their story or how they got married is initially played for laughs, but then it becomes creepy when Mrs. Hart demands answers.
The peak of this comes when Mr. Hart chokes on his broccoli and the artifice freezes for a moment, leaving everyone paralyzed by the departure from how things work in this sort of situation. It’s a great piece of work, of a piece with the likes of Twin Peaks and Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared in its quiet horror.
I’ll refrain from speculating about who’s watching the broadcast we see or who’s in the monitoring room we seem to have an eye on, but the hints at what's really going on, and how that influences the images the audience witnesses, creates a great organic mystery and another layer to the proceedings.
Overall, this is a boffo debut for the series, and I’m excited to watch more!
Possibly a contrarian opinion, but I'm starting to get a little worn down by a show that so heavily panders to the super fans in hopes their gushing will trickle down to the masses. You're supposed to be telling me the story, not showing glimpses of things and then hoping I'll read wiki pages and fandom entries just to know what the hell is going on.
Case in point, we've seen Monica as an operative for SWORD, but she walks through the Hex and now has glowing eyes and can stand toe to toe with Wanda. So now you expect me to read wiki entries on whoever the fuck "Spectrum" is just to understand what the hell just happened? Or are we all supposed to have a resident Marvel super fan who can just rattle off who these people are you're introducing at the speed of light?
Agatha is also another prime example. After this weeks episode, it feels like the intended reaction from the audience is "OMG THEY ARE DOING AGATHA HARKNESS?! OMG OMG OMG I CAN'T BELIEVE THEY'RE DOING AGATHA!!". I simply do not know who Agatha is or what her connection is, but all the comments online would have you believe this is the second coming of Christ.
A fly on the wall in one scene is apparantly a confirmation of either Mephisto or Nightmare. Who? What? Oh right, more wikis and fandom pages.
I was ok with them including the pandemic in the storyline but at this point it is like they are not sure what to do with it anymore. We get all these moments where the pandemic is emphasized and then others where it doesn’t seem like that big of a deal, like Kate choosing that specific moment to confront Marc or Randall deciding to travel and find out about his mom!
Now about that whole Kate/Marc story, the show gave us glimpses here and there and really took its time teasing us about Kate’s past but never divulging all the truth, and now it seems the reveal and resolution were rushed. Kate suddenly decides to confront Marc (during a pandemic nonetheless) and after one talk with him, she is suddenly free of an abusive past that has taken years of her life. She never even spoke about it! I mean good for her but how realistic is this? In one episode, she is triggered to remember her past, tells Toby the truth, stalks Marc, confronts him, and then done, chapter closed!
I still don’t like the whole Randall’s mom story but I am kind of curious to see what will be the reason for her not looking up William or her son all these years?
Kevin calling Randall for advice really got me all teared up… BUT what is going with his storyline? The whole disagreement between him and Madison really came out of nowhere! It is not like she suddenly discovered that he is an actor, and Kevin really doesn’t travel that much! Specifically, it came right after she pushed him to accept the location change of his latest movie. Why can’t you just sit and talk and maybe come to some agreement, like she can stay with the kids in LA and Kevin can travel back and forth when needed. One line that cracked me up though was when she told him “you come from a family of great speech-givers.” :joy:
I would have liked maybe a tiny bit more of epilogue instead of just people taking their fateful places, but it was still quite fitting. From the swimming scene to the joyful but grotesque abomination of the kitchen scene to the ending.
There are two things I would like to highlight. The first one is water. There was that episode in the first season where people were joking that Logan can't swim, and at the end of that episode he did swim when only Marcia saw it, but ever since then Ken was obsessed with water and staying above water to prove that he can float and swim.Now we were literally shown that his sibling can swim as well, and it's fucking amazing he was even denied of water at the end. I don't know if him being gone and done would mean that he would kill himself after these events, but it can certainly mean he was ripped off of his natural habitat and while that does not make him repent for what he did and what he is, it is certainly the cruelest and most fitting poetic justice.
The other thing is person-on-person violence. This show has always been about verbal and emotional abuse, very carefully picking one moment every season where that emotinal abuse was not enough for someone and it manifested into physical. In season 1 Logan hit one of his grandkids, in season 2 he slapped Roman, in season 3 Roman pushed Kendall on his birthday and he fell. And while this season was pushing that limit e.g. Shiv falling and drinking while pregnant, now we got TWO of it, mainly the outburst of coincidentally Roman insulting Kendall's kids. The moments of violence are always carefully picked and always terrifying because they always made it seem like it can't get worse than emotional. But it can. Fucking amazing genius of a show.
Really angry. I can't believe they killed Robin and brought Killian back instead. We had already accepted his death and it made perfect sense, but now Zeus rewarded him for helping to kill Hades? Bitch please, if Robin hadn't sacrificed himself for Regina, Regina wouldn't be there to convince Zelena to kill Hades (which Robin wouldn't have been able to do). Killian being brought back didn't make any sense, even though Emma already lost Neal and it was starting to seem she was cursed or something. But all Killian did was putting some pages inside a book, Robin gave his life. Who's the real hero?
Ok, you can say "His death was permanent, there's no way to bring him back" but the truth is they shouldn't even have killed him in the first place. I really can imagine where next season is going: Regina trying to get revenge on Emma, for she always gets a happy ending and Regina doesn't. And she has every right to do it. Emma is so damn lucky it makes me wanna throw up, while Regina, who has to fight for a happy ending, never gets it. Really, this is getting so repetitive... It's time for Regina to get her happy ending. Next week we have a double episode, which means they have plenty of time to find a logical way to bring Robin back, but I'm not getting my hopes up. Really disappointed with this season.
Tina’s really been awful these last two seasons, like I always expected for her to shine the most on her senior year and I was rooting for her but she’s just been a terrible person.
Santana was wrong for auditioning to be rachel’s understudy but her performance was AMAZING!!!!! I didn’t see this episode when it first aired but this is like top 5 of santana’s performances!!! Mind blowing, amazing, espectacular, life changing!!!!
And I only mean it was wrong in how she did it and not in her doing it, like she should’ve asked rachel but also if you think about it and you have an office job and there’s an opening in your office for a job that’s under you, wouldn’t you tell your friend if they have the experience and are in need of a job??? So both are in the wrong and one having something doesn’t take away from the other. And I feel like santana doesn’t care about broadway/funny girl but just wants a job and to feel part of something, but also I feel like santana belongs in LA being an actress or having a record deal!
And I don’t know much about how broadway works but shouldn’t an understudy by like physically similar to the actress? And have like a similar tone in their voice? However Rachel was so wrong telling santana she can’t play Fanny cause she is a “ny jew” and santana isn’t when rachel played MARIA in west side story, like shut up please.
There was something almost Shakespearean about this one, with the high drama of father, son and daughter, apparitions, premonitions, and sacrifices. There's a little bit of King Lear, in admittedly simplified way going on here. At some point things got a little too grandiose, but for the most part the material matched the tone and that helped things to work.
The scene where The Son showed Anakin his future led to a very impressive sequence filled with shadows of the images we know are still to come and leaning into the Vader iconography. It's interesting to see Anakin willing to do whatever it takes to avoid that path, which involved causing so much pain to people he loved, even if it meant siding with some kind of evil, though his motivations still felt a little thin. At the same time, the whole memory wipe thing, and even the "was it all a dream?" finale feel like something of a cheat that give us a little Vader without the show having to go whole hog.
Still, there were a lot of big theatrical moments that worked well with what the show was trying to do; Liam Neeson reprising Qui Gon is great once again, and overall Mortis was an intriguing and impactful mini-arc over the course of the show.
7.9/10. I have to admit, I'm a little disappointed that we're spending more time on Mortis. Don't get me wrong, the last episode was great and I appreciated the world and the characters introduced, but to some degree, like Kevin Finnerty on The Sopranos, I thought it worked better as one standalone, high concept flight of fancy than as a continuing thing.
That said, there's a high fantasy, Diablo-esque vibe to the events on Mortis that still appeals to me. Star Wars is more in the realm of science fantasy than science fiction, but this is really leaning more into the ancient gods and magical avatars that feel more of a piece with The Legend of Zelda than Return of the Jedi (or maybe even Beast Wars in tone). That's not a knock, it's just an interesting and different direction to go with things.
Though I think I preferred to see Father, Brother, and Sister as more monolithic representations of concepts than actual characters, the show gives the latter two especially a little more shading, making the divide between them not just light and dark, but selfishness and selflessness. Brother's ambition and Sister's self-sacrifice draw a neat contrast, and the way those two impulses manifest in the episode -- Brother attacking Father and Sister saving him, is interesting if a little easy.
Again, there's something a bit odd about the events in this sort of allegorical world having such direct repercussions on "the rest of the universe" as Obi Wan puts it. The idea that Sister's death leads to the universe being out of balance as the result of something so literal (even if it uses some super duper magic blade) is a little odd.
Still, Brother's machinations lead to some cool bits, from his "meet yourself" vision with Anakin, to his little goblin creature run-in with Ashoka to his entire plot to kidnap her to draw him near. Plus, possessed Ahsoka is incredibly creepy (and kudos to the voice actress and animators for really selling the difference. Not everything about this episode worked for me, but there was enough that did to keep me fairly riveted throughout.
9.7/10. Pretty damn cool. Delving deep into the Star Wars mythos, finding a "conduit" of the force, and exploring Anakin's chosen one status is pretty huge stuff for The Clone Wars. There was a very mystical vibe to this episode -- some strange mix of Avatar and Zelda and Lord of the Rings and a lot of other high fantasy works molded into the Star Wars Universe. The ethereal vibe of the mysterious place our heroes are sucked into, not to mention the denizens of it--who seem to be personifications of the light side, the dark side, and a mighty being to keep them in balance--helped give the episode a distinct, more meditative feel.
There's a lot to unpack here. There's a lot of poetic dialogue here, characters speaking in riddles and much of the proceedings feeling more like metaphor than regular storytelling, but that generally helped it to feel special. Reappearances from Qui Gon (was that really Liam Neeson?), Shmi, and future Ahsoka added to that. The way they used those avatars to explore different facets of the characters in relation to Anakin worked really well. Obi Wan is concerned whether he's bringing the chosen one to fruition or building great power in someone who can't be trusted to control it. Ahsoka is concerned about whether her wilder, less focused instincts will be heightened by her association with Anakin. And as the episode makes crystal clear, Anakin is still struggling with his guilt, unable to move past it.
The final scene in the Force Wielder temple was pretty amazing. Anakin literally appeared to move heaven and earth to save his friends, and his ability to cow Brother and Sister suggests that he really is the Chosen One, or at least someone with the ability to balance the dark and the light not just in himself, but throughout the universe. We of course know that he doesn't do that, that one side overcomes him, but the idea that there was a chance for him to ascend to something different, to become one of these elementals or world weary ancients instead, is an intriguing twist. This was a hell of an episode that I imagine I'll be revisiting as I go deeper into the series.
[7.2/10] This was definitely an improvement! It turns out that She-Hulk works much better as a low-stakes, quirky legal show than it does a meditation on what it means to be a superhero. Jennifer’s case defending Blonsky, and Pugliese’s case representing Bukowski are both the highlight of the show so far.
The Blonsky situation is interesting because he seems to have genuinely reformed and become able to control himself, but is also amusingly insufferable and a little deluded about that. His seven soulmates, speech about remorse, and general demeanor make him a fun ingredient in this. (Tim Roth continues to just kill it.) Jennifer having to gently manage her client in front of the parole board, and nervously wait for Wong to arrive to explain what Abomination was doing circa Shang-Chi is a good bit. The way she’s ultimately able to stage manage her client, and even come up with an ingenious compromise to grant him parole makes her seem sharp and capable. (Though did we know that inhibitors were a thing in the MCU? Everyone seems kind of blase about them.)
Likewise, the concept of a deluded man being hoodwinked by an Asgardian shapeshifter who made him think he was dating Megan Thee Stallion. It’s an absurd premise, but also a funny one, particularly given how Runa impersonates everyone from Bukowksi himself, to his lawyer, to the judge, causing ever more mischief. The twist that Jennifer takes the stand to provide the winning testimony -- that Bukowksi really is that deluded -- is a fun one. And Megan Thee Stallion is very game through this whole thing, which is a nice surprise.
All of that said, the fourth wall-breaking asides continue to feel very forced and too cute by half to me. The thematic work here -- that Jennifer wants to let her work speak for herself and not get involved in the B.S., when that just means other people are writing her story rather than her -- falls into the same trap of being a good idea conveyed too bluntly. And I’m not particularly invested in the random goons who are trying to steal her blood for their mysterious boss. Again, the superhero angle of all this is less interesting than the silly case-of-the-week angle. But hopefully we get more of the latter and less of the former going forward.
Definitely thought Scarlet had this in the bag.
And LOL at the 2 bottom queens trying to blow a kiss at Lemon as she walked off the stage after what went down in Untucked and Lemon (whether intentional or not) ignoring them lmao. Also, it was definitely time for the eliminated queen to go home.
The judges are making this pretty hard to watch tbh. (The preview for the next episode is scaring me already...)
I expected so much better from Brooke because I'm biased and loved her in her season, but sometimes her critiques just sound like snide comments she might say during confessionals as a contestant. Yikes.
Meanwhile, JBC... sometimes, he interacts with the queens and I think, okay, he's being nice and giving constructive criticism, maybe — then nope, he turns around and says something mean. His delivery and his judgmental face as he says it make it so much worse; it's like he's trying so hard to be the bitchier version of Simon Cowell, Idek. Hope the production team, if they were the ones who coached him through his behavior, would learn from this.
And well, the irony of the lip-sync song and their comments. Damn. Would have loved for Ilona to have mooned them during the song to prove a point lol
7.3/10. Right off the bat, getting the voices of the two biggest villains in the DCAU (Mark Hamill as The Joker and Clancy Brown as Lex Luthor) to be the represenatitves of fear in this episode is a total boon. But even apart from the fun stunt casting, I love the idea of the Fear Feaster as a dramatization of that voice in the back of your head telling you to give into your fears and insecurities. Like a lot of the show's early episode, it's a little simplistic in places, but Finn learning that for all his bravery, he still has fears to overcome and having flaws doesn't make him less of a hero is a nice bit.
On top of that, I loved Jake's increasingly wild attempts to help Finn overcome his fears. The reveal of the treehouse breaking away to show they're in the middle of the ocean, and Finn's ensuing freakout, was a great little turn. And I also loved Finn repeatedly promising himself that he would stay calm and not freak out on Jake during all this, but then have his fear and lizard brain take over, leaving him ballistic. I also liked his unique solution to his fear, knocking himself out to help his best friend when his conscious mind wouldn't let him, and it led to some beautiful scenery as he drifted to the bottom of the ocean. The episode's resolution (with the other belly-wisemen) is an appropriately dada-ist ending for this show, which showed that Adventure Time still had a lot of its weirdness, fun, and creativity right out of the gate.
The siblings are back at their bullshits. Logan was right. They are not serious person. Everything about this episode felt so manic, really drove home how incompetent the kids are at running the company.
Was anyone else convinced that the clip of Logan calling his children idiots would somehow find itself playing in front of the entire investors meeting?
Kendall gave me major We Work Adam Neumann CEO vibes. Overpriced real estate trying to pass off as tech.
Playing 'bitey' in the middle of a party is insane. Interactions between Tom and Shiv this season is so well written. The chemistry is :fire:. I like how they both are being totally, brutally honest about who they are with each other. Tom admitting his love for money and power was so fascinating to finally see. Getting divorced is exactly what that couple needed.
-“I need you to believe that I am as good as my dad. Can you do that?” - “Say it or believe it?” - Ouch. The interaction with Gerri and the director both really showed Roman can't handle pressure at all. And the moment where Roman just wants to hear his dad insult him again is sad.
Does Mattsson really respect Shiv as an ally or is he fucking around with the siblings the way Logan did?
Karl’s moment with Kendall right before he went out on stage was jaw dropping.
Best quote of the episode, “How am I supposed to follow this? He just promised them eternal life.”
Wtf happened at the end there, what is Shiv's angle? :thinking: They are all making moves without each other: Ken lied to Roman and Shiv about telling Hugo to badmouth their dad in the press, Roman froze out Ken when he went off on Matsson on the cliff, and Shiv is now developing her own relationship with Mattson. These siblings can't work together, can they?
I like how the episode opened with a mirroring scene to Kendall’s original intro in the pilot. When Ken is rocking in the town car to rap, you know he’s back on his bullshit.
“Already rich.”
The Tom/Shiv stuff is so unhealthy.
I think Matsson was lying to Shiv about the blood bricks. He's playing her for sure. He was sounding Shiv out, I think the fact that he plays to her ego right afterwards by commenting how she is cool and like her father indicates some manipulation on Matsson's part.
I thought Toms little speech before that about how America has its own Paris and if that burned down they’d just build another was really good as well, such a perfect summation of a particularly American arrogance.
“I metabolise fast because I’m dynamic.”
“2 meters of nepotism.” is such a brutal insult to Greg. I think the Tom and Greg thing has slipped into self-parody at this point and it’s not really working anymore. Greg has become a pointless character.
“Sweden or Norway they all descend from the same rapists.”
My love towards Succession has been an on-and-off thing, and I haven't been a fan of this season either, until now. 'Connor's Wedding" might be the very best episode of the whole series, and certainly one to remember.
All the performances were award-worthy; the tension, suspense, uncertainty, everything translated really well as we found out the details in parallel with the characters. Up until a point, it could had very well been a ruse orchestrated by Logan, and that feeling lingered until the very end - after all, that is how Logan rolls or used to roll, fooling even his closest and turning everything around at the very last second.
And oh boy, how perfectly they capture that feeling when every hatred and issue you have with someone turns into care and worry if something dire happens. The kids here think they are rebels and felt like they had won and are kings of the world, free from their daddy issues, and just then, everything falls apart and they realize that they care, after all, and that's all that they did. And the love is still there, and they don't want him to die - they wanted him to suffer, but not like this, just without real consequences. Succession breathtakingly captures those feelings, I am not sure I have seen such candid moments anywhere else. And the viewer can completely flow with it all. Kudos to the writers, to the actors, to everybody.
a year ago, i watched the video of this maxi-challenge on youtube. without even understanding what was going on, i loved the idea and wanted to see drag race. i started with the first season and have been watching the entire franchise chronologically. now i finally got to the episode that introduced me to this passion.
it's not a perfect episode for me ONLY because, like on past episodes, i don't agree with the top and bottom placements. i don't think i've ever disagreed so much with placements in a season. in this episode i think that ginger shouldn't be in the bottom, kylie should be in the top for the combination of performance and runway, and eureka not only shouldn't be in the top, but it should be in the bottom with yara and akeria. also jan wasn't a satisfactory winner for me, since we had more charismatic presentations, and trinity's perfect beyoncé. jan should've won the first episode. but this episode and challenge were as entertaining as i hoped it would be.
jessica wild SLAYED that lipsync, my god, what a nice surprise to see her again. this season isn't disappointing in lipsyncs. i can't wait to see who next week lipsync assassin will be. and i'll miss yara's energy but she was the right decision to go, i'm glad akeria stayed. also can't wait to see these eliminated queens returning.
i love silky and i don't think she deserves to be dragged like this. you can see the editing working against her favour. she may be annoying but she's not a villain and she has a point. it's the vixen all over again. this show's tired.
it was so problematic of ru to send the muslim home on the trump episode... i'm kidding, mercedes deserved to go. hope to see her on some all stars tho, i like her.
ok, so THIS is the episode where i start to relate more to these queens. the orange runways were EVERYTHING. i really think ALL of them did exceptional, even the ones i didn't love like mercedes, ariel and nina would be a blast to see live, just not so much on the runway.
girl, brooke and yvie to me are the MVPs right now. i always want to see what they'll bring to the runway. and vanjie and shuga have been giving me this too. these two are really bringing it, right? shuga's runway was so good an so bold, i loved it.
and the rusical. it wasn't so great, but it worked well to separate the STARS from those who don't do so well on the show. yvie, nina, silky, scarlet, brooke, vanjie, shuga and sometimes ra'jah: these are the stars. ariel, mercedes, plastique and a'keria... i don't see them as final four material.
oh, and LOVE me some ginger minj. she's a drag race comedy legend right now.
so the ranking for me at this point is:
1. yvie must win
2. brooke could win
3. nina is top four
4. silky could be top four
5. vanjie could be top four but i don't know if they'll do this
6. shuga could be the kameron michaels, quiet and consistent making it to the top four
I am SO GLAD to be wrong! NAOMI WAS GLOOOORIOUS. For someone who didn't even know what an interpretive dance was. Just so amazing! I'm... oh, absolutely charmed by how on point everything about her was tonight!
Ok, with my fangirling (partially) out the way, I need to first comment how much I loved the Little Women LA cast. I never knew such show even existed, but they were so fierce. I loved them all, and I think I'll start watching it. They just seem like interesting people.
-Loved: after Naomi, definitely Kim Chi. Ok, the dance was really weird, but... it's Kim Chi. Awkward is just part of her charm.
-I was pretty neutral towards Thorgy's overall performance, but considering she once commented on how negative Acid Betty was, she might want to reconsider the way she comes off in the show - I felt the way she worded her annoyance at Chi Chi and Bob were bordering on resentment, and that's not cool.
-Chi Chi, by the way, did disappoint. I think her attitude just isn't a winning one. "Good enough" is a concept that doesn't exist in Drag Race. It's in it to win it, all or nothing, so that thing of throwing off time, was ridiculous. I don't care if she can't sew, several things on the design can be improved without sewing. Also, it's Dorothy, and no ruby slippers? I just feel that there was more inspiration to be drawn from character. As it was, I found it underwhelming, and I don't give a damn about whether something was hot glued, sewed, safety pinned or glued with saliva, as long as the final result is decent - which, I think hers was. Just not Drag Race decent.
-The hairline blending contour tip is real, girl. Otherwise, I don't think it was really too awful, just really boring (despite her opinion being the exact opposite). I understand vintage silhouette, but that was church grandma silhouette. And again, underwhelming in taking inspiration from the character. I know sewing/construction isn't her thing though, and I can sort of excuse it... but at this point "not her thing" really does mean going home, so efforts must be made beyond all efforts ever made.
-Bob. Her Little Woman was SO extremely pretty, Jesus. I really need to watch their show, haha. However, for all the trouble Bob went through this episode, I think she was humbled by it. I also think that asking for help could do wonders too, but I doubt she'd ever be humbled enough to reach that point.
-At last, Derrick. Oh, wow. So you hemmed something - WHAT A SKILLLLLL. Everyone is absolutely right about her looks, everyone tells her exactly what is up, and she refuses to see. She thinks that one look is just "her drag". She would only naturally be saved by her amazing stage presence. At this point, I think that's the only good thing about her. Because her personality and looks are just pitiful. And now, I'm just really praying that she goes home next week. Derrick is basic in life, something a drag queen should never be.
Also, I'm disappointed that even with Marc Jacobs sitting right there, there were no MJ-related prizes. I mean, I understand the support for indie, drag-made brands, but throwing one nice designer item as freebie would really have made some of those queen's days, and these are stressful times...
Previous comments in the page, though short, sum up the frustration with this episode (safe for the eliminated queen. She really sucked in this episode, and it was well deserved).
But on the usual rant: The least funny snatch game in RPRD's history. Clearly, this isn't a season for comedy, only for bitchiness, which some of the queens have to spare. Most characters were, well, horrible. I saw a lot of people complaining that Bob stole the spotlight, but perhaps the blandness of the others just made it too easy for her to do so? Most of them were flailing on dry land, and removing attention from them might have been a blessing in disguise. Derrick finally could play Britney - now, yes, at the right moment to do so, but.. hm. I honestly think Tatianna's Britney would slay Derrick's any day. So... just not impressed. I actually thought Kim Chi's character was funny, and who cares if it was made up. The body language was really nice. Thorgy's Michael Jackson was also pretty good, and the thing about the baby and the blanket was delightfully unexpected and funny. Then there's Bob - which I'm still not sure if she was really very good, or just above average enough to seem in an entirely different category from the rest of awful unfunny barely acting queens. Robbie, which I came to love btw, sunk under her character. Totally sunk, and she then whined with excuses. Robbie, darling, this is not a show for whining, complaining, or justifying yourself - when you suck, you pray you aren't sent home and you LEARN from it. That's all there's to it - unless you can put on a beautiful show when you cry, of course. Also, mention to Naomi: so pretty, so average. I mean, I adore her to the point that sometimes she appears and I just have to stop and wonder how can a queen be so beautiful, but I feel she's beginning to to approach the deep end of the pool, and despite those eternally long legs of hers, she'll be underwater real soon. If I could bet, I'd say she's the next one out... (does a guess require a spoiler alert? Considering it isn't pertinent to this episode, it makes me wonder if it annoys who reads this.)
Now, runway time: TODAY NOBODY COULD CALL CHI CHI BASIC. BASIC ARE THOSE RED KIMONOS. I mean, really, is it some kind of trend? How many of you own red kimonos, did they really just have them there by accident? And when we say Madonna, you all think Nothing Really Matters? It isn't even the most iconic Ray of Light-era look, much less all-time ever. How in the world did they not notice the oriental theme going on around the work room? So many questions for this Gaijin Cherry Blossom festival runway.
But back to Chi Chi, here's my delight in seeing that she has once more shown herself cool under pressure, coming up with what is definitely Madonna's most iconic look on the spot. Well done, my Louisana queen! Ok, Kim Chi's red kimono wasn't so bad - or maybe, it's just my crush talking. Bob's runway makes me ask the same question as before - is she really good, or just good enough to steal the spotlight from this underwhelming lot? Her padding, though, was flawless. And I thought that wig really suited her. She just looked so sweet and pretty when she smiled in the runway, I think she had my favorite make up on too, followed by Chi Chi's amazing glitter eyeshadow. Least favorite make-up was Acid Betty's. I'm not sure if the Victorian actor powder look was intentional, awfully dry skin, or awfully applied translucent powder atop some equally awfully blended highlighter. And to think she's so eager to criticize Trixie's look.... hm.
(As for next week, Marc Jacobs will be the guest judge. Here's to my hopes that the week's winner prize is MJ merch. I'D KILL FOR THAT).
[7.7/10] The Aqualad storyline here isn’t anything groundbreaking, but I appreciate how well it does a simple story. Aqualad has feelings for Tula, enough to where he’s ready to give up the surface world and come back to Atlantis for her. But Tula’s move donto Garth, the young Atalntean hero who chose to stay rather than become Aqualad.
It’s a love triangle! And I tend to hate love triangles. But what makes this one work is how...drama free it is. For a bunch of teenagers, everyone’s surprisingly mature about the situation. Tula’s apologetic yet upfront with Kaldur. Kaldur is professional with Garth. But there’s emotions simmering inside him. Aqualad is pretty stoic when it comes to how he feels, despite his empathy with other junior leaguers. So seeing how he’s affected by these reveals in subtle ways, without any blow-ups or melodramatic interludes, is downright refreshing.
Granted, Black Manta showing up to cause trouble when Aquaman’s away is kind of a cliche for D.C. stories. But it’s a good excuse to get the other Atlanteans into action, and watching Kaldur have to work with the people he’s emotionally estranged from for the good of his people is a sharp dynamic. I’m also intrigued by the presence of Starro as a nice ticking time bomb for the underwater contingent.
In the end though, I like the throughline of this one. Kaldur has a foot in two worlds, and it affects his leadership of the YOung Justice crew. Batman tells him to decide, and after somem shaky footing, Kaldur does, while still wondering what the path not traveled might have looked like. There’s some nice, under the surface emotional storytelling there. (If you’ll pardon the expression.)
At the same tie, I really enjoy the little glimpses we get of the other Junior Leaguers’ lives when their not masked adventuring. I’m not really enamored with Superboy and M’gaan’s stock teen romance, but their cooking mishap turned flirtation is at least a bit cute, especially when their red robotic chaperone shows up. Batman realizing that Robin feels upstaged by Aqualad, and so giving the Boy Wonder some extra one-on-one time is a nice thumbnail sketch of their relationship. Finding out that Wally is, in fact, Barry Allen’s nephew, and that Jay Garrick is also in the picture is a cool bit of lore. And Artemis getting scholastic opportunities that she’s blasé about, but her mother’s insistent she take since mom didn’t get those sorts of opportunities adds shading and depth to a newer character.
Overall, this one succeeds with a solid, mature A-story focused on one of my favorite characters in the show’s early going, replete with small sketches of the other team members that are no less endearing.
[8.3/10] Easily the best episode of the season. Holy hell Sadie Sink. “Dear Billy” puts a lot on her shoulders. She has to convey the quiet resignation of believing in your own death and writing letters to loved ones. She has to communicate the harrowing emotion of spilling out her feelings to her dead stepbrother and the guilt and trauma she's experienced from his death. She has to sell the abject terror whe stuck in the Upside Dwon and caught up in Vecna’s trap. And most of alal, she has to give off the air of determination and buoying affirmation that comes from the friends who care about her. It is an extraordinary performance, and Sink is up to the considerable challenge.
This is also a great outing for the editors and director Shawn Levy. There’s two outstanding set pieces in this one. The first is, of course, Max’s. The creative staging of Max’s experiences while under Vecna’s spell brings home the emotional hardship and desperation of what she’s going through. The CGI work remains a little unconvincing, but having Sink’s performance helps. The imagery itself is skin-crawling. And splicing together scenes where Vecna tries to convince her that there's no hope, while she is brought back from the brink by her good memories with her friends, is powerful and even moving.
The episode creates real tension in the ticking clock that is Max’s seemingly impending doom. Rule of three -- so we’ve already seen Chrissy and Fred bite it. That let’s the audience know what’s in store, while also making it extra meaningful when Max goes right up tot he edge of succumbing like they did, only to be brought back from the edge by the love of her friends. I’ not as enthralled at the musical choice as others have been (sorry, not an 1980s music fan), but the imagery of her breaking free, running toward that glimpse of light, and then being embraced by her friends when they beat this thing is one of the most earned moments in the show.
They partly earn it because the solution doesn't come by fiat. As tired as I am of Nancy, the show makes hay out of her and Robin’s trip to the insane asylum to talk to Victor Creel (Robert Englund himself!). Robin gets a win as it’s her improvisation that convinces the warden and gets them an audience with Creel. But Creel himself steals the scene, with a flashback to the original haunting in the 1950s. It has a House on Haunted Hill vibe of an idyllic family torn apart by a supernatural evil. And again, the director and editors hit some familiar tropes but deliver them in style, to where you feel for Creel and recoil at the abject horrors he and his wife and children experienced through all of this.
The girls’ interaction with him isn’t just to deliver the episode’s scares. They get a crucial bit of information when he talks about the song on the radio and hums a tune of an “angel.” They put two and two together when the warden talks about music reaching them, and it’s that hint that helps Dustin and company play Max’ sfavorite song and give her a lifeline out of Vecna’s curse.
Not to get highfalutin, but it works at both a textual and thematic level. I appreciate that the show earns the solution to the problem du jour. It takes real investigation and guile from Nancy and Robin, and it takes them sharing the info with the rest of the junior detective squad and connecting it with knowledge about Max personally to make all this work. It also takes an emotional breakthrough. Music helps connect with us on an emotional level. It’s simplified, as this kind of pop genre show often is. But we see how, in a pit of trauma and guilt, what helps Max come up for air is knowing and remembering the people who care about ehr, the good times they had and can have again. It’s uplifting and cathartic, and something that builds on what the show’s built to this point.
I’ll also say this for the episode. It has focus in a way few other episodes this season have. There are four storylines, two of which feed into one another fairly directly, and it makes the story of the episode fele less scattered.
It also gives us the other big set piece and impressive sequence of this installment. Watching Mike, Will, and Jonathan escape from the Byers house while military commandos bear down on them was almost as terrifying as Max’s nightmare. Levy and company smartly do sot of it long takes which helps maintain the sense of panic and terror as bad dudes with big guns attack them at every turn. There’s even a hitn of comedy as we cut between that terror-inducing assault on a suburban home and Argyle jamming away to “Pass the Dutchie”. This part of a crew is mainly in a holding pattern at the moment, but they’re thrust into some of the best action f o the season so far.
I do appreciate the quiet moment between Mike and Will. It still seems like things are headed for disaster there, with Will likely acting on his crush and being rebuffed. But I do appreciate Mike acknowledging that it’s been a weird year and he’s neglected his friend. Will’s touched by that, even inspired by it, and grabs the painting he made for his onetime best bud. Seeing them reconcile, and hearing Mike admit what went wrong and resolve to work together, is really heartening.
That just leaves the Jyoce/Murray/Hopper stuff. It’s still not great, but it’s the best it’s been this season. The machinations of them getting to Alaska and Hopper reaching them isn’t particularly interesting. Plus Yuri is very annoying even if he’s supposed to be. But there’s a couple of things that put this one over the top.
First, I love the scene where Hopper makes it to the church. It’s a hope spot, and after all he's suffered, including an improbable fight where he takes down two guards despite malnutrition and injury, it’s also cathartic to see him get his win. Eating real peanut butter, wrapping up in real blankets, if only for a moment comes with a sense of relief after all the totrute we’ve witnessed.
Ironically though, I also appreciate that this all goes terribly wrong. It seemed like so much of this storyline was inevitable. Despite the ridiculous odds, everyone succeeds because they’re main characters. Instead, throwing us the curve ball that Yuri sells everyone out,, Joyce and murray get drugged so they can be turned over to the KGB, and Hopper gets recaught b y his captors after coming so close, shows some chutzpah and a willingness to challenge the good guys in a meaningful way that we haven’t seen from this corner of the season s o far.
Overall, this is far and away the best outing of season 4, and Sadie Sink leads the way with a very impressive eperformance that, frankly, had to be impressive to soar this high given how much the script places on her.
Not in love with the show at all, and definitely a weak showing over the first two episodes.
The whole dual personality thing is really grating as a device, made all the worse by the poor Frank Spencer style english accent.
The CGI is pretty wonky and the creatures being invisible to everyone but Marc/Steven is lame, it makes each scene feel "more CGI" as everyone is reacting to nothing. There is no weight to the creatures either it just feels so fake, with zero stakes.
So far they have given us zero reason to care about this character, by making Steven annoying we as the viewer empathise less with whats going on. We are two episodes in and don't understand the stakes at all. Wandervision suffered from this but at least it had a mystery to unravel with characters we cared about. It could afford to play with the audience because they had already done the heavy lifting. Here we know nothing, aside that we spend 99% of our time with annoying Steven also clueless. It might be a fun thought experiment. But it isn't entertaining to watch.
On the plus side Ethan Hawke is doing the best he can with "generic bad guy who doesn't want to hurt anyone, but totally hurts everyone because evil reasons" role.
I'm still not sure how I feel about this series but this episode at least sparkled more interest for the characters.
The priest seems like a complex character, deeply flawed, morally dubious (though he might disagree), behaving like he thinks he's a martyr at times.
The sister seems promising. The fact that she called him on his bullshit awarded her some good points.
The quest to save the church seemed doomed from the beginning but the way they made it seem more possible as the story went on was very entertaining. Plus, the episode title kept me thinking of how exactly would he fail. For instance, during the dream I thought his church might be turned into a different denomination so that it would fulfill the objective but not in the way he had planned, like the story he told in the beginning.
Then his underlying good nature gets the best of him not once but twice. That made me laugh way more than it should have. And now I'm wondering what's he gonna do with the money other than paying that poor woman. And if he banged the sheriff's wife.
Finally, I have mixed feelings about Janel Moloney. I mean, she's gonna have lines at some point, right? It would be terrible if she'd only been in it to serve as a cross for the priest to carry. It'll be great to see her otherwise.
This episode of Pose was emotional, engaging, and driven by great performances from the entire cast. When Candy (co-mother of House Ferocity) is devastatingly murdered by a client just after returning to sex work, the entire ballroom community is shaken. Their grief is complicated by each of their relationships with her, as well as the implications her struggles have for their own positions in the world. The episode largely consists of conversations that take place at Candy’s funeral, many of which occur with an apparition of Candy herself. The episode ends with this vision of Candy performing in a full production number of “Never Knew Love Like This Before.”
I really appreciated that after Candy died, the living did not try to turn her into a saint or martyr. She was often portrayed as difficult, loud, and somewhat aggressive--even her last scene was a heated argument with Pray Tell that had her nearly stabbing him. But flawed as she might have been, she still mattered, and it was refreshing to see the show not qualify her right to life by suddenly trying to paint her as a perfect person. At the same time, her death wasn’t explained away or blamed on her. Pray Tell’s eulogy remembered her for all she was, good and bad, showed how much the community cared for her unconditionally, and lamented the social conditions that left her vulnerable. However, I had mixed feelings about the posthumous conversations each of the characters had with Candy. Most of them involved lingering guilt or unresolved conflict, which was then dissolved with an apology or explanation. I could see the need for these characters to process their emotions, but I wish the show had let them grapple with the tension a bit more rather than trying to tie everything up with a bow. At times it felt like these conversations served to assuage consciences and teach life lessons, as if Candy and her death (and life) were merely a tool for the character development of others. My longing to see her centered was somewhat fulfilled by the final musical performance. While it was essentially a fantasy and didn’t dig far into her character, the scene gave us the chance to see her as she saw herself, a star, celebrating her dreams and joy rather than reducing her life to the tragedy of her death.
Overall, this episode, like others, speaks to Pose’s strength in foregrounding an ensemble cast of Black and Afro-Latine characters, most of whom are trans women. This wider range of portrayals means that no one character is tokenized or forced to become a spokesperson for any aspect of their identity. It also makes for a great discussion of intersectionality (speaking as a teacher), as the differences between the characters (whether in race, gender, sexuality, class, ability, or anything else) highlight their unique positions as they navigate various social contexts and come up against systems of oppression.
4/5 stars
"What If... Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands?"
Ohhh, I get it. It's a mETaPhOr!!!
It seems both the writing team and the animation department for this series keep one-upping themselves every episode! I feel like I keep saying this, but this is the best episode so far! Ignore my rating—ratings are silly—because if you haven't watched this, please do.
Christine: "Stephen. Something wrong?"
Stephen: "Why does this keep happening? Aren't we allowed to be happy?"
I know this will upset people, but I like this episode more than the movie. I just think his negative character arc fueled by his heartbreak is pretty damn emotional, you know? Like, losing his hands? Eh... not so much.
"'Gain the power through absorption of other beings.' Absorption?" — Stephen
Uh-oh.
I'm also can't believe they let Strange choose the bad ending! I mean, he lost! He even tried to bargain with The Watcher, but the episode ends with him all alone! A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one!
Wong: "Oh, that's not great."
Stephen: "Nope, it's not."
I love how Wong is so nonchalant about being absorbed by Strange's evil twin.
I hope this series maintains its current trajectory; its self-contained nature allows the writers to do so many weird things I don't see them doing in the movies. Plus, the animated action is a welcome addition. Can't wait for next week!
But like, is no one going to acknowledge when evil Stephen role-played Christine to trick normal Stephen? Wtf?
7/10
