[7.7/10] Family is complicated. That feels like the abiding theme of X-Men ‘97 and this season finale especially. Magnus balks at Charles calling him “brother” and strains to remember his parents’ faces. Xavier challenges his old friend on the basis of Magneto attacking his “children”. Bastion plays the part of the unwanted child, resentful of the would-be father who didn’t take him in, and spouts rhetoric about the family that can't save one another simply being a suicide pact. Cyclops, Jean, and Cable reconcile as an unusual but no less tightly-knit family in unfathomable circumstances. And Scott in particular makes peace with the mistakes of his fathers, both his bio dad and his surrogate dad, and shows what he’s inherited from them by inviting a prodigal son into this motley but marvelous family of mutants, despite everything.
The idea of the found family is not a new one. You only need to look as far as the Fast and Furious franchise to see how it can be sanded down and made facile. But there’s a deeper, more powerful version of it at play in the conclusion to the “Tolerance Is Extinction” trilogy. This finale seizes on the idea that family bonds can be painful, even traumatizing, but that with people united under a shared dream and a shared solace, they can not only remind us of who we are, but spur us to become our best selves.
That is an enervating and worthwhile notion. There’s just one problem -- I’m indifferent at best to almost everything involving Bastion.
Everything involving him feels kind of pointless and exhausting. For one thing, he has that endless, Final Fantasy-style “You haven't even seen my final form!” syndrome. First Phoenix beats him. Fine, sure. But then somehow that's not enough, and he absorbs Cable’s arm which makes him the uber-powerful “Future Incarnate” somehow. Alright, I guess? And then the X-Men just keep wailing on him and wailing on him and wailing on him to no effect. All of it’s pretty unavailing.
Maybe it would feel different if I hadn't just watched the original X-Men series last year, but I’m already kind of tired of writers using the Phoenix as a narrative “get out of jail free” card whenever Jean or the team is in mortal danger. The abilities feel extra cheap when the awesome impact of the Phoenix Force is apparently enough to shatter some part of Bastion, sever his connection with his global sentinels, and short out their cyber-brains, but also leaves Bastion himself fairly unscathed. Oh, and of course, it’s then just gone, which also feels cheap.
There is at least some poetry and closure that comes from Phoenix stripping Mister Sinister of his mutant DNA and returning him to his true decrepit state. Between the story of Sinister’s backstory from the original show, and the cruel experiments he’s done on the likes of Jean, Scott, Nathan, and Morph, subjecting him to the same kind of genetic manipulation to hasten his downfall feels like his just deserts. So at least some good comes from this deus ex machina solution to Bastion’s having half our heroes in his grasp. And charitably, the idea that what spurs Phoenix is Jean’s devotion to her son has some juice to it.
But from there, everything involving Bastion is kind of a yawn. He monologues and monologues and monologues. By god, we got enough purple prose out of him in the last four episodes to last a lifetime. Some of it is solid or cutting enough, but you can only hear that kind of sermonizing for so long before it gets tiresome.
Even the fight, which has been a strength of X-Men ‘97 to date, isn’t as engaging as I might like. Yeah, Rogue taking her vengeance from Bastion on Gambit’s behalf is cool, but it doesn’t really amount to any damage to the bad guy. Sunspot coming into his powers and using them on Bastion is a theoretically nice moment of self-actualization, but it barely fazes the bad guy. (Roberto rescuing Jubilee is much more meaningful in my book.)
Jubilee calls him a sleazoid and blasts him with fireworks, and it does nothing. Cyclops blasts him with his eye beams, and it does nothing. Nightcrawlers teleports and slashes at him, and it does nothing. Beast and the other half of the X-Men squad show up and crush him with a hollowed out sentinel and...it messes up Bastion’s face a little.
What is the point of any of this? I guess if you want to sell the idea that Bastion is one tough cookie, this does it. But there’s not the sense of rousing catharsis to the X-Men coming together to take on this guy, because every attack feels fruitless, and yet they seem no less enthused or triumphant, which creates an odd dissonance. The whole fight is overblown and full of action-heavy wheel-spinning, without the sense of progress or triumph that really ought to come from toppling, or at least stymying, the season’s Big Bad.
I’m of two minds about what happens next, when our heroes seem to have Bastion on the ropes, and rather than finishing him off, Cyclops invites him to join the family. On the one hand, it feels impossibly stupid. The guy aimed to commit genocide. You’ve barely been able to stop him, and it’s come at tremendous risk and even greater cost. You just spent the last twenty minutes beating up on the guy, so why relent now?
And yet, the X-Men franchise in all media, and the 1992 animated series in particular, has often been more aspirational than realistic. The grim depictions of prejudice and societal distrust are often balanced by notions of faith in others and the belief that change is possible. While I kind of question the logic of the choice in reality, there may be no greater sign that Cyclops is ready to lead the X-Men than him adopting his mentor’s mentality that anyone can be reached, and with the right family, can be made whole again.
So then it’s awfully convenient that Cyclops gets to make that noble choice and Bastion gets destroyed anyway. In keeping with Bastion’s sneering oratory, I like the idea that for all the X-Men’s optimism, humanity still sees them as unwanted children and launches nukes at Asteroid M out of a fear that Magneto’s gone mad. Even a sympathizer like President Kelly, who is admittedly in a tough position, will use the most terrible weapon known to we mortal men on mutants when humanity is threatened. (Over the objections of Captain America and Black Panther no less!
But there is something awfully convenient about Cyclops and company getting to be the noble good guys, and their devilish foe being eliminated anyway, albeit by the random actions of a third party rather than choices made by our heroes.
So why do I still enjoy this one so much? Well for one, pretty much every piece of the material involving Professor X and Magneto is gold.
What can I say? I’m a sucker for these “theater of the mind”-type conversations. I’m a sucker for the rocky but unshakable bond between Charles and Magnus. I’m a sucker for the inevitable clashes between their worldviews. I’m a sucker for mutual journeys where one friend helps another emerge out of great hardship and great pain. This is all basically catnip for me.
That mix between conflict and devotion gives their every interaction a certain charge. Starting with what is essentially a flashback to one of their earliest meetings, with Xavier ever the optimist who imagines how mutant powers might better the world, and Magnus ever the cynic, fearing another term in the camps, comes with an early electricity. They essentially come out to one another. And when the scales fall and Magneto realizes it’s a ruse, the debate continues, extended to recent events, and whether they mean a new possibility for humanity or a final insult that requires saying goodbye and letting the chips fall where they may.
In Xavier’s trademark style, he tries to stop Magneto, but also saves him. Charles binds their fates together, delving into his friend’s mind so that he can unwind the degradation of the magnetic poles that Magneto unleashed, but also making it so that if he doesn’t repair Magnus’ psyche in the process, at least enough to help him remember who he really is, that Xavier will perish too. That is self-sacrifice, in the form that's familiar in the world of the X-Men (as we saw from Gambit, see from Cyclops, and as Scott himself mentions, have seen from Jean repeatedly). But it is also devotion, a relentless commitment to a purpose and an ideal that Charles has long held dear, but more so to a friend whom he’s long held dearer.
That's the other interesting throughline in all of this -- there is a romantic undertone to all of Charles and Magnus’ interactions in part three of the “Tolerance Is Extinction” triptych. Xavier wraps his arms around Magneto and says, “I have you, Magnus; I’ll always have you.” The two of them coming out to one another as mutants plays like a metaphor for them coming out otherwise. And there is a familiarity, a devotion, that toes the line between what can be shown on Disney+ and what is intimated for the audience. I doubt it’ll go anywhere, but it’s interesting subtext to include.
So is what we get from the rest of the mutant crew. Nightcrawler speaks of Xavier’s vision through his own religious lens, with the show isolating the part of The Lord’s Prayer that discusses forgiving others’ trespasses and being forgiven for them oneself. Cyclops and Jean returning to say goodbye to their son, and Cable telling his parents that the old legends don’t do them justice tugged at my heartstrings. Morph turning into Jean to provide solace to a dying Logan while also expressing his true feelings is all kinds of complicated, but also moving.
(And not for nothing, we see frickin’ Peter Parker and Mary Jane(!!!) of Spider-Man: The Animated Series vintage, in the crowd reacting to all of these proceedings.)
In the final tally, the X-Men are willing to give their lives to save humanity, That is Professor X’s legend and legacy. After everything, after being nearly destroyed by a madman from the future, and after being nearly nuked by the humans who fear them, they still try to save the world. Whatever else Charles has done, he instilled those values in his children, that optimism and altruism in equal measure, that bears out in even the most extreme circumstances, bound up in a dream of a better world.
It is that dream that makes them family. He reminds Magnus of who he is, of how he can have a family despite the tragic loss of his parents, about how dark waters can bring us together, and how that wish for something more, for your own people and the world, can weave you together into something more as well. It revivifies his old friend, and there may be no more rousing moment in the whole damn series than Magnus emerging into the sky, declaring “Magneto lives”, and using his powers to save the day.
Even those who are lost can be rediscovered. Even the maligned and the damned can be redeemed. Even the ones whose identities are lost and whose connections are severed in a torrent of anguish and indignity can be restored and reborn, in the bonds of something greater. Magneto, Professor X, and the unusual, uncanny, unparalleled family they have forged together is proof of that.
I’ll admit to not caring much for the tease of Apocalypse in the past and young Nathan in the future. But so it goes with these types of comic book stories. The next adventure always awaits, as it must.
But for now -- Bastion or not, Magneto as friend or foe, human or mutant or future hybrid -- X-Men ‘97 still ends its inaugural run on a high note, with a tribute to parents and children, and more importantly a dream that holds them together -- in a season that met and in some places far surpassed the original. A late revival like this had no business being this good, and even in a finale I had serious problems with, what I loved managed to far outweigh what I didn’t. Family remains complicated. The X-Men stories remain convoluted. But in the right hands, and with the right people, both can still be great.
[8.8/10] So scary and so cool. I liked just about everything about this. The character designs were great -- especially the frightened but helpful monkey folk and imposing angularity of the were-bats. The animation was outstanding, especially in very physical moments like when the were-bats are straining to lift Fang off the ground. The editing is superb, with sequences like Fang trying to ascend the spider’s tower really conveying his devotion. And the action is outstanding, with some really great fights between our heroes and the raptors, the werebats, and the spider.
But what I like most is how the episode manages to convey the emotions of all these situations without using a single line of dialogue. You get the monkey folk’s fear of the were-bats and appreciation for Spear’s help in their franticness and returning the favor. You get Fang’s determination without how many times she tries to scale the tower. You get Spear’s devotion to his friend when he goes to such lengths to save Fang from the Spider’s grasp. And you get the tension and desperation when the two are racing away from the raptors and later from the were-bats.
That said, a close second is how resourceful and clever our heroes are here. Fang playing dead in order to get the were-bats to airlift him up to the tower is a smart move. Spear using a dead triceratops’ horn to fell the giant spider, and then using its web-line to repel down the side of the tower is some quick thinking. And the way the two of them manage to shake off the were-bats by getting them crosswise with the raptors they were skirmishing with in the opening is a tremendously clever and satisfying way to get away from both sets of attackers.
All-in-all, this one is great visually, full of smart moves, and even rife with emotion given the stakes and friendship at play. A new high water mark!
[8.5/10] My favorite episode yet! (I know we’re only three episodes in, but still!) I love how this episode constantly changes your perspective. It initially makes you feel bad for the poor wooly mammoth that’s separated from its herd and slowing down in the bitter cold. You want help and relief for the poor creature and then...it’s attacked by our heroes.
That makes things really conflicted, because you know that spear and Fang need to survive, and that they’re as separate as anyone out here. But it’s still pathos-ridden (and thrilling) when they go toe-to-toe with the patchy, missing-tusked mastodon and slowly take it down. The sadness of it is added to by Spear’s near-reverence for the creature, not wanting to cause it more pain in its final moments but still hunger-bound to finally take out the life reflected in its eyes.
What follows is sweet and sad, as Spear and Fang work together to make use of what they can from the mammoth’s caras. Their fur attire to protect them in the cold, their bone and tusk sled full of meat, and their curling up together in the show makes you feel for them just as much, communicating the way in which everyone’s just trying to survive out here.
Then they find a blessed ave, and we get a tragic memory of Spear hunting with his child, recalling once again what he’s lost and cannot fully mourn amid the constant need for survival out in this world. You feel for Spear in that moment, since every episode has featured him still grieving the loss of his children.
Then the rest of the mammoths attack, and you feel for them too! There’s something so sad when they surround the corpse of their fallen brother and clearly feel the loss themselves. It’s frightening when they knock into the cave, trying to avenge the member of their tribe and take down the killers who ended his life. But you feel for both sides. You feel the need on both sides of that equation, and it makes the skirmish harrowing all around.
I couldn’t help but flinch when Fang gets caught between two charging mastodons. It’s terrifying seeing Spear scamper around beneath giant four-legged stomps that threaten to crush him. The ensuing fight is the best of the series so far, full of emotion and visual virtuosity all around.
But I like what happens next even more. The whole thing is resolved when Spear gives up the fallen mammoth’s tooth to its mother(?). There’s a sense of the two of them as kindred spirits, parents who’ve both suffered the loss of their children and need some kind of closure or completeness to be able to move on from such devastation.
We see that for the mammoths. There’s power in the group of them swaying and almost chanting around their fallen brother’s dead body. There’s pathos in its parent caressing its tusk during the makeshift ceremony. It’s heightened by the knowledge the modern day elephants really do seem to mourn their lost compatriots, helping communicate the feeling that this community has lost one of their own and is paying tribute to them, honoring them, as part of this ritual.
It’s striking how a wordless episode manages to convey so much emotion and feeling, without turning either side of a bloody battle into heroes or villains. I can only hope that Primal manages to maintain this level of virtuosity throughout.
[7.5/10] I like the elemental story that this one tells. There’s something brotherly (siblingly? I guess?) about the way Spear and Fang interact. They jockey for the same prey. They get mad at one another for snoring and other sleeping habits. There even seems to be a competition in the “going to the bathroom” department. The two were always going to be an uneasy partnership, but as competition for sustenance increases, their potential discord seems to come to a head.
That is, until they’re both in mortal danger. That’s what seems the most familial about this whole thing. They’re growing at one another, maybe even on the verge of a fight, until some external threat emerges and they close ranks, work together, and make it out alive. I’l admit, I didn’t love the animation in this one as much as I did in the series premiere, but it’s still cool to see how quickly things switch from “We’re about to throw down” to “We have to work together to survive.”
The ensuing, titular river of snakes and the plummet down the waterfall doesn’t make a ton of sense, but this was always an exaggerated universe so it works. The collaboration between our resident caveman and dinosaur, and the gesture of Fang returning Spear’s weapon, ends up being really sweet and heartening, especially when they’re hunting boars and stopping stakes as a well-matched team in the final frame.
Overall, this is a simple but effective and emotional bit of character storytelling, with action that’s a little less engrossing than before, but still good.
Instead of continuing the awesomeness at the end of the first episode, here they give us a bit of a subversion. We're not doing epic stuff, we're doing the normal stuff like hunting and a get to know you a bit of the characters. Which is fine if it's done well.
Instead, they have the caveman on the back foot the entire time, which i think is a mistake. They also have a lot of animosity between the t-rex and caveman, which i think is also a mistake. But it's ok, i can roll with subversion. If only they actually followed through on it. By that i mean the stone man killing the t-rex, that would have been a nice and logical subversion, given how much animosity was between the two. But they don't follow through on it.
Instead they give us "Here's a new enemy and circumstances for them both. They defeat it. Now they both like each more and things are fine now"
The abilities are also kinda not making much sense now, it's what the plot demands.
But i still enjoyed the episode and can still roll with the partial subversion. It makes sense in the end that they team up now to hunt.
[8.210] Holy cow! A lot freakin’ happens here.
Let’s start with this. I love the memorials for Gambit. The show feels especially solemn and impacted by the loss of one of its main characters, which is as it should be. Nightcrawler’s eulogy is lovely, an appropriate blend of card metaphors to befit the guest of honor, but also with words that speak insight into the noble man who was dealing them. And you can feel the impact that the loss of Gambit has on everyone in the X-Men and beyond. Especially Rogue.
I kind of love Rogue’s roaring rampage of revenge here. On the pure fanservice front, it gives us the (I think?) first glimpses of the wider Marvel Universe we’ve had in X-Men ‘97 outside of the mutants’ corner of it. Rogue threatening none other than General Ross in an anti-Hulk base, and crossing paths with Captain America (replete with Josh Keaton reprising the role from What If), has a cool factor to it, and makes the show feel part of a bigger world.
On the personal front, it’s a sign of how much Gambit meant to Rogue. There is something that's always compelling for me about the person who’s lost some semblance of control, and their usual grip on what’s right and wrong, in the throes of grief. It’s a very human act to be unmoored after a great loss. Seeing Rogue throw out the usual rulebook, threatening government representatives, clashing with erstwhile allies, rejecting doing anything by the book, is a reflection of how messed up she is by what happened to Remy.
I appreciate Nightcrawler being there for her as a sibling, helping her process that loss in healthier ways. The acknowledgment that her pain is real, but that she has a whole family behind her, is a heartening one. The show smartly doesn’t diminish the intensity of Rogue’s feelings, or shortchange the time she has to express them in messy ways, but circles back to her support system, even as she’s clearly not better given the events at the end of the episode.
But that also speaks to an interesting curing theme in an episode chock full of complex ideas -- a sense of anger and even disgust at the sympathetic moderate. Cyclops reacts with anger to President Kelly pulling resources because siding with mutants isn’t good optics in the political scene right now. Beast responds with out-of-character scorn for the reporter who sits idly by as a neutral party when tragedy is happening, whatever sympathies she may offer. And Rogue refers to Cap himself as a “top cop” when he’s on her side, but doesn’t want to act to address the problem, lest the imagery of his presence knocking heads in Mexico City be an issue.
What I like about this is that the foils in these discussions are not one-note, caricatured bad guys. They’re people making points that make sense from their perspective, some of which are fair. But they also fall as cheap words upon the ears of a maligned community that's facing a monumental collective tragedy. The people who aren’t there to hurt them, but won’t step in to help them, despite the injustice of Genosha, are still painted in a bad light for their unwillingness to take the side of the people in genuine need, because of others’ prejudices. That lack of integrity is damning.
It’s why my favorite scene in this whole thing might be Roberto coming out to his mother. In contrast to the scene from the X-Men film series, there’s no rejection or fear from his mom. Instead, she offers acceptance, a confession that she’s always known, and the parental sense of wanting a child to tell their own secrets in their own time. It’s the kind of warm response you don’t expect, something that calms Roberto’s fears and makes him realize that his mother will love him no less.
But then she drops the bombshell -- that even if she personally accepts him, their company’s shareholders won’t, and so he’ll be expected to keep his full identity under wraps. It’s a different, but no less pernicious form of marginalization than the kind that Rogue faced from her father. Accepting someone behind closed doors only, giving into the prejudices on the outside for pragmatic or financial reasons, is a different type of oppression than that of the outright bigots, but it’s no less insidious. As with so many things, the way X-Men ‘97 picks up that baton from the original show, and takes it to more complex places, is masterful.
I’m also impressed by how much the crimes of Genosha are allowed to resonate. I’ll admit, one of my gripes with the old show is that some gigantic, incredible thing would happen, and then it’d be just on to the next thing. That is, to some extent, the nature of comic book storytelling. But it makes the destruction of paradise in Genosha a bigger deal when we get to linger on it, and really sit with the mutants mourning not just their dead, but this paradise lost. The simple triumph of rescuing Emma Frost from the rubble, matched with the stark reminders of who’s still missing, give this a punch. And Beast quoting no less a saint than Mr. Rogers tugs at the heartstrings.
It’s enough to build some bridges between Cyclops and Jean. Tragedy has a way of bringing people together. That's the small silver lining. And seeing them acknowledge the complexities of their relationship, but still want to provide solace to one another at a difficult time for everyone, is heartening development after the high drama of their last interaction.
Amid all of this serious meditation on both the plight of oppressed peoples writ large and the personal struggles of our X-Men, the show does a good job of setting up the next grand villain. I’ll admit that I found Trask doing a quasi-Oppneheimer routine and then becoming a killer robot kind of cheesy, and I don’t know much about Bastion. But the episode does a good job of introducing him as a sly, craft, malevolent presence within the world of the show, one with the presence of an antagonist from Dexter, and a mastermind sensibility. Him having captured Magneto is an intriguing twist, and while he fulfills some standard villain tropes, they did a good of leaving me intrigued to see what exactly he has planned for our heroes.
Overall, another outstanding episode of the show, which raises some legitimately thorny issues in an emotionally potent way, and ably sets up the next challenge in an organic one (if you’ll pardon the expression).
One of those Star Trek episodes with pretty writing where at first you're like "oooooh the metaphors" and then you're like "wait, are there any metaphors that make sense here?" and then you're like "wait, does this story make any literal sense either?"
At first we seemed to be telling an allegory about the power of a dominant class dictating the history and myth we live by, but ultimately the oppressors' false history gets the subjugated people to raid their base and thwart them, so... I guess it wasn't very smart domination.
The memory loss should have been an opportunity to deepen characterization by revealing something about who characters were at their core, what parts of themselves they had built and what was most essential, but none of the choices here were interesting. Spock devolves to dumb-logical, and everyone else devolves to their posting. The shallowness of the devolution means that too much time is spent depicting it to advance the plot, and this episode drags almost as much as typical TOS.
So incredibly disappointed that Ortegas is set up to finally get some real character development and the payoff is "I fly the ship." Her monologues in this episode are badly written & directed, and don't play to her strengths. Before this episode she was consistently acted and written with this butch player edge and she doesn't get to lean into those vibes this episode - it's all pout and pluck, much too fledgling and girly. (I relate to a good imposter syndrome arc hard - Hoshi regularly saves Enterprise for me - but it's not right for Ortegas.)
The cold open of this episode is one of SNW's best, and I love the little details that make it feel like the previous mission actually happened, despite (I don't think) not being covered anywhere in existing continuity. And the writing is quite pretty, and our guest star's story delivered with appropriate pathos.
Why the stranded officer doesn't get any leeway for being under the influence of forgetonium is unclear to me. Seems like "amnesiotonic radiation erased my training and made me mean, I didn't know what I was doing when I made myself supreme ruler" is a pretty fair defense.
Once again, the central action sequence - here the raid on the citadel - plays like the writer wrote "insert action sequence here" and neither writer nor director really dug in to visualize what would make the shots work.
If this was a TNG episode it might be in the top quarter of episodes, but it's a little disappointing that the writing is holding things back so badly given 10 episode seasons, the vastly bigger budget/shooting schedule, and such a spectacular cast with great chemistry.
[7.0/10] I’m real mixed on this one. Both stories have their merits, and their cool impressionistic sequences. But both also have a certain randomness, and some heavy signposting that leaves me cold.
Let’s start with Storm and Forge. I’ll say this much -- I appreciate that X-Men ‘97 remembered Storm’s claustrophobia! Even the original show seemed to just move past that pretty quickly, so having The Adversary taunt her with an enclosed coffin, or to have her face her fear by going into a cramped mineshaft to save Forge carries extra weight with what she’s braving to save her lover.
I’m also a fan of those impressionistic sequences between her and The Adversary. I don’t know; I’m just a sucker for that sort of thing. So much of the emotional experiences in our life defy being able to be captured in mundane scenes. Realizing Storm’s inner turmoil from a demon who makes Storm feel like the walls are closing in on her, literally, who drags her through a grand guignol theater of the mind to represent what she’s going through, compels me in a way simple wailing and gnashing of teeth doesn’t. I appreciate the show’s visual creativity and psychological maximalism with those set pieces.
I even like the point the show’s trying to make, about Storm secretly warning to hide who she is and feeling guilty for that. The notion of embracing yourself, of “coming out”, is a powerful metaphor that fits within the X-Men’s accepting ethos. There’s a fair amount of purple prose used to explain it, but it comes with a keen insight about self-shaming and self-acceptance.
My problems are both in how that idea is realized. For one, the fact that The Adversary is just some random demon who happened to be wandering through the desert or something is bizarre. More and more, it’s apparent that X-Men ‘97 wants to be a kind of anime, and this storyline in particular has more of that “weird magical thing happens for no particular reason” bit that often irks me in the (admittedly limited) anime I’ve seen.
They try to put a fig leaf on it, with Forge explaining that it feeds on misery and self-loathing, and so Storm and Forge made for “good chum.” But the whole thing feels so random and arbitrary. And science-focused Forge being able to use the occasional bit of Dr. Strange-esque magic comes out of nowhere as well.
But the biggest pathology,the one this storyline shares with Xavier’s, is that it all but announces the themes to the audience. I know there’s mixed feelings about subtlety among fans, but at too many points, it felt like The Adversary and Storm were just speaking an essay at viewers rather than debating one another in larger than life terms.
This isn’t “Lifedeath”’s fault, but I’m also just a bit tired of the “character has a personal breakthrough which allows them to have a superpowered breakthrough” routine. It’s still cool when Storm regains her powers, but between the hamfistedness of the messaging, and the sense of randomness in her overcoming an ostensibly medical problem by just believing in herself harder, the head-scratch qualities of it made it harder to enjoy the glory of the moment.
I feel the same way about the Professor X storyline. Again, I like the message “Lifedeath” is trying to send here. The warning about resorting to “good old days” nostalgia-baiting and baseless fear of and demeaning outsiders is a good thing in principle. Promoting the importance of education is outstanding. But eventually, the episode devolves into Charles literally lecturing on the topics. The dialogue is blunt as hell and overly florid, and the point could hardly be made in a more didactic fashion, which takes a lot of the oomph out of it.
That said, I do still appreciate the imagery. Another jaunt to the astral plane helps enhance with imagery what the show lacks in the written word. The classroom motif and chalk outlines give Xavier’s speech a distinctive character. And my goodness, the psychic impingement Professor X receives about what happened on Genosha -- with a Watchmen-esque sea of skeletons amid a horrible blast -- is almost as bracing as the original event.
I also appreciate that the show boils down Charles’ situation to a choice. He’s torn between his life with Lilandra on the one hand and his life with his children on the other. Being forced to not only stick around in space, but purge his memory of his old life brings home what he’d be giving up in a visceral way. I can appreciate that choice.
But I don’t know, I was never particularly compelled by the outer space interludes of the original X-Men series, and the connection between Xavier and Lilandra always felt like something that happened more by fiat than something the show had earned, so returning to those elements doesn’t do much for me from the jump. (Though hey, after the importance of the Kree to the MCU, it’s nice to see more than a passing glimpse of them in the X-Men ‘97 universe.)
The politics of the Shi'ar are, once again, very four-color and blunt in the point they’re trying to make. It’s something I could forgive when the original show was aimed at children. But this is clearly meant for those who grew up with the original show, so I think it’s fair to expect a bit more sophistication. (That said, our current political moment in the real world is, perhaps, no less caricatured and blunt, so maybe the joke’s on me.)
Also, on a purely superficial level, I’m not crazy about the new voice for Professor X. Ross Marquand is a talented voice actor, but his Xavier vocal tones are too different from Cedric Smith’s for my taste, and at times, he sounds kind of like Matt Berry, which I found distracting.
From a big picture plot perspective, I don’t really want Professor X to come back. He had such a moving farewell at the end of the original show. It felt like a television program that wasn’t technically allowed to kill main characters off doing everything but. I get the desire to return him to the fold, but undoing such a big choice like that takes away from the import and finality of the original show’s swan song. What’s more, I’m far more invested in the idea of the X-Men figuring out how to move forward without their old leaders than in rehashing the usual “Professor X guides his pupils” routine we’ve seen dozens of times before. Let shows evolve! Especially when it’s been thirty years!
Overall, though, I appreciate what the show’s trying to do in “Lifedeath”, and there’s plenty to like here, but the directness of the writing, and the randomness of the events stops this from being a firm “yes” for me.
“MS. MARVEL: EPISODE 2”: A COMMENTARY
:white_check_mark:87% :thumbsup:20 :thumbsdown:3 = Great!
Here we follow the aftermath of the events at AvengersCon and how that affects Kamala and the people around her - I particularly like Kamala's newfound confidence and how he explores the extent of her abilities with Bruno and (to a lesser extent) Nakia. The episode also handles Muslim culture and society in a lighthearted but respectful manner, which is probably relatable to other Muslims and understandable for the rest of us. The most interesting part of the plot comes in the form of Zoe's interrogation with the two nosy (and, frankly, suspicious) officers - this is surely setting up the main threat of the show.
The narrative kind of stops dead halfway through and then doesn't do much in terms of plot development during the rest of the episode.
Iman Vellani is fabulous; her love for all things MCU pour into her performance and she owns the show in every single scene. Nakia popped up in the opening but appears in more of an extended role here, so we get a good feel for her and her relationship with Kamala, and girl is she full of attitude! Bruno remains funny, awkward and a bit cute. Kamala's love interest Kamran is treacherously charming with his British accent, and I wonder whether he's going to end up being some sort of a villain. I love Kamala's dad, as Mohan Kapur makes him very likeable.
The obligatory "new hero exploring their powers and trying to figure out where they come from" part of the plot is handled in a swift and fun way so that there remains time to develop character relations and other plot strands as well! This is very much an episode focused on teenage life from the MCU's standpoint, so it remains very true to the comics. Kamala's teenage crush is unusually well captured; it makes me happy as well! Even if there isn't something happening, this series remains interesting through the characters and their engaging conversations - but the rewarding moment is the climax, during which Kamala becomes a hero!
Is it just me or has the quirky visual style of the premier been toned down a bit for this episode? It's a shame because it sets this series apart from other projects!
Ms. Marvel's powers are something of a mix of her comic powers and Susan Strom's force fields, and I'm not entirely sold yet.
Overall: episode 2 continues the strong characterization of the series in a pretty traditional narrative, slowly building some kind of a conflict to overcome.
Random Observations:
Mom: "If it wasn't for Slippery when Wet, we would never have met!" xD
Bruno: "I like Baazigar."
Nakia: "My whole life I've either been too white for some people or too ethnic for others."
Mr. WIlson: "You're the lead character. I'm Meryl Streep."
Nakia: "You wouldn't kill our dreams, would you?"
"Somebody help him!"
Man: "Yo! It's Night Light!"
Kamala: "You good?"
Kid: [Terrified.] "...Yeah."
Woman: "Kamala, I've been waiting a very long time to meet you."
6/10
I give it a 7 die to the cool references. The videogame being in the shape of a Sega Genesis with the cartridge having the same artwork of the X-Men game was perfect, but it was spoiled by calling it "Motendo?. What? Should be Monesis. Writers are clueless to the amateur mistake they made. Looks like they are zoomer phonies trying to write 90s inspired story and not doing their homework.
The videogame inspired soundtrack was on point. Roberto's Portuguese lines were cheesy and cringe as hell. No Brazilian would say al those lines in succession like that. He sounded like an alien trying to pass as a human.
Less cringe character on this episode was Mojo, and that's saying a lot.
Also it wasn't clear what Spiral was up to. Is she back with Mojo, was she saboiting the game? Not a clue.
Also it was really predictable they were going to kiss at the end, since they made sure to let us know Jubilee was now 18. Heaven forbid a teenager kissing someone, tight Hollywood?
Anyways "Days of Future Past" artwork almost made all this go away and earned a grade of 7 for me. That was the best part of the episode. Without that my rate would go to somewhere near 4.
Even Mr. Peanutbutter could not save it. Plot or at the very least internal logic said goodbye, too.
So Viltrumite empire had 3 spare soldiers that could have went under cover on Earth. Could have got all the information they wanted. In worst case they could have easily and pretty fast conquered/destroyed the Earth. Are they afraid of finding out something on backwater planet Earth that they risk to interrogate someone so close to presumably super-advanced heart of Resistance?!
Do they not want to do it for some reason, yet? Is Earth a breeding ground for them and happy cattle is easier to herd?
But if Nolan was lying and he produce a bunch of half Viltrumites already than why care about one kid? Is he the first one? Is he the only one that had the powers? I don't think those pieces fit together either way.
Instead they choose to reveal that The Resistance had a mole and they didn't destroy Allen's planet when he refused to talk because... reasons, I guess. Sure The Resistance might have some sort of weapon to fight back, but if that's true than why they risked going the in the open, in the first place? That doesn't make sense, either.
I guess it's time to check up comics. 144 chapters doesn't seem so bad in comparison to such a sharp drop in quality.
I think this one was even better than the pilot, which was amazing. They are actually the Magneto arc from the comics and, by the looks of it, Madelyne Prior as well! Honestly I didn't see that coming at all and it puts a wide grim on my face. I am full on board now and seriously hope they don`t drop the ball after this astonishing beginning (pun intended). If they keep following the 90s comics this close this is gonna be the best X-Men project on screen ever, the likes of which I have been expecting and being constantly disappointed since the first movie from 2000.
Oh, and the fact the freaking Storm loses his power and ditches the X-Men was the perfect icing on the cake. I know it was supposed to be a tragic, emotional moment but I hate that character thanks to the way the voice actor chews the scenery harder than anyone on every single line she delivers! If she stays out for long, or maybe the whole season, this is gonna be perfection. I know it is too much to ask, but the hope on this show has allowed me to dream again.
Six claws up, bub.
REFRESHING.
In preparation for Hilda's second season, I decided to watch one of my (and another friend's) favourite episodes. Season 2 has me so hyped! Let's hope it's as good (or even better) than Season 1.
I'm delighted to see Hilda back in the wilderness. She's been in Trolberg for most of the season, so it's nice to return to the mysterious and unpredictable nature of its inhabitants. Somehow, being there is nostalgic, even though I've never lived there. It's nice.
But above all the forest giants and elves, my favourite wilderness character is Woodman, and he's still as charming & deadpan hilarious as usual. I also love his back and forth with Hilda. His selfish and unsympathetic nature contrast well with Hilda's kind and sympathetic heart. But by the episode's end, he shows genuine compassion.
Hilda: "I guess Trolberg is my home now."
Wood Man: "Well, obviously. For now anyway. And someday your home may be somewhere else. But that doesn't mean you leave your other homes behind. The wilderness will always be a part of who you are. That's why we're such good friends."
Hilda: "We are?"
Wood Man: "Repeating myself makes me anxious. I'll stop by next time I'm in town. Make sure you do the same. Just walk on in."
Anikka, the song that plays during the evening montage and end credits, was so calming. I'm in love with the gentle strums of the guitar and the whistling. It makes me want to huddle by a fire with a cup of hot chocolate on a cold Winter's day.
Chapter 11: The House in the Woods is endearing, fun, and very ominous. It consists of Trolberg, the wilderness and all my favourite characters, which makes for a balanced and heartfelt episode. Showing the journey to & from Trolberg helps connect the two places well, and reminds the audience—not just Hilda—that despite living in a bustling city, the wilderness is still out there.
TECHNICAL SCORE & ENJOYMENT SCORE: 8/10
Frida, just learn to clean your room!
#Summary
"The Ghost" is about a poltergeist that haunts Frida's room. The episode begins with Hilda and David rushing to Frida's house. Frida lets them both in and shows them her room. It's a mess. Hilda takes a look around the room and declares it was a ghost. To catch it, David brings in his old camera and to watch Frida's bedroom a night. But when they go to check the footage in the morning, it turns out Frida was the one making all the mess.
She admits to the mess but reveals that she thought rooms cleaned themselves. It turns out, the ghost haunting her bedroom, cleaned up the mess instead of making it. The next day, Frida has an encounter at school and begins to fall apart. At home, she breaks down and repeats throughout the episode how her "perfection and organisation" was her whole identity. Hilda tries to convince her she's the same person, but Frida doesn't listen.
To figure out who the ghost is, they head to the library. It was cool to get a bit more from the Librarian. Hilda asks her about a book on ghosts, and the Librarian asks Hilda if something went missing. It turns out, Frida's favourite book was missing, and it belonged to someone called Craigie Williams.
They head to the cemetery, meet Craigie Williams and learn why he left. Like Frida, it was his favourite book, so he read it every night while she was asleep and cleaned her room in return. But when the book disappeared, he had no reason to go back. Eventually, they learn that Craigie's sister, Engilbjort, had his book. Hilda gets the gang to wrestle the ghost for the book. They lose. Right after the match, Hilda learns that the ghosts have to back in their graves by sunrise. So, she puts herself on top of Engilbjort's grave (kind of disrespectful of the dead, but she did steal and wrestle you guys). Engilbjort gives the book back, but it's the wrong one.
The gang head home, devastated. Hilda talks to Alfur on whether or not she is a good friend, and Alfur comforts her saying she's a great friend for trying. But when Frida fails to show up at school, Hilda rushes to Frida's house and confronts her. Frida lashes out on David and Hilda, blaming Hilda for giving her false hope and making them wrestle with a ghost. In the end, she said she wished Hilda never moved to Trolberg. And the episode ends (with the Nisse shown stealing Frida's stuff).
#Thoughts
Both Frida and David seem very out of character in this episode. For one, David picks on Frida a few times (which he has never done. He's always praised her, and teasing doesn't seem to have built their relationship). And two, Frida keeps lashing out and attacking David. I know she's having an identity crisis, but it's still really out of character. Sure, she chased the Vittra when it stole her sash, but she never tried to hurt it (at least I don't think so, and if she did, I can't see her wanting to hurt David). But maybe it's this logical fallacy that makes Frida's breakdown so terrible and believable. I've got mixed feelings about this. But David picking on Frida is out of character.
They say when your character is under heavy pressure, it will force them to make choices that reveal their true nature. Frida is a terrible person. She's so reliant on her identity of "perfection and organisation" (which kind of reveals her one-dimensional character, but we'll ignore that), she's willing to do anything to get back to normal. She is ready to compromise all of her relationships (and life) to be her false image of herself again. These things aren't necessarily bad writing, but it shows the struggle Frida is going through.
##TL;DR
Frida's logic might be flawed, but it works to show her mental state (and perhaps depression?). Both David and Frida seem out of character (one who picks on his friend, the other who attacks hers). This episode is bolder and more challenging, but I still have mixed feelings.
7/10
EMBARASSING.
There's a play on at the Sparrow Scouts hall, and David can sing like an angel. But since he's so nervous and cursed with bad luck, he always finds a way to mess up his performances. So Hilda sets out to help her talented timid friend.
Hilda enters the library, finds a hidden room, and encounters the mysterious, purple and black haired librarian. She finds a magical book, copies only one page to perform a spell that grants people good luck. She also visits her mum, who's struggling with her graphic design passion and has to work at a grocery store (oh god, the relatability!). Hilda performs the enchantment and receives a mouse that brings good fortune to David as he reauditions for the play. With that success, Hilda gives one to her mum as well, who suddenly finds herself drowning in the work she loves--every creative's dream.
It's all fine for a while before the side-effects start to kick in, and Alfur, Hilda and Frida venture to the hidden library room, read the missing footnote and discover that,
>Frida: "You're stealing their souls!"
That's not good. Hilda has to shout some magical words during her and David's performance to break the spell, which is less cringe-inducing than I expected. Things escalate, Hilda begins to drain David and Johanna's souls, before crashing the car at the enchantment site. They break the spell, Hilda doesn't suffer any consequences, and they call it a night.
A thrilling episode about the methods in which you enact your good intentions and to learn to READ THE FOOTNOTES!
TECHNICAL SCORE: 7/10
ENJOYMENT SCORE: 8/10
This episode was cute.
The episode is about a feud between two elf families: Alfur's and the lost tribe's. Years ago, when Alfur's family wanted to sell a plot of land to the lost tribe's, they were banished after signing the contract not three but only two times! And this was considered treason in Elf-dom, so the King banished them! So to end their exile, Alfur, Hilda and Frida have to burn up this contract using the flame of a Lindworm. Also, they have to do this to save David, who the lost tribe took hostage.
David is still hilarious. They set up a future episode with the weather lady and Hilda's mum not doing well with her job. We get to see the grand library again, a water spirit and a Lindworm. In a valley hidden by rocks, which is a tiny island in the middle of the sea. Beautiful. Also, that blue fire it shoots is incredible. The story was straightforward, but the worldbuilding was tons of fun. This whole episode centres around paperwork! Yet somehow, they managed to keep my suspension of disbelief.
Sure they get out of some situations way too quickly. Some things seem too convenient. But it's hard to let those things distort my enjoyment of the series. The animation is still great, the voice acting is on-point, and I love hearing the theme during the intro!
7/10
ENDEARING.
The Sparrow Scouts are out on the hunt for plants. Yay. Eventually, they discover some elves, a lost clan who our beloved Alfur has a thrilling story on. The Lost Clan got screwed over by paperwork, and now they won't even touch it.
With David as a hostage, Hilda, Frida and Alfur have to find a loop-hole in the contract that screwed over the Lost Clan's ancestors. All because of a missing signature! They figure out they need a lindworm to burn the contract, which takes them to the library, before riding on a water spirit, with the fantastic "Down By The Singing Sea" playing in the background.
Bartell: "So, tell me, what do you... What do-- What do you usually do when you're a hostage, eh?
David: "This is actually my first time."
Bartell: "Oh, ours, too. Ours, too. Also, I'm over here. Eh, did you know there's a bug in your hair?"
They reach the lindworm's island, which turns out to be an enormous fire-breathing dragon, who's over giving away its services for free. So Hilda and Frida hand in their weeds, burn the contract, before returning to the Lost Clan. With the paperwork disintegrated, the elves can return to society but realise they like their paperwork-free lifestyle and decide to stay where they are. Alfur gets to keep the land and they all toast to contracts (even though it screwed them over and they burned one up to solve their problem).
Another decent episode. It's more fun than the last one, but still not anything remarkable. It was an entertaining episode surrounding the seriousness of paperwork, history and the fondness of a simple life.
TECHNICAL SCORE: 7/10
ENJOYMENT SCORE: 8/10
UNNERVING.
It's parent-teacher night! After meeting the school's eccentric principal, Hilda finds out that her teacher doesn't like her.
Hallgrim: "Hilda, this is a troll drill. Follow the procedure."
Hilda: "Trust me, if a troll were here, this wouldn't help you, at all."
While watching a "brief history of the school", the projector breaks, and it turns out David's rock collection includes a baby troll. And it turns out, if you bring in a troll rock into Trolberg, it's 50 years in prison. If it's an accident, then it's 100!
Hilda, David and Alfur attempt to get the Troll rock back from the teacher, it goes on a rampage--somehow nobody but Hilda sees it. All before Hilda's teacher catches her, telling Johanna she wants Hilda to join a special needs class. But Hilda's mum tells the teacher Hilda's fine; she's made new friends and adjusted to city life, which is most important to her.
The baby troll's parent is in town, too, looking for her child. The wise Hilda de-escalates the situation by returning the kid. It leaves without harming everyone, except the statue of a Troll-slayer and founder of the school.
It's an okay episode that shows how Hilda's coping with school and the strength she finds with her friends by her side. It's fun, a little tense, but heartwarming by the end of it.
TECHNICAL SCORE: 7/10
ENJOYMENT SCORE: 7.5/10
[8.5/10] I’m a big fan of the film Inside Out, and not just for its fantastic performances, imaginative fantasyland, and crackerjack plotting and structure. I love its message, that even sad or painful memories can be a good thing, helping to give our lives meaning and let us know when we need help.
I’m a big fan of this episode for the same reason. “The Society of the Blind Eye” accomplishes three goals at the same time. One, it provides a practical reason why the townsfolk aren’t constantly reporting all the insane stuff that goes down in Gravity Falls. It turns out, they’re having their memories erased after they witness something unusual. Two, it provides a plausible, and amusing explanation for why everyone in town is a little eccentric or dopey or both -- a side effect of repeated uses of the memory device.
Third, it provides just as potent a thematic message, that it’s easy to dream about being able to wipe away all our bad memories, but those memories help us to learn from our mistakes and are a part of who we are. I don’t know if it’s quite as masterful as Pete Docter’s masterpiece, but it’s still a hell of an outing for Gravity Falls.
I appreciate the fact that Mabel is the emotional center of that storyline. Her letter from Mermando explaining that he’s struck in an arranged marriage is the melancholy cherry on top of her bad luck in love this summer. You feel for the poor girl, who started the show off dreaming of winning the heart of her dream boy, and now feels like the whole effort is a failure. Using her romantic highs and lows that the audience has witnessed gives her lovelorn funk extra oomph. So when they find a machine that can get rid of any memory, including bad romantic ones, we understand why she wants to use it.
I also really like that the episode pairs up her and Wendy. Despite both lurking around the Mystery Shack, the two of them haven't interacted all that much. Seeing Wendy provide a bit of wisdom and support to Mabel, about how Mabel’s great, and dating stinks, and just generally commiserating is really wholesome. The two have an endearing sisterly dynamic with one another that blossoms here, and I’d love to see the show lean into that in the balance of the season, especially since it’s firmly dealt with Dipper’s crush.
It’s also a nice chance to dive into some of the lore and general overarching mystery of the show. Dipper unlocking a major piece of the conspiracy and not merely chasing his own tail is a welcome thing. For such a conspiracy-focused show, there’s something about a secret society full of guys in hidden robes conducting shadowy business in the lair beneath a history museum that fits the brand so well. Even before the reveals, the simple acts of chasing clues through pneumatic tubes, piecing bits of the mystery together, and having to hide from shadowy figures is some cool business.
Plus god help us all, this is a great Old Man McGucket episode! I didn’t believe for a second that he would be The Author, but between his pre-established mechanical prowess, his name being on the inside of the author’s laptop, and the fact that his first name begins with an “F” makes him a plausible red herring at least. Again, Dipper getting some actual clues as to the author’s identity and hunting them down feels exciting in a “We’re getting closer to the meat of this thing” sort of way.
But it also pulls an Adventure Time and turns a ridiculous character into a tragic figure. Even before you learn what happened to him, the simple fact that McGucket can’t remember what happened to him before a certain time is already sad. Sure, he’s a goofball, but he’s lost a part of himself. And the fact that, even before the gaps are filled in, he shows up to rescue Dipper, Mabel, Soos, and Wendy by bringing them hillbilly weapons is an unexpectedly rousing moment.
It’s also a funny one! Despite the big deal stuff that takes place in “The Society of the Blind Eye”, the show doesn’t forget to add in the laughs. McGucket’s antics remain worth a few yuks. He, Soos, and Dipper masquerading as a frontier diorama got a good chuckle out of me. And the very concept of a mysterious cult leader named “Blind Ivan” whose head looks like an old phrenology chart is a pleasantly absurd concept.
Ivan explains that he and his cohort (a who’s who of tertiary characters on the show, some of whom are even pulled from the between-season shorts!) consider themselves the glue holding the town together. The idea that they’ve been wiping memories in the town for ages, with what they think is a noble goal to keep people from being perpetually freaked out by all the weird stuff that happens here, is one hell of a reveal.
But the bigger deal is that they take advantage of using the “perk” on themselves, to the point that they’ve forgotten who their own founder is, and seem to have scrambled a few other things in their noggins as well. As ridiculous as these members are, they’re also a cautionary tale, of how turning off your bad memories at the drop of a hat (or the flow of a hat through a pneumatic tube) would leave you missing something essential. It’s too easy of an out, and seems to take away good parts of their pasts as well.
Hell, it’s hard to imagine something with bigger stakes in the show than Blind Ivan’s threat to erase the foursome’s memories of this summer. Yes, the group's confessions when they think this is their last chance to say something are hilarious. I can’t even pick a favorite, but Wendy admitting she’s stressed all the time and her laid back attitude is a pose runs neck and neck with Soos saying he thought the young girl in their party was named “Maple” and even says it again a second later. But despite the lunacy, the threat matters, because it would erase all the endearing adventures and bonding the audience has witnessed to that point.
Of course, our heroes triumph, and their prize is an important detail. McGucket wasn’t the author of the journals. But he was the assistant to the person who did. It gives the audience a tremendous tease, with the suggestion that The Author built the machine in Stan’s basement with the idea that it could help all mankind, but that in fact, it turned out so scary that it’s what spurred McGucket to use the mind-wiper in the first place.
That’s right! I love the clockwork, poetic reveal that McGucket is helping to bring down an organization that he himself founded. It is, again, tragic to see that McGucket was once an intelligent, put together individual who was haunted by something horrifying and wanted to forget, only to lose himself in the effort. His gradual decay makes an outlandish side character into an object of pathos. He too is a cautionary tale, about how taking the easy way out of difficult memories can lead to ruin.
But he’s also a cause for hope, because with the help of the Mystery Shack crew, he’s regained this part of himself, and even if it’s hard to contemplate, they’ve also given him his self back. It’s enough to inspire Mabel to accept her painful romances as a step to something greater on the horizon, and even let Wendy live with having to deal with a lazy earworm rolling around in her brain for god knows how long. It’s a wonderful cocktail of plot, character, and theme that ends on a heartening and amusing note.
Overall, this is another big winner of an episode for Gravity Falls, which presages one of Pixar’s best films by paying tribute to the value of even our harder memories that help make us who we are, while delivering one hell of an adventure in the process.
(Two quick asides: 1. Between running into a mysterious collection of baddies in hooded robes, and the guy our heroes are chasing turning out to be the mind-wiped assistant of the guy they’re really after, I’m starting to wonder if Gravity Falls is at all influenced by fellow Disney property Kingdom Hearts. 2. My current tinfoil hat theory about The Author is that Stan and Cipher Bill conspired to trap him in the body of the goat that hangs around the Mystery Shack, so that Stan could steal his machine. The thought occurred to me since in the puppet episode, the possessed Dipper has funky eyes not unlike the goat’s. We will see!)
"Sometimes, it’s better to retrace old steps than it is to forge new paths."
Hilda is a really solid animated series! The comparisons to Gravity Falls are apparent, although I personally prefer this show over it; where that show focuses more on the dark comedy and Disney humor of myths and legends, Hilda has a much more cozy, gritty, and emotional vibe to the story it sets out to tell. Both Bella Ramsey and Daisey Haggard perform incredibly well, in what is centrally a narrative involving the bond of a mother and daughter growing in this modern fantasy world. And while I do think certain characters don't get the screentime and development they deserve, the story is more about Hilda, the world around her, and the friends she makes, so I can understand some of its shortcoming.
Oh, and of course, shoutout to the absolutely immaculate soundtrack, filled with both ethereal compositions and indie songs, doubling down hard on the coziness and beauty of the world that Hilda builds.
The only thing that really stops me from appreciating this show fully, although not the fault of the direction, is the unfortunate scheduling and pacing of its releases over time. It took nearly 6 years to get 3 seasons and a movie. Had this not been a somewhat-serialized series, this wouldn't have bothered me. But going into Hilda and the Mountain King and the final season following it, I had forgotten about certain characters and events before it; the finale itself fully tying things together for elements in the show that I had a tough time remembered a year or so ago.
To this point though, Hilda is absolutely a show worth binging from beginning to end. You'd enjoy it a whole lot more in that light.
[4.8/10] Oof. Well, I feel bad about saying that I wish the show would stick to low-stakes quirky legal comedy material, rather than veering into more traditional superhero business, because this was the pits. Unfunny, too hokey, and downright irksome in places, this was a relatively brief episode that nonetheless felt like it took double the runtime.
Once again, the ideas here aren’t terrible. Sorcerer Supreme wants to sue local illusionist using the mystic arts for cheap (and dangerous) parlor tricks? That’s something! You could have a lot of fun with that! Instead, we get the broadest imaginable shtick with a stock douchey magician and the hokiest party girl stereotype. Once again, the proceedings are so cartoonish, like something out of a bad 1990s sitcom, that they can’t actually generate any laughs, despite Benedict Wong’s great comic timing.
The fact that the hack magician goes too far and accidentally summons demons that She-Hulk and Wong then have to defeat is fine, I guess. But it’s not especially clever or interesting as a resolution, even when Jennifer basically holds the schmuck hostage until he agrees to their terms, especially since that approach would almost certainly come back to bite her. It’s pretty weak broth outside of the (probably improv’d) tag where Wong and Madisynn discuss drinks together.
The same goes for the B-story. I feel like a broken record, but you could do a lot with the idea of someone struggling with the idea that they can’t get dates as their real self, but find that everyone’s only interested in their superheroic self. Instead, we get a host of hacky Tindr date humor that only provokes eyerolls. Once again, Jennifer trying to get with her hunky date, only to have it interrupted by superheroing, feels like something out of a two-bit sitcom. And the show breezes through the fact that the guy’s weirded out by She-Hulk having a civilian form rather than actually taking time to explore the most interesting concept in the episode.
At least we’re seemingly poised to get a visit from Jameela Jamil next week, but on the whole, this is a low point for the show that seems to demonstrate it’s as weak at low stakes humor as it is at bigger stakes personal drama and superhero challenges.
In the late oughts I was briefly obsessed with Garfield Minus Garfield. I'd been a massive Garfield fan as a kid, and Garfield Minus Garfield took those familiar strips and, by removing everything except Jon, turned them into an existential horror show. I couldn't look away.
Carol & the End of the World is Garfield Minus Garfield except with Cathy. Cathy is already a bleak, tormented strip about middle-age womanhood, except that in the original it seemed like we were expected to laugh at someone struggling with her body image and anxiety and diminishment under capitalism? Cathy wasn't funny, and it wasn't artful, but it was a cultural artifact that maybe revealed something?
And here this show takes a similar character and her attempts to maintain her dignity in the face of an undignified world and allows her existential conflict to take center stage. It kind of shocked me to see an everywoman like this, one whose ordinariness wasn't bumbling and charming, one who I don't expect will ever be transformed into a spunky sprite by a leading man, take center stage. Even though the dude version of this pathos is like, a quarter of contemporary literature.
When C&tEotW's isn't trying to be funny, it's both funnier and more effective. This episode has a gorgeous meditation on the beauty of Applebee's, a terrifying and revealing dream sequence thick with everything from early cinema to gas chambers, and several quiet juxtapositions of doom and everyday-ness that were gutting. The joke-y jokes - the cringe of Carol's parents' sexuality, the diorama of drunk dudes - didn't land for me.
The show is very patient, to a degree extremely unusual for western adult animation. And the animation, while not at all pretty in any kind of Ghibli-ish way, is quite artful. It reminds me a lot of the comics of Chris Ware: a limited, classical palette, bold geometric composition, central perspective shots that create a diagrammatic emotional coldness.
Based on the first episode, I do not expect this show to catch: it's very out of synch with 2024's hyperactive 90s-ish middle-finger-to-the-apocalypse zeitgeist. (It feels more like something out of 2008/2009.) But that's maybe the point: the pilot is a response to the emptiness of the zeitgeist.
I also have NO IDEA where this show is going to a degree that I haven't experienced from a TV show in a while - I think I don't even know what it's really about - and that's very exciting.
This series has some of the best side characters. Makes sense given the source is a world full of wonderful NPCs. Wish we got more time with some of them, but the fast pace does work so far.
Grog's got the best insults for such a simpleton. I remember the suspense and andrenaline of watching this battle live at the table (well, after the fact anyway). Grog sauntering into the midst of the the herd like a total boss. They really did it justice here.
Anyone else get that tingly feeling when Grog said the thing? "Vox Machina! Fuck shit UP!" This show fucking rocks.
And our big boy knows how to respect a badass moment from the enemy too. Always has time to complement a cool moment no matter the source. Before he airdrops in and cuts a fucker clean in two. Like a total badass himself.
For a moment, I thought Trinket was going to join the Strongjaw chant. Now to tackle a fucking dragon. Maybe finger it a little.
Geez Vax. That was a little rude. Poor Keyleth.
"At dawn, we plan." Fuck this series has some truly magical lines. Not a big surprise given the presence of a bard.
I grew up with only the first few episodes on disc, so while this show is part of my childhood it also isn't at the same time, so my reviews are unaffected by nostalgia (outside of this one).
And damn, did I forget how abridged & rushed the pacing is in this show. It's like they wanted to quicky adapt several popular comic runs without giving them the time needed to properly flesh out the story - something that still rings true for the other episodes.
And while I haven't read said comics, the show is still great after over 2 decades.
The characterization is done really well, the designs & artstyle are great, the animation is solid, some of the dialogue is raw af (J'onn's line of "You hide underground and shun the light! Why? Does it burn your pale, putrid skin?!" is so damn great that I gotta start referencing it more) while the rest is solid, etc.
It's a good adaptation of the characters, but I do wish they spent more time on each story arc. For example , the next arc - Blackest Night - is so rushed it kinda undermined the point of the story.
Still, it's a great watch. Even as an adult, you'll be able to enjoy this.
I also love the design of the white martians ("invaders", as the show calls them). It looks incredibly alien while also being intriguing, and the Imperium takes the cake. His design is damn good.
But still, it is quite rushed and kinda skips out on things. I feel like it was meant to continue the established lore of previous series (like the Batman and Superman ones), but I haven't seen those so I can't be entirely sure (but even then, the "staple villains" of each character don't really appear).
I love meta storytelling. Recognizing Kirby Howell Baptiste after she was in this episode for 5 seconds I am so proud of myself >>=[[[[
Honestly all of the stuff about Young Neil somehow knowing about the alternate timeline that the movie is was fun. Wondering if it’s just jokes or if it’ll go further than that later on. Would be fun if that was the end of it or if it went further. Guy at work keeps talking about how this show exists to make fun (negatively) of the movie, and to that I say, grow upppppppppppp lololol and also if it truly hated the movie that much, they would have remade the movie, not make this a companion piece. Thinking that the comment about how the movie is more millennial and the show is more Gen Z tracks, I like healing characters and learning to love and be nice and stuff. This show I think is the best possible outcome of whatever Scott Pilgrim could be. Excited to… eventually see him again??? He’s definitely coming back right like how would be not. Gonna be awesome to see what he thinks about the goings ons. Continuing to love the art style, so glad something this aesthetically pleasing exists. Yay!!
….. this was a perfect episode of television??????? Opening the episode with Young Neil’s screenplay is always funny because like haha creative process but also like it’s ACTUALLY funny it is actually relatable + even if it wasn’t the stylish screenplay setting was enough to offset the usual “idk how to creative” jokes. Him wanting to write the screenplay because he realizes life is short because Scott died?? Like how was this stuff not the original source material it is PERFECT!!!! PERFECT!!!! And that doesn’t even include… like…. The entire rest of the episode? That’s just the cold open! Ramona going on a murder mystery quest to find out who kidnapped Scott and why and using that to heal with her exs? I do not understand how anyone could be mad at this. This is actually great. Fantastic. Scott and Ramona’s first conversation foreshadowing what was going to happen? Is this perfection??? Scott talking about two versions of the same character (sonic) foreshadowing that he isn’t the same version as the movie version and Ramona foreshadowing that she’ll become Columbo?? Okay… maybe this is…. Amazing.
Just the nonchalant casual conversations at the cafe and the video store. It really does feel like 20somethings. As a 20somethings, I love it.
That doesn’t even include Roxy and Ramona’s cross genre fight! Using the video store as a setting to just go all the way with the visuals and setting???? This is exactly what I wanted the ending of WandaVision to be!! They said it couldn’t be done!! I’m starting to get why people like this franchise so much. Ramona and Roxy talking out their problems at the end??? Roxy yearning and it just feels so much more than two people hate each other because they are exes. Like it is crazy how much better it is when you give the characters just tiny moments of breathing room instead of shoving all 7 of them in a movie. Plus it was really pretty. The fire alarm going off so it’s all rainy… INSIDE the video store? Okay aesthetic I see you!! Roxy and Ramona just laying around by all the video tapes? Ughhh I love it so much actually??? Roxy asking Ramona if she’s interested in being anything. Roxy and Julie just messing around seeing if anything happens. No weirdness surrounding it? It really does feel, as I said earlier, like a bunch of 20somethings experimenting. I love it. Then later turning Gideon/Gordon into a tragic underdog???? Okay???? How is this so good how am I loving every decision they make here…. Woooowie Wowie. And all this without Scott?? Huh???? I’m loving it….
OH YEAH the Kim and Knives scene where they jam out??? Pretty music moment??? Yay!!! AND TEGAN AND SARA IN THE CREDITS?? They heard me say it was a perfect episode of tv and decided to upstage even that. We love messy gay relationships.
Okay yeah I’m liking this a lot. Actually crazy how much more into this I am than the movie. 2D is just… superior. Keeping Scott completely out of this episode was such a choice. Unsure if the creative team was being fought on that or if they just wanted the show so bad they let them do anything, but it is excellent. The opening scene at the church with everyone mourning Scott is such a nice slice of life. Everyone being sad but his friends are still coping with humor while also being sad like it feels real. I kinda dig how the voice acting feels very… idk how to say this? But it feels very subtle and sorta first take-y?? In a Bee and Puppycat way. When you have me making bee and Puppycat comparisons two episodes in a row surely you are doing something right. Plus there was a song. Yay! And I actually care about the evil exs now like they’re all fun when they’re together instead of just talking to Scott one at a time in a mostly similar way. I am actually loving this way more than I thought I would. I can’t believe I’m a Scott Pilgrim fan now.
Okay as someone who was not particularly a fan of the movie, it is CRAZY how much more I am endeared to these characters when they are animated. The show version of Scott makes him feel like way less of a creep than the movie does. With him dating Knives not being our introduction to him and instead being a side note that “we’ll get to later.” Making it seem less like he’s taking advantage of a high schooler and that she is just delusional in thinking they’re together. And also Scott asking Romana out in a more normal way instead of pretty much forcing her into a date. While keeping the scene mostly the same. Idk, I just like cartoons and animation and like it when things are cartoony and animated. Also the art style is just a lot of fun. The show takes its time just letting us vibe with the characters which is nice. Portions just felt like a nice slice of lifey show. Kinda Bee and Puppycat in a mid 20s something person going through life. I get that we need the big bombastic action sequences because……. Idk because it’s cool, but the scenes where we cut to the League of the 7 Evil Exes were definitely the portions when I was taking out of the movie the most. The ending cliffhanger is a lot of fun!! Let’s goooo diverting the timeline into new and unknown excitement.
[7.6/10] The climax of a superhero story tends to be my least favorite part. Usually, it’s all action and no substance. To some extent, that's true of this season finale. Sure, there’s important character beats throughout. But there’s also a giant crocodile god fighting a giant pigeon skeleton, and a three-way (arguably four-way fight) between Marc/Steven, Layla, and Harrow. And there’s a pantheon’s worth of deities and avatars slain, souls sucked up from regular joes, and plenty of random mooks turned into cannon fodder for the good guys. If you want action and spectacle, “Gods and Monsters” has you covered.
But for the most part, I dig it. I’m impressed at how much Moon Knight is willing to go all in on the weirdness here. They don’t blanche at having a human being seem reverential toward a giant lizard deity, or two kaijus do battle in the Egyptian desert Power Rangers-style, or having Moon Knight himself develop the power of flight and zoom into battle with his crescent cape. This show plays things very straight, without much in the way of irony, but isn’t afraid to get very comic book-y with all of this, which I admire.
Along the way, there’s some eminently solid character beats. There’s power in Marc’s choice to essentially give up Heaven in order to save Steven. It leads to the man reconciling these two parts of himself, and becoming a more harmonized, actualized, more complete self that gives him the unity of person he needs to stand up to Ahmet. Marc’s speech to his other half is wholesome, and there’s great joy in watching the two of them switch seamlessly between armor and suit, one self and the other, showing the way that this man is finally at peace with these two parts of his psyche rather than setting them against one another.
There’s good material for Layla too. Not being steeped in Moon Knight lore, I was surprised to see her become the avatar for a hippo goddess and get a badass new suit of her own, but damn if it wasn’t cool. For as much as I gripe about an action-heavy finale episode, her moves were probably the coolest, with some excellent use of her wings to deflect bullets and energy beams, and some fluid movements that made the hand-to-hand combat sections hit harder.
The divine upgrade comes with some important character beats as well. She’s the one who free Khonshu, helping to give her agency and purpose beyond being Marc’s partner, which I appreciate, More to the point, Marc doesn’t save her from Khonshu, she deliberately rejects his invitation to become the new avatar, having witnessed what being in his service did to the life of someone she loves. Her deciding to become the temporary avatar of the hippo goddess, and hearing from the keeper of the afterlife how much her father in The Good Place will be pleased by this, is a nice and cathartic win for her.
Hell, I even like the development we get for Harrow. He is not just some power-hungry megalomaniac, but a true believer. It’s hard to explain why, but there’s something pathos-ridden, even endearing when he unleashes Ahmet, learns that his scales are unbalanced, and basically says, “I understand that you have to kill me” with sadness but acceptance. He doesn’t ask for special treatment. He’d hoped that his service would be his penance, but he believes so deeply in his cause that he’s willing to accept any outcome. That's both admirable given what’s at stake for him and frightening given his goals.
The finale likewise gestures to a broader thematic point that's interesting. It comes down to whether to punish people for what you expect them to do versus letting them actually make their choices. It’s the broader philosophical conflict between Ahmet and Khonshu beyond the whole soul-gulping, giant monster punching routine. Discerning when and whether to act in the name of justice is a tricky business, and while this isn’t the deepest exploration of it, it’s enough to give the show some thematic heft beyond Marc’s personal concerns.
There’s even a decent turn, with Marc refusing to kill an Amhet-infused Harrow because it would be a violation of the tenets they’re fighting for. I’m not sure I actually buy it, since both Harrow and Ahmet already made their choices. Punishing them for it now doesn’t seem like the sort of preemptive attempt at justice the show’s implicitly against. But whatever, it’s good enough for the broad thematic strokes this show has in tow.
Otherwise, the action itself is solid, with the CGI characters in particular feeling weightier, more detailed, and more vivid than a lot of similar computer generated figures do. The fights drag on a bit, and the editing certainly chops them up, but there’s soon cool sequences throughout. And watching Steven demand their release before he’s willing to help is a good beat for his self-actualization along with Marc and Layla’s.
I’ll admit, I still don’t know exactly what’s going on with the mental institution business. The self-actualization of Marc and Steven seems to allow them to overcome it, and Flanders-y Harrow’s bloody footprints seem to suggest it’s just a realm of “imagination” or something and not the real deal. But it still seems like the show’s playing a bit coy there or, more charitably, just over my head.
I’m also a fan of the post-credit reveal of the third facet of Marc’s personality, Jeremy, who represents his more murderous side. It’s a decent twist, with more than a few hints to that point, and suggests that Marc’s past may be more complicated than even he realizes. We’ll have to see if they ever go anywhere with it, but it at least closes the loop on those teases and creates more room to run if they want to keep exploring Marc’s thorny relationship with death.
On the whole, I liked Moon Knight. Its tone could be a little all over the place sometimes, but it had some outstanding central performances, a cool hero/villain conflict, and some thought-provoking material when delving into what exactly split Marc’s personality. Not everything landed, but the show was ambitious and bold in what it attempted, which counts for a lot in my book. I’m definitely up for seeing more adventures from Marc/Steven and Layla, which is a good sign.
