At this point, is anyone else apprehensive about Nomi and Amanita basically just going home as though nothing has happened? Even assuming that this "e-death" trick erased all concerns with police and hospitals and such, it's not like BPO will suddenly forget who and where Nomi is...
(As I pace out the brain-exploding effects of catching up on Season Two...)
When Adrian strode away from Oliver's desk and said "you can keep the knife", did anyone else have the compulsion to yell at Oliver to get rid of that knife as completely and immediately as possible. Could be nothing, but given the depth and complexity of Adrian's plans, on even the smallest chance that that knife is somehow associated with evidence of some other crime that, if found in Oliver's possession...
I suppose it's something of a testament to the brutal effectiveness of Promethius's writing and execution that some us -- okay, maybe it's just me and the voices in my head -- can be made so paranoid by details seemingly so small.
I suppose we know now why Commander Jun Sato isn't around to be seen or mentioned during or after A New Hope -- although I'm actually slightly annoyed that those two pilots didn't demand that Sato just inform them of his plan (since they did all the work anyway) and then get the valuable asset that is "the best commander to ever come out of the Mykapo system" the hell off the ship, but maybe that's just me. Sigh.
Anyone else thinking that Red must be pretty desperate to interrogate Stone to have attacked an FBI prisoner-transport like that. That's going to be awfully difficult for the FBI to just shrug off this time...
Wondering more and more if we'll find out somewhen along the way who this cryptic Deep Throat is. (Room 105, 11 14 PM, ???)
The sequence of birth memories at the end was, as many have pointed out, amazing in so many ways. I'm not sure if this is the intended sequence, did it seem that it started with Riley somehow picking up from her father the memory of her own birth (perhaps via his strong association between that and his playing), and then cascading from her through the rest of the cluster? IAC, beautifully presented. Wow.
If Omega can find a way to connect to her supposed M-count, now would be the time.
Who else saw moments in which Magnifico looked a bit like Homelander?
The degree to which this episode captured the look, movement, and sounds of the old Warner Brother's Looney Tunes / Tiny Toons cartoons (excepting the gore) is weirdly stunning.
Successfully blending that much adorableness with that much carnage is something of a [weird] achievement in itself.
When the episode title shows additional meaning in the episode's last few seconds...
That may have been one of the goofier SF/comic-series timeloop episodes I've seen, but it kinda worked in that the characters got use out of it to reconsider parts of their lives and parts of the presentation were just a fun sort of funny. The cause and solution to the timeloop were weirdly out of nowhere, but they usually are, so... Yeah, kinda silly in places, but other parts worked, and it was mostly fun overall.
Besides, I feel like comparing it to Legends of Tomorrow's "Here I Go Again" (episode 3x11) is kinda unfair. ;-)
That said, I hope that story and presentation get more serious (at least in terms of plot and execution quality) as the season progresses, as, while fun for an episode, this tone won't work for the season as a whole, and feels like an odd choice to open with (given that it could be taken as a promise of what's to come).
That logo at the end, though...
That was some seriously randomly wacky side-story.
Although I did like how it tied back into the main growing plot at the end.
This show didn't always have the strongest plot writing, but even then its characters still make it fun to watch.
And Jack experiences yet another "Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in" experience...
Having just read Killing Floor a few weeks ago, I'm finding this first season of Reacher lots o' fun on its own, as well as a well-done re-imagining of the same basic story. Differences are here and there, most of 'em (as far as I can tell) changes to or combinations of elements from the book in ways that work more efficiently for video story-telling, and all still pointing toward roughly the same story-line and presumable conclusion.
Until now.
This episode jumped off those rails so much more widely, especially with that last scene, that I'm suddenly wide open to a different version of the merging of and resolution to this story. I'm going to guess that it can't go off in too different a direction, simply because Reacher intends a second season and they'd probably want it to continue to resemble the next book, but... I'm increasingly curious how they're going to get there, how different (and yet similar) it's going to look.
I'm not one that generally needs the videoization of the book's story to flow just like the book. I'd be fine if it did, but tweaking things to give us who've read the book some surprises isn't a bad thing, either, IMO. I do like that Jack Reacher, Roscoe Conklin, and Oscar Finley are all very similar to how I imagined them in the book (even if Picard and Old Man Kliner seem rather different). And I'm likin' the tweaks (including the dog), while I hope it doesn't veer too far into something entirely else.
There was definitely some rushed skimming and skipping across the story elements of this episode (and the one previous), and I sooo wish we could have seen all of those story-bits that simply didn't fit into the time remaining, but I still liked what we got, the wrap-up of the storyline and the resolution for all (well, okay, most) of our good-witch characters.
At the same time, I really do hope that show-creator Eliot Laurence someday goes back and writes the original book series he had in mind to begin with. I'd love to experience and digest the full detailed story as originally intended.
I suppose if the Camarilla are training that many assassins, they can't expect all of 'em to be any good at it, right?
The opening warning-disclaimer has to have been the awesomest warning-label writing I've ever seen.
And that's just the moment opening into an episode thoroughly jammed with individual plotline advancements and interconnections, all leading up to that fight and that speech...
Well done. And only two episodes to go...
I gotta think that a portion of the ideating/writing process for The Boys involves asking the following:
1. Pick an interesting superpower that a lesser-known The Boys "supe" might have.
2. What extremely creative adolescent prankish dumbassery might a not-terribly-wise (or just drunk or high) supe do with this power?
3. What could go very very wrong with said dumbassery?
4. How visually horrifyingly gross can we make that look?
I suppose it's fair, given that a fair chunk of the human population is foolish enough to engage in all sorts of because-we-can dumbassery (including those who might do so only for being drunk or high), so why wouldn't at least some portion of supes be the same. The realisticness of random supe-ness popping up in the real-life human condition with no correlation to intelligence or wisdom.
Which is why, as part of the story, it works, almost no matter how "WTF?!?!" it can feel to watch. A little like what makes the more realistic (but still drama-ridden) of reality TV work, but amped up to [even more] ridiculous levels.
Daaamn.
Straight outta the ISSP's Arkham Asylum...
While it was nice seeing everyone return to help save the day, it would have been so much nicer if those appearances had been given real substance and felt less like shallow tokens.
That was oddly fascinatingly done, overall; cool stuff. (And WTF, Ed?) Except... then what? Just like that? Where'd the ending go?
Oddly amusing when the episode's title makes no sense at all until the very last minute of the episode.
So I liked pretty much every bit with Gloria, Esperanza, and Astra, and the thing with the pocket-mansion, but most of the rest was like watching gradeschoolers throw around goofy story ideas. I hope there's a better story-plan this is feeding into...
Damn, Connor. Not like that, like Dick did to you.
Daaamn. Double cliff-hangers with a side of Cliff-shrapnel? Brutal.
Spoiler: The Candlemaker is truly evil. The Candlemaker is COVID.
Daaam. Dark.
The team (or at least Beth now) has to wonder about the limits or conditions of Eclypso's true real-world power if he's attacking them specifically with illusions and psychological warfare instead of just taking them out head-on.
I don't know. I'm kind of all over the place on this one.
7 (good) bits: End scene with Cindy and Bobbie and Eclipso, maybe the bits with Richard and Pat, and maybe Rick's DoorDashing.
6 (fair) bits: Most parts with Jenny.
5 (meh) bits: Most parts with Courtney.
4 (poor) bits: Huge green flares (and a new crater) in the park in the middle of town and no one notices.
YMMV.
I just... what is... going... errg.
Lemme see if I can break some of this down:
Overall high-level storyline: fair (6/10).
Actual story-portrayal execution: ranges from terrible to fair (4/10).
Sigh.
