Huh. So far (catching up on this some months after it ended), I'm having very mixed reactions here, not unlike with some of the other CW DC shows...
I like the characters, the actors' portrayals, etc. Even the arguably stiffer characters, like Dee and Zumbado, kinda make sense and seem consistent about it. The high school kids are all distinct without being too iconicly stereotypical and make for an interesting mix and some fun interactions.
The high-level story-line, what we can see of it so far, looks interesting and promising (if a little overly steeped in the all-aliens-have-powers thing).
OTOH, the execution details, low-level story writing and direction, are sometimes frustrating to watch. A lot of clumsy or sloppy story bits, like:
Not that any one of these are necessarily fatal-to-the-story carelessnesses, but the way they pile up like this (like no one cares about fleshing them out well) pushes the believability of the story itself too much and is getting a little frustrating.
I hope that this aspect improves over the rest of the series, and wonder if it (along with all the interestingness going on with CW and Discovery) is part of why this show didn't get a second season.
Does anyone else think that something is distinctly wrong with Sylvester? (Beyond his ridiculously reckless destructive behavior; like something's wrong with him causing this behavior.) I have to wonder if, when he "came back" in his coffin (as he explained in episode 3x01), he came back a little incomplete. (He's reminding me just a little of Harold Meachum from Iron Fist.)
I'm finding it interesting that Courtney, Nebraska's Conclusion-Jumping Champion of Seasons 1 and 2, is now the one [finally] practicing extreme caution about suspecting or condemning any one in particular.
Roe Saunders: "Is it that I look stupid?"
Carrie Wells: [holds that frozen smile]
I do enjoy these interestingly individual characters and their interactions.
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.
Strike Team Jack, always a winning hand.
I was kinda hoping for more Die Hard Jack in there, but still... daaamn.
I suppose if the Camarilla are training that many assassins, they can't expect all of 'em to be any good at it, right?
Mmmm. Errr. Gaak.
Honestly, I really liked the basic idea of the primary story here: Eobard's second-chance return (perhaps earned for that end in Legends) sans most of his memories leaving little more than the Speed Force source designs to drive him but unaware of its "negative" aspect, etc., etc., etc. This storyline alone could easily have fueled a good solid movie. And that's my problem: it should have been a movie, or at least 2-3 episodes, to give it enough room to flesh out and breathe. Jamming it all into one episode this like required simplifying and shortcutting too much of it, leaving it feeling choppy and... well... shortcutted.
A good idea quickly rushed together half-baked yields an okayish result that could have been so much better.
The deadliest flashdance ever. (Daayam.)
And that hint of it's-going-to-be-okay smile emerging at the very end, as he finds the sorely missed taste of supportive family among the power of the dark side...
"Now, matters are worse." —Yoda
After listening to that last-minute phone call...
Frenchie, we may need even more of that Novichok nerve agent...
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...
Daaamn. I was really growing to like Alex, too, but... sigh... The risks of trying to recruit from that volatile mix of assorted desperates into what they're trying to do... I can't even imagine.
Oh, poor Timothy... :-(
And Starlight's hidden fist-clench... damn.
Warning: Minor naming gripe.
Hell Storm? Really? I could see that as something flip that Frost might say, or maybe if Constantine was involved, but... uhhh...
Given the trail so far, from Firestorm to Deathstorm to... Icestorm?
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.
This was another one of those episodes in which I did really like the high-level storyline, but was frustrated by the excessively sloppy/clumsy execution of so many of its pieces. (I get the feeling that Khwalah's probably right about it being at least partially a direction problem.) In any case... sigh. This could have been really good.
High-level story progression: 8/10.
Detailed execution: 5/10.
And why does Deathstorm (in his reveal-pose at the end) look a bit like a big flaming Dammit Doll? Hopefully, that'll improve, too.
Curious what they'll name him, or whether the producers/writers had even given him a name by the time this aired...
Captain Stormcloud? Gullystorm? Deathsmurf?
IAC, he looks a bit like one of those armored tanks had a baby with Mr. Freeze.
As fun all of this chaotic confluence was, in some ways, that first living room chat scene (and all its personality interplay) was among the best bits of the series so far.
There were some good moments in this one. Joe's what-are-you-really-worried-about speech to Barry. Some of Frost's succinctly Frost moments. The possibilities in that weird end-teaser moment (Deathstorm?). Even Tinya's brief reunion.
But so much of the rest was a mess. The pseudoscience-babble has gone off the rails. Did the writers bother to look up what cold fusion actually is? There's nothing cold about it. It's nuclear fusion (the stuff that happens inside a star) sustainable at something approaching room temperature (i.e., not requiring insanely high temperatures to sustain, only "cold" in comparison to where fusion usually occurs). And latent genes are just genes until something activates them; they won't generate power signatures while they're still latent. Maybe we're saying that we've deliberately activated Carla's frosty genes (will she personality-split, too?) and she's a meta now, but... they can do that? Why haven't people been doing that before?
I know it's a comic-book show, and stretching reality is part of the game, but when the writers stretch it so far that we can see the tears and gaps in what's left, it ain't working any more.
Sigh. This show can do better. We're seen it do better. But its frequent erratic swings between really good stuff and really sloppy WTFs has been giving me whiplash for a while now...
Jack Bauer is a scary MacGyver of emergency enhanced interrogation tactics.
Jack Bauer on a one-man rescue-raid mission is always a winning hand.
Leon must be the mostly weirdly interesting individual.
Hmm. So how much of the Dark Army Minions' willingness to die for the cause is fueled by their belief that White Rose will bring them back once the mission is complete?
Oddly enough, I rather enjoyed Elliot's unusual take on How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying.
"We are chaotic."
"But Chaotic Good."
Indeed. :dagger_knife::dragon:
This is another one of those frustrating combinations of some good fun stuff and some lazy stupid.
Take the gradual elimination of the robos:
* Robo-Behrad: Taken out by a magic-blast from Astra. Cool. More of that wands-at-the-ready action please? 7/10.
* Dr. Sharpe & Robo-Astra: Assuming that Dr. Sharpe is still the Ava Clone, then I'd expect the digestion disruptor concoction to work on her, but shouldn't there have been some question of whether it would work on Robo-Astra? The Robos (starting with Robo-Hoover) were designed to fit into society, presumably including meals and such, so maybe it'd work, and I'm willing to buy that it might've, but think there should have been some quick throwaway question about whether it would. Other than that, their lure to the door and jump push into the fire works well enough for me. 6-7/10.
* Robo-Gary & Robo-Esperanza: As goofy as this was, it works quite well (and is rather funny) if watched while remembering that Robo-Gary is a moron. 7-8/10.
* Robo-Zari: Everything about this scene was so thoroughly stupid. Zari, using the barest "90s hacker" description, somehow absolutely nails Robo-Zari's current look. While I can buy that Robo-Zari may not be programmed as combatant-heavy as the other Robos, I have trouble buying that she slap-fights just like a panicked Zari. Gary I might expect to stand there indecisively gawking, but Astra could have magically frozen or stunned both Zaris, examined them both, then plug-pulled the Robo, but suggesting that Gary eat them both and spit out the non-Robo? Really? And then... Zari beats Robo-Zari? Stupid upon stupid upon... 2-3/10
* Robo-Sara & Robo-Nate: I like the basic idea, but no questions at all to "pull your CPUs" on the spot like that? Hmm. 5-6/10.
There're some classicish Legends recklessness that I could go either way on:
* Operation Ruckus: counting on the Robos to properly and safely clean all that up? (Although "Can you describe the ruckus?" was priceless).
* That last duping Robo-Nate trick; inventive and funny in the moment, but who knows what damage that moron might do while working that post? (Or maybe we haven't heard the last of it?)
IAC, a lot of this is obviously subjective, and I'm sure that some of what annoyed me will entertain others, so... shrug
OTOH, there's the impressive trick of making this-Eobard's last bit an actually sad moment, and Robo-Astra's "from Hell's heart I stab at thee" surprise which I suspect will now lead us directly (and sadly) to how the Legends finally fully take the new Waverider)...
And so,
Robo-Sarah,
following a brief bout of discovery and resistance,
gets her invitation renewed
to remain
in the Twilight Zone.
So, basically, Tannhaus created the break, Jonas/Adam and Martha/Eva perpetuated it, and everyone else suffered through this ultimate twist on Greek tragedy, all until Claudia finally figured out where the original break was. And we all felt our brains stretched and twisted trying to follow all of the convolutions that a bunch of time-traveling breaks and perpetuations would cause, despite what all the other time-travel stories have told us.
Interesting at the end to see some of who would still have existed without all the mad timeloop feedback yarnballing the family trees (and thinking through why they're still there and others aren't), and that Hannah would be the one to somehow Kenobi-sense the millions of voices crying out in release...
Daaaamn.
There was probably no way to wrap up all of that interwoven complexity in a way that would make all viewers happy, but I'm at least satisfied that this wrap-up make some sense and tied (so to speak) up the loose ends, despite the loss of some characters that will now never be. Well done.
Interesting mix. Some strong story-parallels to the original (both with Vicious and with Pierrot le Fou), with some differences that mostly worked well. (Except maybe for that one-hires-the-other thing; not sure that makes sense given who's involved. And I'm not sure that the reasoning for Pierrot le Fou's emotional crumble at the end was as clear as it was in the original.) Crazy, messy, mostly fun stuff.
But those gorram jerks abandoned Ein all alone on that dock. Not okay, guys. Not okay.