Ho-leee... That finale felt like it crammed two or three episodes worth of tension and advancement into— Was that really only one hour?
I think Jonas has some serious 'splainin to do. Has he really become that afraid of BPO + Whispers, or has he been misleading our favorite cluster all along, or...?
And good old Milton / Whispers / Cannibal? War, indeed. Don't mess with the Master Gorski. I found myself so hoping that Will had killed that sadistic loon, introducing his twisted brain to that concrete wall, but it seems that Will's plan reaches out a bit farther than that.
Meanwhile, Whispers (and presumably BPO) now knows about Wolfgang and Kala, in addition to Will, Riley, and Nomi. That changes everything going into Season Three...
And, while they neatly captured Whispers and Jonas, I didn't see Wolfgang being rescued in there. (Did I just miss it?) Perhaps they weren't able to get to him in that operation, and the plan includes some way of using Whispers and Jonas to get him back? I suppose we'll just have to wait—like the Sense8 junkies that we are—for Season Three to find out. I can wait. Sure. No problem. What shaking? I'll be fine. Really. Maybe.
Wow. Just...
Okay, if you're one who truly hates musical episodes and just can't fathom the thought that a non-musical TV show can come up with a concept that fits a musical into the storyline and execute it well, then maybe skim through this one or find a synopsis somewhere and move along.
But, if you can open your mind a bit and give it a chance...
Musical episodes just aren't the cool concept that they were some decades ago. I still cringe whenever I hear that a show I watch is doing one. But I've learned to give 'em a chance, 'cause sometimes they don't suck. I think that most productions these days have learned that, if they're gonna do a musical episode these days (as opposed to forty years ago), it can't just be a cheesy sort of fun; it has to be solidly good or it'll backfire hard. They can't all live up to what The Magicians did with the concept (especially with "All That Josh" S03E09 and "All That Hard, Glossy Armor" S04E10), but...
Then again, Doom Patrol already has such a pantheon of all kinds of Weird about it...
IMO, this one was actually pretty good. It made sense within the plot (especially concerning Isabelle's super-naïve experience and wannabe musical theater background) and it was executed surprisingly well. (And we got to see Keeg as a Disneyesque Happy Fun Ball.) Personally, I found it fun and it suited the story. And knowing that the actors all sang their own songs kinda adds to it (especially since since of 'em are pretty good).
Not everyone will agree, and that's okay. This show's wide range of weird almost guarantees that not everyone will enjoy every episode.
In case anyone's interested, more about what went into the episode at https://www.tvinsider.com/1108762/doom-patrol-season-4-episode-9-musical-songs-immortimas-day/
S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Season Seven is turning out to be some of the most fun in the Marvelverse so far. This episode was a little overly cheesy-wacky in places, but in ways that fully fit with the 80s action-TV styles at the time, if just a bit extra self-parodying. In there were obvious references to Breakfast Club, Max Headroom (we saved the hard drive), Dr. Who ("Exterminate!"), The A-Team (those new-team member intros), Short Circuit (you tell 'em, Mack), the Speak and Spell ("'cause that would be embarrassing for a robot"), Chopping Mall and bad 80s slasher movies in general, plus arguable potential nods to Battlestar Galactica (with those Cylonesque eye-bars), WarGames (the intro title screen and the initial contact with computer guy), Weird Science (computer guy's build project), and I'm sure more that I'm not remembering right now. All Season Seven episodes have done at least a little of this so far, but the 80s are just so ripe for pop-culture references that some of us would still recognize that this episode felt like a feast of 'em.
Meanwhile, we got what I see as two primary story advancements (connectors between what's happened so far and what's next):
Mack recovers. (Yay!)
Sibyl recovers. (Uh-oh.)
And the beat goes on...
And, I gotta say, yes, Deke can be a total mess and seems to screw up half of what he tries to do, but, dammit, he tries so damn hard...
Okay, so this episode did have a few real causality/realism issues:
And, of course, there's the one we could apply to most episodes: When they've first determined that Ray has met and brought home a Dominator baby, and has been significantly altering his behavior for at least a couple of days, shouldn't they time-hop back a few days, look for the point at which Ray met the Dominator, and fix things as close to the source of the divergence as possible? Or would that make too much sense?
But, somehow, this being DC's Legends of Tomorrow, in the end, none of that really mattered all that much, and this was (IMO) one of this series's more fun and entertaining episodes. Go figure. Sometimes they really do screw things up for the better, or at least for the better entertainment of us viewers. :-)
There're so many amusing, cute, and LOLable moments in this one. I won't attempt to list them all (others already largely have anyway), but one will oddly stick with me and I will have to tell my huge-stage-musical-fan wife about*:
Sara Lance: Is that music?
Ray Palmer: Yeah, "Singin' in the Rain". Only the best musical ever.
Mick Rory: Not as good as "Fiddler on the Roof".
[Sara and Martin both look at Mick strangely]
Mick Rory: I love that show.
[Mick sees Sara and Martin looking at him]
Mick Rory: What?
Yeah, Mick. You keep us guessing. Little surprises like this are sooo worth it.
*Edit: She doesn't watch this show regularly (more of a The Flash fan), but she knows who the characters all are. And she did indeed find even my second-hand description of this scene utterly hilarious.
Just a few trailing thoughts after letting the finale sink in a bit...
I have to wonder if there's anything odd to "dying" within the ancient skeleton of a dragon, in the very place from which The Hand had intended to harvest "the substance", that we'll see affecting the path and nature of the somehow-rescued Devil of Hell's Kitchen when we see him next...
And who thinks that we'll see not only Matt coming back in whatever crazy way just happened, but probably Elektra and/or Gao, as well?
Did we just see a set-up pointing toward the Daughters of the Dragon coming soon? (Arm? Pfft. We can rebuild her. We have the technology... Danny's hospital resources, a little Stark tech... yeeaaah. Actually, it'd be pretty wild for Misty to get her bionic prosthetic arm and then sometime later happen to run into Deathlok— what? oh, what was I saying... right. Okay.)
At the end, Danny, crouching kinda-sorta Daredevil-like atop that building, watching, listening, or whatever he thought he was doing... Kind of a wonderful tribute to the fallen, even if there's no way Danny could be doing (or even really understand) what Matt did when he stood like that, listening to the beats and arrhythmias and myocardial infarctions of his city... but he's there, trying to honor and fulfill, somehow... Just don't fall off that ledge, kid, okay?
A decent close to the season, resolving one running plot, hinting at the next...
I think I'd only have two real complaints:
One, yes, Ed was getting pretty adept at finding those just sensitive enough to whisper influences to, but the ease with which he convinced the police officer stationed on Cassie's street to rush off in a panic was just too much to make any sense at all. I'd chalk it up to trying to fit the remaining story into the remaining time and coming up a little short on the time, but... still... That could have been handled much better.
Two, the manner of Ed's resolution wasn't much of a surprise, but it made sense, and was fun to watch anyway. Except that the way he simply dissolved as his past victims closed in looked... well... more like a quick lazy "okay and now he's gone the end" than a direct result of anything that was happening. I suppose one could argue that Forces We Cannot See resulted in that otherwise odd inexplicable dissolution, but... This is TV. We wanna see. Some sort of effect where the women all pushed into him or tore at him or something...
(Anyone remember Medium which had an episode ("The Devil Inside, Part 2") that did something very similar but arguably slightly better?)
IAC, nothing too hugely disappointing that I won't be waiting for word on a season two... :)
Wow. My reactions to this one are a bit all over the place, but...
First of all, nice job adapting the anime's opening-credits sequence. That was fun. And now that music's back stuck in my head.
For the most part, this one's story is that of the original anime's "Asteroid Blues" episode, with some minor adjustments, and that much works pretty well, although introducing Faye this early is a bit odd but... we'll see what they do with that.
I'm not sure I like giving Jet a family, making his immediate motivations about buying his daughter a decent birthday present. That sorta works, but the anime's making him the starving loner ex-cop whose motivation is mostly about putting food on the increasingly empty table seemed more effective. Otherwise, I'm liking Mustafa Shakir's take on Jet a lot—as well as John Cho's on Spike. Haven't seen enough of Daniella Pineda's Faye yet to have much opinion, but her attitude seems to work so far. (I don't really care that this Faye's not playing so hard to original-Faye's overt sensual angle, as long as this Faye is otherwise similar and interesting.)
As for the end... Hmm. Vicious is, of course, well, vicious, but that seemed rather unnecessarily unstable of him. And was that Julia? If so, that's a rather large change...
Waitaminute. No preview-of-next-session with those randomly wacky character narrations? Perhaps they were a bit too goofy to adapt well. Sigh. They were a fun dessert to each anime ep.
Overall, an interesting start with its own adjustments and wrinkles which we'll have to watch to see how they play out.
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.
While I did like and enjoy this episode, I agree with everyone saying that (1) it was too simple, compressed, and quick and (2) it would have fit much better as a Season One finale than as a Season Two premiere.
Ideally, IMO, this should have been three episodes added to the end of last season:
1. The Trigon-prodding and descent of the remaining characters (Cory, Donna, Jason, Hank, Dawn) into their Darkness, fleshed out much more believably than they were, and laced with a few quick sightings of Rachel's growing despair and Trigon's self-satisfaction.
2. The darkened characters' near-deadly assault on Gar, Rachel's heart, Gar's reaching through to Rachel, Rachel's reaching through to Dick.
3. Dick and Rachel frantically decide what to do, maybe try to free the others, etc., leading into a much more complex and believable fight against and vanquishing of the legendarily powerful Trigon.
Optional Bonus: A short after-scene of Trigon and Mallus commiserating.
As it is, while fun—like a meal of perfectly good food that's just much too quick and small to be truly satisfying—this episode had the effect of feeling like an almost dismissive tossing-aside of the whole Trigon backbone-storyline in a sudden rush to move on to freaking out poor Slade and whatever else is coming next...
So, fun stuff, mostly. And very curious to see where the storyline with Sam and Ruby leads to; the treatment so far looks much more interesting and thought-out than the "Reign" teaser-bits floating around before the season started...
OTOH, there are moments when I want to slap the writers and give them a "C" on their middle-school writing details. Not all of 'em. Just the sloppy bits. Like leaving Kara's purse in the elevator with the Supergirl-sized hole in the ceiling (yeah, no one'll notice that there). And how Supergirl kept presenting herself to Psi and giving plenty of lead-time in which to blast Supergirl over and over and over. That one moment Supergirl breath-blasted Psi should have been immediate and repeated and game over, done. If we need Psi to have her moment and demonstrate her powers and formidability (and in which Supergirl must face Psi's powers and her own terrors) then write the story in which she earns it, not in which Supergirl suffers repeated spontaneous brain-damage and hands it over to her like that.
And is anyone else finding themselves repeatedly insisting that it is waaay past time for Kara to tell Lena about her Little Secret? Especially now.
I agree with some of the comments about Killer Frost's seeming use as a plot foil more than anything else lately. C'mon, writers, she's stronger and smarter than that.
I really like the development that Ralph is going through, from his sudden acerbic (and acidic) mortality-check right through to the do-what's-right-anyway realizations, although I really do wish that parts of it weren't so bluntly presented -- like most of the crisis-in-the-toy-factory development and resolution, which had way too much sloppy in it (and not just from the axcid).
That Beebo appearance was outright hilarious. Great cross-reference there. And, given that (in the Earth 1 Universe) Beebo was a gigantic toy sensation around the time a much younger Martin was buying presents for his little daughter, where else would you find some Beebos today but in an old toy factory. Nice touch, that.
Is anyone else picking up on what almost have to be intentional Shawshank Redemption references? The wall-carving of "Henry was here" at the end of last episode kinda suggested it already, but then appending his own "So was Barry" to it seemed just too neat to be accidental. And throw in a little "everyone's innocent in here" and... Fun side-references without being overly forced or heavy about them. Niiice. (And I have to wonder if they'll continue like some sort of running side-joke. I wouldn't mind. Really.)
Oh, and while I like Ralph's new Elongated Man outfit, that mask doesn't do a damn thing for identity concealment. Especially with that signature dopey grin of his. Really? Oh, well. At least it's a little more than a mere pair of glasses. ;-)
My only real gripe this episode: Why does Barry suddenly start to have flashes (yes, I said that) of incompetence whenever a apprentice-in-training is around to step in and assist (or fail to do so and earn a lesson)? (E.g., Barry can't speed-blast the armor-suit and then blaze off after Black Bison; Barry's leg is hurt so that he can't save the girl, but seconds later he can streak over to check on her injuries.) C'mon, writers, it shouldn't take that much more effort to write the scene in which the noobs earn those experiences, right?
Oh, and does Flash really have to stand there defiantly waiting for Black Bison to animate something? Every. Single. Time? (Dammit, writers!)
But, other than that... so many amusements in so little time...
"That belongs in a museum!" And before I could even say "So do you!" and look around for Indy and the Panama Hat guy, here comes Night at the Museum, immediately followed by Ralph's multiple Jurassic Park references -- Ralph and Cisco really should hang out long enough to compare pop-culture references -- ...
Also, that brief what-did-I-just-say look right after Cisco heard himself pronounce "you're a wizard, Harry"... Yeah, in this the writers are constantly on fire.
I can only imagine what we'd see if The Flash's writers put the same detailed effort into plotting as they do into the weaving in of pop-culture references...
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)...
My impression after just finally watching this...
First 40-45%: 4/10.
So many scenes felt clipped, rushed into the next, with not nearly enough connection to follow what was going on or why. Visually impressive, and I had the distinct impression that something big and interesting was going on, but I was very confused about what it was.
Last 55-60%: 7/10.
A little after we meet Sator, events started flowing somewhat more understandably. Still a bit confused here and there, but not as much. And the big ambitious sequences closer to the end were mostly well-executed (and in stunning detail), including some loopbacks that belatedly filled in some of the earlier-on confusion while completing the story well. Still not quite up to the greatness level the ads promised, IMO, but better.
I have the impression that a second watch would make more sense, in part due to some of the revelations near the end. My issue is that a second watch shouldn't be this necessary to get the story enough to appreciate it.
While I appreciate some degree of mystery and confusion up front that gets explained later on, that doesn't quite work any more when the confusion reaches a level that I don't understand why people are doing what they're doing.
I suspect that this would have been much better if given the additional time to flesh things out, especially the first half. Maybe as a limited series over four to six hours.
Hmm. So far, just about every scene with our two leads, Crowley and Aziraphale, is some degree of fun. Some better than others, but those two seem to have truly nailed the characters and the tone. Every other bit... well... some is kinda funny, some is kinda flat.
It seems a bit rearranged from the book (which I read a few months ago), but more or less the same stuff, so far.
My wife, on the other hand, while agreeing that the Crowley+Aziraphale scenes are better than most, has deemed the whole thing just too "stupid" to continue. That's basically the same reaction I had to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (which, when we saw it, she had previously read and I had not). Which leads me to suspect that this will have a much greater chance of being entertaining to someone who has read (and found at least somewhat entertaining) the book beforehand. (Based on my terribly unscientific sample size of two, that.)
But, I suppose, we'll see. Or, at least, I will.
I am rather looking forward to seeing how, when we get there, they depict that car and that fire...
Edit (after watching episode two): Keep watching; it gets much better.
Quick looking-back-on-this impressions:
Good: Those two overlain speeches at the end. Very nicely done. Although, given the judge's speech, I did half expect Barry to wise-ass ask if he could have a cell nextdoor to Andy Dufresne, but it's probably just as well that he didn't.
Good: Barry's manner of interrupting Iris's mid-court announcement. Well-played.
Good: Ralph's you-don't-wanna-do-that speech to Joe. Niiice.
Bad: So much of the rest of the trial. So quick, so simplified, no attempt to question any of the evidence details - evidence of the scratches DeVoe supposedly inflicted upon Barry; where was DeVoe's chair and how did he get to Barry's place without it; how long was DeVoe dead when the police arrived and why would Barry be still just standing over the body; Barry was late to work 72 times in 5 years which is ~5% of workdays vs all the time he worked extra and late to make sure the job got done right; etc. - nothing? Just hugely sloppy writing, that.
Bad: Okay, I know the sciency parts often have to be simplified into technobabble in order to work, but... Everything about Neil Borman (Fallout) was wildly oversimplified. If his radiation was enough to so quickly knock out people he met in the bank (much less those on the street later), they'd be damaged way beyond just a moment of nausea. Neither whirlwind nor vacuum-layer is going to do much to block radiation. And how the heck does anyone gauge his readiness to blow based solely on radiation ("rad") readings? The idea wasn't a bad one (remember Ted Sprague and Peter Petrelli in "Heroes"?), but this handling of it was just... sloppy.
I did like the episode overall as an advancement of the ongoing story, just frustrated that the writing doesn't show much care for the quality of the details of that story.
Dammit, Writers! You can do better than this.
Interesting developments with Lee and Ed, not sure what to make of Barbara, Tabitha, and Selena -- they seem a bit like they just haven't realized how confused they are -- but one disappointment kinda sticks out...
I've been somewhat fascinated Sophia's obviously complex and layered manipulations, wondering where she was going with it all, how honest she was being with Jim about her goals, etc. And now... Soooo, all that complex machinistic planning by Sophia, all of it depended on her ability to maneuver Jim into a state and position from which she could nudge him into simply (and very un-Jim-ly) rallying the GCPD like any other mob boss to go to war with Penguin? Whaaaaa.... Feels like a bit of a let-down after all that that storyline's gradual build.
Well, that, and... Did Sophia and the ladies really think that Oswald would really just hand over his empire like that, given that they held back nothing to hold over his head if he went back on any agreement? They've all been much smarter than that in the past... what happened here? Writer's Stroke?
And what's with the perennial stupidity of guards at Arkham? Is there some kind of intelligence-and-common-sense test on which one has to score sufficiently low to become an Arkham guard, or is that just where the GCPD assigns its dumbest and most expendable?
C'mon, o writers and directors of Gotham. You can plot so much better than this...
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.
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...
Overall, the core of this was typical Stitchers fun. The whole murder-for-barter ring isn't terribly original, but it works, and falls apart pretty quickly when the NSA can stitch into the victims. Maybe a little too quickly, but...
But if I may nitpick for a moment:
* Tor is an anonymizer used by lots of people who like their internet privacy; nothing inherently evil about it. But automatically assuming that use of a Tor browser means dark web and evil intentions? Ooookay.
* The "dark web" consists of websites that support Tor-like encryption and anonymization to further support people who like their internet privacy. Some of those sites do support illegal and worse activities, but many of them do not -- news site ProPublica, for example. So Tor means Dark Web means evil? Sigh.
* Suddenly Detective Fisher is all ninja assassin? Where'd that come from?
* Drawing out that pointless pizza-guy suspense? And not even well, like a few-seconds of undisguised yeah-we're-just-messing-with-you. Really?
* Someone must have been pretty unstable to begin with to go all if-I-can't-have-All-In-any-more-instead-of-just-starting-over-with-a-new-site-I'll-just-go-end-it-all-Kamikaze-on-Maggie.
Stitchers overall is a cool idea and a mostly-fun show with mostly-entertaining characters, but I feel the story-writing has grown increasingly careless, glossing over development and details like pesky annoyances, as though the writers/producers don't really care enough to spend the time to build something as well as I'm sure they could if they tried. Scorpion has suffered terribly from that sort of affliction, and the newer MacGyver to some extent, as well. TV series can only survive so long under such carelessness...
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.
So I suppose the final Answer is that the world split into two identical worlds, most of the people continuing on in only one of the worlds and a small fraction of the people continuing on in only the other, those in each world baffled at where everyone else "departed" off to. That's the what Answer, anyway. The why is left as an open mystery that may never be solved in either world...
But the story never was about what happened that day or why, was it? It was about what happened in and to the lives of those who continued on in the more populated world from which 2% had apparently "departed", and especially the lives of the Garveys and those around them, most especially Kevin and Nora. And in that it did deliver. Wow. And given all of that, what an ending. It would probably have taken too much and too long to depict all of what happened to Nora, so I appreciate how the story-telling summary approach fit in more easily. And how these two people, terribly broken by the massively complex fallout of the "departure", finally rejoined, each (mostly) free of the baggage that'd been haunting them for so long...
Oh, yeah. And: Yay! Laurie lived! :-)
Thank you White Rabbit Productions, Film 44, Warner Bros. Television, and HBO Entertainment for this wildly imaginative and richly illustrated ride, and for not giving up on it before giving it a true and fair conclusion.
A few randomish highlights and comments:
Applause for the Punisher of the evening, Ward Meachum!
Am I the only one wondering how interesting a novelization of this season's story solely from Ward's tortured and evolving point of view would be? Hmm.
Damn, but Davos is taking his feelings of abandonment and betrayal awfully deeply. And now, feeding on redirecting Joy's newly devastating daddy-issues to fuel his own vengeful plans? Dark. Maybe he and Karl Mordo should get together and vent.
And Joy. Sort of like experiencing all of Ward's last thirteen years of torment and disillusionment and despair slammed into just a couple of days. She looked so crushed. That won't be good.
And, yes, Danny, you abandoned your singular guardpost without warning or backup for a good while. Of course something happened while you were away. Duh.
Here's hoping that both Finn Jones (portraying Danny Rand) and the Iron Fist writing/directing team hone their skills -- which came off as a bit clumsy over much this season -- more fully before returning to us in The Defenders. Much potential -- especially with such strong support from Jessica Henwick (Colleen Wing) and Tom Pelphrey (Ward Meachum), and of course Rosario Dawson (Claire Temple) -- but much rougher than the other Marvel Netflix series so far. We'll see...
I did have fun watching this season and this finale, admittedly because I still enjoy the character performances by the actors (especially Tom Mison), but there are times when the plotholes' capacity to suck me through into a pocket-universe of WTFery do make me stop and shake my head...
In this one, there was...
Henry: I hate you, Father! Die!
Ichibod: Wait!
Henry: Ergghh?
Ichibod: Because... Freedom!
Henry: Freedom good. Okay. Bye.
Me: <scratch my head> WTF?
And what was with Jobe declaring Malcolm's contract void? Just like that? I thought Hell had rules? Nothing has changed Malcolm's contract, Jobe. Malcolm's just a little less immortal than he was a minute ago. So what happened should probably have gone more like...
Malcolm: Why am I still bleeding?
Diana: Madam President, I'll explain why this was necessary later. <fires her gun>
Malcolm: <staggers back a bit, a new red stain spreading from a spot just left of his chest's center> Whaa...?
Diana: <fires her gun again>
Malcolm: <head whips back, stunned look on his face, new red spot on his forehead; falls to the floor>
Ichibod: <to Jobe> I believe this concludes your contract with Mr. Dreyfuss?
Jobe: <with the slightest of nods, bursts into gassy flames and vanishes>
I suppose that would tarnish this we-don't-kill-other-humans image the show seems to want to keep clean for its protagists, but this is a war, dammit, and not all of the demons are inhuman. Show that. (Add a little demony-red wisp of something escaping Malcolm's expiring body if it helps.) We can take it.
Anyway, these actors somehow still manage to make the rest of it fun. I could be annoyed at Ichibod's blithe declaration that he will most certainly escape his new Devilish entanglement, but I could also see how he would project such a bravado so as to reassure Diana that he will not give up on it, so, okay.
And the "Highway to Hell" outro (to the cavorting kraken in the background) was a bit blunt, perhaps -- we're they striding away to the beat of the music? -- but there was still something a bit funny about it.
Ah, well. Like others, I still enjoy the show ("This is a theater, not a morgue!"), but I really hope that the writers/producer seriously tighten up the plot construction for next season. Most of the more gaping plot holes feel more like cheap laziness than anything else; they can do better, and the show would do better...
Definitely enjoyed the final confrontations and resolution. A little hokeyness with the timing of the satellite decoy-handoff, but I much enjoyed just about everything else. Good stuff, good close to the big two-season story arc.
And there was something extra-satisfying about (1) learning that Shepherd was now being prepped for "enhanced interrogation" at a CIA blacksite and (2) Naz would be performing said interrogation. Well, that, and just the whole idea of neutralizing the beacon by electrocuting Shepherd over and over again. Yeeaaahh.
Then onto the two-years-later scene... I have layers of WTH going on in my head. Why is she there climbing walls and communing? What happened? And what happened, apparently all of the sudden, to the team? And Kurt took enough time away from searching for the team to personally come for Jane? Was there really no other way to get emergency word to her? And the box, and... suddenly the tattoos are all glow-in-the-dark-on-command? Whhaaaaa?? It feels rather off-the-deep-end all of the sudden. To date, the show's been mostly pretty strong in its plotting and planning, so I'm willing to give 'em a chance to flesh this out in the beginning of Season Three, but... I'll just focus on the end of Sandstorm and Shepherd (and that smile on Naz) for now, if that's okay.
Others have said much already, so I'll just add my own highlight moments...
Yeah, okay, the writing around the speedsters vs. the motorcycle wasn't some of The Flash's tightest. It was somewhat saved, however, by Kid Flash's rather spectacular takedown move -- that was a moment worth a bit of wait for, at least.
Plunder does seem like a bit of a dimwitted thug. So how'd he escape prison so quickly? And where the hell is he getting these futuristic high-powered weapons? (Yes, plural. They confiscated the first one when he was caught the first time, he breaks out of jail days later, and immediately has another one?) I hope the writers don't just sloppily let that go, and have some sort of shady explanation. I hope we later meet [more effects of] whoever was supplying this guy (even if it's on Arrow instead of The Flash), but I have the feeling that we won't. Difficult, when the show's writing has been so uneven -- some great moments and storylines, and some real sloppinesses -- but... we'll see.
That future-vibe... H.R. on the rooftop, with some sort of futuristic gun that kinda resembles one of Plunder's futuristic weapons, sighting on the about-to-kill-Iris Savitar but doesn't fire... Makes me wonder if something odd happens to H.R. along the way. (Or if it's just something we don't know about H.R. yet, like the teaser for next week hinted could be important.) Or if the team hatched a plan along the way that H.R. was there as part of. What if, in this team-altered future, that's not actually Iris? Hmm...
Time to stop targeting any old headline you can change, guys, and start targeting changes that will matter. As soon as you can... you know... figure out... what those are...
And how can I not mention The Speedster and the Turtle? Wonder if McSnurtle will have some interesting lesson for us someday, like it's not all about being fast...
I definitely enjoyed Jenkins's wandering interactions with the carnival attendees at the beginning -- only he could be so perfectly politely engaging while mistaking a stranger for a friend, etc. We appreciate you, Jenkins.
And it's about time the idea of recently-created magical artifacts was brought into play. Magic's out there, and these artifacts come from somewhere. Shades of Warehouse 13, in a way, but still...
I agree with others that Felicia Day was very under-utilized here, though; she's capable of contributing so much more, and I'm sure her fans were hoping/expecting for such. Ah, well.
And the campy unrealism of simple things like crazies and clowns standing around looking menacing while the good guys discuss their theories and declare their plans... I know this show leans toward the campy, but the writers/directors really (IMO) should be careful of overdoing that to the point of driving us away for better.
Overall, fun, and important for the introduction of the fact that heretofore unknown magical artifacts can be created and brought into havoc, but... leaving us all knowing that every actor involved is capable of so much better...
At least the DOSA agents at the end weren't as hyper-over-dramatic as their debut. #littlethings
