That was a whole different kind of hallway fight scene.
This show didn't always have the strongest plot writing, but even then its characters still make it fun to watch.
My name is Artemis Crock. For three months, I was lost and alone with only one goal: revenge. Now I will avenge my parents' terrible death, and stop the monster who murdered them from ever hurting anyone again. To do this, I must become someone else. I must become something else.
Some small clunky bits here and there, but overall a pretty good closer to the series. Certainly better than some of the other Arrowverse shows got.
I actually kinda liked that the main story was wrapped about 2/3 in, and the remaining third was postscripts and other wrap-ups which we're all done pretty well, if a bit more abbreviatedly than I'd've ideally liked. And, of those final closing bits... Artemis may well have delivered the biggest and most impressive daaamn reaction of the season, and Shade one of the best closing lines.
Not bad, peoples. Not bad.
Daaamn. And after all the Eclipso-induced hell that Mr. Deisinger survived last season...
I think I especially liked...
"Who's Jack Bauer?" —Arlo Glass
[looks of dude? seriously?] —everyone else
Arlo don't know Jack. Yet.
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.
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.
This is kinda like a two-episode prelude a few months before Day Seven. Perhaps not entirely necessary to watch and understand Day Seven, but the bit of background is definitely helpful.
That, and any excuse to watch Jack save some people and fight off an evil strike team is good enough for me.
My name is Jack Bauer. For twenty months, I was stranded in a Chinese political prison with only one goal: survive. Now I will fulfill my President's pleading wish: to use every skill at my disposal and bring down those who are attacking my country. To do this, I must become someone else. I must become something else.
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?
The weird choppy visual of the worlds coming within "sight" of each other, like some sort of TV signal being erratically interrupted, was odd. I very much doubt something like that would look so sharply back-and-forth choppy. But, IMO, that's a relatively small complaint in yet another solid segment of the story.
A larger complaint might be: Why does no one seem to remember the existence of others who might be able to help: Kara, Barry, Jefferson, etc? That story-hole has been annoying me much more, lately.
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.
2022-01-01T00:00:00Z2022-12-31T23:59:59Z