A bit too on the nose in their attempts to poke the issue on darkly designed terms of service and deepfake, especially in light of the Hollywood actor and screenwriter protest (perhaps even inspired by it). The episode leans heavily toward being a meta humor, but it doesn't really work well. Annie Murphy does her best, and I believe Salma Hayek too, but they were given a rather one-dimensional, uninspiring script. As the episode ended I realized Charlie Brooker is the writer. That kinda explains the weak episode.
James Gunn really liked the idea of shoving stuff into people's mouth huh. He did it in The Suicide Squad, he did it again here.
What a very strong start for the series. This is what The New Mutants (the failed X-Men spinoff) should've been.
Enough world-building that it feels in the same world as The Boys, enough The Boys bloody mess and infallible supes where anyone can die at anytime, while at the same time having its own unique touch with its high-school/university kids drama and a kickstart to some twisted mystery that made the supes as crazy as they are since a young age. Every character is established really well and efficiently. Looking forward to the next episode.
This eps and the pilot should've been the same episode. It's only becoming quite clear where the episode is headed.
Two episodes so far, and they spent too much time on still shots seemingly to show character's expression and general mood of the situation. That could work if they've gone a bit further in the episodes, but we're still on eps. 2 where we don't know or don't care about each characters. There's no world-building as well. What we know so far about Winden is it's just a small town in the middle of forest with a nuclear plant heavily guarded where no significant crime has happened.
So that's a lot of time wasted.
Outlandish episode especially for a pilot. I like that the premise rests on a real life event, the so-called Piggate of David Cameron, which is a rumor of him getting intimate with a dead pig. The tense is well made. The way the reveal is done is also surprisingly nice. There's a few noticeable plot hole but nothing too distracting.
My only complain about this episode is the message it's trying to come across: a rather tired cliche of government surrendering to the demands of social media. It overestimates the so-called "power of social media". The dynamics as the story goes on is interesting - there is constant ping pongs between the government and the people (social media), the play between the media and the government, and the government getting live feedback through a soldier camera during the raid.
However the notion that government can submit to social media is a tired cliche that have been proven wrong for quite some time after Arab Spring. As we can see from Russia, China, Indonesia, Philippine, heck even USA, government always has the most deployable resource to influence information in social media. From political influencers and bots, to memes. I don't think the "slow, bureaucratic government" trope still fits well in this information age. As we adjust to the speed of information, so does the government.
So while the technical aspect is nice, the message is a tired cliche, which strikes me as the weakest.
Is this episode written by 16 years old?
This episode wanted to be Seven Samurai but ended up as that terrible The Walking Dead episode where everyone gets slaughtered (they're not though in Mandalorian, since this is a Disney series).
There is no development and no build up at all in this episode. Like the previous episode, everything is self-contained. All are introduced and resolved in this same episode. A lot of things happened in this episode but nothing actually contributes to the plot - except for exposition dump.
The bandit raid is a terribly weak, villain of the week setup. They just show up as some evil nuisances - no motives, no goals at all. The Mando teams up with an ex-rebel, which debunks a tired cliche, but at this point this feels like a try-hard attempt to make The Mando as a morally righteous hero. There is a half-assed attempts at romance here, but it feels forced as it happens so sudden. Despite being self-contained (or maybe because it is) the episode lacks closure by the end, and the nifty little scene regarding one stray bounty hunter seems like something that appears just because they still have several episodes to go.
The dialogues are terrible: it's a tonne of exposition dumps. I don't have any idea why the writers think it makes sense for the characters to suddenly ask a stranger, "when was your last time you open your helmet?" and, in return, open up a heart-to-heart "hey I got a tragic story" past to a stranger. The banters with Gina Carano's character is okay, but it feels like they have to slip backstory every now and then. As if they're not having a real, human conversation. Every dialogue feels so forced and hurried as if they have to make it fit into this episode.
Also, it seems like they have no idea what an AT-ST is. It's a vehicle, not a droid.
This actually is an overall decent finale. The tense in Camina's fleet is good. The Rocinante battle is good. Naomi's rescue is good. The reveal on the end was also good. However there's one reason that makes the episode feels like a jumble of choppily edited scenes: everything involving Alex's death.
I don't take issue with it being sudden and abrupt, as many deaths are. But everyone feels really disconnected from that one incident that should have affected at least all the main casts. Alex just died, but Holden and Naomi spent their time to listen to Naomi's supposed farewell (and spent minutes on it). Amos was more eager to bring Peaches instead of mourning his close friend; even worse he was only informed about Alex's death off screen. For a fellow Martian and somebody who has spent quite a time with Alex, Bobbie seems largely unaffected at all. And Alex, well... The only tribute they gave to this incident is a plaque, which makes for some emotional moment, but that's it. Heck, that part where Holden talked to Naomi to rekindle the events almost feels like Holden breaking the fourth wall to explain to viewers due to how abrupt it is handled.
It almost feels like the event is not supposed to happen, and the showrunners edited in last minutes.
This season has been nothing but a Naomi season that leads to a reunion of Rocinante crew. That incident stuck like a sore thumb, making the supposedly joyful event with all crews gathering feels really emotionally detached. Not to mention that, barring the reveal at the end, most events still happen off screen. Just like most things that happened this season. We don't get to see the impact of something big happening.
So despite being an overall decent episode, this finale closes the relatively most mediocre season The Expanse has produced. I'd even say that the quality is even lower than Season 4. The first four episodes were nice, but it went downhill and stagnated really fast.
The beginning of the episode left me wishing we could've seen more of this side of Star Wars: regular stormtroopers doing their job, getting into action, and all the unseen dynamics rarely mentioned in the mainstream film trilogies. We did have something in that vein: Republic Commando explored the lives of elite Republic clone troopers; Jedi Academy had us follow the lives of youngling under tutelage of Luke's academy; the original Battlefront showed us the transitioning of a republic to an empire through the eyes of the soldiers.
It's the lives of the mundane, the less than extraordinary, yet still gripping and intriguing. They let us dive deeper to the world of Star Wars beyond the flashy buzzing of lightsabers and spectacles of the magical force.
The Mandalorian wished it could be one of those. Unfortunately, it failed terribly.
In episode 5, @ShrimpBoatSteve has said that the series has became too predictable, and I agree - the finale shows how predictable the whole season is. https://trakt.tv/comments/264475
After the long flashback which most parts we've already seen in previous episodes - seemingly making the scenes feels almost like a filler - The Mandalorian episode 8 seems reluctant to set their foot to the ground with its notable world-building as previously seen in Eps 7 and Eps 1 to 3. As I have previously said, after everyone gangs on The Mando (Eps 7), Baby Yoda/Little One's background (who Baby Yoda is, why is he wanted, what the Imperial remnants wanted to do with him, etc) remains unresolved. As the episode shows us Moff Gideon rising with a darksaber in hand, yet another reference moment: every substance the show can possibly offer will be dealt only in Season 2 (or, worse, more).
Stormtroopers in Star Wars have been infamous for their terribly inaccurate shots, but in this episode it feels like their incompetency is amplified to the point of parody and, of course, plot armors. Scout troopers - which is supposed to be snipers - can't shoot droid right in front of their eyes. Instead of coming in squads, troopers only come individually (incinerators burning the building, a few troopers slaughtered by the blacksmith, a few others guarding the tunnel, and the most stupid of all, Moff Gideon waiting for nightfall just for no reason) which makes for a convenient plot armors for our heroes to trek on their way.
Of course, there are casualties - what is a story without something seemingly at a stake? - but it is nothing more than devices to delay the heroes from their trek. Taking cues from Eowyn's "I am no man" of Lord of the Rings fame, in less than moment-defining fashion IG-11, which himself came as a sort of droid ex machina, said that it is no "living being" while resurrecting The Mando from fatal injuries, remedied every possible threat with its healing devices.
Antagonists can be dumb, but there is a limit to dumbness that can suspend audience's disbelief. This episode has antagonist almost feels like they are intentionally dumb and there is nothing really at a stake when everything can be easily remedied.
This episode is not the worst, certainly, as the action sequence is flashy and satisfying. The one near ending where The Mando utilizes a neat jet jump is clever and actually can show the extent Star Wars can be when the director wanted to think creatively beyond the force. Knights of the Old Republic and the aptly named Star Wars Bounty Hunter played with clever tricks similar to this once a while, and the trick doesn't feel cheap as they stand on a very good storytelling.
The Mandalorian's flashy action, regardless, seems to serve only as explicit fanservice - a style over substance.
There are plenty of action, which, by itself, is quite well-done. The consistently hardly imposing threats, unfortunately, dull down the possible thrill those scenes can offer - in a typical corny action heroes such as Gerard Butler's character in Has Fallen trilogy. The scene, for example, with The Blacksmith let us peek into the martial arts capability a Mandalorian can exhibit. But the rather plot armor of incompetent stormtroopers leave no stake at hand; the martial arts dexterity looks more like a cheap imitation of main trilogies of Jedi's acrobatic feats.
Redemption ultimately ends with nothing to be redeemed about, as the people in this show seems to be forever clumsy. From start to finish, everyone made questionable decisions. Nobody blasted the Mando's group with that large amount of stormtroopers. Nobody checked whether Moff Gideon is dead when the fighter was down (Gideon also miraculously survive the crash), with Carga, a supposedly veteran bounty hunter, lightheartedly saying they are already free of the Empire's grasp.
Everything people said in this episode, just like many episodes prior, are not crafted as if the actors were having human conversation. They were rushed by time - they seemingly appear to be set in motion by the plot's demands, to say X so Y happens; to say A when B moment happened.
This episode almost feels like a filler to conclude the dragging episodes this season has been. Screenwriting-wise, this whole season is nothing but bait-and-switch to justify next season(s).
There is much to be said about this kind of terrible business model, where series is written with nothing exactly in mind but to find reasons to continue producing the franchise - the same business model Disney has been using on their MCU franchise and Star Wars films/spinoffs - but the crowds of gladly willing moms awing for Baby Yoda and nerd dads geeking over Star Wars reference doesn't leave enough rooms for those commentaries.
Finally something actually happened after they dragged the season for absolutely nothing.
After four mediocre episodes in a row with three of them being filler, this episode is decent enough. Those previous episodes serve no actual purpose other than waiting for the plot to trigger itself by that call.
The dialogues in this episode could be better and so could the way the scenes are cut, especially for the first half. People seem too eager to join The Mando in his quest for the sake of moving the story. However the last 5-10 the minutes is quite watchable with enough tense. The brute killing in the last scene seems to suggest they're going with the "evil Empire" cliche, but I wish they could do better than that next episode.
It seems like the story just started to be set in motion and we will be left with more questions as Season 1 ends, which unfortunately seems to be Disney+ business model: just make cute Baby Yoda stuff for moms and Star Wars reference for dads, figure things out later in Season 2.
On positive notes, it's nice that they attempt to do more world-building like shocktroopers having signature tattoo, each Imperial province having their own insignia, and the Imperial warlord trying to convince people that the world is better with colonialism.
This episode reminds us that The Mandalorian is a Disney product.
The Mandalorian for no reason became soft and sentimental. The only reason possible for this change is the "cute factor" shown more to the audience than the character, just like a Disney show would do. For someone who is supposed to be on this sort of job for a while, breaking a guild code just for some random child is a stupid thing to do - especially for someone who is supposed to uphold honor. The hostiles - supposedly trained soldiers and mercenaries - are nothing but incompetent mooks. Other Mandalorians show up as deus ex machina, almost feels like they are there just so Disney can sell more toys.
There is no build up. Everything in this episode is self-contained. From the appearances of other Mandalorian to the whistling bird, it's all used vulgarly in this episode.
This episode is such a huge let down. And we're still on the third episode.
Weird season finale. After all the build up, everything feels anticlimactic. Right down from A-Train--the reason all this mess started--to Homelander.
Before we get to that, let's talk a bit about how weird the whole prison sequences play out. The joke, the attempted rescue, the shootout, all feel really weak especially compared to well-directed sequences in prior episodes. First of all there is really no need for some jocular banter that went for about two minutes or more. Not to mention the pauses. It feels dragging. This includes the attempted rescue which continues the joke.
Second, the shootout looks really weird. We've seen Frenchie did his weird stuff when it comes to the Female/Kimiko, but this doesn't seem logical. He is a professional killer, why the hell he keeps on showing up his head to look at Kimiko when getting shot at? Is he looking to die? Not to mention he got shot prior, on the stomach, how the hell he can walk and help Kimiko walk that easily? Hughie getting to shoot randomly while saying "I'm sorry! I'm sorry" and miraculously hit trained soldiers is even worse. Even the Starlight rescue looks like a cheap deus ex machina for the plot to goes forward.
The Boys had been attempting to mock the quip-ridden superhero genre--that is, the Marvel Cinematic Universe--but the whole prison sequences makes The Boys looks exactly like an MCU episode.
Now we get to the supes.
The Deep. His subplot has been standing on its for quite a while now. There seems to be no direct connection with the bigger plot that has been going on. And this episode his subplot stays that way, while still giving him enough screen time to focus on his emotion. I'm not sure if that is something we wanted to see for a finale. It feels like something to be saved for future seasons. Even if that doesn't mean it's bad, they could have cut it way shorter than what they did.
Then the thing with A-Train feels very anticlimactic. He just popped up there out of nowhere. We were previously shown his desire, his post-power syndrome, his attempt to be relevant. Then in the supposedly final showdown, we finally see Hughie vs A-Train head on. But we don't see A-Train. We see an injured A-Train, a traumatic supe in his mental and physical breakdown. Now this still could be an interesting, emotional confrontation between our protagonist with the one who murdered his sweetheart. Not to mention, the presence of Starlight could make this dynamic interesting--is Hughie done for, how would he cope between his past and present emotion? What we get instead, however, is a slow motion capture with very minuscule combat and almost none of emotional engagement. Then A-Train just went, just like that.
I feel like they are saving him for future episodes, but this being the finale--the culmination of all emotion that has been built up so far--makes this confrontation very lacking. It feels like we are still on Eps 5 or 6, but with worse pacing.
Now Homelander. He is our another main driver of the plot. Everything that has happened so far always leads us back to him. His dynamics with Madelyn the CEO has been a bizarre Oedipus complex-like situation, What happened between them in this episode is actually very unexpected, though one may sense that it would eventually came to this point through the clues scattered so far. This result should have provided a surprising reveal. However, as it turns out, there seems to be something hollow in the encounter. Given the interesting portrayal of their faux-mother-son-sexual-relationship in the first half of the episode, the second half seems to speed up the climax. As if they were being chased by some deadline, that they have to cut it short, while at the same time giving enough spaces for Homelander to give his, in Maeve's words in previous episodes, "boring speeches."
It feels climactic and inconclusive at the same time. And I guess the same can be said with many encounters in this episode. Starlight with Meave. Billy with the CIA. Hughie with Starlight at the church. It feels like they have to speed it up--to shove in the dialogues--for the sake of putting the plot forward. It's shaky and unreliable.
Now, the end of the episode leads us to a quite intriguing reveal. It's not the direction we--or at least, I--expected to take in the season. However, with such really weak build up throughout the episode, the ending feels like forced. As if they have prepared them to be this way, but still unsure how they would bring it up to this moment. As such, while the scene itself is (should be?) surprising, there is not much surprise when I watch the event unfolds. It's less of a "wow, so this is it?" than a "oh okay, so this happens, and then?"
Credits where it's due: Anthony Starr as Homelander and Karl Urban as Billy Butcher display terrific performances in this episode. Especially Homelander with his extremely erratic, unpredictable behavior. But that alone is not enough to pardon the sloppiness of this episode.
Perhaps because they, like MCU and other superhero movies, seem to busy themselves to prepare for the upcoming season instead of trying to give audience a closure of the plot. And that exact reason is what makes superhero movies went boring for these past years. They are focusing to build an universe, instead of writing a good narrative. Unfortunately, this episode robs the fresh air that The Boys has breathe for quite some time. While I hope for the continuation of the series, I am less excited.
The episode continues with the clumsiness of last week's episode. Now not only we get to see Carol's teenager mood-swing, we get to see Daryl's too. The usually calculating hunter now risk himself and his comrade's life a few days after Denise got murdered. Daryl wanting to finish Dwight once and for all, that is understandable. After all it's not only once Daryl seems to be reckless and going in his way. But him needing to wait a few days after Denise's demise just to fit in with Carol's disappearance seems kinda forced. Not to mention everyone seems to become so reckless by wanting to be involved in the search party. I mean they have a home to protect. Why every bits of them seems so motivated to get out of their home?
That said, this episode leaves us with an interesting cliff-hanger. We all know, especially comic book readers, that someone is going to die in the next episode. But who? Carol, Daryl, and Glenn are all out of there. There is also Michonne. The episode spent quite a time to give Maggie and Rick more screen time (which usually means someone close to them is going to die in the next eps), so it's kind of difficult to predict which of them is going to leave the show.
This is certainly not The Boys' strongest season finale. The plots feel awkwardly resolved and the key plot points they've been developing just ended up as nothing. It feels really underwhelming. Of course there are some positive notes about this finale as well but bear with me, let's go through three most crucial problems for me.
First, Black Noir. What a disappointment. They've been building up Black Noir for at least four out of eight episodes in this season. They even showed him as a person, a real individual with emotion and vivid imagination this season after the previous two he had only been a mute killing machine. And he went down just like that. Sure the conversation between him and Homelander was tense - but that was it. Unfortunately, Black Noir's imaginative flashback, as I've suspected in the previous episodes, serve as nothing more than plot device to move the story forward.
Second, Soldier Boy. The hunt for the ultimate weapon to destroy Homelander ultimately just ended up in vain. Where did it go, the riled up spirit of The Boys in bringing Homelander down? They have the weakest excuses to portray this change of heart. With M.M.'s plot, well, I guess, okay, as he has his own personal vendetta against Soldier Boy, it's still understandable. This is to put aside that they went with the "Soldier Boy kills my family" plot too easily (we didn't get to ever see what actually happened and it's brushed off as nothing more than "racism", which is quite disappointing since there were plenty of rooms for flashback this season).
But then there's Butcher. He ended up beating down Soldier Boy because Soldier Boy hit his kid? I mean, sure it's his kid, but where's the man-with-a-mission-to-kill-Homelander-no-matter-what-it-takes that we've seen for all these three seasons? If Butcher was a little smarter - and he actually is with his cunning tactics and all! - he could've stopped Soldier Boy for a while, let Homelander pats Ryan's back, then when Ryan is out of sight just finish off Homelander by then. Soldier Boy doesn't even seem to hold anything against Ryan (especially after he knows Ryan is Butcher's son). The whole charade about beating up Soldier Boy is a really weak plot point just to let Homelander alive to be the ultimate big bad in next seasons.
Still here? We'll get to Homelander but let's talk about Maeve briefly. What's her end goal? At first she seems to be an ally ready to take down Homelander, but when it comes to actually facing Homelander she can't see the forest for the trees. Rather than staying true to her goal to kill Homelander, she was just absorbed with herself, punching Homelander around only to get herself beaten. Sure, Maeve isn't the most tactical ones, but she's been supplying Butcher with everything so far.
Last, Homelander. As soon as the fight ends, my biggest question is: what would be Homelander's yet another reason to NOT kill Butcher, Hughie, and co? Our Boys have been picking a fight with him since Season 1. It's clear our protagonists are pests to him, but he keeps giving them leeway. At this point isn't it easier to just get rid of them all when Ryan's not looking to prevent our Boys messing up with him again? There's a fan speculation that predicted Homelander is going to be depowered, then he's going to live the whole Season 4 under Vought's protection while our Boys track down the biggest big bad: Compound V. I think I like that better since it's going to show how Homelander will struggle with his weakness and humanity. But I guess the showrunners wanted to keep on getting Homelander more unhinged and even more unhinged and violent, as shown when he lasered a guy in a parade. With this direction, I'm expecting the show to end in a high note with chaos everywhere like perhaps in the comics. I just hope they don't prolong this much further - maybe Season 5 at most.
Then there's some plot devices like Tempo V, powering the army with V, etc that are left unexplored, which feels a bit like nothing more than filler to get the plot moves forward. And the fact that they kind of go with cliffhanger in this finale reminds me of Season 1's rather weak, cliffhanger-ish finale as well (perhaps that's their pattern: the real season finale is in the even-numbered seasons).
That said, this episode is still quite entertaining as it kept me guessing where the plot would go. It's not as frantic and riled up as Herogasm (Eps 6) and the direction is not quite satisfying, but it's fine. The theme of this season is "family", they stay true to that up to the finale. Soldier Boy's dialogue with Homelander is good. Talk about how toxic upbringing would make you become toxic as well, while thinking you can do better than your parents.
I like that they are planning to use the political plot with Neuman in Season 4 (I thought it was going to be wasted after the nice development in Season 2) as The Boys' forte is taking a jab at politics and corporatism. I do hope we will see what Stan Edgar envisioned as Vought "getting out of the supe business in the next five years."
I also like what they did with Ryan, coming together with Homelander, and the way Homelander is normalizing Ryan to violence. This is the consequence of Butcher's acting asshole-ish to everyone and sure hope our Boys will see the consequences of his action, especially with the sweet reunion with everyone at the table in the end (feels like the calm before the storm).
All in all, not a bad finale, but a bit too disappointing in the way they resolve the plots that have been built up all this season.
This finale feels like not just a finale for Season 2, but Season 1 as well. It wraps up the plot that has been worked on since Season 1, and in some ways turning it to full circle, e.g. Butcher's quest for Becca, A-Train subplot, Hughie's self-discovery, and the rest of The Boys's relationship with each other.
As usual, The Boys does the best job when they take a jab on current corporatist-political climate.
“People love what I have to say. They believe in it," Stormfront confidently said. "They just don’t like the word Nazi." A racist superhero is Vought's darling - one that casually screams lingos like "white genocide" to young boys. Seemingly contradictory considering Stan Edgar, who would be target of racism, is Vought's CEO. But Edgar insisted that it is not about him. "I can’t lash out like some raging, entitled maniac," Stan Edgar responded as he smiled when confronted on what he did, "That’s a white man’s luxury." Anger drives demands for securitization. Demands for securitization drives demands for Compound V. Vought just "play with the cards we're dealt." Like Maeve's bisexuality that Vought plays, racism is just another card to eventually drive profit. Be it racism or empowerment, they are all smoke and mirrors.
But of course the thickest smoke and mirror is not a mere woke capitalism - something we can already obviously see. The thickest smoke is one that makes us think that within this war of attrition, another hero existed, and they would fight for our cause. We follow them as they march - our symbol of hope. This episode reveals something that has been foreshadowed very early in this season: "it's a fucking coup from the inside," said Raynor, before her head got blown into bits. Neuman, an obvious parody of Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, raised into the spotlight as an opposition toward Vought and Homelander. But as it is revealed that it was her who was blowing people's head, and she has blown the church leader's head too as soon as she knew he has files on supes, it is revealed that she is actually a controlled opposition by Vought. Like the politicians who hail from Democratic Party, a part of ruling oligarchy, The Boys takes another jab that we should really never trust heroes, be it in the form of supe or another.
This reveal is also a very nice setup as it closes the arcs on Season 1 and 2, and prepares for another arc coming in Season 3. It gets interesting as I had myself asking, "can Homelander end up being our hope now?" This sort of dilemma is what piqued my interest in The Boys; we can't really easily label one as evil and another as good, as - like in real life - today's enemy can be tomorrow's ally, and vice versa.
That being said, I do not think this episode is a perfect ten. Butcher's quest for his wife, for example, was quite unsatisfying. Becca, despite having a lot of screen time, does not possess actual agency, and more like a side character who happens to be involved in Butcher's bigger story. Despite revolving around his infatuation with his supposedly long-dead wife, the way the subplot climaxes leaves much to be desired as Butcher seemingly sidesteps Becca's death. How would Butcher reconcile with such heavily emotional feeling, after years of losing her, finding her, and now he is losing her again? How would Ryan, her son, react to the loss of the only guardian he ever knew in all his life? Those questions remain unresolved. We get to see more time of Hughie and Starlight bonding - while it resolves the tension in their relationship, there is not much resolution or development going on in that aspect.
In addition to that, while watching girls trio beating up Nazi is fun to watch (though it seems to lean more on the cathartic side too much) - and especially funny since it is another parody at Marvel, the forced "girl power" scene in Endgame - Maeve's appearance seems a bit too convenient, deus ex machina that resolves not just the issue with Stormfront, but also Homelander. The Boys has been sort of weak in the last three episodes in employing deus ex machina, something I wish could be worked on more on the next season.
All in all though, this is a much better finale than Season 1's.
Aside from the (expected?) surprise in the beginning, there is nothing much going on in this episode. Alexandrians still adapting to the new situation, zombies still wailing on the wall, Ron still hating on Carl, and Father Gabriel still showing up as additional filler. IMO there are too many characters depicted that it feels a bit disjointed and lacking further progress. Something happens in the end, but that's it--cliffhanger again. It's really unfortunate as I thought we've got past the filler episode last week.
I still wonder why the heck don't they stab the zombies on the gate one by one like they did in prison back then?
Others might say that this is not as intense as previous episode, which might be true in terms of action and moving the plot forward. But I find this episode is still intense in a different way: more emotional investment.
"Family" and its unfortunately related cousin "abuse" seem to be the the theme that knits together different story arcs of the episode: the obvious Butcher flashback, Kimiko and Frenchie, MM with his family, Soldier Boy, and Homelander.
The episode kind of speeds up the pace in showing Soldier Boy's villainy through a recreation/imagination of Black Noir's flashback; although I'm not too comfortable that they present Noir's flashback at face value (instead of being an unreliable narrator), I think it still kinda works.
It is shown that Soldier Boy is an abusive, selfish bully with anger issues you would typically see among band leads or celebrity groups. While some have defended Soldier Boy's action by comparing him to Homelander ("at least Soldier Boy is not psychotic, emotionally unstable narcissist! He is a normal person not grown in lab!"), I think they missed the point of the show: the biggest issue here is exactly what would happen if people with power (influence) have additional power (literal superpower) while being protected by multi-billion dollar company. They possess all the impunity to wreak havoc. Like MM said, "no one should have the right to wield such power."
This theme of abuse is explicated with Butcher's flashback. No one is inherently "good" or "evil" - you are shaped by your upbringing. As the scenes between his memories, his reflection, and his projection in current time are cut seamlessly back and forth, Butcher slowly realizes that he mirrors the man he hated the most. Yet he fully accepts his succumbing to that darkness while bringing Hughie with him through his personal vendetta against the supes - not caring about the risk towards others who he claimed he loved. Even with parents, one may grow to be a contemptuous person if they live in an abusive family, and it's a cycle that is very difficult to break. Butcher's flashback is certainly the spotlight of the episode for me.
Even with Kimiko's story in the background (her saying that V only explicates what kind of person you are), considering that we've been shown how the character's social lives shaped them into what they are now - Kimiko with her abducted kid background, Hughie's insecurity with his zero to hero job, etc - the message stays strong, countering the superhero cliche of inherently morally good and evil person.
I'm hoping this dynamic could be further explored in the next episode (or season) with the Soldier Boy and Homelander encounter when it's revealed that Soldier Boy is Homelander's father, at least he feels so. An abusive father meets a narcissist kid-who'd-wanna-be-a-father. The ending of this episode becomes revealing when tied up to the earlier convesation between Homelander and Maeve: with Homelander echoing Soldier Boy's words that he "used to dream of having kids" with Maeve, it becomes apparent in this episode that the relationship between Homelander and Maeve (and Soldier Boy and Crimson Countess) it is not something exactly out of pure love.
"Having kids" is not a romantic statement: it's a purely masculine, self-centered ego of having someone of your blood - of your similarity - that you can be proud of. Who the partner is doesn't matter; they are only means to that end. And in that Soldier Boy shares something in common with Homelander as shown through his delight of accepting Homelander readily as his son, albeit lab-grown. He only wants to see a better version of him.
Last but not least, I love the jab at corporate this episode still throws. Ashley spinning breaking news about Starlight in a similar way Disney would spin stories about their abuse and mismanagement; and that A-Train being zombified, again, with the heart of Blue Hawk embedded in his body, serving only as Vought's puppet. I'm not sure if that's the most satisfying end to A-Train's arc, but seeing his disappointed, grim look, his lack of agency, I guess the character suffers a lot. I just hope this will be the last of his arc and the show doesn't squeeze him further.
That said, with the reveal at the ending, I am not sure I am 100% satisfied as I was expecting Soldier Boy bringing down Homelander, or rendering him powerless by the end of the season. Looks like Homelander will continue to be the main villain. I just hope they don't prolong the "mentally unstable" trope too much and find ways to keep the show interesting. Looking forward to the finale.
It's decent. I mean, I understand that they want to focus on character development and team building in this episode. But it seems pretty rushed at certain points. Like: 1) when Economos shows up with a chainsaw in an instant. It almost feels like deus ex machina; 2) when Adebayo discovers that Murn is a butterfly. How does Murn even know that Adebayo is wearing X-ray vision? The whole sequences just felt pretty rushed to me, even down to the Adebayo being thrown; 3) The resolution with Chief Locke and Detective Song. There was this tension building then the sequences switch back to Peacemaker and the gang.
It's obvious what they're trying to do, and I know they don't take themselves too seriously, but it feels like they kinda take a shortcut to do that. Even the action sequences are lacking and look a bit low budget (camera shakes and the poor explosion effect). They wasted more time on toilet jokes and quippy banters. The crude jokes worked in the first few episodes but it has ran out of its novelty by the 5th episode. It's watchable, still, but I guess only if you have that much time to kill.
The most obvious best part in the episode is of course Stormfront. The show doesn't pull punches. Stormfront makes a really good portrayal of today libertarianism: social media savvy, all about women empowerment a la Sophia Amoruso's "Girlboss", but does not care with the have nots, and is extremely prejudiced towards marginalized groups (e.g. ethnic minorities). Casting a female Stormfront (instead of a male one like in the comics) is a good touch as it highlights the point that without class or racial sensitivities, you'd get people that talk of empowerment as long as it only benefits them.
However there is another part, a slightly minor scene in the big move that drives the plot forward. When it is revealed that Starlight successfully leaks Compound V to the media, A-Train confronts her. She justifies her action: "there is much more than having good cars, houses, etc" (the things possible when the supes rose into stardom). Disappointed, A-Train cut her short, "the only people who say that are the people who grew up with money."
This short conversation shows what The Boys can do best: nuance. A-Train might be a jerk, but he too is a victim of the system. Like the blacks Stormfront murdered later in the episode, A-Train came from lower class background. His supe power helped him to climb the socioeconomic ladder, being an athlete in place of his brother and of course being a part of The Seven. This is in contrast to Starlight, who was raised by relatively affluent mother - who was obsessed with getting her child into stardom herself - always in spotlight and sufficient wealth since a young age. Starlight yearns for a meaningful life; A-Train desires a luxurious life he never got before his rise to supehero status.
A-Train was introduced as a jerk, no-good drug abuser; but after the anticlimactic conclusion in S1, with limited screen time he's been having in S2, we are shown more layers to A-Train's perspective. The show does this sort of nuance well with Maeve too.
The only obviously antagonist in the last episode is Homelander - as he went into more a narcissitic, mentally unstable character that may explode at any given time. But I hope even with his unpredictable deranged action we can still see the way he handles conflicting expectations he will face in the following episodes, esp. with the appearance of Stormfront, like when we saw him juggling between his individuality and personal branding in S1.
Everything just went so abrupt and rushed in this episode.
This episode shows up the determination of two most weak (combat abilities speaking) characters in Walking Dead, trying to prove themselves that they are able fighters like their comrades are. As the usual cliche, this went into disaster. I usually would "pardon" such attempt on cliche plot (weak people trying to prove themselves), but this episode is really difficult to find excuse for. Especially in the case with the person Daryl and Rosita is guarding: Denise. They know Denise is far from an able combatant--so why do they seem so reluctant to, in Rosita's words, "babysit" her? Not to mention how Denise is such an important asset to Alexandria for her actual skill: medic and surgery.
Another one, the very rushed and abrupt decision of Carol to leave Alexandria. We've seen her psychological dilemma of killing people in previous episode, questioning if her ruthlessness and pragmatism is right. We've seen the dilemma through her action, her emotion. It was one of a great episode. But in this episode? We see almost nothing of Carol and suddenly she left Alexandria! We only get to see her kissing Tobin for a few seconds, sitting on a bench lamenting of something, regretting something after Denise was killed, and then BAM! "Sorry guys I can't kill people anymore, I'm leaving Alexandria." This makes the usual calm, calculating Carol look like a teenager in emotional mood-swing. Even worse, we don't even get to see her mood-swing.
Credits where its due though: the part where Eugene bites the Survivor's dick is so unexpectedly hilarious. Eugene really got into the next level with that move. Still--that doesn't save this episode of its clumsiness.
After last week's great episode, this episode is really a disappointment.
It's relieving to see the Alexandrians putting up a fight, hand-to-hand, against the zombie menace. But if all this is triggered by Rick's sudden madness, it begs the ultimate question: why the hell didn't he do it since the infestation begin?!
Rick just needs a few experienced fighters (Glenn, Michonne, Abraham, etc maybe Aaron too). Back in Season 6 episode 5, they should have stood in front of the gate and cut the walkers to bits one by one like they just did in this episode. It should have not cost anybody's life--not to mention the life of a woman dearest to Rick! No need to gather the zombies far away and causing unintended consequences. Maybe all this is a ruse by Rick, to teach the Alexandrians a will to fight. A will to power. But it doesn't make much sense considering the cost and risk he ultimately pays. Especially since Rick is ultra-protective and should be calculative enough to realize that.
Putting that aside, with the Wolves leader dead, and Jesse's two annoying kids also dead too, I think the show kinda putting off the tense too early and too easily. The annoying little kid poses a classic, albeit cliched, zombie movie annoyance (scared little kids who ruin everything) and his older brother (Ron) could've been some sort of a rival to Carl (or a potential enemy, I mean he already bears deep hatred to Carl and Rick). Ron could've helped Carl's interesting character development. Perhaps Ron can be a Shane to Carl, leaving the audience the feeling of, "this guy is gonna give trouble but we're not sure how and when." The same goes with the Wolves leader. The show spent quite a time to built their characters for the audience to expect more. They could've made an useful, interesting tension like we had with Shane.
But they're all dead now, so it's kinda a waste, I guess.
Decent pilot. The episode takes its time to introduce the characters and possible tension. It pays off in the last half of the episode - the landing sequences is quite tense - however I think the episode could've asked a better alternative history if the landing actually fails. Still wonder where they will take us from here though.
The difference between a more mature anime with those less mature is the way they portray their villains. I love the way they portray Asimov's girlfriend as a person with hope and desire to get a better life, shown simply through a short, humane conversation between her and Spike. At the same time, it shows death and violence only the most necessary: despite a lot of shootouts, you can count the casualties, even among the goons - most who survive are saved by cartoony knockouts/running away - making death has more impact when it does happen.
Other than that, this episode has slick animation especially on the action, and the plot moves tight, establishing our main characters rather quickly. The ending also defines this show right from the start: a bittersweet, tragic life of those who has to deal with the underworld.
Great pilot.
Nothing makes sense in this episode.
Dialogues feel forced. Like the previous episode, everything is shoved just to make the plot moves. Especially terrible every time the rookie has a conversation.
This episode and the previous feel like series of unrelated events. Nothing literally happened in these two episodes. There are some cool throwbacks and references (cantina scene, dune sea, Amy Sedaris blurping Star Wars jargons, etc) but it's all fanservice. It appears the show is directed by people familiar with Star Wars universe but has zero sense of screen writing.
Excellent parallel between Kovacs' torture and Ortega's family reunion. Both show how technology is utilized in the staples of our lives (an interrogation in Kovacs' case and a holiday celebration in Ortega's). Both also has similar theme of treading between life and death.
Kovacs' torture sequence can be done a bit better (especially the "going to next screen" moment, as it seems to be a bit rushed) but it does the job well enough. The most interesting part in this episode for me is Ortega's family reunion, tackling back the question asked since the first episode, "if you can prolong life by simply changing your bodies, would you still do it?" Also, grandma resleeving in a muscular white punk is just too funny. Props to the actor.
Who would expect what Negan did? Abraham's death was expected, and it put audience to relieve. It was a terrible death, yes, but "at least it's not Daryl/Glenn". However, Negan's first swing is a false flag. The producer surely knows this, and Negan swings his second swing: toward Glenn.
Like this is not enough, Negan pulls another stunt. That is, if Rick wants to have the remaining crew alive, he got to cut Carl's arm. When Rick finally put himself together to have his son's arm cut off, suddenly Negan stops him, pulling a Binding of Isaac-esque situation: "you don't have to cut his arm, Rick, you just have to obey me, your god."
Even after months of gap between Season 6 and 7, this episode can bring the intensity, the brutality, and the hatred toward this Negan character. It's a needed start for this season.
Another attempt at playing with "god is boredd" trope. Nothing really new here. Just a good set design.
A rather slow series, and I've watched Altered Carbon, which I liked better. It's only after Eps 4 that we see a stake and the plot starts to move; the first three episodes were spent to kind of world-build and develop the characters, but it falters here and there. Unlike Altered Carbon, which was filled with intricate details that you might miss if you're not paying attention, I feel like i could've watched this series while doing something else. I guess this is a soap opera sci-fi thriller of the 2010s.
It's tense and gory in the usual The Boys fashion, although I feel like they just sped up everything in the beginning and previous episode so that they can have this "wreak havoc" all out in this episode.
As a season finale though... it feels like this IP is starting to show a similar symptoms to MCU: each ending has to be a setup for another season/series/film. It's a huge cliffhanger. It doesn't really settle the story with Marie and co, albeit they did close the arc and begin a new one. What happened to the school? What happened after the laser? Why the Guardians of Godolkin twist at the end - and how is it possible, with everyone there clearly witnessing who the villains were? It just raises more questions and feels like not making sense.
Additionally, some of the characters made some really terrible decisions with their hero syndrome, but I guess I can suspend the disbelief because they're still teenagers after all.
With Neuman around it's always an horror episode. It's kinda predictable how she would do it though, but the tense lingers in the whole episode - not knowing when exactly she will deliver some bloody justice. The most interesting part of this episode is however this connects to Marie Moreau, and directly serves as a plot point to (I assume) The Boys Season 4. I give it only a 7 because of how much of exposition dump the first half of the episode is though.
Not exactly sure what's wrong with the episode.
But I feel like the dream sequence has become an easy exposition dump for the writers. They did something similar in The Boys Season 3 when they had to explain Black Noir's flashback and everything that happened back then. Mixing up everyone's memory and conveniently have everything panned out like that is not a great storytelling.
The Sam x Emma moment was fine, but how everything was resolved quickly when the group came into a conflict is quite too convenient. The ending was quite interesting, but everything feels like a filler only that the writers can get into the point to drop that ending and get the characters to band together and speak against power. It's quite a weak setup - and a too easy one at that, especially given most, if not all, characters there were ambitious students who want to rise to the top, now they were willing to easily abandon all that?
Also, where did Dusty go? The 28 year-old that looks like a boy. They just kinda forget him.
