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matt_zimmerAlso reviews for the first Marvel Bend And Flex Short and the latest episode of Big Hero 6: The Series.
Runaways "Smoke And Mirrors"
Oh, no! Leslie's giving birth to the Omen!
Speaking of which, it strikes me as a bad omen to start off the season with a fake-out dream sequence. Granted, this is not unusual for a genre show, but it's always a bad move and particularly worrisome if it's the first scene back. I would think the series would want to make a stronger and more favorable impression with us.
It is really going to come in handy having a shapeshifter on the good guys' side.
I think Gert should at least be able to see that her dad is trying. Which is more than most of the parents.
Nico worries me greatly.
Catherine taking the rap for Darius is what she should have been doing from the beginning.
I loved the scene of Molly reaching Stacy.
Solid premiere, but the teaser sucked, and made it out like the episode would be worse than it was. ***1/2.
Runaways "The Great Escape"
Not on board.
The premise in this episode is SO far away from Runaways it's alarming. The show needs to get back to the kids on the run and against their parents. Stat. The alien stuff is NOT working. At all.
That being said, I REALLY like the low cut of Koralina's dress. I mean I really, REALLY like it.
Dale ain't so bad. It's time Gert got that straight. The stuff with Stacy coming back briefly was pretty cool too.
Not great. **1/2.
Runaways "Lord Of Lies"
Alex smiling on the video after learning his mother was dead was super creepy.
I somehow feel less bad at the last thing he said to his mother and much worse at the exact same time.
Speaking of low-cut tops, I also really dig Elizabeth Hurley's outfit. She's still got it and looks like a million bucks.
Tina's actress seems to be having so much fun. I don't blame her. Tina was such a drip in the first two seasons and now she's finally allowed to be funny. She's good at comedy too which is a plus.
Shocked they killed off Catherine. Not bad. ****.
Runaways "Rite Of Thunder"
This show is no longer about Runaways fighting their supervillain parents. And that's a darn shame.
For the record, the plan to kill the aliens was dumb to begin with for the reason Alex said. The second they die, they'll just leap into a new body. Nico's solution doesn't seem permanent to me but it will at least contain them for awhile, at least until the kids can figure out if they can be saved at all.
Tamar impressed me throughout the first part of the episode with her quick thinking and instant adaptability in a life-threatening situation. But then she lost a great deal of my respect for believing Karolina and Leslie called those medics. I do not like seeing smart characters do stupid things.
Speaking of which, what is up with Gert? I don't think she owes it to Chase to forgive him, but she at least owes him to respond to him.
Didn't like that. **1/2.
Runaways "Enter The Dreamland"
I have always felt dream sequence episodes are the given show's narrative running in place for an episode. I've yet to see a dream episode do anything revolutionary to the genre since at least Twin Peaks. Mostly they are an excuse for producers to do avant garde stuff the show isn't actually about, or put the characters through the unearned wringer with stuff that isn't actually happening. I am a strong believer that just because a trope is well-worn in comics or genre, it doesn't make it good. A LOT of science fiction does its own spin on storytelling ideas that have never or rarely worked under the misguided assumption that since every show before them did it, they are obligated to put their own stamp on it. Good storytelling doesn't work that way. Twin Peaks' dream stuff worked because it was an important part of the narrative and canon. Every other instance just forgets the dreams the next episode (even if this didn't) and they are usually never or rarely brought up again. You can see why I have disdain for this specific trope.
Nightmare Nico is scary but real-life Stacy is frightening on her own.
Morgaine Le Fey, huh? I was wondering who Elizabeth Hurley was playing.
I did like Victor convincing Chase to break the cycle of abuse. It's a good callback to season 1. But I didn't like much else about the episode.
This show has forgotten what it is supposed to be about. **.
Runaways "Merry Meet Again"
That was a little better, but the show has still gone completely off-brand.
There were a lot of disparate elements and sideplots so I'll do a brief run-through of the more interesting ones.
I like that Chase believes Max is equally in on the evil plans with Morgaine. Chase is a dope.
Speaking of dopes, Robert has always struck me as an utter fool. Last season he claimed people underestimated him. The reason is because he's usually so dumb.
Yes, Victor's UFO experience was just that ludicrous. And he has sex with Stacy? Ew.
Dale getting a little too close to the truth with Molly. Dale has pretty much become my favorite character at this point.
Geoffrey and Tamar? How the frell did THAT nonsense happen?
Nico is stupid for not taking Koralina's warnings seriously. And yet, she has a point that what she's doing with Morgaine is what Koralina did with Jonah. Except she's not going behind anyone's back.
This was better than most of the season but the show is still in serious trouble. ***1/2.
Runaways "Left-Hand Path"
I love Cloak and Dagger coming out of nowhere at the end. That was awesome.
I also laughed upon Dale suggesting couples therapy. They're back together now. You saw that coming, right? Dale and Stacy always had the healthiest relationship of all of the parents, so basically her cheating on him under the influence of mind control is worth couples counseling and nothing worse. I love that.
I didn't trust the douchey kid crushing on Molly, but to be honest, I've sort of watched her growing up, so I feel protective of her anyways, even if he hadn't turned out evil.
Back on track, at least for this episode. ****.
Runaways "Devil's Torture Chamber"
I miss Cloak and Dagger very much, and seeing them reminds me how much better their show was. Granted, it engaged in a bit of the nightmare dreamscape scenario in season 2, but I felt the show was more grounded in that it didn't feel the need to fit into a specific superhero hole, or go by the conventions that the premise should go by. It only lasted two seasons, so who knows if it would have fallen apart eventually, but the main drama wasn't about aliens, or magic beings, it was the friendship between Tyrone and Tandy. This show leans too heavily into the superhero conventions. It reminds me greatly of how Marvel's Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. jumped the shark midway through the first season, and stopped being Marvel James Bond / Alias spy-fi, and turned into a hard-core science fiction series with ties to superheroes. This show isn't about kids from broken homes anymore either.
Speaking of the S.H.I.E.L.D. show, Tandy said something very frustrating: That maybe the Runaways could help her and Tyrone next time. Setting up a crossover with Cloak and Dagger which will never happen because Cloak and Dagger was canceled. Which reminds me of an unpleasant truth: With the notable exception of Legion, and hopefully Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. itself, no Marvel live-action show has EVER given us a satisfying or even satisfactory ending. Why? Because there have been a TON of Marvel shows in the past few years, and they all get prematurely canceled, not due to poor ratings, but rather corporate mergers, or the licensing fees being unsustainable for the networks airing the shows. I don't know what the ultimate future of streaming is. All I know is that Netflix's business model is unsound when it has to cancel five of its most popular shows because the licensing is so expensive. Similarly this show and Cloak and Dagger were doomed once Marvel Television folded. I am angry that Marvel makes so many poor business and licensing decisions that their TV output is nothing but a huge disappointment on every level. Part of me is surprised the movie studio is doing so well because Marvel is NOT a company that handles rights and financing properly. And shows like Cloak and Dagger and probably this one are the ones that wind up giving the viewer the short end of the stick.
Tandy's vision of Alex concerned me. What REALLY concerned me is that the writers sprung that on us with only two episodes to go.
I miss Cloak and Dagger. That show deserved better. ****.
Runaways "The Broken Circle"
Sob! Not Gert! Old Lace is NOT going to be happy.
At least she got off a well-deserved feminist rant at Morgaine's expense before she went out. Not to stomp on that too much, but as far as I'm concerned, the actual hero of the episode was Elizabeth Hurley's cleavage. I'm sure a lot of pathos occurred in the background of that, but that pretty much had my undivided attention.
The moment of the adults walking into the building in CDC uniforms to slow-motion rock music was SO television (and that is NOT a compliment) but I smirked anyways. Couldn't be helped. Not bad.
The episode was all over the map, and the tone felt off for much of it, but it ended right, which is something. ****.
Runaways "Cheat The Gallows"
I have seen other last episodes use the time travel gimmick to give us a happy ending, and this was an above average use of that idea. Unfortunately it's not perfect. The note Evil Alex leaves himself confuses the issue, and without knowing how and why the future was actually changed, it's a bad place to leave off.
Not to mention even though the producers claimed they wanted to end things at season three at the same time the show was canceled, the truth is the series never got around to that potential nuclear apocalypse hinted at in season one. With Chase with the beard and glasses in the lab, and the time travel thing being brought up again, I'm surprised they didn't use the gimmick to settle that specific thing.
I like that they did a lot of Back To The Future II type stuff with the Pilot and the last episode. That was fun.
The end of the teaser was a jolt. That was a very long wait through the opening credits.
I have to slam the show for ending with most of the parents literally getting away with murder. The entire focus of the first season and a half was proving the parents' guilt to send them to prison. Now the kids don't even care anymore. That's just wrong.
But I'm glad Gert's okay. But because the episode ended when it did, it also didn't feel much like a last episode or a definite ending. This has always been a problem for Marvel shows and it didn't change here. ***1/2.
Marvel Bend And Flex "Iron Man And Spidey Spring Into Action"
Are we going to get that disclaimer at the beginning every episode? Because that's going to get old. I know it's a toy commercial aimed at little kids, and they need it, but still.
I liked it. I liked the animation and how everything was clear even without dialogue. But how do Spidey and Iron Man eat sandwiches while wearing their masks? ****.
Big Hero 6: The Series "Major Blast"
Was that still Stan Lee, or did they have to go with archival recordings?
Major Blast being Fred's mother was a nice twist. The episode was nice in general, if nothing to write home about. ***1/2.
Runaways "Smoke And Mirrors"
Oh, no! Leslie's giving birth to the Omen!
Speaking of which, it strikes me as a bad omen to start off the season with a fake-out dream sequence. Granted, this is not unusual for a genre show, but it's always a bad move and particularly worrisome if it's the first scene back. I would think the series would want to make a stronger and more favorable impression with us.
It is really going to come in handy having a shapeshifter on the good guys' side.
I think Gert should at least be able to see that her dad is trying. Which is more than most of the parents.
Nico worries me greatly.
Catherine taking the rap for Darius is what she should have been doing from the beginning.
I loved the scene of Molly reaching Stacy.
Solid premiere, but the teaser sucked, and made it out like the episode would be worse than it was. ***1/2.
Runaways "The Great Escape"
Not on board.
The premise in this episode is SO far away from Runaways it's alarming. The show needs to get back to the kids on the run and against their parents. Stat. The alien stuff is NOT working. At all.
That being said, I REALLY like the low cut of Koralina's dress. I mean I really, REALLY like it.
Dale ain't so bad. It's time Gert got that straight. The stuff with Stacy coming back briefly was pretty cool too.
Not great. **1/2.
Runaways "Lord Of Lies"
Alex smiling on the video after learning his mother was dead was super creepy.
I somehow feel less bad at the last thing he said to his mother and much worse at the exact same time.
Speaking of low-cut tops, I also really dig Elizabeth Hurley's outfit. She's still got it and looks like a million bucks.
Tina's actress seems to be having so much fun. I don't blame her. Tina was such a drip in the first two seasons and now she's finally allowed to be funny. She's good at comedy too which is a plus.
Shocked they killed off Catherine. Not bad. ****.
Runaways "Rite Of Thunder"
This show is no longer about Runaways fighting their supervillain parents. And that's a darn shame.
For the record, the plan to kill the aliens was dumb to begin with for the reason Alex said. The second they die, they'll just leap into a new body. Nico's solution doesn't seem permanent to me but it will at least contain them for awhile, at least until the kids can figure out if they can be saved at all.
Tamar impressed me throughout the first part of the episode with her quick thinking and instant adaptability in a life-threatening situation. But then she lost a great deal of my respect for believing Karolina and Leslie called those medics. I do not like seeing smart characters do stupid things.
Speaking of which, what is up with Gert? I don't think she owes it to Chase to forgive him, but she at least owes him to respond to him.
Didn't like that. **1/2.
Runaways "Enter The Dreamland"
I have always felt dream sequence episodes are the given show's narrative running in place for an episode. I've yet to see a dream episode do anything revolutionary to the genre since at least Twin Peaks. Mostly they are an excuse for producers to do avant garde stuff the show isn't actually about, or put the characters through the unearned wringer with stuff that isn't actually happening. I am a strong believer that just because a trope is well-worn in comics or genre, it doesn't make it good. A LOT of science fiction does its own spin on storytelling ideas that have never or rarely worked under the misguided assumption that since every show before them did it, they are obligated to put their own stamp on it. Good storytelling doesn't work that way. Twin Peaks' dream stuff worked because it was an important part of the narrative and canon. Every other instance just forgets the dreams the next episode (even if this didn't) and they are usually never or rarely brought up again. You can see why I have disdain for this specific trope.
Nightmare Nico is scary but real-life Stacy is frightening on her own.
Morgaine Le Fey, huh? I was wondering who Elizabeth Hurley was playing.
I did like Victor convincing Chase to break the cycle of abuse. It's a good callback to season 1. But I didn't like much else about the episode.
This show has forgotten what it is supposed to be about. **.
Runaways "Merry Meet Again"
That was a little better, but the show has still gone completely off-brand.
There were a lot of disparate elements and sideplots so I'll do a brief run-through of the more interesting ones.
I like that Chase believes Max is equally in on the evil plans with Morgaine. Chase is a dope.
Speaking of dopes, Robert has always struck me as an utter fool. Last season he claimed people underestimated him. The reason is because he's usually so dumb.
Yes, Victor's UFO experience was just that ludicrous. And he has sex with Stacy? Ew.
Dale getting a little too close to the truth with Molly. Dale has pretty much become my favorite character at this point.
Geoffrey and Tamar? How the frell did THAT nonsense happen?
Nico is stupid for not taking Koralina's warnings seriously. And yet, she has a point that what she's doing with Morgaine is what Koralina did with Jonah. Except she's not going behind anyone's back.
This was better than most of the season but the show is still in serious trouble. ***1/2.
Runaways "Left-Hand Path"
I love Cloak and Dagger coming out of nowhere at the end. That was awesome.
I also laughed upon Dale suggesting couples therapy. They're back together now. You saw that coming, right? Dale and Stacy always had the healthiest relationship of all of the parents, so basically her cheating on him under the influence of mind control is worth couples counseling and nothing worse. I love that.
I didn't trust the douchey kid crushing on Molly, but to be honest, I've sort of watched her growing up, so I feel protective of her anyways, even if he hadn't turned out evil.
Back on track, at least for this episode. ****.
Runaways "Devil's Torture Chamber"
I miss Cloak and Dagger very much, and seeing them reminds me how much better their show was. Granted, it engaged in a bit of the nightmare dreamscape scenario in season 2, but I felt the show was more grounded in that it didn't feel the need to fit into a specific superhero hole, or go by the conventions that the premise should go by. It only lasted two seasons, so who knows if it would have fallen apart eventually, but the main drama wasn't about aliens, or magic beings, it was the friendship between Tyrone and Tandy. This show leans too heavily into the superhero conventions. It reminds me greatly of how Marvel's Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. jumped the shark midway through the first season, and stopped being Marvel James Bond / Alias spy-fi, and turned into a hard-core science fiction series with ties to superheroes. This show isn't about kids from broken homes anymore either.
Speaking of the S.H.I.E.L.D. show, Tandy said something very frustrating: That maybe the Runaways could help her and Tyrone next time. Setting up a crossover with Cloak and Dagger which will never happen because Cloak and Dagger was canceled. Which reminds me of an unpleasant truth: With the notable exception of Legion, and hopefully Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. itself, no Marvel live-action show has EVER given us a satisfying or even satisfactory ending. Why? Because there have been a TON of Marvel shows in the past few years, and they all get prematurely canceled, not due to poor ratings, but rather corporate mergers, or the licensing fees being unsustainable for the networks airing the shows. I don't know what the ultimate future of streaming is. All I know is that Netflix's business model is unsound when it has to cancel five of its most popular shows because the licensing is so expensive. Similarly this show and Cloak and Dagger were doomed once Marvel Television folded. I am angry that Marvel makes so many poor business and licensing decisions that their TV output is nothing but a huge disappointment on every level. Part of me is surprised the movie studio is doing so well because Marvel is NOT a company that handles rights and financing properly. And shows like Cloak and Dagger and probably this one are the ones that wind up giving the viewer the short end of the stick.
Tandy's vision of Alex concerned me. What REALLY concerned me is that the writers sprung that on us with only two episodes to go.
I miss Cloak and Dagger. That show deserved better. ****.
Runaways "The Broken Circle"
Sob! Not Gert! Old Lace is NOT going to be happy.
At least she got off a well-deserved feminist rant at Morgaine's expense before she went out. Not to stomp on that too much, but as far as I'm concerned, the actual hero of the episode was Elizabeth Hurley's cleavage. I'm sure a lot of pathos occurred in the background of that, but that pretty much had my undivided attention.
The moment of the adults walking into the building in CDC uniforms to slow-motion rock music was SO television (and that is NOT a compliment) but I smirked anyways. Couldn't be helped. Not bad.
The episode was all over the map, and the tone felt off for much of it, but it ended right, which is something. ****.
Runaways "Cheat The Gallows"
I have seen other last episodes use the time travel gimmick to give us a happy ending, and this was an above average use of that idea. Unfortunately it's not perfect. The note Evil Alex leaves himself confuses the issue, and without knowing how and why the future was actually changed, it's a bad place to leave off.
Not to mention even though the producers claimed they wanted to end things at season three at the same time the show was canceled, the truth is the series never got around to that potential nuclear apocalypse hinted at in season one. With Chase with the beard and glasses in the lab, and the time travel thing being brought up again, I'm surprised they didn't use the gimmick to settle that specific thing.
I like that they did a lot of Back To The Future II type stuff with the Pilot and the last episode. That was fun.
The end of the teaser was a jolt. That was a very long wait through the opening credits.
I have to slam the show for ending with most of the parents literally getting away with murder. The entire focus of the first season and a half was proving the parents' guilt to send them to prison. Now the kids don't even care anymore. That's just wrong.
But I'm glad Gert's okay. But because the episode ended when it did, it also didn't feel much like a last episode or a definite ending. This has always been a problem for Marvel shows and it didn't change here. ***1/2.
Marvel Bend And Flex "Iron Man And Spidey Spring Into Action"
Are we going to get that disclaimer at the beginning every episode? Because that's going to get old. I know it's a toy commercial aimed at little kids, and they need it, but still.
I liked it. I liked the animation and how everything was clear even without dialogue. But how do Spidey and Iron Man eat sandwiches while wearing their masks? ****.
Big Hero 6: The Series "Major Blast"
Was that still Stan Lee, or did they have to go with archival recordings?
Major Blast being Fred's mother was a nice twist. The episode was nice in general, if nothing to write home about. ***1/2.
