"Pennyworth" Season One Review (Spoilers)
May. 13th, 2020 04:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
matt_zimmerAlso reviews for the last two episodes of the season of The Flash, the latest episodes of DC's Legends Of Tomorrow, Batwoman, Supergirl, and Harley Quinn, 2 previews of Looney Tunes Cartoons, the latest episodes of DuckTales, Elena Of Avalor The Simpsons, Bob's Burgers, Family Guy, American Dad!, Transformers: Cyberverse, Transformers: Rescue Bots Academy, and The Blacklist, and the season finale of Blindspot.
Pennyworth "Pilot"
Bold (probably too-early) prediction: I'm probably going to like this show. It's Cannon and Heller, so I could be wrong, and I DID sort of like the first episode of Gotham too, and that turned into a dumpster fire, but I think this is a safer choice of a show to like. For one thing, the absolute worst thing about Gotham is that it wanted to be a superhero show very badly, and those wound up the worst aspects of the show. This is a superhero show only because Batman is in the far future. There are no supervillains, or masked vigilantes. It plays things completely straight. It's actually more of a period piece than a genre show. Not to mention I like most of the characters (outside of Alfred's jerkish father) right off the bat. I like Alfred while I hated Gotham's James Gordon. That is also something that will make this go down easier.
What's endearing about the show is how polite the heroes and the villains are to each other. When Alfred and his friends stage a home invasion to get information on Thomas Wayne, they hold guns to the old couple's heads and demand answers. Once they get them they're all, "Thank you for your time," and leave them alone unharmed and bewildered. I freaking love that.
I also laughed at Alfred being derisive over Thomas wanting his parents to know he faced death with honor. It's a nice thought for a fictional character. But I like that Alfred thinks it's super dumb instead. There are better last words for one's parents from a slightly sane person.
The torturer doing the crossword puzzle and scaring the bejeebers out of Esme for his nonchalantness actually worked. That specific scene doesn't always. Maybe it's the British accent that made it actually funny for once. Gotham's done stuff like that before, and it always struck me as absolutely sick instead of funny.
I love that Alfred's parents start kicking the guy mercilessly after they after they're free and he's down. I hate Alfred's father but I definitely liked that.
I was wrong to be skeptical about the show. To be fair, Gotham was one of the worst DC series of all time as it was airing. After the abomination of Titans it actually seems quite quaint in hindsight. This show is solid. At least so far. I liked the first episode very much. ****1/2.
Pennyworth "The Landlord's Daughter"
I liked most of it but not the ending. Not the ending a bit. Televised executions are the kind of dumb and b.s. plot move they'd do on Gotham. Although even Gotham wouldn't have them be disembowelings.
But the rest was good. Alfred had some great snarky lines against this Jason d-bag.
"Of course, I know who you are. You just told me. You're Jason Jason Ripper."
"Your mother has been lying to you about the poor state of her health."
And even though I half think Alfred's plot to drive Jason out of town by proving to his psychopath uncle he is soft is going to come back to bite him (getting involved with John Ripper is the worst of ideas) it at least worked so far as making Sandra safe, so I'll give it that.
I like the theater guy hitting on Esme until she says her boyfriend likes sneaking up on and killing people. Moving on.
But I'm taking a star and half off for the ending. It was so stupid that it deeply troubled me. ***1/2.
Pennyworth "Martha Kane"
Bruce's mama!
Could you really get castrated for being gay in England in the that recent past? On the one hand, it seems like as creative license as televised disembowelings. On the other, throughout history gay people have always had it unfathomably badly. It sounds fake and plausible at the same time.
Jack Bannon reminds me greatly of a young David Tennant. He's a lot more subdued in his performances but I still get a similar vibe.
Daveboy is an idiot. Tossing a gun to a guy. So he's dead. Of course. Moron.
I like Baz telling him to sit down because he had a delicious hand. Not the best thing to say in a poker game, but it was funny. I also noted he didn't get to finish the hand anyways.
There is something deeply wrong with Alfred's father. Esme's father seemed even more fudged up than that if it's possible.
Solid. ****.
Pennyworth "Lady Penelope"
I loved that episode. And I'll tell you the main reason I loved it: It clarified things in previous episodes that I didn't understand, so that if and when I rewatch the series on Blu-Ray, they will no longer bother me. The televised executions and castrations for gay people? Those are okay to portray in an alternate universe / history. And I wasn't clear that was what going on until this episode's news broadcast referenced the Third Reich still being present in the 1960's. In defense of my confusion, Gotham did unbelievable stuff like that all the time, and while it took great pains to never say when it took place, I DID feel it operated under the assumption that the crazy things it showed were real-world plausible. If this is an alternate history, it doesn't actually need to be. And frankly Gotham itself might have been better served to call itself an alternate history the entire time, although that would have certainly dated it.
I loved Ms. Gaunt because she's friendly and horrible. For some reason if Gotham did the exact same Tanya scene, I'd hate it because the performances and camera angles would be sure to be over the top and reprehensible. Instead, here I'm horrified, but not disgusted by the writers, and I even see nuance with the Gaunt's perspective in wanting to show Martha that.
I like that Esme is getting close to Mr. and Mrs. Pennyworth. In hindsight, that should have been the tell it was her last episode.
Now to get to the part I hated, at least until the episode ended, and now I think it's brilliant. I almost threw something at my TV when Alfred and Martha kissed. For all kinds of reasons, both having to do with the larger Batman canon, and Alfred's relationship to Esme. But good Lord, by the end of the episode it has a perfect narrative logic to it. As bad as it is, it happening makes Esme's death a thousand times worse. I was expecting unwanted upcoming teenage soap opera from it. Instead it adds a level of adult tragedy. It's something I hated as a viewer and respected as a person who writes fiction. It was very effective and pushed the exact right buttons with the viewer. And I guarantee you there will be fans who will hate it unreservedly and who think the writers suck for it. They're wrong. I hate it unreservedly and think the writers are absolutely brilliant for it.
That was a great episode. *****.
Pennyworth "Shirley Bassey"
I love that immediately after Ms. Gaunt shoots Daveboy in the stomach after he tries to kill her, she saves his life. She IS a doctor and I love that that is ingrained in her.
The Sykes are so messed up.
The ending with Ripper and Mrs. Thwaites was clever and also made my skin crawl at the same time.
Good week. ***1/2.
Pennyworth "Cilla Black"
Witches and Satan are now a thing. This IS the DC Universe after all.
I love the concept of the Baroness and the goofy hand thing because it tells Alfred she actually knows what she's talking about. Without that specific crazy vision he'd never believe her. It wasn't just as payment for her. It was proof for him.
Nothing says more that Patricia Wayne is a flaky hot mess than the fact that she's a Satanist. I hate the character and I hate Thomas for saddling Martha with her. After waking up nude in the forest I'm wondering how on Earth Martha will forgive him. I'm actually doubting if she should.
Alfred's father tells him he loves him. That's how you know things are spiraling out of control at the Pennyworth house.
It's interesting that racism, at least against black people, is not a problem in this alternate version of the 1960's. Black people have positions of power and it's never commented on negatively.
I love that when Thwaites is trying to make small talk with Ms. Gaunt about her dogs, Ms. Gaunt says they eat feces and so what. Seriously. Margot Thwaites is delusional if she ever believes she can pass this off as a social call to Ms. Gaunt.
Interesting that Thomas figured out the entire mystery of who shot Mr. Thwaites right away. I'm wondering why Alfred isn't actually in jail if it's that obvious.
Alfred is a goon to Sandra. I hated that moment.
Mostly good, but the shift in realistic tone to fantastical elements jarred me a little bit. ***.
Pennyworth "Julie Christie"
I have to say I loathe Thomas Wayne after this. Martha was essentially roofied and potentially raped, and he doesn't want to call the police so as not to dirty his name? THIS is the man she is going to marry? THIS is the father of Batman? It's obscene.
Martha knows Crowley is telling the truth about Thomas being CIA because she knows he actually works for Satan. Funny how that works.
Speaking of which, I never liked Alfred's father, so him being a Raven is not a surprise. I'm surprised Ms. Gaunt didn't go so far as praising Hitler in her speech but that's about the level of her words. She's a monster.
I don't like Bet Sykes, but I also would not have predicted this being her role on the show based on the first episode.
Esme being murdered by Curzon for Alfred embarrassing him once years ago reminds me something about revenge stories that most people don't realize is true: For the most part in revenge stories, the motives are stupid. That's the entire subtext to Moby Dick. I very much hope Alfred remembers that when he DOES catch up to the Captain. But he seems to be resisting that lesson here.
I didn't like this one. But they can't all be good. **1/2.
Pennyworth" "Sandie Shaw"
I don't know what is more impressive. Bet's last minute save of Alfred, or the fact that I didn't see it coming.
I think Harwood is a monster and pure evil. And yet his commanding thing with the police at the end was a pure hero moment. The good guys are in a bad place because of it. They are caught on camera being the bad actors while the fascist is being calm and measured. This is seriously messed up stuff.
I like Alfred being referred to as a ruffian.
The political intrigue on this show is starting to greatly remind me of Game Of Thrones, especially since b@stards seem to be a thing.
I loved that episode. *****.
Pennyworth "Alma Cogen"
Great, morbid, and funny last scene.
I love that Alfred seems to be running the prison from the inside, although I feel like we are missing something by never learning how he pulled that off.
I'm wondering exactly what Thomas and Martha have ever done to warrant Alfred's loyalty. As far as I can see, the both of them have been nothing but trouble.
Did not expect cancer to be the big secret his parents were keeping. Good storytelling move.
I have to say I don't really buy the idea of the Ravens and the No-Names having a political alliance and pact. I know that's a thing in British elections, but usually the parties share some of the same agendas. Both of those parties are literally extremists on the opposite sides of each other. It's not credible they'd join forces to give Harwood power.
Hardwood had a good allegory for how dangerous an opponent Thwaites could be to him: He was selling the people blood and iron and she was offering them spongecake. Sometimes, charisma is not enough. As far as leadership goes, sometimes stability can be a real selling point. I get the logic of Harwood not wanting to fight that. I just don't believe an alliance between those two would ever happen.
So far almost all of the episode titles have been names of women, and outside of Martha Kane I don't recall meeting any of the women in question, much less in the episodes named after them. I'm wondering what the significance of the episode titles actually is.
Good penultimate episode. ****.
Pennyworth "Marianne Faithful"
Oh, my God, that pretty much hit all the notes. Alfred has sex with the Queen, he's forced to kill his father, and he carries his majesty out of an exploding building? This show is pushing all the right buttons. The only thing missing is Alfred's father wearing a red hat.
The look on Alfred's face upon the queen telling her what he should call her was priceless. I also love how freaked out he was after the deed itself. And him staring at a picture of her in his family's house says exactly why that was.
Speaking of priceless expressions, I loved Martha's upon realizing Thomas "likes" her. Sexually that is. That was funny.
Speaking of Thomas, the best notion of an alternate Universe is that the early death of Thomas Wayne is not off the table. I am very aware anything can happen in a new continuity in the moments between when he is shot and when he starts gasping for air.
I'll tell you why this show probably lands better than Gotham. Heller and Cannon seem to know or care little about superheroes or comic books. All of the villains and minor characters they were forced to deal with on Gotham felt like a corporate mandate from DC. That's probably why every character was handled so poorly. The only comic book characters in this entire season that have appeared are Alfred, Thomas Wayne, and Martha. Basically none of the rest of the show is tied to any of the rest of the DC canon and superhero premise. And Cannon and Heller don't suck at that, especially so long as it's not a procedural cop show. Spy-fi is something they seem to be able to handle. And it shocks me that the producers of the second worst DC show of all time can pull a decent season off if they don't have to deal with superheroes and villains. And this show actually works because of that fact.
Great finale. Great season. I won't subscribe to Epix for the show, but if there is another Watchathon Week after Season 2 airs (or a Blu-Ray release) I'll catch up there. It's a surprisingly good show. *****.
The Flash "Pay The Piper"
I don't expect that to be very well received by fans but I like different things than most fans do, so I liked it.
I expect the episode to get a lot of guff for being talky, with little action, and everybody being emo. That's why I liked it. People talk their problems out to solve them instead of punching them out.
I always like seeing redemption for Hartley and I had actually been worried about him Post-Crisis. What's interesting to me, and so unusual about the Flash as a character and concept, is that while Flash and Pied Piper are back on good terms, that doesn't mean he's going to stop being criminal. First with Captain Cold and now him, the series doesn't tend to place a negative value judgment on all criminals. Flash can even share his identity with certain bad guys. It reminds me of the thing I liked most about Justice League Unlimited's last season. The bad guys there treated criminality as a legitimate career choice and the Legion of Doom was all dumb office politics. These guys are not in it because they are evil. It's because the supposed career is lucrative. And I love that idea. And Hartley not necessarily being reformed from crime but still making friends with the Flash is something I like.
I know the finale cannot help being when it is, but I feel like next week is going to be a disappointment no matter what. The most frustrating thing to me is that it's possible next week's cliffhanger will be the last episode of the show for two years or more. This is just a really bad situation for entertainment I'm interested in. If the virus had hit America even three weeks later, there would be the proper amount of wrap-up for all of this season's shows. It's sort of frustrating.
I love Flash's race with Godspeed because it reminded me something that was true of the show in season one, but it's not really true nowadays. But when it started, this show was known for flashy, eye-popping visual effects. I'm guessing the show's budget was cut from the second season onward because we don't get those set-pieces every episode like we used to. In fact, oftentimes entire episodes can go by without those set-pieces. And I'm painfully aware of the fact that the effects budget has shrunk simply by how little Ralph uses his superpowers. Like Plastic Man, one of the selling points of Elongated Man is that he uses the power ALL the time, without even thinking about it, which really puts people off, and they think it's creepy. I think Ralph Dibney was a poor choice to make a cast member for this precise reason. If he's not milking the superpower until everyone's annoyed with him, he's not Elongated Man. But I like the race because it was an example of great visual effects on a show that doesn't seem to bother with that much anymore.
I think Godspeed's blood fixing everything is too pat to be believable. But do you know what else it was? Television! I do nothing but bash TV shows for being television, but I don't object to a TV show wrapping things up in a bow. It's not realistic, but it's fiction, so I'm of the opinion it doesn't have to be.
I'm still curious about where Godspeed came from. If they previously gave him an origin story I don't remember it.
I'm a little peeved none of Team Flash seem all that personally invested in saving Singh. Am I the only one bothered by that?
I liked the episode but I suspect I'll be alone in that. ****.
The Flash "Success Is Assured"
I'll allow it.
Because of the abruptly stopped season, I was never holding out for a satisfying "Finale", but this worked okay, I guess. Outside of the fact that Caitlin's mom seems to treat Frost better than she does Caitlin, I think enough of that worked for me not to have to go through everything and nitpick it to death.
With one exception: The team's reaction to Carver.
Why are they trying to protect him at all? I get the logic of Ralph not wanting to Sue to become a murderer. But that's the only believable ethical reaction to the scenario. Nash says the real Barry would never have considered that particular deal to hand Carver over to Singh for Iris. Well why not? That was a good deal! And Carver was going to die anyways so it's a total missed opportunity instead. And once Carver was dead, Joe could come home. It is not murder to decide not to protect the guy who is threatening your friends' lives. Especially in exchange for someone you love. Nash asks Barry what Iris would say if she learned he sacrificed another person to save her life. Well, if she has any common sense, and actually loves and appreciates how hard that would be for Barry to decide to do, she'd say "Thank you." She'd appreciate the gesture instead of trying to make Barry feel bad over it. People are actually allowed to do that you know. To support their loved ones' tough decisions even if they don't agree with them. In real life there is an wide area between "I agree with everything you do" and "I don't recognize you as the person I married." If Iris loves Barry, and is upset over that idea, she'll get over it. Nash acting like she wouldn't is either saying Iris is a worse person than she is, or accurately telling Barry she's a bad person. Neither is a good look on Iris or the writers. This isn't the stark moral dilemma the writers are making it out to be. If Carver were an innocent person, that would be one thing. But he's deliberately threatening Barry and the people he loves. Getting rid of Carver shouldn't be a solution he needs to object too strenuously to.
The split screen stuff was cool.
But despite the "baby superhero" moral, I thought the episode was relatively strong because it felt like an all-right cliffhanger and stopping point, which I didn't expect, and wouldn't have even demanded. The episode was better than I expected it to be, or probably even needed to be. ****.
DC's Legends Of Tomorrow "Ship Broken"
Oh, my God! The dog was Son of Sam's demon dog! That's freaking brilliant. Making the dog the bad guy is almost stupid until they attached that to him. Then it's pure genius.
Astra had a couple of very interesting moments, one with John and another major one with Zari. John's moment was great because John unsettled her greatly. She's all "I can't believe I trusted you." And instead of apologizing to her like a person who was put her through the things he put her through should, John actually questions whether she actually trusted him at all, and asks if he was perhaps simply her last option. It's a jarring scene, not just because Astra didn't realize that. But also because Astra realized John was done apologizing to her. At some point she made her own decisions. And John is past the point where he'll take responsibility for them. And I like how unsettled John's "Yeah, yeah, yeah," made her. I think she expected to be able to hold John damning her to Hell over him forever, and realized she has much less power in her relationship with him than she believed.
Now that she is out of hell, is John's soul no longer automatically damned? Even if it weren't I think he'd still be a shoo-in for Hell. He has done an awful lot of sinning in the meantime, and the worst of it was often done in the name of trying to get Astra back. We'll see. I would like to see this further explored.
I don't feel like we got the right subtext over why Rory checked out of his daughter wanting to rewrite history to make them rich. The show uses the perspective that Rory doesn't want her to be a criminal like he is. But what she is suggesting isn't actually illegal. I think perhaps the reason Rory SHOULD have objected is because it violated time-travel rules, which are bigger than heroes and villains, and even he follows them. I feel like the episode could have given us a good moral there but whiffed it.
Nate calmly apologizes for trying to murder everybody. Part of me finds Nate insufferable and always has. But he's grown on me over the years because of stuff like that. He's an unusual character because he is both really, really smart, and really, really stupid at the exact same time. And both those parts of the character work simultaneously which is outright bizarre. The dichotomy of smart and stupid is interesting, endearing, and God help me, occasionally actually funny. Who knew?
Rory has stolen a LOT more swag than we realized. And it's because it happened off-screen. Probably while everybody was doing the regular mission and he was pretending to stay behind like he always does. His daughter calling it a Scrooge McDuck motif was freaking apt.
I also love that he still considers the Flash a freak.
I liked this week. Never let Gary have a support animal. He'll just trade it in for a Mogwai bunny. ****.
DC's Legends Of Tomorrow "Freaks And Greeks"
So that was dumb, cheesy, corny, and sappy in all the right places. Basically typically this show. No strong objections.
I did however notice three major plot oversights.
The first one violated continuity. Nate cannot have fallen off a ladder in college because before he joined the Legends he was a fragile hemophiliac. I don't like the show ignoring his major hang-up and major reason he wanted superpowers in the first place.
I am not positive about Sara's age in Arrow, but I could have sworn she was in high in school when the Queen's Gambit went down. True she was a party girl. But being a beer pong champ and knowing all other sorts of college details are not something she experienced. She was on Lian Yu and then in the League of Assassins at that age. I don't think Caty Loitz is a particularly gifted comic actress anyways, or find the surfer dudette stuff she has been forced to say over the past couple of seasons credible. But that particular thing bugged me for that extra reason.
Finally, maybe this will be addressed next week, but the notion that Astra is indebted to the Fate who she promised a favor for killing John Constantine is 100% wrong. Because Constantine is still alive. That's not how debts work. Now if next week the Fate tries to kill John to make Astra be forced to do what she says, that's another thing, but as it stands, she is in no position to demand anything from Astra. As long as Constantine is alive, Astra owes her nothing.
This was a fun and dumb week. I'm probably overthinking things. But that's what I do. You know you love it. ***1/2.
Batwoman "A Secret Kept From All The Rest"
Is this Hush's first live-action appearance? I think it must be. His design and costume are great.
When Kate question Luke's judgment in trusting Julia, I love him retorting that she was the person who let a one-night-stand steal the most valuable book in Gotham. Mary's "Oh, d*mn!" after that says exactly how well that blow landed.
I like Parker's moxie in talking back to Hush in the van. Kid's got guts.
I like Parker and Mary "talking back to the screen" over Kate and Sophie's soap opera. Mary tells her Kate never says what she's thinking and Parker correctly says that's cool.
Jacob is such a jerk at the end. I hate the character in a way I never hated Quentin Lance. I saw Quentin Lance's point about the Hood. Jacob is just irrational and d-bag.
I thought the code was suitably complicated.
Kryptonite?! What?!
I felt sad that Mouse felt like he had lost a happy life he had built for himself. And I then thought it was pathetic that that is what he considered a happy life.
Pretty good episode. ***1/2.
Supergirl "The Missing Link"
Sean Astin! Yay!
I keep thinking Lex thinks he has more juice with Brainy than he actually does. But then Brainy does what he says anyways and proves me wrong.
I don't think the science of the predatory environment triggering the prisoners holds up. To be honest, I don't demand realism from the science in my superhero shows. But there should be an underlying logic to it at least. This has none.
Lex is a surprisingly good fighter.
For some reason I always find myself sympathizing with bad things happen to Steve. And I'm not sure why that is.
I will NEVER ship J'onn and M'Gann. NEVER. Ick.
DEO got blowed up good. Big things happening.
I'm not all that impressed with Lena's apology to Kara at the end. If she weren't such a petty, weird, self-absorbed idiot, she never would have had to make it at all.
After Lex screams in her face, her calling him a monster and refusing to become one felt entirely wrong. And you know I didn't write the episode. Because I would have had her turn to him and say "Dude, say it, don't spray it." Admittedly less pathos in that quip, but it would have been the proper response to that hammy, overacted nonsense.
Passable episode but some of it rubbed me the wrong way. ***.
Harley Quinn "All The Best Inmates Have Daddy Issues"
The episode did something absolutely crazy that I admire on some level. It tried to top Mad Love as an origin story for Joker and Harley. And of course they can go farther with actual pathos and talk of abuse on a TV-MA show than a Saturday morning cartoon. But even if Joker and Harley were more psychologically complex with tighter dialogue in the flashback, the episode is inferior because it misses the absolute best thing about Mad Love: Batman!
The reason Joker is so angry at Harley in that story is because she basically embarrassed him in front of Batman. And ultimately the victory of Joker losing is not given to Harley. It's by Batman giving Harley her due and snidely making fun of the fact that she came a LOT closer to killing him than the Joker ever did. The flashbacks here hold up better for a modern audience. But without the framing story of WHY Joker is such an irredeemable monster to her, the episode doesn't measure up.
And to be clear, while the flashbacks are better than Mad Love's, my problem is that they should be better than they are. It's not hard to have better writing than a Saturday morning cartoon / comic book from over 20 years ago. But that doesn't stop the Joker and Harley's violent meet / cute from being painfully unfunny. The Heath Ledger get-up also doesn't work in animation, and I wondered how it is Joker knew Robin was Jason Todd and still had no idea Bruce Wayne was Batman.
For the record, in this continuity, Harvey Dent was always a villain. Two-Face just gave him a ready-made excuse to embrace the monster he already was.
Ultimately,. the message of the episode was about the friendship between Harley and Ivy being solid. Which is nice, because that's what the show SHOULD be about. BUT... I'm not sure that should be the subtext to a remake of Mad Love. I had definite mixed feelings, although there were clearly good things in the episode. ***.
Looney Tunes Cartoons "Pest Coaster"
Bold opinion: This isn't measurably better or worse than either The Looney Tunes Show or Wabbit. The animation is better and the character designs finally look all right, but for this specific short, looking at it through a modern lens, I can't help nitpicking it. Just because of all of the other stuff I've seen.
Sam planned to dynamite one of the rides? How does he expect to keep his job, much less not be thrown in Abu Graib for being a terrorist? And while of course it makes sense the baby is a doll to suggest Sam's actions were entirely futile, it amazes me the show is dumb enough to show a character seeming to take a baby on a rollercoaster to begin with.
For the record, the Bugs in drag jokes have not aged well.
I loved the first short. I didn't love this one. I assume I'll be reviewing and enjoying these on a short by short basis because it doesn't seem like the quality is going to be 100% consistent throughout the entire run. And that's fine. It would be weird if all of the shorts WERE great with so many different people involved. I didn't like this short. But I might like the next one. *1/2.
Looney Tunes Cartoons "Wet Cement"
SO much fun! I stated in my last critical review that it looked like these cartoons' quality would vary from short to short, and wind up being very hit and miss. That was a bonafide hit. ****1/2.
DuckTales "The Rumble For Ragnorak!"
Let's cut to the chase. That was not good.
Perhaps you saw me objecting to this coming. I detest episodes where the Ducks fight after all and am not shy in saying so.
Except this is sort of like one of those Disney boxing / wrestling cartoons / comics Carl Barks sometimes did. It's not an actual apocalyptic battle.
My problem is it's too cartoony. There is no reality to it. Dewey's quick-change outfit belongs in a zany Warner Bros cartoon, not the Disney Ducks. And Dewey asks Louie how he made all those T-shirts. And the truth is, he shouldn't have been able to. The show was being a dumb cartoon and thought if they poked around the meta of it a bit I'd forgive it. I don't. I think its stupid and completely wrong for this franchise.
I expected much worse, but I DID wind up hating it after all. Just not for the reasons I assumed I would. *.
Elena Of Avalor "Sweethearts Day"
I thought the romance at the end for Armando was cute, the llama was adorable per usual, and I freaking love puppets. But you know what? A musical episode does NOT land at all on a show with a musical number every episode. They probably should have picked a different trope to explore. It's common sense, really. Just sayin'. **1/2.
The Simpsons "The Hateful Eight-Year-Olds"
That was quite an episode. I wouldn't go so far as to say that was quite a GREAT episode, but it WAS an episode. It existed. Gave me plenty to talk about.
The first thing will probably make me sound like an actual incel, but geez, I can't stand preteen or teenage girls. It's not that every one of them is like the clique portrayed. That's not the actual problem. It's that every one of them seems to wish they were in that clique despite how horrible it is. I don't know know if it's an actual gender failing or a failing of society, but it ticks me off that when they are kids, boys are allowed to talk about what they plan to do for summer vacation while girls are expected to talk about who has gotten fat. And the message of Addison turning on the one person who treated her decently just to be considered less than useless from a group of horrible people is the problem in a nutshell.
Whenever Family Guy takes shots at the shallow way women behave it doesn't land because their surrogates are Lois and Meg, who are generally speaking, reprehensible characters. The Simpsons using Lisa to demonstrate this facet is relatable for the sole reason that Lisa actually knows it's wrong and doesn't secretly wish she was in on it. I think it's a really bad idea to take a shot at the psychology of women, but if you do do that, the least you can do is give the audience a character to sympathize with. The moral here isn't "Women suck". The moral seems ambiguous to me, but I can tell that isn't it. The clique is portrayed as abnormal and wrong instead of attractive. Which is good.
For the record, I hate Bart Simpson so much, because with the notable exception of Moe and his prank phone calls, all of Bart's horrible behavior is directed at people who don't deserve it. For no good reason at all. Bugs Bunny has the same subtext, but he goes up against Yosemite Sam and Daffy Duck. Bart picks on Lisa for no reason other than he's mean. And the moral shouldn't be that Bart saves Lisa because he doesn't like the idea of people meaner than he is. But I don't think there is any good moral to be had with Bart Simpson. He is a terrible character.
And the revelation that he's afraid of horses, doesn't make him sympathetic and relatable. It makes him pathetic because he had been giving Lisa a hard time over that specific thing.
I'll tell you the thing in the episode I loved. Homer's rant about how he didn't ruin anyone's night, and that he saved them by giving them a reason to go home. I don't believe that. But Homer is a great character because he does. He believes goofy things and wears his heart on his sleeve. The fact that he can make a notion as stupid as that not only seem rational, but heartfelt is the entire selling point of the character for me. And this is not a facet he possessed in The Golden Years. Homer being the guy to rail against society's failings and failed expectations is something that started MUCH later on. But it's something about him I now enjoy. And it's also why I think people who think Homer is now a "jerk@$$" are delusional. In point of fact, Homer was never more unlikable, unsympathetic, and meaner than in the first three beloved seasons of the show. People acting like ANYTHING he's recently done is the worse than his deplorable behavior back in Lisa's Substitute are not arguing against the character in good faith.
But yeah, this episode existed. Literally. And I'm not sure how I feel about that. That was SO funny. Shah. Literally. ***.
Bob's Burgers "Local She-Ro"
New York is probably as great as Tammy says it is at the beginning. But she's pretty much its worst advocate.
"Step on my face!" Linda's problem isn't that she's gone crazy. It's that she wants and values stupid things.
I love the idea that the people on the houseboat have a rule that they cover for each other by claiming they are dead. That's both hilarious, neat, and weirdly cool.
Louise's plan to get Teddy unbanned from the sports show was great because she didn't even have to lie or embellish anything. And it seems like the most common sense approach possible. Teddy is pathetic. How can Louise make that work for him? I don't think Louise is exactly smart. But she possesses an ounce of common sense.
I am having a hard time seeing what is so great about the town when the show takes such pains to never bother to name it. Probably not the best premise for an episode while that is true.
Some of it was fun though. ***1/2.
Family Guy "Holly Bibble"
Weirdly, outside of the excellent and ultra-rare Viewer Mail episodes, Family Guy's trilogy episodes tend to be terrible. Which is weird because they do so many of them.
That one didn't suck. I'm going to have to remember the line about the Bible being Harry Potter for stupid people. I don't even agree with it. But it's a great line.
Nobody talks about the incest implied in the Bible except for people debunking the Bible. But really, how else could humanity even exist from two people? But I'm tired of being lectured on sexual morality by people who wave a book predicated on incest in my face. It's kind of tiresome.
The reason I think the Bible isn't literal is because a great deal of it is actually quite immoral. And I don't believe our Universe is that badly designed. I'm thinking instead that something got lost in the translation about the mixed fabrics and butt stuff.
"Let it pour." Oh, Stewie. Never change.
I'd complain about being denied seeing the Biblical Chicken Fight if I weren't already sick to death of Chicken fights.
That gag at the end is the real reason Dianetics exists. Which is something I'll probably get sued for saying.
I love the stuff with God's girlfriend at the beginning. This show always makes God quite a character. And he weirdly has the same voice as Carter and Dr. Hartman.
The Simpsons was thought-provoking if unenjoyable, Bob's Burgers was fun, but slight. I'm giving the edge to Family Guy this Fox Sunday. It is very rare when it wins the night. ****.
American Dad! "Tapped Out"
I need breast milk! A-ring-a-ding-ding. This show is so messed up.
Linda still is apparently alive, so that's good.
Every inch of that was wrong and I feel absolutely terrible that I laughed at all of it. There is something very wrong with the writers and something very wrong with me for finding that funny. ****1/2.
Transformers: Cyberverse "Alien Hunt! With Meteorfire And Cosmos"
As a kid, Cosmos was one of the best Transformers toys. Simple, inexpensive, and with a great color scheme and design. And it's disappointing later remakes never bothered with the character. I'm not fond of this show's take of him as a little kid, and possibly a female little kid, but at least he's being used.
Meteorfire is the robot Crocodile Hunter. That's not a compliment.
Cameo from a Blurr ghost.
That was all right. The show has done better but it's also done worse. ***.
Transformers: Cyberverse "Journey To The Valley Of Repugnus"
The Transformers take on class warfare. And it's about as subtle as a sledgehammer to the face. But it's a kiddie toon. Nuance is not required.
In fact, I found the sci-fi moral neat and clever in the same way Bele and Loki and The Sneetches are. Maybe not as memorable as either of those. But sort of clever in its own right.
I liked this. ****.
Transformers: Cyberverse "Wild, Wild Wheel"
Anyone who turns up their nose at a robot cowboy is too cynical to be watching cartoons.
I don't see how Wild Wheel can possibly blame Optimus for what happened to him, but if there is one thing in common with revenge stories it's that the motive is usually actually stupid.
Wild Wheel says he's a good shot. He's not. He fires several times at Optimus and misses. While the dude is standing right in front of him.
Was this the first time the show has portrayed drawings of humans? It might actually be.
Dumb and fun. The way robot cowboys should be. ***.
Transformers: Cyberverse "Thunderhowl"
Optimus is NOT a great welcomer.
Robot unicorn. Neat.
A lit-up Chromia racing a crystal double of herself in a green crystal maze reminded me greatly of TRON. Although I suspect that was the homage they were going for.
Solid. ***1/2.
Transformers: Rescue Bots Academy "Wild Ghost Chase"
Dumb. So par for the course. However I didn't see anything in it that outright offended me. So that's something. **.
Transformers: Rescue Bots Academy "Little Plot Of Horrors"
It's probably an overstatement to call an 11 minute cartoon tiresome... But yeah, this show's exhausting. *1/2.
The Blacklist "Roy Cain"
I can't. I just can't. I'm too angry.
I would love to review the episode about how much fun it was to see Al Roker play himself as a criminal mastermind. But no. I can't. There's nothing fun about the episode. The end reveal that Liz knew about the Iman abduction and was practically in on it? I have said this is the worst character on television many times. But even I was floored by that. What kills me is the writers are still dumb enough to think I could eventually forgive Liz for that. That are already a thousand reasons not to forgive this person's selfishness and stupidity, but being in cahoots with a person torturing good, decent people to advance her own agenda means Liz is the worst villain on the show.
I always speculated the title of the series finale episode would be "Raymond Reddington (No. 1)". It's more likely to be "Elizabeth Keene (No 2)".
I am shocked and disgusted the show did that. I cannot forgive either Liz or the writers for this. Ever. This is a bad show. 0.
Blindspot "I Came To Sleigh"
This is pretty much the dumbest premise for a season ever. The entire team is framed for treason and Madeline takes over the FBI? Couldn't Gero and Berlanti come up with something even SLIGHTLY plausible?
Poor Rich Dotcom. I like that the team decided he was worth rescuing. They might not have thought that a couple of seasons ago.
That "2 months later" card was completely unhelpful. You can tell your story in the order it occurs, producers. I won't be mad if you don't jerk me around. It's weird that you think I would be.
Don't care that Reade is dead. He was the worst character after Weller.
Sho is pretty flashy and funny. His role is what Rich's used to be.
Weitz is a dope. Aaron Abrams is an MVP.
This is going to be a tough season to watch because my eyes will be rolled into the back of my head for most of it. ***.
Pennyworth "Pilot"
Bold (probably too-early) prediction: I'm probably going to like this show. It's Cannon and Heller, so I could be wrong, and I DID sort of like the first episode of Gotham too, and that turned into a dumpster fire, but I think this is a safer choice of a show to like. For one thing, the absolute worst thing about Gotham is that it wanted to be a superhero show very badly, and those wound up the worst aspects of the show. This is a superhero show only because Batman is in the far future. There are no supervillains, or masked vigilantes. It plays things completely straight. It's actually more of a period piece than a genre show. Not to mention I like most of the characters (outside of Alfred's jerkish father) right off the bat. I like Alfred while I hated Gotham's James Gordon. That is also something that will make this go down easier.
What's endearing about the show is how polite the heroes and the villains are to each other. When Alfred and his friends stage a home invasion to get information on Thomas Wayne, they hold guns to the old couple's heads and demand answers. Once they get them they're all, "Thank you for your time," and leave them alone unharmed and bewildered. I freaking love that.
I also laughed at Alfred being derisive over Thomas wanting his parents to know he faced death with honor. It's a nice thought for a fictional character. But I like that Alfred thinks it's super dumb instead. There are better last words for one's parents from a slightly sane person.
The torturer doing the crossword puzzle and scaring the bejeebers out of Esme for his nonchalantness actually worked. That specific scene doesn't always. Maybe it's the British accent that made it actually funny for once. Gotham's done stuff like that before, and it always struck me as absolutely sick instead of funny.
I love that Alfred's parents start kicking the guy mercilessly after they after they're free and he's down. I hate Alfred's father but I definitely liked that.
I was wrong to be skeptical about the show. To be fair, Gotham was one of the worst DC series of all time as it was airing. After the abomination of Titans it actually seems quite quaint in hindsight. This show is solid. At least so far. I liked the first episode very much. ****1/2.
Pennyworth "The Landlord's Daughter"
I liked most of it but not the ending. Not the ending a bit. Televised executions are the kind of dumb and b.s. plot move they'd do on Gotham. Although even Gotham wouldn't have them be disembowelings.
But the rest was good. Alfred had some great snarky lines against this Jason d-bag.
"Of course, I know who you are. You just told me. You're Jason Jason Ripper."
"Your mother has been lying to you about the poor state of her health."
And even though I half think Alfred's plot to drive Jason out of town by proving to his psychopath uncle he is soft is going to come back to bite him (getting involved with John Ripper is the worst of ideas) it at least worked so far as making Sandra safe, so I'll give it that.
I like the theater guy hitting on Esme until she says her boyfriend likes sneaking up on and killing people. Moving on.
But I'm taking a star and half off for the ending. It was so stupid that it deeply troubled me. ***1/2.
Pennyworth "Martha Kane"
Bruce's mama!
Could you really get castrated for being gay in England in the that recent past? On the one hand, it seems like as creative license as televised disembowelings. On the other, throughout history gay people have always had it unfathomably badly. It sounds fake and plausible at the same time.
Jack Bannon reminds me greatly of a young David Tennant. He's a lot more subdued in his performances but I still get a similar vibe.
Daveboy is an idiot. Tossing a gun to a guy. So he's dead. Of course. Moron.
I like Baz telling him to sit down because he had a delicious hand. Not the best thing to say in a poker game, but it was funny. I also noted he didn't get to finish the hand anyways.
There is something deeply wrong with Alfred's father. Esme's father seemed even more fudged up than that if it's possible.
Solid. ****.
Pennyworth "Lady Penelope"
I loved that episode. And I'll tell you the main reason I loved it: It clarified things in previous episodes that I didn't understand, so that if and when I rewatch the series on Blu-Ray, they will no longer bother me. The televised executions and castrations for gay people? Those are okay to portray in an alternate universe / history. And I wasn't clear that was what going on until this episode's news broadcast referenced the Third Reich still being present in the 1960's. In defense of my confusion, Gotham did unbelievable stuff like that all the time, and while it took great pains to never say when it took place, I DID feel it operated under the assumption that the crazy things it showed were real-world plausible. If this is an alternate history, it doesn't actually need to be. And frankly Gotham itself might have been better served to call itself an alternate history the entire time, although that would have certainly dated it.
I loved Ms. Gaunt because she's friendly and horrible. For some reason if Gotham did the exact same Tanya scene, I'd hate it because the performances and camera angles would be sure to be over the top and reprehensible. Instead, here I'm horrified, but not disgusted by the writers, and I even see nuance with the Gaunt's perspective in wanting to show Martha that.
I like that Esme is getting close to Mr. and Mrs. Pennyworth. In hindsight, that should have been the tell it was her last episode.
Now to get to the part I hated, at least until the episode ended, and now I think it's brilliant. I almost threw something at my TV when Alfred and Martha kissed. For all kinds of reasons, both having to do with the larger Batman canon, and Alfred's relationship to Esme. But good Lord, by the end of the episode it has a perfect narrative logic to it. As bad as it is, it happening makes Esme's death a thousand times worse. I was expecting unwanted upcoming teenage soap opera from it. Instead it adds a level of adult tragedy. It's something I hated as a viewer and respected as a person who writes fiction. It was very effective and pushed the exact right buttons with the viewer. And I guarantee you there will be fans who will hate it unreservedly and who think the writers suck for it. They're wrong. I hate it unreservedly and think the writers are absolutely brilliant for it.
That was a great episode. *****.
Pennyworth "Shirley Bassey"
I love that immediately after Ms. Gaunt shoots Daveboy in the stomach after he tries to kill her, she saves his life. She IS a doctor and I love that that is ingrained in her.
The Sykes are so messed up.
The ending with Ripper and Mrs. Thwaites was clever and also made my skin crawl at the same time.
Good week. ***1/2.
Pennyworth "Cilla Black"
Witches and Satan are now a thing. This IS the DC Universe after all.
I love the concept of the Baroness and the goofy hand thing because it tells Alfred she actually knows what she's talking about. Without that specific crazy vision he'd never believe her. It wasn't just as payment for her. It was proof for him.
Nothing says more that Patricia Wayne is a flaky hot mess than the fact that she's a Satanist. I hate the character and I hate Thomas for saddling Martha with her. After waking up nude in the forest I'm wondering how on Earth Martha will forgive him. I'm actually doubting if she should.
Alfred's father tells him he loves him. That's how you know things are spiraling out of control at the Pennyworth house.
It's interesting that racism, at least against black people, is not a problem in this alternate version of the 1960's. Black people have positions of power and it's never commented on negatively.
I love that when Thwaites is trying to make small talk with Ms. Gaunt about her dogs, Ms. Gaunt says they eat feces and so what. Seriously. Margot Thwaites is delusional if she ever believes she can pass this off as a social call to Ms. Gaunt.
Interesting that Thomas figured out the entire mystery of who shot Mr. Thwaites right away. I'm wondering why Alfred isn't actually in jail if it's that obvious.
Alfred is a goon to Sandra. I hated that moment.
Mostly good, but the shift in realistic tone to fantastical elements jarred me a little bit. ***.
Pennyworth "Julie Christie"
I have to say I loathe Thomas Wayne after this. Martha was essentially roofied and potentially raped, and he doesn't want to call the police so as not to dirty his name? THIS is the man she is going to marry? THIS is the father of Batman? It's obscene.
Martha knows Crowley is telling the truth about Thomas being CIA because she knows he actually works for Satan. Funny how that works.
Speaking of which, I never liked Alfred's father, so him being a Raven is not a surprise. I'm surprised Ms. Gaunt didn't go so far as praising Hitler in her speech but that's about the level of her words. She's a monster.
I don't like Bet Sykes, but I also would not have predicted this being her role on the show based on the first episode.
Esme being murdered by Curzon for Alfred embarrassing him once years ago reminds me something about revenge stories that most people don't realize is true: For the most part in revenge stories, the motives are stupid. That's the entire subtext to Moby Dick. I very much hope Alfred remembers that when he DOES catch up to the Captain. But he seems to be resisting that lesson here.
I didn't like this one. But they can't all be good. **1/2.
Pennyworth" "Sandie Shaw"
I don't know what is more impressive. Bet's last minute save of Alfred, or the fact that I didn't see it coming.
I think Harwood is a monster and pure evil. And yet his commanding thing with the police at the end was a pure hero moment. The good guys are in a bad place because of it. They are caught on camera being the bad actors while the fascist is being calm and measured. This is seriously messed up stuff.
I like Alfred being referred to as a ruffian.
The political intrigue on this show is starting to greatly remind me of Game Of Thrones, especially since b@stards seem to be a thing.
I loved that episode. *****.
Pennyworth "Alma Cogen"
Great, morbid, and funny last scene.
I love that Alfred seems to be running the prison from the inside, although I feel like we are missing something by never learning how he pulled that off.
I'm wondering exactly what Thomas and Martha have ever done to warrant Alfred's loyalty. As far as I can see, the both of them have been nothing but trouble.
Did not expect cancer to be the big secret his parents were keeping. Good storytelling move.
I have to say I don't really buy the idea of the Ravens and the No-Names having a political alliance and pact. I know that's a thing in British elections, but usually the parties share some of the same agendas. Both of those parties are literally extremists on the opposite sides of each other. It's not credible they'd join forces to give Harwood power.
Hardwood had a good allegory for how dangerous an opponent Thwaites could be to him: He was selling the people blood and iron and she was offering them spongecake. Sometimes, charisma is not enough. As far as leadership goes, sometimes stability can be a real selling point. I get the logic of Harwood not wanting to fight that. I just don't believe an alliance between those two would ever happen.
So far almost all of the episode titles have been names of women, and outside of Martha Kane I don't recall meeting any of the women in question, much less in the episodes named after them. I'm wondering what the significance of the episode titles actually is.
Good penultimate episode. ****.
Pennyworth "Marianne Faithful"
Oh, my God, that pretty much hit all the notes. Alfred has sex with the Queen, he's forced to kill his father, and he carries his majesty out of an exploding building? This show is pushing all the right buttons. The only thing missing is Alfred's father wearing a red hat.
The look on Alfred's face upon the queen telling her what he should call her was priceless. I also love how freaked out he was after the deed itself. And him staring at a picture of her in his family's house says exactly why that was.
Speaking of priceless expressions, I loved Martha's upon realizing Thomas "likes" her. Sexually that is. That was funny.
Speaking of Thomas, the best notion of an alternate Universe is that the early death of Thomas Wayne is not off the table. I am very aware anything can happen in a new continuity in the moments between when he is shot and when he starts gasping for air.
I'll tell you why this show probably lands better than Gotham. Heller and Cannon seem to know or care little about superheroes or comic books. All of the villains and minor characters they were forced to deal with on Gotham felt like a corporate mandate from DC. That's probably why every character was handled so poorly. The only comic book characters in this entire season that have appeared are Alfred, Thomas Wayne, and Martha. Basically none of the rest of the show is tied to any of the rest of the DC canon and superhero premise. And Cannon and Heller don't suck at that, especially so long as it's not a procedural cop show. Spy-fi is something they seem to be able to handle. And it shocks me that the producers of the second worst DC show of all time can pull a decent season off if they don't have to deal with superheroes and villains. And this show actually works because of that fact.
Great finale. Great season. I won't subscribe to Epix for the show, but if there is another Watchathon Week after Season 2 airs (or a Blu-Ray release) I'll catch up there. It's a surprisingly good show. *****.
The Flash "Pay The Piper"
I don't expect that to be very well received by fans but I like different things than most fans do, so I liked it.
I expect the episode to get a lot of guff for being talky, with little action, and everybody being emo. That's why I liked it. People talk their problems out to solve them instead of punching them out.
I always like seeing redemption for Hartley and I had actually been worried about him Post-Crisis. What's interesting to me, and so unusual about the Flash as a character and concept, is that while Flash and Pied Piper are back on good terms, that doesn't mean he's going to stop being criminal. First with Captain Cold and now him, the series doesn't tend to place a negative value judgment on all criminals. Flash can even share his identity with certain bad guys. It reminds me of the thing I liked most about Justice League Unlimited's last season. The bad guys there treated criminality as a legitimate career choice and the Legion of Doom was all dumb office politics. These guys are not in it because they are evil. It's because the supposed career is lucrative. And I love that idea. And Hartley not necessarily being reformed from crime but still making friends with the Flash is something I like.
I know the finale cannot help being when it is, but I feel like next week is going to be a disappointment no matter what. The most frustrating thing to me is that it's possible next week's cliffhanger will be the last episode of the show for two years or more. This is just a really bad situation for entertainment I'm interested in. If the virus had hit America even three weeks later, there would be the proper amount of wrap-up for all of this season's shows. It's sort of frustrating.
I love Flash's race with Godspeed because it reminded me something that was true of the show in season one, but it's not really true nowadays. But when it started, this show was known for flashy, eye-popping visual effects. I'm guessing the show's budget was cut from the second season onward because we don't get those set-pieces every episode like we used to. In fact, oftentimes entire episodes can go by without those set-pieces. And I'm painfully aware of the fact that the effects budget has shrunk simply by how little Ralph uses his superpowers. Like Plastic Man, one of the selling points of Elongated Man is that he uses the power ALL the time, without even thinking about it, which really puts people off, and they think it's creepy. I think Ralph Dibney was a poor choice to make a cast member for this precise reason. If he's not milking the superpower until everyone's annoyed with him, he's not Elongated Man. But I like the race because it was an example of great visual effects on a show that doesn't seem to bother with that much anymore.
I think Godspeed's blood fixing everything is too pat to be believable. But do you know what else it was? Television! I do nothing but bash TV shows for being television, but I don't object to a TV show wrapping things up in a bow. It's not realistic, but it's fiction, so I'm of the opinion it doesn't have to be.
I'm still curious about where Godspeed came from. If they previously gave him an origin story I don't remember it.
I'm a little peeved none of Team Flash seem all that personally invested in saving Singh. Am I the only one bothered by that?
I liked the episode but I suspect I'll be alone in that. ****.
The Flash "Success Is Assured"
I'll allow it.
Because of the abruptly stopped season, I was never holding out for a satisfying "Finale", but this worked okay, I guess. Outside of the fact that Caitlin's mom seems to treat Frost better than she does Caitlin, I think enough of that worked for me not to have to go through everything and nitpick it to death.
With one exception: The team's reaction to Carver.
Why are they trying to protect him at all? I get the logic of Ralph not wanting to Sue to become a murderer. But that's the only believable ethical reaction to the scenario. Nash says the real Barry would never have considered that particular deal to hand Carver over to Singh for Iris. Well why not? That was a good deal! And Carver was going to die anyways so it's a total missed opportunity instead. And once Carver was dead, Joe could come home. It is not murder to decide not to protect the guy who is threatening your friends' lives. Especially in exchange for someone you love. Nash asks Barry what Iris would say if she learned he sacrificed another person to save her life. Well, if she has any common sense, and actually loves and appreciates how hard that would be for Barry to decide to do, she'd say "Thank you." She'd appreciate the gesture instead of trying to make Barry feel bad over it. People are actually allowed to do that you know. To support their loved ones' tough decisions even if they don't agree with them. In real life there is an wide area between "I agree with everything you do" and "I don't recognize you as the person I married." If Iris loves Barry, and is upset over that idea, she'll get over it. Nash acting like she wouldn't is either saying Iris is a worse person than she is, or accurately telling Barry she's a bad person. Neither is a good look on Iris or the writers. This isn't the stark moral dilemma the writers are making it out to be. If Carver were an innocent person, that would be one thing. But he's deliberately threatening Barry and the people he loves. Getting rid of Carver shouldn't be a solution he needs to object too strenuously to.
The split screen stuff was cool.
But despite the "baby superhero" moral, I thought the episode was relatively strong because it felt like an all-right cliffhanger and stopping point, which I didn't expect, and wouldn't have even demanded. The episode was better than I expected it to be, or probably even needed to be. ****.
DC's Legends Of Tomorrow "Ship Broken"
Oh, my God! The dog was Son of Sam's demon dog! That's freaking brilliant. Making the dog the bad guy is almost stupid until they attached that to him. Then it's pure genius.
Astra had a couple of very interesting moments, one with John and another major one with Zari. John's moment was great because John unsettled her greatly. She's all "I can't believe I trusted you." And instead of apologizing to her like a person who was put her through the things he put her through should, John actually questions whether she actually trusted him at all, and asks if he was perhaps simply her last option. It's a jarring scene, not just because Astra didn't realize that. But also because Astra realized John was done apologizing to her. At some point she made her own decisions. And John is past the point where he'll take responsibility for them. And I like how unsettled John's "Yeah, yeah, yeah," made her. I think she expected to be able to hold John damning her to Hell over him forever, and realized she has much less power in her relationship with him than she believed.
Now that she is out of hell, is John's soul no longer automatically damned? Even if it weren't I think he'd still be a shoo-in for Hell. He has done an awful lot of sinning in the meantime, and the worst of it was often done in the name of trying to get Astra back. We'll see. I would like to see this further explored.
I don't feel like we got the right subtext over why Rory checked out of his daughter wanting to rewrite history to make them rich. The show uses the perspective that Rory doesn't want her to be a criminal like he is. But what she is suggesting isn't actually illegal. I think perhaps the reason Rory SHOULD have objected is because it violated time-travel rules, which are bigger than heroes and villains, and even he follows them. I feel like the episode could have given us a good moral there but whiffed it.
Nate calmly apologizes for trying to murder everybody. Part of me finds Nate insufferable and always has. But he's grown on me over the years because of stuff like that. He's an unusual character because he is both really, really smart, and really, really stupid at the exact same time. And both those parts of the character work simultaneously which is outright bizarre. The dichotomy of smart and stupid is interesting, endearing, and God help me, occasionally actually funny. Who knew?
Rory has stolen a LOT more swag than we realized. And it's because it happened off-screen. Probably while everybody was doing the regular mission and he was pretending to stay behind like he always does. His daughter calling it a Scrooge McDuck motif was freaking apt.
I also love that he still considers the Flash a freak.
I liked this week. Never let Gary have a support animal. He'll just trade it in for a Mogwai bunny. ****.
DC's Legends Of Tomorrow "Freaks And Greeks"
So that was dumb, cheesy, corny, and sappy in all the right places. Basically typically this show. No strong objections.
I did however notice three major plot oversights.
The first one violated continuity. Nate cannot have fallen off a ladder in college because before he joined the Legends he was a fragile hemophiliac. I don't like the show ignoring his major hang-up and major reason he wanted superpowers in the first place.
I am not positive about Sara's age in Arrow, but I could have sworn she was in high in school when the Queen's Gambit went down. True she was a party girl. But being a beer pong champ and knowing all other sorts of college details are not something she experienced. She was on Lian Yu and then in the League of Assassins at that age. I don't think Caty Loitz is a particularly gifted comic actress anyways, or find the surfer dudette stuff she has been forced to say over the past couple of seasons credible. But that particular thing bugged me for that extra reason.
Finally, maybe this will be addressed next week, but the notion that Astra is indebted to the Fate who she promised a favor for killing John Constantine is 100% wrong. Because Constantine is still alive. That's not how debts work. Now if next week the Fate tries to kill John to make Astra be forced to do what she says, that's another thing, but as it stands, she is in no position to demand anything from Astra. As long as Constantine is alive, Astra owes her nothing.
This was a fun and dumb week. I'm probably overthinking things. But that's what I do. You know you love it. ***1/2.
Batwoman "A Secret Kept From All The Rest"
Is this Hush's first live-action appearance? I think it must be. His design and costume are great.
When Kate question Luke's judgment in trusting Julia, I love him retorting that she was the person who let a one-night-stand steal the most valuable book in Gotham. Mary's "Oh, d*mn!" after that says exactly how well that blow landed.
I like Parker's moxie in talking back to Hush in the van. Kid's got guts.
I like Parker and Mary "talking back to the screen" over Kate and Sophie's soap opera. Mary tells her Kate never says what she's thinking and Parker correctly says that's cool.
Jacob is such a jerk at the end. I hate the character in a way I never hated Quentin Lance. I saw Quentin Lance's point about the Hood. Jacob is just irrational and d-bag.
I thought the code was suitably complicated.
Kryptonite?! What?!
I felt sad that Mouse felt like he had lost a happy life he had built for himself. And I then thought it was pathetic that that is what he considered a happy life.
Pretty good episode. ***1/2.
Supergirl "The Missing Link"
Sean Astin! Yay!
I keep thinking Lex thinks he has more juice with Brainy than he actually does. But then Brainy does what he says anyways and proves me wrong.
I don't think the science of the predatory environment triggering the prisoners holds up. To be honest, I don't demand realism from the science in my superhero shows. But there should be an underlying logic to it at least. This has none.
Lex is a surprisingly good fighter.
For some reason I always find myself sympathizing with bad things happen to Steve. And I'm not sure why that is.
I will NEVER ship J'onn and M'Gann. NEVER. Ick.
DEO got blowed up good. Big things happening.
I'm not all that impressed with Lena's apology to Kara at the end. If she weren't such a petty, weird, self-absorbed idiot, she never would have had to make it at all.
After Lex screams in her face, her calling him a monster and refusing to become one felt entirely wrong. And you know I didn't write the episode. Because I would have had her turn to him and say "Dude, say it, don't spray it." Admittedly less pathos in that quip, but it would have been the proper response to that hammy, overacted nonsense.
Passable episode but some of it rubbed me the wrong way. ***.
Harley Quinn "All The Best Inmates Have Daddy Issues"
The episode did something absolutely crazy that I admire on some level. It tried to top Mad Love as an origin story for Joker and Harley. And of course they can go farther with actual pathos and talk of abuse on a TV-MA show than a Saturday morning cartoon. But even if Joker and Harley were more psychologically complex with tighter dialogue in the flashback, the episode is inferior because it misses the absolute best thing about Mad Love: Batman!
The reason Joker is so angry at Harley in that story is because she basically embarrassed him in front of Batman. And ultimately the victory of Joker losing is not given to Harley. It's by Batman giving Harley her due and snidely making fun of the fact that she came a LOT closer to killing him than the Joker ever did. The flashbacks here hold up better for a modern audience. But without the framing story of WHY Joker is such an irredeemable monster to her, the episode doesn't measure up.
And to be clear, while the flashbacks are better than Mad Love's, my problem is that they should be better than they are. It's not hard to have better writing than a Saturday morning cartoon / comic book from over 20 years ago. But that doesn't stop the Joker and Harley's violent meet / cute from being painfully unfunny. The Heath Ledger get-up also doesn't work in animation, and I wondered how it is Joker knew Robin was Jason Todd and still had no idea Bruce Wayne was Batman.
For the record, in this continuity, Harvey Dent was always a villain. Two-Face just gave him a ready-made excuse to embrace the monster he already was.
Ultimately,. the message of the episode was about the friendship between Harley and Ivy being solid. Which is nice, because that's what the show SHOULD be about. BUT... I'm not sure that should be the subtext to a remake of Mad Love. I had definite mixed feelings, although there were clearly good things in the episode. ***.
Looney Tunes Cartoons "Pest Coaster"
Bold opinion: This isn't measurably better or worse than either The Looney Tunes Show or Wabbit. The animation is better and the character designs finally look all right, but for this specific short, looking at it through a modern lens, I can't help nitpicking it. Just because of all of the other stuff I've seen.
Sam planned to dynamite one of the rides? How does he expect to keep his job, much less not be thrown in Abu Graib for being a terrorist? And while of course it makes sense the baby is a doll to suggest Sam's actions were entirely futile, it amazes me the show is dumb enough to show a character seeming to take a baby on a rollercoaster to begin with.
For the record, the Bugs in drag jokes have not aged well.
I loved the first short. I didn't love this one. I assume I'll be reviewing and enjoying these on a short by short basis because it doesn't seem like the quality is going to be 100% consistent throughout the entire run. And that's fine. It would be weird if all of the shorts WERE great with so many different people involved. I didn't like this short. But I might like the next one. *1/2.
Looney Tunes Cartoons "Wet Cement"
SO much fun! I stated in my last critical review that it looked like these cartoons' quality would vary from short to short, and wind up being very hit and miss. That was a bonafide hit. ****1/2.
DuckTales "The Rumble For Ragnorak!"
Let's cut to the chase. That was not good.
Perhaps you saw me objecting to this coming. I detest episodes where the Ducks fight after all and am not shy in saying so.
Except this is sort of like one of those Disney boxing / wrestling cartoons / comics Carl Barks sometimes did. It's not an actual apocalyptic battle.
My problem is it's too cartoony. There is no reality to it. Dewey's quick-change outfit belongs in a zany Warner Bros cartoon, not the Disney Ducks. And Dewey asks Louie how he made all those T-shirts. And the truth is, he shouldn't have been able to. The show was being a dumb cartoon and thought if they poked around the meta of it a bit I'd forgive it. I don't. I think its stupid and completely wrong for this franchise.
I expected much worse, but I DID wind up hating it after all. Just not for the reasons I assumed I would. *.
Elena Of Avalor "Sweethearts Day"
I thought the romance at the end for Armando was cute, the llama was adorable per usual, and I freaking love puppets. But you know what? A musical episode does NOT land at all on a show with a musical number every episode. They probably should have picked a different trope to explore. It's common sense, really. Just sayin'. **1/2.
The Simpsons "The Hateful Eight-Year-Olds"
That was quite an episode. I wouldn't go so far as to say that was quite a GREAT episode, but it WAS an episode. It existed. Gave me plenty to talk about.
The first thing will probably make me sound like an actual incel, but geez, I can't stand preteen or teenage girls. It's not that every one of them is like the clique portrayed. That's not the actual problem. It's that every one of them seems to wish they were in that clique despite how horrible it is. I don't know know if it's an actual gender failing or a failing of society, but it ticks me off that when they are kids, boys are allowed to talk about what they plan to do for summer vacation while girls are expected to talk about who has gotten fat. And the message of Addison turning on the one person who treated her decently just to be considered less than useless from a group of horrible people is the problem in a nutshell.
Whenever Family Guy takes shots at the shallow way women behave it doesn't land because their surrogates are Lois and Meg, who are generally speaking, reprehensible characters. The Simpsons using Lisa to demonstrate this facet is relatable for the sole reason that Lisa actually knows it's wrong and doesn't secretly wish she was in on it. I think it's a really bad idea to take a shot at the psychology of women, but if you do do that, the least you can do is give the audience a character to sympathize with. The moral here isn't "Women suck". The moral seems ambiguous to me, but I can tell that isn't it. The clique is portrayed as abnormal and wrong instead of attractive. Which is good.
For the record, I hate Bart Simpson so much, because with the notable exception of Moe and his prank phone calls, all of Bart's horrible behavior is directed at people who don't deserve it. For no good reason at all. Bugs Bunny has the same subtext, but he goes up against Yosemite Sam and Daffy Duck. Bart picks on Lisa for no reason other than he's mean. And the moral shouldn't be that Bart saves Lisa because he doesn't like the idea of people meaner than he is. But I don't think there is any good moral to be had with Bart Simpson. He is a terrible character.
And the revelation that he's afraid of horses, doesn't make him sympathetic and relatable. It makes him pathetic because he had been giving Lisa a hard time over that specific thing.
I'll tell you the thing in the episode I loved. Homer's rant about how he didn't ruin anyone's night, and that he saved them by giving them a reason to go home. I don't believe that. But Homer is a great character because he does. He believes goofy things and wears his heart on his sleeve. The fact that he can make a notion as stupid as that not only seem rational, but heartfelt is the entire selling point of the character for me. And this is not a facet he possessed in The Golden Years. Homer being the guy to rail against society's failings and failed expectations is something that started MUCH later on. But it's something about him I now enjoy. And it's also why I think people who think Homer is now a "jerk@$$" are delusional. In point of fact, Homer was never more unlikable, unsympathetic, and meaner than in the first three beloved seasons of the show. People acting like ANYTHING he's recently done is the worse than his deplorable behavior back in Lisa's Substitute are not arguing against the character in good faith.
But yeah, this episode existed. Literally. And I'm not sure how I feel about that. That was SO funny. Shah. Literally. ***.
Bob's Burgers "Local She-Ro"
New York is probably as great as Tammy says it is at the beginning. But she's pretty much its worst advocate.
"Step on my face!" Linda's problem isn't that she's gone crazy. It's that she wants and values stupid things.
I love the idea that the people on the houseboat have a rule that they cover for each other by claiming they are dead. That's both hilarious, neat, and weirdly cool.
Louise's plan to get Teddy unbanned from the sports show was great because she didn't even have to lie or embellish anything. And it seems like the most common sense approach possible. Teddy is pathetic. How can Louise make that work for him? I don't think Louise is exactly smart. But she possesses an ounce of common sense.
I am having a hard time seeing what is so great about the town when the show takes such pains to never bother to name it. Probably not the best premise for an episode while that is true.
Some of it was fun though. ***1/2.
Family Guy "Holly Bibble"
Weirdly, outside of the excellent and ultra-rare Viewer Mail episodes, Family Guy's trilogy episodes tend to be terrible. Which is weird because they do so many of them.
That one didn't suck. I'm going to have to remember the line about the Bible being Harry Potter for stupid people. I don't even agree with it. But it's a great line.
Nobody talks about the incest implied in the Bible except for people debunking the Bible. But really, how else could humanity even exist from two people? But I'm tired of being lectured on sexual morality by people who wave a book predicated on incest in my face. It's kind of tiresome.
The reason I think the Bible isn't literal is because a great deal of it is actually quite immoral. And I don't believe our Universe is that badly designed. I'm thinking instead that something got lost in the translation about the mixed fabrics and butt stuff.
"Let it pour." Oh, Stewie. Never change.
I'd complain about being denied seeing the Biblical Chicken Fight if I weren't already sick to death of Chicken fights.
That gag at the end is the real reason Dianetics exists. Which is something I'll probably get sued for saying.
I love the stuff with God's girlfriend at the beginning. This show always makes God quite a character. And he weirdly has the same voice as Carter and Dr. Hartman.
The Simpsons was thought-provoking if unenjoyable, Bob's Burgers was fun, but slight. I'm giving the edge to Family Guy this Fox Sunday. It is very rare when it wins the night. ****.
American Dad! "Tapped Out"
I need breast milk! A-ring-a-ding-ding. This show is so messed up.
Linda still is apparently alive, so that's good.
Every inch of that was wrong and I feel absolutely terrible that I laughed at all of it. There is something very wrong with the writers and something very wrong with me for finding that funny. ****1/2.
Transformers: Cyberverse "Alien Hunt! With Meteorfire And Cosmos"
As a kid, Cosmos was one of the best Transformers toys. Simple, inexpensive, and with a great color scheme and design. And it's disappointing later remakes never bothered with the character. I'm not fond of this show's take of him as a little kid, and possibly a female little kid, but at least he's being used.
Meteorfire is the robot Crocodile Hunter. That's not a compliment.
Cameo from a Blurr ghost.
That was all right. The show has done better but it's also done worse. ***.
Transformers: Cyberverse "Journey To The Valley Of Repugnus"
The Transformers take on class warfare. And it's about as subtle as a sledgehammer to the face. But it's a kiddie toon. Nuance is not required.
In fact, I found the sci-fi moral neat and clever in the same way Bele and Loki and The Sneetches are. Maybe not as memorable as either of those. But sort of clever in its own right.
I liked this. ****.
Transformers: Cyberverse "Wild, Wild Wheel"
Anyone who turns up their nose at a robot cowboy is too cynical to be watching cartoons.
I don't see how Wild Wheel can possibly blame Optimus for what happened to him, but if there is one thing in common with revenge stories it's that the motive is usually actually stupid.
Wild Wheel says he's a good shot. He's not. He fires several times at Optimus and misses. While the dude is standing right in front of him.
Was this the first time the show has portrayed drawings of humans? It might actually be.
Dumb and fun. The way robot cowboys should be. ***.
Transformers: Cyberverse "Thunderhowl"
Optimus is NOT a great welcomer.
Robot unicorn. Neat.
A lit-up Chromia racing a crystal double of herself in a green crystal maze reminded me greatly of TRON. Although I suspect that was the homage they were going for.
Solid. ***1/2.
Transformers: Rescue Bots Academy "Wild Ghost Chase"
Dumb. So par for the course. However I didn't see anything in it that outright offended me. So that's something. **.
Transformers: Rescue Bots Academy "Little Plot Of Horrors"
It's probably an overstatement to call an 11 minute cartoon tiresome... But yeah, this show's exhausting. *1/2.
The Blacklist "Roy Cain"
I can't. I just can't. I'm too angry.
I would love to review the episode about how much fun it was to see Al Roker play himself as a criminal mastermind. But no. I can't. There's nothing fun about the episode. The end reveal that Liz knew about the Iman abduction and was practically in on it? I have said this is the worst character on television many times. But even I was floored by that. What kills me is the writers are still dumb enough to think I could eventually forgive Liz for that. That are already a thousand reasons not to forgive this person's selfishness and stupidity, but being in cahoots with a person torturing good, decent people to advance her own agenda means Liz is the worst villain on the show.
I always speculated the title of the series finale episode would be "Raymond Reddington (No. 1)". It's more likely to be "Elizabeth Keene (No 2)".
I am shocked and disgusted the show did that. I cannot forgive either Liz or the writers for this. Ever. This is a bad show. 0.
Blindspot "I Came To Sleigh"
This is pretty much the dumbest premise for a season ever. The entire team is framed for treason and Madeline takes over the FBI? Couldn't Gero and Berlanti come up with something even SLIGHTLY plausible?
Poor Rich Dotcom. I like that the team decided he was worth rescuing. They might not have thought that a couple of seasons ago.
That "2 months later" card was completely unhelpful. You can tell your story in the order it occurs, producers. I won't be mad if you don't jerk me around. It's weird that you think I would be.
Don't care that Reade is dead. He was the worst character after Weller.
Sho is pretty flashy and funny. His role is what Rich's used to be.
Weitz is a dope. Aaron Abrams is an MVP.
This is going to be a tough season to watch because my eyes will be rolled into the back of my head for most of it. ***.
