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matt_zimmerAlso reviews for the latest episodes of DC's Legends Of Tomorrow, Looney Tunes Cartoons, Spidey And His Amazing Friends, and American Dad!.
Fast & Furious: Spy Racers: South Pacific "R.O.A.M. Around The World"
I am not happy.
This is the fifth season. The writing and dialogue should not still be this bad. I made allowances earlier in the show's run because it was still finding itself. But now I recognize the dumb and obnoxious characters as the same as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2012. That was a show that also had potential but steadily got worse and worse due to bad storytelling and dialogue. Now it's too early to say whether the story is gonna blow up like TMNT 2012 did at the end (although truthfully, to this show's credit I don't think it will get THAT bad). But the dialogue is similarly atrocious.
And I can't stand the character of Tony Toretto. I have expressed in the past how unhappy I am that the show made Dom's cousin so dumb. But I realized something even worse about this episode. He's outright UNCOOL. Which when you put him next to Dom is the actual unforgivable thing. He's such a lame poser. Frankly him putting in the last puzzle piece struck me as far more obnoxious than collecting all those tokens for himself. He's such a chore to watch and deal with.
I think the show wanted to surprise the audience a bit and return with a "fun romp". I felt the stakes were inconsequential instead, and as for fun? No fun was had by me watching this dreck. The Fast and Furious franchise is a LOT higher-quality and better written than the detractors would have you believe. But this show is like every complaint a person could have about the franchise's supposed dumbness handed directly to the critics on a silver platter. At this point, I find the show outright embarrassing. *.
Fast & Furious: Spy Racers: South Pacific "The Rescue"
Is there a reason all the villains have to be this dumb and ridiculous? What is this, Captain Planet?
Even though they didn't use Vin Diesel it's good that the show hasn't forgotten Dom.
I was more annoyed with that than anything. **1/2.
Fast & Furious: Spy Racers: South Pacific "Anchors Away"
Here is why the cartoon musical number didn't work. On a superior show they could have done that exact thing and it would have worked liked gangbusters and brought down the house. A sequence like that on Young Justice would slay the fans. The thing is, this specific show is exactly as dumb and silly as that sequence is ALL THE TIME so the ridiculousness of it doesn't land at ALL. That could have been a hilarious sequence if Aqualad dreamed it. Because Tony is always so useless and pathetic, nothing about it is actually funny. *1/2.
Fast & Furious: Spy Racers: South Pacific "Driving And Crying"
Ms. Nowhere and Palindrome's banter wasn't cute and funny, it was bizarre and off-putting, which made it obnoxious and annoying.
One good gag. I like that Tony's 90-year-old aunt is in prison for stealing cars.
But that was dreck. Again. **.
Fast & Furious: Spy Racers: South Pacific "Ride And Die"
The climax did not suck.
The jokes on this show are so loud and unfunny. They are all kinds of cringe and are actually painful to listen to.
Ugh. **1/2.
Fast & Furious: Spy Racers: South Pacific "Ex Machina"
So apparently the Big Bad of the season is going to be an evil robot Tony car. Did I mention this is the worst thing in the franchise?
Cliffhanger wasn't bad though. I'll give them that.
But not much else. It's embarrassing enough that Tony is scared of bugs. But so are Shashi and the villain. Try imagining scenes like this playing out with Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, and Jason Statham. You can't. Because the show sucks and the movies don't. *.
Fast & Furious: Spy Racers: South Pacific "The Takeover"
Shashi popping up in the last shot was NOT a surprise, but it was the right ending.
What wasn't right? The scene of the guards picking up the phone with the videogame on it and actually being distracted by it. Holy smokes, if I had seen that move on Darkwing Duck 30 years ago they never would have heard the end of it from me. Stuff like that in a modern show is completely unacceptable. *1/2.
Fast & Furious: Spy Racers: South Pacific "The Toretto Virus"
Tony is insufferable at the end. You'd figure an AI modeled after that dope would be easy to beat. And you'd be right.
I kind of dug how all the villains sort of repented by the end of the year.
I'll tell you what I liked. I liked the bit about Palindrome discussing Ms. Nowhere's electric blanket and cold feet. It's a very subtle and G-rated way to tell the audience their relationship is intimate. Too few projects that say couples are having sex are subtle about it. This was nice.
But it was practically the only thing that was. The rest was a dumb and noisy as usual. **1/2.
DC's Legends Of Tomorrow "Silence Of The Sonograms"
I have come to the unpleasant realization that the writers have no game-plan or idea of what to do with Bishop. They are merely throwing crap at a wall and seeing what will stick.
The Constantine stuff was amazing, topped off to scary, awful perfection by him lighting one of those damn cigarettes at the end. I can't believe DC is taking this away from Matt Ryan. It's not right.
I loved the Constantine stuff, but the episode troubled me. ***.
Looney Tunes Cartoons "Back To School Special"
Test Pest:
Good gag not showing the Proctor's face until the end. His body was pretty expressive due to it looking somewhat disjointed. Although that design looks weird having three fingers.
Daffy was funny too. Good cartoon. ****.
Erase The Leash:
I can't stand Foghorn Leghorn. *.
Buzzard School:
I love Beaky's Italian mother. The animation of them together is very striking and well- done. The designs and the movements say everything.
Honestly, I wish the whole cartoon had just been the two of them. ***1/2.
Episode Overall: ***1/2.
Spidey And His Amazing Friends "Bug In The System / Test Your Super Strength"
Bug In The System:
The whole thing at the end of Spidey transforming Doc Ock's wormhole generator into a recycling shortcut made me realize something bad. I am about to say one of the harshest things I can ever say about a person. Peter has an utter lack of imagination. That's the worst thing I can say about somebody, and I'll say it because that totally bugged me. **.
Test Your Super Strength:
Predictable. I know it's for toddlers, but still.
Also controlling your temper won't help you win carnival games. Those things are scams. **1/2.
Episode Overall: **1/2.
American Dad! "Family Time"
Oh, man. Do you know what got me? When Steve said he was really worried about Jeff and that he thinks there's something wrong with him. He's not fun dumb. Hayley may have committed a crime when she married him. They probably should talk to a lawyer and get their stories straight of who knew what when. I thought that was brilliant. One of the best things the show has ever done.
So this is the first time we've spent any time with Dr. Weitzman. Which was a mistake of the previous episodes. He's pretty great. He's as pathetic as Tuttle, but dangerously crazy too.
Hayley digs Buckle now? I can see it.
Covid taught me something: buffets are super gross. Basically petri dishes of every cold every person at the buffet currently has. Even if and when the pandemic ends I will never, EVER go to another one. I'm not sleeping in motel rooms either as long as we're talking about gross stuff.
Man, that whole bit with Jeff believing they were playing hide and seek was amazing because it was twisted, sad, sweet, funny, and stupid all all once. Jeff's stupidity runs the emotional gamut in that scene. I totally understand why Steve is upset and why that was the specific thing that made him say "Hold up." That was a pretty painful moment.
Roger's stuff sucked, but his stuff always does.
A great episode otherwise with one of the best jokes the show ever did. ****1/2.
Fast & Furious: Spy Racers: South Pacific "R.O.A.M. Around The World"
I am not happy.
This is the fifth season. The writing and dialogue should not still be this bad. I made allowances earlier in the show's run because it was still finding itself. But now I recognize the dumb and obnoxious characters as the same as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2012. That was a show that also had potential but steadily got worse and worse due to bad storytelling and dialogue. Now it's too early to say whether the story is gonna blow up like TMNT 2012 did at the end (although truthfully, to this show's credit I don't think it will get THAT bad). But the dialogue is similarly atrocious.
And I can't stand the character of Tony Toretto. I have expressed in the past how unhappy I am that the show made Dom's cousin so dumb. But I realized something even worse about this episode. He's outright UNCOOL. Which when you put him next to Dom is the actual unforgivable thing. He's such a lame poser. Frankly him putting in the last puzzle piece struck me as far more obnoxious than collecting all those tokens for himself. He's such a chore to watch and deal with.
I think the show wanted to surprise the audience a bit and return with a "fun romp". I felt the stakes were inconsequential instead, and as for fun? No fun was had by me watching this dreck. The Fast and Furious franchise is a LOT higher-quality and better written than the detractors would have you believe. But this show is like every complaint a person could have about the franchise's supposed dumbness handed directly to the critics on a silver platter. At this point, I find the show outright embarrassing. *.
Fast & Furious: Spy Racers: South Pacific "The Rescue"
Is there a reason all the villains have to be this dumb and ridiculous? What is this, Captain Planet?
Even though they didn't use Vin Diesel it's good that the show hasn't forgotten Dom.
I was more annoyed with that than anything. **1/2.
Fast & Furious: Spy Racers: South Pacific "Anchors Away"
Here is why the cartoon musical number didn't work. On a superior show they could have done that exact thing and it would have worked liked gangbusters and brought down the house. A sequence like that on Young Justice would slay the fans. The thing is, this specific show is exactly as dumb and silly as that sequence is ALL THE TIME so the ridiculousness of it doesn't land at ALL. That could have been a hilarious sequence if Aqualad dreamed it. Because Tony is always so useless and pathetic, nothing about it is actually funny. *1/2.
Fast & Furious: Spy Racers: South Pacific "Driving And Crying"
Ms. Nowhere and Palindrome's banter wasn't cute and funny, it was bizarre and off-putting, which made it obnoxious and annoying.
One good gag. I like that Tony's 90-year-old aunt is in prison for stealing cars.
But that was dreck. Again. **.
Fast & Furious: Spy Racers: South Pacific "Ride And Die"
The climax did not suck.
The jokes on this show are so loud and unfunny. They are all kinds of cringe and are actually painful to listen to.
Ugh. **1/2.
Fast & Furious: Spy Racers: South Pacific "Ex Machina"
So apparently the Big Bad of the season is going to be an evil robot Tony car. Did I mention this is the worst thing in the franchise?
Cliffhanger wasn't bad though. I'll give them that.
But not much else. It's embarrassing enough that Tony is scared of bugs. But so are Shashi and the villain. Try imagining scenes like this playing out with Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, and Jason Statham. You can't. Because the show sucks and the movies don't. *.
Fast & Furious: Spy Racers: South Pacific "The Takeover"
Shashi popping up in the last shot was NOT a surprise, but it was the right ending.
What wasn't right? The scene of the guards picking up the phone with the videogame on it and actually being distracted by it. Holy smokes, if I had seen that move on Darkwing Duck 30 years ago they never would have heard the end of it from me. Stuff like that in a modern show is completely unacceptable. *1/2.
Fast & Furious: Spy Racers: South Pacific "The Toretto Virus"
Tony is insufferable at the end. You'd figure an AI modeled after that dope would be easy to beat. And you'd be right.
I kind of dug how all the villains sort of repented by the end of the year.
I'll tell you what I liked. I liked the bit about Palindrome discussing Ms. Nowhere's electric blanket and cold feet. It's a very subtle and G-rated way to tell the audience their relationship is intimate. Too few projects that say couples are having sex are subtle about it. This was nice.
But it was practically the only thing that was. The rest was a dumb and noisy as usual. **1/2.
DC's Legends Of Tomorrow "Silence Of The Sonograms"
I have come to the unpleasant realization that the writers have no game-plan or idea of what to do with Bishop. They are merely throwing crap at a wall and seeing what will stick.
The Constantine stuff was amazing, topped off to scary, awful perfection by him lighting one of those damn cigarettes at the end. I can't believe DC is taking this away from Matt Ryan. It's not right.
I loved the Constantine stuff, but the episode troubled me. ***.
Looney Tunes Cartoons "Back To School Special"
Test Pest:
Good gag not showing the Proctor's face until the end. His body was pretty expressive due to it looking somewhat disjointed. Although that design looks weird having three fingers.
Daffy was funny too. Good cartoon. ****.
Erase The Leash:
I can't stand Foghorn Leghorn. *.
Buzzard School:
I love Beaky's Italian mother. The animation of them together is very striking and well- done. The designs and the movements say everything.
Honestly, I wish the whole cartoon had just been the two of them. ***1/2.
Episode Overall: ***1/2.
Spidey And His Amazing Friends "Bug In The System / Test Your Super Strength"
Bug In The System:
The whole thing at the end of Spidey transforming Doc Ock's wormhole generator into a recycling shortcut made me realize something bad. I am about to say one of the harshest things I can ever say about a person. Peter has an utter lack of imagination. That's the worst thing I can say about somebody, and I'll say it because that totally bugged me. **.
Test Your Super Strength:
Predictable. I know it's for toddlers, but still.
Also controlling your temper won't help you win carnival games. Those things are scams. **1/2.
Episode Overall: **1/2.
American Dad! "Family Time"
Oh, man. Do you know what got me? When Steve said he was really worried about Jeff and that he thinks there's something wrong with him. He's not fun dumb. Hayley may have committed a crime when she married him. They probably should talk to a lawyer and get their stories straight of who knew what when. I thought that was brilliant. One of the best things the show has ever done.
So this is the first time we've spent any time with Dr. Weitzman. Which was a mistake of the previous episodes. He's pretty great. He's as pathetic as Tuttle, but dangerously crazy too.
Hayley digs Buckle now? I can see it.
Covid taught me something: buffets are super gross. Basically petri dishes of every cold every person at the buffet currently has. Even if and when the pandemic ends I will never, EVER go to another one. I'm not sleeping in motel rooms either as long as we're talking about gross stuff.
Man, that whole bit with Jeff believing they were playing hide and seek was amazing because it was twisted, sad, sweet, funny, and stupid all all once. Jeff's stupidity runs the emotional gamut in that scene. I totally understand why Steve is upset and why that was the specific thing that made him say "Hold up." That was a pretty painful moment.
Roger's stuff sucked, but his stuff always does.
A great episode otherwise with one of the best jokes the show ever did. ****1/2.
