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matt_zimmerAlso reviews for the latest episodes of Gotham Knights, Batwheels, American Dad!, and Night Court.
Superman & Lois "Forever And Always"
Messy, messy, messy. A little TOO messy, I think. I liked a lot of it, but it sort of got away from me by the end.
I realized Manheim's sick wife was Lois' cancer friend Pia. I didn't pick up on that last week. That's fine. As far as storytelling goes, it's fair and makes sense. Even more interesting is finding out she was ALWAYS a Metahuman and a killer. That's fine.
Mateo being their son however sucks butt. It's the randomest and stupidest of coincidences, especially since the show went out of its way to make us like him. And I did. I specifically love the fact that the second Nat storms out after John ruins their lunch Mateo's last words are to thank him for it like a good guest. I'm PISSED the writers did that now.
And really, I love the show. But this week has the potential to have been the shark jump. Why? Star Trek fans really think almost nothing of Star Trek: Voyager. Because it was so badly written it had feasible and easy solutions to bringing the crew home from the Delta Quadrant, and the only reason it didn't use them is because the show would be over. Like when Q offers to bring Janeway and the crew home, every single Star Trek fan scowled at Janeway smugly insisting the crew would find its own way home. Or what about the time Tom Paris broke the Warp 10 barrier? But the crew refused to use it to bring everyone home because apparently a day later you turned into a lizard. Considering the EMH was able to CURE Janeway's and Paris's lizardness easily afterwards it makes the viewer like "Why the hell don't they do it anyways?"
The idea that Clark and Lois refuse Kryptonian technology to cure Lois' cancer and save her life because it wouldn't be fair to the rest of society is a similar level of writing so bad and nonsensical, that only exists because the writers don't have a better solution. But the thing is, I do. If I were the writers I never would have brought up the Kryptonian tech at all, and simply hoped the viewer would either ignore it or forget about it. And if I DID bring it up, I would use Lara's excuse that it was too dangerous. That would make LITTLE sense considering how dangerous cancer actually is, but it would make SOME sense. When Manheim tells Clark that he would do anything to save his wife and Clark agrees, him setting aside the thing that would cure her for sure for a made-up writers' room reason makes both of them liars. It also makes me believe Manheim loves Pia more than Clark loves Lois. What a freaking unforced error. I can't get over it.
A lot of the episode was decent. Sarah had an interesting drag on Chrissy by suggesting that because she's ten years younger than Kyle it's gross. Chrissy's age was never specified before this, but I find that an interesting controversy.
Similarly, I liked the idea that Lois snooping into Pia's business is out of line. Pia is the murderer and Big Bad both she and Clark are looking for. And it doesn't matter in my mind. Lois is not in the correct moral or ethical position to ask the specific pointed questions she is to a woman undergoing chemo treatment. Are her suspicions right and justified? If anything, they don't go far enough. But the reality is Lois has no business doing that to the woman who is helping her through this difficult time. And I like that Lois is starting to get that.
As for Jonathan's snit, I was surprised Lois and Clark told the boys they lied to them about how serious it was. Because it was my understanding the boys already knew. And yeah, a Last Will and Testament is a NORMAL thing to do when you have cancer. Were I Lois, I'd be furious they read her final messages to them. I don't understand why that isn't considered a boundary violation and a case of the kids crossing the line. I thought it was interesting Lois and Clark apologized to the kids for supposedly lying to them. But they were owed an apology from the kids for going through their personal papers and violating their mother's most sacred trust and final words. That is the much bigger sin in my book.
I like Clark telling Jonathan he is every bit the Kryptonian Jordan is, and Jordan is every bit the human he is. It's something I don't think Jonathan understands, but it's always been true.
I don't know, man. Parts of that were shady as hell. It being this show, I still liked a lot of it. But I had grave concerns about the long-term health of the show after that. "Saving Lois' life would be unfair to the rest of humanity" is NOT an argument any well-written show should EVER be making. **.
Gotham Knights "Bad To Be Good"
I don't think it's bad writing, but the kids getting one over on the Court of Owls at the end makes me think. Maybe the Court is not as untouchable as people say they are after seeing them so easily punked by the kids. Maybe it's simply that everyone simply always SAYS they're untouchable (and always have), and everyone else simply believes the hype instead of brushing back against it. Maybe people fighting back get results simply because so few people actually do.
Harvey mentions voters elected Cobblepot, and while there is something to that observation, it doesn't make sense if Harvey if running in the tribe I think he is. Cobblepot got elected because people in HIS tribe can forgive literally anything, even open wanton criminality. If you are the wrong tribe like Dent seems to be, character flaws and morality actually matter. But yes, real-world politics ARE messed up. Someone like Penguin being made mayor in Our Universe is no longer theoretical (much less somebody like Lex Luthor becoming President). Voters voting for bad guys in the comics is done because they supposedly don't have accurate information. In reality, our Universe tells me the truth would dissuade nobody. Things in reality are much worse than a comic book franchise could ever envision.
I don't like torture, but the thing I really don't like about Duela doing it to Eunice is that just based upon what she did, Duela has actually never done it before, and has no idea what she's doing. What SHE is doing is as liable to get the old lady killed as it is to yield and sort of information. Besides, Eunice is MUCH more valuable to the Knights as a live hostage than a source of information. They don't NEED her to talk to trade her for Greene's family. That's the actual selling point of snatching her.
I was surprised the thief was Greene. Good twist.
The timing of actual break-in is wonky (only on TV countdown clocks can 30 seconds pass in the space of 10) but they were busted anyways, so that didn't really matter too much.
But seriously, how hard would it have been to give the kids an accurate time that syncs up to the dialogue? There is no writing rule that the alarm HAD to sound in exactly 60 seconds.
My favorite part of the episode is Turner reassuring Duela that just because she did a good thing, it doesn't mean she's a good person, and her thanking him for that. That's actually great.
Solid episode of a good show. ****.
Batwheels "Bam's Clawful Mistake"
The toddler morals grate, but the truth is Kitty is pretty much just the cutest. ****.
Batwheels "Harley Did It"
You can't Bugs Bunny Batman. However, when Harley actually has to explain the Bugs Bunny gag to toddlers in the audience who have never seen an old Bugs Bunny cartoon, she lets all of the humor out of it. A famous comic once said "If you have to explain a joke, there IS no joke!" Who was that anyways?
The song was pretty great this week. The original music on this show is above average from most cartoons made for TV.
For the toddlers watching this, the clues pointing to the Penguin make the mystery solvable. As a Batman fan, they make the mystery tedious instead.
Also how does one lose a corner piece when you are missing only one when the jigsaw puzzle is almost finished? Puzzle solvers always build from the corners FIRST.
The cartoon was all right though. ***1/2.
Batwheels "Buff In A China Shop"
That was straight up terrible on every level. The show is telling clumsy kids in the audience that the way to become more coordinated is to believe in yourself. This is what is known as a lie. Adults LOVE telling kids those. A responsible preschool show would NEVER preach that specific moral.
Also the Riddler EXPLAINING his Batpuns really makes me think less of the show.
The sand riddle was awful. To the show's credit, Batman thinks it's too easy. To the show's demerit the Riddler is actually surprised he solved it.
Riddler's motivation to destroy the sand castles makes no sense. If he destroyed them (and he didn't try to hide his identity in the episode when he attempted to), not only would he have been disqualified, the contest would have been postponed at best, canceled at worst. But frankly, what is Batman doing there at all? What Riddler is doing isn't an actual crime.
Sometimes I enjoy this dumb show in spite of myself. This was not one of those times. The flaws were simply too great to overlook. Sometimes I can shut my brain off for this show. But the problem with the episode is it thinks I don't actually have one. That's not okay. 0.
Batwheels "A Tale Of Two Bibis"
Cute and not overly insulting to my intelligence which is all I ask for.
Although to be honest, the fake Bibi learning the location of the Batcave seems like a serious oversight on the writer's end. It's a preschool show, so they couldn't exactly kill her off either.
Still, I like that Fake Bibi mentions that chassis are made of metal and cannot stretch. This is not an observation another preschool show would normally make, which is another reason I liked it.
Cute and inoffensive. My jam. ***.
Batwheels "Batty Race"
"Cheater never win" is a nice lesson to drill into toddlers, but it's simply put, not remotely true. Cheaters win FAR more often than good guys do.
The thing I liked is that Buff doesn't take Snowy's betrayal personally. He knows he knows better, but believes he's just misguided. His "Bye, Snowy!" shows he knows they are still friends. I don't much like Snowy later happily boasting to his friends that he "iced" him, but if the show handled that idea perfectly, it would be a miracle. It's impressive Buff and Snowy's friendship usually works as well as it does.
All right, but outside of the Buff and Snowy stuff, nothing special either. **1/2.
American Dad! "Stretched Thin"
The bit that made me laugh was Stan saying "Dude! That's your wife!" to Jeff. And Hayley's like "Dad!" And he says "Oh, that just happened. No way!" This show has the best reactions from a cast of characters with few to no redeeming qualities.
Stan still has CIA connections? Do tell. Because the show seems to have forgotten he works there.
Pitbull's real name is Armando. Roger looked him up.
I love that everybody is impressed that Jeff robbed a bank. It's funny that it occurs off-screen and we just hear about it after the fact.
This show is both stupid and weird. And I mean that as the highest compliment. ***1/2.
Night Court "The Honorable Dan Fielding"
We'll see was happens next week, but I did not dig it.
The dream sequence was outright embarrassing. Okay, the Neil puppet was all right.
I was really excited when the show debuted. It's turned into a bit of a disappointment. **1/2.
Superman & Lois "Forever And Always"
Messy, messy, messy. A little TOO messy, I think. I liked a lot of it, but it sort of got away from me by the end.
I realized Manheim's sick wife was Lois' cancer friend Pia. I didn't pick up on that last week. That's fine. As far as storytelling goes, it's fair and makes sense. Even more interesting is finding out she was ALWAYS a Metahuman and a killer. That's fine.
Mateo being their son however sucks butt. It's the randomest and stupidest of coincidences, especially since the show went out of its way to make us like him. And I did. I specifically love the fact that the second Nat storms out after John ruins their lunch Mateo's last words are to thank him for it like a good guest. I'm PISSED the writers did that now.
And really, I love the show. But this week has the potential to have been the shark jump. Why? Star Trek fans really think almost nothing of Star Trek: Voyager. Because it was so badly written it had feasible and easy solutions to bringing the crew home from the Delta Quadrant, and the only reason it didn't use them is because the show would be over. Like when Q offers to bring Janeway and the crew home, every single Star Trek fan scowled at Janeway smugly insisting the crew would find its own way home. Or what about the time Tom Paris broke the Warp 10 barrier? But the crew refused to use it to bring everyone home because apparently a day later you turned into a lizard. Considering the EMH was able to CURE Janeway's and Paris's lizardness easily afterwards it makes the viewer like "Why the hell don't they do it anyways?"
The idea that Clark and Lois refuse Kryptonian technology to cure Lois' cancer and save her life because it wouldn't be fair to the rest of society is a similar level of writing so bad and nonsensical, that only exists because the writers don't have a better solution. But the thing is, I do. If I were the writers I never would have brought up the Kryptonian tech at all, and simply hoped the viewer would either ignore it or forget about it. And if I DID bring it up, I would use Lara's excuse that it was too dangerous. That would make LITTLE sense considering how dangerous cancer actually is, but it would make SOME sense. When Manheim tells Clark that he would do anything to save his wife and Clark agrees, him setting aside the thing that would cure her for sure for a made-up writers' room reason makes both of them liars. It also makes me believe Manheim loves Pia more than Clark loves Lois. What a freaking unforced error. I can't get over it.
A lot of the episode was decent. Sarah had an interesting drag on Chrissy by suggesting that because she's ten years younger than Kyle it's gross. Chrissy's age was never specified before this, but I find that an interesting controversy.
Similarly, I liked the idea that Lois snooping into Pia's business is out of line. Pia is the murderer and Big Bad both she and Clark are looking for. And it doesn't matter in my mind. Lois is not in the correct moral or ethical position to ask the specific pointed questions she is to a woman undergoing chemo treatment. Are her suspicions right and justified? If anything, they don't go far enough. But the reality is Lois has no business doing that to the woman who is helping her through this difficult time. And I like that Lois is starting to get that.
As for Jonathan's snit, I was surprised Lois and Clark told the boys they lied to them about how serious it was. Because it was my understanding the boys already knew. And yeah, a Last Will and Testament is a NORMAL thing to do when you have cancer. Were I Lois, I'd be furious they read her final messages to them. I don't understand why that isn't considered a boundary violation and a case of the kids crossing the line. I thought it was interesting Lois and Clark apologized to the kids for supposedly lying to them. But they were owed an apology from the kids for going through their personal papers and violating their mother's most sacred trust and final words. That is the much bigger sin in my book.
I like Clark telling Jonathan he is every bit the Kryptonian Jordan is, and Jordan is every bit the human he is. It's something I don't think Jonathan understands, but it's always been true.
I don't know, man. Parts of that were shady as hell. It being this show, I still liked a lot of it. But I had grave concerns about the long-term health of the show after that. "Saving Lois' life would be unfair to the rest of humanity" is NOT an argument any well-written show should EVER be making. **.
Gotham Knights "Bad To Be Good"
I don't think it's bad writing, but the kids getting one over on the Court of Owls at the end makes me think. Maybe the Court is not as untouchable as people say they are after seeing them so easily punked by the kids. Maybe it's simply that everyone simply always SAYS they're untouchable (and always have), and everyone else simply believes the hype instead of brushing back against it. Maybe people fighting back get results simply because so few people actually do.
Harvey mentions voters elected Cobblepot, and while there is something to that observation, it doesn't make sense if Harvey if running in the tribe I think he is. Cobblepot got elected because people in HIS tribe can forgive literally anything, even open wanton criminality. If you are the wrong tribe like Dent seems to be, character flaws and morality actually matter. But yes, real-world politics ARE messed up. Someone like Penguin being made mayor in Our Universe is no longer theoretical (much less somebody like Lex Luthor becoming President). Voters voting for bad guys in the comics is done because they supposedly don't have accurate information. In reality, our Universe tells me the truth would dissuade nobody. Things in reality are much worse than a comic book franchise could ever envision.
I don't like torture, but the thing I really don't like about Duela doing it to Eunice is that just based upon what she did, Duela has actually never done it before, and has no idea what she's doing. What SHE is doing is as liable to get the old lady killed as it is to yield and sort of information. Besides, Eunice is MUCH more valuable to the Knights as a live hostage than a source of information. They don't NEED her to talk to trade her for Greene's family. That's the actual selling point of snatching her.
I was surprised the thief was Greene. Good twist.
The timing of actual break-in is wonky (only on TV countdown clocks can 30 seconds pass in the space of 10) but they were busted anyways, so that didn't really matter too much.
But seriously, how hard would it have been to give the kids an accurate time that syncs up to the dialogue? There is no writing rule that the alarm HAD to sound in exactly 60 seconds.
My favorite part of the episode is Turner reassuring Duela that just because she did a good thing, it doesn't mean she's a good person, and her thanking him for that. That's actually great.
Solid episode of a good show. ****.
Batwheels "Bam's Clawful Mistake"
The toddler morals grate, but the truth is Kitty is pretty much just the cutest. ****.
Batwheels "Harley Did It"
You can't Bugs Bunny Batman. However, when Harley actually has to explain the Bugs Bunny gag to toddlers in the audience who have never seen an old Bugs Bunny cartoon, she lets all of the humor out of it. A famous comic once said "If you have to explain a joke, there IS no joke!" Who was that anyways?
The song was pretty great this week. The original music on this show is above average from most cartoons made for TV.
For the toddlers watching this, the clues pointing to the Penguin make the mystery solvable. As a Batman fan, they make the mystery tedious instead.
Also how does one lose a corner piece when you are missing only one when the jigsaw puzzle is almost finished? Puzzle solvers always build from the corners FIRST.
The cartoon was all right though. ***1/2.
Batwheels "Buff In A China Shop"
That was straight up terrible on every level. The show is telling clumsy kids in the audience that the way to become more coordinated is to believe in yourself. This is what is known as a lie. Adults LOVE telling kids those. A responsible preschool show would NEVER preach that specific moral.
Also the Riddler EXPLAINING his Batpuns really makes me think less of the show.
The sand riddle was awful. To the show's credit, Batman thinks it's too easy. To the show's demerit the Riddler is actually surprised he solved it.
Riddler's motivation to destroy the sand castles makes no sense. If he destroyed them (and he didn't try to hide his identity in the episode when he attempted to), not only would he have been disqualified, the contest would have been postponed at best, canceled at worst. But frankly, what is Batman doing there at all? What Riddler is doing isn't an actual crime.
Sometimes I enjoy this dumb show in spite of myself. This was not one of those times. The flaws were simply too great to overlook. Sometimes I can shut my brain off for this show. But the problem with the episode is it thinks I don't actually have one. That's not okay. 0.
Batwheels "A Tale Of Two Bibis"
Cute and not overly insulting to my intelligence which is all I ask for.
Although to be honest, the fake Bibi learning the location of the Batcave seems like a serious oversight on the writer's end. It's a preschool show, so they couldn't exactly kill her off either.
Still, I like that Fake Bibi mentions that chassis are made of metal and cannot stretch. This is not an observation another preschool show would normally make, which is another reason I liked it.
Cute and inoffensive. My jam. ***.
Batwheels "Batty Race"
"Cheater never win" is a nice lesson to drill into toddlers, but it's simply put, not remotely true. Cheaters win FAR more often than good guys do.
The thing I liked is that Buff doesn't take Snowy's betrayal personally. He knows he knows better, but believes he's just misguided. His "Bye, Snowy!" shows he knows they are still friends. I don't much like Snowy later happily boasting to his friends that he "iced" him, but if the show handled that idea perfectly, it would be a miracle. It's impressive Buff and Snowy's friendship usually works as well as it does.
All right, but outside of the Buff and Snowy stuff, nothing special either. **1/2.
American Dad! "Stretched Thin"
The bit that made me laugh was Stan saying "Dude! That's your wife!" to Jeff. And Hayley's like "Dad!" And he says "Oh, that just happened. No way!" This show has the best reactions from a cast of characters with few to no redeeming qualities.
Stan still has CIA connections? Do tell. Because the show seems to have forgotten he works there.
Pitbull's real name is Armando. Roger looked him up.
I love that everybody is impressed that Jeff robbed a bank. It's funny that it occurs off-screen and we just hear about it after the fact.
This show is both stupid and weird. And I mean that as the highest compliment. ***1/2.
Night Court "The Honorable Dan Fielding"
We'll see was happens next week, but I did not dig it.
The dream sequence was outright embarrassing. Okay, the Neil puppet was all right.
I was really excited when the show debuted. It's turned into a bit of a disappointment. **1/2.
