The Penguin "Great Or Little Thing" Finale Review (Spoilers)

[matt_zimmer]

Also reviews for the latest episodes of Teen Titans Go!, The Simpsons, and Bob's Burgers.



The Penguin "Great Or Little Thing"

That went down dirty and I wouldn't have it any other way.

God, the scene with Eve at the end. Shudder.

Oz making Sophia the patsy and putting her back in Arkham is worse than killing her.

Even when Oz is killing his only friend I feel this weird sympathy for this total monster.

The thing Sophia orchestrated with his mother was appalling. And Oz cares about her more than anyone. Except himself. Even if it meant her losing a finger he can't admit what he did, even if she already knows.

She said every last thing he never wanted her to say to him, and basically became a vegetable before she could take it back. Oz's scene with her in the hospital room was both real and heartbreaking. And he'll never have what he truly wants.

I do want to point out something I either missed last week, or didn't fully appreciate: Oz was one creepy little kid. I am not usually repulsed by children but the kid they got, smiling sweetly at his Ma, promising her all kinds of bullshit in that thick accent of his is a special level of cringe. Yeesh. Let Rex take him home, Francis. You'll be better off.

Sophia looks him in the eyes at the airport and knows he's won. Those are not the eyes of a defeated enemy. Cool moment. And yes, him leaving her alive to take the fall was a pleasant and twisted surprised. Fate worse than death there for Sophia Falcone.

Her arson scene says she was never playing with a full deck either. Maybe we're all safer with her in Arkham anyways.

That was a pretty operatic finale that left it all out on the table, hit the highs and lows, and shows Oz as both a man and a monster, and sometimes both at once. This is definitely one of my favorite live-action DC shows of all time. *****.




Teen Titans Go! "Azarath Metrion Bookstore"

The show taking one Titan and teaming them up with a bunch of tertiary characters is getting old. Cat is cute though.

I like Teenage Trigon and College Trigon.

"My butt is possessed!" is why this show is the worst.

I like that Nana calls Raven Rachel.

Not great. **1/2.

Teen Titans Go! "The Great Azarathian Face Off"

I'd say the show is starting to run out of ideas, but it ran out of ideas five seasons ago.

I liked the I thought I saw a pudding cat gag though. That was cute. **1/2.

Teen Titans Go! "Bookyman"

So it ended with the marriage? What? Eh. Whatever. **.

Teen Titans Go! "Unleashed"

Oh, the Loonatics. And the show is completely right about the reasons they sucked.

What a shitty rogues gallery. How was this ever a thing?

I like that Trigon's full name is Trigontholomew. Also that he owns the ThunderCats' Third Earth.

Funny episode. ****.

Teen Titans Go! "Original Idea"

Hundred Massacre Wood? Good one.

Yeah, Winnie the Pooh as a horror film is dumb. I don't like the public domain very much.

Surprised there wasn't an appearance by Mickey Mouse. I know he's not a book but still.

All right episode. ***.

Teen Titans Go! "Attention To Detail"

I'm wondering if these mistakes were in the episodes seen themselves. They probably were. Kind of cool to make them canon.

I love the MST3K bit. Wink.

Good episode. ***1/2.




The Simpsons "Women In Shorts"

I love the female centric main titles. Bonus points for the Chalkboard Gag not being about the election.

Lisa's Narnia thing is weird.

While I enjoyed Homer's humiliation I didn't get the logic of the musical number or know what it was spoofing.

Bart's teacher used Lisa as a ringer! Nice!

Nelson's stuff was sad and not funny.

Luanne's intervention had some good jokes, but the idea is kind of dumb.

Lunchlady Dora is a pure monster. Actually, Agnes has problems too.

I feel like the Malibu Stacy thing could have been its own episode.

Okay Helen Lovejoy has the hots for Moe (!!!!), detests Tim's trains, and wants to punch Ned Flanders. I get the second two things, but I'm having trouble wrapping my brain around the first.

After seeing all those cigarettes, I was like, "So where's the crisis?" And I was like, "Oh. It's that they're horrible. That's the crisis."

The roleplaying scene was a little too arch for this specific show. It's fourth wall-bending rather than breaking, but it's still a little too broad.

Mama-At-Law doesn't work because we don't know who that character is.

For the record, Family Guy couldn't do this. There simply aren't enough female characters there.

Normally I like the show trying new things, but to be blunt, this episode probably should have happened 20 years ago already. Only partial credit. ****.




Bob's Burgers "Hope 'N Mic Night"

The butt song was actually good. Shocker.

I love Fishoeder and the Princess singing Opposites Attract on a piano and harp. I believe Kevin Kline is a good singer so his bad performance was actually a hard thing to do.

I love Louise passing around the bongo at the end to collect donations. There's your solution.

Jimmy's reaction to Ollie and Andy's performance was priceless.

I thought it was a really good episode. ****.