Acclaimed director Robert Zemeckis adapts a Halloween favorite meant for children
Back To The Future, The Polar Express, Forrest Gump… these are the movies Robert Zemeckis has made, to just name a few. He is adapting this beloved children’s tale along with Alfonso Cuaron, Guillermo Del Toro, and Kenya Barris. For a superb PG-rated dark family comedy movie meant for the family, The Witches features an all-star group of talent. With a planned joint release on both HBO Max and in theatres October 28th.
The story about a young boy who stumbles upon a coven of witches, and with the help of his grandmother, attempts to stop their plan to turn the children of the world into mice. Along the way, lessons are had, stories are beheld, and a whole lot of family-friendly spookys are made. The A-list cast includes Anne Hathaway, Octavia Spencer, Stanley Tucci, Kristen Chenoweth, and Chris Rock, who star and feature in the film. Chairman of the Warner Bros. Pictures Group Had this to say about the movie:
“The Witches is a wonderful reimagining of Roald Dahl’s classic tale that combines world-class filmmaking with fantastic performances. It’s fun for the whole family and ideal for this time of year.”
Given the inability to see it in theatres, it’s promising that the film is planning joint live showing and HBO Max release. It’ll also be part of the, “Halloween is Here,” spotlight alongside a library selection of over 140 movies, series, and Halloween events picked by HBO Max’s editorial team
Like Every Convention in 2020, New York Comic Con will be held online. Here’s the scoop about the biggest events and what to check out
New York comic con online is coming online this Thursday to Sunday. Hosted by ReedPop and called New York Comic Con: ‘Metaverse’, the online convention runs October 8-11th. It will stream via the NYCC YouTube Channel.
Because of the online nature of this year’s convention, we’ve done a special podcast to talk about our own convention histories, along with what we’re looking forward to checking out at Metaverse for NYCC 2020 online. We’ve also listed below, all the details about the biggest events to prioritize and when to watch it these upcoming days. All descriptions are taken from the New York Comic Con x MCM Comic Con Metaverse schedule.
Thursday
Star Trek Universe | Exclusive Conversations with Casts of Star Trek: Lower Decks & Star Trek: Discovery + Surprise Guests (12:00pm)
The beloved panel returns to New York Comic-Con with a special virtual edition, featuring exclusive back-to-back conversations with casts and producers from the Star Trek Universe on CBS All Access, alongside a few special surprise guests. Join the creator of STAR TREK: LOWER DECKS, Mike McMahan, and series voice cast for a special edition of CBS All Access’ official Star Trek after-show, The Ready Room, as they dive into the season one finale with host Wil Wheaton. Voice cast appearing include Tawny Newsome, Jack Quaid, Eugene Cordero, Noël Wells, Dawnn Lewis, Jerry O’Connell, Fred Tatasciore, and Gillian Vigman. Be the first to learn the latest about STAR TREK: DISCOVERY before season three premieres on Thursday, October 15, exclusively on CBS All Access. Join series stars Sonequa Martin-Green, Doug Jones, Anthony Rapp, Mary Wiseman, and Wilson Cruz; new cast members David Ajala, Blu del Barrio and Ian Alexander; and series co-showrunners and executive producers Alex Kurtzman and Michelle Paradise, for an exclusive conversation on what’s in store for the U.S.S. Discovery crew. Moderated by Sarah Rodman of Entertainment Weekly.
Amazon Prime Video Presents -The Boys (4:15pm)
Join The Boys’ cast and Showrunner as they answer fans’ burning questions and tease what’s to come in advance of the shocking finale of the critically-acclaimed second season. Based on The New York Times best-selling comic by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, The Boys is a fun and irreverent take on what happens when superheroes – who are as popular as celebrities – abuse their superpowers rather than use them for good. The even more intense and insane Season Two, exclusively on Amazon Prime Video, finds The Boys on the run from the law, hunted by the Supes, and trying to regroup and fight back against Vought.
The Sound of “The Sandman” with Neil Gaiman and Friends – Presented by Audible and DC (6:05pm)
In celebration of the first-ever audio adaptation of “The Sandman” — based on the bestselling DC graphic novel series that rewrote all the rules — Audible will bring together master storyteller Neil Gaiman, aural auteur Dirk Maggs, and other special guests to reveal the creative process behind this groundbreaking audio production. Panelists will discuss how the source material, including the detailed notes for illustrators in Gaiman’s original manuscripts, was painstakingly taken off the page and brought to life in a fully-immersive listening experience featuring a 68-member, all-star cast led by James McAvoy, cinematic soundscape, and original music score.
Friday
Cast of Starz’s American Gods Tease Season 3 Details (5:30 pm) + American Gods Live Q&A (6:20 pm)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpFReEjhm-4
#GodSquad are you ready for divine intervention? Stream with your favorite gods as they journey to Lakeside and talk all things Season 3 of the hit STARZ Original Series “American Gods.” Following his discovery last season that Mr. Wednesday is his father, Shadow attempts to break away and assert himself as his own man. As he settles into life in Lakeside, he uncovers a dark secret while exploring questions of his own divinity. Guided on this spiritual journey by the gods of his Black ancestors, the Orishas, Shadow must decide exactly who he is — a god seeking veneration or a man in service of the “we.”
Afterwards, join Ricky Whittle, Yetide Badaki and Bruce Langley Live!
The 2020 Annual Harvey Awards Ceremony (7:50 pm)
The 2020 Harvey Awards are going digital! One of the comic industry’s oldest awards is back as part of NYCC & MCM’s Metaverse. Watch as they recognize outstanding achievements in the comic industry this year, as well as spotlight creators and industry legends who are being inducted in the Hall of Fame. The Harvey Awards are named after Harvey Kurtzman, creator of MAD magazine, and strive to continue to honor his legacy in the industry each year with titles nominated and voted on entirely by industry professionals.
Get Heated with the Cast & Creator of Hulu’s Helstrom (9:05 pm)
Get an exclusive sneak-peek at the first 10-minutes of Hulu’s Helstrom, followed by a conversation with showrunner Paul Zbyszewski and cast – Tom Austen, Sydney Lemmon, Elizabeth Marvel, Ariana Guerra, June Carryl and Alain Uy – where they discuss what went into bringing this twisted comic to life and answer fans’ burning questions. Moderated by TV Guide Magazine’s Damian Holbrook. All 10 episodes of Helstrom premiere Friday, October 16th on Hulu.
Saturday
Cosplay Central’s Virtual Championships of Cosplay | Powered by SYFY WIRE (2:40pm)
Welcome to Cosplay Central’s second-ever Virtual Cosplay Championships, Powered by SYFY WIRE! Join our host, Jaremi Carey, and our panel of expert guest judges to find out whose handmade costumes impressed them and claimed a prize.
Batman | Death in the Family – An Interactive Tale (4:20pm)
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment’s unveils its first-ever interactive film presentation with Batman: Death in the Family in a fascinating New York Comic Con panel. As the anchor of an anthology of 2019-2020 animated shorts, Batman: Death in the Family is based on the 1988 landmark DC event where fans voted by telephone to determine the story’s ending, and is organically grown out of the 2010 DC Universe Movie, Batman: Under the Red Hood. In this new version, the animated short is an interactive storytelling presentation with numerous “branches,” allowing the viewer multiple options from which to choose and alter the path of the core characters (Batman, Robin, Joker, Red Hood and more). Join producer/director/writer Brandon Vietti (Batman: Under the Red Hood, Young Justice), actors Bruce Greenwood (The Resident, Star Trek, iRobot), Vincent Martella (Phineas and Ferb, Everybody Hates Chris) and Zehra Fazal (Young Justice), and moderator Tiffany Smith (DC Daily) for an in-depth panel discussion about this innovative film. Produced by Warner Bros. Animation and DC, DC Showcase – Batman: Death in the Family arrives from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on Blu-rayTM Combo Pack and Digital starting October 13.
Metaverse Presents – Lost Anniversary Fan Q&A With Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse (7:25 pm)
Join the showrunners of the hit TV series for this special, one-time event where they’re answering fans’ burning questions, moderated by Josh Horowitz! Be sure to submit your own using the #lostinthemetaverse hashtag.
Sunday
Best American Science Fiction 2020 (10:00 am)
The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy series is the premier annual showcase of the country’s finest writers in the genre. This year’s anthology features a truly fantastic lineup selected by guest editor Diana Gabaldon, author of the mega-best-selling Outlander series, and series editor John Joseph Adams; from Charlie Jane Anders to Rebecca Roanhorse. Tune in to hear these genre titans discuss the ever-expanding and changing world of science fiction and fantasy.
What We Do In The Shadows – Live Panel Discussion with Cast & Producers (1:40 pm)
Fresh off its eight (8!) Emmy® nominations, What We Do in the Shadows returns to New York Comic Con for a LIVE discussion with the cast and producers. Come with your burning questions about vampires, slayers, ghosts, necromancers and… Jackie Daytona! Named “TV’s funniest comedy” by Rolling Stone, What We Do in the Shadows is a documentary-style look into the daily (or rather, nightly) lives of four vampires who’ve “lived” together for hundreds of years. Joining the conversation will be series stars Matt Berry, Kayvan Novak, Natasia Demetriou, Harvey Guillén, Mark Proksch and the creative team. Seasons 1 and 2 are now available on FX on Hulu. BAAAAT!
DC’s Stargirl Cast & Producer Panel (3:25 pm)
DC’s Stargirl creator/executive producer Geoff Johns joins series stars Brec Bassinger (Bella & the Bulldogs, All Night), Yvette Monreal (Rambo: Last Blood, Faking It), Anjelika Washington (Tall Girl, Girl’s Room), Cameron Gellman (Heathers), and Meg DeLacy (The Fosters), as they relive the first season’s most epic moments. Join your favorite Blue Valley residents as they share behind-the-scenes tales and scoop on what’s to come for Season 2. DC’s Stargirl: The Complete First Season is currently available to own on Digital, Blu-ray, DVD, and now streaming on The CW app.
With more movie cancellations due to the pandemic, Daniel Craig’s final James Bond moves to April 2nd as Cinemas indefinitely shutdown in response.
In a move that surprises no one given the financial flops of films being released during the Covid-19 pandemic — such as Mulan and Tennet to name two — No Time To Die moves to Spring Easter Weekend of 2021. Right when the F9 Fast and Furious sequel planned to release that date, has decided to move to Memorial Day Weekend of 2021.
The next installment in the Bond franchise was originally expected to release on April 10th of this year. It was then pushed back to November due to the complications caused to opening theatres due to widespread pandemic and then moved yet again this time, to next year. The move was reportedly done in order to tap into a wider global-wide audience. As films continually struggle to make ticket sales, and others, are seeking other forms of digital distribution online. Preferably, at less of a market loss.
In fact, No Time To Die has already spent money on both its advertisements and partnered sponsorships, all of whom will be deducting losses from the film’s overall costs (as special released Bond-themed watches, sneakers, and cars, cost cash). With major losses at most major cinemas projected into 2021, it’s uncertain what will happen to the future of movie cinemas or if there’ll be another delay of release. As a result of the delay, Cineworld (owner of Regal) has decided to shut down all of their cinemas indefinitely for what’s apparently going to likely be the remainder of 2020. Although massive layoffs will be expected, there will be hope for a reopening in 2021.
No Time To Die is set five years after the capture of Ernest Stavro Blofeld. Where a semi-retired James Bond, is approached by the CIA for help in the search of Valdo Obruchev, a missing scientist. It’s a mystery that sees Bond confront Safin (Rami Malek), a unique supervillain whose brilliance serves as the antithesis to Bond’s cunning, whose nefarious schemes could cost the deaths of millions.
The movie is going to be Daniel Craig’s finale. It’s been reported that Tom Hardy will be the next Bond character.
Corba Kai returns on January 8th with a Season 4 Now Already Officially Confirmed
The surprising hit Cobra Kai, originally a youtube special now picked up by Netflix, has already confirmed both a new season and a sequel. The continuation of the Karate Kid franchise, the show has been a smashing sensation for Netflix. Frequently hitting the top 10 charts of its most-watched in the US since its debut. A Sony TV original series, Cobra Kai was recently bought out by Netflix from youtube, as all the produced episodes are planned to release in January. In what’s to be a full transfer over from youtube to Netflix.
Now, we’ve covered Cobra Kai pretty extensively on The Workprint. The show has been so incredibly successful for Netflix that a Season 4 is now officially confirmed in the works. Cobra Kai is also a series that was picked up and continued with a new life on Netflix, following other series such as Lucifer, The Killing, You, and Arrested Development. Cobra Kai was so incredibly successful on youtube that its first episode alone was watched by a whopping 55 million viewers.
Cobra Kai is a show that’s set in the same timeline as the original Karate Kid film franchise, just set 30 years after the events of the 1984 All Valley Karate Tournament. It tells the aftermath story of Dan (Ralph Macchio), who struggles for balance in his successful life, without the teachings of the wise Mr. Miyagi as a mentor. He also has to face down his old rival Johnny, who oddly enough is now the point of view protagonist, and his now reopened Cobra Kai dojo. A unique take on the series, the rivalry between Johnny and Daniel is… in the simplest ways to put it… both excessive and hilarious. A brilliant take on the popular series through and through.
The Unknown Actress will be playing Kamala Khan, Marvel’s first Pakistani and Muslim Superhero
Ms. Marvel has been all the rage in the past month. With her character’s premiere in the Marvel’s Avengers video game, and later, the confirmation of her class A Disney+ directors team. It seems like Disney has been greenlighting everything, Ms. Marvel, this month thanks to the character’s excellent reception. As such, Disney and Marvel, after months of debate and casting, has finally decided on choosing 18-year old Canadian actress Iman Vellani for the titular role. Vellani is a relatively unknown though has major expectations for her role within the overall Marvel Universe, and though virtually nothing is known about Iman Vellani, she was part of the Next Wave Committee at the Toronto Film Festival.
Originally confirmed in Deadline, the news of the casting took most of the internet by storm. With many celebrities praising the choice, as the character of Ms. Marvel is one of the most important characters ever created for representation in comics history. A fangirl who just seeks to live a normal life growing up, she’s seen as one of the first minority modern adaptions of the American teen, is the first Muslim female superhero ever created for comics, and also, just so happens to reside in Jersey City, New Jersey. Which is my home state as well.
Kamala Khan is also the Ms. Marvel replacement of Carol Danvers (who went on to become Captain Marvel in the comics and Brie Larson in the MCU movies), and has become a beloved icon in the industry since 2013. She also is planned to play an important role, as confirmed by Kevin Feige during Disneys D23 in 2019. Feige went on to say that Kamala Khan will also feature in the later MCU movies outside of the Disney+ universe.
In the penultimate episode of Season 2, chaos ensues, as almost everyone runs around like a headless chicken
One of the things that The Boys does beautifully well is in its balancing act of the series’ ensemble. With multiple storylines and story arcs regarding a cast of 14 different characters — which is slightly more than rivals: Umbrella Academy and Doom Patrol — this season has been successful in juggling its multiple storylines. Though The Boys is still not as big a hit as some Netflix original series, it is performing very admirably well and even broke the Streaming top 10. With a fast-tracked spinoff on the way, and of course, its large corporate sponsorship via Amazon, the future of The Boys looks brighter than ever.
In this episode, we get tons of revelations and some resolutions with almost every character in the show’s large cast.
Congresswoman Victoria Neuman — the series AOC fill-in — cooperates with The Boys in a powerplay to take down Vought in a congressional hearing. Before it begins, they’d like the full details on the Sage Grove compound V subjects, and so the team visits Dr. Vogelbaum.
We also meet Connie (Lesley Nicole) and Sam Butcher (John noble), Billy Butcher’s parents, in what’s a very heated reunion. It’s funny seeing Karl Urban and John Noble together, as both worked together as Eomer (The future King of Rohan) and Denethor (The Steward of Gondor), from Lord Of The Rings.
Meanwhile, Kimiko teaches Frenchie how to speak with her. Maeve has her out of the closet romance implode. A-Train gives The Deep a fish as the two are informed of a possible Seven comeback. Noir and Starlight fight. And Hughie and Lamplighter watch a whole lot of The Seven based pornography, arguing which one of them is the bigger Cuck in the series.
We breakdown this episode below.
The Boys Season 2 Episode 7: Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker
In the opening of this season’s penultimate episode, we see something that feels akin to the current struggles across America. As a white disenfranchised internet troll brainwashed by Stormfront’s message of hatred, ends up shooting and killing a minority. It’s a jab at groups like the Proud Boys and Neo-Nazis. A result of Stormfront’s indoctrination of people on pro-hate messages, not unlike President Donald Trump.
In a series about greed, and to speak quite frankly: losers, what The Boys captures rather grittily in this episode is what happens when we push the underdog too far. People like Stormlander’s followers, but really, also any of these so-called ‘special’ people. Whether they actually are uniquely special, or if it’s simply how they see themselves, doesn’t really matter, so much as it is the image of talent gone to waste. Lives that never lived up to their own potential.
People with an awful sense of self.
Some fantastic examples of this revelation in this episode: Hughie is very much just the giant fluffer cuck. Lamplighter, a failed prodigy desperate for daddy’s approval who murdered and incinerated everything he built and loved. Homelander, despite the vastness of his power, struggles all season to be loved by both the American people, the results of which see him becoming the figurehead of the American Nazi. Worst of all is Maeve’s forced out of the closet openness as to who she truly is to her partner, leading to an inevitable split between the two.
None of these people have a good sense of self and it shows in many dysfunctionally fragmented ways. In fact, the only person who seems to have their shit together is Stormfront, The Nazi. And she had generations more than most to figure out who she is trying to be.
Give LampLighter a Hand
I think where this theme of failed self-identity really shines is in Lamplighter. A prodigy at the age of 4, he sees himself as the cuck of The Seven, sitting in the sidelines as all the heroes are fucking. With the only semblance of playing hero again, being Hughie’s quest to go and save Starlight, revealed by Vought and Homelander as traitors.
Yet, we the audience know that it’s going to fail because Hughie’s projects often do in this series. What’s interesting is not only does Hughie succeed — albeit at the cost of Lamplighter who self-immolates — we also get some deep looks and layerings of different characters.
Starlight sees Hughie in a different and more heroic way really emphasizing his growth, Black Noir finally shows an achilles heel, and most importantly, Queen Maeve shows that she’s sick of the bullshit and finally getting things done in a small moment of redemption.
It’s all beautiful moments of growth. Though I think most importantly, it shows both Annie and Hughie’s growth and how they can function a bit more on an equal footing. She’s super, he’s surprisingly cunning. It’s the seeds of a sweet little setup of what’s oddly becoming the series’ healthiest couple in the making. Albeit they’re not officially together… yet (or so I speculate).
As for Lamplighter’s semi-tragic end, it serves its purpose as he goes out of his way to save the day and be a hero, intentional or not. His moment does provide the power and the opportunity for Starlight’s escape, but it also layers himself as a tragic afterthought in corporation Vought.
The Aryan Face Seeks a Family
It almost seems like Stormfront and Homelander do nothing but build up the neo-nazi family angle this entire season. During a heated rally led by Stormfront, the couple play towards their base audience, as Stormfront even teases Congresswoman Victoria Neuman as an SJW. Fulfilling their duties to Vought, they sell the idea of the need for Supes, rally against a supposed enemy in Starlight, and even secretly get people hyped for more Compound V.
Seeing just how important family seems to be for Stormfront, Homelander invites her to see his son. The first naturally born superhero.
Homelander wants to be a superhero family. Stormfront helps fulfill her Aryan champion’s dream, by seeding distrust to Ryan about their mother and the fake life they’ve setup for him, along with selling him the glorious fantasies about the outside world: Movies, Voughtland, and promises of a life he’s been too sheltered to see. Enough to whisk him away from his mother, Becca.
The taking of Ryan sets up an inevitable conflict of team Homelander and Stormfront versus Billy Butcher and The Boys. It’s the long-awaited build-up of this season though how it will go down isn’t entirely certain given how much of a branching story we’ve been given this year.
Heads Explode
At the climax of the episode, a power-play by Grace Mallory to recruit doctor Jonah Vogelbom to testify, Vought’s former CSO and head scientist, sees a foreboding warning about the cost of Family in this war. The memories of Grace’s now-deceased family, Mother’s Milk’s desperately distanced family whom he misses, and most importantly Butcher and his views of family. The last of which is the most important, because Butcher has a harsh view of his father and sees the fallacies in his own wife’s son. In fact, Butcher is pretty awful and seemingly hates families. This is why it’s unsurprising that he coerces Jonah by threatening the safety of his unless he testifies.
And in the Vought Congressional hearing where Vogelbaum seems like he’s going to spill the beans and shift the tides of this war between The Boys and The Seven, heads explode. Chaos ensues everywhere. And multiple people are murdered.
With an angry Butcher, cornered and without options, aggressively staring at the fallout.
The Take
This was a solid one where a lot goes down. As just when we think Vought is cornered, things go entirely awry. I think next week we’re likely to see Stan Edgar again given the aftermath of the events and the needed PR announcement Vought will desperately try and spin. The preview for next week also shows that Billy’s wife is asking for aid about where they took their sons meaning we’ll see a Homelander confrontation that we’ve been waiting for all season.
Clarke, you gots some explaining to do! image c/o imdb.com
Jordan was right, Bill got killed, and Clarke doomed all of her friends!
Finales are tricky. There’s pressure to please the fans yet end the show in a way that maintains the integrity of its themes and setup. The 100 had a very simple setup: find a place to call home. And, in that respect, the finale paid that bill. With regards to the themes we’ve seen throughout the show, I think it made a decent effort though it didn’t entirely hit the mark.
We start off where we left off, with Emori being rushed to Sanctum in hopes of pulling off a miracle. It does not go well, and this plotline ends simply enough with Murphy getting Emori’s mind drive put in his head, waiting for death, while Jackson and Miller dance together in the background.
The next storyline we follow is that of Clarke, Levitt, and Octavia. Clarke is on the warpath, killing everyone in her wake on the way to the stone to stop Cadogan. Octavia is along for the ride, while Levitt is less than thrilled about how things are going down. Bill is in the City of Light (kind of) meeting the proctor of the test – Jordan was right!
Bill’s side of things ends quickly, with Clarke shooting him in the head mid-exam. The proctor seems surprised by this but takes the event in stride, changing forms from Bill’s daughter Cassie to Clarke’s ex-lover Lexa. They get into a heavy debate about how Clarke’s actions are evidence of why the human race should not transcend and instead be crystalized (that’s the consequence of failing the test) like the countless other species deemed unworthy.
Clarke makes some fine points here – mainly that she finds it hypocritical of a “higher” species to pass judgment on a “lower” one, including taking it upon themselves to eradicate that species. After all, if the human race’s greatest flaw is its penchant for violence and the tendency to wipe out other species, is this “higher” species really better? Unfortunately, like most rebels, Clarke’s arguments get her in deep shit and the proctor deems humanity unfit for transcendence. This storyline ends with Clarke being left behind while all the other humans get to transcend (more on that in a minute), mostly because she was the first member of a species to commit murder during the test.
Octavia and Levitt’s storylines collide with Wonkru, Jordan, Hope, Indra, Raven, and Echo who all get tangled up in what the Disciple army thinks is the last war. While Wonkru and the gang are just providing a distraction so Echo and Raven can sneak off to stop Bill, Levitt reminds them that the Bardo army believes their appearance is literally the last war that their Shepard prepared them for.
By the end of this storyline, Octavia has completely redeemed herself managing to stop a massive clash of armies instead of causing one (even with Shady working against her!). Levitt and Echo almost die in the process but are kept alive long enough to see the promised land, because the dead don’t get to transcend. Ultimately, it’s the success of Octavia’s speech, which drives both Wonkru and the Disciples to lay down their arms, which convinces the proctor to save the human race after all.
However, credit for this salvation also goes to Raven, who takes a chance and enters the test after Clarke failed. We get an Abby cameo! Anyway, Raven’s stance is that while humanity might not be worthy of transcendence isn’t it unfair to kill them? Where Clarke rages against the dying of the light, Raven bargains. She makes similar arguments to Clarke – calling out the “higher” species for its cruelty, claiming while humanity has made mistakes it was just trying to survive, but she offers something Clarke doesn’t. She makes the claim for humanity’s ability to change, to grow, and only requests more time.
Clarke seeks acceptance and for the proctor to admit it’s just as fucked up as the species it destroys, no wonder this doesn’t fly. Gods are hardly of the mind to consider themselves “human”. Raven, however, seeks only to be accepted for what she is: human. She doesn’t try to get the god to see humanity in itself, but rather, to realize it is incapable of understanding a species it considers itself so far above. This is a clever strategy and grants our humble species the precious few minutes more it needed to prove itself worthy.
With Levitt, Octavia, Raven, and the armies’ help, humanity is spared. Not given more time, as Raven asked for, but transcendence. Everyone except Clarke…
The final moments of the series are dedicated to revealing how loyal Clarke’s friends are to her. See, everyone gets to transcend, but it turns out it’s a choice. An apparent one-time-no-backsies type choice, but still. The proctor explains no one had ever chosen not to transcend until now, naturally. As Clarke is told the good news we get to see what idiots chose not to evolve. From what I can make out it’s Indra, Octavia, Murphy, Echo, Hope, Jordan, Miller, Jackson, Raven, Gaia, Niylah, and maybe Emori??? To be honest, I didn’t see John’s girl on the beach but I would find it hard to believe she would stay ghosty while he lives on the ground.
Some of the best, but let’s face it, way too quick moments in this finale include:
Indra blowing up Shady! Yes!!! Indra finally gets revenge for her mother and people’s deaths when she takes up a vaporizer and blasts Shady into nothingness. He’s the only linchpin fucking over humanity’s chance at salvation, so it’s a good thing she does it, but man, is it ever satisfying.
Jordan and Hope finally kiss!!! Unfortunately, it doesn’t go much further because the bridge opens and they are off to stop Cadogan, but at least they crossed that line so they’ve got a future of making out ahead of them.
Clarke relieving Madi of her Earthly commitments. The first hint we get of transcendence being a choice – without realizing it – is when Madi refuses to leave her broken body. It’s interesting that, despite believing she failed humanity, Clarke quickly grasps what’s happening and encourages her daughter to let go. At first, I thought that Madi’s locked-in syndrome was preventing her from being able to transcend, but nope!
Clarke’s reunion with her friends on the beach. Seriously, what the fuck? There were plenty of moments in this episode that could have been trimmed to allow us a longer more in-depth look at who exactly rejected everlasting peace for a life with Clarke. It’s a shame but I also wonder if it wasn’t somewhat on purpose.
Things that bothered me in this finale:
So Raven and Nikki are just friends now? I honestly didn’t understand the random united front that the prison miners made when getting recruited, not only to rescue Niylah and Echo, but also to be part of the distraction army sent to Bardo. I get that Raven got to Nikki when she pulled the whole “what would Hatch” do speech on her, but enough to engender a favor this big!? Pfft…that’s some finale bullshit right there.
John’s willingness to die for Emori. Now, understand that anytime this comes up in a show I’m not a fan. I never understood why one half of a supposedly die-hard couple is willing to sacrifice his or herself so the other can live. You do realize the other person has to live without you right? Is it fair to assume that he or she will be just fine without you while you couldn’t possibly live without them??? I get that John and Emori are fan favorites and her death was going to be a heavy blow (which is again why, despite not being sure she was on the beach, I’m pretty sure she was on that beach), but seriously this trend needs to die.
Shady’s last-ditch effort to destroy…humanity? Shady was a great villain this season, absolutely phenomenal at times, but his shift from wanting to rule Sanctum to wanting to fuck everything up for the rest of us seemed like some finale bullshit to me. Also, why did it take so long to take him out!? I get that it allowed Indra to have that all-satisfying moment of blasting him to bits, but seriously…you’re telling me not one member of Wonkru was able to just turn and shoot him? Really?
What the fuck was that overlay at the end? Who was the girl at the very end that got a weird overlay while Clarke and her friends reunited on the beach? Am I the only one who didn’t get that shit at all? Was it Madi? I mean…from what I understand she’s part of a kind of collective, so how would she be sitting on a floor playing with…again, not entirely sure what the fuck was going on with that.
Overall impression:
Again, this wasn’t a bad finale overall. A fairly happy ending – if you consider missing out on eternal peace happy – with most of our starting cast making it to the end. It raises questions, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing for a finale, and will probably confuse the fuck out of a good chunk of people (::raises hand::). I think being unable to know exactly who was on the beach ruins some of the punch because if there are beloved characters missing that would raise the emotional bar. Ah well. You can’t please everyone, right?
The Original Slate for Marvel's Phase 4. Credit: Disney
Phase 4 may be delayed, but there are promising new details for what comes next, including a rumored Agents of SWORD
Due to the recent financial flop of Mulan, along with all the massive Covid-19 delays in shooting, Disney has updated their schedule release for everything Phase Four of the MCU. Across the board everything has become delayed; however, all of the Marvel Disney+ series seem to be moving forward. With WandaVision — whose trailer was watched by a whopping over 53 million people — expected to release in December after The Mandalorian wraps. And likely Falcon and Winter Soldier to be released shortly after. As production on the anticipated series had already resumed filming earlier this month.
On Top of this, the MCU will now be releasing 3-4 movies a year beginning in 2021. A lot of which is due to the delays, and also greenlights, that occurred due to the Covid-19 Pandemic. Some of the major products moving into production for Marvel have been the casting of Tatiana Maslany as She-Hulk, production hirings for the upcoming Hawkeye and Ms. Marvel Disney+ series, and the directed Oliva Wilde project heavily rumored to be Spider-Woman.
Most recently, Samuel Jackson has confirmed to be leading a new Disney+ series. One that’s rumored, but yet to be confirmed, to be an adaptation of Secret Invasion. Atop of this, given that Nick Fury’s character was left in space in Spider-Man: Far from Home, atop of all the intergalactic setup established between Nick Fury and Captain Marvel (and obviously every Marvel movie where Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. prepared for an incoming alien invasion AKA all of them), it’s heavily believed that the project might possibly be: Agents of S.W.O.R.D.
However, given that the original comic was actually co-created by Joss Whedon himself and because Agents of Shield fell out of fashion in the MCU given the hateful fallout between Kevin Feige and Jeff Loeb, what this means beyond the fact that they’ll be adapting some sort of Fury’s agents in space is entirety unknown.
Below, are the Newly Confirmed Phase 4 Release Dates and Details.
Black Widowarrives on May 7th, 2021
Natasha Romanoff opens up the ledger of her past when a dangerous conspiracy arises. Needing to deal with her history as a spy and the damaged relationships left in her wake.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings opens July 9, 2021
Simu Liu stars as Shang-Chi, alongside Awkwafina and Tony Leung in a film directed by Destin Daniel Cretton.
Eternals opens on November 5th, 2021
The Eternals is the story about ancient aliens who’ve secretly been living on earth for thousands of years. After the events of Endgame, an unexpected tragedy forces them out to battle mankind’s ancient enemy: The Deviants.
Korea’s top sitcom creators create an original K-Comedy series for Netflix produced by Mystic Story.
So Not Worth It is an upcoming Netflix original Korean sitcom. The story about love and friendship between students from different multicultural backgrounds who live at an international university dormitory, the series will be helmed by some of Korea’s top sitcom creators.
Created by Kwon Ik-Joon, a showrunner who’s created acclaimed shows such as Three Guys And Three Girls and Nonstop, Kwon will also be working with producer Kim Jung-sik (Smashing on Your Back, High Kick). With a script co-written by Seo Eun-Jung (Soonpoong Clinic, New Nonstop) and Baik Ji-hyun (Nonstop, Rude Miss Young-Ae).
The story of several dorm residents and their unconventional adventures, rising actress Park Se-wan (Just Dance, School 2017, and Never Twice) will be playing Se-wan, a bright spirited teaching assistant and the dorm’s RA. Living in her dormitory includes Jamie (Shin Yueon-Seung) the man with a secret past, Sam (GOT7 K-pop boy band star Choi Young-Jae) the son of an Australian-Korean restaurateur, the K-Drama loving Minnie (Minnie of the K-pop girl group (G)I-DLE ) from Thailand, and model/actor Han Hyun-min, who plays is a Korean who wants to live at the dorm.
Given the pandemic, it’s not surprising that preproduction was greenlit along with casting for So Not Worth It. The series stands poised to reignite enthusiasm for the sitcom format, hopefully with its unique international take on the genre, something meant to blend K-Comedy with a global appeal. The new Korean original series will be produced by Mystic Story, a South Korean entertainment company established by South Korean singer-songwriter Yoon Jong-shin. It’ls also expected to be exclusively released on Netflix, which comes as no surprise, as the digital distribution company seems to be doubling down on its global brand by greenlighting international productions across the world.
The popular Amazon series The Boys seems to be following a similar pathway as AMC’s The Walking Dead with an aftershow and now spinoff series
After a successful first season on Amazon, The Boys only had one way to go but up. Despite the review bombing and negative critiques about the series — which are mostly hateful comments as to how this season staggered its release over doing a massive debut drop — The Boys Season 2 has been a resounding success for Amazon. Doubling its worldwide audience, while attracting more weekly viewers as the season continues.
Due to all of the success of the series, it’s been officially announced that a spinoff has been fast-tracked that’s now in the works. The spinoff will take place in a school setting, making it sound like a somewhat twisted play on the school for the gifted. Not unlike X-Men, or more recent deranged takes on the superhero: Umbrella Academy or Doom Patrol.
Likewise, given how ‘The Boys’ also has it’s own aftershow hosted by the lovely and hilarious Aisha Tyler, it seems reasonable to think that Amazon seems to be treating The Boys the same way AMC treats The Walking Dead. As a flagship for its Network and as a series that can be used to generate other intellectual properties. Though it’s still early to tell, given Eric Kripke’s successful history as a long-running showrunner with Supernatural and the fact that development executives, Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg, have actually worked with The Walking Dead‘s parent network, AMC, on another Garth Ennis written series: Preacher; it’s not that unfounded to believe that The Boys will be Amazon’s The Walking Dead. A show whose longstanding success and branding has led to a series of financially successful spinoffs.
As for details on The Boys spinoff, Variety had this to say in their initial report:
“Set at America’s only college exclusively for young adult superheroes (and run by Vought International), the Untitled Boys Spinoff is described as an irreverent, R-rated series that explores the lives of hormonal, competitive Supes as they put their physical, sexual, and moral boundaries to the test, competing for the best contracts in the best cities. Part college show, part Hunger Games — with all the heart, satire and raunch of The Boys.”
Preacher and Lost series veteran, Craig Rosenberg will be writing the pilot and serving as showrunner. Eric Kripke, Seth Rogen, and Evan Goldberg are all also still on board as producers, with Sony Pictures Television are once again producing.
Between the ongoing Ray Fisher scandal, ballooning costs, and supposed reshoots, nothing about the Snyder Cut is going to plan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6512XKKNkU
Due to family tragedy back in 2017, Zack Snyder had to leave post-production of the filming of Justice League resulting in director Joss Whedon (Avengers) to finish the movie. Forced to meet its expected studio release date, Whedon ended up reshooting a large portion of the Justice League to enact his vision of what was a more entertaining film than Snyder’s version; something which many die-hard fans have blamed for ruining the story. Unhappy about the product, fans had taken to the internet demanding a Snyder cut reshoot of the Justice League.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShZulYSIIhA
Initially teased in Harley Quinn back in early May, it was revealed only weeks later that a Snyder Cut of Justice League was actually happening in what’s to now be a four-hour four-part event for HBO Max. With a small(er) 20 million dollar budget, the film will be one of the service’s biggest series on the platform to date, along with Zack Snyder’s final foreseeable product for DC depending on how well the movie is received. Indeed, Snyder is putting everything on the line in executing his vision with this one. He has also gone on the record with just how much he hated Whedon’s Justice League, his director’s cut containing nothing from the Joss Whedon’s reshoots.
How It’s All Coming Apart
This was the movie’s original intention. What’s actually happening, is that the Snyder cut is frankly, killing DC from the inside. Partially, because of miscommunication on all fronts, but more importantly, because of the ongoing Ray Fisher scandal happening right after the insanely massive DC layoffs across the board.
Originally an accusation of abuse conducted by Joss Whedon on set, the matter was investigated by internal investigators, though not to Fisher’s liking. In particular, Fisher has called out several big-name DC executives besides Whedon, the biggest of whom, is Geoff Johns the former Chief Creative Officer of DC and the creator of DC’s Stargirl.
I believe this investigation will show that Geoff Johns, Joss Whedon, Jon Berg (and others) grossly abused their power during the uncertainty of AT&T’s merger with Time Warner.
Thank you @WarnerMedia and @ATT for making strides to ensure a safer workplace for all!🙏🏽
It should also be noted that all of the above-condemned parties no longer work as executive figureheads for DC. In fact, Fisher himself doesn’t seem to have a list of demands beyond repetitively requesting: to investigate more. Making matters more complicated for the studio, this month, Fisher has also gained the support of Jason Mamoa, the star of DC’s Aquaman.
Yet, despite the investigation, nothing seems to have been found regarding the abuse allegations nor is coming out into the open. I myself don’t know who to support or believe, given that there’s no evidence of anything just yet, and that all the accused parties have already departed from their positions of power. The studio has also gone out of its way to discredit Fisher, mostly by portraying him as an actor unhinged about losing his opportunity to be a star, given his scenes being cut from Justice League — his first major movie. It’s also sketchy as to why none of the rest of the cast is in support of Fisher outside Momoa, especially Gal Gadot, whose support would bring the issue to light.
Honestly, if this is an empty claim, Ray Fisher has effectively ended his career and it’ll be hard for any studio to trust or work with him. If it’s not, and there is abuse or worse to be found, this will effectively tarnish the DC brand, though the company may be able to claim damage control, having already axed said accused executives (though not Geoff Johns, who still works for the company albeit in a smaller role, which is where this issue is complicated).
It would appear that @wbpictures has gone from giving libelous official statements to one media outlet, to becoming “a source” of purposeful misinformation for another.
Warner Studios has recently made a decree stating that Ray Fisher’s Cyborg is going to have more of his omitted scenes restored for the new Justice League. Yet, all of this comes at an unforeseen additional production cost, the likes of which I’m not entirely certain the studios have factored in, given the tumultuous relationship between Fisher and the studio. At the same time, Warner keeps releasing confusing statements that Fisher has gone on record to refute. The studio has also given the press empty promises, such as the return of Gal Gadot, Ben Affleck (who is leaving the franchise after this movie due to his own fallout with Warner Brothers), and Henry Cavill, the last of whom has already outright said: No.
Oh the Irony, Zack Snyder
It’s predicted that the movie has inflated from an originally projected $20 million to a now $70 million production cost between the added effects, score, and reshooting. The re-cut, likewise, does not factor in marketing costs, which could easily raise this film’s budget over $100 million. The cost of an entirely new big-budget film.
The ‘Snyder Cut’ will be a 4-hour episode presentation for HBO Max. The release date is expected in 2021.
CONNECTING... -- Pictured: "Connecting..." Key Art -- (Photo by:NBC Entertainment)
In what’s basically a Zoom-based sitcom, Connecting… will debut at 8 pm Thursday, October 8th.
The Covid-19 pandemic has forced a lot of changes, particularly regarding broadcast television. With so many freezes in production, in response, NBC has greenlit an eight-episode straight-to-series order of ‘Connecting…’ An NBC comedy set during the present pandemic.
In what’s essentially ‘Zoom, the comedy Series’. NBC’s Connecting… is an ensemble comedy show, shot remotely from each different actor’s houses. Set 10 days after California’s stay-at-home order was issued, the story is about a group of friends in Los Angeles, who stay connected by turning their weekly Sunday dinners into online hangouts. Trying to stay sane through video chats, the show highlights these friends’ lives along with their highs and lows during extraordinary times. Because not even a pandemic can keep great friends apart.
Nayfack will play Ellis, a pragmatic, type-A and a huge Clippers fan. Powell and Knox, who are married in real-life, will play husband and wife Garrett and Michelle, who are thriving in quarantine. Henry will play Rufus, paranoid and conspiracy minded, he’s more comfortable online than off. Lawson will portray Ben. His girlfriend broke up with him just before the pandemic started and he is debating whether to take her back.
The series will debut on October 8th before moving to 8:30 pm beginning on October 29th. The change is mostly due to the presidential debates but also, sports, as NBC is expected to broadcast the remainder of the NHL’s Stanley Cup finals.
Resident Evil Infinite Darkness is an upcoming Netflix Anime based on the stars of Resident Evil 2 officially announced for 2021
Announced during Capcom’s Tokyo Game Show Livestream, Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness is a Netflix original CG animated series set for launch in 2021. The story will be a completely different take from the already announced Resident Evil live-action TV series being filmed about the Wesker Daughters. Instead, Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness will be a horror-action series based around the series’ popular characters, Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield.
Only a little over a year ago, the remake of Resident Evil 2 had hit the market to much aplomb. Rated both one of the best Resident Evil games and remakes to date, the game had sold over 7.2 million copies and even won Game of The Year for The Golden Joystick Awards, Empire, and Hardcore Gamer. Considered a major revitalization of the series, Leon and Claire are the current fan favorites for most recent Resident Evil gamers. Adapting an animated series about their lives should only provide for good material.
Hoping to blend suspense and action, this series will unveil bits of Resident Evil like nothing ever seen before. The show will be shot completely in beautifully rendered 3D animation. It will also be executive produced by Capcom’s Hiroyuki Kobayashi, who helped create Resident Evil: Vendetta and Devil May Cry: The Animated series. He is also responsible for adapting numerous Capcom and Resident Evil titles onto animated film and TV series.
The animation company TMS Entertainment is going to run the production side of the show while Kei Miyamoto, the producer of Resident Evil: Vendetta, will be in charge of the full 3DCG animation.
In the trailer and teaser art, we can see Leon in an uncharacteristic suit and Claire sporting a red coat. Though little is known about the series yet, it is possible we may be seeing the beginnings of Agent Leon. As the character ends up working directly for the US Government by Resident Evil 4.
Netflix debuted Enola Holmes this week and it’s a quirky adventure that both teens and adults can enjoy, albeit with some lingering questions.
Based on The Case of the Missing Marquess (the first novel in the Enola Holmes Mystery series by Nancy Springer) with Millie Bobby Brown (Stranger Things) playing Enola, younger sister of Sherlock (Henry Cavill) and Mycroft Holmes (Sam Clafin). The film quickly explains how the main character doesn’t really have a relationship with her elder siblings mainly living with her mother in the country. Enola had an unconventional upbringing where Eudoria (Helena Bonham Carter) made certain she knew history and literature, but also had skills in tennis, painting, ciphers, jujutsu, and much more. But she does not know how to embroider. Scandalous.
Mother and daughter were very close but on Enola’s sixteenth birthday, the elder woman vanishes only leaving her child a set of handmade flower cards with the instructions to use them wisely. She calls on her brothers for assistance, but the situation goes from bad to worse with Mycroft planning to send her to finishing school to become a proper young lady. One of the central themes of the film is choice and Enola decides to locate her mother on her own.
She soon finds herself embroiled in the affairs of young Viscount Tewkesbury, the Marquess of Basilwether (Louis Patridge). At first he appears to be just another young nobleman wanting to escape the pressures of his family’s expectations by following his own desires. However it becomes apparent that someone has hired a killer to end the marquess’s life and there is more to this situation than meets the eye.
Enola is shown to be quite adept in sleuthing just like her older brother Sherlock as she is able to get leads on her mother’s motives and plans having remembered clues in the elder woman’s correspondence and secretive meetings with other women. It takes gumption to venture out on her own and while the housekeeper and her brothers think she is terribly naïve, Enola proves that she’s able to fend for herself in the big city of London where she’s gone to find Eudoria.
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!
Faced with two mysteries, Enola ends up making the hard choice to help Tewkesbury realizing that there were bigger issues at stake and locating her mother would have to wait. This greater issue was that the death of this particular aristocrat would have an impact on a reform bill that was going to be voted on in the House of Lords. While the film never explicitly says what the bill is about, there’s implications that its related to voting rights. This may be Third Reform Act of 1884, which extended voting rights to the countryside where in all men who owned property that valued at £10 or rented property at an annual cost of £10 were eligible. Enola comments to Tewkesbury at one point when they return to his ancestral home devoid of servants that this was the future. This would have impacted many commoners and allowed them a voice in the political system.
This would make sense as we discover that the true mastermind behind the plot to kill the marquess is the young man’s own grandmother, the Dowager Countess of Basilwether. In one scene she discovers Enola in the woods and explains how tradition is the only way for the country and they must protect it at all cost. The elder aristocrat even admits that both her son and her grandson are progressive thinkers which she clearly disagrees with.
Speaking of the Dowager, one of the most interesting things about the film is its female characters. There are those like the noblewoman and headmistress Miss Harrison (Fiona Shaw) who are staunch traditionalists with very rigid views on women and their place in society.
To contrast, Eudoria’s disappearance is surrounded by a militant suffragist movement with Enola discovering her mother’s dangerous plans involving bombs and gun powder. She meets one of the older woman’s associates, Edith (Susie Wokoma), who worked at a tea shop with a jujutsu dojo on the second floor. Edith has a conversation with Sherlock who informs him that he has never experienced a world without power that’s why he’s not interested in politics. Other people do not have the luxury. The secret group that both women are a part of clearly want change and are willing to do what is necessary to get it. Eudoria has seemingly chosen a precarious path and by the end of the film Enola finds her own way, distinct from any of her relations. Mother and daughter do meet again and we while still don’t really know what the elder woman is planning, the younger seems to have accepted that particular mystery will remain unsolved.
Enola, while progressive is more in the middle. She doesn’t necessarily agree with her mother and Edith’s more radical way of thinking, but she also believes that women are more than embroidery and eating soup a particular way. Enola is smart, witty, gifted, and wants more for herself than to be married off to some man. At the same time however, her conversation in the forest with the Dowager revealed that she still saw beauty in traditions.
Enola Holmes is a coming of age story where the main character is able to overcome numerous obstacles via siblings, finishing school, killers, and societal expectations to forge a life that is hers. While she could have become Sherlock’s ward or gone to live with Tewkesbury and his family, Enola chose to remain independent and live on her own accord.
The film reminds viewers that the future is up to us and now is an important time to heed the message.
With six novels in the book series, this may not be the last we see of the young detective and perhaps we’ll discover what the suffragettes are planning, what becomes of Enola’s new life in London and will she continue to evade her brothers? Time will tell.
One of the things The Boys is great at is in asking the question: who are we when the rules don’t apply? When larger than life people — these superheroic symbols of our time — go unchecked, what’s to stop them from taking what they want and leaving a path of destruction in their wake? Persons who reign not only with brute force and superheroic abilities, but also with power, status, and authority. Because if absolute power corrupts absolutely, then what does Homelander — a narcissistic and unhinged Superman — choose to do with it?
This episode hints at the answer to that question. It also focuses in on some pretty big backstories about The Boys. Particularly, the pasts of both Frenchie and Lamplighter (Shawn Ashmore), the former Seven member and murderer of Malory’s grandchildren.
The Boys Season 2 Episode 6: “The Bloody Doors Off”
This episode of The Boys is broken up into two parts. One is the mental hospital investigation and resulting shakedown. The other is a nice little bonding moment between Hughie, Starlight, and Butcher. Though like most things in this series: nothing goes according to plan. A lot of casualties die.
We also get some minor reveals in this episode, mostly in that Queen Maeve can’t keep letting Homelander’s sins step aside as it’s killing both her relationship and identity (Vought has REALLY capitalized on her coming out with a lot of LGBTQ centered products), and that A-Train and The Deep become, well let’s just say, better friends in what looks like a parody of Scientology.
The biggest breakthroughs in this episode are hands down the revelations about Frenchie’s past. A beautifully written and acted episode that provides context to these characters, what’s great about “The Bloody Doors Off” is that it layers the characters in such three-dimensionally portrayed dramatic depth that you can’t help but sympathize with them. I think by the end of this episode it’s hard not to love Frenchie. And oddly unexpected, I think Lamplighter is less a maniacal serial killer and more a flawed hero who made a horrible accident when pushed to his edge, by the very Boys we’re supposed to be rooting for.
Also, kudos to a brilliant casting of Shawn Ashmore. Though Lamplighter in the comics is a parody of Green Lantern, in this TV series he’s a pyrokinetic. All for what’s essentially a parody of Ice Man, the character Shawn Ashmore had played in numerous X-Men films.
Here’s the breakdown of this episode below. Warning there will be spoilers.
Frenchie’s History
We get a little background as to why Frenchie abandoned his post that fateful evening years ago allowing Lamplighter to murder Malory’s grandchildren. The entire segment has a very Requiem For A Dream feel to it, where a bunch of bank-robbing golden girls loving
drug addicts sort of live life on the edge. Though our deepest sympathies are with Frenchie. Being the sympathetic sort of healer and discount surgeon that he is, he’s sort of forced to choose his post or to save his best friend from an overdose. What sucks is in the end, his actions didn’t matter, and by choosing one way… he indirectly let innocent people die.
As someone who has been in those circumstances many times, albeit not as extreme, yeah I sympathize and Frenchie, you’ve won me over as The Boys character I related to the most.
Now, because Frenchie never forgave himself over stopping Lamplighter he’s been on a quest for self-redemption. He’s even made Kimiko his saving grace project even though she’d never deemed it necessary. Together, the two seem to finally understand each other… And possibly, maybe more. I’ll admit I’m a shipper of the two as I think they’re both awfully sweet in a fucked up kind of way.
Lamplighter
Now, what’s really cool about Lamplighter is how they humanize him in this episode. As backed into a corner in a way we’ve seen Billy and crew done in the past to other people, Lamplighter becomes less a one-dimensional psychopath and more of a reluctant villain. The revelation being that he’d never meant to kill children. Like many others, we’ve seen Lamplighter backed into a corner. A man trying to kill Mallery after being cornered.
Still, it’s somewhat difficult to fully sympathize with a wealthy famous celebrity. What’s interesting is that Lamplighter accepts the guilt and takes the blame wholeheartedly, not unlike Frenchie. He also doesn’t tell anyone their identities nor the events of what happened that day. In fact, it seems like Lamplighter more-or-less just wants to die in a corner but doesn’t.
So Vought fires him and makes him their disposal man. A person to burn the evidence at a compound where Vought is testing to stabilize Compound V for use on adults. Information that Lamplighter shares all in his odd redemption story we didn’t even know he wanted or needed.
Where the Vought is a pharmaceutical company, not a superhero company reference thus far this season has been sort of a reluctant explanation. This episode brings to light how all of that comes to fruition. Because if that drug is released for the wide-audience there is a lot of money to be made. The world be damned if it becomes bloated with superheroes..
He’s Too Good For Us
Now, besides all this, Hughie is pretty badly injured in the chaos and is almost killed. Starlight seems to fit into The Boys better than everyone realized, and Butcher, starts to oddly respect her. With everyone in unanimous agreement that the seemingly only decent human being in this show: Is Hughie.
And they’re right. Because so far, he really is the only good person on the show, proving time-and-time again that he’s selfless, brave, and caring. A voice of reason that’s keeping almost everyone on this show, human.
The Ubermensch
As for the reason you’re reading this. Something is up with Homelander in this episode, in that he has this twisted love affair with Stormfront, but gets upset that she’s hiding from him. Something which we learn by the episode’s end in that Stormfront was born in 1919 Berlin. The former wife of Frederick Vought, she was the first successful Supe. Homelander, being the first perfect Supe.
Together, they’re a Nazi’s dream come true. The Ubermensch. The Aryan Race.
And though it technically falls on Homelander whether he wants to accept his symbolic role as the Aryan Face, and by proxy, Stormfront’s deranged and twisted love; what this show bravely acknowledges is that they are in a war together for America’s soul. Not in a war of fists but in a war of culture, with a person who was quite literally a Nazi leading the way along with her champion: Homelander. What’s crazy, is just how much this hits rather close to home. Especially, with the rise in white nationalists and resurgence of the Neo-Nazis the past few years.
Just how this will affect Vought and The Seven will be interesting. Especially, because now it seems like Homelander, and likely Stormfront, are playing their own sort of game that might not coincide with Vought’s plans.
The Take
Like a giant flopping superdick in Mother’s Milk’s face, this one came as a surprise given how much I didn’t like the last episode. Whereas last week I was worried The Boys had lost track, this week was pretty solid by diving deeper into the characters and this world’s history.
I’ll admit, it is super grim that the two strongest people on the planet are both horrible human beings working for an evil mega-conglomerate run by the villain from Breaking Bad.
But is it any worse than 2020 and what we’re living through now? The fact that you have to think about that I think is proof, just how relevant this season has been.
Gaia gives Clarke some helpful insights.
image c/o imdb.com
What’s a penultimate episode without a few real stakes?
Welcome to the second to last The 100 episode. Things are heating up, understandably, so let’s get down to business. There are essentially three storylines here and they are all very simplistic.
We start off following the mysterious cave-in that occurred at the end of the last episode. While Murphy, Raven, and Jackson are all revealed to be fine (no news on Echo and Niylah yet), Emori is decidedly not. She got impaled by a piece of rebar and (later when they pull her out) has a nasty leg injury to boot. Their storyline revolves around the race to dig up the stone in order to get Emori to Sanctum so Jackson can treat her properly. By the end, Emori has passed out, and Jackson climbs on top of her to perform chest compressions in an effort to keep her alive while Raven and Murphy push the stretcher into the bridge.
The second storyline follows Clarke, Octavia, Indra, Hope, Jordan, and Gaia with Clarke and Octavia breaking off into their own storyline later. Initially, Clarke is desperate to get to Madi and rescue her, however, when she and Octavia (who volunteers to help) take the nano-tag pills nothing happens. You may have also noticed they aren’t glowing green anymore – I think this indicates that they’ve been deactivated and in fact we learn they have been. Hope comes to a similar conclusion, and Clarke winds up pacing and ranting to fill her time. Eventually, the pills get reactivated (thanks Levitt! We’ll get to him in a minute) and Clarke and Octavia are off to Bardo. This leaves Hope and Jordan to bond, and Indra and Gaia to bond, all while waiting for the bridge to open so they can go and help.
The third storyline resides on Bardo where Bill Cadogan and Levitt are trying to get the secrets from Madi’s mind. Levitt reveals that Madi’s “memories” aren’t in the usual places where memories reside, so Bill pushes him to search for them even if it is dangerous. Madi is willing to go along until she sees Cassie’s memory of Becca – who warns Bill’s daughter that her father must never get the key. It’s at this point that Madi stops being complacent and Levitt warns that probing her now could do permanent damage. Bill naturally doesn’t care and dismisses Levitt, telling him to bring in someone who will do what needs to be done.
This is where the third storyline interacts with the second with Levitt bluffing his way into getting the Earth nano-tags reactivated in order to bring over Clarke and Octavia. Unfortunately, Bill had the bridge moved to the oxygen farm where the rest of the army is preparing so our heroes are immediately captured and jailed. Levitt must realize this and goes to break them out of their cell, taking a page out of their book and subduing the guards in order to gain access. We hear singing – and discover that Shady is still alive (of course). This turns out to be a blessing in disguise as Clarke and Octavia recruit the former commander to provide a distraction. At first he denies them, but when faced with the prospect of staying in his cell, he concedes to their request.
Shady’s moment in the sun proves effective, though he disappears once he’s completed his task. Levitt is surprised by the grisly reality of war, which Octavia then reminds him is very different from watching a holographic playback of it. All of this effort proves for naught when they arrive in the mindcap room to find Madi catatonic. Levitt also reveals that Bill got the code. All is not well.
This is a fine second to last episode – it sets up the finale really well in terms of stakes and of course, villains. You’ve got Shady running free, Bill who might doom the entire human race, and then our old pal Death who wants to make sure your favorite show doesn’t end with a few familiar faces getting left behind. Will Madi ever recover from her stroke induced locked in syndrome??? Will Emori get to Sanctum’s surgery theatre in time for Jackson to save her life???
I have to say I don’t have high hopes. The 100 has never been one of those shows where a happy outcome is more likely over a tragic one. However, lately, I’ve been noticing a lot of show finales having insanely happy endings despite their overall tone. See I-Zombie or Agents of Shield, as good examples. You’d think either one of these shows, which had a good record of balancing dark themes with humor and pathos, would have had at least some bad things happen in their finales, but nope. Both of them ended relatively happy for all the main characters. I can’t see that happening for The 100, at least not sincerely. I like the idea of Madi getting mercy killed, I like the idea of John Murphy having to be a good person following the death of the one person he felt was worth being good for. These consequences are real, and for all its sci-fi trappings, The 100 has always been a show about the reality of humanity.
However, we are in dire times right now, and maybe happy endings are what people need. I could definitely see Madi getting her mind uploaded to a drive and downloaded into a body that works – perhaps even a clone of her actual body given the technology available on Bardo. It would explain why they held off killing her in this episode. I could see Emori losing her leg – giving her yet another point to bond with Raven over – and maybe winding up if not fully crippled then just hobbled in the end. If I remember right, Emori and John both have mind drives, so again, even if she dies there’s a chance she could be downloaded into another body. It’s a very interesting work around for death, and one that a series called Altered Carbon explores with some success. Though The 100 mind drives are slightly different than Carbon’s stacks.
Either way, however this shakes out, I’m on the edge of my seat. Will we see Becca again? Is Bellamy actually alive OR will he show up in this place of light that Becca saw when she went into the stone? Was that the vision he had in the cave? I’m not gonna lie, I’ll be a little pissed if at least one important person doesn’t die, but given the technology they’ve constructed it also wouldn’t be beyond the realm of possibilities. A happy 100 season finale? Now that’s a change of pace! Though, now that I think about it, wouldn’t it be hilarious if they default to the old nuclear option again?
WARNING: THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS TALK OF THE GENITALIA, BOTH IN FICTIONAL AND NON-FICTIONAL TERMS. THE AFFLICTION IS REAL AS IS THE PAIN AND RISK IF EXPERIENCED. IF ANY OF THIS MAKES YOU UNCOMFORTABLE, MOVE ALONG OR GO SEE A DOCTOR. OTHERWISE, PLEASE BE AN ADULT ABOUT IT AND LAUGH IT UP AT MY EXPENSE!
“Suddenly it felt like someone kicked me in the rocks… and never took their foot away!” – Dean Venture.
Some people get tattoos in memoriam of lost love. Some create artwork, whether paintings to gaze upon or paeans to listen to in awe.
Others however are gifted by simple divine providence.
When I had lain eyes on episode 1.09 of The Venture Bros. (Adult Swim) titled, “Are You There God? It’s me, Dean.” I was introduced to an alien malady so severe to the male nether region, I felt nauseated just hearing the ailed wails of the poor afflicted Dean Venture.
So where do I fit in all of this? Well, I haven’t been super active as of late on this site because recently, I had fallen victim to that which had me captivated throughout this entire episode.
Dr. Venture asks half his brood, how this could have happened? That’s the number one question you will get, whether at the hospital or from friends who didn’t even know something like this existed.
I haven’t been hanging out with Triana Orpheus, as Dr. Venture suspects Dean is and also thinks is on the dope. And NO, I haven’t been “shooting dope into my scrotum.”
The causes are varying and much more pedestrian. Age, frequency of bouts, or inheritance (surely not the good kind) can play a role. A condition that is known as Bell Clapper is also a massive contributor. I’ll spare you the details, but if you’re of the academic mind, there’s a keyboard right in front of you.
When the Patriarch Venture insists his son drop trou so he can palpate the region, Dean is mortified. He would rather see a real doctor and outside of Dr. Orpheus, the only one “on-call” so to speak is the inimitable Billy Quizboy (and not, you know, a certified urologist.)
Even when the doctor’s in, Dean refuses to show. It’s wicked embarrassing. With no other recourse, Dean relents and shows the gang what’s the BIG fuss. They stand aghast, which leaves poor Dean painted with an even more worried face.
To be honest, I was pretty mortified to tell anybody close because it’s not exactly that common an ailment and one of rather a private (yeah, I know) nature. Things like this are what keep men out of the hospitals and into the funeral parlors. I don’t mean to sound so maudlin, but men simply refuse to see doctors because they are too embarrassed for things sometimes totally less vulnerable than this. I digress.
Billy reveals to Dean that it is no space parasite but rather acute testicular torsion. In layman’s terms, his balls pulled a 180. At his age, it only happens to 1 in 4,000. For men like me, the numbers are there, probably just not as high.
Having experienced this before, it’s simply worked itself out. I thought had no reason to worry and if I did, I’d wait it out before I told anyone for the sake of shame. Yeah, bad idea.
Dean’s options are really quite simple at this juncture. The path of least resistance, which is doing nothing does the most damage. The way of science shows orchiopexy, a surgical procedure that corrects the problem and prevents further instances by “tying it down.”
Dean is none too keen with this latter option, but waiting it out would have catastrophic effects, resulting in imminent death and removal of the gonad(s). Hey, this is a fucking show about science, no matter how outlandish and fantastical that science may be!
Through the hot score of J.G. Thirwell contrasting Dean’s operation and Brock’s single-handed trouncing of the Monarch’s Minions (a fantastic complementary B plot), ends in the success of the operation, complete with Billy’s signature Sheepshank knot.
Coming to, Dean wakes up in a big diaper fashioned of dressing. He’s visited by a procession of well-wishers including Dr. Orpheus offering him a Zuni fetish doll, Billy informing Dean he’s hooked him up with the “complete package”, H.E.L.P.E.R. offering him a melted freeze-pop (possibly to exemplify what Billy was referring to), Pete White offering Dean his first pubes in an envelope and Trianna offering him the best gift of all- sympathy.
Now, in reality, the post-op protection was done to cartoonish effect, I mean, DUH! (It’s more like a brassiere for your bits.) I didn’t have any visitors outside of my girlfriend who was by my side most of the time (outside of the operation, of course.)
The episode ends where it started, with the Ventures and Brock, suspended over a lake teeming with nightmarish exotic fish. This is the Venture BROS. though and before they are cut loose to their deaths, Hank has the ‘situation’ as well. Ugh. Sins of the father.
The tag to this hilarious bit of television is a PSA by the Venture Clan from the Scrotal Safety Commission for Testicular Torsion. They explain the dangers of this seldom talked about the situation.
Now, this isn’t some cheap mining for sympathy or some sick way to pass a recent genetic mishap for nostalgia. You know me better than that.
What prompted me to put digits to keys and pound away at this piece (had to) is: For one, I’m still pretty bed-bound, convalescing, and watching the Venture Bros. I now pine for as the wound is still fresh (had to part Deux). Secondly, this particular episode resonated with me in a way I fully understand along with the author of it, Doc Hammer based on his experience. Tertiary, I’ve decided that instead of dreading to explain something to friends and family through spoken word, I’d do it through the best creative and cathartic vessel I could: writing about something with a dash of humor and owning it with unparalleled gumption.
In that ‘gut-busting’ (seriously, shit really makes you feel like your insides are tearing at the seams) PSA, there are three words to take heed: Stop. Touch. Tell.
To be honest, in all this, I’d rather take the dreaded fucking Candiru any day of the week over this shit.
The September 30th debut will be a one-hour special focused on COVID-19
Animation is one of the only games unaffected much by COVID-19 However, it often takes years to plan out, draw, and color pages… that is of course unless you’re South Park.
Because creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have very much changed the industry. Known for their lightning-fast production and last-minute deadlines when it comes to creating their long-running animated comedy series, South Park, a feature captured their process well in the documentary: 6 Days to Air. Which is why it should come to no surprise, that Comedy Central has both suddenly and officially announced a special hour-long episode of South Park dedicated to life in the pandemic.
Known for their brand of gut-wrenching popular culture attacks and ridiculous offend-at-all-costs humor, South Park will be addressing the COVID-19 issue directly in an unprecedented hour-long episode. Something never attempted before in the series thus far (although two-and-three part episodes have).
The episode will be both squarely shot during and focused on: COVID-19. With the storyline taking place in the show’s current timeline of Randy’s Tegridy Weed farm. The official description for the unofficial premiere can be seen below:
“Randy comes to terms with his role in the COVID-19 outbreak as the on-going pandemic presents continued challenges to the citizens of South Park. The kids happily head back to school but nothing resembles the normal that they once knew; not their teachers, not their homeroom, not even Eric Cartman.”
The episode will air on Comedy Central and then be available on HBO Max and South Park Studios the day after.
Personally, I’m also hoping the debut will also serve as the official season premiere. And given how easy it is to make the series, if possible, perhaps even extend the season? As comedy parody is needed now more than ever.
In a move that surprises no one, DC Universe is abandoning its former streaming services and moving into full-on digital comics distribution called DC Universe Infinite
With Harley Quinn officially renewed on HBO Max, along with season continuations on HBO Max confirmed for Titans, Doom Patrol, and Young Justice — Stargirl being the only exception in that its moving entirely to The CW — it was somewhat concerning as to the fate of the DC Universe application. A service that has been praised by the online community for its integration of all things DC plus accessibility on almost every modern device; the future of the application had undergone a major creative concern after Warner Media, DC’s Parent company, was fully purchased by AT&T.
We have since expected ever this since the massive DC layoffs that the service would be axed (which it was) and even speculated and gave our thoughts and gratitude about the DC Universe service. Thankfully however, the application will still be alive in some form: reformatted into DC Universe Infinite.
Exclusively a comic distribution catalog, DC Universe Infinite will offer all subscribers a whopping 24,000 comics available to peruse at launch. They will also feature DC titles six months after their official release and will even provide digital-first exclusives on its service. With international expansion outside the U.S. is planned summer 2021.
Atop of this, the platform is also planning to launch something called DC Universe Infinite Originals. An exclusive and service specific content available only on DC Universe Infinite. There will also be planned fan-based community events. As DC intends to try and integrate more fans into its comics platform.
However, as of December 2020, DC Universe will no longer be available on ROKU, Apple TV, Android, Amazon, or Xbox. The cost for DC Universe Infinite will be $74.99 for the year or $7.99 a month.
Marvel is assembling quite the team for the Ms. Marvel series with Hollywood directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, 2-Time Oscar-winner Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, and renown TV director Meera Menon
After a successful role in Marvel’s Avengers (the videogame), Ms. Marvel’s character seems to only be trending upwards in popularity, with an upcoming Disney+ series.
Show run by comedic writer and director Bisha K. Ali, who is known for her work on Sex Education and Hulu’s 4 Weddings and a funeral, The Ms. Marvel team helmed by Ali is now the greatest representational adaptation of not just a comic character but also, of the high-quality production team. Helmed by several major Pakistani and Indian directors of color.
They have also brought along acclaimed Indian-American director, Meera Menon, whose credits including directing episodes of Dirty John, The Magicians, Outlander, You, The Walking Dead, The Punisher, Titans, The Man in The High Castle, and Glow. All fantastic shows we’ve covered here and major hits in their own regards.
Atop of this, they’ve also just confirmed their hiring of Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. A Pakistani filmmaker who has won two separate Oscars for her documentary work about gendered violence in Pakistan.
The team is set to take on this task of portraying’s Marvel’s first Muslim American superhero. With major expectations for the character featured in Marvel’s Phase 4, as Marvel Studio Chief Kevin Feige has confirmed that Kamala Khan will not only play a role in her upcoming Disney+ Tv series but will also feature in the wider MCU as well.
Kamala Khan is a Pakistani American teen growing up in a religious family in New Jersey. Written by writer G. Willow Wilson, a New Jersey native who converted to Islam. The release date for Ms. Marvel is still uncertain, as is the search for the actress who’ll play Kamala Khan.
Every superhero series has this episode. The one moment where the Big Bad becomes Undone
In Season 2 Episode 5, aptly titled: “We Gotta Go, Now” the Boys do just that and go on the run. And while Billy Butcher failed in his mission to liberate his wife, he numerous times throughout this episode, offers to pull a Captain Kirk and go down with the ship… As to why, however – which Hughie rightfully calls him out on several times in this episode – is unknown and completely unnecessary. As Butcher… probably just wants to die.
Meanwhile, Frenchie runs off to Kimiko, who goes full-on contract killer in the hopes of finding some sort of purpose? Though we’re not entirely certain. This episode also sees the rest of the core Boys locked down and hiding from a ninja-like Black Noir. Who is seemingly less-and-less like Batman and more often seen like the Terminator. In an obvious hint to those who read the comics about what’s to come…
Still, there isn’t much to go off on this episode other than Homelander is getting more-and-more unhinged the more he can’t do whatever he wants. With a continually failing public image he goes off the deep end…
Hey Dude That’s Not Cool
Probably the best thing about this episode is seeing The Deep try his best to remodel his image in hilarious fashion. Though there is promise with an allegiance with Queen Maeve, a woman scorned who’s more than happy to get back at Homelander. And with A-Train fired and giving his final farewell speech, albeit in that God Awful adapted movie they’re making (an obvious parody of Justice League given the Joss comment), it’s obvious that the show is stacking the chips against Homelander finally. Though he gains one unexpected and possibly powerful ally.
Don’t Be A Pussy Laser My F**king Tits!
Honestly, Stormfront and Homelander is really the biggest takeaway in this episode. Stormfront continues to maintain that facade of an image of a hero who cares about social issues and wants to take down an evil corporation without revealing… that she’s long been a part of that same corporation. An oddly twisted message coming from a series produced by one of the world’s largest corporations. Because in the end none of it matters and no one is holding these larger-than-life businesses accountable.
Stormfront even helps Homelander as a favor… so naturally, they Super-Fuck. And yes there are many more beautiful ways I could’ve described it but that’s very much the kind of dirty and broken images they were going for.
The Take
This was probably my least favorite episode of the season. It establishes the arcs necessary but it doesn’t really wow or contribute to much outside of Homelander and Stormfront. Likewise, oddly enough Butcher and Hughie have been kind of boring in this season for me. And a lot of the problems I have with Preacher, a series also written by Garth Ennis and adapted by Seth Rogen and Goldberg, I’m starting to see in this show.
Mostly, that it overly depends on shock-value. But we’re gonna need some compelling arcs and dramatic stakes to keep it entertaining. Worst is that because of episodes like these I’m actually starting to pivot and agree with the people review bombing this season:
That this might’ve been better suited as a full season drop instead of episode-by-episode. Especially if we get filler like these.
During last night’s Emmy’s, Marvel dropped its first initial trailer for WandaVision: an insane reality-bending Love Letter for Sitcoms
Wandavision is a bizarre but highly-anticipated series and Disney+ first foray into original television. A slice of life about what Wanda and Vision – two near demi-god like beings – and their odd romantic life is like post-avengers Endgame. Where vision… is supposed to be dead.
WandaVision will be the first original Marvel TV series, jumping ahead of the line in front of Falcon and The Winter Soldier which was delayed to due to the Covid-19 pandemic. There is also a chance that some of Falcon and Winter Soldier may tie into the upcoming Black Widow movie, Marvel’s next highly anticipated film which was also delayed.
Now, the trailer for WandaVision is meant as an homage to the 1950s era of sitcoms. With many callbacks to shows such as The Dick Van Dyke Show, Mary Tyler Moore, and Bewitched. Really, the full gamut of Nick-At-Night for 30-plus-year-old millennials. Though all is not perfect, as the duo soon realizes that their sitcom reality is awry and somewhat broken. There are a lot of clean-cut images which highlight that the series is going for a Doom Patrol type of storytelling. A bizarre tale incorporating a breaking narrative, with clues showcasing how Wanda is likely struggling to keep Vision alive with her abilities in this bizarre alternate reality.
The most dangerous easter egg featured in the trailer is the bottle of wine labeled: House of Misery. A callback to the possible House of M storyline which was a major reality breaking event in Marvel comics. This would also of course, be the perfect time to execute on House of M, given the recent reboot for Marvel in phase 4 and the upcoming film: Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness.
Because of the shallow amount of original story content on Disney+ its likely the series will debut after The Mandalorian finishes its Season 2 run, which would be December at the earliest but likely, 2021.
The Batman Resumes Filming in London After Robert Pattinson’s Covid-19 Scare
With a previous shutdown in production last March due to the pandemic, shooting on The Batman resumed for only a short period before becoming officially shut down for a second time. With an undisclosed contamination revealed to be none other than the lead actor, Robert Pattinson. Due to actor Robert Pattinson’s Covid-19 diagnosisThe Batman was halted in production for safety precautions but has already resumed filming as of last Thursday.
Though scary given the uncertain safety measures of how to contain large crews on set, the actor in fact tested negative after a two-week diagnosis. Enough time so that production resumed filming. He has also made a healthy public appearance, seen out kissing with his girlfriend, Supermodel Suki Waterhouse, of whom Pattinson has been living with and was in no way meant to reassure us about the actor’s health (I’m speculating here but I’m pretty sure it was).
The Batman was the highlight of DCFandome with many fans praising its debut trailer. The movie is set for release on October 1st, 2021.
PEN15 -- "Pool" - Episode 201 -- Two days after the dance, Maya and Anna reluctantly go to a lame pool party. A crush unexpectedly shows up, causing them to question their sanity and reputations. Maya Ishii-Peters (Maya Erskine) and Anna Kone (Anna Konkle), shown. (Photo by: Erica Parise/Hulu)
Pen15 Grows-Up a Smidgeon by Figuring Itself Out In Season 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFAHiU0g0xQ
As someone who grew up in the exact era and age of the show’s characters, what I really like about Pen15 is how painfully authentic it is. From first kisses to first drinks, interracial best friendships, and the guilt of masturbating, Pen15 has been unafraid to address issues of growing up in the early 2000s era. Which is why it has been praised by numerous critics as genuine in its depiction: both of its ignorance and of the era’s awkward uncertainty. Particularly, when compared to today’s norms of both race and gender.
Moments that I’d personally forgotten about from my youth resounded so truthfully in this series. I laughed with Anna when I watched her romantic interest, Brendan, dress in a spiked dog collar while rocking out to Limp Bizkit at the school dance. Mostly, because I had friends that did that in my youth too. I cried with Maya when I watched her become the fill-in minority and “Sporty Spice” of the group. Mostly, because I’m Asian too, and have been associated as the token Black or Hispanic person amongst a group by some white friends, despite being 100% Filipino.
Personally, my favorite moment from last year was witnessing Maya’s online relationship: a cautionary tale that works only for its time. Especially, in regards to online identity fraud and catfishing. I say this, in fact, as someone who’s witnessed it during this very era, as one of my friends catfished another one of my other friends, who in turn, was catfishing him in return on an AOL chat room. This was, of course, decades before catfishing was a thing, with neither knowing that they were unintentionally having a gay cyber-relationship with each other, not unlike the plot to Black Mirror’s Striking Vipers episode.
The reason I bring this up is that no one has so skillfully depicted this era of awkwardness, change, and growth during the millennia as well as Pen15.
The biggest concerns with the show from season one are that two grown women in their 30s are pretending to be 13 year-olds. It’s a gag that works but can grow stale, and its taboo placing them in pubescent situations of raging hormones and dating, in a school full of actual literal 13-year-olds. While funny, it only works by never getting too sexualized, pussyfooting around the issues using cutaways, and embracing awkward avoidance and generic teenage shyness. Which honestly works as a developmental depiction.
Likewise, the biggest celebration of the show has been its positive female role models. I also thoroughly enjoyed Maya Erskine’s Japanese-American experiences finding similarities with my own as a Filipino-American. I also loved the sweet Janitor woman offering some advice… or a sandwich… or a tampon… to be magnificent. We don’t get that kind of character as a woman, ever, which makes for some creative fun that the show is rather good at doing well.
Which is why I was surprised at Season 2 and how it does away with all that and goes into a different direction.
Pen15 Season 2
Season 2 begins two days after the end of last season. Where Brandt, the hottest boy in school whom the girls obsess over, had just reached second base with both Maya and Anna. Thus accomplishing the girls’ goal of doing everything together. This relationship is where the series pivots and is somewhat of its strong point. The season, not taking long to quickly break off the girl’s romantic arcs established last season, with a focus instead on Brandt. Or really, just how pervasive young crushes could be in adolescent living.
This year takes these actions and obsessions, looks over at school gossip rumor drama, and boys. As the girls gain a reputation for… well quite frankly, for being sluts despite Brandt getting praised for behaving in the same fashion. And like many rumors, much of these accusations are based on embellishes and outright lies, as the boys hyper exaggerate and the girls, quickly slut-shame. Embracing the harsh truths of school-gossip. Where it takes us this season is on a journey of both Maya and Anna seeking acceptance. Joining the wrestling team and even dabbling in a funny magic centric episode inspired by the 90s movie The Craft along with some Wiccan tendencies. Really, just expanding on the Ouiji board concept last year and going full ridiculous. Dialing it up to a 12 out of 10 on the scale.
This season, the humor really focuses in on Maya and Anna and their ideations on an episodic basis, with crazy antics, and cringe-worthy motivations. And while obsessions over Brandt drives a large part of the first half of the season, what’s an improvement is how evident it is because of how poor their life situations are. The two against the world mentality.
Maya has an insecure family life, with a father who’s always on the road, a mother who seems distant, and a brother who’s embarrassed by her. Anna, meanwhile, has her parent’s impending divorce tainting everything about her life around her. It’s the innocence of childhood lost in a fragmenting family setting. The fighting. The instability. The confusing signals of parents who still live and occasionally sleep together, despite seeking to separate. This show has drama yet handles it with the candor of the early 2000s. With avoidance and the obsession over the trivial: like Brandt.
What’s amazing about it is just how grounded both actresses are in falling directly into their roles. What many considered a sight gag of 30-year-olds playing teens, is now an outright oversight, as the women feel like 13-year-olds of the era. We soon forget about the age gap. It grounds everything and raises the emotional stakes, though at the cost of the gag; though but to be honest, we the audience don’t care.
There is also the introduction of Maura (Ashlee Grubbs) this season. She BFF who seeks to make the group move from duo to trio. And though I personally hated her this season (though hate in a good Mean Girls way), she’s also somewhat of a stuck-up and spoiled brat, who triggers the girls into really embracing their own inner angst. More importantly, get them to address their needs as young women and call out their mothers accordingly. As futile and disrespectful as it may be. Where the midseason finale culminates is in the girl’s debate over the school play. Maya is really good at wanting to be an actor. Anna, as budding stage director. The two work together, as always, working towards the culmination of their journey, as this season comes together in a way only junior-high theatre can provide. Playing identity, spotlight hero, and somewhat cathartic, revelatory acting.
Again, all-funny and all-embracing in their friendship, though it’s also, left a big decision for Anna. Because the truth is… despite how much we seek to control ourselves in spite of the bad situation, it doesn’t change the fact that the bad around you is still happening. Which is why this season really works in hiding the bad: Anna’s family, as she knows it, is very much over. Which is why she’ll need Maya and their weird adventures more than ever.
The Take
This season focuses on trust quite a bit, with a lot of exploration of liars, and a good amount of reliance on each other. As Anna and Maya take on the world. It’s an interesting take on adolescence that stresses on staying grounded in the hardships of change. Which is odd, because these are women in their 30s. Yet, it works because they do such a compelling job at selling it. And much like their adolescent characters, Pen15 has grown slightly more comfortable in its own skin despite the awkward pangs of getting there.
As you may recall from the last episode Clarke murdered Bellamy to save Madi – which completely failed – and her, along with the gang plus Cadogan, went through the bridge to…Earth, it turns out. Yep, we’re back on Earth.
Not a lot happens in the episode action-wise until the second half. The first half concerns itself with reestablishing some long-separated connections (see Gaia and Indra, Jackson and Miller, and Niylah and Echo/Ash), setting up the second half, and providing some moral quandaries. Overall, I would say this episode sucks.
Why? Let’s just say there’s a lot of plot holes and missteps that I feel should not have happened.
See, Clarke arrives on the other side of the bridge to discover they are in the Second Dawn bunker. Cult leader Bill doesn’t stick around, apparently, there’s an ingestible version of the homing device that lets Bardo “beam” Bill up. This is when Gaia shows up. She explains that waaaaay back at the beginning of the season, while she was fighting a Disciple, the bridge opened up and they both fell through it. He tells her a closing bridge defaults to the person’s home planet of origin. And that’s about when my mind started getting bothered, because in the episode where Bellamy is “killed” the first time, he and the Disciple go through an open bridge. Why then, doesn’t the bridge send them to Earth?
Now, doing my best to remember the Gaia incident, the Disciple was trying to turn off the Stone when the bridge was closing – which means, I’m guessing, he didn’t put in a destination. I.E. it defaulted to Earth because of Gaia. So then comes the natural question: why wouldn’t it default to Bardo? And ok, fine, maybe it doesn’t default to Bardo because the guy turned it “off” but still, that doesn’t explain why when Bellamy and Conductor go through it sends them to the burial planet. I mean, sure, you could argue that Earth was “off” at this point (which should also be true for when Gaia and her Disciple go through, right?), but then wouldn’t it just send them back to Bardo? I’m sure that’s where Conductor was born. Le sigh.
Anyway, the second half is dominated by Shady returning as an invisible Disciple to bring Madi back to Bill. Yep, Shady is alive. Bill’s people save him from dying. We see him in a mindcap chair, but Bill isn’t reading his mind. Instead, we finally get the Bill/Shady face-off we’ve been craving – it still doesn’t go down as fantastically as I would have liked, but crazy talking crazy to crazy can be a little…well, crazy. Basically, Shady makes a deal to get Madi for Bill as long as Bill lets Shady have Sanctum. Bill is fine with this because he’s convinced it won’t matter once the last great war is won and all of the human “family” transcends.
Not gonna lie, this wording didn’t sit right with me. Bill makes it a very clear point throughout his run of the series that familial ties are a bad thing, yet here he says that the human race is a “family”??? Ug…Not to mention, why the fuck would Bill trust Shady to get Madi!? Really? You have invisible Disciples, you can literally send a strike team to sneak in, grab her, force the pill down her throat, and then leave. It’s that fucking simple.
And that brings me to my final issue with this episode: the invisibility angle. So, when Shady first arrives through the bridge he’s invisible, but Indra, Gaia, and Octavia witness the bridge opening and when no one appears they all seem weirdly confused. Gaia makes sense, I don’t think she’s actually seen what the Disciple suits can do, but Indra and Octavia have no excuse. This convenient amnesia allows the rest of the plot to unfold, including everyone having candid conversation despite knowing that the Disciples can go invisible, thus be spying, and Gabriel’s tragic demise (which works out for him cause he finally gets to die, but sucks for both Madi and Hope).
Let’s also not forget that Shady lays out the entire plan for Madi, but when he stabs himself with the beacon dagger so Bardo can “beam” him up, she seems as confused as everyone else with how to get back to Bardo – girl, he just showed you the pills he wanted you to swallow. Also, Clarke and crew saw Bill take a pill earlier!!! Ug. This episode pisses me off in so many ways.
It’s not all bad. Some of the quieter moments between characters provide a nice balance. Jackson and Miller finally get to see each other again. Hope and Jordan seem to have a love connection. Even Niylah and Echo get a lovely bonding scene – this is where they both reveal some truths about their names (nice to meet you, Ash). Hell, Indra gets two. She gets to bury the hatchet with her daughter and help Octavia come to terms with her past. And it is funny to see Clarke dealing with her teenage daughter. Anyone with kids has probably heard those famous words: “You ruined my life”. Welcome to parenting, Clarke! Kids never appreciate the murders you commit for them, am I right?
Though, in Madi’s defense Clarke’s decision to break the helmet is undeniably stupid. She must be a fan of The Walking Dead ‘cause that was a move straight out of the Rick Grimes authoritarian leadership handbook. Though, just like Rick, she makes it during a period of extreme grief – never a good time for heavy decisions.
But, seriously, Murphy makes a good point to Raven – some of the people on Sanctum are from Earth too there’s no reason they shouldn’t be allowed to return to their home planet. Watching him manipulate Raven into fixing the helmet is quite satisfying, but now I’m worried Murphy might not make it to the end. A lot of shows don’t really like characters who grow and evolve – The Walking Dead is a perfect example of this (it’s one of the reasons I stopped watching) – though, Octavia could also be on the chopping block by the end for this exact same reason.
Lastly, I’ll leave you with a curiosity that itched at my brain. Did Bill save Bellamy? Or is Octavia’s brother really is dead this time? I wouldn’t put it past this show to fake us out twice. Plus, Bill’s not an idiot. Using Bell, “back from the dead” would be a good shock-punch to gain a brief upper hand should your enemies come a calling.
With two fabulous seasons under her murderous wooden cudgel, Harley Quinn (DC Universe/HBO Max) seems like the right move for her third season to naturally come to, well, bat at the new home plate of HBO Max. The thing is, at this past weekend’s online DC Fandome event, nothing was explicitly guaranteeing we would see a tertiary go at our favorite melange of miscreants. However, the panel itself hosted by the staff writer at The Ringer, Shea Serrano, was a celebration of what had been accomplished thus far and replete with laughs.
The shindig was kicked off with a series of revelations from the cast.
Kaley Cuoco got involved with the show when she first started her production company. When the first script landed on her desk, she thought it was so funny, she thought it could be live-action. Meeting with the developers, she was told their vision of it and she was on board.
When Lake Bell first caught wind of the project, she was super excited. Getting involved with VO work was a huge plus to her and very liberating, being able to swear and bring her takes to the table.
Ron Funches worked on Powerless with Patrick, Dean, and Alan. Being a DC show sans superheroes and not meeting the fans’ approval, they decided to take on superheroes and wanted Ron to be King Shark and let him be himself.
Matt Oberg knew Justin through a parenting class and when asked to be on board, he gave it his performance from 30 Rock, which wasn’t too far a stretch from his regular voice.
Alan Tudyk got the call from the creators to play Clayface, and to be an actor playing an actor was exciting for him. They also informed him they were casting for the Joker and Alan attempted, ultimately winning the dual roles.
Kaley prefers to record alone mainly due to the fact that the actors are way too damned funny for her to do her job.
We then hit a series of fan submitted questions, as this may become the modus operandi of Comic Cons to come, as starting with late July’s San Diego Comic-Con.
If Ivy’s not the best for Kite Man, we learn from Lake Bell that it’s not as simple for simply another person. Her heart is in twain. Matt Oberg thinks that Kite Man would be open to anything, as I’ve motioned before.
The way they approach reality and absurdity going into the series, Jennifer Coyle simply tries to capture the records of the actors and honor the manic energy and go from there furthering it.
Kaley loves reading for Harley because she can be as crazy as she wants in the booth and is genuinely happy and shocked that she gets to say what she does.
Alan loves playing the Joker, especially swearing as him, which seems innate to the character. Outside of the language used, the fights harken back to some of the shows Alan used to watch as a kid.
As far as how many people truly connect with the relationship between Harley and Ivy, Lake finds it interesting because the natural falling in love has to happen virtually, in separate booths. In fact, nobody works together, so that’s a testament not only to their acting brilliance but also to how naturally the editing flows.
In terms of how Bane is portrayed, Dean states they simply wanted to do a play-off of Tom Hardy’s Bane.
In terms of a third season, Jennifer Coyle hopes they’ll be coming back for one, but they’re not sure if, including Punchline, such a new character is right for it. Justin wants to simply focus more on the new dynamics between Harley and Ivy because they’ve built two seasons building up to that point.
As for outtakes or things we may never get to see, it seems as though there aren’t as many as one thinks since the scripts are so taut and funny. That being said, both Kaley and Lake definitely have unbridled acting chemistry that goes beyond the booth. Ron really digs the art style, since it’s reminiscent of Batman: The Animated Series. Matt loves getting a catchphrase (hell yeah!) and Alan loved in the second season the fact that at the Resort Themyscira that both Ivy and Harley slept together not once but twice and their reaction to slipping up. Jennifer thinks it a rarified chance to be able to read through a script and laugh out loud even before hearing the actors laugh out loud during their takes. Dean says he’s never had a show where every department influences every other department as much as on Harley Quinn. That the writers hear the words that inspire the performers and that in turn inspires the writers, almost a creative ouroboros. Patrick’s favorite scene in the whole show is when Harley is in the legion of doom war room because it’s a proxy for the writer’s room and how it’s all about pitching ideas. Dean loves the scenes that lead to emotional pay dirt like the scene in Bane’s pit where Harley and Ivy have this monologue before Harls sacrifices her freedom for Ivy’s… temporarily, as Ivy comes back for her bestie.
Now that is love built up to after a good and slow burn. It’s also why we love, nay, adore the series. It will be wonderful seeing Harley and the one she unrelentingly held out explore this newfound thing they have together in another raucous, violent, and fun go around.
However, that seems in limbo at the moment. As per The Hollywood Reporter, “It is currently awaiting word on its future, though sources say renewal negotiations hinge on a new budget for the series.”
Hey, I say if Doom Patrol (DCU/HBO Max) had migrated to Max with a third season renewal, Harley and her crew should most assuredly get another swing!
UPDATE: We got a third season! As per THR, sources say the renewal on Thursday “followed a round of negotiations that hinged on a new budget for the series. That process had been stalled by the major executive shake-up at the streamer that saw senior leaders Bob Greenblatt and Kevin Reilly pushed out and oversight of the platform given to HBO’s Casey Bloys.”
A panel reading featured during DC FanDome revealed details about the new Young Justice upcoming season
Young Justice is a beloved show that has technically been around for a decade. A series that has evolved, matured, and changed after its long hiatus, before returning back on DC Universe. And though there have been many fans who’ve picked up on the series, both young and old, one thing that hasn’t changed about Young Justice is its quality storytelling. As the series which follows the proteges of the Justice League, somehow stays as equally engaging as it is compelling, tackling adult themes about family, loss, and love of all sorts.
Which is why, to much Young Justice’s fans delight, that though details remain slim, a new title was revealed during the DC FanDome live script reading event: Phantoms.
To kick things off, the team read a new script for the series entitled, “The Prize”. Which was performed for the DC Fandome Part 2 panel. A riveting tale featuring many of the original Young Justice members from its original season, “The Prize” was written by executive producer Greg Weisman and acted out by the original voice cast of Jason Spisak, Khary Payton, Stephie Lemelin, Nolan North, Denise Boutte, Danica McKellar, and Crispin Freeman.
Afterward, when asked about the status of production of the series, it was confirmed that pre-production, design, and scriptwriting had transitioned to working fully at home. Often with the actors recording in their closets. In some cases, even in their son’s lower bunk beds.
Yet, despite the regrets of producing in isolation, it proved none-the-less, that the series is moving forward. But with no official date set for return yet and the likely coordinated effort needed to artistically compile the series, there’s no guarantee that the series will meet its original mid-October expected release.
Jim Lee hosted a panel about the upcoming Superman and Lois tv show where the couple will be taking on their greatest challenge of all: Teenagers.
The ultimate superhero. The ultimate journalist. Superman and Lois Lane are two people who’ve spent years winning audiences over for the better, trying their best to change the world, and leave it a better place.
But in this series—which takes place after DC’s Crisis on Infinite Earths—Clark Kent (Hoehlin) and Lois Lane (Elizabeth Tulloch) have left their hectic lives in Metropolis behind after a tragic event. They choose, instead, to return back to Smallville, where together, they raise two teenage boys: Jonathan and Jordan.
How can you be good at your job when you have kids?
It’s definitely a unique approach to the series. One that takes a modern look at the balance between work and family. Especially, in modern society, where work demands become ever-more-so life demands, and the duties of careers are so specialized and overwhelming that they reach beyond a regular 9-5. What’s interesting, is that this series looks at this very problem from the perspective of two larger than life characters. An introspective look at Superman and Lois not just as heroes, but as parents; dedicated to jobs that matter…
But at what cost? Because someone will always need to be saved. And the truth will always get deeper the further down the rabbit hole one can go. What the show is all about is addressing a modern problem: how does one find the balance that doesn’t alienate your children?
Other Reveals
It’s confirmed that Lana Lang will also feature in some role within the series. Not as a conflicting love-interest, given that Superman and Lois are happily married (the showrunners confirmed it during the event), but rather as an old fling. Someone Clark can reunite with in their small hometown in the show. The show is also going to be focusing in on Smallville more than ever before.
Likewise, work will be heavily stressed. Where Lois is hunting enemies and finding the truth behind the scenes, and Superman will be working in tandem to stop the baddies. There will also be a new super suit for the original series. And although this Supergirl spinoff wrapped-up shooting production just prior to the Covid-19 shutdown, the show is expected to meet its release in January 2021.
The Justice Society of America in Stargirl Episode 13 “Stars & S.T.R.I.P.E. Part Two” Credit: CW.
As part of Part 2 of the DC FanDome event, The Stargirl panel let audiences get to know the cast and creator better before revealing details about Season 2
Stargirl was a surprising hit this Summer. Created by former DC executive Geoff Johns, every episode we’ve reviewed here was sentimental, sweet, and thoroughly surprising; with fantastic representation for women of color as superheroes in both Anjelika Washington (Doctor Mid-nite) and Yvette Monreal (Wildcat).
The original Stargirl TV series debuted on DC Universe. Seen as a fish-out-of-water tale about a teenaged girl moving into a small midwestern town—whose history coincidentally was tied to both the JSA and ISA leagues of Superheroes/villains—Stargirl is a story about family and legacy, set to return on the CW11 for 2021.
DC FanDome Part 2: Stargirl Panel
Famous actress Lea Thompson, who directed the midseason episode: “Shiv Part One,” moderated the panel for the Stargirl discussion. Featuring a chat with much of the main cast (minus Luke Wilson), the panelists wore their own, “Doctor Mid-nite,” goggles and did roundtable (for zoom anyway) discussions. Revealing little-known facts regarding the creators and crew.
Stargirl creator and former DC CCO Geoff Johns revealed how much of the character of Pat’s hobbies are based on much of himself. Details such as Pat’s love of cooking, and his knowledge of cars.
Brec Bassinger revealed something serendipitous in that she was born the same month Stargirl released.
Amy Smart revealed that she was a former ballerina for ten years and that her character Barbara, is named after Geoff’s mom.
Yvette Monreal revealed Brec and Anjelika had once gone apartment hunting and revealed how the trio had become good real-life friends.
Cameron revealed that he’s an environmental conservationist who plans on visiting every national park. He also shared in a funny tidbit, how he regretted beating up a sad faced pickle Grundy, the CGI stand-in for his final episode fight scenes.
Finally, Anjelika Washington reveals how she and Brec roomed together and are going to again this season. She also shared that she and Cam are big Hamilton fans, like most of us during pandemic.
Food, coffee, and dancing are how the majority of the teens spend their time on-set.
Also, apparently Anjelika and Cameron often visited Neil and Chris’ apartment (The actors playing Brainwave Senior and Sportsmaster) to use their pool.
Season 2 Reveals
While there weren’t too many big spoilers, most of the major details revealed were by Geoff Johns himself. Mostly, that Stargirl and Shiv will definitely duke it out again and expand on their rivalry this upcoming season. Solomon Grundy is also confirmed to be returning in Season 2. That the villain revealed in the finale, Eclipse will also play a major role in the story. Finally, the original Doctor Mid-nite’s Hootie, along with the pink pen, will be featured again at some point in the future.
What What You Like to See With Your Character?
Was the final question of the panel. Giving audiences some juicy answers:
Anjelika: wants more love stories this season.
Yvette: wants to see what happens with Yolanda’s family after what happened.
Brec: wants more rivalry with Shiv.
Cameron: Wants more time exploring his relationship with his dad, He wants to deal with confronting his father and who he is in compared to what his father wanted him to be.
The Boys have gotten bigger by going deeper, and in this episode, that’s not just a euphemism.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAGu8YhkgII
Tremendously flawed and incredulously narcissistic, The Boys is a series about a self-centered group of Superheroes who care more about public opinion over saving actual human lives. Thus far, the season has taken a deeper dive into the lives of each character.
To recap:
Billy Butcher is back with The Boys and feuding with Hughie over the role of leader. He seeks to liberate his wife Becca from Vought and Homelander, making last-ditch deals with his ex-mentor, Grace, to find leverage.
Meanwhile, Hughie secretly works with his ex-girlfriend, Starlight, in taking Vought down from the inside. Thus far, he’s succeeded in blowing up agent Raynor’s head, becoming The Boy’s unofficial Harry Potter, and confessing his love for Starlight by calling her his second wind. At least, before getting caught in a crossroads between her and Homelander.
Speaking of which, Homelander is losing his mind along with the trust of everyone around him. He’s regretting his murder of director Stillwell, imbibing in her breastmilk, and living out odd sexual fantasies about her. He’s also in conflict with Vought itself this season and desires to train Ryan, his son, to showcase and use his powers… Mostly, so that he can feel less lonely in the world.
“Fuck This World for Confusing Nice with Good”
This season also introduces Stormfront, the newest member of The Seven. With an emphasis on ‘Girls Get it Done’ Stormfront’s character balances the scales embracing a female empowerment approach that seemingly contrasts the in-your-face approach towards Vought’s wholesome American corporatization. Yet, all’s not well, as it’s heavily Stormfront is a racist and possible even white supremacist. Befitting, given how we’ve also discovered Vought’s compound trials began the same time as the Nazi regime.
Speaking of Vought, badass Giancarlo Esposito serves as Vought Executive Stan Edgar this season. A man who plays damage control once it’s publicly known Compound V makes superheroes, Edgar holds his own against Homelander using nothing but his wits and business acumen. He surprises the Leader of The Seven with a revelation: that Vought isn’t a Supes business. It’s a pharmaceutical one. Pushing a product most didn’t even know they wanted by selling the celebrity associated with the Supes brand.
Meanwhile, The Deep is having abandonment issues of his own this season but finds the Church of the Collective welcoming him with open arms. This is of course after a mushroom fueled drug trip with his Gills. Culminating in a moment of spiritual acceptance by singing, “You are so beautiful to me…” The deep acknowledges some hard-hitting truths this season: that he can’t accept his own body and so he violates women’s in return to feel better.
Finally, Queen Maeve wants to officially run away with her girlfriend once the shit hits the fan. And Kimiko finds and then loses, her brother to Stormfront after it is revealed that he’s a member of the anti-supes terrorist group the Shining Light Liberation Army.
And that’s this season thus far. Feel free to tag along as we review every remaining episode of The Boys this season.
The Boys Season 2 Episode 4: “Nothing Like It in The World”
So far, it’s been a fun journey with a lot to unpack, but this episode oddly enough serves as a tension relief. Quite literally. With most of the major cast having sex with each other. And while there’s a little bit of skin revealed, mostly, it’s just some deep character reveals along the way.
Becca is discovered by Butcher thanks to some intelligence gifted by Grace. He finds his wife and the two make plans to getaway. After a reunited night of passion, we learn a thing or two about their rocky relationships. How Butcher has always put Becca on a pedestal. How, although he really loves wife, she can’t trust him to care for her son because Butcher’s been on a warpath long before the two ever met. She admits that Homelander raped her and how she was scared and went to Vought for help knowing Billy would seek revenge until they all ended up dead.
Meanwhile, Homelander is mad about how Stormfront has the face of the Seven. He creates an arrangement with the shapeshifting Doppelganger to pretend to be Stillwell and comfort him. Angry by the episode’s end over surmounting failures, mistakes, and a poor public image, Homelander shares the sentiment that no one needs to love him but himself. So, Doppelganger obliges, transforms into Homelander, and offers to suck him off. He’s then murdered by Homelander who realizes: he needs no one in his life.
The Boys
Frenchie tries to kiss Kimiko to comfort her, and rejected, falls into the arms (well, less arms more vagina) of his ex-lover. At the moment, Kimiko is too focused on vengeance against Stormfront over the murder of her brother. Elsewhere, Mother’s Milk chaperones Hughie and Starlight on a mission to find the truth about Mrs. Liberty, revealed to apparently be Stormfront. In an odd homage to fathers and sugars, the trio bond, up until a car crash ruins their fun. Though not entirely, as Annie and Hughie find themselves in each other… yes, you guessed it, sexually. And after a night of passion, agree to never do this again. Because though they’re great together, Starlight thinks attachments are bad as they can’t afford to feel safe right now.
The Seven
As for the other Seven, Queen Maeve is outed as a lesbian online as Homelander publicly announces how he knows about Elena. Black Noir tracks Billy with some aid (later revealed to be on the tail of the Boy’s in the episode preview). A-Train is fired. And the Deep, runs through dating couple tapes for an arranged marriage to save his PR.
The Big Reveal
Finally, Homelander confronts Stormfront, who reveals that she thinks he is the best of them but needs help connecting with the audience due to the changing times. It’s implied even more so that Stormfront might be an alt-right fanatic who’s great at social media. It’s also brave and very telling how the show is unafraid of touching hard-hitting topics, especially in regards to Supes-on-blacks brutality.
The Take
A pretty good episode that reveals a lot about each character, it’s nice to have these tension release reveal episodes. Though the sex metaphor was a little too spot-on.
