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chuckroScott Pilgrim Takes Off (Netflix, Season 1) – It looks like this is going to be just another rehash of the graphic novels and the fights versus Ramona’s evil exes…until Patel wins the very first fight and Scott dies. It focuses most heavily on Ramona and her working out her issues with the seven evil exes, but eventually becomes clear that this is really a sequel to the original comic/movie that works a lot better if you’re already familiar with the material. They got pretty much the entire original cast from the movie to come back and do voices, which means it’s pretty darn star-studded. And it’s a bit better at acknowledging that Scott is…kind of a loser. This was clearly made with the expectation that there won’t be a second season; time (and the whims of Netflix) will tell.
Loki (Disney+, Season 2) – I will admit, especially for material that is neck-deep in the continuity bog, I like the 6-episode format better than the over-long movies. It gives you places to stop and also gives the story and characterization time to breathe. And this is genuinely fun! They have some solid time travel shenanigans, they have entertaining characters, they give Loki a real arc and a proper finality for the character. (I’ll admit that Victor’s stutter was annoying, and I think if O.B. came back for another series I’d get annoyed with him too, but neither was a deal-breaker.) I question whether He Who Remains/Kang the Conqueror is actually a good villain for a decade’s worth of movies, but he worked nicely in this.
Doom Patrol (HBOMax, Season 4, part 2) – Immortus is released…and revealed to be the random actress who Rouge accidentally dumped into a time portal when she arrived two seasons ago. (Which makes the entire existence of the team a terrible series of interlocking time loops, because Caulder used pieces of Immortus to form them in the first place.) There’s a terrible musical episode so fitting with the team! And they end it shockingly well. They bring pretty much everything full circle, and in the end everyone finds some kind of closure. (Though it was a little odd that Dorothy doesn’t appear in the final episode, even for a 30-second “what’s she doing now?” spot.) This ended up a lot more character-driven than the comics ever managed to be, and stayed fairly consistent throughout the run.
Harley Quinn (HBOMax, Season 3) – It’s been a while since we watched the last season, but I think they ratcheted down Harley’s intelligence to make jokes and drama work (particularly regarding Ivy’s science work). Still a fun show; Batman and Commissioner Gordon remain really stupid and the Joker keeps his character development; and Ivy manages to be a sensible grown-up in terms of managing her relationship with Harley and not doing the nonsense sitcom breakup stuff. The bonus 11th episode of this season is the Valentine’s Day special, which clearly everyone had a lot of fun making, but most of all Brett Goldstein (Ted Lasso’s Roy Kent, playing himself).
What If..? (Disney+, Season 2) – They got the all-star voice cast back again, which is nice. It’s interesting where they went with this, because it’s all over the map: A bunch of episodes are “What if this character was the lead in this other movie?” but there’s also a brand-new character who gets an origin episode; and a lot of time spent with Captain Carter. (I’m wondering what set of politics led to Captain Carter being the main character of this; but I honestly hope it was just “Hayley Atwell is delightful and we want to work with her more.”) This is another case where you need to know all of the continuity to really get anything out of it, and while it was entertaining, I feel like they could have gotten more creative and gone a bit more off the well-tread rails than they did.
Secret Invasion (Disney+, Season 1) – This feels like the took chunks of a planned Captain Marvel sequel, removed Carol, added a lot of Cold War spy thriller nonsense, rolled it in a mess of takes about the various messes British/American colonialism left behind, and turned it into a Nick Fury movie. I’m sure there are a dozen thinkpieces comparing this to Israel/Palestine (and Ireland, and India, and American intervention in the Middle East, etc.) and I am absolutely NOT going anywhere near them. The comic this was loosely based on famously became the excuse for every continuity and characterization error for a decade. I think this, instead, manages to create more of them than it solves. (If nothing else: How the hell was everyone cool with Rhodey walking again without the robotic leg braces? He still had them in Endgame, right? Did Skrull-Rhodey just make up some stuff about Tony leaving a magic leg fix when he died?) Also, this leaves the MCU at war with the Skrulls on Earth, which totally should have repercussions on future movies and I’m pretty sure is going to get completely forgotten.
Loki (Disney+, Season 2) – I will admit, especially for material that is neck-deep in the continuity bog, I like the 6-episode format better than the over-long movies. It gives you places to stop and also gives the story and characterization time to breathe. And this is genuinely fun! They have some solid time travel shenanigans, they have entertaining characters, they give Loki a real arc and a proper finality for the character. (I’ll admit that Victor’s stutter was annoying, and I think if O.B. came back for another series I’d get annoyed with him too, but neither was a deal-breaker.) I question whether He Who Remains/Kang the Conqueror is actually a good villain for a decade’s worth of movies, but he worked nicely in this.
Doom Patrol (HBOMax, Season 4, part 2) – Immortus is released…and revealed to be the random actress who Rouge accidentally dumped into a time portal when she arrived two seasons ago. (Which makes the entire existence of the team a terrible series of interlocking time loops, because Caulder used pieces of Immortus to form them in the first place.) There’s a terrible musical episode so fitting with the team! And they end it shockingly well. They bring pretty much everything full circle, and in the end everyone finds some kind of closure. (Though it was a little odd that Dorothy doesn’t appear in the final episode, even for a 30-second “what’s she doing now?” spot.) This ended up a lot more character-driven than the comics ever managed to be, and stayed fairly consistent throughout the run.
Harley Quinn (HBOMax, Season 3) – It’s been a while since we watched the last season, but I think they ratcheted down Harley’s intelligence to make jokes and drama work (particularly regarding Ivy’s science work). Still a fun show; Batman and Commissioner Gordon remain really stupid and the Joker keeps his character development; and Ivy manages to be a sensible grown-up in terms of managing her relationship with Harley and not doing the nonsense sitcom breakup stuff. The bonus 11th episode of this season is the Valentine’s Day special, which clearly everyone had a lot of fun making, but most of all Brett Goldstein (Ted Lasso’s Roy Kent, playing himself).
What If..? (Disney+, Season 2) – They got the all-star voice cast back again, which is nice. It’s interesting where they went with this, because it’s all over the map: A bunch of episodes are “What if this character was the lead in this other movie?” but there’s also a brand-new character who gets an origin episode; and a lot of time spent with Captain Carter. (I’m wondering what set of politics led to Captain Carter being the main character of this; but I honestly hope it was just “Hayley Atwell is delightful and we want to work with her more.”) This is another case where you need to know all of the continuity to really get anything out of it, and while it was entertaining, I feel like they could have gotten more creative and gone a bit more off the well-tread rails than they did.
Secret Invasion (Disney+, Season 1) – This feels like the took chunks of a planned Captain Marvel sequel, removed Carol, added a lot of Cold War spy thriller nonsense, rolled it in a mess of takes about the various messes British/American colonialism left behind, and turned it into a Nick Fury movie. I’m sure there are a dozen thinkpieces comparing this to Israel/Palestine (and Ireland, and India, and American intervention in the Middle East, etc.) and I am absolutely NOT going anywhere near them. The comic this was loosely based on famously became the excuse for every continuity and characterization error for a decade. I think this, instead, manages to create more of them than it solves. (If nothing else: How the hell was everyone cool with Rhodey walking again without the robotic leg braces? He still had them in Endgame, right? Did Skrull-Rhodey just make up some stuff about Tony leaving a magic leg fix when he died?) Also, this leaves the MCU at war with the Skrulls on Earth, which totally should have repercussions on future movies and I’m pretty sure is going to get completely forgotten.
no subject
Date: 2024-02-06 05:05 pm (UTC)Couldn’t do Secret Invasion. Watched the first ep right after the attempted Russian coup and was like, yeah, no, not watching fun Cold War false flag terrorist story line right now.