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watching-pictures-move · 4 years ago

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Movie Review | Mulholland Drive (Lynch, 2001)

This review contains spoilers.

David Lynch's Mulholland Drive was released in recent years by the Criterion Collection, that great home video company that's probably the OG of boutique labels, known for putting out acclaimed, significant or otherwise interesting films in really nice packages. (For some reason I had been thinking they put this out only last year until I actually looked it up. I guess my sense of time has been a little warped as of late, and as much as I'd like to tie this review into pandemic-era life, the fact is other labels have captured my attention lately, as can be evidenced by my embarrassingly large and extremely shameful Vinegar Syndrome haul from their Halfway to Black Friday sale from a few months ago.) Now, nobody in 2021 is going into this movie truly blind, but if I happened to pick up the Criterion cover and perused the back, aside from the list of special features and disc specs, you'd see the below (which I grabbed off their website):

Blonde Betty Elms (Naomi Watts) has only just arrived in Hollywood to become a movie star when she meets an enigmatic brunette with amnesia (Laura Harring). Meanwhile, as the two set off to solve the second woman’s identity, filmmaker Adam Kesher (Justin Theroux) runs into ominous trouble while casting his latest project. David Lynch’s seductive and scary vision of Los Angeles’s dream factory is one of the true masterpieces of the new millennium, a tale of love, jealousy, and revenge like no other.

Now, this is a tough movie to evoke with only a blurb, but I'd say that does a pretty respectable job. I however do not own this release. What I do own is the barebones Universal DVD that was released a few months after the movie, back when going into the movie blind would have been far more likely. This is the description on the back:

This sexy thriller has been acclaimed as one of the year's best films. Two beautiful women are caught up in a lethally twisted mystery - and ensnared in an equally dangerous web of erotic passion. "There's nothing like this baby anywhere! This sinful pleasure is a fresh triumph for Lynch, and one of the best films of the year. Visionary daring, swooning eroticism and colors that pop like a whore's lip gloss!" says Rolling Stone's Peter Travers. "See it… then see it again!" (Time Out New York)

Now, the previous description probably couldn't fully capture the movie's essence, but this one makes it sound like an erotic thriller. (Could you imagine somebody going into this thinking this was like a Gregory Dark joint? I say this having seen none of his thrillers and only his hardcore movies, although I must admit an MTV-influenced Mulholland Drive starring, say, Lois Ayres is something I find extremely intriguing.) But you know what? Good for them. Among other things, this movie, with its two all-timer sex scenes, feels like one of the last hurrahs from an era when mainstream American movies could be unabashedly horny, before we were sentenced to an endless barrage of immaculately muscular bodies in spandex (stupid sexy Flanders) somehow drained of all sex appeal (god forbid somebody pop a boner...or ladyboner, let's be egalitarian here). I apologize if I'm coming off as a little gross, but having been able to barely leave the house for practically a year and a half, watching sexy movies like this is one of the few remaining thrills at my disposal. Please, this is all I have.

Now I suppose I should say something about the movie itself, but it might be a challenge given how elusive it is in certain respects (Lynch is notoriously cagey about offering interpretations of his movies) and, as a result, how heavily it's been scrutinized over the years. No doubt any analysis I offer as to the movie's overarching meaning will come off extremely dumbassed. What I will note however, is that for whatever reason, the scene I remembered most vividly is where Justin Theroux walks in on his wife with Billy Ray Cyrus, particularly the candy pink paint he dumps on her jewellery as revenge. We've been following Theroux, a movie director, as he's been having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, having had control over casting his lead actress taken from him, which he proceeds to process by taking a golf club to a windshield of his producers' car and then reacting as above when he finds his wife with the singer of "Achy Breaky Heart".

With his Dune having been notoriously tampered with by producers, I suspect there's a bit of Lynch's own experience in the scene with the producers, which plays like an entirely arbitrary set of rituals deciding the fate of his movie with no regard for his opinion or even basic logic. While I don't know how particular Dino DeLaurentiis was about his espresso, I did laugh. Now, taking the reading that the first two acts of the movie are a fantasy of Naomi Watts' character, who is revealed to be miserable and ridden with jealousy in the third act, the amount of time we spend with Theroux is maybe hard to justify. Is this perhaps her "revenge" on him, his romantic and professional success having been flushed away while he flounders in search of greater meaning to his arc? Aside from possible autobiographical interest, these scenes do play like a riff on the idea that everyone is the main character in their own story, and if the Watts and Laura Harring characters can be thought of as having merged or swap identities, then perhaps Theroux's arc is the remainder of that quotient. (Now, it's worth noting that aside from being insecure and arrogant, Theroux in this movie is a less stylish than the real Lynch. If Watts conjures the best version of herself in her dream, Lynch maybe doesn't want his dream avatar outshining him.)

Now why did the Cyrus scene stick with me all these years when other details had slipped? Mostly because I'd found it amusing, partly because of the extra specific image Lynch produces, and somewhat because of the casting of Billy Ray Cyrus. Now, I don't have any special relationship to the Cyrus' body of work, but Lynch's casting of him, with his distinct mix of bozo, dudebro and hunk, results in a very specific comedic effect. This is something Lynch does elsewhere in the movie, like when he has Robert Forster show up as a detective for a single scene. The Forster role is likely in part a leftover from the movie's origins as a TV pilot, but the effect is similar (albeit less comedic). Melissa George appears as a woman who may or may not be a replacement for Watts in some realm of reality. Other directors obviously cast actors for their screen presence and the audience's relationship to their career, but the way Lynch does it feels particularly pointed, as if he's reshaping them entirely into iconography. The effect is particularly sinister with the presence of Michael J. Anderson, with whom he worked previously on Twin Peaks, and Monty Montgomery as a mysterious cowboy who dangles the secret of the movie over Theroux's character.

Cowboys in movies are frequently heroic presences (see any number of westerns) and are otherwise innocuously stylish (I confess I've come dangerously close to ordering a Stetson hat and a pair of cowboy boots), but the presence of one here feels like a ripple in the movie's reality. A dreamy, brightly lit mystery set in Los Angeles should have no place for a cowboy. It ain't right. (It's worth noting that Lynch at one point copped to admiring Ronald Reagan for reminding him of a cowboy. Is this his expression of a changed opinion? I have no idea, but Lynch has never struck me as all that politically minded.) Neither is the hobo that appears behind the diner. Certainly hobos have made their homes behind diners, but this one's presence and the way Lynch produces him feel again like a ripple in the the movie's narrative. Jump scares are frequently knocked for being lazy and cheap devices to generate shocks, but the one here gets under your skin.

Now about the movie's look. This starts off like a noir, and the mystery plot on paper would lead you to think that's how the whole movie plays, but the cinematography is a lot brighter, with almost confection-like colours, than that would lead you to believe, at least during the daytime scenes. This is another element that likely comes from its TV origins, but it does give the movie a distinctly dreamlike, fantastical quality that a more overtly cinematic look, like the one Lynch used in Lost Highway a few years earlier, might not capture. This is one of the reasons I think this movie works better than that one, and there's also the fact that the amateur sleuthing that drives the bulk of the plot here serves as a more pleasing audience vantage point than the male anxieties that fuel the other film. I also would much rather hang out with Naomi Watts and Laura Harring than a charisma void like Balthazar Getty.

The manufactured warmth of the daytime scenes also results, like in Blue Velvet, in the nighttime scenes feeling like they're in a completely different setting, one which perhaps offers the key to unlocking the mystery, or at least revealing the phoniness of the movie's surfaces. I think of the evocative Club Silencio sequence, which comes as close as anything in the movie to laying its illusions bare. ("No hay banda.") But at times Lynch will throw in disarmingly childlike, inexplicable imagery, like the dancing couples against a purple screen in the opening, something that would seem tacky and amateurish elsewhere but feels oddly cohesive here. There are a number of directors whose work I admire for being "dreamlike", and putting them side by side they all feel quite distinct (you would never mistake a Lucio Fulci film for a Lynch), but they have the unifying idea of imbuing the tactile qualities of film with the truly irrational to really burrow into your subconscious. Other directors have made movies with some of the same elements as Mulholland Drive, but none have put them together in quite the same way.

#film #movie review #mulholland drive #david lynch

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popculturebuffet · 4 years ago

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Close Enough Season 2 Review! or Josh Murders About 10 People

It's been hard to put into words just how wonderful a surprise this season getting released this month was. For starters before JG Quintel announced it last year shortly after season 1, I honestly was convinced season 2 wasn't happened. Do NOT get me wrong, Season 1 of Close Enough was one of the best parts of last year: It was funny, had a lot of heart, a great voice cast, and a great cast of characters that was throughly likeable and broke sitcom stereotypes, having a doofy husband and more straight laced wife with layers who clearly love and respect each other and BOTH can be prone to taking things too far instead of JUST Josh screwing up. Add in two great fellow leads Bridgette and Alex played by two of my faviorite va's, Kimiko Glen and Jason Mantzokus, whose name I finally learned how to spell, an adorable daughter and neat but out of focus neighbors and supors pearle and randy, and the show was just damn near perfect and felt like an improvement on regular show, taking the same humor and animation style but to an older cast and audience with more nuanced and likeable characters, and far more character development per episode. I wanted to see where the show would go.. but I was convinced given the show was leftover inventory from an animation block that never happened held over to give HBO Max some content it'd be canceled after one season, because I can't have nice things. But....

And very happily so: JG Quintel revealed the show had been picked up for season 2 not long after season 1 dropped, having listned to fans. As it turns out though they hadn't.. they just had a ton of faith in the show as I got ANOTHER bombshell earlier this month. While the show had showed up on the schedule for this month late in January, with no release date on said schedule, I wasn't 100% sure the show was coming back this month or that it wasn't just an error. But once again, I was wrong, it was earth all along, and they merely saved it for the press release for their adult animation lineup: alongside the huge and welcome bombshell they were the ones picking up the Clone High reboot and for two seasons, Close enough not only got two more seasons publicly announced, but fimrly revealed season 2 launched February 25th. LIke they likely had with infinity train the show was quitely picked up for another season, and they simply waited to announce it till the right time. Though unlike infinity train, they had faith in it to become a big hit and while they SHOULD HAVE with infinity train and should've accepted it was already a big hit simply not with the target demographic, it's still nice to see that after all it went through Close Enough not only got renewed but is now the network's flagship adult animated show, closely tied with harley quinn, and will likely go on as long as it wants to.

So naturally given I reviewed all of season 1 in the hopes i'td get renewed, I was happy to make room for season 2 and continue covering it and over the moon it was happening so soon. However I'm doing things diffrently this time: instead of flooding the tag with individual longform reviews, i'm reviewing the season all one go, to see if this format could work for me as I have tons of other shows i'd love to cover in this format that are either heavily comedic like say the Great North, regular show or the simpsons and thus dont' lend themselves to riffing as much and leave me less to do per episode, or more seralized shows like she ra or ones that are entirely complete like Steven Universe or Gravity falls that I could cover alone but this format could help expidite covering. Gravity Falls is also one of my patreon stretch goals if your instrested as is a whole lot of ducktales stuff, link on my blog. It also works with my much larger workload with a much tighter schedule, 6 reviews a week with a flex day in case I get behind so everything comes out as good as it posisbly can be, versus my original method of...

TLDR: One big post with smaller reviews each episode and an overall coverage of what changed this season and how good it is as a whole. We good? Good, then join me under the cut for some delightful sentient presents, couch ghosts, and jim fucking crunch as we get close enough to the heart.

I will never get tired of that image. I want it blown up and put on a banner at my funeral. But death plans aside let's get into the season

Slight Tweaks to a Great Formula: Given it's slice of life format based largely around likeable multi layered characters in comedic absurdity, not a lot has changed nor did it need to. What has are just simple tweaks to make things even better. For starters a natural result of getting to the episodes now produced directly for the 11 minute format means the pacing is much focused, subbing in full subplots for the occasional runner instead, and often only using what characters the episode needs. It will use the main five often, but the lack of subplots for the most part allows stronger focus on one or two characters to give the stories added weight and nuance and often laughs. While i'll always love season 1, this allows for much tighter stories and allows for everyone to get some major screen time instead of mostly Josh and Emily in season 1. It does mean we sadly get less of my boy Alex per episode but it's a sacrifice i'm willing to make if it means the show can grow and take more risks and evolve naturally. Though the former probably wasn't help by two of his three episodes being kinda weak, but i'll get to that.

The other noticeable change is Pearle and Randy. While they were promoted as main characters, even getting profiles along with the rest, they were in practice recurring characters in season 1, showing up pretty frequently but with only one starring episode for Randy and none for Pearle. And givne Pearle has an interesting backstory as a cop who likely had to put up with a LOT being a black woman officer, as well as raising a white redneck, while also being hilarious and having a fun energy to her, I felt they kinda wasted her in season 1.

Here though? Both have been bumped up to main cast proper, getting two focus episodes a piece (compared to the other main adults each getting three, some of those shared, and Candace getting one, hopefully more in the future as it was really good, along with, to my delight, mr.cambell also getting one), appearing far more in supporting roles and generally showing up with the main group a lot more. They still don't hang out with our loveable family all the time, but it makes sense as they have their own apartment and stuff to deal with, but it feels far more like their part of the main group. The show always treated them like this mine, but showing up more makes their friendships with their tenants feel more genuine, as it feels like their part of their lives more, whlie having their own to deal with we get to see now.

So while the series didn't change much, as I said it didn't need to and all of this is stuff is the kind of thing I wanted, especially Pearle getting a larger role and Randy being fleshed out from a dollar store version of muscle man into his own similar but difference character, and i'm happy to have it. So now i've talked about how the seasons' changed, let's talk about the episodes themselves. Grab a snack this is going to take a bit.

The Episodes!:

Josh Gets Shredded:

Our premier and honestly it's a solid one with a singular premise on poking fun at gym culture, though in a nice twist Jim Crunch, the guy who runs the Gym Josh ends up going to to strengthen his core to play with Candace and whose voiced wonderfully by Kevin Michael Richardson is a genuinely good guy and there's no horrifying twist with him. He just wants Josh to get ripped and dosen't know his training is keeping josh from candace. IT's a simple setup of a father doing something for his daughter but getting distracted by it and while not new it works well here and we get plenty of fun gym jokes, including an exchange from Jim and Josh when Josh wants to become an "absolute unit", which in this case ends up meaning turning into the hulk but with the glowing firey eyes of an angry god, feels like it came straight out of the hockey bros from letterkenny, which is a good feeling to have. There's also a nice setup with Candace wanting to play king kong with Josh due to seeing it in class (Specially the Peter Jackson remake, also Candace knows who jack black is which I buy because of who her daddy is. I wouldn’t be surprised if Josh had Saving Silverman on a loop for several days until emily threw it out the window like a frisbee. ), which kicks off the whole thing.. and ends with ultra instinct hulk josh taking her to the top of a building and swatting away helicopters. It’s more of an average episode for the series and the runner about Emily being REALLY hot for buff josh comes off as a weaker version of the plot from family guy where Lois likes a thinner peter, apart from one inspired bit where in order to talk to him about candace without getting distracted, Emily pours an entire bag of ice down her pants.. and subtly after Josh talks about becoming an absolute unit, it’s gone nad rather than animation I like to believe it melted. Still a decent start to a great season.

Meet the Frackers: A Randy Spotlight episode and unlike his season one episode rather than be a subplot in another episode it’s a full episode about him. And the starting incident is great as the gang gets their ancestry results back from costco, with Emily and Bridgette having ancestors in Guadalajara and Kiyoto.. and Josh being white (”Can you believe it?”). Alex coming from a long line of creeps is also pretty funny, those are his actual results by the way.

But what the episodes truly about is Randy finding out his parents are alive in Malibu after Pearle claimed they were dead when he was a kid. She had a very good reason though: Randy’s parents were serial gas thieves, and Pearle nearly caught them one night with the two chucking him at her to escape. And to her credit Pearle TRIED to reach out to them once they ended up in jail for their crimes.. but they again chucked him at her which is hilarious. She simply didn’t want him to feel abandoned. He instead feels betrayed.

His parents are hilariously white trash and played by two faviorite va’s of mine, David Kochner and Wendy Malick, who i’m happy is finally playing a lead roll on Owl House. They drink redneck maragretihas and eat mcribs (As Randy puts it “God’s favorite sandwich!”) every day and still steal gas, just legally now as frackers. Naturally though the two are still assholes and soon use a carnival as a cover to illegally frack and it’s up to Randy an dhis real mom to stop them> It’s a touching story with Randy genuinely wanting to hlep his mom, though I feel it would’ve been more interesting if Randy’s parents hadn’t been scum an dhe had to genuinely deal with having three parents now. Still it was worth it for some great lines from Malick and Kochner , so it works. Decent ep.

Sauceface: Now we come to both one of the best eps of the season, and the series so far, and one of it’s most unique as it stars Candace and dosen’t feature the other main cast hardly at all, only Emily who kicks things off by, in a great bit, breaking Candace’s illusion their rich as “they live in a castle with alex and bridgette”, with her slowly realizing “Were poor”. Which is just a very kid thing to think that your parents are rich when they very much aren’t.

But the episode really is a crime boss parody story, as the title would imply as Candace and her best friend start selling hot sauce, which is banned from the school due to it’s political correctness having gone mad and it being offensive to “sensitive palates” (They’ve also banned general tso’s chicken for mitlarialism and everything bagels for being “too much”). This leads where you’d expect: Candace getting drunk with power and forgetting why theys tarted, wet willies, and an art room brawl, all leading to candace’s friend getting pinched and candace having to use the money to buy Mr. Cambell a pelaton to get him off their backs, which leads to this lovely exchange “YOur letting them off just because they bought you a present?” “This is a 2000 dollar bike”. We also get the subtle reveal Mr. Cambell is gay which given how straight the main cast is, is nice. But this was a great one with too many good gags to mention, a great setup, a great rolling stones song played during the montage I do not know the name of, and I hope we get other candace advnetures at her school in the future, because this was a real delight. Again one of the best episodes of the season.

The House Guest From Hell: Speaking of best episodes, this is probably the best pairing of episodes yet, as both are standouts of the season.

Emily’s old friend Becca drops back into her life, to everyone’s annoyance as Becca is an utter leech who constantly take advantage of Emily’s lack of boundaries with her to constantly talk about whatever drama she’s wrapped herself in and mooch off her. Josh and Bridgette want her to set firm boundaries, but Emily fails to and instead only gets Becca to set boundaries with her boyfriend.. which leads to her moving into the apartment temporarily, and annoying the hell out of everyone. Becca is a great character, being that asshole in the most over the top and annoying way possible, to the point she takes alex’s room, watches tv on a loop and doesn’t seem to realize Emily is married (Despite being part of her bridal party), or that candace is Emily’s daughter and not a tiny butler (Which Candace assumes is a game. )

Naturally for this show things escalate hilariously as Emily finds out she’s pregnant when she tries to throw her out and the pregnancy is escalated.. and we soon find out it’s because the pregnancy is demonic: She has Hecate as her dula (And Alex naturally asks if she’s single, get it guy get it), needs goats hoves, locusts and the blood of the innocent (Which is the only item that trips josh up who hopes they can get it at costco, which made me have to pause as I could not stop laughing). This would be funny enough. .but what takes it into making this episode a classic is when Emily tricks her boyfriend Luke over he’s unsurprisingly a devil.. but also a hilariously over the top douchebag dudebro played by Beck Bennet, who it’s not only nice to see outside of ducktales, but is also just totally game. Luke is so odious it wraps around to being funny, to the point he unsurprisingly hits on Bridgette while his girlfriend is in labor, messily makes out with her and they try to move in, though thankfully Emily cathartically screams Becca out midbirth. Also they end up going to hell, with Luke getting there by doing donuts. Yes really. This episode is a treasure and does the series schitck of taking a relatable problem and escalating it to perfection.

Joint Break:

Another unsurprisingly good one, as Pearle deals with the fact that despite her decades of service, the force’s health plan doesn’t cover her needed hip surgery after she slides over a car wrong (Which also leads to a great riff on the old csi Miami parody). She then finds herself between her oath as an officer and her needs for help as she befriends a gang of saucy old women at water aerobics who are also bank robbers and want to cut her in. And they provide a tempting offer, getting what their owed and ti feels like a genuine dilemma, even if Pearle ends up siding with the police, not that she should. It’s also full of great bits of the old lady gang weaponizing stereotypes about old people, with the three of them dawning classic old lady getups to fool an officer, and having one of them i a walker slowly cross the street to stop an armored truck. Fun stuff helped by their leader being voiced by Jane Lynch, continuing this season’s red hot guest star streak, not that the series has ever been light on them (They got David Hasselhoff and weird al in season 1, so yeah), but this season ramps up the good guest voices to the point there’s one per episode almost.

Cyber Matrix: This one’s okay though the setup is good. Unsurprisingly given both his dale gribble-esque penchant for conspiracies and his hipster holier than thou ways, Alex has never had a smart phone, and has a very old flip hone that’s horrifc to look at and naturally gets destroyed, leading to him getting addicted to the thing.. and this being the show it is fusing with it. What makes this one is the climax, as the rest of the main group scramble to take out the cell tower so Alex’s phone doesn’t upload him to the cloud while Josha nd Alex open everything they can to slow her down. The result is the phone hacking Emily’s and ordering packages, task rabbits to punch her inthe face (With randy taking it so they can go) and outright hijacking a car in a clever chase. The ending though does sink this as suddenly their in veirutal reality again and it just feels weird given the series, while not really using continuity much so far, dosne’t have negavite continuity punch out endings outside of this one ep and I hope this dosen’t happen again. Otheriwse a decent one if sadly not one of Alex’s best and he equally sadly onlyg ets one truly great episode this season, compared to having a good chunk of the best plots last season. Still you can’t win em all and i’m sure my boy will return to form and said great episode, which we’ll get to soon, certainly shows they didn’t loose their touch. They just fumbled a bit and that’s okay.

Haunted Couch: Balancing that out is the fact that Bridgette, who didn’t get nearly as many good eps as Alex or as much focus as the rest, gets some great episodes this season with this one being my out and out favorite as it fleshes her out more and has some really great gags. Josh brings in a street couch (And he and Emily’s argument over it is great including him using the fact she forced them to get a savings account as leverage somehow), just as Bridgette is in emotional turmoil over her latest boyfriend suddenly ghosting her.

Naturally she ends up falling for a REAL ghost, a french couch designer who had a habit of cheating on his lovers, died for it by one of their hands, and his soul ended up bound to the couch. Naturally hea nd Bridgette hit it off and we get a LOT of good stuff in a montage as the two take the couch everywhere, and her friends, minus Alex who surprisingly rather than being jealous, simply dosen’t like the fact there’s a ghost in the house technically haunting them which surprisingly goes nowhere, are happy for her and like him after the initial shock wears off, though Josh still wants to sit on the couch. He and Bridgette even have really good sex using Randy’s body, with him being a willing vesel for Marcus. And i’d just like to point out that an intensely weird comedy show that also has a sentient present, bob vila with saw hands, and dude bro satan in this very season, 2/3 of those to come.. STILL did this better than wonder woman 87, as they actually asked someone to let the ghost of the couple use his body so they could fuck, and he gave full consent to it. And no I sitll haven’t let that go, it was a very bad plotline with nightmarish implications and the fact close enough did it better in a joke, they also have the song from ghost in the background by the by, than a big budget movie from the same company, is a really large bilboard saying:

But while the episode was thoroughly interesting and funny.. it’s what happens next that makes it one of the series best. While the series is amazing at comedy, it’s the character growth slid in between it that makes it so awesome and this episode is a great example. Bridgette turns cold towards Marcus as it’s clear he’s serious, and he’s even moved a tooth brush in. She gets more and more hostile until eventually Marcus calls her on it, and prevents her from leaving with a vortex of furniture.. which could’ve gone bad very quick but instead just means she has to face him.. and is hit with a rather painful relization when he asks “Do you what me to, how you say, ghost you?” (She explained the concept earlier). She says no.. but quickly a series of flashbacks puts the previous breakup in context as the guy she was seeing asked to leave a toothbrush, a simple escalation and she got real nasty real quick without saying what the problem was. We see more of this with a previous boyfriend and hilaroiusly one before that guy who not only had a toothbrush in a ringbox but was also in a hot air ballon she casually cuts the anchors too and has float away. Which does mean Bridgette probably killed a man but that’s one compared to josh’s 10 this season. Yes, 10. We’ll get to that.

Point is she realizes “oh shit i’m the dick”, and has a genuine talk with Marcus, realizing why: “You know how women feign being submissive because society’s taught them to so they don’t get raped or murdered or kidnapped?” “Oui”, best bit of the episode and damn if it ain’t horribly true. But due to tha Bridgette simply got terrible quick to scare guys off when she really just wanted to break it off instead of take things further and breaks it off with marcus.. and is surprised and relieved when he doesn’t want a big fight and takes it acceptably, Marcus having grown from his past of being a women using cad and genuinely wanting to treat them better. For once Bridget gets to have an emotionally mature breakup with someone, and while you could say her relationship with alex is like that, it’s very clear from an upcoming episode it wasn’t a very clean break at first and while their amicable now their marriage was a hot volcano of arguments. This allos Marcus to pass.. if also destroying the couch to Josh’s misery. An instant classic and one of the season’s highlights and one that really fleshes Bridgette out a bit by giving another reason for her relationships not working besides alex that fits the character perfectly and has her grow from it.

Also just a quick sidenote, this episode vaguely reminded me of the Nightmare Time, theater troupe team starkid’s zoomcast I highly recommend set in their hatchetfield multiverse, episode “Jane’s a Car” , which is about a man’s wife possessing his car and also involves an object. Both are very diffrent mind you, Jane’s a Car ends up way more depressing, but its’ stil la story involving ghost fucking though Bridgette found a vesel instead of straight up fucking a couch the way tom went to town on that car. It also involves the lead’s perosnal issues, if far more severe in Jane’s a Car’s case, reflected by their relationship with a ghost. I mean it is a stretch but these are the weird connectoins my brain makes and I mostly bring it up because an upcoming episode in the season goes from kind of similar but only to me to very similar, and a very fun concidence that these two episodes existed in the same year, especially since this happened last year with this show and Ducktales. But first josh doing a murder on some people.

Man Up:

Okay for starters the title man up reminds me of this short lived abc sitcom I never saw but given it was about three guys tapping into their “inner man” it sounds like aresnic somehow took the sentient form of a tv show. This actual poster for it not only proves the point but why it lasted one season if not why the hell I remembered this existed at all despite never seeing it, not recognizing anyone in it and not wanting anything to do with it.

Given I have 8 more episodes to go after this one, I do not have time to disect all the way that poster is a waking nightmare, though i’d love to, and instead i’m going to talk abotu the episode itself. The intro is funny enough, with the Ramierz-Singletons going to a bank for Candace’s first bank account, the Bank of Hollywood. An alien seemingly attacks, it turns out to be a promotional stunt with high budget effects a great gag in of itself, but Josh runs out on his family. Naturally he’s horribly rattled by this, and wants to be a better dad, a John McClane type. So two things: I now want a crossover with this show and brooklyn nine nine along with the hatchefield one in my head and the regular show one most fans want. And the second is that John wasn’t the best dad or husband, and both the original film, the sequel josh saw, and the fourth film all spell this out. The fifth does too but I feel if I wish hard enough a good day to die hard will just spontaneously cease to exist and we’ll all be happier that way.

So Pearle agrees to help him, and we get a fun training montage, with Josh protecting a candace made of eggs Alex made, because of course he did, and an emily made of the same because of course he did, and get punched in the junk by randy in a dog costume, as you do. He actually feels tough and is ready for phase 2, pearle hitting him with something unexpectdly.

Instead what he thinks is Phase 2 is actually a die hard style hyjacking of Emily’s company christmas party, which josh misses due to being in the bathroom after panickily running into corn. As a result.. we get josh killing about 8-10 people not realizing it’s not a simulation but not really caring about that part when it’s revealed. Which granted it is in self defense but he still kills a LOT of people this episode, and I will be forever haunted by the fact that stringbean can REALLY do some murders. Seriously who knew JOSH had it in him. That is terrifying to comprehend. Naturally after he john mclanes his way up, he finds out it wasn’t a simulation panics but instead of running away runs the hans gruber knockoff, whose sadly not very entertaining out of the building and onto some exploding corn, saving the day, earning his family’s respect and cemnting himself as a badass. The reveal of what the text actually was is just.. perfect as it’s just a bat on a string with Alex saying “he’s totally going to shit”. The perfect capper to good ep only hampred by hans being really weak.. seriously he just has a weird sentence sturcture tha’ts hte joke. They can do better. Otherwise a good die hard parody. John would be proud.

Handy:

Another decent one not a standout but it has a truly astounding bit. Randy finds out, after going to Guy Fieri’s flavor diaster for Pearle, that she hired another handyman and he’s not good at his job as as he puts it “I’m going to do what troubled young men have done for years : i’m going to sea!”. Which is funny enough but leads to him stranded on a desert island, hallucinating and then meeting his idols in handy manning who may or may not be hallucinations: Bob Vila, The Ikea Mascot (Who speaks only in pictures and is a fun gag despite never having seen him before this episode) and my favorite tim the tool man taylor, whose tie is constantly pointed up for some reason and who amazingly only speaks in grunts. I didn’t know I needed this so thank you close enough. We also get the three helping with bob turning his hands into buzzsaws, ikea man creating nails and screws and Tim using his head as a tool. All accurate to their original shows and in ikea man’s case brocures. Really good adaptation. But through this he discovers the clog the guy is trying to fix at the house is loadbearing and rushes home to save the house, leading to a fun actoin scene and a weird version of the celebration from the end of return of the jedi, complete with force ghosts. So we also get a tim taylor force ghost which I did not know I needed and as much as that show makes my stomach churn I badly hope shows up in the finale of last man standing. A decent one and givne how I keep sayin ga decent episode over and over you can kinda see why I didn’t review all these. LIke season 1 I simply don’t have a full review in me for every single one of these episodes. We’re now at the halfway mark, only 8 more to go, I envy the dead, let’s do this.

Birthdaze: This was the episode most heavily promoted in the trailer and for good reason as it’s the best of the season. Also relatable as while not having kids I do get how Kids Birthday parties feel and how they often end up weirdly close together. In this case both coalse as Josh and Emily have three birthdays in one weekend, their friends Emily’s friend Trish from “Cool Moms”, who is so far some of the only continuity the series has, but a nice sign it has it, and that we could see Jim Crunch (who rose from the grave after an utterly wonderful funeral) or Dog Boy again. Or this episode’s standout gifty. But we’ll get to that in a second. So Josh and Emily well intentiondly decide to throw a party for the parents at the same time as Candace’s.. but end up neglecting Candace. While their idea is good, to reward the other parents for having to sit through so many parties, putting it at the same time was a horrible idea as giving a bunch of pent up people with low alcohol tolerance booze ends up resulting in drunken antics and them heckling the magicain... and given the world we’re in, that’s a horrible mistake as he makes the children disappear to a world of perptual brithday parties and forces JOsh and Emily to follow him if they want their child back. What results is an utter delightly as we meet the wonderful and incomprable Gifty, a giant living present who works iwth the magician, named sardini, and is voiced by Kate Miccuci, heart eyes> Just.. evey bit with gifty is great, from her genuinely being animated and looking like a muppet, to her casually going demonic to explain if the kids stay too long they forget parents, to as seen up top playing a pipe organ that is apparently made of gold plated clown bones, and her best bit, which I posted on this very blog, where she assures the trapped kids if JOsh and Emily fail their final test, they’ll get to live of nutricious necco wafers before vomiting a giant cloud of them at the poor children. Those things are gross and we now knwo it’s because they come from a giant present’s stomach.

We get a great montage before most of that of our heroes treking through a weird and awesome birthday landscape with too many good parts to mentoin, before finding Sardini who puts them through tests before they can get candace back.. and one of those are you human image tests via the ball from phantasm. As gifty puts it “We have to make sure your not a bot”. But the tests, about candaces faviorite things, help the two realize she liked them because they did it together, and a final talk with candace, as the final test has her ask why theyd idn’t want to spend time with her, with the two warmly apologizing and explaning why they did it but that they went too far. Candace reconclies with her parent,s the kids and our heroes go home, and Sardini finds himself sad no one stayed.. but at least he has gifty... and then start making love to her “Unwrap me!” which is far and away the best gag in the season’s best episode by a mile.

Time Hooch:

Now to talk about two things I hinted at earlier: The only good Alex episode this season and the one that vaugely resembles one of the Nightmare Time episodes. And while their two very diffrent stories with very diffrent outcomes and only one of them involves this guy

And suprisingly it’s NOT close enough that has the eldtrich horrifying goat monster with a goofy cartoon voice who says things like “I’m coming for your ass Teddy Bear!” But both are stories about a sketchy (mildly for alex, entirely for Ted) middle aged man who feels one moment is where his life went wrong then accidently time travels after drinking 80 tons of liquor and decides to use said time travel to save a relationship, and fails at it in some fashion. There’s even a jaunt to a distopian future with robots and cyborgs. So while it’s not 1:1, alex is far more sympathetic than Ted, Time Bastard is dark horror comedy, and it again dosen’t involve a horrifying goat man suprisingly enough, it’s till way too many happy coincidences for me to outright ignore. Also check out nightmare time and especially the musicals it spun off from The Guy Who Didn’t LIke Musicals and Black Friday. It’s good stuff. But I couldn’t help but make the comparison, or now imagine Alex, Ted and Professor Hidgens as some weird diasterious power trio. This is how my brain works now.

But to the episode itself it’s just great from start to finish: Bridgette finds out while rumaging for an old photo in an old box of their stuff that Alex never signed the divorce papers. Turns out he was hoping they’d get back together.. and while not doing it and not telling her was a VERY selfish and horrible action.. you still sympathize with him. He hoped things would work out and they’d get back together, and given they had some close calls with that in season 1, to the point I shipped them, you can see where his sprig of hope came from. But with this he’s realized there probably isn’t any hope and drinks some old moonshine he and Josh made in college. Said moonshine was from a recipie in an old blues record, the titular time hooch that true to form, allows them to travel back in time. And since he was thinking of when he thought the relationship truly hit it’s breakig point, when Bridgette at a sandwitch of his and he’d said in the heat of it he wished he’d never met her, they end up there and Alex tries to use it to help. Also Jason’s delivery of Alex saying what the recipie was “rye, barely, a dead man’s pocket watch, mixed under a full moon (Laughs) okay we probably should’ve seen this coming.

Naturally here’s where it really gets intresting. As you’d probably guess, our heroes are the ones who made the sandwitch disappear and in desperation, alex kidnaps his past self before he can say the fatal words> We also get another spectacular bit where all past alex needs from alex to know he’s really him from the future is what year he was born (1982), meaning he’s defintely older than the rest of the cast. Though I wouldn’t be suprised if he was held back.. like at all. Look i’m not thinking too hard into it this is also a story about whiskey based time travel.

But with that said intresting part takes hold as Josh’s past self reminds him of another fight that made things tense for a while.. and you can see where this goes. Alex keeps going back, and back, and back and back and back and back and back... and back, to try and stop the one fight, only to find a bigger one, leading to a montage.. to the point he ends up at the start of the relationship, the day they met at a college bar. The younger Alex’s have decided screw it it was always wrong, let’s end the relationship.

We also get more of Alex’s backstory as it turns out he’s at a community college rather than UCLA, where he used to teach because of his own dumb actions: He met bridgette, let her enroll in his class and didn’t try to convince her to take another one. Don’t get me wrong the decade age gap and power dynamics are iffy.. but it’s not as bad as it could be. They met before the class, and it comes off more as both being too stupid or too horny to realize how her being in his class came off before it was too late. She got with him entirely on his merits, and yes he has some trust me. Case in point.. Alex realizes a few things. The first is that no amount of time travel can save his relationship. They fought all the time clearly, and there were inherent problems. It’s also clear just from the series itself that while they have chemistry their just not that compatible as people. Bridgette is obessed with image, social media, and herself while Alex just two episodes ago called phones the downfall of society and likes feeling superior to the exact kind of person bridgette is. They have chemistry but sometimes it’s jut not enough. You have to have some common ground or your going to fall in a big hole. It’s honestly feels like a much more tolerable and realistic version of Leonard and Penny from the Big Bang Theory. And yes I know that show’s not the most popular with my core audience, nerds, and I bring it up because mom’s been watching it a lately, and any time I see Leonard and Penny on screen it annoys me into a tizzy as the two just have NO REASON to be together other than boning, and even then he’s apparently not a good partner so why then. They have nothing in common and she mocks and belittles him all the fucking time, mocking his hobbies, finding his job boring, and mocking him as a person. And not sharing hobbies or finding his job intresting would be fine, and still work but it’s the constant teasing about it that comes off far more vitrolic than probably intended that just makes me hope for a divorce. Here it’s not only much milder but they did actually get a divorce because their just diffrnet people and i’m not mad the ship was sunk. It was done in a poetic way.

And part of that poetry is Alex realizing that as doomed as things ended up being, via a very sweet montage of their time together.. he realizes he can’t loose this all together. That sure he’d gain a lot and porbably woudlnt’ be living in a closet, but he’d loose all the good times, and he’d loose a friend. His marriage wasn’t so bad he wants to erase it it just ended and that happens. Naturally the other alex’s don’t feel that way but Alex stops them.. Josh is too drunk at this point to help, and ends up creating a time vortex. The vortex sends our heroes home, where Alex realizes his mistake and apologizes for it to bridgette and signs the papers in front of her. As for the Alexs we get a horrifying and hilarous gag as, given they’ve all commented each other is handsome.. start having an orgy, and are later found in amber and their dna is used to create our alex apparently. How does that work?

Point is this episode.. is a masterwork. It’s emotoinal, hilarious, and really good character work, with Alex having a really stellar arc that shades him in and putts a final button in his and bridgettes relationship. And having seen many ships I like end horribly, it’s nice to have one end in a satsifying way like this. Also we see Alex in his borat thong, and i’d just like to point out how funny I find it that the same year they made a borat joke, specifically on it being from a decade or two ago, we ended up getting a second Borat movie. Very niceeee.

World’s Greatest Teacher: This one was alright. On the bright side we got a Mr.Cambell episode! I”ve loved the guy since first meeting him in 100% no stress day, it was the first episode and that hasn’t changed and he’s always a bright spot when he shows up. So an episode about him dealing with a rival teacher, MS. Lake a twice a week music teacher gunning for his job and his students love sounded made for me. In practice he gets a bit too petty to be symapthetic which takes things down a peg, even if it turns out Ms. Lake really is coming for his ass Teddy Bear, but it has enough good gags to help it still be a fun episode.

The biggest one and the biggest reason I sitll like the episode is Timothy’s coffe mug for world’s greatest teacher.. which naturally comes to life, possibly as a psychotic break possibly for real because of the show this is, and starts speaking in the dulcet tones of keith david. ANd i’ve made no secret I love and am thirsty for Keith David on this blog and never will, and having him voice an abusive fowl mouthed coffee mug is something I dind’t know I need but boy did I always need it my entire life. Yes even as a baby. It’s just glorious every time he shows up. The climax is also great as the two teachers end up bonding over the greatest love of all and george micheal after Candace invites River to a part sh’esd having for her tooth coming out, and end up becoming frinemies, a nice solution i was glad to see. Even if i’ll miss evil keith david coffee mug. Rest in power my dude.

Where’d You Go, Bridgette? The second major Bridgette episode of the season and like “Haunted Couch” this one’s an instant classic. After realizing Bridgtte’s already out of control addition to her phone has gotten even worse, Pearle confinscates it and takes her to detox. This leads to two great plots; Bridgette going into withdrawl, complete with an inspired nightmare sequence about her aps and missing her friends death because she was on her phone and the rest of the cast thinking sh’es been kidnapped because she’s not on social media, which while stupid is DELIGHTFULLY stupid and makes some sense given how glued to her phone she is. They end up calling a true crime podcast over, two egosticial college girls who quickly blame them for it despite it making no sense and their fans torm the apartment, and don’t belivie it when bridgette actually shows up.. It takes an inspired speech from Bridgette, whose developed as a person and after actually tasting a late for the first time sees how good they are, and Pearle posting that speech online to dismiss them and our heroes are saved. It’s an utterly amazing plot from josh being excited about the mob attacking them, to Pearle revealing part of the reason she’s so dedicated to helping bridgette is due to her own weird addiction to six flags, which is just so oddly specific I love it.

The Erotic Awakening of A.P. Lapearle This one STARTED well, with Alex reading his viking erotic to everyone, and not getting that Candace maybe shouldn’t be there, only for Pearle to be the only one to actually enjoy it and be inspired by her enjoyment of his work to submit it to a publisher. The publisher ends up making a valid point that women want erotic fantasy from someone they can feel safe by and alex is well.. alex, so he suggests using pearle as a front. it goes how you’d expect: he wants actual credit, the publisher slowly pushes him out, she regrets it, they fight an army of fans and make them vomit with alex reading the book.. standard stuff. It’s just not very funny or a great insight into either characters, and is easily the weakest episode of the season.. though the next one gave it close compettition.

Men Rock!

This one was a chore to sit through, and is only ahead of the last one because it has some really good josh bits and musical numbers which is more than the last one gave me so hey. In a nutshell Emily is on the verge of quitting her and Bridgette’s music careers as she feels they’ll never be famous only for their latest song Men Rock!, an ironic title for a sarcastic song poking fun at a bunch of toxic masculinty bs that is a good song, has hit it HUGE in a fictonal foreign dicatroship and get invited to go, reclutantly agreeing. If you haven’t seen the ep, you can still guess how this goes: say it with me THEY TOOK IT AT FACE VALUE. So our heroines have to help inspire the repressed women and inspire a bloody cou, helped by josh finding some improisoned femisinists in a bathroom. They also gain a fan. it has a few good gags, mostly Candace trying to remind her dad to help her find a place to pee after he keeps getting sidetracked by being taken back by Emily’s sucess. I’ts just a very bad, very predictable episode with very obvious misogyn is bad jokes. And misgoyny IS bad but other shows, paticuarlly tuca and bertie with one early episode, have tackeld this topic better. This episode did not. Last one.

Secret Horse:

This one in stark contrast is one of the series best and an utter joy to watch. On a bad day for the whole apartment with some santa anna winds, an adorable, poofy mained utterly precious horse gets free and ends up at the apartment. Thus we get a vingettte episode, as the horse has a delightful adventure with each of our main 7, and each up tot he last try and hide the horse badly only for the horse to suddenly sprout up and help their mood.

I do love a good vinegtte episode, with two of my faviorite simpsons episodes being 22 short films about springfiled (Minus kirk dragging MIlhouse away from the bathroom, fuck you you balding asshat, it makes the episode hard to watch) ,and trilogy of error, and this is a classic example of it as we get some fun adventures fro each of the housemates: Candace plays with the horse, adorably so, Josh finds it in the garage as his car breaks down and takes them on an install with him, even stuffing them into a suit and we get a great bit of the horse getting fed sugarcubes and josh money. Brigette gets help living in the now instead of posting about it all the time.

My faviorite comes next as Alex needs new patches for his suit but obviouslyc n’t afford them so he takes the ponyt ot he track.. to help him pick which horses to bet on. It’s just such an inherntly funny idea, especially since it works, and really the horse is just hilarious wherever it ends up. It next helps randy win a skating contest, we get a touching story as Pearle misses her old tragically dead horse partner and uses our boy as a subtitute and finlaly we get emily who needs help relaxing and while she naturally calls animal control she hangs up as she falls for hte horse. The group all fight over the horse in the end, the horse leaves and they let it go home, wonder if it was a hallucination and it whizes on thier car. Overall a really great finale and a wonderful note to go out on.

Overall Ranking I’ve decided eveyr time I do one of these, or a post season wrapup of a show i’ve covered every episode of the season to rank them from best to worst sooo

Birthdaze Time Hooch Haunted Couch Secret Horse Where’d You Go Bridgette? Sauce face Houseguest From Hell Joint Break Josh Gets Shredded World’s Greatest Teacher Meet the Frackers Handy Man Up Cyber Matrix Men Rock! The Erotic Awakening of A.P. Lapearle

And i’d like to note that outside of the bottom two hear.. I enjoyed ALL of these. WHich leads to

Final Thoughts; This season was excellent. It had everything the first season had the heart, the character and the utterly great sense of humor, and fine tuned it to be a well oiled machine I could hardly stop laughing at and with tons of great character stuff. Before it had the potetial to surpass regular show but now it has as despite having a few dud episodes itself, as is intievitble in any show, now, they still aren’t as bad as a lot of RS’s early misteps. And Regular SHow as a FANTASTIC show and really stuck the landing, so i’m only saying this is even better and can only go up from here. And even if it stays about the same quality wise, that won’t be a bad place to be. This season was near damn perfect, i’ll probably watch it again and again, and I can’t wait to devour more and given the current tragectory probably will this year. And I couldn’t be more excited.

If you like this blog follow for more reviews, become a patreon to help reach stretch goals or comission a review outright, details for the latter two on my blog. And i’ll see you at the next rainbow.

#close enough #josh singleton #emily rameriz-singleton #bridget yoshida #pearle watson #randy watson #candace ramirez-singleton #hbo max #animation #reviews

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kikithegeek · 4 years ago

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An Amateur Review of Ridley Pearson’s Super Sons

Please be aware: This will contain some spoilers for the Super Sons graphic novels written by Ridley Pearson. If you do not wish to be spoiled on plot or character development, please stop reading this and come back once you’ve read through the books yourselves. Otherwise, enjoy this amateur review.

INTRODUCTION

As someone who grew up reading comics from Marvel, DC, IDW, and Archie, it was always fun when legacy characters were introduced or focused on. Characters that were students or the children of characters that my parents grew up with always felt nice to me, and even relatable when they were introduced or shown to be growing up in a similar or the same time period as my friends and I. Taking this into account, it’s no wonder that by the time I was in high school, some of my favorite comics involved Damian Wayne/Robin and Jonathan Kent/Superboy. Yes, I was definitely older than them by the time their series came in, but some of the problems they faced, even the small ones, seemed familiar to my own. Problems such as Jon’s reluctance of moving away from Hamilton County to Metropolis where he’d be leaving behind people he’s known for years into what is essentially a foreign environment for him, or both characters having to live up to the examples their parents have set; something I’m sure many of us can relate to as children are always compared to their parents or successful family members. The growing friendship between them was always a highlight no matter what type of adventure they were on.

In 2019, Ridley Pearson and Ile Gonzalez released the first book in their 3-part series starring Jon and Damian in a sort of rebooted universe. Fan feedback at the time was mixed, with some fans unhappy and others just happy they were getting more content featuring their favorite duo. Personally, I wasn’t paying attention all that much; I was in the middle of college and my focus had drifted away from comic books that year to focus on my studies, but with the recent pandemic and more time to read I’ve fallen back into the rabbit hole of super heroes and villains. I remember there being an outcry against the books when the previews began to be released, but after they did release and finished their run, I didn’t hear anything. No one really actively talked about what the books were about and most of what I heard seemed to come from people who read a handful of pages, if at all, and then never finished it. So, I decided to put my two cents in and read them. I’ll be looking at them as someone who has been a fan of their main-like counterparts for years, and as someone who also acknowledges that this isn’t canon to it and is an alternate universe (or alternate Earth in the cases of the DC comics multiverse), if anything to look at it from a neutral perspective.

It should be noted that this isn’t the first time I’ve read through Ridley Pearson’s work. In middle school and even through high school, I couldn’t get enough of Kingdom Keepers and Peter and the Starcatcher, even getting tickets to see the touring cast of the latter’s theater adaptation when they came to my state. I’ve read a few interviews on his work with the Super Sons before going into the books themselves, and he doesn’t neglect to say that this series isn’t connected to the normal DC canon (whatever that is these days; any comic book reader knows that reboots, especially for DC in the last decade, usually happen quite a bit). Okay, that’s probably a given, and it makes things easier considering the main target demographic are kids aged 10-14. There’s a lot of content to go over when it comes to everything connected to Damian and Jon, even more so for Batman and Superman, so this makes it less difficult for kids who don’t have much experience with DC outside of the occasional tv show and movie to get into it.

But what about the story itself?

THE STORY

(The majority of the story spoilers are beyond this point since I summarize the books. This is your last spoiler warning.)

The story itself takes place in an alternate future. America is called Coleumbria and the global climate crisis has gotten to the point where it’s a race to find a way to stop the rising temperatures and constant flooding. While Batman and Superman spearhead the projects set to stabilize and then reverse the Earth’s temperature, their sons are moved from Metropolis to a city called Wyndemer with other refugees looking to find somewhere safe from the floods. This causes tensions in the city to heighten as refugees, called “flood runners”, are harassed by locals. Without going too in-depth into the books (otherwise, we’d be here all day), I’m going to summarize them. Certain characters and events might be omitted, but hey, at least it gives you a reason to read them even if I tell you what they’re about.

The first book introduces us to this crisis and shows us how this world’s Jon (who still goes by Superboy in this) and Damian (who is going by Batkid) meet. While there’s some animosity between them at first, with Jon having a not-too-hidden bias against Bruce Wayne, the two eventually start to work together when they realize their individual investigations are connected. Jon and his classmate, Tilly, have been looking into a mysterious illness that’s hospitalized Jon’s mother among many others, and Damian has been investigating sabotages against Wayne Tech dams. They also meet a girl named Candace who is trying to uncover a mystery that’s plagued her since her mom’s passing. After finding clues at a food company called Sage Foods, the group is attacked and manages to escape after Jon is told their attackers were sent by a woman named Arvyc. After finding out that Candace and Damian had set Jon up earlier in the book to be attacked by a few gang members, the group have a short fight before they go to the train station to stop Arvyc’s gang.

The second book opens with the boys helping Candace make it to a boat while escaping a group of girls called The Four Fingers. While they didn’t have as much of a presence in the previous book, had been shown as adversaries of Candace’s. Continuing into their investigations into the virus, Jon and Tilly learn that it was man-made as Candace’s visions lead her toward Coleumbria’s capital. The Four Fingers, meanwhile, are adamant about finding Candace, so they’ve taken to stalking her friends, until they realize they’re “dead ends”, so they choose to follow their own leads. It is revealed that The Four Fingers and Candace all have powers that connects them to certain species of animals; with Candace, she has a connection to birds and she states her grandmother was the same. Tilly comes up with her own vigilante persona, Puppet Girl, and stays behind in Wyndemer as Damian and Jon leave to go to Cinapolis to find the virus’s source. However, the boys get captured and Tilly decides she needs to help them. Candace in the meantime has found an anointing oil her mother had left clues for her to find, which is the key to the throne of Landis, the country she and The Four Fingers come from. It ends with the Super Sons and Tilly saving Candace and helping her get on a boat back to Landis while Arvyc escapes from prison.

The third and final book opens with Jon, Damian, and Tilly trying to track Arvyc down and it’s obvious that they’ve been at this for some time now, but they soon become the hunted. Candace makes it back to Landis and finds one of the rebels her mom had led before she was arrested. As Candace continues on her journey, Jon, Damian, and Tilly are sent by Batman to a LexCorp lab to retrieve a virus sample, only to find it isn’t there. They decide to go to Landis since The Four Fingers were heading there with the virus (and Candace had gone with intentions to stop them), but Tilly needs to stay behind again. The boys and Candace continue their respective journeys through Landis, however a man who’s been pulling the strings from the shadows for the last two books, Sir Reale, has decided to send Arvyc after them along with Talia. Talia and Arvyc attack the boys who manage to outsmart them for the moment, and are reunited with Candace who has been tracking the virus with two warriors named Kizuka and Archer. Tilly, back in Coleumbia, is sent out to retrieve Damian and Jon by Bruce’s assistant, Patience. After meeting up with Tilly, the group find a lab where The Four Fingers have been preparing vials of the virus in order to release it via bombs, and a battle ensues where they learn that sunlight can kill the virus and that Talia is Damian’s mother. Learning that they couldn’t stop all of the shipments, the group gathers the people of the local town to help them in storming the factory. They succeed in killing the remaining virus, save for a vial to be used to create a cure. With Superman’s mission a success and Batman working on a cure, the book ends with Candace being crowned the new Empress of Landis, Jon’s mother waking up, and Batman making Damian Robin.

MY THOUGHTS ON THE STORY

All in all, the story was okay. Personally, I felt like it was rushed in some places, such as how we’re brought from one character or scene to the next with little to no transition or breathing space. The endings were also kind of abrupt, which I feel really brought down the ending for the final book. We don’t really linger on whether or not Superman’s efforts to reverse global worming worked or have a moment where Jon and his dad are able to reunite with Lois. I was also disappointed to see they didn’t go anywhere with the whole “Talia is revealed to be Damian’s mother he had never met before and barely knew anything about” sub plot they had going in book three. People who know me know that the League of Assassins and any character associated with them are among my favorite villains in the Batman mythos, and to see it be brought in only for it to not have anything done with it was disappointing. Heck, you could have taken Talia out of it and the story would have been the same minus Damian being momentarily shaken before getting back to business. At the very least, an ending scene where Bruce confirms she’s his mother would have been nice enough closure for it. This might have been due to there being a page limit (each book was roughly 151 pages long) which lead to things being cut out, but it’s still disappointing nonetheless, especially since I did find myself enjoying parts that had pacing problems.

Pacing and unresolved plotlines aside, some of the things I did enjoy though involved Candace’s story arc. She’s one of the characters made for this series, and watching her figure out her past and come into her own with her powers was really enjoyable. I also felt like small snippets of character interactions between the boys, Candace, and Tilly were really well written. They actually felt like kids.

THE CHARACTERS

Since there are a lot of characters in this series, I’m only going to focus on the four main characters since we’re with them the entire time.

Jonathan Kent is probably the one out of him and Damian who’s the closest to his original counterpart, and I don’t just mean in looks. While he doesn’t have as many powers as he’s come to have in the main DC canon, he does have some of the powers he has early on in his appearances, such as super speed, super hearing, x-ray vision, super strength, and being able to jump high/far. He’s a bit older here though, 12 instead of 10 making him closer to Damian’s age and allowing him to go to the same school as him and Tilly. He holds his dad’s lessons close and seems to be apprehensive about seriously hurting people, mainly in the beginning. Being older though, he’s a bit more mature than his counterpart was before he was aged up, and I feel that this version of Jon is a good blend between the two.

Damian Wayne on the other hand was given the most changes in terms of backstory and how he acts, which goes hand-in-hand. In the original continuity, he was raised by Talia and the League of Assassins, making him spoiled and a literal killer in the body of a child. Here, he was raised by Bruce (how or why, I don’t know. Talia wasn’t brought up until book 3 so I can only assume she gave him to Bruce as a baby and they agreed to never tell him for whatever reason) and Bruce refuses to let him be Robin, leaving Damian to become Batkid (which is a good reference to past incarnations of Batman’s son in older Elseworlds stories). He’s still arrogant and looks for a fight more than he should, but it doesn’t seem like he wants to kill. Beat up a guy who is already out of the fight, yes, but not kill. One thing people who’ve read the books will notice is I’ve been calling him Damian. Well, that’s out of habit; in this series he is pretty adamant about everyone calling him Ian. Why? Again, I don’t know, and part of me is bothered by it because we never find out why he hates his name. I can only assume Pearson had things planned that would explain this a bit more but had to cut them out due to page constraints.

Tilly is one of the characters made for this series, taking the name Puppet Girl as her secret idenity. She’s Jon’s friend and classmate, and is a computer expert, allowing for her to help the team from home until they need her to fly one of Bruce’s machines to them. She hangs around Jon a lot due to going to the same school and because both of them are interning for the Daily Planet. In all honesty, she reminds me of Kathy from before it’s revealed she has powers and is actually an alien since she acts as Jon’s best friend who isn’t Damian, as well as a girl who Jon might have a crush on or vice versa. The blond hair and the purple-pink outfit scheme doesn’t help.

Candace is our final main character and the second character made for this series. We meet her in the books before we meet Jon and Damian, and her story plays a huge role in the overall plot. Candace has been following a string of clues her mother left her shortly before her death, and we learn as the comic goes on that she’s meant to be the next Empress of her home country, Landis, but was forced to flee to Coleumbria when her family was usurped by a general. Over time, she unlocks her power to communicate and control birds, and later to control the weather. I found myself enjoying her story just as much, if not more than the plots that surrounded the title characters, which helps since her story is intertwined with theirs. If I had to compare her to an existing character in the DC canon, I’d say Wonder Woman due to her super human abilities and her being royalty.

THE ART

The art is also good, definitely better than what I can do. However, a complaint I do have is that the characters feel stiff and rigid. It might be the art style, but something felt off at times, mainly with the posing. Again, it’s still better than what I can do, but I feel like it could have been better. I did like how the backgrounds were vibrant and you could tell where the characters were just from a look, and the art is more detailed in general compared to other young reader graphic novels DC has been putting out. Art is pretty subjective, so I’m not going to go into this too much and a lot of these are my own opinions.

The art has come into debate as well, though not for the reasons I mentioned above. When previews for the first book started to be released, a lot of people were critical toward Candace and Damian, particularly toward their skin color. In the preview images, Candace was shown to have a blue-ish-gray tint (you can probably see why this didn’t go over well) and Damian was shown to be paler than Jon (Damian is shown in the original DC canon to be half Arabic and even though he was sometimes shown to have pale skin like Bruce’s, he was also shown to have a tanner complexion due to his mother’s side. Most fan interpretations as a result more often than not have him with tanned skin). After fan outcry, this was fixed with Candace getting a more natural skin tone and Damian’s being brought down to a darker shade than Jon’s. With Damian’s it’s more apparent in the second and third books since in the first one I did notices there were a few panels where his skin tone would be lighter than in others which makes me wonder if it was a last-minute recolor for the first book’s release.

FINAL THOUGHTS

All in all, I’d say it’s okay. It’s not great, it’s not bad; just okay. I honestly think that if Pearson and Gonzalez hadn’t been given a page limit then it could have been better since the pacing wouldn’t be as big of an issue and they would have been able to get through all of the mini arcs they had set up. They obviously wanted to tell a bigger story but were only given so much room to work with.

It’s obviously not for everyone, and it’s definitely not the Super Sons people like me have grown up with, but that’s okay. Some of the kids I used to babysit who fall into the range of “I’ve never really read DC comics and only ever saw a cartoon episode on TV” read these books too and they liked it. Same thing for the few kids who did have prior experience with the Super Sons. What dragged them in was the climate crisis and (for the ones who read them after the world went into a lockdown) the fact the characters were trying to find a cure for a virus that was similar to the flu. Yeah, and these were written way before 2020, so that’s actually an achievement on Pearson’s part.

You don’t have to like them; heck, I didn’t really have any interest in them because of the backlash from people like me until my friends started asking me to make this review. But maybe give them a chance. Find a kid in your family or friend group and see if they’d be interested, maybe you can read it together once the craziness of the last year’s calmed down.

#super sons #robin #batkid #superboy #damian wayne #jon kent #ridley pearson #ile gonzalez #review #book review #amateur review

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ljones41 · 5 years ago

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"OCTOPUSSY" (1983) Review

"OCTOPUSSY" (1983) Review While perusing some of the Bond forums, I have noticed that 1983’s ”OCTOPUSSY” is not highly regarded by many fans. Personally, I have always found this hard to understand or accept, considering that the movie has been one of my favorite entries in the Bond franchise for years. But after watching it recently . . . I still do not agree with its low standing among the fans.

”OCTOPUSSY”’s pre-title sequence is merely a little teaser about Bond’s attempt to sabotage a missile system in the Banana Republic (aka Cuba). It was light, humorous and filled with plenty of solid action. I particularly enjoyed the fact that what started out as failure on Bond’s part after he found himself captured by enemy soldiers, ended up as a success partially through the actions of the enemy, when they attempt to shoot down the Acrostar Mini-Jet he used for a quick escape. Although entertaining, the pre-title sequence has nothing to do with the main story, which involves a power-hungry Soviet general, a mysterious and beautiful smuggler/circus owner and a duplicitous Afghan prince. Written by George MacDonald Fraser, Richard Maibaum, and Michael G. Wilson, ”OCTOPUSSY” starts out in East Germany with 009 dressed as a clown and being pursued by a knife-wielding villain. The villain turns out to be a pair of twins (Mischska and Grischska) who want something that 009 has – namely a fake Faberge egg called Property of a Lady. One of the twins manages to fatally wound 009 with a knife. But before he can die, the British agent manages to reach the local British embassy and deliver the egg in dramatic fashion. James Bond is assigned to investigate his colleague’s death. The investigation leads to an auction at Christie’s where the real Property of a Lady egg is being sold . . . and Bond’s first meeting with the villainous Kamal Khan, his henchmen Gobinda and the lovely Madga. Bond’s investigations lead him to India, where he makes his acquaintance with Kamal Khan for the second time. He survives several attempts on his life and incarceration at Khan’s Monsoon Palace and eventually meet the mysterious Octopussy, who turns out to be the daughter of a former rogue agent whom Bond had met years ago. Bond’s encounters with Octopussy and Khan provides him with clues that lead back to East Germany and Soviet General Orlov and Khan’s plot to detonate a nuclear bomb on a U.S. Air Force base in West Germany. Fortunately, Bond (with Octopussy’s help) foils Orlov and Khan’s plans. Roger Moore returned for the sixth time as British agent James Bond. At age 55 during the film’s production, he struck many Bond fans as too old to be portraying the super spy. Personally, I had no problems with Moore’s age around this time. He still looked handsome and healthy enough to star in the action-packed spy thriller. And he portrayed Bond with a world-weariness and style that seemed to befit his age. Even better, he managed to retain some of that gritty toughness that he utilized so effectively in his previous outing, ”FOR YOUR EYES ONLY” . . . and retained his sense of humor at the same. Speaking of that humor, I usually have nothing against Moore’s humorous style (unlike many fans and critics). But I can think of four occasions when even I found it a bit too much: -Chase sequence in Udaipur with street performers -Bond focusing short circuit camera on Indian operative’s cleavage -The Tarzan yell during Bond’s escape from Khan’s Monsoon Palace -Bond using fake crocodile submarine to sneak into Octopussy’s estate Despite the extreme silliness listed above, I still found Moore’s performance satisfactory. I enjoyed his sense of humor during his encounters with the West German citizenry, while trying to stop Orlov and Khan’s bomb. And I admired his dramatic skills in scenes featuring the discovery of Vijay’s body and his romantic scene with Octopussy. But I was especially impressed by his acting in the scene that featured Bond’s only encounter with General Orlov. Maud Adams returned to appear in her second Bond film, this time portraying the leading female character – smuggler/circus owner, Octopussy. I cannot honestly say I would consider Adams to be among the best actresses that appeared in the Bond franchise. The nine years between ”THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN” (in which she portrayed the villain’s doomed mistress) and ”OCTOPUSSY” seemed to have shown no real improvement in her acting skills. But she seemed competent enough to carry the role. And her looks and screen presence certainly helped. The secondary female lead – Kristina Weyborn – portrayed Madga, Octopussy’s right-hand woman and personal liaison to Kamal Khan. Like Adams, Weyborn is a tall Swedish-born beauty with limited acting skills. And like the leading lady, she possessed enough looks and presence to carry her role. Although I do wish that someone had given her more lessons in performing martial arts on screen. French actor Louis Jordan portrayed Kamal Khan, an exiled Afghan prince who desire for a piece of the Imperial Russian treasure leads him to take part in General Orlov's plot to bomb a U.S. Air Force base and change the political landscape of Western Europe. Khan serves as the liaison between Orlov and Octopussy, who traveling circus/smuggling operation allows the two men to smuggle a nuclear bomb into West Germany. Like Yaphet Kotto and Christopher Lee before him, Jordan seems to be a doppleganger of Moore's James Bond - smooth, suave and very deadly. One scene in particular - Bond and Khan's game of dice at an Udaipur hotel - reflects the mirror image of the two men in a very effective manner. Not only did Jordan perfectly portray Kamal Khan's smooth style and sophistication, he did an excellent job of reflecting the Afghan prince's darker nature - especially his cold-blooded tendency to betray anyone who stood between him and self-preservation. Including Octopussy and his men. "OCTOPUSSY"'s cast of minor villains include Steven Berkhoff as the bombastic General Orlov, whose desire for completely Communist Europe and a higher position in the Soviet hierarchy sets off the movie's plot. Although I found his scenes with Moore, Jordan and Adams effective and subtle, Berkhoff unfortunately revealed a tendency toward hammy acting in a scene that feature a meeting between the Soviet premier and several generals - including Gogol. And when I mean hammy, I mean . . . ham served with eggs. Indian actor Kabir Bedi portrayed Khan's right-hand man, the silent and intimidating Gobinda. One of the Bond sites - "MI-6" Forum - stated the following about the character: "Kamal Khan's faithful bodyguard, big and tough but none too bright.". I do not know if I agree with that assessment. On second thought . . . I do not agree. Gobinda's flaw may have been that he was too devoted and loyal to Khan - after all, he actually obeyed the Afghan prince's order that he climb out of a plane in mid-flight and kill Bond. But less than bright? No, I do not agree. Gobinda struck me as a very observant and intelligent man. And the very handsome Bedi portrayed the henchman with a nice balance of intelligence and menace. In fact, Gobinda happens to be one of my favorite henchmen. Actors David Meyer and Anthony Meyer portray the knife-throwing assassins who killed 009, Mischka and Grischska. They did not say much in the movie, but both did a nice job of projecting competent and menacing killers. With the death of Bernard Lee in 1980, the character of M did not appear in "FOR YOUR EYES ONLY". The character returned in the form of actor Robert Brown, who began the first of his four movie run as the head of MI-6 in "OCTOPUSSY". Brown portrayed M with authority, but very little imagination. Personally, I think he was simply too young to be portraying an authority figure against Roger Moore, who was six years younger. Not until Timothy Dalton's tenure will Brown show that along with Lee and Judi Dench, he could also be an interesting M. Lois Maxwell returned as Moneypenny in one of the most amusing Bond-Moneypenny scenes in the franchise. The scene involved a 'Miss Penelope Smallbone' and Moore and Maxwell managed to inject a lot of humor and charm into the scene, as befitting two old friends. Desmond Llewellyn had once stated that "LICENSE TO KILL" was his favorite Bond film. Which does not seem surprising, since he had a strong role in it. But he also had a strong role in "OCTOPUSSY" and I could tell that he had enjoyed himself. Especially in the scene that featured his rescue of Madga and some of Octopussy's other followers. It seemed too bad that Q's embellished role in this movie seemed just as unecessary as his embellished role in "LICENSE TO KILL". General Gogol returned in the form of Walter Gotell. And he portrayed the Soviet KGB general with his usual competence. Tennis star, Vijay Amritraj made his screen debut as Indian intelligence agent . . . Vijay. Okay this is not exactly an example of original casting, but what the hell? He did a pretty good job, anyway. And he was rather charming. "OCTOPUSSY" marked John Glen's second time in the director chair. And like "FOR YOUR EYES", he did an admirable job. I have to give the man kudos for once again, bringing a touch of realistic grit in Moore's portrayal of Bond and in the franchise. Although I do feel that he made a misstep in allowing those silly moments I had earlier mentioned, in the movie. But I do wonder who had included those ridiculous little scenes? Was it Glen? Moore? Or were the screenwriters - Fraser, Maibum and Wilson - responsible? If the writers were responsible, it was a misstep on their parts. Otherwise, they created an admirable script. One of the scenes highly criticized by critics was the sight of Bond disguised as a clown to infiltrate the circus where the bomb was located. I never understood their criticism of this disguise. Perhaps they disliked the idea of James Bond dressed as a clown. If so, I find their attitude extremely shallow . . . and rather stupid. Also, I wonder why George MacDonald Fraser had been included in this project? Was it because he was a British Army veteran who had served in India? Or that he had incorporated his experiences in India in his Harry Flashman novels? I do not know what to admire more - the screenwriters' creation of the villains' objectives and Bond's efforts to stop the bomb, or Glen's direction of those scenes. Perhaps both. I wish I could say that I enjoyed the movie's theme song, "All Time High", which was sung by Rita Coolidge. But in the end, it simply bored me. However, I did enjoy John Barry's lush and exciting score. And I must commend cinematographer, Alan Hume, for the film's photography. His shots of India and the English countryside (serving as East and West Germany) made "OCTOPUSSY" one of the most colorful entries in the Bond franchise. Despite the low opinion held by many Bond fans, "OCTOPUSSY" remains one of my favorite Bond films. In fact, I consider it to be Moore's second best film (despite a few stupid jokes) and the franchise's sixth best. I give it . . . 8/10.

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stranger-who-writes-fiction · 5 years ago

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Everything Awesome about COIE Hour 3

MANY THINGS OCCURRED!

This one is Long, guys.

Also a more accurate title would be Everything Awesome and some Less So about COIE Hour 3

But I wanted the posts to match, so.

So I never watched Birds of Prey because I never knew it EXISTED when it was on, but as a fan of the Birds of Prey team in general, and the characters Huntress and Oracle...not gonna lie, t’was sad to hear Helena desperately calling out to Barbara before they were destroyed by the anti-matter wave. So I give that cameo a thumbs up.

How is it only just NOW occurring to me that the Waverider (Wave Rider?) is serving the same function as the Monitor’s Satellite from the comics????

J’onn!!!! I’m so glad he’s here! Bearing news about the supporting cast of Supergirl! And the entirety of Earth-38!

So glad that they’re alive! And safe! And not dead! And that they are sure to remain that way, for the rest of the crossover! XD

And then J’ONN IS THE PARAGON OF HONOR!

It’s what he deserves.

And then like four different subplots are set up in short order: They gotta to to Purgatory to get Oliver’s soul; they gotta get Ryan Choi; they gotta go to the cave where the Anti-Monitor was hanging out until fairly recently; Kara’s gotta be talked out of using the Book of Destiny.

It’s...a lot.

Also Vibe is back!

“Maybe you didn’t hear me under those voluminous mutton chops of yours--!”

Another nice Iris/Barry scene, BUT, for my money, it’s the second one, later in the episode, that really tugs at them there heartstrings.

All the Pariah stuff is as accurate as the Arrowverse could possibly MAKE a Pariah. Good, solid, good.

Then the British Fellows Ham it Up for a few minutes, before The Soul Searching group goes to Lian Yu, because of COURSE it’s Lian Yu, as if Oliver would allow his soul to languish anywhere else.

Then we’re back in the Anti-Monitor’s room domain and COSMIC TREADMILL! AW YIISSSSSS

All of the good treadmill jokes have been made already so I’ll just move on.

This is very comic-y! The Anti-Monitor used Barry to power his Anti-Matter ray in the comic, and he ultimately destroyed it as well, dying in the process.

HERE, we discover that when Earth-90 Barry vanished last year, he was captured by the Anti-Monitor, and then CONDEMNED TO A FATE WORSE THAN DEATH; HE WAS TO RUN, FOREVER, ON A TREADMILL.

(...Pretty sure that joke was made on the after show, but I couldn’t help it. IT WAS RIGHT THERE.)

So they bust Earth-90 Barry out with the help of Jefferson!!!!

I love that he’s got his line in there, the, ‘whose life is this’ line. Good, yes, good.

(Listen: there is no greater proof that the Arrowverse will go back to some version of the multiverse model, than Jefferson’s inclusion here.)

I’m getting a little ahead of myself...BACK TO THE OTHER SUBPLOTS!

Ryan Choi is great! I don’t keep up with Legends, but it’d be cool if he stuck around, since Ray is leaving.

ALSO GREAT???? Routh Supes’ explanation of the black shield. ‘Hope cuts through the darkness.’

(And the Superman theeeeeeeme I never tire of hearing it)

There’s some Kate and Kara stuff here but I wanna cover that later so FIRST...

The Oliver reunion on Lian Yu happened way too fast! But then, many things happened way too fast! But this one REALLY FELT WAY TOO FAST.

Like: He’s ready to kill us! But no? YAY, OLIVER IS COMING BACK! But No? Wait, he’s Spectre now????

But also...SPECTRE!!!!!!

Spectre is the deus ex machina of the Crisis comic, so it’s fitting that he’s just. A sudden thing that pops up out of LITERAL NOWHERE and is apparently vital.

So I guess Oliver’s final form ISN’T Team Dad, it’s Mysictal Green Hooded Guy.

(Man we should have seen this coming.)

(I like that Oliver is Spectre, just to be clear.)

Iris’ pep talk with Ryan was lovely.

(And then there’s the moment I mentioned earlier, where Barry’s like, ‘I might die’ and Iris is like, ‘I don’t want to go, I want to be with you.’)

(I will admit...that part got me a little.)

HEY FLASH FANS, HOW DO WE FEEL ABOUT THE FACT THAT LITERAL YEARS OF TEASING LED UP TO A BAIT AND SWITCH, HUH????

I honestly don’t know if I’m impressed or annoyed by this cop-out.

I will give them props for the inclusion of the original Flash show footage, that was very nice.

(And I say that as someone who has but a passing familiarity with the original TV show.)

The disintegration effect, as well as the Flash emblem being the only thing left, are really great direct homages to art from the comic.

I’m gonna talk more about this part LATER so let’s jump back toooooo....

Oh! The Barry and Jefferson scene!

It was so niiiiiice.

Very emotional, and a nice bonding moment, and this bit:

“I don’t think Henry and Alvin raised quitters, so we should rage against the dying of the light.”

FEEEEEEEEELIIINNNGSSSSS

Another Kate and Kara bit, which again, I wanna get into in a minute, BUT, before we do, I will say that: this buddy dynamic is very nice, but it takes the place of the Kara and Alex stuff from crossovers past, which I might have been okay with...if not for the severe LACK of Danvers Sisters content in the SG season proper.

Here’s hoping 5B gives us...something.

(Also I know it’s very much because Kate is like, the lead of one of the five main shows being crossed over so obviously they’re teaming up instead of Alex and Kara hanging out but I just. Love the Danvers Sisters, okay?)

(Related side note: Really glad this crossover isn’t so focused on romantic pairings! It’s a nice change of pace! I mean we’ve got Iris and Barry obviously, as well as Lois and Clark but I’m just recalling the Double Wedding nonsense of Earth-X and...*shudder*)

(This is an improvement, IMO.)

OKAY OKAY HARBINGER’S BACK HERE WE GOOOOOOOOO

MIND CONTROL! BETRAYAL! DEATH! THE DESTRUCTION OF THE ENTIRE MULTIVERSE!

And crashing on this Vanishing Point because technically we’re HooOOooOOomeless!

Aw man I was so sad to see Routh Supes go...and be replaced by LEX, ugh.

(But it’s very Lex, so.)

And Kara’s desperate, ‘Kal, Kal! What do I do?’

OKAY so I kinda wanna talk about the Kara stuff, the Barry stuff, and the Kate and Kara stuff.

This crossover does some interesting things, re-contextualizing the two ‘Big Deaths’ from Crisis.

In the comic, both Kara and Barry die, and their deaths are kind of like...thesis statements, on their brand of heroism.

They’re willing to give up everything--even their very LIFE--to ensure the safety and survival of others.

And both are treated as kind of remarkable things, even among their peers, who are other, selfless superheroes.

Which is WHY...the Barry thing is kind of...a massive let down.

In the after show, Marc Guggenheim talked about how they could have their cake, and eat it too, because Barry was ready to give up his life, but was denied the opportunity.

And...I get that logic, but man, they spent all of season 6A dragging out that ol Barry-Dies-Angst.

And last season too! The WHOLE SEASON LONG PLOT with Nora was centered on Barry’s disappearance during Crisis and thus, her growing up without him and now...

That’s all just out the door? Because a different Barry decided to take his place? AN ELEVENTH HOUR LOOPHOLE?

It’s so audacious...that’s why I’m also kind of impressed, as well as annoyed.

And they don’t quite do the same thing with Kara, since they haven’t so much as TEASED anything resembling her comic death--I kind of assumed they might with the Book of Destiny stuff, but she didn’t even open the thing.

(And ultimately this is GOOD because if they’d done something similar to Barry--a last minute bait and switch--HOO BOY. There would have been...WORDS. OF STERN DISAPPOINTMENT.)

Instead, the crossover frames living as the more heroic option, because these heroes are Paragons, and thus are needed for some...other purpose, put in motion by the Monitor.

So if they die, they’re actually DOOMING the multiverse.

As mentioned! It’s kind of an interesting inversion, and until we know being a Paragon fully entails--it is difficult to say if it’s a positive or negative change!

(Still love that Kara and J’onn are Paragons, tho, cause they’re my Favs.)

OKAY so that’s the Kara and the Barry stuff. NOW, for the Kate and Kara stuff!

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE KRYPTONITE, MY DUDES.

Yeah, you thought we were DONE talking about Supergirl-specific plot lines...BUT THINK AGAIN!

LET’S TALK ABOUT HOOOOOWWWWW Kate was gonna use that Kryptonite...BUT DECIDED NOT TO, AND THEN WILLINGLY HANDED IT OVER TO KARA because she knew that 1.) SHE WOULDN’T NEED IT and 2.) Kara deserved to have the deadly poison THAT IS ONLY POISONOUS TO HER AND HER SINGLE SURVIVING BLOOD RELATIVE to decide how to dispose of it.

AND THEN...Kara tells Kate to keep it, and I thought, for one HORRIFYING MOMENT, that Kara would insist that she might someday NEED it, should Kara ever go rogue, thus VINDICATING every stupid pro-Kryptonite debate ever BUT...

NO! Instead she’s like, ‘I know you won’t use it!’

And folks.

Folks.

If nothing else. If nothing else. Please. PLEASE. Let this fun week of death and destruction be a learning moment for Kara, that she both HAS and DESERVES better friends, than a woman who casually subjected her to Kryptonite to further her own ends.

PLEASE, SHOW, PLEASE.

Anyway! That’s hour three! And now we have to wait an ENTIRE MONTH to see how this plays out! XD

#stranger speaks #COIE spoilers #crisis on infinite earths spoilers #long post #DCTV #SG post

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ruffiorocks · 6 years ago

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Why does Kara have to have a love interest at all?

Soo apparently there's rumour of a new male reporter joining the Supergirl cast, or its fact? Where do people hear these things ???

But anyways...... I'm already seeing people talking about how he may be Kara's new love interest, about how people won't be happy and are already accusing the Supercorp fandom of future bullying that hasn't happened yet over a rumour!!

This seems to be a controversial opinion but I still don't understand why it is such a necessity for Kara to be in a relationship at all! Now I'm not saying this as 'ooh feminism! She doesn't need no man!!' I'm saying this as someone who doesn't see a relationship as something that defines another person. Last season had no romance for Kara and the season worked just fine.

Now I'm going to discount the possibility of Supercorp becoming canon, DONT HATE ME! We all know I and my fellow shippers would love to see this happen but the reality is it most likely won't.

But I've seen some people suggest that Kara will go back to James! James?!! So..... Kara spends a season flirting with James, goes on one date with him, realises she doesn't want to date him and falls for someone else. James then dates Kara's best friend Lena who sought her permission to date James only to dump him, and now you want James to go back to Kara? So James just gets to flip back and forth between two best friends? Sorry but that's just gross! No not because it's James, it would be gross with anyone! You don't date someone, break up with them, give your blessing for your bestie to date them only to get back with them when your bestie and him break up! No!! God give me back Mon El or even GuardianCorp before that!!

But again, why does Kara have to be with someone? In fact why does any main character of a show have to be in a relationship so that the audience can see them as 'complete'? Kara is still in her 20s (forget how old she actually she is), she's focused on her career, she's fallen fully into her role as Supergirl, isnt that enough for now? No woman in her 20s is required to be in a relationship or to have found her soul mate!

It would be odd I think to have a new reporter be Kara's new love interest, isn't that just AGAIN using Supermans storyline and essentially giving Kara her own Lois Lane? Please no!

Nobody should be required to have a love interest, although Supergirl seems to think that everyone does. Kara has had male love interests since the first episode (save this last season, but it would have been to soon to give her another one right after Mon El left and unrealistic). James has had a love interest in Kara, Lucy and Lena. Winn wanted to get with Kara, then there was Siobhan and then Lyra. Alex flirted with Max, then we had Maggie, then the random party girl and now Kelly. Jonn had Meghan and even had a flirt going on with that senator. Nia has Brainy, Brainy has Nia, Mon El had Kara, then he had Imra/Kara. Lena had Jack then James.

I feel like the only main characters (good guys) who didn't have a love interest was Cat Grant and Sam!

Why does Kara or Lena or even James need love interests with each other or anyone else to make their stories complete?

I can see why they have Kara the main character have her love interests in the first season and i get why she was put with Mon El in the second, but to give her another one as soon as the last one fails? That gets old and boring.

Lena? Lena was a shining example of a strong, independent, buisness woman holding her own in a man's world that didnt need no man or woman! I liked Jack, but he was the ex boyfriend and was only there for one episode. I actually thought she had some good chemistry with Jack, more than she did with James the entire time they were together. It felt like they didn't know what to do with James so they just thought "Lena's interesting and popular and single, let's put them together!"

Alex is different to me, Alex had her coming out story and is the LGBT representation (besides Nia), it feels like it's good to have her in a relationship otherwise it's just saying she's gay and then not doing anything with that. But if they kept breaking Alex up with her partners and immediately kept throwing new ones at her that it becomes the same boring crap that Kara will have been put through, especially if the new guy is her latest interest.

Anyway, Im honestly on Team Let Kara be Happy, but that doesn't mean that that has to include any endgame for her at all. Bloody hell she's not even 30 and she has to have an end game? I get that people get married long before this and even Mel herself has been married and is engaged again, but I don't think that someone has got to have found their soul mate by a certain age and id like to see a show where the hero doesn't have to be constantly looking for love or being shown to be incomplete or unfullfilled because she hasn't found a man! (Or a woman).

#supergirl #lena luthor #kara danvers #alex danvers #supercorp #anti james olsen #jonn jonzz #mon el

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introvertguide · 6 years ago

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How to Support Your Lead Actors 101: A Lesson from the Supporting Cast of The Last Picture Show

SPOILER ALERT! I don’t know if this is even necessary, but I got some harsh words about ruining something so I am throwing this in just in case.

The first time that I saw The Last Picture Show (1971), I was not a fan. I thought it seemed liked a midnight movie because it was a bunch of teens in a small town living out their senior year with goals like losing their virginity. I thought it was a coming of age “boner comedy” along the lines of Porky’s, Private School, or American Pie. Just a bunch of unrealistic situations that are used to get nudity in the movie. The mistake for me was that I was watching the lead characters of Sonny Crawford (Timothy Bottoms) and Jacy Farrow (Cybill Shepherd). Sonny was such a pushover non-entity and Jacy was a callous harpy who used her appearance to get what she wanted. So why do I enjoy it now? What happened? That answer is simple: it is not the leads that make this movie great, but the massive supporting cast.

I cannot say more than opinion as to the acting ability of Timothy Bottoms and Cybill Shepherd, but, for me, they did nothing to stand out in their respective roles in this film (they were the only main actors not nominated for an Oscar). I forgot that Sonny was the lead and Duane was his buddy since I saw the film last, he leaves so little of an impression on me. What makes the movie are the adults around the character of Sonny that try to guide him and he is just too dumb to listen. He is impressed by these adults, he hears what they say, he knows he should take their advice...but he does that mid adolescent thing of just doing whatever he wants anyway.

There are three characters that made this movie for me and I want to go through each role and acknowledge what a strong part the actors played in the film:

Cloris Leachman as Ruth Popper: This was the role of a down trodden woman in her 40s that was in a loveless and sexless marriage with a closeted gay man. She is not the prettiest woman in town now, nor was she in her youth and she considered herself lucky to get any kind of husband at all. She has an affair with Sonny and for once she is the focal point of lusting from a young man, something that she might never have been in her life. He eventually stops seeing her and gets tangled up with Jacy Farrow, but he is eventually dumped and he goes back to see Ruth for consoling. She hates him for what he did, the only light of hope for her life of depressing loneliness, and he just decided to stop calling on her to chase after some pretty face that had no interest in him. Sonny is so mean and so stupid, but Ruth realizes that he is just like a puppy and doesn’t realize what he has done. She forgives him because he knows not the pain he causes. Leachman plays the part of the woman scorned who never did anything wrong except be born and stay in a dying town. She picked the wrong man and lived a wasted life. Cloris Leachman won the best supporting actress award for her part and she defined the idea of “supporting” the lead as well as I have ever seen...her best competition being these next two actors.

Ellen Burstyn as Lois Farrow: The actress was actually given the choice of characters and she chose this one as the most interesting. Ironically, she lost the Best Supporting Actress to the actress who ended up playing Ruth Popper, the same way the character thinks she is getting the best situation available and still ends up falling short. Lois Farrow was the best looking girl in town in her generation and she now watches as her daughter uses that same power to wreak havoc on the local boys. Lois knows what it is like to play with the emotions of others and turn everyone against each other. She knows what her daughter is (basically a succubus) and what kind of carnage will be left behind, and Lois feels regret. She did the same things without caring about the suffering of others and now she sees these nice boys being hurt. She also suffered the death of the one good man that actually understood her and that she loved. She left him behind for some modicum of wealth and the promise of an easy life and always regretted it. Burstyn does such a great job playing a woman with such mixed motivations: she hates the town and wants it to disappear (although she is in it so that would hurt her as well), she wants her daughter to run over men for vengeance against all the men that have hurt her (although she regrets that the good men in both of their lives are the ones that seem to get hurt most of all), and she is bored and wants something interesting to happen (although all the things that happen seem to negatively affect her). What a confused and wonderful character.

Ben Johnson as Sam the Lion: To me, this is far and away the best character and actor in the film. Not even close. This is the man that owns most of the businesses in town and watches over the kids to keep them out of trouble. He is the most valuable asset in the entire town. He has spent his whole life there and has learned from watching the residents. He is almost like the omniscient narrator of the story. He is the understanding father figure that all of the kids (heck, all of the adults) need. He is the Atticus Finch of this story and Ben Johnson, the veteran actor since the 40s, is perfect for the part. He is the cool grizzled cowboy that has seen a lot of things and passes on his wisdom to the next generation (both as a character and as an actor). Ben Johnson won the Best Supporting Actor award that year and he earned it.

There is the old acting saying that “there are no small parts, only small actors.” This is the case of highly experienced, talented, professional actors taking roles with fewer lines and screen time for the sake of being in a good movie. Admittedly, they all had a scene in which they were given a chance to shine (Leachman and the coffee scene, Burstyn and the drive home, and Johnson by the lake), but all three took their chance and it made the movie.

Takeaway from all this, I was wrong about the movie and I am glad I gave it a 2nd, 3rd, and 4th chance. I was watching the lead characters when I should have been watching what was going on around them. I don’t know how connected these things are, but I did not like the movie when I was closer to the age of the main characters and today I love the movie now that I am closer to the age of the supporting actors. I get what it is like to watch children blindly make the same mistakes that you did and there is really nothing you can do about it. Bravo to these actors for bravely portraying a quintessential “has-been” right at the age when that is a great concern.

#middle age #ben johnson #cloris leachman #ellen burstyn #the last picture show #development #supporting actors #sam the lion #ruth popper #introvert

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kierantc-blog · 7 years ago

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DC Rebirth In Review - The Superman Family

So with Doomsday Clock just around the corner, we got news from NYCC that the branding of Rebirth will be coming to an end this December and that they are bringing back the corner box with hero symbols underneath them. And with the ushering in of a new stage in DC Comics, i thought i would take time to look back at how DC actually done with the initiative with small reviews for each comic.

First of all, i’m going to talk about the Superman family of titles.

Superman - Superman is DC Rebirth’s great success story and the best series of the entire roster. Tomasi and Gleason team up again after their success on Batman & Robin and bring back the Man Of Steel to the prominence he deserves. Tomasi had previously brought the story of the New 52 Superman to an end in Final Days Of Superman and now he and Gleason bring back the pre-Flashpoint Superman to the fore, along with the much missed marriage to Lois Lane and their young son Jon. Stories range from the lovable family dynamic the Kent family has with visits to the county fair and a road trip to American historical landmarks, to a fantastical story featuring all the Supermen of the Multiverse as well as the hard hitting ones that include villains trying to murder Jon and another that wants to manipulate him into killing Clark. The artwork of the series is handled by co-writer Patrick Gleason as well as Jorge Jimenez and Doug Mahnke and while they all have differing styles, their ability to work on story arcs in the same manner as Finch and Janin on Batman means that the artwork is solid throughout each story and wonderful to boot. If you love the old Superman you will love this book, if you love the New 52 Superman you also won’t be disappointed but i won’t spoil the reason why, all i can say is: SUPERMAN REBORN BABY. This is by far the best book at DC right now and the future for the Man Of Steel has never looked brighter. - 10/10

Action Comics - The Superman book lacked somewhat in the New 52 but Action Comics was fairly strong throughout. The Rebirth book keeps up that run, with strong art work and interesting story telling from Superman veteran Dan Jurgens. Whether it’s the intrigue of Mr Oz, “Clark Kent” or Lex Luthor as a hero, the Action Comics series has found a way of putting the action into the Superman family and including Lois and Jon too. - 9/10

Supergirl - Taking some cues from the popular CW TV show, the comic takes place in National City and places a newly re-powered Kara Zor-El in the care of the D.E.O as part of an arrangement she made with them to get her powers back. She also finds herself living with two active agents Jeremiah and Eliza Danvers as well as going to school in National City, when a chance at working as an intern at Cat Grant’s media empire comes up. Pretty similar to the show i’d say but Steve Orlando does make changes based on Kara’s comic book situation. Most telling is that Kara isn’t as happy as she is on TV, she is in fact struggling massively to adapt to Earth. The story with her father the Cyborg Superman tackles it head on and it shows a level of emotion for Kara that we haven’t seen in some time. The artwork from Brian Ching for the majority of the series isn’t as good as you would find in other monthly books but with new artist Robson Rocha providing more palatable artwork, the series is on the up. If you love the TV show you will highly enjoy this comic, i know i do. - 8/10

Super Sons - Originally suppose to launch at the start of Rebirth, the highly anticipated Super Sons was delayed until the second wave earlier this year....and the wait was very worth it. On writing duties is Peter Tomasi, who holds the unique position in DC of being only one of two people who have previously written for both Damian Wayne (New 52 Batman & Robin) and Jon Kent (Superman Rebirth) and that experience shines through in this excellent series. The comic itself sees Robin drag a reluctant Superboy onto a case to try and get him ready for the life of a superhero. The boys are like chalk and cheese, a bit like their fathers in that way and the parallels are clear, but eventually they learn to work with each other in a way that doesn’t seem to compromise them as characters. As they are both kids still, Tomasi does allow for them to be childish and naive but not in a way that makes the book silly. Coupled with Jorge Jimenez’s fun style of artwork, Super Sons is one to watch and will hopefully be with us long enough to see these boys evolve. - 9/10

Superwoman - Originally written and drawn by Phil Jimenez, Superwoman follows Lana Lang as she learns to harness the powers she received from the dead New 52 Superman as the heroine Superwoman. One of the better parts of the New 52 Action Comics series was the evolution of Lana Lang as more than just Clark’s childhood sweetheart and into a bad ass in her own right. as well as her romance with John Henry Irons AKA Steel. This book expands on that with both Lana and John living together and trying to work out her role as a superhero together while also investigating the death of the New 52 Lois Lane at the hands of a Bizarro-like Superwoman clone. The story is well plotted and drawn but without the star power of a bigger hero as well as the purposeful down playing of Lana’s abilities you will often feel like Jimenez doesn’t really allow her to go full on hero. It’s a good read but for a hero with the name Superwoman i just wanted more. - 7/10

New Super-Man - This book is probably the most underrated of the entire DC line up right now, it’s simply fantastic. The writing by former Superman writer Gene Yang is simply wonderful. It’s funny, action packed and full of drama but the best part of the writing is how he connects ancient Chinese teachings of I-Ching to the New Super-Man’s power set. If he channels his energies through his body correctly he will unlock a classic Superman power, such as his fists activating super strength. The cast is wonderful too and subverts the traditional Justice League in many ways, Super-Man himself is arrogant and a bit of a bully (although he changes over the course of the book) and Bat-Man of China is a rather meek man. The artwork by Viktor Bogdanovic and Billy Tan give the series a wonderful aesthetic and brings the series to life. If you’re not reading this comic you are missing out. - 10/10

Conclusions

The entire Superman line in New 52 struggled. The main Superman book went through too many creative teams but one of the biggest complaints people had was how Superman was too “edgy” and moody. Coupled with a lacklustre relationship with Wonder Woman, it was feared that Superman would struggle to return to prominence.

But then Convergence happened, and thank fuck it did because they gave us a door into the past and brought back the old Clark and Lois. The Superman family of titles has had the most success in Rebirth because the writing and art teams have been really good but also because they’ve brought back what works for these characters while looking forward too.

Clark and Lois aren’t the only benefactors however, new characters like Kenan the New Super-Man and new ideas like the Lex Luthor Superman have changed the scope of the Superman world forever, and for the better too.

Thanks for reading!

Next up: the Bat Family!

#Superman #Action Comics #Supergirl #Super Sons #Damian Wayne #Jon Kent #Superboy #Robin #Superwoman #Steel #New Super-Man #Lex Luthor #DC Comics #DC Rebirth #Comics Books

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nightwingism · 7 years ago

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New Comic Book Day!

October 11, 2017

Trying something new here, and i’m gonna start reviewing comics that I pick up at my local comic store, which may or not be Nightwing related. I figured this is something different, gives me something to do, and I just think it’d be fun. But enough about the why, let’s get into the comics!

Spoiler Alert

1. Action Comics #989

Part three of the Oz Effect! I figure this is gonna be weird starting a review right in the middle of so many comics, but recapping is a real thing. Anyways, this comic kept the action flowing, not so much of a one-on-one dialogue anymore, and we get to see Jor-El in action! The ending was a giant cliff-hanger and I can’t tell if they are supposed to be the LoSH or not. But this interaction between Jor-El and Jon, heck even with Lois are remarkable, and is something I never knew I wanted to see in a comic until now. Though, thus far this story-arc has been very dialogue heavy, and not very action packed. This biggest reveal isn't even the fact that Oz was Jor-El, but the fact that Oz wasn’t Ozymandias, which in retrospect was a little far-fetched and too on the nose. Anyways, I’m excited for the next issue, and excited for the ramifications of this story.

2. Wonder Woman #32

Part two of the Children of the Gods! The previous issue was mainly from Hercules point of view, serving as the primary narrator of the story, and of his death. This time around, Wonder Woman was front and center. I wasn’t expecting too much from his comic to be honest, ever since Rucka left my excitement has dwindled. But Robinson isn’t a bad writer, and I trust the guy to do these comics well. Jason was revealed at the end of the issue, which i was actually very surprised of, and I thought he was gonna be saved till later. But he’s here, very cut like David’s Michelangelo’s. I’m curious to see how his story unfolds, and what kind of role he’ll play in the future of Wonder Woman comics, if he survives this story that is.

3. Mister Miracle #3

This was probably my most excited new comic that came out this week. If you do not know, I love Tom King’s writing. It’s a slow burn type of writing that excels in large overarching stories, like a novel. The way this story is unfolding is getting me excited. Because you KNOW there is something more going on in the story than what is stated. The way it started, how quickly things went downhill, the way the characters talk to each other. Conspiracy theory is that whatever pills he took is actually making him hallucinate this whole thing. But I feel like that is too simple of an answer, and I feel like King will play into the Jesus = Mister Miracle symbolism, with Highfather = God and Darkseid = the Devil. The way Kirby intended it. I’ve also really enjoy the flow of the comic, with the action sequences and the more down-time. In this kind of comic, it’s strange, which plays perfectly with the outlandish nature of the Fourth World. I’m really excited for the next issue, and the rest of the series.

4. Detective Comics #966

Part two of A Lonely Place of Living! I honestly did not see this comic unraveling the way it did, and I’m actually really excited for it. It’s a mix of the Geoff Johns “Titans of Tomorrow” storyline with a Back to the Future kind of vibe. The reveal of “Who the hell is Conner” was so heartbreaking. I’ve wrote a dream pitch for how I’d bring Conner, and the rest of the Young Justice team, back into the mainstay DC Universe, and thus far, it can still go through. Future Tim plays into Present Tim’s thoughts, and addresses them how Tim would probably address himself. I love when time paradoxes play out in the “I know what you’re thinking, because I thought the same things when I was you listening to me.” way. It gives the audience the idea that time is a fixed predetermined path that can’t be wavered from. But we all know that not to be true. We know Present Tim will somehow find a way to beat himself, even though Past-Future Tim couldn’t beat Future Tim. That didn’t make sense. Oh well. I’ve enjoyed this story, and series really so far, and I’m glad Tynion is on this series, being the 90s fan he is, bringing in all those fascinating characters back into the fold, arguably the best time to be a Batman Fan.

5. Red Hood and the Outlaws #15

Part two of Bizarro Reborn! So I haven’t actually read the first part of this comic, with the last RHatO comic I read, besides the annual, was issue 11. So I’m behind. But I can extrapolate the idea that Bizarro came back due to Lex Luther, granting him super intelligence, much to the dismay of his teammates. But it seems to be a temporary thing. I don’t know why the Belfry team thought it was some kind of an attack, or why they are fighting Red Hood at all, but they are. I would have thought Bruce would have told everyone that Jason was on their side. But I just remembered that Jason has to work outside the family on a normal basis, to “infiltrate the bad guys” for Bruce. I think Jason is the last member of Batman Inc, which is very ironic. Artemis is in the story, still great chemistry with the team, and I still really like the idea of this Dark Trinity, it’s execution has been so awesome since day one, and I can’t believe I’m actually excited for the next issue.

6. Batgirls and the Birds of Prey #15

Part one of Manslaughter! Finally a comic that is just beginning it’s story arc. Whew. The Benson sisters have been doing a great job in this comic thus far, giving us great characterization for the main three, and most of their guest stars. This story serves as a “gathering of the troops” setup. We address the problem, identify it, and then gather some people to counter it. The problem is that there is some disease that can potentially kill all the men, which is something, as a man myself, find hilarious and fitting for this comic. Every character has their own reason for trying to fight the disease, with Dinah having Ollie, Babs having her Dad, Helena with Dick, Selina with Bruce, Harley with the Joker (so she can kill him herself), and Poison Ivy just because she wanted to (basically), the rest of the Gotham squad, which includes Batwoman, Spoiler, Orphan and Gotham Girl (whom I’m glad is getting screen time), and last but not least Wonder Woman herself. I think this story is going to be a fun girl-power story, and I’m curious to see who is behind this dastardly attack, and what their motive is.

7. Dark Knights: Metal #3

If Mister Miracle was my most excited story, this is my second. Metal and all of it’s tie ins have been such a treat. It’s a Batman centric story, without shoving in a Bat-God into our face. The threats are on the planetary level, and it’s gonna take everyone to save the world, even bringing in people who haven't been seen in comics in ages. Dick, Clark and Damian have a moment together, that is very in character for everyone, something I respect Snyder for doing so far. The subtly in this comic is mind boggling , how many hints were left behind in Snyder’s past comics, and just in the series alone. I don’t really care too much about the other Batmen though, and am only really curious about what the heck The Batman Who Laughs deal is. Snyder and Capullo are literal Rock-stars in this series, and I’m cheering for an encore -- which may come when this is all over.

8. The Amazing Spider-Man #789

The Fall of Parker! Spinning out from Marvel Legacy and Secret Empire is a more status quo Spider-Man, but with a twist. People love Spider-Man, as much as New Yorkers can, but hate Peter Parker. It’s an interesting twist on such a simple and main staple in the Spider-Man mythos. I’ve always been a fan of the “Down on his luck, penny to his name” Parker, who was street level but with the drive and passion for the big league. With the previous run, I felt like it was just Ironman with a Spider-Man costume on, but now this is some good old fashion comics. I like his relationship with Bobbi, and I think the two are cute together, but I hope Harry and MJ make their return to the supporting cast. The art is also phenomenal, but what can you expect when Stuart Immonen is providing. Even though there wasn’t much of a villain, or a story being told. It kind of seemed like a one-shot to me, with dangling threads that can be picked up later.

9. Daredevil #27

Part two of the Land of the Blind! Not get caught up with Marvel Legacy, Charles Soule continues his fantastic run of Daredevil. Last we saw, Matt was tracking down his once partner, once blinded and once friend, Blindspot. It was all a trap! This story serves as a “secret origins” of Blindspot, as we see his transition from the farm lifestyle in China, to moving to the city, to the United States. This story takes place over days, weeks, and we can see the passage of time from the look on Matt’s face, and his ever growing beard. I really like this twist, and that it was Charles himself to do the twist, and I’m very curious to know if this was his plan all along, or if it was just something he came up with in recent times. Whatever it is, the main thing I can say about this comic is that I love that the red costume is back, and the fact that Ron Garney is providing art. His style compliments the story of daredevil so well, I’d love to see him do a Nightwing book. I’m hoping that Charles continues this fantastic run when he makes the transition to the Legacy side of Marvel.

10. Runaways #2

When they announced that they were making a show about the runaways, I was very curious on many things. One of the things though, was not who the hell are the runaways. I actually read the original series, and I was up to the moon when they announced that this series was coming back. The story, thus far, has been very dialogue heavy, with action sequences being either in flashbacks or just not present. I don’t mind it too much, since they really have to explain a lot to all the new readers who are jumping on due to the announcement of the show, I just hope it picks up soon with the action, and it seems it will with the glowy cat eyes following Molly. And I was a little curious on why we didn’t get a shot of Molly’s grandma, maybe there is something up with that too. Whatever the case is, I’m enjoying this series so far, and hope the next issue fills the action void that I crave.

11. Defenders #6

Part One of Kingpins of New York! Technically this is part of Marvel Legacy, but it’s weird since Matt is still wearing his black suit, when he has already switched to the red one in his main series, which takes place before Daredevil legacy does. But this issue itself is really just the end of the previous arc, so it doesn’t really seem like the beginning of a new arc. I enjoyed the court scene, and the banter between Daredevil and Luke Cage, especially Luke’s comment that “he knows a thing or two about the law” to DD. I hope he reveals his identity to the team again soon, as I think it gives the team a much more grounded approach. Less flashy superheroes, and more of just street vigilantes. Men and women. I don’t really know why Black Cat is so heavily featured, when I feel like she doesn’t serve too much to the story, but she’s there. I just think BMB likes writing her ever since his Superior Spider-Man run. But that can be brushed aside with his characterization of the main team, something I look at with these team books. I like the idea of the Kingpin being a “Defenders” bad guy, with the addition to Spider-Man of course. Maybe in season 2 of the Defenders? Anyone? Anyone?

#Nightwingism reviews comics #nightwingism irl #Action Comics #Wonder Woman #Detective Comics #Mister Miracle #red hood and the outlaws #batgirl and the birds of prey #dark knight: metal #runaways #defenders #daredevil #the amazing spider-man

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dalekofchaos · 8 years ago

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What I’d change about the DCEU

My DCEU change list! However, I will not just be changing how the current movies change, Since this is my own version of the DCEU I will be putting the big individual movies before so it actually feels like world building instead of mashing everything together until they fit.

My other DC changes

Arkhamverse

Burtonverse Changes

Nolanverse Changes

DCTV Changes

Man Of Steel

Keep Krypton as it is, however, ensure that Lara-El actually shows emotion knowing that Jor-El has died and her only son has been sent away to a far away world as her own planet is about to die along with her

Keep the flashbacks similar, his mom helps him with controlling his abilities, but that’s how it starts, then we see Clark with the cape on, then saving the kids, then restraining himself and then the tornado(more on that later) but after the first flashback scene rather than him as a drifter he awakes as a reporter at the Daily Planet and the oil rig scene is a story he works on and he’s a green horn as a part of the story and he saves the crew. We have Clark Kent. Superman is the mask Clark Kent puts on. Clark Kent is Superman, not Superman is Clark Kent. We see Superman saving people and smiling to reassure the people he’s saving that he is there for them and instills hope in the people of Smallville and Metrtopolis.

Jonathan Kent isn’t a complete asshole. I understand that Jonathan wanted Clark to keep his powers a secret because he didn’t want him exposed and taken away, but Jonathan Kent is supposed to inspire Clark and to instill in him good morals and beliefs that make Clark the hero we all know him to be. He doesn’t tell him that maybe he should have let the kids died, he actually is supportive and assures that Clark is doing the right thing. More inspirational stuff like “You are my son. But somewhere out there you have another father too, who gave you another name. And he sent you here for a reason, Clark. And even if it takes you the rest of your life you owe it to yourself to find out what that reason is. “ And “You just have to decide what kind of a man you want to grow up to be, Clark; because whoever that man is, good character or bad, he’s… He’s gonna change the world.” And Jonathan does not die for stupid reasons, Clark saves Jonathan. If Clark saved Jonathan it would prove to him that the world is ready

The Phantom Zone look like it is in Injustice because it ACTUALLY looks like a hellish prison of eternal torment, instead of dildo ships being frozen

Jimmy Olson is in the movie and is a main character with Lois and Perry and he isn’t pointlessly killed off in the beginning of the sequel

The Jor-El AI in the fortress of Solitude would explain to Clark what Kryptonite is and warn him of the dangers of it

Zod’s plan to revive the Kryptonians remains the same, but not terraforming, it made absolute no sense whatsoever. Earth's current environiment grants them super powers. I know Zod mentions the pain of acclimation, but that seems trivial in the face of invulnerability, super strength and laser eyes. Plus considering Zod’s crew were bred for war, it seems dumb to just keep them powerless. But I would add instead of destruction porn via generic doomsday device, classic Zod’s bid for domination would take effect he wouldn’t view humans as equals so he would want to take over earth and take it for his people.

The same thing happens, they use Clark’s ship to trigger the Phantom Zone(only Dr Hamilton doesn’t die)

Clark would not kill Zod. Clark would instead incapacitate Zod and place him in a special prison. Together Clark and Dr Hamilton build a special prison to hold Zod. Made with the Red Sun technology from Zod's ship and the Kryptonite from the world engine.

Superman is hopeful and optimistic. Superman is the most human superhero of them all. He’s kind, he’s decent, he does good whenever he can and generally wants to help people and make their lives better. He’s the champion of the human race that adopted a strange visitor from another planet. He CAN’T be hopeless. He CAN’T be the brooder. He’s supposed to be the hero to hope to be. The one who is the ideal of other heroes. The one who never gives up on us, no matter how far we fall. Superman is an idealistic character. He’s the kind, loving person from the comics and the animated universe. He’s kind, he’s decent, he does good whenever he can and generally wants to help people and make their lives better. He’s the champion of the human race that adopted a strange visitor from another planet. Superman saves people. It’s not a decision he comes to through trauma and failure. It’s just who he is. He’s a good person

The Batman. The Batman is not out yet, but it should be the second movie of the DCEU, instead of Frank Miller worshiping garbage...I mean Batman V Superman

The biggest mistake of the DCEU is it is terrible at world building. It just forces everything to stick until it’s watchable. We did not earn Batman V Superman or Justice League. Phase 1 should be Man Of Steel, The Batman, World’s Finest, Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, The Flash, Green Lantern Corps and Martian Manhunter.

The Batman would be about Batman and Joker. It’s a Batman who has been for 20 years. Explains all the villains, his relationship with Gordon, show that Dick became Nightwing, Barbara is Oracle and Jason is Robin. Jason dies in this movie Joker kills Jason and Batman beats him with an inch of his life. This is the start of Bruce’s extreme justice to the criminals.

Batman V Superman:Dawn Of Justice or as I would re-title it World’s FInest

The Death of The Wayne’s is a mugging gone wrong and there’s a struggle for the pearls. It is presented as what it’s meant to be. A mugging gone wrong. Show Joe Chill grabbing Martha’s pearls, Thomas struggling to defend Martha and Joe kills Thomas and then Martha. Thomas’ dying words being the same from Batman Begins. “Bruce, don’t be afraid” It was a nice moment, and it ties into Bruce's conflict with Clark (given how most of his anger towards Clark is born of fear).

The Bat symbol looks like it does in the Arkhamverse. Stop the overworship of Frank Miller and let the Bat symbol look like a Bat and not look like Dark Knight Returns

Lex Luthor is played by Terry O’Quinn, or Bryan Cranston.

No Doomsday, instead of Doomsday it’s AMAZO, save Doomsday for a future Superman movie and give us AMAZO for the reason to bring the league together.

Lex Luthor uses the Kryptonian attacks as a campaign against Superman

Lex is not a whiny and annoying little know it all brat who keeps bringing up his father, he is a genius and he knows it, he doesn’t need to constantly flaunt it, and he isn’t a mix of Joker and Riddler, this is Lex Luthor! All Eisenberg’s Lex was...just annoying. Lex Luthor is cunning, he’s a genius, a criminal mastermind and will ignore all ethical boundries until his goals are met. When Luthor is in the room, he owns it. Every word that comes out of his mouth is meticulously planned and he is a master manipulator. The reason why he is such a brilliant Superman villain is because even though he has no physical powers, he can always beat the Man Of Steel on intellect alone. Hears why DCAU Luthor will always surpass the DCEu Luthor “do you know how much power I'd have to give upto be President? That's right, conspiracy buff. I spent 75 million dollars on a fake Presidential campaign, all just to tick Superman off." But instead of this dark, brooding, cunning and intimidating Luthor, we just got an annoyance. He is basically pulling everyone’s strings and when the players realize it, they’re too late, just like DCAU Lex.

Jimmy and Mercy aren’t pointlessly killed off

Batman doesn’t kill, he is more extreme like branding criminals, but he doesn’t kill or use guns

Superman does not constantly doubt himself and brood throughout the entire movie, he is heroic and he actually smiles to reassure the people he saves will be alright(how do you expect someone you’re trying to save will trust you if you frown and brood while saving them?)

Perry White isn’t an incompetent moron for the entire movie. He lets Clark pursue the Batman, he doesn’t constantly tell him to do a sports piece, he has Lombardi(he was in Man of Steel) for that

This is not BVS, it’s The World’s Finest. They fight at first but Bruce realizes he has been used by Lex and they unite to expose and stop him but are too late as AMAZO attacks

Before the fight with AMAZO, Bruce confides in Clark about Jason. Bruce realizes that a lot of his hatred for Superman is because he blames himself for Jason's death, and since he blames Superman for the deaths of those killed in the Metropolis fight, he was projecting. He realizes this and stops. It would have been HEARTBREAKING to see. By the end of the fight, Bruce is screaming "YOU FAILED!", and it's pretty obvious he's screaming at himself.

The three beat AMAZO and Superman lives and they work together to unite the Justice League

Cast Gemma Areton as Wonder Woman and don’t cast that fucking zionist racist ableist rape apologist garbage Gal Gadot

Suicide Squad

More Captain Boomerang, less Rick Flag

Harley Quinn looks like a jester and uses her mallet. Harley’s look was okay...but just didn’t feel like Harley. If anything either have it be the classic look we got in the flashbacks, her Assault On Arkham look, Arkham City concept art or the Brian Azzarello look and make her feel like Harley, and not like how they turned Harley into Lollipop Chainsaw.

More friendship between the whole squad(not just Harley and Deadshot, Deadshot and Flag) Deadshot and Boomerang is pretty much Brotp, Harley and Croc have a friendship and Katana is a loner

Enchantress is saved for the sequel.

The Joker is the villain. Replace Leto as The Joker with Joe Giligun or Willam Dafoe and for the love of god scrap David Ayer’s god awful Drug lord of Instagram inspiration. This is the Joker, not Scarface. The Joker is not a gangster or a pimp, The Joker is a force of nature, the anarchy of Gotham, symbolizing that life is the joke and death is the punchline. But basically Joker is the villain and Joker decides to take a holiday from Gotham. He steals a chemical weapon and plans to unleash it. Task Force X is assembled. Harley and Croc have a reason to be on Task Force X because of their history with The Joker. The flashbacks would basically be the same but the scene where Batman is chasing Joker and Harley, Joker leaves Harley to die to save himself, but like in the comic Mad Love while Harley is in prison she gets a flower with a rose saying “get well soon. Love J” Also make it clear that Joker and Harley is an abusive relationship, its not that black and white we all know that but having it in would be better than the fanfic we actually got and better than making Joker’s motivation being to see Harley. It’s a complex relationship and I just felt like we got Joker and Harley watered down. Pretty much have it end with Joker being defeated because of Harley and show that she’s free of him but still show she’s a villain but at the end we see a rose like in Mad Love with a note from J and we see Harley uncertain but a smile at her last scene.

Wonder Woman

Gemma Areton plays Diana and Lynda Carter plays Hippolyta

Scrap all mention of Zeus and the possibility that Diana got her shitty New 52 origin of Diana being another Zeus dick joke. Diana was sculpted by Hippolyta, Athena and Hera. It would make a whole lot more sense to have it be Athena considering that Ares and Athena are rivals in Greek Mythology.

Do more with Doctor Poison. Let’s say that Steve has a reason to steal her research outside of duty. Let’s say Dr Poison made a prototype that killed the majority of Steve’s team and he escapes with her research. That would have given us an emotional stake for Steve and a reason for Dr Poison to exist beyond her weapon as she would be the villain for Steve Trevor and Ares would be Diana’s Villain.

Only thing I would change about Ares is that I'd still have Ares reveal, but I would not have Ares controlling the Germans and Allies. I'd go by this particular Lucifer quote for Ares "Why do they blame me for all their little failings? They use my name as if I spent my entire day sitting on their shoulders, forcing them to commit acts they would otherwise find repulsive. 'The Devil made me do it.' I have never made any one of them do anything. Never. They live their own tiny lives. I do not live their lives for them." humans waged war of their own will, Ares just gained power because of the war

Justice League

No awful Whedon reshoots

No Whedon bullshit. No Barry falling into Diana's clevage, no awful CGI to cover Henry’s mustache, and no "Did Steve Trevor tell you that? and no Lois Lane is “thirsty” grow the fuck up you piece of shit.

Martian Manhunter instead of Cyborg. I love Cyborg, but I feel like it is wasted potential to not have Cyborg appear in a Teen Titans movie. I really think it’s a mistake to make Cyborg one of the Justice League founders in the movies. It should be The Martian Manhunter because J'onn NEEDS to be one of the founders and Cyborg works best with The Teen Titans. I feel it was a mistake for Cyborg to become a founder instead of J’onn. But if you have to have Cyborg in the movie how about actually make a costume or use practical effects so it’s not all bad CGI.

Make the goddamn costume for Steppenwolf or use practical effects. Don’t be fucking lazy and just use CGI. Designing a costume is not that fucking hard.

Make Aquaman a hero for the ocean, fishing villages, Eskimo tribes and show Arthur fighting oil companies and less of a surfer dude who spouts one liners

No Mother Boxes. Just let Steppenwolf and Parademons invade Earth on their own, and have his reason to prepare the Earth for Darkseid’s arrival.

Let Henry Cavill to keep his mustache for Clark’s return. There is no point in using horrible CGI to cover it up. Let his return be like the comics. in BVS the soil was rising, so his resurrection did not ned the mother box. After returning, he returns with facial hair and long hair. And he resurrects with no rage to attack the heroes or anyone else. But the does return to Lois and Martha. and his return to the heroes is like this

After Steppenwolf is defeated, Lois tells Clark he should shave and we see a scene like this

and the movie ends the same way

#DC #DCEU #My Changes #Man Of Steel #Batman V Superman Dawn Of Justice #Suicide Squad #Wonder Woman 2017

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dracox-serdriel · 8 years ago

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Supergirl: Mon-El

Mon-El was added to Supergirl this season, and he is unique among the main/supporting characters for a number of reasons. The first, and most obvious, was that he grew to adulthood on another planet, and the audience is seeing his character adapt not only to learning of his planet’s fate but also to living in a whole new planet.

Under the cut for length. Seriously - this is long and rambling.

Supergirl spoilers through 02x13 “Mr. & Mrs. Mxyzptlk.”

The aliens we know...

Kara (12 years by Season 1) also lost her planet, but she arrived on Earth as a preteen/teenager. Her cousin found her, and instead of taking her in, he placed her with an Earth family. There are countless reasons Clark might’ve done this, but I believe that the biggest factor was that he wanted her to experience what he had with the Kents - a human family, a place to call home. Had Clark taken Kara under his wing, she might never have gone to a Junior Prom, and she would never have known what it was to have a sister. Not only did Kara have time to grow into her own on Earth, she had a family to help her do it.

J'onn J'onzz (300+ years by Season 1) came to Earth as an adult, after losing his wife, daughters, and entire race on Mars. But he spent centuries on Earth in hiding in the shadows, disguising himself and running away, having no where to belong and no one to call friend. It took him centuries to realize that he could have more on Earth, that he could be more than an outcast in exile. It took him centuries to realize that he could actually do something for Earth. When Jeremiah Danvers (appeared to have) died to save J’onn, he transformed into Hank Henshaw and began working at the DEO. He lived on this planet for centuries without any human showing him that kind of courage or wisdom.

M’gann M’orzz (300+ years by Season 1) likewise came to Earth as an adult, having slain her husband (or believing she did) and abandoning her other family ties. As far as we know, she has been on Earth for about three hundred years. We also know she has participated in the Alien Fight Club (run by Roulette), likely for years, before finally giving it up. It might have been because J’onn convinced her, or maybe it was because Roulette was forced to shut down operations by the DEO. Otherwise, she works as a bartender, and despite her Martian abilities (transforming at will, flying, strength, and so on), she has never attempted to become a superhero. She’s assisted a few investigations with the DEO with information, and she saved J’onn’s live at the expense of her own secret, but she has avoided activities like rescuing people from burning buildings or flying ambulances to the hospital.

Kal-El (30+ years by Season 1) came to Earth as a baby. While he only appears in a few episodes, he does an excellent job of showing the difference between an alien baby raised on Earth with no knowledge of why he has come here (until he is older) and an alien preteen/teenager raised on Earth knowing that her planet (and likely, everyone she ever knew besides one baby cousin) was dead and gone. For one thing, Superman falls prey to Myriad‘s mind control; whereas, Supergirl remains unaffected. The argument made was that this was a “nurture over nature” situation; Kal-El grew up as Clark, a beloved son, watching Sesame Street and all that jazz, blissfully unaware of his biological heritage.

Given that the man attained super-powers like invulnerability and flying, it would follow logically that in an argument of nature versus nurture, nature would be sure to win out in his case, given that nurture is so often limited by nature (one might grow up in a wonderful environment, but genetic predisposition and bio-chemical realities can still manifest themselves, regardless of one’s upbringing).

Yet, in Supergirl, the loving nurture of Clark Kent’s human upbringing trumps his super-charged Kryptonian biology.

So what does this have to do with Mon-El?

I don’t think it’s an accident that Clark turned up for a few episodes before Mon-El was introduced as more than “that comatose dude in the pod.” Supergirl seems to be a cast filled with aliens - if not as main/supporting characters, then as a recurring characters. Some are stranded on Earth (Kara, Kal-El) because they have no home to return to, and some of them (J’onn, M’gann) have remained on Earth because, while they have the means to return to Mars, it would almost certainly result in death. M’gann alone has returned to her home planet, Mars, in an attempt to find more White Martians like herself.

However, not a single one of them is a newly-minted Earthling, and not one of them has learned recently that they no longer have a home to return to. Not one of them has recently discovered that they are the only one who survived the fall of their home planet.

That is where Mon-El comes in.

Unlike all the others, the audience sees his journey on Earth in a linear progression. The audience sees him go from “the comatose guy” to “the Last Daxamite” in one episode (02x03 “Welcome to Earth”). Whoever he had been on Daxam - whatever life he imagined himself having - was basically gone.

Oh, and now he has superpowers.

Alien planet, alien culture, and superpowers coupled with a tremendous loss that, thanks to a stasis pod, feels like it happened yesterday. Any human in his position - even the best human - would struggle with all the changes in his/her life.

Unlike J’onn and M’gann, he doesn’t have centuries of adaptation and development on Earth before we first meet him. Unlike Kara, he doesn’t have twelve years and an Earth family to raise him in this world’s new customs. He’s alone, save for the aid he receives from the DEO - specifically J’onn, Alex, Winn, and Kara.

Kara’s initial attempts to bring him into the world (02x05 “Crossfire”) fail because while she knows what he is going through, she doesn’t really understand his current situation. She had a family and years to adjust, he’s been on the planet for a few weeks when she gets him a job at CatCo. She pushes him to fit in with little to no instruction and almost no exposure to Earth outside the DEO. She wants him to succeed in a world that defines success differently from what he’s known his whole life, but it doesn’t seem like she’s taken that into consideration.

A prime example of this is this particular exchange:

KARA: So when James gives you a task, you should be the one to complete it. Not Miss Teschmacher. MON-EL: She wanted to please me. On Daxam, when a woman wishes to please a man - KARA: Wherever you're going with that, just don't. We are not on Daxam. Thank Rao. -- Episode 02x05 “Crossfire”

Okay, don’t get me wrong, I understand Kara was raised on Krypton and taught to hate Daxam. But it still seems odd - even a little out of character - for someone like Kara, who understands losing everything and starting over, who cares about and emphasizes with other people, to say something so harsh and thoughtless about Daxam to the Last Daxamite, mere weeks after he learned Daxam had been destroyed.

When she continues, she’s so focused on him keeping his job that she doesn’t apologize for her comment about Daxam.

Had this situation been reversed and Kara, newly minted Earthling, acted according to the customs she learned on Krypton, and someone said to her, “We are not on Krypton! Thank God.” She would not have liked how that felt - especially not right after she attempted to share something about Krypton with another person. I am guessing if she had considered this - and this alone - she would’ve said something more appropriate, or at least something more Kara-like... but as she admits later, she was so fixated on making Mon-El like her, that she wasn’t really thinking.

There’s a good reason that we finally see Clark Kent/Superman for a few episodes before Mon-El woke up. The contrast between Clark and Kara was meant to highlight the fact that two people, from the same (destroyed) world, could grow up on Earth with human families, yet become very different people. Even with all the support and time Kara has had, she struggles to achieve the things Clark has - to be as human as he is.

The entire first season was about Kara finding her way into her mantle as Supergirl while maintaining her identity at CatCo. She she even goes so far to say she “can’t have it all” (the job, the superhero, and the romance) because something’s gotta give.

Meanwhile, Clark has the job, the superhero, and the romance down pat. Yes, it took years of him coming into his own power (assuming the Smallville canon applies even a little bit), but he is Clark Kent and Superman, and he has a romantic relationship with Lois Lane, a human. And, yes, part of this is because Clark is now in his thirties, whereas Kara is in her twenties and at the beginning of her career. Part of this is all about time.

I believe the writers introduced this contrast between Kara and Clark so that the audience would see it and realize that time on this planet can not be underestimated. We can see it between these two more than we can between J’onn and Kara, and the fact that they are from the same planet and even related also contributes to the contrast. The message was pretty clear:

Growing up on this planet is one thing, growing into this planet is another.

Clark grew up on Earth and into his powers. Kara grew into this Earth and (over time) into her powers. There’s a palpable difference.

We’re watching Mon-El grow into this world and into his powers. He’s still not there yet.

So Kara finds out that Mon-El started using his powers for money (02x06 “Changing”), and she reacts badly and calls him selfish. But is that really fair of her? He comes to this planet with nothing and tries to find his way. Is it really such an odd conclusion that using his powers - which he’s never had before - to succeed financially on this planet is such a bad idea? Worse, when he points out there’s nothing wrong with being paid for using his powers, she shoots him down without explanation.

No, seriously, she doesn’t give him a reason. Instead, she insults him.

KARA: Are you kidding me? This is how you're using your powers? As muscle for hire? MON-EL: It's a living... a temporary living. KARA: You're supposed to help people. You cannot use your powers for money. MON-EL: Why? Don't you? KARA: Absolutely not! MON-EL: Well, that's a missed opportunity, because... KARA: This goes against everything we stand for. MON-EL: Um, everything you stand for. Look, I never said I wanted to save the world. Things in this world cost money, and if I can make a few bucks using my powers, why shouldn't I? KARA: Okay, I get it. MON-EL: What? KARA: No. You are so selfish. MON-EL: Okay. KARA: I don't know what else I should have expected from a... MON-EL: From what? From a Daxamite? KARA: I didn't say that. MON-EL: Yeah, but you were going to, Kara. Okay, I may have your powers but I don't have this... This innate desire to go leaping into trouble. But that doesn't make me a bad person, all right? KARA: It kind of does. -- Episode 02x06 (“Changing”)

Again, this is a pretty harsh thing to say to a guy who has been on the planet for a few weeks, maybe a month, when it took her twelve freaking years AND her sister’s life in peril before she used her own power for good. She’s so busy being disappointed in Mon-El that she doesn’t help him.

I mean, he literally asks her why he shouldn’t use his powers for money, and she doesn’t answer him. She calls him selfish instead. And the exchange continues:

KARA: It kind of does. MON-EL: No, it doesn't. You're no saint, Kara Zor-El! KARA: Excuse me? MON-EL: You fly around, rescuing people, like you're just pure of heart. But that is crap. Because you love that attention. You love people loving you. You are not selfless. KARA: And you are no hero. I thought you could be, but I was wrong. MON-EL: Kara... -- Episode 02x06 (“Changing”)

This guy could’ve said a thousand things. He could’ve said that she loves the rush of saving people, or that she loves fighting super-villains, or even that it’s great for her career in journalism, being a superhero with on-the-scene knowledge of crimes as they unfold.

But he doesn’t. He hones in on the adoration she gets from her good deeds.

I don’t think that is about her at all. In Season 1, she took a lot of crap when she was learning how to be a superhero, and no doubt, many of her good deeds are part of classified DEO operations. She might love to inspire people, but I don’t think she does it for “the attention.”

And I don’t think Mon-El believes that she does, either.

I think that, whatever his origins, he was probably not a guard to the royal family. He almost never speaks about Daxam in terms of his own experience -- he’ll mention customs like “latching” for marriage, his love of certain ales, and whatnot, but he doesn’t tell stories about his life. In fact, the only time he does, it was to help Kara by telling her about a weakness of one of the Gladiator Aliens because he’d seen him fight and injured before. Even that wasn’t really about himself -- it was about what he witnessed.

Chances are, his vagueness is not a mistake. He doesn’t talk about his experiences because, if he did, he would reveal his former status... unless he lies outright, as he did when he stated he was a guard. Obviously, this is only a theory, given that the show hasn’t revealed his true identity yet. However, when talking about the fact that he had little inspiration on Daxam, Kara asked him, “What about the Prince?” and he replies, “He wasn’t worth admiring.” Seems an odd thing to say about a man who sacrificed his life to save his, doesn’t it? Which makes me think he is the Prince.

So, the fact that Mon-El hones in on adoration from good deeds as a factor is probably more about him than it is about her. Perhaps because, before he crash landed on this Earth, he was adored because of his position on Daxam. Maybe he hated the attention, maybe he loved it - but it’s likely he’s avoiding it on this planet because it’s too painful for him.

They both made big mistakes here, snapping at one another rather than really talking to one another. It would be easy enough for Mon-El to walk away, but he cares about Kara enough to try to talk with her again, only to find Parasite has drained her powers.

And since Supergirl is down, he goes after Parasite. Which is something he said he had no innate desire to do - jump into danger. He doesn’t have a plan, and had Guardian not shown up, he likely wouldn’t have held Parasite off... basically, Mon-El is not good at being a superhero. He doesn’t know what he’s doing. Just like Kara circa Season 1.

By the end of the episode, despite his shortcomings, he offers a stranger help, only to be kidnapped by Cadmus. But he admits to this stranger that he’s trying to be better, trying to help before he’s snatched away.

But why? He still doesn’t know why it’s wrong to use his powers for money. He doesn’t have a job yet. And let’s face it, he kinda sucks at being a superhero so far. Yet he tries to help someone he perceives as in need -- maybe he’s not a superhero who takes on Parasite and Livewire... maybe he’s a superhero that helps people in other ways.

That’s a huge step/shift for his character. Too bad it’s rewarded with a high-voltage gun and an abduction.

Before people with pitchforks come after me for pointing out Kara’s shortcomings...

If the main character didn’t have faults, the show would be terrible. No one wants to watch perfect characters. No one. Kara needs faults and shortcomings... all good characters have them.

The problem, I think, is that the audience follows Supergirl’s viewpoint. We’re less likely to criticize her actions/words because, via perspective, we are “on her side.” The show is scripted that way.

So much so that when James, J’onn, and Winn all oppose Kara on Lena Luthor’s innocence (02x12 “Luthors”), they’re all kind of... annoying, aren’t they? Of course, we also know that Lena backed away from Mentallo when he came to “rescue” (aka “abduct”) her from the jail cell... again, this show is scripted to support Kara as the protagonist. We, the audience, are with her and on her side. She’s right to support Lena Luthor, and unlike the characters on the show, we, the audience, have at least one reason to believe her view as fact.

This is a big issue for Mon-El’s character, because we’re on Kara’s side. The script is on Kara’s side. We see his actions through a lens, and it’s easy to conclude that Kara is right. Mon-El is selfish and hopeless... he only cares bout himself.

Easy, but not that easy.

Here’s a good example to start with... Mon-El tells Kara that if she goes looking for trouble, she will find it. It sounds cynical, unless you remember that this is the episode after his rescue from Cadmus, and Cadmus captured him by using a ruse. He was captured after offering help to a stranger, and he nearly died as a result. Ultimately, his conclusion is “Don’t go looking for trouble.” And it’s not hard to understand. Not if you consider the events of the two previous episodes.

But there’s more...

We also see Mon-El attempt to escape Cadmus, only to resubmit to capture to save J’onn’s life. (02x07 “The Darkest Place”) If he were truly selfish, he would’ve kept running and let J’onn die, but he didn’t. Unfortunately, in this case, it wasn’t really J’onn. But he didn’t know that.

We see him struggle with the truth. As he’s dying in Cadmus’s containment, he tries to tell Kara, “...about Daxam, there's... There's something I have to tell you.” (02x07 “The Darkest Place”) Too bad they were interrupted by her father rescuing them.

In the same episode, he exhibits survivor’s guilt: “I have to think, why me? Why am I the only one who survived Daxam? If I die in this cell, maybe I deserve to.”

But survivor’s guilt comes out in full force in 02x08 “Medusa.” He survives because he followed faux-Hank out of the bar, and he didn’t save anybody... then later that same episode, he thinks he’s cheated death one to many times to live.

On Maaldoria, he sees that they’re about to shoot Supergirl, and he - knowing that he has no powers whatsoever - puts himself in harm’s way to protect her and the fleeing humans. (02x09 “Supergirl Lives”) If he only cared about himself, he could’ve done a lot of other (better) things to save himself and Kara without worrying about the people. But he didn’t. Even when he had no powers.

His decision to become a superhero does seem to be connected to his feelings for Kara, but I think this is only a superficial view of it. He could’ve taken on the superhero goal weeks ago to impress Kara. Instead he became a bartender.

I believe his desire to become a superhero now is only partially motivated by working with Kara. The real instigation came from the moment of putting himself in harm’s way, only to see a Dominator stop that harm... and then bow to him. Now, if he is a member of the royal family of Daxam, it might make sense that Maaldoria knows his face -- his family had dealings with them, after all. I’d wager that the Unnamed Space Bounty Hunters we’ve seen before were the ones who purchased “the lot” of human slaves because the Dominator saw his face and telepathically messaged the Unnamed Space Bounty Hunters. Or something very similar to that. It would certainly explain their violent outburst when they arrived and discovered Mon-El was no longer on Maaldoria.

I think a major reason Mon-El wanted to become a superhero was so that he would know how to protect himself - and by association, his friends - should the Dominators or whoever they were working with come to Earth looking for him. So he won’t have to hide behind Supergirl and the DEO to stay on Earth - because, well, he wants to stay on Earth. He didn’t want to train to resist Cadmus, even after they abducted him, but he does now. He must know, on some level, that it’s a possibility, if not a likelihood, that someone is coming for “Mon-El of Daxam.”

He hasn’t brought up this interaction to anybody at the DEO, as far as we know. He asks Kara to keep training with him as his (superhero) partner even though she doesn’t reciprocate his feelings--he wants to keep working with her. Yet... when she asked him why he wanted to be a superhero earlier in that same episode, he didn’t have a good answer. He just rephrased the same stuff she’d said to him before.

Maybe it’s because he’s only doing it because he likes her. Or maybe it’s because his real reason is that he’s afraid that something big and dangerous is coming for him, and this is the only way he can prepare himself.

Frankly, I think it’s both. He wants to work with her because she inspires him to be better. He wants to protect her for the same reason. But he also has secrets... secrets that he can’t be sure died with Daxam any longer.

He’s not great at helping people, and he doesn’t make the best decisions. But that’s nothing new. He’s struggled with that from the very beginning, but at least now he has some mastery of his own powers and a goal (“protect the people”), even if he hasn’t done a great job of achieving it yet.

Okay, so what’s this all about?

There seems to be a lot of negativity around Mon-El’s actions, which would make 100% sense if he were human or an alien who grew up on Earth, or had been here for at least a decade. The negativity makes no sense, though, when it’s applied to a newly minted Earthling.

He argues with Kara a lot - sometimes when they don’t even disagree - because they both challenge one another. He doesn’t do everything she tells him to do, but he does recognize when he’s made a mistake and apologizes for those mistakes. To her. With words. (I know precious few people who do this in real life.) He admits his feelings to her knowing he will be rejected, because he’s trying to be honest with her. (Likely building up to sharing his secrets from Daxam... baby steps, though.)

I mean, the man is clearly flailing, trying to find footing in this world. He’s never had superpowers before, and whoever he was on Daxam, he had clearly never fallen in love before (given his “I never knew there were this many feelings” speech to Kara). Whatever his future prospects were on Daxam, being marooned on another planet, losing everyone/thing he had ever known, obtaining superpowers, and falling in love for the first time -- all within the same three months or so -- wasn’t something he was prepared to handle. He certainly wasn’t expecting it.

Yes, he often has the lines/actions of a macho, egotistical dude bumbling about, messing up other people’s lives because of it. But this part could easily have been given to any (human) male character -- trust me, crap like that exists in the real world. We could’ve been dealing a young, hot-shot DEO Agent, or even an Old Dog DEO Agent. We could’ve been dealing with the CatCo equivalent - a competing reporter, for example - but we’re not.

I’m guessing because a human character with these traits would need gargantuan redemptive qualities to make him even the tiniest bit palatable as a real character--someone who is more than just a punchline after Supergirl proves to him misogyny is a ridiculous waste of time. An alien character, however, specifically a newly minted Earthling, has a bit more latitude. His mistakes are from ignorance born of his culture - something that, before now, he’s had little opportunity to question or overcome.

I don’t mind people hating Mon-El. We all have favorites, and we all have those few characters we can’t stand.

Just keep in mind that the writers introduced Mon-El with the exact parameters one would expect for a character who has a long evolution arc, including a “hidden” or “mysterious” backstory that will illuminate his choices, almost certainly making his actions more understandable to the audience. He will almost certainly go from being the annoying character struggling into a new identity to being a man with a painful past that he will never resolve because of the loss of his planet. And he has a lot of personal growth to do, and he might even have a lot to offer the DEO in terms of knowledge and experience.

That adds up to him sticking around.

And it’s also likely that he’s gonna have big changes. Even bigger than we’ve already seen.

That’s all I’m saying.

#supergirl #supergirl meta #mon-el #supergirl mon-el #mon-el meta #super-long and rambly and I don't even know why #mon-el characterization #a little bit of rambling on supergirl #karamel #just a hint of karamel though

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