#this was the kidnapped by a gorilla episode. and she is giving it the king kong damsel performance

[dozydawn]

Randall Edwards in Delia, 1980.

[thefcguy]

Here, finally new heroes to the Miracles of the Creek AU: 

Welcome to my AU. Basically, the miracle box is lost in the multiverse (it is set during Lego Dimensions) and the box end up in the Creek. Then, some of the creek kids get kidnapped by Lord Vortech, and now, Bug Boy, Sárkány and J-Ape.

Bug Boy: Craig with the Ladybug Miraculous. Decided to give Craig the ladybug miraculous since he has a lot of creativity and could use the Lucky Charm with a lot of different uses. Also because they need this miraculous to purify the akumas.

He put the earrings in his shoes and his hand is in front of his yo-yo. Since the guardian is “Ladybug” not “Marinette”, he is now the official guardian of the box. Sárkány: Kelsey with the dragon miraculous. I thought it matched her because Kelsey likes to pretend she is a knight and has this interest in mythical cratures. I gave her this jacket to make her slightly different from Ryuko. Her name means dragon in Hungarian.   J-Ape: JP with the monkey miraculous. I gave him the monkey miraculous because he is the funniest of all of the Creek Kids. Also, he is really umpredictable, which, in my opinion, matches perfectly with the ability of messing with the powers of others.  

His name is a pun, because “Ape” sounds a bit like P, and monkeys and gorillas are often confused, so I thought it made sense.

Shell Queen: I gave Sewer Queen this miraculous since it’s the only aquatic animal miraculous at the box. I also believed the power of protection could be useful to protect her people. Her name is Sewer Turtle, since I hadn’t thought about anything better. Her design is more inspired by Jade Turtle than Carapace.

Bee Bob: I gave Bobby the bee miraculous, because of the Hivemind Operation episode. The fact that Bobby was the only interested in helping the bees. His name is Bee Bob, since I believe Bobby wouldn’t be that creative to name himself anything else. I chose this name because this way his nickname could be BB. He uses the miraculous as a belt instead of a comb, since I thought it made more sense for him. (Also, stop arguing about who is better. Queen Bee or Vesperia are both the losers. Bee Bob is the winner).

Kitsune: I gave Kit this miraculous since she is really smart, and her and her trade involves a certain amount of deception and manipulation, which I think matches with the power of illusion. Her name Kitsune because I know that in some culture, they are fox with powers of illusions and has the bonus of being also a pun with her real name. Her design is more inspired in the book’s old fox hero than Rena Rouge and Volpina.

Cunnicula: Wren’s interest in dimensional and time travel made me choose this miraculous to her. She is an specialist in this topic, even a little bit obsessive about it, and I thought it made sense. I dare to say that she could use the miraculous even better than Bunnix herself. 

Dame Horse: Well, it was obvious that I needed to give one of the horse girls the horse miraculous. I chose Maney, because she seems the nicest of the group. Instead of this more modern Pegase style that Max has, I thought about giving Maney a look closer to a farmer.

Medusa: Since I already gave Wren the rabbit miraculous, I thought about giving the Timekeeper another time miraculous.I think the snake matches her because: she knows how to play a musical instrument; she could use her instruments to warn her allies when she is going to use her power and because she has a lot of watches in her wrist, so, I thought she wouldn’t be bothered by a new bracelet.

Rat King: And last, but not least, Jason with the mouse miraculous. Jason, as a scout, knows about team work, but, his bossy attitude makes thing difficult. So I though “What if he made a team made of his clones?” and then, well, I gave him this miraculous. I wanted to do something creative with him, reason why I gave him this crown and this name.

Edited from wiki images.

Miraculous and Craig of the Creek belong to their respectives creators and channels.

[whetstonefires]

Since you like the Hellboy...*perks up* Can I ask what you like about it? Does this need to be part of the ask game, if so, smash it in there. But opinions! I would love!

Ooh! Hm. This is actually surprisingly hard to articulate.

I’ve been ‘into’ Hellboy for like. Half my damn life now, and while I could have gone on at length about all the things about it I found fun as a teenager it was at its core very much a ‘this makes me Feel Happy’ thing. And now that glow is less intense but it’s bolstered by that habitual sort of attachment you feel to like. Family members.

Let’s see how far I can break this down lol.

I have never been able to much like most of the BPRD tie-in type materials and I was not at all pleased with the films, so to an extent I think I can say confidently part of what I like is the way Hellboy is situated in a superhero-comic-adjacent space while being very much coordinated by one overarching creative sensibility--like, other people were brought in to work on Hellboy a lot over the course of the run, but Mignola always had a unifying voice and even when I don’t actually agree with his taste or values that level of artistic...intentionality? Judgment? Presence? Something like that. Gives the work a sense of...integrity? Maybe just unity.

Anyway makes it feel less plastic than comics often do. This is a corporate product of course but it’s also just Mike Mignola hanging out doing whatever he thinks would be cool. Drawing rocks and monsters because that’s what he wants to draw. I like that.

Some of the higher-quality webcomics you get nowadays, when they don’t take themselves too terribly seriously but aren’t outright comedic, can land similarly in terms of voice, but even just fifteen years ago webcomics weren’t really at that point yet as a medium, and even now most are still amateurish as well as amateur. Which is fine, but different.

To get slightly less meta, I love the collection of genres that are smeared together for Hellboy--we’ve got a lot of detective noir stuff cut together with cosmic horror and like...the genre where people research folklore and then mostly punch it. Does that have a name? And then there are a bunch of other influences stirred in, sometimes for only a single issue, sometimes more.

Mignola managed to be significantly less offensive than average about the way he adapted world folklore into his weird groddy kitchen-sink fantasy system, which is pretty funny because he doesn’t come across as being careful about it at all. Not that I think there was no effort made, but also he just used research as a basis for narrative much more often than he started with a story premise and stretched the creature to fit, which by default gave him less scope for dickery.

Also I think the only god he ever fights is Hecate and she’s handled from a 19th-century-occultist angle rather than a Classical angle.

Also Hellboy fights Nazis and cyborg gorillas as well as like. Baba Yaga and vampires. The balance of schlock and gonzo nonsense to pathos and sensitive emotional bits is usually about where I like it.

The episodic format is really well used. It lets the storytelling style lean heavily on the late-19th-through-mid-20th-century short story genres that it borrows a lot from, and which honestly has always worked better for comics than end-to-end long-arc serialization. I like how the anachronic order of many sections of the series allowed for a lot of ‘building outward from the middle.’

Also it means the story can stay true to its roots and kill off a lot of characters in gothic excess without constantly sloughing main cast or having to do fakeouts.

...I can’t believe that since Hellboy isn’t really emotionally involved with the issue of his birth parents except inasmuch as it explains the world-ending stone hand, the single angstiest part of his backstory is technically when he went on a drinking binge road trip around Mexico in his teens and made friends with vampire-fighting luchador triplets but then the youngest one whom he was closest to was kidnapped by the vampires and Hellboy had to kill his best friend, and this is all established in a random side story that pushes the intentional genre absurdism to its breaking point and is equal parts comedic and grotesque.

(The second angstiest is probably the bit in volume 1 when he finds his dad murdered by frogs.)

I also just love characters who wear trench coats and are actually really clever and knowledgeable and kind but tend to resort, in extremity, to just hitting problems really hard. Okay? I like that. That’s a fave.

Hellboy’s whole character design is very strong, a bunch of dramatic broad-strokes decisions that contrast interestingly against one another, and then a lot of subtler elements layered in crosswise.

The way his relationship to the narrative ‘occult-fighting antichrist figure’ could be really straightforward, but keeps stepping a little sideways off the usual shape of the tropes in a way that creates depth.

He’s a giant red demon guy who stopped aging in the 50s; he’s never going to be able to be ‘normal’ or pretend he isn’t what he is--but also he’s a dude with a government job and probably a Social Security Number who goes and interviews people about the situation and says ‘I’m Agent Hellboy’ and gets called ‘Mr. Boy’ and is just this guy who knows his shit and can take a beating.

(This was one of the major things I hated in the first movie, that they decided to make him this weird secret cryptid whose dad keeps him locked in a vault when he’s not fighting.)

The way the identity thing is never reduced to comfortable binaries with him except by enemies trying to psych him out is just really satisfying. He fights monsters not because he hates them or himself but because he was recruited into this career young and he’s really good at it, and he feels good about helping people who are being victimized.

When something occult isn’t hurting anybody he’s down to chill, and if it turns out they secretly are after all he’s always so tired and disappointed, and if they really aren’t then he has a new friend. Whom he may never see again or may hit up for a game of cards next time he’s in town.

(I also like how he combines ‘being pretty private’ ‘being very casually friendly’ and ‘being an asshole who makes a lot of enemies’; it’s not that unusual a combo for his type of main character but it’s one I enjoy.)

When he breaks off his own horns as part of his rejection of being Anung Un Rama it’s not ‘choosing humanity’ or w/e it’s choosing not to be used for this. His name is Hellboy, which is an objectively awful name but it was given to him by people he loved and who chose him, not the people who made him or brought him to this world to be used, and he chooses it.

And that has weight. That has force enough behind it to carry a world.

Just in general in spite of all the identity stuff he gets swamped with he’s really good at self-knowledge and letting other people’s ideas of who and what he’s supposed to be just wash over him. As the story goes on and shit gets weirder his sense of identity gets shaken, but he never quite loses that anchor in the knowledge that he is the ultimate arbiter of his own identity.

His exasperation on being told via stabbing that he doesn’t get to be King of England even if he is the first male descendant of King Arthur since Mordred is so funny. Why is this a thing, says Hellboy. Why am I finding out like this. Why do I always find out this shit like this. Why would anyone think I wanted to be King of England. I already punched so many skeletons about not wanting to be King of Witches.

He’s got so much righteous anger that comes out when people are treated as disposable, or as less for being not human or less human or superpowered, and of course it’s founded in his own experiences and his own fight for respect but it’s not about him. It’s about the person who’s suffering now.

One time his combat one-liner before shooting something started with ‘The Torch of Liberty said I was the worst shot he ever tried to train’ that’s so funny! I love that!

He’s my boy okay.

[amandajoyce118]

Black Panther Easter Eggs And References

Instead of doing a Six Sentence Sunday this week, I thought I’d finally get around to writing up and sharing some Easter eggs and references from Black Panther. I’ve now seen the movie twice, so I think I’ve got a fair amount, but I’m also sure there are going to be things I missed.

If you haven’t yet seen this movie, there are spoilers in my list! So. Many. Spoilers. You have been warned.

I’m not going to give you everyone’s comic book history and what’s been changed for each character for the movie, but what I will say is that I think this is one of the few MCU movies where every single named character exists in the comics, which is pretty fantastic.

The Marvel Comic flip.

Before the Marvel characters and logo appear on screen, the studio still uses the flipping comic book pages to give you a little nod to their history. Usually, the images are the same for the MCU with the Avengers you see across Phase 1. This time, if you blink you might miss it, there’s a Black Panther symbol in those pages.

The history of Wakanda.

The movie’s opening has a father telling his son (you might have that it was T’Challa getting the story when the movie first opened, but that’s definitely Erik being told the story by his father) the story of vibranium landing in the middle of Africa, tribes separating, and Wakanda being built around the vibranium mound. He also details the lineage of Black Panthers. All that is almost exactly out of the comics. The MCU often changes bits and pieces of the story, like it does for T’Challa’s father dying when he’s an adult instead of a boy, but this stunning set up is almost exactly the same.

Oakland, 1992.

Oakland happened to be where director Ryan Coogler grew up and it’s also where the Black Panther political movement was born in the 60s - shortly after the comic book character made his debut. I’m not sure if 1992 is a significant year for him because it’s not for Black Panther. The previous comic book series ended in 1991 and another volume wasn’t published until 1998. It was considered a particular “bloody” year by local papers though. There were 167 known murders that occurred in Oakland that year, which apparently was a record at the time. Since that’s particularly dark, let’s also note that the Oakland Athletics (that’s baseball, folks), finished first in the American League West that year. (When the movie returns to Oakland at the end, that’s also a nod to Coogler’s real life dream: to be able to give back to the community that raised him. T’Challa puts a Wakandan Outreach program in place. Coogler spoke in some of his very first interviews about wanting to bring his movies to Oakland, to film there, to generate revenue for the city, to work with kids that live there in arts programs.)

Public Enemy.

One of the posters on the wall of the Oakland apartment is for Public Enemy, which seems appropriate for a guy in 90s Oakland who wants to bring power back to his people.

The MCU timeline.

The movie references it being a week since the UN conference and T’Chaka’s death, so it’s set right after the events of Captain America: Civil War, putting it right before Spider-Man: Homecoming and Doctor Strange, but also possible happening during the last few episodes of Agents of SHIELD’s third season. So, don’t expect a crossover there.

Killmonger’s mask.

In addition to being inspired by real life ceremonial masks worn by the Igbo, the mask also draws on comic book inspiration. Killmonger wears a mask very similar to the one in the movie during his first confrontation with T’Challa in the comics.

Killmonger’s girlfriend.

So, this might not have been intentional, and this might not even really be an Easter egg, but one relationship long time comic book readers will remember is that of Killmonger and Madam Slay. Madam Slay had trained leopards (and we do see leopard-like spots in Killmonger’s costume later), and she was his right hand for a few issues when Black Panther stories were being told as part of Jungle Action comics. She had a thing for knives and wanted to help Killmonger kill T’Challa. Of course, she was also Wakandan, so maybe the woman seen in the movie isn’t her.

Klaue’s arm.

The cannon in Klaue’s arm is inspired by the comic book design. He has a “sonic cannon” in his arm in the comics, which gets something of a shoutout when he says it’s sonic mining equipment that was used to give him the arm in the movie.

Shuri’s buns.

When T’Challa meets his family off the plane, Shuri’s hair is in a couple of buns. That’s your Star Wars reference as it was meant as an homage to another princess in a galaxy far, far, away. Letitia Wright confirmed the nod in an interview.

“What are thoooose?”

I hear this is a nod to a famous vine. LOL Okay, I have to admit that I was never into vine, but everyone in the theater under 30 found this hilarious. I found it more adorable that Shuri bases her shoe design on Back to the Future. But hey, we all find different things funny.

Mount Bashenga.

Shuri’s lab is inside a mountain named for the first known king of Wakanda that becomes Black Panther. He’s even named in the opening sequence of a bed time story.

M’Baku makes a move toward Shuri.

During the challenge, as M’Baku talks about the things he disagrees with in Wakanda, one of them is “a child” being in charge of the technology. In the comics, M’Baku specifically wants to get rid of all of the futuristic tech in Wakanda. He also, at one point, kidnaps Shuri. So, that brief moment struck me as a nod to that.

So, I’ll also note here that M’Baku is a big departure from the comics, but a lot of things were kept to provide a nod to the source material. Like Nakia calling him the “Great Gorilla” when she meets him because the villain name Man-Ape is pretty racist, no? Her term is more a sign of respect. The skin he wears over his shoulders? A nod to him killing a White Gorilla in the comics in a ritual that gives him the strength and stamina of the animal.

(Also, side note: the movie cut, but set design kept, the Jabari tribe loving the wood from a sacred tree in the mountains and using that to build their homes with. It’s in direct contrast with the high tech Vibranium. Winston Duke also worked with a dialect coach so his rhythms would be closer to different Nigerian dialects instead of South African dialects to differentiate himself from the rest of the main cast, setting the Jabari apart from the rest of Wakanda. It was also his idea to do the barking/grunting sounds as a nod to the comic book source material, but to give the Jabari a way to make an entrance and shut people up.

Okoye complains about that wig.

Honestly, this only struck me because Danai Gurira has to wear a massive wig for her role as Michonne on The Walking Dead. I know she’s spoken at length about loving that role, but I immediately thought her character’s hatred for wigs was a nod to the fact that she spends so much of the year in one.

The Pan African flag.

The stripes of the Pan African flag are green, black, and red, so when Nakia, T’Challa, and Okoye walk into the underground gambling ring in Korea and stand at the guardrail, you’re seeing that flag brought to life. (And for those who think that’s reaching for symbolism, Ryan Coogler confirmed in an interview that was the intention of the costuming decisions in that scene.)

Stan Lee’s cameo.

We all recognize Stan Lee by now, but in case you missed him, he’s one of the gamblers. He talks to Agent Ross and takes T’Challa’s winnings when he leaves them behind.

“Every breath you take is mercy from me.”

T’Challa says this line to Klaue in the movie, but in the comics, he said it to someone else. He said it to Namor following the arrival of Thanos in Wakanda. T’Challa and Namor have a complicated frenemy-ship, we’ll say. I kind of hope Namor (since the rights are back with Marvel) gets to make his debut in a Black Panther movie.

Vibranium from Sokovia.

When Agent Ross and T’Challa chat in the casino, Ross mentions the guy he’s dealing with also having been traced to the events in Sokovia. So, just in case you needed another big flashing sign for an MCU connection, there you go.

The story of El Dorado.

Klaue tells the story of a Golden City, and how people searched for it in South America. In addition to trying the movie to the legend of El Dorado, it’s also a nod to the capital city of Wakanda in the comics, called the Golden City. It’s where the royal family lives and where most of the activity takes place in the comics.

Another broken white boy.

When Shuri makes the comment that there’s another broken white boy for them to fix (after the CIA agent is brought in to have his spine repaired), I actually didn’t think about the fact that Bucky Barnes was cryogenically frozen in Wakanda for safe keeping, though I’m sure plenty others did, but of Hunter, T’Challa and Shuri’s adopted brother. T’Chaka saved the boy after his parents died in a plane crash over Wakanda and raised them with his children. Hunter grew to be jealous of T’Challa and the leader of the War Dogs. He was a sometimes enemy of his adopted brother. Of course, the post-credit scene makes it clear that Bucky is standing in for Hunter since the kids even call him by Hunter’s comic book name, “White Wolf,” even if the timeline doesn’t quite add up.

The influence of African cultures.

Yes, Black Panther is a comic book movie, but Black Panther also takes a whole lot of inspiration from different African cultures. For example, the Dora Milaje are inspired by the Dahomey Amazons, an all female military group that essentially died out after the mid twentieth century. The costuming, the body modification, the language, and even the hairstyles in the movie are all rooted in different African cultures. This twitter thread does an amazing job at explaining so much of what you see in the movie.

It’s also worth noting that you won’t see a Wakandan character in the movie with relaxed hair. Why? The country was never colonized. I believe it was Lupita Nyong'o who explained in interviews that the idea of relaxing kinky hair was brought about by colonizers shaming Africans for their looks. Because Wakanda has never been colonized, the residents have pride in something as simple as natural hair.

War Dog assignments.

The “War Dogs” are referenced several times, but outside of Nakia being called a spy, there’s not a whole of information about them. So, the term War Dog is actually in reference to the Hatut Zeraze, which are the “secret police” in Wakanda in the comics. T’Challa actually disbands them when he becomes King because he doesn’t like the idea of sending out people to assassinate others around the world, which is one of their jobs. The movie appears to have made them literal spies instead of assassins.

Shuri’s gauntlets.

I’m sure a lot of people noticed that she built her gauntlets to resemble the heads of panthers. While that’s obviously a nod to the Black Panther being Wakanda’s hero, it’s likely also a nod to Shuri becoming the Black Panther in the comics. She takes her brother’s place when he’s gravely ill and she also becomes the Queen her country needs.

Over the waterfall.

The moment where Killmonger tosses T’Challa over the edge of the cliff? Taken exactly from the comics. T’Challa survives that fall as well, though he doesn’t get help from M’Baku in the comics since they were enemies as well there.

War Dog cities.

When Killmonger and W’Kabi discuss which War Dogs have responded to his plans to take over the world, they are in very specific cities. New York, London, and Hong Kong are mentioned. Those also happen to be the cities that house Sanctum Santorums in the Doctor Strange movie, which means they’re hot spots for magic, lines between realms, etc. (Though this could be a coincidence as they’re also well known and well populated cities that world wide audiences would recognize.)

Killmonger’s Black Panther suit.

I already mentions that he gets leopard-like spots on it, which could serve as a nod to Madam Slay’s leopards, but there’s more. Black Leopard was the name used for Black Panther briefly in the comics to distance the character from any politics. Killmonger also had a sidekick in the form of a leopard he called Preyy. The gold tones in his costume - and particularly the look of the necklace - are a direct callback to what the actual Black Panther suit most often looks like in the comics as well.

T’Challa wrestles a rhino.

The scene where Black Panther takes down a rhino? Pretty much exactly out of the comics. In his very first comic book run in Jungle Action comics - the run is actually called Marvel’s first graphic novel - he had to wrestle a rhino to the ground in the same way.

Alex R. Hibbert.

The young actor, famous now for his role in Moonlight, gets a cameo at the end of the movie as the little boy who chats with T’Challa about his ship. Ryan Coogler is a big fan of Moonlight and has said that the director actual gave him a lot of support in his career. Hibbert gets the last official line in the movie, though there is a mid credits scene and a post credits scene.

[a-nerds-ponderings-blog]

SUPERHERO LOW-DOWN

February 26 - March 12

SUPERGIRL

Season 2: Episode 14 - HOmecoming

When Jeremiah Danvers is rescued from Cadmus, Alex and Kara are thrilled to have their father back. The Danvers' arrange a family dinner to celebrate but things go awry when a suspicious Mon-El starts to question Jeremiah about his sudden return.

So how many people were actually surprised by the twist of this episode. Sadly they made it very obvious as to what was going to happen and we had to watch the Danvers girls get their hearts broken. This added to the buildup for next week’s episode when Jeremiah stole the files revealing the aliens on Earth. It was almost a lesson in; if it seems too good to be true, it probably is. That may be cynical a way of looking at the world, but in the world of television, it usually comes with a price. This episode helped to move the story along, but did not leave much for the audience to guess about.

Season 2: Episode 15 - Exodus

As Alex searches for Jeremiah and Kara investigates a series of alien kidnappings, the sisters realize they must break the rules to foil a new Cadmus plot. In an effort to get Snapper to run a story that would help her stop Cadmus, Kara agrees to set up an interview between Snapper and Supergirl.

Talk about the Danvers’ sisters justifying breaking the rules. But there seemed to be no consequences for Alex. It was almost as if it was expected and things were fine. Kara at least lost her job, but she seemed alright with that. So what message is this giving the audience? It is ok to break the rules so long as it’s for a good cause? Probably not a good thing for a superhero show to be portraying. Though having said that, what does Oliver do on a regular basis? The periodical round-up of aliens from Cadmus was heartbreaking to watch. It makes you think of another time when people of different race or ethnic background were segregated and persecuted for who they were. It was also heartbreaking with the Danvers’ sisters nearing the end, with the ship. It was hard to tell whether or not they would actually make it through. We have a week break until the next episode. All in all, this was a good way to push Cadmus’ portrayal of how far they would go. And it is also a bit of a reveal that Lena Luthor is quite possibly as innocent as she says she is, but there are those in Lex Corp who are not as loyal to her as we thought. That should come up in later episodes.

NEXT WEEK (1 week break)

Season 2: Episode 16 - Star-Crossed (Part 1)

A new villain comes to National City, putting Supergirl on high alert. Meanwhile, Winn's girlfriend, Lyra, gets Winn in trouble with the law. Maggie attempts to help Winn but old loyalties get in the way. The Music Meister attacks Supergirl.

THE FLASH

Season 3: Episode 14 - Attack on Central City

When Grodd and his army of gorillas bring the battle to Earth-1, The Flash and team must find a way to stop them before they destroy Central City. Gypsy returns to join the fight. Jesse Quick decides she wants to stay with Wally on Earth-1

It was really intriguing to see Harry and H.R. interacting, they really brought some comedy to the show. Seeing Gypsy again was great, especially her interactions with Cisco. Poor guy always goes for the bad girls. It will be interesting to have Jesse on the show again as a regular. As for the story, it was interesting, but didn’t really grab me. Some people adore the Grodd episodes, but they tend to bore me. It is just my opinion, but it seems for the time being, they have changed the future for Iris. Though, Barry’s decision not to check the timeline makes you wonder if they actually did it.

Season 3: Episode 15 - The Wrath of Savitar

While training with Barry, Wally starts to have visions of Savitar, which he hides from the team. A dangerous secret threatens Barry and Iris’ happiness.

Never Keep Secrets, especially in television. This episode demonstrates that several times, with the engagement, with Wally’s visions, and with the Philosopher’s stone.  There is no point in keeping them because they always come out in the end. It almost becomes cringe-worthy to see a character hiding something from someone because it will all come out. Having said that, this was a great episode for development of Wally’s character, as well as for Julian. We learn of his fears of Savitar. Unknowingly, Wally makes such a sacrifice in releasing Savitar and we get a very emotional ending to this episode. The hardest person to see react was Joe. Here is hoping that things pick up.

NEXT WEEK

Season 3: Episode 16 - Into the Speed Force

Desperate to stop Savitar and save his friends, Barry turns to the speed force for answers. H.R. gives Jesse some advice

LEGENDS OF TOMORROW

Season 2: Episode 13 - Land of the Lost

After capturing Rip, he forces the Waverider to crash, leaving the Legends stuck 70 million years in the past. Ray leads Amaya and Nate to recover a vital piece of the ship. In an effort to get the “good” Rip back, Rory suggests they enter Rip’s mind, but what Sara and Jaxx discover in his subconscious is not pleasant and they must fight evil versions of themselves. Meanwhile, Nate and Amaya continue to get closer, but it could cause serious ramifications

Welcome to Jurassic Park… I mean welcome back Legends. It was interesting that we had two stories in one episode, with the trio out in the wild with dinosaurs, and then Sarah and the team working to bring back Rip’s mind. It was interesting to see Gideon as a human, and the way Rip portrayed everyone in his mind. It was a really well-done episode and a really great way to bring Rip back to the Waverider. We also get a glimpse into cause and effect with some of the legends. Some are insignificant to the timeline and that is why they were recruited, but others, such as Amaya, must return to their timelines in order to be the cause of important parts of history. This reminds us of the dangers of time travel. All in all, this was a great episode. It was very interested to see inside Rip’s mind, and the fabricated people he had wandering about. But it is good to have him back as Captain Hunter.

NEXT WEEK

Season 2: Episode 14 - Moonshot

When the Legends track Commander Steel to NASA Headquarters in 1970, they learn where Nate’s grandfather hid the last fragment of the Spear of Destiny. The team notices a time aberration during the Apollo 13 mission and believes that the Legion of Doom might be involved. As the Legends journey into space to intercept Apollo 13, the Waverider suffers massive internal damage and Ray’s life is left in jeopardy when he is stranded on the moon. Meanwhile, tension grows between Rip and Sara as to who is the leader of the team.

ARROW

season 5: Episode 15 - Fighting Fire With Fire

Oliver faces his biggest challenge yet as mayor. Felicity continues down her dark path with Helix. After Vigilante attacks Oliver while he’s acting as the mayor, Diggle leads the team in a mission to stop Vigilante once and for all.

So once again the Green Arrow has been thrown under the bus. But this was a good move on Oliver’s part. The speech he gave as mayor was really well-done and gave a good reason for covering up the Arrow’s murder of a detective. Felicity takes a turn to the “dark side” when she decides to join up with Helix, and isn’t very quiet about it. After the things she had done in the last few episodes, this turn was expected. The work she did with Thea and then the work in Russia, tells us that she is capable of some very dark things, and I think we are about to see a new side to Felicity’s character.

NEXT WEEK

Season 5: Episode 16 - Checkmate

Oliver gets closer to the truth about Prometheus. Meanwhile, Helix refuses to continue helping Felicity until she does a favor for them

LEGION

Season 1: Episode 4 - Chapter 4

David's in trouble, while his friends search for answers

Wow, talk about a trip into the psychology of memory. This show is somewhat difficult to follow at times, but as a psychology graduate, I find it rather fascinating. I wish I could jump into my memories and watch them unfold like they do here with David. It is interesting to see certain facts about his life change, like not having a dog, or is it Bennie or Lennie that is his friend. We learn a bit about David’s history and that he is not as innocent as we thought in the beginning. All of this, along with some fascinating characters, made this a very well-done episode.

Season 1: Episode 5 – Chapter 5

David faces a new threat

This show gets weirder and weirder, but in such an amazingly good way. We really start to see the blur between the mutant abilities and the schizophrenic symptoms in this episode. The idea that David is Benny, Lennie, King, and whatever that last one was, is extremely interesting, but creepy at the same time. It will be interesting to watch this season over again once it is finished. It will be interesting to see the things again once we know the answers. As I said, this is a weird show, but entertaining as hell.

NEXT WEEK

Season 1: Episode 6 – Chapter 6

David goes back to where it all started.

 MARVEL’S IRON FIST

NEXT WEEK

Drops on Netflix March 17, 2016

Until next time...

Thanks for watching