Mockingjay Part 2 Review

Kyle’s Review

It was difficult for Mockingjay Part 2 to live up to its hype. It did a good job with what material was left in the book, but there wasn’t much left.

The fourth film in the Hunger Games franchise showed the rebels infiltration of Panem’s capitol and very little beyond that. Mockingjay Part 2 had to add a love-triangle that, while it existed in the novels, was never used in the movies until the creative team realized they didn’t have two hours of show time. Now, I liked the game Peeta and Katniss play, Real or Not Real (it’s actually one of my favorite part of the film), and the inclusion of a love-triangle between Katniss, Peeta, and Gale necessitated this game, but no one questioned who Katniss would end up with through the first two films. Still, Peeta and Katniss’s game was a nice addition. Too bad so many other elements left me scratching my head. Warning, there will be spoilers.

What was with the cameo by Tigress? I had to search my databanks to remember who she was, even after Katniss said she had given her a makeover at the games. Haymitch and Effie shared a goodbye kiss; that’s new. They also had to stand in for Plutarch (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) because of the actor’s passing. That made sense, but adding Plutarch to the cast with few spoken lines felt off. You couldn’t shut Plutarch up in the books and yet he hardly said a word, because Hoffman wasn’t there to deliver them. You could also see Hoffman’s bloodshot eyes which was painful to watch and made me wonder if the editors had heard of CGI. I wouldn’t have minded a little touch up there. And I know a lot of fans wanted to see the epilogue and watch Katniss’s happily ever after, but the ending didn’t work for me. I would’ve been fine with the first fade to black after Peeta and Katniss play their final game of Real or Not Real—again, I loved that game—but even if the creative team wanted to add the epilogue, there were so many better ways they could’ve handled it. The biggest omission from the novel was the fact that Katniss only had kids after fifteen years of marriage because Peeta wanted them. Here, they look like they had kids right away. In short, Mockingjay Part 2 extended things that didn’t need to be extended and sped up things that needed more time, but I still enjoyed.

With some exceptions Mockingjay Part 2 was faithful to the book. The action sequences were handled well and were entertaining; the hot oil and mutt scenes were especially effective. The actors didn’t phone it in either, which can happen for movie franchises that stick around a little longer than they should. I had a good time. I just don’t know why we needed a fourth movie. The further into Mockingjay Part 2 I got, the more I questioned why they didn’t omit twenty to thirty minutes from Part 1 and added forty to fifty minutes of the capital’s infiltration and the rest to the third film.

Grimm Review: “Maiden Quest”

Kyle’s Review

After some back-to-back great episodes, Grimm fell flat this week. I had solved the weekly mystery for “Maiden Quest” in about eight minutes, so the big reveal didn’t surprise me, and yet the reasoning behind the murders was pretty good. I won’t go into it here and spoil things but let’s just say Grimm put the antiquated idea of a man winning a maiden’s hand into a washer and ran a quick spin cycle.

We didn’t get much outside the weekly mystery besides Nick and Adalind playing house in their fortress, Monroe and Rosalee helping the new parents, the hint of a story for Renard, and Nick returning to the force. I don’t know how or why Nick’s back on the job—I kind of liked him being on the outs with the Portland PD—but I knew he’d be back at some point this year. I just expected more of an explanation and/or fanfare. If I’m being honest, I expected Nick back in uniform by or in the mid-season break.

Regardless, we saw another thread begin during the closing minutes of “Maiden Quest,” and in order to discuss it, I’ll have to warn you with a spoiler alert. Trubel shambles into Nick’s abode. We know she’s been tortured for the past six episode, so who knows what will shake loose?

Even though “Maiden Quest” was mostly filler, it introduced some things in Grimm that should be interesting.

Jessica Jones

Jim’s first impressions

The short answer is I think I’m going to like Netflix’s Jessica Jones. I’ve only seen episode one so far, but it held my interest. It was a little slow to start. We get a lot of Jessica skulking around New York fire escapes while everyone in the city has sex in front of a window with the blinds open, but it’s the second half of the episode that gets things going.

The show may be relying a little too much on the hard-boiled detective clichés. I’d struggle to name a single one they’ve missed so far. They also are leaning really hard on the Marvel Max nature of the show. For those who don’t know, Marvel Max was a comic book imprint of Marvel where the titles were for mature audiences. They had more explicit violence, sex, and all the trappings thereof. I’m no prude, but at some point, the show comes off as being like that boy who just hit puberty and brags about having to shave four hairs off his chin. It just feels like the show is trying too hard to be darker than Daredevil.

All that said, I think by the end of the first episode, I had a feel for what the show wanted to be, and it shows a lot of potential.

Arrow Review: “Brotherhood”

Jim’s Review

This week’s Arrow was a pretty good one. Damien Darhk wasn’t used for as much as he could have been. He mostly hung around to be a menacing figure, but I like that his confrontation with Thea presented some possibilities. We got more of Ray, which mostly served to set up Legends of Tomorrow, but it was handled in a way that I feel was less intrusive this time. Both Arrow and Flash have been weighed down at times this season, doing some groundwork for The CW’s latest spinoff, but Ray folded in with the rest of team Arrow, and that meant the show didn’t have to pull double duty with an entirely separate plot this week.

Diggle’s emotional development felt a little strange to me. I had a hard time buying his animosity toward his brother, at least after he and Oliver witnessed HIVE’s use of mind-altering drugs. Dig’s refusal to consider giving his brother the benefit of the doubt felt out of character. What’s more, his burying the hatchet with Oliver was sudden. I’ve felt all season they needed to have Diggle forgive Oliver, but it’s weird to have him call the guy “brother” after half a season of cold shoulders and barely contained anger. In other words, if you’re going to drag the grudge out this long, you need something bigger than usual to get past it.

Diggle’s brother coming back to the show also underscores something Kyle and I have been talking about since last season, and that’s lowering the stakes by undoing death. For them to use another “resurrection” on such a minor character is a big risk without much in the way of a foreseeable payoff.

The island flashbacks and Oliver’s mayoral campaign still aren’t doing anything for me. We’re not seeing Oliver change much on the island, and it seems to me like that thread is taking its sweet time getting to the point. As for his campaign, politician Ollie is never going to be as fun or interesting as Green Arrow Ollie, and I truly hope they don’t sacrifice the latter for the former. As it stands, we’re being asked to believe running for mayor of a major city is a pretty casual thing. It doesn’t seem to take up much of his time, and though he’s running unopposed, it’s getting tough to believe absolutely no one is paying attention to where the guy goes between fundraisers.

I can’t stress enough how much of an improvement this season has been over last. It’s still got its bumps in the road, but I’m at least remembering why I like this show.

Kyle’s Take

Arrow put its Legends of Tomorrow superheroes on the backburner and gave Damien Darhk more airtime. That’s a great thing, even if Ray made an appearance as part of Team Arrow and Damien wasn’t used as effectively as he could have been. Damien Darhk is Arrow’s fourth season runaway star.

The Diggle story leaves much to be desired. Let’s just say David Ramsey (the actor who plays Diggle) doesn’t buy Diggle’s emotional development and Darhk had to have used a third method of bringing Andy Diggle back to life. Just because the Lazarus Pit is out of commission—for now—doesn’t mean Arrow characters big and small can’t cheat death. To paraphrase Tropic Thunder’s Kirk Lazarus, “Death ain’t nothing but a thang.”

Island flashbacks and a Queen running for mayor were so first season. I’m not sure if enough time has passed for them to come back in style and even if ample time has passed, these two arcs fell flat. And yet we’re brought back to Damien Darhk and another juicy tidbit: his power assuages Thea’s urge to kill.

Ah, I love the Damien character. I’d hire him to stand in a corner and look menacing, which is what he did for the most part during “Brotherhood.” While I don’t buy Ollie running for mayor, the moment he and Darhk shared at the end of this episode was great.

Arrow had some Easter eggs this week and we have them in our Arrow secrets page. Here’s a link. Thanks for reading.

Arrow Secrets: “Brotherhood”

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Wolfman Biologics

Team Arrow broke into a firm named Wolfman Biologics in order to steal yet another vial of glowing greenish yellow stuff. I wrote down Wolfman as soon as I saw it on Arrow because it has to be in honor of Marv Wolfman, a prolific writer known for Teen Titans, The Adventures of Superman, and Crisis on Infinite Earths.

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Lawrence Tanner

This one is so obscure it must be a coincidence. There is a Lawrence Tanner in the DC Comics Universe. He was an employee of LexCorp and was killed by Lex Luthor when he couldn’t explain who was behind the sabotage of LexCorp technology. Sound like a needle in a haystack? It gets better. This character appeared in a 1998 one-shot called Legends of the DC Universe and it wasn’t until 2011 when he showed up again in another one-shot: a 100 page DC Comics Presents special issue.

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Andy Diggle

This one’s an oldie but goody. Andy Diggle has appeared in Arrow flashbacks more than once but his resurrection meant he’d play a bigger role in “Brotherhood.” Andy Diggle of the comic book writer who wrote Green Arrow: Year One, which heavily influenced the first season of Arrow. John was originally named after the writer but the showrunners thought a more direct reference was in order when giving John his backstory.

52: the answer to everything

Turns out the answer to everything isn’t 42 like Douglas Adams said, it’s 52 for the DCU. There was another News 52 microphone in front of Oliver during his press event. The address for Star City’s docks is 52. How many tablespoons of baking powder do you need for fish and chips? 52. Actually, that’s not the right number. Don’t use that much baking powder.

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Lyla Michaels/Harbinger

Lyla’s another oldie but goody. She’s been in the show for a while but she has a long history in the DCU as well. Comic fans know her as Harbinger and she’s always around when a Crisis starts.

Terrific Cameras

Felicity called the new cameras Curtis invented terrific. I see what you did there.

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Merida?

Did the CW, owned by Warner Brothers, just make a Disney/Pixar Brave reference? Damien Darhk calls Speedy “Merida during their encounter, so I guess they did. I don’t know about you but I could see Darhk watching Disney films during his off-time.

If you missed our Arrow review for “Brotherhood,” here’s a link. Thanks for reading.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. review: “Many Heads, One Tale”

Kyle’s Review

“Many Heads, One Tale” was a heavy on the cloak and dagger episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and that’s alright by me. The plot turns in this episode are the most drastic since the wake of Captain America: Winter Soldier. I think they’re better than the Winter Soldier ones because Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. didn’t generate its own turns two years ago, while the show did here. I don’t want to drop spoilers, but plenty happened among the ATCU, S.H.I.E.L.D., and Hydra.

Coulson and Price continued their game of cat and mouse until they realized someone played the game better than them, Ward teamed up with Hydra’s other head, the ATCU isn’t all it seems, Fitz and Simmons discover the grim reality of Will Daniels (Simmons’ other suitor) presence on the distant, alien planet, and “Many Heads, One Tale” gives us a bleak and compelling ending. I don’t know if this episode was meant to be Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s mid-season finale but it was intense and could work as one. I checked, and there is another episode scheduled in two weeks, so we do get a little bit of a break and there’s enough heat to carry the show for a few weeks.

Speaking of heat, there was plenty of romance wafting through the halls of S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters. I didn’t mind it because each relationship was a little different and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. refrained from drenching backstories with who is sleeping with whom; something you can’t say about other comic book shows. I can’t really say more (without revealing spoilers) except that Mockingbird (Bobbi) gets an upgrade to her batons and that’s great, Hunter provides some nice comic relief, and I can see Daisy (Skye/Quake) beginning to emerge as a character.

Everything’s looking up for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. “4,722 Hours” may still be the third season’s best episode so far, but shows like “Many Heads, One Tale” goes a long way in making this season Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s strongest.

iZombie review: “Abra Cadaver”

Kyle’s Review

iZombie finds a way to meld humor with the strange and morbid, and “Abra Cadaver” is no different. There were more yucks in this week’s episode than in most others as the gang investigates the murder of Sid Wicked, a magician in the vein of Criss Angel, at Presto-Fest, a magic convention. We found plenty of red herrings—some literal, others figurative—for the weekly mystery, the relationship story arcs were handled in a subtle and artful way, Liv and Blaine make a strange dynamic duo, magic—okay, it’s more prestidigitation—was on display at every available turn, and to paraphrase Ravi, the brains Liv was on this week were the best brains ever.

I may argue Liv has had better side-effects from the brains she’s eaten but the morose Sid Wicked played off of Major’s doubts about his and Liv’s relationship. Liv’s like Britney (Spears) only sometimes she’s “Hit Me, Baby, One More Time” with certain brains, and others she’s shaved head Britney. Sid may be more shaved head Britney and the results lead to Major questioning who he’s dating: Liv or the brains she eats. But Liv’s open about her flaws; Major isn’t. I don’t know whether or not Major’s drug problem is still an issue. If I had one small gripe with iZombie, it would be that Major’s drug addiction seems to come and go. As far as Ravi’s love life is concerned, he dumps his anglophile girlfriend. Even though he loves his native country, there is a thing as too much England, and Ravi’s ex gets almost everything wrong; they celebrated Guy Fawkes Day almost two weeks late. This breakup frees up Ravi to date Peyton. I think the two will get together eventually but iZombie’s pumping the breaks, for now. For being a show that was supposed to be about relationships, iZombie does a much better job than other CW shows of integrating romance into other story elements.

There was one element missing: Stacey Boss. iZombie did a great job of setting up this menacing human antagonist and was conspicuously absent during “Abra Cadaver. Even so, I didn’t miss Stacey Boss that much. I don’t think iZombie can omit him for too many weeks, it has other story threads to tackle, but Blaine and Liv working together to unearth Seattle’s zombie killer (Major) was satisfyingly awkward and tied several threads.

iZombie is working toward a strong mid-season finale and “Abra Cadaver” took several steps in the right direction.

The Flash Review: “Gorilla Warfare”

Jim’s Review

I don’t think this week was a step backward for Flash, but I do think it was mostly a filler episode. There was no progress at all with the Zoom story arc. In fact, Zoom only appeared in Barry’s traumatic flashbacks of their confrontation. Grodd is always going to be exciting for comic book enthusiasts, and this episode set some things up that could be interesting for future arcs, but the showdown came out a little paint-by-numbers.

Barry’s dad coming back didn’t do much at all for the episode. His medical expertise wasn’t needed because Barry healed on his own, and the pep-talk didn’t offer anything surprising.

I still don’t mind Patty and Barry as a couple, but I don’t think their relationship can carry the show, and this episode relied on it as maybe the one thing that moved forward(ish). At this point, the more they push these “awkward” situations for Barry to talk himself out of with Patty, the less sense it makes for him to not just let her in on his secret. I mean, he did just peel his mask off in front of his ex-girlfriend, didn’t he?

All things considered, this episode did just enough to keep my attention, but nothing to fire me up for the next one. It didn’t ruin anything, but too many more like it, and the show will stagnate.

Kyle’s Take

Well color me a comic book enthusiast, because I always like a Grodd show. Even though Gorilla Grodd—the CW does a great job with Grodd by the way—makes an appearance, “Gorilla Warfare” wasn’t as tight an episode as I would have liked. This may sound odd for the fastest man alive, but Flash shouldn’t speed through its stories. “Gorilla Warfare” should’ve been the second episode after Flash broke his back, not the next. I know, I know, the Flash heals quickly but “Gorilla Warfare” alludes to the year and a half Batman story arc Knightfall—oh no, I said Batman—but Flash zips through Knightfall in twenty minutes.

What’s worse is that we’re told rather than shown the Flash’s struggle to stand. If your ears blinked at the beginning of “Gorilla Warfare,” you probably missed that Barry had been recuperating for a week. Show us. Especially in a visual medium, show us. Now I’m not saying Barry has to be bed-ridden for months—that’d be boring and would betray his character’s healing factor—but showing us one episode where Barry struggles to stand, not just walk and run, would have provided weight to every other story thread “Gorilla Warfare” used: Henry’s presence would’ve been needed, we’d understand Patty’s unwillingness to believe Barry had the flu followed by a potential sinus infection, and you’d have an episode between two villains who could break Barry.

With a week after breaking its hero’s back Flash had a chance to pull a Prince Bride and have Team Flash defeat a lesser villain with the help of a Flash who can only muster enough strength to stand up during the final showdown, and Prince Bride physically showed up in this episode. (I guess I should’ve said spoiler alert for those of you who haven’t seen Prince Bride but if you haven’t, shame on you.)

Despite all this, I enjoyed “Gorilla Warfare.” I want to see more of Grodd, and Flash hinted at a return, but I don’t know if we’ll see the Great Grape Ape later this season.

Want more Flash? Dash to our Flash secrets page. Thanks for reading.

The Flash Secrets: “Gorilla Warfare”

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Gorilla Warfare

Like many of episodes of the Flash this season, “Gorilla Warfare” gets its title from a comic book story arc of the same name. If you think Grodd’s powerful in the show, a gander at the picture above suggests he’s almost unbeatable. In Gorilla Warfare Grodd manhandles the Flash and Green Lantern.

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Barry in Harrison Wells’ wheelchair

At the beginning of this episode Barry cruises STAR Labs in Harrison Wells’ old wheelchair. I’d be surprised if Wells—I’m sorry, he was actually Eobard Thawne pretending to be Wells—left a gift in his chair, but this wasn’t the first allusion to Flash’s first season.

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Harry playing the role of Reverse-Flash

Harrison Wells from Earth-2 donned the Reverse-Flash suit this week, pretending to be the Harrison Wells/Eobard Thawne of Earth-Prime. Man, we had a lot of blasts from the past in “Gorilla Warfare.”

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The Princess Bride

This one wasn’t that much of a secret, The Flash had more than one reference to The Princess Bride, all of which occurred in scenes with Cisco, but DC also has an inside joke. Carol Kane, who appeared in The Princess Bride as Miracle Max’s wife, is also Oswald Cobblepot’s mother on Gotham.

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Grape Ape

Leave to Cisco to call Grodd the Great Grape Ape. I love it. The reference may have gone over some viewers’ heads as The Great Grape Ape Show was a 30-minute Saturday morning cartoon that aired on ABC from 1975-1978.

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Say Anything

What’s up with Cisco and older references? I had a mad Say Anything flashback when Cisco held a pic-a-nic basket full of gifts for Kendra high above his head, while Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes” played. Comic fans may have superimposed a boombox above Cisco’s head, since Vibe is no stranger to them.

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Flash costume ring

The Flash costume ring was namedropped this week. Wells’ wheelchair may not be superpowered anymore but I wouldn’t mind a revival of Flash’s costume ring.

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Hawkgirl

The Flash teased us with fully costumed Hawkgirl. We get a better look at Kendra Saunders with wings, but she doesn’t do anything with them. We’ll have to see the Flash/Arrow crossover to see Hawkgirl in action.

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Vaughn Pharmaceuticals

The Vaughn name could refer to Easy Co. member Vaughn who served as a Heavy Machine Gunner.

Or the name could refer to Brian K. Vaughn, a comic book and TV writer, as one of Vaughn’s employees was referred to as Brian. Hmm.

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Cortexin

Grodd stole a few drugs this week but one has significance: Cortexin. Cortexin was used in Kamandi as the drug that gave apes their human level intelligence. Who knows how we’ll see this play out, but our next secret might explain where.

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Gorilla City

Oh, we got a great Grodd teaser at the end of this week’s episode. Gorilla City is a city of intelligent apes but they pretend to be no different than other apes—I wonder how Harrison Wells Earth-2 knows about them—so they can protect themselves from humans. One of Gorilla City’s citizens, Solovar, holds the secret of gifting apes with higher intelligence, the aforementioned Cortexin. I don’t know if Flash will go this route, but there’s plenty of story to work with here, and I wouldn’t mind Grodd as next season’s big bad.

Did you miss our Flash review? Here’s a link. Thanks for reading.

Blindspot Review: “Authentic Flirt”

Kyle’s Review

“Authentic Flirt” didn’t have as strong of a tattoo puzzle this week—the FBI’s big computer did most of the work—but Weller and Jane infiltrating a snot-nosed millionaire cyber-monster made up for that small shortcoming. Don’t look now, but Weller and Jane may have some onscreen chemistry; that was great to see. I liked how they played off each other and how they weaseled their way into the weekly villain’s trust. But Weller and Jane weren’t the only ones acting super spy. We saw plenty of espionage on this week’s Blindspot. Heck, David (Patterson’s ex) gets in on the action. Like usual I won’t say what happened and spoil the show, but David’s arc wraps up in an interesting–if not a little predictable–way and could lead to future complications.

Agent Carter—no relation to Marvel’s Agent Carter—tightens his screws on Zapata. Carter paid Zapata’s gambling debts a few weeks ago and we see how he wants her to repay him: spy on Jane. This thread took a while to set up but it’s humming right now. But the big draw this week was Rich.com, the aforementioned cyber terrorist. No, his mom didn’t give him the name Rich.com and I like the moment when Zapata refers to Rich by his given name and before Reade could correct her (by insisting it’s .com), she said she wasn’t calling him that, but Rich.com delivers plenty of levity to a show that often has none. I’m not saying Blindspot could use a Cisco—or maybe I am—but a few jokes time and again couldn’t hurt.

“Authentic Flirt” also ended with a few major happenings. I’d cover them in more detail but that would spoil the episode. Let’s just say that Jane and her team won’t be the same after “Authentic Flirt,” and that’s fantastic. Blindspot has leaned on slick visuals since its pilot but it looks like the story and characters are catching up and that has me excited.