The Awesomes Review: “Super(hero) Tuesday”

Kyle’s Review

In typical Awesomes’s fashion, all of the third season’s threads got tied up neatly with “Super(hero) Tuesday.” I’m saying “Super(hero) Tuesday” wasn’t a good episode, it was, but this week’s episode showed us the Malocchio family pre-evil genius and set up next week’s finale: Prock’s Awesomes versus Mr. Awesome and his new team of Awesomes.

Prock took most of “Super(hero) Tuesday” coming to terms that his father was now evil. Prock knew his father wasn’t himself for most of this season and one of this week’s best moments is when Prock figures his father must be evil because Prock’s best friend Muscle Man reminds him that Mr. Awesome never treated Prock like a son when he was good, so Mr. Awesome has to be evil now. Ouch! This exchange was one of The Awesomes best awkward laughs.

But the thick-headed Muscle Man isn’t wrong about how terrible a father Mr. Awesome is. If you’ve been following The Awesomes, you’ll know this next part, but if you watch the show a couple of weeks after it airs, you may want to turn away. Mr. Awesome is Perfect Man’s father and Mr. Awesome was never there for Perfect Man as a father. This makes for an interesting dynamic as Prock’s family grew a lot this season. Livewire’s pregnant with his child, Prock acknowledges his mother’s new husband, and he has a brother in Perfect Man. I like how The Awesomes focused on family this season, and they didn’t limit themselves to the show’s namesake family.

“Super(hero) Tuesday” spent as much time with the Malocchio family as it did with the Awesome family. We caught a glimpse of what Livewire’s life was like before her father turned evil. Dr. Malocchio was a loving husband and father. This season of The Awesomes asks two questions at once. Is a great man also a good man? Can a notorious man be a good man? The Awesomes doesn’t get too deep—it’s a comedy after all—but it’s refreshing to see characters with various levels on a comedy/superhero show. I’m all in for next week’s season finale.

The Man in the High Castle Review: “Sunrise”

Kyle’s Review

I don’t know if I can review The Man in the High Castle’s latest episode “Sunrise” without giving away a heap of spoilers but I’ll try.

The pacing of this episode was outstanding. “Sunrise” balanced The Man in the High Castle’s many story arcs with precision. Slower arcs (what happens behind the scenes with the Germans and Japanese) were explored to provide this world with depth and to give viewers a break from threads with more immediate outcomes (Juliana and Joe in Canon City, and Frank and his extended family). But the jump cuts from short term to long term threads and the leaps back built up tension until you’re left with the spine-tingling end. The episode’s final line is fantastic and a perfect way to hold us over until the rest of The Man in the High Castle’s first season airs next month.

In short, every aspect of “Sunrise” is amazing. I used to pay for Amazon Prime for free shipping and the Kindle’s lending library, but The Man in the High Castle, along with Transparent, gives consumers plenty of reason to sign up for Amazon Video. The show may deviate from the novel at times but the heart of what made The Man in the High Castle a Hugo Award winner is still there. I can’t recommend this show highly enough.

The Man in the High Castle’s Map of the United States

Arrow Review: “Restoration”

Kyle’s Review

Arrow has been one step ahead of The Flash so far this season and it remains one step ahead this week. Similar to The Flash’s “Family of Rogues,” Arrow’s “Restoration” lays the groundwork for the CW’s upcoming series Legends of Tomorrow. But while “Family of Rogues” had The Flash take a backseat, “Restoration” gave equal time and effort on Ollie.

Sure, Sara Lance coming back from the dead was front and center—heck, her story arc gave the episode its name—but I liked the strides Arrow took with Ollie and Diggle’s strained relationship. Sometimes you need a little less romance and little more bromance, and we haven’t seen a good bromance between these two in a while. Curtis and Felicity are getting a lot closer, too. I’m not a big fan of Felicity revealing her involvement with the Green Arrow, and Curtis is quick to accept her as part of Team Arrow, but this isn’t the first time a member of Ollie’s team had an impromptu play date with someone who wasn’t a part of the team, so I guess I can let that slide. But Thea’s story made up for that small shortcoming. Thea’s arc didn’t get tied into a nice bow and it grants Arrow the ability to have repeated visits with the League, Malcolm Merlyn, and Nyssa. That’s fantastic.

I also liked how Arrow wrapped up the Lazarus Pit, for now. I always thought that introducing an element to DC’s TV universe that was as powerful as the Lazarus Pit would make death meaningless. If DC’s TV universe follows DC’s comic universe lead, there should be more than one pit, so may not be the last we’ve heard of a Lazarus Pit. Still I like not having the threat of characters dying and then immediately coming back to life.

If you’re wondering why it’s taken me this long to get to the villain of the week, it’s because there isn’t much to talk about. Double Down was introduced, dispatched, and we won’t see him again. He only served to clean up a few things with H.I.V.E. and gave Damien Darhk a chance to show us his stuff. And I don’t know about you, but I think Neal McDonough’s doing a good job with Damien Darhk. He wouldn’t have been my first choice because I think of McDonough as Dum Dum Dugan (the bowler wearing member of Captain America: The First Avenger’s Howling Commandos) but he’s slipped in as Darhk so well that it took me a while to notice who was playing the character. Great job.

Arrow’s looking good after a few episodes and I’m looking forward to next week. If you want to know more about Arrow, here’s a link to our Arrow secrets page. Thanks for reading.

The Flash Review: “Family of Rogues”

Kyle’s Review

When I heard that the big cheese (the hammy Captain Cold) would make an appearance on The Flash, I wanted to dislike “Family of Rogues” more than I did. Sure, many of the things that plagued The Flash are still there (character backstory/motivation via dialogue projectile vomiting: Golden Glider, and some rushed and tacked on relationships: Barry/Patty and Caitlin/Jay) but Captain Cold himself wasn’t as Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Mr. Freeze bad as he usually is, so I took that as a win.

Of course, you can tell that “Family of Rogues” was a means to set up the CW’s upcoming series Legends of Tomorrow. This storyline opens the door for Captain Cold to be a hero in a ham fisted way, so while I like that The Flash made Captain Cold into something more than a campy villain, I’m chagrinned that The Flash may be the new waystation for DC heroes/protagonists.

Did I mention the other member of Legends of Tomorrow, Firestorm? No? Yeah, we’re getting a new persona who will merge with Doc Martin this season. I’m okay with that because Firestorm changes personas more frequently than I change my air conditioning filter—don’t tell my wife—but I’m not okay with someone new merging to reform Firestorm as the reason why Caitlin jumped ship so quickly from Ronnie to Jay. This is another peril of fast forwarding months between seasons. We heard—through dialogue again—that Caitlin grieved (for Ronnie) but we didn’t see any of it. For viewers, Ronnie died in the first episode this season.

As you can tell The Flash made plenty of mistakes but I do like how they’re bringing along Iris. She’s being eased into the story this year and what she has to work with could make her a more complete and likeable character. While I’m still unsure of Candice Patton’s talent, she can’t go wrong with more scenes with Jesse L. Martin and this storyline could have legs. I just hope they—and by “they” I mean the writers room—don’t turn this into a super-power or alternate Earth thing. Not everything has to go back to a power.

“Family of Rogues” had its issues but I see it as an opportunity. Captain Cold made his exit—sort of—and that opens the door for other villain(s) to fill his shoes. I’m not dead set against a villain of the week; I just didn’t like how The Flash started killing off villains. I’d prefer The Flash differ from Arrow in as many ways as possible while still existing in the same universe, so reoccurring villains of the week may work and The Flash has plenty in which to choose. Mirror Master, Weather Wizard, Pied Piper, and Gorilla Grodd can and should make multiple appearances this season. Bring on the alliteration, Flash.

Speaking of a reoccurring villain, the stinger at the end of “Family of Rogues” might be the thing Flash fans waited for the most. I won’t spoil it here—if you want to see our secrets for this week’s The Flash, here it is—but I could hear a collective sigh of relief from Flash fans.

Thanks for reading.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Review: “Devils You Know”

Kyle’s Review

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. continues building on non-powered characters, while Daisy (Quake/Skye) has little to no development. I’m good with Daisy’s focus on saving all inhumans and forming a superhero team, but I’d like more motivation as to why she has this new found focus. I wouldn’t bring this up again except that “Devils You Know” had Daisy deliver the line “I don’t think Lash is just some white whale,” meaning there’s a reason to why Lash’s doing what Lash is doing and it goes beyond animal instinct. It’s ironic that we repeatedly get that bit of dialogue from the one member of S.H.I.E.L.D. who doesn’t appear to have a reason for doing what she’s doing beyond the animal instinct of species survival.

It might sound like I disliked “Devils You Know,” but I actually enjoyed it. The rest of “Devils You Know” centered on the core human agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and their myriad of character flaws, desires, and machinations. Agent May is back in full force and she’s not happy about how Dr. Garner ended things and that he works for S.H.I.E.L.D., Hunter puts his plan to exact revenge against Ward into motion, Coulson and the ATCU’s director Rosalind Price’s tenuous partnership deepens, and Fitz and Simmons continue their dance over what happened to Simmons and her need to return. That last point triggered a pretty good cliffhanger for next week.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has a lot of great things going for it. It’s just too bad most of what works is solely on the human side of the equation. With Daisy as a—and even sometimes “the”—central character of the series, we need more from her. It’s not the actor’s fault; Chloe Bennet’s just not given much to work with at the moment. I think there’s still time to grow her character and until the point when she does, I’ll enjoy the other webs Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is spinning.

Yes, we have Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. secrets this week and here’s a link.

iZombie review: “Real Dead Housewife of Seattle”

Kyle’s Review

Liv’s BFF Peyton is back in town, Major is a full-fledged utopium junkie and zombie killer, and this week’s murder hits too close to home for Max Rager. In short, there’s plenty of fallout, and that’s alright with me.

“Real Dead Housewife of Seattle” doesn’t break too much ground as far as the weekly mystery is concerned—not like last week’s—but iZombie continues to surprise me with its consistency. To date it’s the best of the CW comic shows this season and this episode does a lot to complicate the main cast’s relationships. Peyton has both a calming influence (for Liv and Ravi) and a sense of impending doom for Major, since Peyton plans to take down the utopium trade and Major could get caught up in the crossfire.

Vaughn Du Clark (Steven Weber) is taking Max Rager to a higher level and this season’s zombies may be even more deadly than the ones the previous year. I don’t know how Blaine figures into things—he was absent this episode—but I’m sure he’s working behind the scenes somehow. My guess is that since he inherited his father’s fortune, he may be one of Du Clark’s financial backers. Everything working behind the scenes undercut what was a pretty good murder mystery that got wrapped up comically—the good kind of comedy.

I don’t know how I can say this without revealing some spoilers, so you’ve been warned: Spoilers. Frustrated with her friends leaving her, Liv befriends the murderer (by mistake) and then she has to take down the perp while they’re out shopping. We treated to a delightful exchange between the store manager and Liv after Liv goes cave zombie and punches out the killer.

With a nice combination of humor, police procedural, and character development, iZombie is the highlight of the CW’s shows this season—so far.

Blindspot Review: “Split the Law”

Kyle’s Review

While this week’s mystery was okay, Blindspot’s ham fisting of CIA versus FBI was a little much. We even heard dialogue explaining that the FBI works cases within the United States, and the CIA works cases outside the USA. Thanks for that, Blindspot. The best part about “Split the Law” is that Jane Doe’s tattoos could prove as evidence of government corruption. Who else could orchestrate the elaborate nature of Jane’s tats? I’m sure we’ll find out and Jane’s point of origin may be more complex than Blindspot first let on.

I don’t know if I buy in fully with Jane’s complex past. It’s as if Blindspot knows it’ll have to make things murky to justify a series. Sure, you could spend a season figuring out Jane’s cryptic body art, but what happens when you’ve figured out everything? Blindspot hasn’t gotten too convoluted yet but I can see it heading in that direction.

I’ll keep watching until Blindspot gets too silly. I like Michael Gaston as the head CIA agent, Thomas Carter, but Sullivan Stapleton (Agent Weller) needs to show more range. There were moments during previous episodes where I thought Weller was opening up a smidge but Stapleton went back to scowling and emoting an FBI agent with a troubled past and family life. Blindspot has some potential—especially with Jaimie Alexander’s performance—but I’d like to see more from the rest of the cast and “Split the Law” was a small step back in that regard.

The Awesomes Review: “The Gayfather”

Kyle’s Review

The Awesomes packed a lot into twenty minutes. Most of what happened worked but there were some forced moments. The villain of the week, the titular “Gayfather,” worked for the most part. Frantic gets dumped and dates a supervillain who wants to make people who are in the closet come out of the closet whether they want to or not by irradiating the water supply so that all gay people glow blue. This story shines a light on how some folks can focus too much on one thing and not see the bigger picture. Frantic lectures the Gayfather and his Gay Mafia that you can’t force people to come out of the closet before they’re ready and that’s why they must be stopped, while Impresario admits that’s a bad thing but insists that irradiating and killing hundreds of thousands of people might be a little worse than some people getting outed. The Gayfather portion of the story worked for me but the other half to this week’s The Awesomes fell a little short.

Mr. Awesome wants Perfect Man out of the way, in order for him to do some evildoing at Awesome Mountain, so he ships Prock and Perfect Man off on a road trip to retrieve some incriminating evidence. Okay, that works. Then, we’re shoved Perfect Man’s backstory and how never knew his parents. That was a little rushed but I didn’t mind it. And then we’re left with a reveal at the end (no spoilers here) that goes against everything we knew about some characters. That was forced and somewhat predictable. Anyone who follows The Awesomes could guess what the big reveal would be—it was that choreographed. Still, I liked “The Gayfather” well enough despite its hiccups, and The Awesomes are chugging along to another solid season. “The Gayfather” did end in a great place: Dr. Malocchio’s back on Earth and he knows he’s going to be a grandfather. Things should heat up next week.

Bob’s Burgers Review: “The Hauntening”

Kyle’s Review

We’ve had some more technical difficulties so our reviews are a little behind again but let’s get to it.

I released a sigh of contentment after watching “The Hauntening.” Bob’s Burgers needed the shot in the arm that a great Halloween episode can prodive and “The Hauntening” had just about everything you’d want.

Louise laments that it’s Halloween and she can’t get scared. Come to think of it, she was the only one cheering when a candy cane truck ran the Belchers off the road. Anyway, Bob and company come to the rescue. I won’t say how they make a haunted house work (no spoilers here) but they do and it leads to some great belly laughs.

I love it when Bob’s Burgers uses plenty of puns, play on words, and Gene spouts nonsensical phrases. They haven’t done that too much this season but they made up for lost time. I won’t spoil too much but here are some of the better jokes:
Breaking Radish Burger (Ah, Breaking Bad)
Linda greeting the kids at the haunted house: “Nice to creep you. Allow me to introboo myself.”
Gene (on turning the tables on his parents): We’ll turn them from parents into scarents.
Gene (after a jump scare and terrifying vision in a bedroom): That’s not a good use of that room.
Gene (after someone said an interior door slammed because of inside wind): I know about inside wind…sorry about that one, guys.

Often, Louise finds herself alone—in fact, she likes being alone most of the time—but shows like “The Hauntening” prove that Louise needs and loves her family. So we got laughs and the show ended with a heartwarming family hug and a Boys 4 Now music video and sing along. Nice job, Bob’s Burgers, nice job. “The Hauntening” is by far the best episode of this early season.

Arrow Review: “The Candidate”

Jim’s Review

This was a stronger episode for Arrow. It had some of the same old problems. A lot of the groups internal tension still seems forced, and some of that may be that there’s so much of it going on at once. I can’t help but feel like if they’d settled Diggle and Oliver’s issues before having Thea go haywire, it wouldn’t be so much, but the show handled it better this week by at least picking one thing to focus on. They made it clear Diggle is still angry at Oliver, but they devoted the screen time to Thea, and making it a little clearer that the effects of the Lazarus Pit are what have her out of whack is a good way to make the conflict more believable.

Some of the show’s minor conflicts seemed to crop up and find themselves settled much too easily, and too soon for me to care about them. The layoffs at Palmer Technologies, and the Danforth mayoral campaign are what come to mind specifically. They weren’t bad ideas, they just happened to quickly.

Dialogue was a trouble spot again. Going back to the layoffs at Palmer Technologies, the exchanges between Felicity and the layoff victims felt contrived, and that’s putting aside the fact that there’s no way a CEO does their own firing. That just does not happen, but it’s a minor thing to pick on.

Maybe the most egregious bit of bad dialogue came near the end, when Captain Lance was cued for a dramatic reveal of this week’s villain’s name, that being Anarky (it’s spelled that way in the comics, really). What I found annoying was the cop who said she had no idea what the insignia meant. Frankly, there’s no way a cop doesn’t know that an “A” spilling over the boundary of a circle means anarchy. Has this cop never seen graffiti? It’s not a huge deal in and of itself, but it’s emblematic of some of the sloppiness the show has displayed when shoe-horning in bits of a dialogue.

The flashbacks were entertaining enough, even if they feel like a backward step, putting Oliver back on the island. My big concern is that it’s not really going anywhere at this point. If the show wants to continue using flashbacks to introduce elements of the comics, or to setup current story lines, that’s okay, but it runs the risk of slowing down the pace of the episodes.

Oliver running for mayor is interesting enough, but it stretches believability. I’m not sure he’s supposed to be thirty yet in the show, and it’ll be a tough sell to have him run the city by day and be Green Arrow by night. Something will have to give there.

Finally, the big tease for the next episode was interesting. I won’t spoil too much, but I do like that they seem to be addressing one of the show’s big questions, at least for me, since they first introduced the league and Ra’s.

All in all, I think this week’s episode is a step in the right direction.

Kyle’s Take

Comic book shows need to rethink the skipping ahead several months to account for the summer break plot device. It doesn’t work most of the time and the improper use of this device rears its head in Arrow again. Felicity would’ve never met—let alone fire—those employees because she left Palmer Technologies to sit and spin for five months. Companies don’t hemorrhage money for five months before cutting employees and they certainly don’t wait an additional six months to see if things turn for the better. Yes, we saw a little bit of Thea’s descent into Lazarus Pit induced madness but most of her turn occurred in the five months we missed, so there was a lot more telling instead of showing in that regard. And that’s before you get to all the other threads that are rushed because we lost time. If DC/CW wants to continue the jump ahead, I don’t know why Arrow doesn’t use its flashbacks for the summer months. We could’ve seen some of these issues deepen worsen during these flashbacks and it wouldn’t slow down the pace too much.

I know it doesn’t sound like it but I, for the most part, liked “The Candidate.” I have many of the same reservations as Jim and I totally called the Lazarus Pit about a year ago. Whenever you introduce something like that, you run the risk of bringing back characters from the dead at an alarming rate. It took longer than I expected but I knew the end of this episode (no spoilers here) was going to happen sooner or later. Still, that moment was well done.

If you want spoilers, here’s a link to our Arrow secrets page.