Part 64.3 – Echo

The Marvels is coming to streaming & disc in a couple weeks.
Deadpool 3, Ironheart, & Agatha have finished filming.
Daredevil: Born Again has resumed filming, with some familiar faces being spotted on set.
The entire Defenders Saga has finally been added to the Disney+ MCU timeline playlist (but only in the positions of their first seasons; they still don’t know how to split a show up on the menu).
And that brings us to the newest entry IN the Defenders Saga, part 64.3…

Echo:

#1 “Chafa”:
–Flashback, time immemorial: What in the Kahhori portal is this?
–Guys. It’s already MA rated, & we already saw all the naked people. The clothes suddenly appearing is just silly.
—AAAAAKLAHOMA, where the wind goes sweeping–wait, no, that’s not it.
–Something’s up with the captions.
–Graham Greene has the confidence to ask when he doesn’t know something.
–“I like your peaches.” Wanna shake her tree?
–We can’t really blame *her* for Every Car Crash Commercial happening; the brakes were out.
–IEP compliance is mandatory. Just felt the need to point that out.
–“Different world”, “couple of magic isolated villages & also a dead one is under your feet right now”, same thing.
–There’s a lot of Hawkeye footage in here.
–Timeline cue: We know Ronin only operated during the Blip. This is all then or later, but before December 2024.
–You can tell this isn’t the real world, because the cops didn’t shoot her before she finished rigging the bike.
–False equivalence fallacy. Maya didn’t kill William.
–I’m sorry, no song with “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” in the lyrics will ever be taken seriously.
–Perv gets what’s comin’ to him.
–Ever danced with Daredevil in the pale moonlight?
–Oh, that delay on the false leg kick was SICK!
–Timeline cue: May 2025.
–No way that’s been open for 5 months.
–EEEEEKLAHOMA, where the wind goes–no, that’s not it either.
–I have never & will never understand people who leave spare keys unsecured like that.
–“It’s me, a guy who wasn’t in the flashback!”
–This dude was a weasel as Nathaniel Malick, & he’s a weasel now.
–Speaking of recasting, Devery Jacobs sounds familiar.
–“Queenpin” just doesn’t roll off the tongue.
–IIIIIKLAHOMA, where the wind–nope, still not right.
–You come at the Kingpin, you best not miss.

#2 “Lowak”:
–Flashback, 1200 AD: O hai alai.
–“Their ringer spotted our ringer.”
–Let him take the stuff he’s holding inside first before you send him to buy more stuff.
–Neftoon Zamora scam, love it.
–Why the hell is there a working saw just sitting open on a shelf!?
–You gotta be careful using “All My Life” in stuff; a whole episode of All That got screwed in reruns because of that song.
–This train heist has some bad greenscreening, but the rest is cool.
–It’s a train; just follow the tracks, dude!
–Meanwhile, thousands of miles away.
–More like “zippity-BOOM-baby!”
–You could easily get $200 or more for a good-condition PS4.
–I love that they’re keeping all the ASL in frame on this show.

#3 “Tuklo”:
–Logo: Hold up, let’s get some more fitting music over these slides.
–Newsreel flashback, late 1800s: The Charge of the Lighthorsemen Brigade
–It’s amazing how many people in this show are “exactly alike.” Maya & Clint & Fisk & Chula &….
–Oh, a VERY inconveniently-timed vision!
–“Are more people coming around here?” Dude, it’s business hours.
–The heck is she shaking up?
–Who names their son Vickie?
–Thomas E. Sullivan, king of playing annoying minor antagonists who get double-crossed by the real antagonists.
–This guy Zane is not very good at looking for things.
–I’ve only gotten to play laser tag once. It was also in a blacklit room at a skating rink.
–Oof, that’s a tilt.
–Somebody has altered the deal. Pray he doesn’t alter it any further.
–In the land of the deaf, the one-eyed man is Kingpin.

#4 “Taloa”:
–Flashback, 2008: And that’s for the creepy “Hello” song on your truck!
–Flashback, 2021: You just know that guy is gonna end up in the same freezer a few days later. This also narrows down when Ronin hit the Tracksuits.
–Where is the voice coming from? It’s not her eye. Does he have a thingy in his ear?
–Wow, he’s not even mad.
–Wilson, she knows you had her father killed. Stop playing dumb.
–He still doesn’t have taste of his own; he still relies on others to tell him what’s tasteful.
–The cookies wouldn’t fit down the drain.
–It’s not a question of whether you can do the job, Maya; it’s a question of whether Fisk will kill you.
–Young Chula is played by Isabella Madrigal, in a piece of accidentally-perfect Disney synergy.
–O Brother is a great movie & all, but I actually prefer Little Axe’s version of this song from the Holes soundtrack.
–Isolated her, lied to her, murdered her parents, groomed her to be a weapon. It’s giving Thanos-Gamora vibes.
–So there it is! Marlene taught her boy well.

#5 “Maya”:
–Logo: Giacchino wrote the special Spotlight jingle, & it was only used in 2 episodes.
–Flashback: We just got captions over a closeup of the bird. So close to the finish, & they dropped the ball on showing the ASL.
–Brought to you by a subsidiary of a store that was intentionally mismanaged into bankruptcy by corporate ghoul Eddie Lampert.
–Crud.
–Billy Jack is such a good boy.
–Visions of a loved one like this can sometimes feel random, but this one is really well-justified since Maya’s been having visions this whole time anyway.
–Thank you for lampshading (heh) how jarring motion sensor lights can be if you don’t know they’re there.
–Does Zane even know Fisk already has Maya?
–For a limited time only.
–That wink was such a flex.
–It feels like something’s missing from this scene. I was really enjoying the emotional journey here, but then sudden jump cut to Fisk getting back into a car.
–Mid-credit scene: From President Loki to Mayor Fisk.

Executive summary: Overall good. The performances are really strong; Alaqua Cox definitely took some acting classes since Hawkeye. There’s a familiar brutality to the action scenes. The flashbacks were really interesting. I’m just baffled by how the finale was edited.

Part 54 – Jessica Jones season 3

[Originally posted 6/11/20.]

Part 54 is our last Netflix entry….

Jessica Jones season 3:

#3.01 “AKA The Perfect Burger”:
–Ooh, a beach.
–“You think you can judge me?” Not until you asked that question, lady.
–Glad Vido’s still around, & while Jess & Oscar might not’ve worked out, at least it was the healthiest relationship of her life.
–What law did Jessica break? Oh, right, the Sokovia Accords.
–Dat Snick couch tho.
–“Something happened regarding your mother’s death, but Trish had nothing to do with it.” Dorothy, you were *almost* sympathetic.
–This is cowardly, Jeri, & incredibly cruel to ask of someone else.
–That’s a bizarre “jump” for Jessica to have made without some kind of horizontal propulsion. Hmm.
–I like that the jerk ballplayer’s date is smart enough not to ride with him drunk.
–And now, Malcolm Ducasse in Every Car Crash Commercial.
–Pretty sure this bartender was supposed to be Josie, but they couldn’t get the actress back.
–Dude at the bar is kinda great.
–Dang, looks like that kid’s dad really was bad news after all!

#3.02 “AKA You’re Welcome”:
–Directed by Krysten Ritter, so Jessica is barely in this one, which is odd for detective noir. Ritter definitely learned from the better of this show’s bullpen, grabbing the cool mystery angles when she can.
–We’re flashing back through the past year since S2. Even in her own inner monologue, Trish can’t admit to the enormity of her wrongdoing.
–Hellcat’s powers include enhanced reflexes, agility, endurance, & senses (especially night vision).
–Unlike Jess, who waits for people to ask for help, Trish is going out looking for trouble like a beat cop, & we already have too many of them.
–Trish does need a disguise lest her own fame give her away, but the comic-accurate Hellcat costume *is* pretty silly.
–Of course Trish hates the part of Jess’s job that ensures she actually gets the right people.
–Ugh, that smug “you’re welcome.”
–Well, dang. That’s inappro-pro.
–“Is it still available in bordeaux?” “That’s my favorite color!” Ok, but is it still available?
–What the hell is happening to you, Malcolm?

#3.03 “AKA I Have No Spleen”:
–My spleen just doesn’t matter, don’t really care about my bladder, but I don’t leave home without my pancreas.
–This isn’t just a truck hitting you, Jess; you gotta rest.
–Well, dang, that’s an awkward HR convo waiting to happen.
–“A hero has a g****** spleen.”
–That burger did sound freaking delicious; I’m impressed it held up so well cold. Erik knows what he’s talking about, & he’s good with boundaries too.
–Ugh, Hogarth is gonna try to break up Kith & her husband. The reveal about their open marriage is a nice wake-up call for Jeri.
–Dat mustard stain tho.
–Well, dang. Cello, is it me you’re looking for?
–This doctor is great.
–AKA The Peanut Gallery.

#3.04 “AKA Customer Service is Standing By”:
–What’s more innocent than kids playing by the pool?
–Daw, Jessica is confirmed a good person by super-radar-migraines.
–Trish’s chronic inability to mind her own freaking business is gonna get Erik in more trouble.
–Malcolm & Zaya are cute.
–Jess & Erik hunting his marks is kinda cool.
–Malcolm has the perfect reaction to finding out Trish of all people got powers.
–How long of a day was this if 12 hours after Jess & Erik talked in sunlight was still sunlight?
–Kith, that’s unsanitary.
–Sallinger projects his own faults onto others & has an entitlement complex the likes of which I haven’t seen since the last time I got into an argument with alt-right trolls. He also went too far with the 911 call; his own cameras will prove him wrong. Emergency response doesn’t look too kindly on false reports.
–“Are you a family member?” “No, I just need to know if she’s okay.” “Ma’am, that’s a HIPAA violation.”
–Sallinger thinks he’s figured Jess out, but she has something he doesn’t know about, & it just sold her a sweater.

#3.05 “AKA I Wish”:
–If literally anyone got into a tangle with Sallinger on the street right now, he’s screwed.
–Peter arguing with Jeri is ridiculous because they’re both vile.
–Trish is taking a lot of photos that Jess already has; Sallinger’s trophy album is the only important part.
–Are people with names like Gor required by law to become hulking brutes or what?
–What kind of hotel has communal showers?
–Peter, whistleblowing isn’t a disregard for due process. And you don’t have the right to paint a target on a bunch of powered people just to distract from your own crimes.
–Props to Melissa Rosenberg for not repeating the mistake of Brian Yorkey.
–Well, dang. The burger was that good, eh?
–Kith, like, obviously Jeri did it, but Peter didn’t *actually* have proof of that.
–Gotta hand it to you, Greg.
–If you could’ve destroyed the bodies all along, why wait until somebody found them?
–“I wish I didn’t kill your mom.” Wow.
–I pity the fool who doesn’t realize why he’s getting a headache in his hotel room.

#3.06 “AKA Sorry Face”:
–Yeah, if Costa hadn’t made a promise to the hubby, he’d be drinking with you.
–Sallinger’s rhetoric is familiar; he’s an incel.
–Malcolm, just tell Zaya you’re on vacation & Hogarth already knows about it.
–“That’s exactly the level of discourse I expected.” Well, it’s the level you DESERVE, based on YOUR ACTIONS.
–Holy crap, Malcolm, what the hell?
–Geri, you brought bagels to a funeral?
–“All I’m seeing now is vanity & lies.” But everything he’s saying is true.
—Papa Sallinger, if Gregory isn’t lying.
–The chef’s story really emphasizes how narcissistic & shallow Sallinger really is; he called the guy a fraud & tried to kill him over a single mistake. All his bluster about “bringing pain to power” & “having the only superpower that isn’t a fraud” is all a smokescreen, a rationalization so he can dismiss hard evidence that what he’s doing is wrong without having to admit he does it because he likes it.
–“The DA took one look at this case & passed.” As ever, Tower is a coward.
–Benowitz is a welcome moment of levity, but Danny’s gonna be pissed when he gets back.
–Trish, Erik will die if he goes to jail, full stop.

#3.07 “AKA The Double Half-Wappinger”:
–Hogarth, you massive heap of garbage.
–More MRA garbage from Sallinger. Even Geri ain’t putting up with that.
–“When you cozy up to maniacs, you get hurt.” That’s not hypothetical, solid S1 callback.
–Wappinger Falls is a real place, even though it’s the fakest-sounding name in the entire MCU.
–Leveraging Trish’s *other* superpower: Patsy.
–“They’re just casulties of biochemical mishaps.” Tell that to Iron Man, War Machine, Thor, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Vision, Ant-Man, Falcon, & Iron Fist. I’m glad Malcolm inserted himself into this conversation, if only to throw Sallinger off for a second.
–AKA Gazebo is a Fun Word.
–Go with the all-white one, Trish; the others are ugly as sin.
–This power-hungry small-town cop is the first time police have been depicted as obstructive to justice in a Netflix show. Not coincidentally, the department depicted thusly isn’t the NYPD.
–If what Sallinger means by “I bring pain to power” is “I kill anyone who outperforms me,” then yes.
–Trish’s weird little photo session is stupid.
–The “fair fight” challenge is very Yon-Rogg.

#3.08 “AKA Camera Friendly”:
–Cats, yeah, Dorothy gets it!
–Sallinger is going to kill somebody because he felt embarrassed, yet another page right out of the alt-white-supremacist handbook.
–What’s the only way to neutralize Dorothy? Make a live performance depend on her.
–InstaYap sounds like some useless garbage.
–“BigTimeWrassler”, nice.
–Gillian actually brings the bourbon, I love it. She’s been delightful.
–Dorothy had very realistic expectations for Jess’s interview & is appropriately proud that she accomplished her goal; it’s kinda sweet.
–Jess jumps straight up with Trish. Unless she then altered her trajectory mid-air (AKA flying), they would’ve just come straight back down.
–“Jessica Jones, a former client of mine…” …isn’t that privileged information?
–Aw, Jess appreciates Dorothy for once, too.
–It’s dark out at 7pm in NYC. People have been saying this season was set in June, but the sun stays up past 8 then; it has to be earlier in the year.
–Poor Dorothy.

#3.09 “AKA I Did Something Today”:
–Not like Sallinger doesn’t have it coming, but Jess is right; murder isn’t the best solution.
–“They’ll put you away, or worse; that’s what they do to people like us.” The glory of the Accords.
–Looks like you were wrong about Jessica’s “true nature.”
–Never. Turn. Off. Your. Body. Cam.
—In this clip, Kith will be played by Donald Faison.
–Well, now we finally got Erik’s backstory. Wow, man.
–See, they noticed the poo puddle immediately, not right before it exploded, Alice & Gene Hernandez.
–Not gonna lie, I thought Jessica was gonna find some way to cheat Sallinger instead of actually doing it.
–Part of what Erik senses is guilt & empathy. Jess still has those even when she’s forced to do something bad.
–Now THOSE are scars. Take that, Jigsaw.
–Malcolm twisting the knife on Hogarth is great.
–Oof, hopefully Costa’s life doesn’t get ruined by this.
–Trish, you are just so dumb.

#3.10 “AKA Hero Pants”:
–“Not that fast.” Jess isn’t too put off by the spleen loss after a couple weeks, but if she’s torn up her hands last night, they’d still show marks.
–Several of Patsy’s songs? I thought she only had 2?
–Erik isn’t physically capable of killing somebody like Nussbaumer, at least not at melee range; his headaches would be too severe.
–Dorothy’s ringtone was “Cray-Cray”!  😆
–Geri might genuinely be repentant for once in her life, but she still doesn’t really understand *how* to be.
–Well, dang.
–Dorothy was an abusive mother, but an outstanding agent.
–Well, dang. Genuinely never expected to see Brianna again.
–Jess is gonna need an alibi real soon before she gets shipped off to the Raft forever.
–Yep, it’s Patsy.

#3.11 “Hellcat”:
–Flashback time: It only took us until the 44th 42nd episode out of the 48 44 Karen Trish appears in to find out why she’s like this. (I mean, we already knew, but still.)
–Don’t cross out all parentheticals, but that swoon WAS terrible.
–Sallinger had prepared for Ganondorf & instead got Sheik.
–If the best response you have to being accused of wife-beating is “she’s not my wife”, then screw you.
–Sallinger got a “sorry face” out of Dorothy? Ha, doubt it!
–Heh, actual Patsy comics.
–Nussbaummer might be the first piece of crap NYPD officer in the franchise who wasn’t being directly paid off by one of the shows’ villains.
–The lead actor absolutely should NOT call out the rest of the cast & crew for things.
–Even Erik, who literally gets high off these guys’ deaths, wants Trish to stop.
–Credits: If you told me in 2015 that the “It’s Patsy” theme would become the most chilling piece of music I’d heard in ages….

#3.12 “AKA A Lotta Worms”:
–Yeah, sure, ask a favor of the person you just tried to falsely convict for murder when that would’ve meant she got locked in the Raft forever.
—Ring out. Jess wins this round.
–Sallinger is forced to admit he doesn’t know something about Jessica…but he’s still an ungrateful, spiteful SOB.
–Greg, that “intentionally indifferent rebel rock garb” is her dead boyfriend’s jacket, you idiot.
–“You pretend like you never wanted it?” What 14 year old wants their whole family to die in front of them, you sicko?
–“It’s messed up.” “Then let me go.” “That would be more messed up.” Spot on, Malcolm.
–Now who’s predictable, you smug jerk?
–Ugh, Jessica did all that work, & Trish’s clueless co-host ruined it.
–Everyone’s in heavy coats; who the crap was saying this is June!?
–Rest in pieces, Sallinger.

#3.13 “AKA Everything”:
–Luke is here to give great advice, acknowledge the risks of his current situation, & reopen my dreams of the Jones-Cage marriage.
–Trish is starting to rationalize like, & even talk like, Sallinger. You can’t “cheat” bleeding from the eyes.
–Patseras got as lucky as that chef, though Patseras is actually guilty.
–I love when Hogarth’s crap comes back on her. I don’t love it when she escapes by throwing Jessica in immediate physical harm’s way yet again. Thank goodness Kith didn’t fall for any of it.
–Oof, sorry, Malcolm. And even more sorry, Zaya.
–That webcast was the point of no return.
–A red wig? Trish, that’s what most people think you look like anyway!
–“No drugs.” Credit where it’s due, Trish knows better than to expose herself to drugs again.
—Jess catching up to Trish. (Stop at 0:20)
—In this clip, Byleth will play the role of Jessica, Captain Falcon will play the role of Trish, & the punch will play the role of the knife. (Stop at 16:33)
–Costa says it outright: The Accords have screwed powered people out of due process completely.
–Medical advice: Kung pao chicken is not an adequate form of first aid for injuries.
–Jessica’s departure almost ends the Netflix sub-franchise on a really depressing beat before she realizes that’s exactly what Kilgrave would want her to do. Now to get that key back from Malcolm.
–Aww, Stan.

Executive summary: Netflix goes out on a high note, as the MCU’s premier detective takes down an all-too-timely serial killer before getting punched right in the emotional face yet again. The cast slays. The story beats were much better paced than season 2.

Part 47 – Daredevil season 3

[Originally posted 6/24/20.]

And now, from one hotbed of Catholic influence to another, here’s part 47….

Daredevil season 3:

#3.01 “Resurrection”:
–Holy symbolism, Batman!
–“Several weeks” & “months ago” are drastic understatements. Let’s make this abundantly clear: There is no way *all* of the events of Punisher 1, JJ2, LC2, & IF2 all happened in just “months” after Defenders, & this has to be after them. But let’s say for argument’s sake that those descriptions are correct–even still, Daredevil’s powers do NOT include any kind of enhanced healing or durability; his recovery is gonna be nice & slow even past that point, so you can add a few more months.
–Most of the nuns I’ve known kick butt, & Maggie matches that rule. In fact, the only nun I’ve known who I didn’t like was my spiteful grade-school principal.
–It’s nice seeing how Karen reacted after the end of DD2, but knowing Matt already had to go back on that makes it more bitter than sweet.
–Nothing like a little bit of interfaith harmony. 🙂
–It’s worth noting that *even among Biblical literalists*, the book of Job is considered fiction, a parable, not a historical account like the rest of Bible.
–Matt feels like a failure, but Fisk is sitting in misery in prison.
–You should always filter or boil Neti pot water.
–Matt’s still not at 100%, but getting that clog out helped a TON, just like Maggie said. Probably still wasn’t ready to hit the streets yet, but our mans has developed a death wish.
–If your cards all got declined buying lunch meat, then either you’re bankrupt or you got hacked. Either way, it’s not time to put in a pool.
–Fun fact: Ray’s supervisor is speaking truth; the FBI won’t hire or advance people with bad credit or a lot of debt because of the risk that they’d be open to bribes….so why not give them the appropriate performance-based raises to remove that vulnerability???

#3.02 “Please”:
–Fisk is only talking so he can find a way to get Vanessa home safely, but Nadeem is too desperate to care.
–We never used the word “catechism” when I was growing up.
–“Argumentation is a skill; being argumentative is a sign.” “The burning bush business doesn’t happen very often, even in the Bible.” Spot on, Lantom.
–Nobody would be dumb enough to shank the Kingpin unless he told them to. Fisk wants his luxuries back as well as his financé.
–Matt playing the helpless blind rando instead of the suave lawyer is kinda hilarious.
–Foggy’s mother still wants him to be a butcher, & the whole family is too proud to let their rich lawyer son pay his father’s medical bills.
–Convict, when you are asked a yes or no question, do not answer it with a long, slow speech that does not include the words “yes” or “no”.
–Fisk was actually startled by that explosion; this attack was NOT part of his plan.
–That’s some slick shooting, agent…& some slick throwing. This guy’s gonna be Bullseye.
–Matt’s ears clear up just in time for him to get the worst news of his life.

#3.03 “No Good Deed”:
–Ellison & his wife are sweet.
–Foggy & Marci are sweet too, but Foggy has nightmares about Matt.
–Matt’s hallucination of Fisk is more effective than Mariah’s hallucination of Mabel & Pete, but less effective than Jessica’s hallucination of Kilgrave.
–Matt posing as not-blind rando is kinda hilarious too.
–Tower has a solid point, but he’s still a coward.
–$40 tuna melts!?
–Donovan, you don’t recognize Daredevil?
–Garage fight: It’s no hallway fight, but it’s cool seeing how Matt handles people he actually doesn’t wanna hurt.
–Matt juggling heavy moral issues from a standpoint where God is a given parameter rather than a point of debate is pretty unusual for modern secular TV, & it’s pretty gripping to watch.
–Crud, Dex is gonna try to kill that girl at some point.
–Matt & Foggy’s reunion is painful, especially the robbery.
–Matt’s complete abandonment of his own identity is almost the exact opposite of the regresssion stage of the hero’s journey that Fr. Delgado described last winter.
–“So the Devil is back.” Girls, dry your tears.

#3.04 “Blindsided”:
–Marci has had very little screentime, yet her character arc is very clear & sensible, & she’s pretty freaking cool now.
–NYC DA is a November election; this has to be late October.
–Hopefully, Matt posing as Foggy won’t tank the latter’s campaign…or tank his client’s life.
–Why is Ray so opposed to his son having a sleepover with his cousin?
–The Hindi for “promotion” is “promotion”?
–The blind guy can’t let his pupils be checked.
–Hallway fight 6. I haven’t typed anything for 10 minutes straight. Holy crap.
–If inmates not wanting to finish their food isn’t allowed (JJ2), then guards eating inmates’ food should also not be allowed.
–How is Brett the only detective in the room at a police union meeting?
–Even if Fisk wasn’t grooming you, Dex, he’d still protect the agent who saved his life.

#3.05 “The Perfect Game”:
–Fisk is wrong for the right reason regarding Matt’s eyesight, & is right for the wrong reason regarding Matt’s survival.
–“Gave the DEA [a] very white Christmas.” I get it, drugs.
–Ray is right for the wrong reason regarding Matt having been home, & wrong for the right reason regarding Karen’s discomfort discussing Wesley.
–Karen should’ve recorded her chat with Felix.
–The flashback device while Fisk studies Dex’s transcripts is pretty clever.
–Dex’s doctor was great. A lot of this kind of narcissistic behavior could be nipped in the bud if all parents taught their kids from the time they could talk that they need to care about other people. Shame about her terminal illness. Funnily enough, Mercer’s code for Dex is kinda like Harry’s code for Dexter.
–Whoa, look at you, all asking a girl out normally instead of stalking her! (I’m terrified for her.)
–Whoa, look at Julie, all correctly identifying a dangerous stalker! (I’m even more terrified for her.)
–Karen probably feels pretty relieved to finally be able to tell somebody about Wesley.

#3.06 “The Devil You Know”:
–The Kingpin is back.
–Karen, you & Foggy were targets even before Matt stole Foggy’s ID.
–“I should’ve let you die.” Truer words, Dex.
–Why is *anybody* questioning Dex’s actions during the transport?
–Maggie’s chat with Karen is kinda sweet.
–For once I’m annoyed with Maggie: A business suit should not be required to be deemed “dressing like a normal person.”
–Daredevil is the only person who can make Bullseye miss; that’s one of the reasons he hates DD so much.
–At melee range, Matt utterly dominates Dex, to the point that only the fake-DD body armor keeps that fight from ending immediately; Dex has to spam projectiles to win.
–Ray is a freaking idiot if he thinks the guy who helped CATCH Fisk is working for him.

#3.07 “Aftermath”:
–Maggie acknowledges that there are others who could go after Fisk. (Jessica in particular would be very good at the investigative side.)
–Foggy did his job. Nadeem did not.
–Holy crap, Betsy’s real!? I’d thought she was just Melvin’s imaginary friend or something.
–Well, dang.
–Warden, the only reason you lawyer up in this situation is if YOU were the one who released Evans.
–“I’m full of percoset. Jello. Rage.” We like Ellison.
–Melvin demonstrates why he was called “Gladiator” in the comics.
–Ray gets his first glimpse at exactly how much luxury was returned to Fisk, but in the process gives him time to get back in bed.
–For such a good liar, Fisk is a terrible liar.
–Nice of Matt to follow up with Betsy.
–Not so nice of Karen’s dad to refuse to let her home.
–Ray is finally getting with the program.

#3.08 “Upstairs/Downstairs”:
–Even in the public spaces, I’m still terrified for Julie.
–Both teams of Daredevil & Nadeem and Foggy & Karen have smart, pragmatic plans for going at Fisk.
–Poor Julie. In a show where a hell of a lot of people get killed, this one murder may be the most disturbing. Seeing it through the security camera just makes it worse, like an attempt at alienation that instead had the opposite effect. (Then again, most attempts at intentional alienation have the opposite effect on me; Brecht had no clue what he was talking about.)
–Dangit, Karen, you ruined Christmas.
–Foggy handles himself pretty well until he realizes Karen is out ruining Christmas.
–Ray, you’re an FBI agent; you can get that wound treated at the hospital & just tell them the circumstances are classified.
–Dex pops his collar? Come on, show, we already knew he was evil.
–HOLY CRAP MAGGIE IS MATT’S MOTHER & HE HEARD HER THROUGH THE CHURCH FLOOR OH MY GAAAAA

#3.09 “Revelations”:
–Lantom hustles pool. I love this show.
–Flashback: Maggie & Jack met cute, but she got hit hard with a very un-convent-ional case of PPD.
–Ray, you were 90% of the way right. Just the “unwitting” part was wrong.
–That “Creel vs Murdock” poster is still on the wall of the gym.
–The hallucination of Jack isn’t quite as good as the hallucination of Fisk; Jack isn’t blurred as effectively. The audio effect on both their voices was pretty cool, though.
–“The church has been helping people hide for 2000 years.” Sanctuary, Karen. Sanctuary.
–The Kingpin finally takes his title.
–Foggy’s brother is just dumb as hell.
–The look on Ray’s face when he actually sees Dex throwing, he saw that action in the stairwell.
–Rosalie Carbone remains the only crime lord in New York physically capable of relaxing under pressure.

#3.10 “Karen”:
–Flashback time: It only took us until the 44th episode out of the 48 Karen appears in to find out why she’s like this.
–Ah, so here is the junkie Karen from the comics, except she’s also a dealer, & we already know she’s gonna live through this phase of her life..
–That luge thing is idiotic.
–Entitled small-town cop is entitled.
–Karen’s dad spent money he doesn’t have, her brother screwed up her college admission schedule & committed arson, & her boyfriend tried to kill her brother. But sure, she gets blamed for everything.
–Back in the now, Karen takes refuge in the same room where Matt stayed before.
–Fisk’s techie is also a hostage. I wonder how he forced her into this.
–Fisk has no qualms sending his hitman into a church. Requiescat in pace, Fr. Lantom.
–Once again, Dex only survives this fight by his armor.
–In the comics, Bullseye kills Karen in the church, & Daredevil ends up cradling her body just like Karen is cradling Matt now.

#3.11 “Reunion”:
–Hell of a night for a walk, Sister.
–“Why didn’t you run?” She was running, Matt; that’s why she was in the church!
–Fisk’s speech presumes that none of these people saw his dudes attack that police motorcade & kill a bunch of cops.
–The NYPD has plenty of corruption, but it’s been Fisk-free ever since the end of season 1.
–Don’t screw with nuns, Ray.
–Theo’s argument is garbage.
–Well played, Foggy & Ray.
–Even a selfish jerk like Fisk can admit that even he doesn’t take precedence over the Holocaust. (They may have called themselves “national socialists”, but communism was just a red herring.)
–A jacket is no car door.
–Ray & Matt both kick some butt in the Nadeem household.
–“Obviously, I’m here to help you.” Love it.

#3.12 “One Last Shot”:
–Vanessa has finally rejoined the show, & we finally get to meet Brett’s mom!
–Seema’s rage is fully justified, but ya still gotta feel for Ray a bit.
–“Nelson & Murdock, attorneys at law.” Oh hell yes.
–“We’ll cover it” means “Foggy will cover it,” as Karen & Matt are both nearly broke right now.
–“I don’t even pick up a book in the airport without reading the last page first”. Tower, you suck.
–The buzzing in Dex’s head is gonna boil over soon.
–Vanessa wants in on the action. That’s pretty screwed up.
–In Dex’s desperation to be Fisk’s new best buddy, he’s murdered a Holocaust survivor against Fisk’s wishes & stained the man’s favorite artwork.
–Heh, “Five Senses”.
–Matt & Ray make a really great team.
–Godspeed, Agent Nadeem. For real, though, when did you dig this hole for the pool?

#3.13 “A New Napkin”:
–That split screen was very cool.
–Felix has a very punchable face & voice. Glad somebody’s finally punching him.
–Ray’s an original character, so it was a very pleasant surprise to see how compelling his story was. And God bless him for thinking to record his dying declaration.
–I didn’t expect the hitmen’s bodies to be stashed in the same place as Julie’s…or the hitmen to even be dead.
–Matt’s plan is smart, using Dex as his battering ram to clear a path through the security.
–One of those news articles is about Cybertek, the company that made Deathlok’s parts.
–Daredevil vs Kingpin vs Bullseye. Chills throughout my entire body as the advantages shifted back & forth, as Fisk passed his armored jacket to his wife, as Dex was finally decommissioned, as Vanessa’s painting was truly ruined, as Matt made his ultimate declaration of victory & forced the big man to cave, as Mahoney came in & knew immediately which Daredevil was the real one. Breathtaking.
–The light coming into the crypt full of flowers paints a beautiful picture for Matt & Maggie’s last conversation.
–Matt’s eulogy for Lantom is also lovel–“the man without fear”…I see what you did there.
–This feels conclusive, like a proper series finale, even the tease of Dex’s surgery at the end is just an “& the adventure continues” moment.

Executive summary: Phew. That was truly astounding to watch. I’m just…in awe. The show definitely bounced back from its dip in season 2, but I can’t decide whether this was better than season 1 or not. As ever, Cox & D’onofrio steal the show.

Part 44 – Iron Fist season 2

[Originally posted 6/17/20.]

Part 44, the riches-to-rags-back-to-riches story nobody asked for….

Iron Fist season 2:

#2.01 “The Fury of Iron Fist”:
–Danny’s new outfit is good, an Iron-Fist version of Daredevil’s old black pajamas.
–Same lame opening credits.
–The big bat-computer is a nice touch. Danny is taking his Daredevil-successor thing very seriously.
–Spongebob started in 1999, 2 years before the plane crash.
–Well, dang. Must be some gooood garlic shrimp.
–Alice Eve is on this show.
–Joy is still bitter at Ward for hiding Harold’s existence to save her life.
–Danny just wished Joy success in her plot to help Davos kill him.
–Wait, if Joy’s a villain now, why was she allowed to use a Mac in season 1?
–Well, dang. Ward’s sharing something at his rehab meetings.
–Slimy, yet satisfying.
–Davos still thinks something bad happened to K’un-Lun. I think even Danny has caught on that the city is fine & just did its usual Brigadoon thing.
–Davos also thinks the Iron Fist was his birthright, but one of the other contestants could’ve beaten him too.
–Shou-Lao’s power has to be let out, even if one has genuinely improved his inner peace.

#2.02 “The City’s Not for Burning”:
–There’s something about Mary.
–Colleen has officially shut down the dojo; that’s a bummer.
–Hey, more K’un-Lun flashbacks, cool! The masks are a bit silly, though, with the painted on eye shadow.
–These dumb street urchins might’ve failed to shoot the unarmed woman they had completely at their mercy, but they almost got her killed by cops.
–Flashback: No more Chaotix fighting.
–Is Mika Prada a real person? Like as in Prada?
–“It’s quite remarkable.” It’s a bronze bowl. It doesn’t look different than any other bronze bowl.
–Ever since Pirates of the Caribbean came out, I’ve seen a gradual increase in the use of the word “parley.”
–Well, dang. This whole scene is super messed up. Davos tries to threaten Mika & fails because she’s into it. Davos really isn’t into it. Joy records the whole thing. Yikes.
–Flashback: The fight went back & forth several times, but Danny did win fairly. Davos’s claim otherwise is just to save face, since Thunderer called it early to save his son.
–Crap, did Yang just get the 5-Point Palm technique?

#2.03 “This Deadly Secret”:
–Aww, Ward is going to Danny for emotional support! Seeing the two of them grow to trust each other so much after the crap Harold put them through is great.
–This kid BB is not a very effective thief.
–Dale Carnegie, Joy? Nah, you’ve got more in common with *Andrew* Carnegie.
–Neither Danny nor Colleen can fathom that Mary just stole the photos from Walker.
–Davos keeps his beard the exact same length as his head hair, so it’s one uniform layer of fuzz.
–Joy is dressed like a cartoon character.
–Chinatown isn’t “east” at all; it’s at the southern end of the island, which skews west. Joy is being intentionally racist to screw with Colleen.
–Spaghetti sticking to the wall means it’s done. It also means you just wasted that spaghetti by throwing it at the wall.
–Everything about this dinner party is awkward, but it’s meant to be. But it’s still awkward. I’m grateful to Colleen for just ripping off the bandage.
–Danny refuses to throw Colleen under the bus, even when she thinks he should.
–How are the cops responding to an indoor fight with no guns & no eyewitnesses?
–Ok, so Mary is Walker. As in Typhoid Mary Walker.

#2.04 “Target: Iron Fist”:
–All the titles this season are names of comic issues, but maybe they didn’t need to use the ones with “Iron Fist” in them?
–Alice Eve has heterochromia, which is very fitting for a character with multiple personalities.
–Who’s this jerk who thinks he gets to override his boss’s invitations?
–Walker’s description of her life with Mary is pretty haunting.
–At least we don’t have to add ableism to Joy’s list of negative traits.
–Unless he has an ally telling him not to, Davos’s response to everything is “kill somebody.” Need to do a stakeout from a hot dog stand? Kill the owner. Need to sneak up on a guy? Kill him. Art dealer doesn’t hand over a bowl upon first demand? Kill her. It’s a reductive, dismissive, & narcissistic view of human life, & it was trained into him since infancy.
–An old Iron Fist corpse was not on my 2020 bingo card.
–Misty, they arrived to the crime scene with you. Why shouldn’t they be able to leave?
–Walker dodges the Iron Fist shockwave, then ties off the Fist instead of trying to block or dodge it.

#2.05 “Heart of the Dragon”:
–“If only you were alive to see.” She IS alive, dingus.
–Ward geeking out over Misty’s arm is pretty funny.
–And of course Davos walks into a club mostly full of innocents & starts busting heads; it could’ve turned into another Rum Punch Massacre. And of course Davos thinks all criminals in NYC can fit on one guy’s list.
–Davos’s mother was hella abusive. It really ticks me off when people put words into my mouth I wasn’t even thinking, much less saying.
–You know Danny’s in bad shape if an idiot like Rhyno can keep him hostage.
–“Redhead”? I’ll give you strawberry blonde at best.
–A “616” is a possible suspect with abilites, nice.
–Why no hospital, Danny? Nobody’s looking for you; it’ll be safe.
–Bethany will not be a permanent replacement for Claire.
–Walker fights the Daughters of the Dragon to a draw.

#2.06 “The Dragon Dies at Dawn”:
–“Life gave them lemons & nobody taught them how to make lemonade.” Keywords: nobody taught them how.
–Davos’s sidekick has a good racket going (if he can survive).
–Walker’s got Ward’s number. Gotta give him credit for not relapsing, though.
–So, these tattoo artists are called the Crane Sisters, obviously related to Danny & Davos’s Order of the Crane Mother. How do they know all this K’un-Lun stuff? And why do they immediately resort to starting a big brawl they don’t know how to finish?
–It’s snowing, which in New York could mean any time from October to March.
–“Some kind of snake?” “He called it a serpent.” That’s what a snake is, genius.
–“The work of an Iron Fist, Danny.” So, you’re guarding K’un-Lun & destroying the Hand? No? Then that’s not the work of an Iron Fist. Davos’s entire speech is riddled with these fallacies.
–Alice Eve nails the transformation between Walker & Mary.

#2.07 “Morning of the Mindstorm”:
–This song kinda sounds like Flo & Eddie.
–Eyepatch guy got a real eyepatch, & Davos is now Fagan.
–Danny’s getting a Batman-esque leg brace.
–Don’t screw with bartenders.
–More of Davos’s murder-is-the-only-solution ethos.
–Mika is talking about *Ernst* Erskine, not Abraham.
–The flashbacks of Walker as a POW in Sokovia are pretty intense, but Mary’s video to her other self is equally intense.
–The weirdest part of Iron Fist’s mythos isn’t the chi or the dragons; it’s the disappearing one-of-seven capital city of Heaven, & yet all these supporting characters get hung up on the chi & the dragon.
–Colleen is taking Danny needing to train as way too much of a personal affront. He’d need space to rehab his leg regardless. It’s also manipulative of Colleen to issue this ridiculous ultimatum that they must break up for her to help him after he’s made his decision.

#2.08 “Citadel on the Edge of Vengeance”:
–Davos is training his gang to ignore defense. Colleen is training Danny to use the rope-a-dope.
–Danny’s biggest growth as a fighter happens now, rejecting his K’un-Lun training to respond to every provocation with homicidal rage, & instead keeping focused on pre-established mission parameters.
–“How did they know were were coming?” Because you’re predictable!
–Both Mary & Walker think the other alter saved them in Sokovia. Someone else did. Things got very bloody.
–BB is turning on Davos, Joy is turning on Davos, Walker already has turned on Davos, the Hatchets & Tigers are plotting against Davos, Wu knows Davos could kill him at any second. All it takes to stop Davos is all of these people communicating with each other instead of working seperately.
–Walker goes to the same doctor who worked with Danny in the asylum.
–Davos is now killing people for being nervous around him. Poor Yip & Rhyno.
–Danny reverse 3-stocks Colleen.
–“I think it should be you.” OH SNAP.

#2.09 “War Without End”:
–Danny’s making an extremely mature & smart decision.
–That wasn’t sarcasm, Davos; Joy really does think you’re full of it.
–The voices screaming as the paper burned was pretty powerful.
–“I think the technical term is patricide/necrocide.” Ward just impressed both Walker AND Turk.
–Joy is pretty beat up for a one-story fall, but it was onto concrete.
–Hi, final photo of Stan as Forbush Man!
–Two gangs & the NYPD (so, three gangs) are all going at Davos, & none of them have any guns!?
–Poor BB.
–“They’re all dead!” No. They’re not. If K’un-Lun had been successfully invaded by the Hand, the five fingers would’ve been THERE instead of heading towards Manhattan.
–The overhead cut from Davos to BB is really good.
–Danny’s brand is on his chest. Davos’s tattoo is on his back. Colleen’s tattoo is going on…her arm. Cowards.
–Solid Chris Farley reference.
–Danny is doing the motions to teach Colleen the motions. Hmm.

#2.10 “A Duel of Iron”:
–Danny’s narration on duality is pretty cool, especially contrasted with he & Davos’s childhood together. Good shot of the coin, too.
–Most folks with robot arms in fiction have to learn to apply a light touch; Misty has to learn to apply her arm’s full strength.
–Walker is the first person smart enough to try shooting Davos from out of melee range. This is the last episode.
–Walker is genuinely appreciative that somebody thinks of her positively.
–Danny should technically be one of the best martial artists in the world, but he has been trained almost exclusively in unarmed combat (& he’s still limping), so Walker is a fair match for him.
–This might be my last chance to say this: Play Misty for me.
–Davos slides along the cobblestone as if it was smooth cement.
–Acknowledgement that Luke’s on a downward slide.
–It’s still sad to see Danny & Colleen break up.
–Nice payoff with the coin thing.
–Ward has had an amazing journey throughout this series. It’s really impressive to see how that character has changed & how natural it all was. That makes two scene-stealing Wards in the MCU.
–Walker’s gonna be sticking around to keep Joy’s karma in check.
–CHI-KATANA.
–Meanwhile, on Danny & Ward’s Excellent Adventure: CHI-PISTOLS.

Executive summary: Dang, what a comeback. Swap in a competent showrunner, & all of a sudden you have a really enjoyable & fun show! Finn Jones continues Danny’s growth into a person we enjoy seeing. Colleen & Ward are still the best parts of the show…except for Typhoid Mary; Alice Eve was a huge surprise & a rush to watch. The reduced episode order definitely helped keep the story on track, too. I’d love to see where the show goes from here.

Part 43 – Luke Cage season 2

[Originally posted 6/15/20.]

Part 43 continues the Netflix chronicles….

Luke Cage season 2:

#2.01 “Soul Brother #1”:
–Directed by Lucy Liu!
–I like that these minions know full well Luke is gonna kick their butts & only shoot out of formality.
–Reg E. Cathey is on this show to take Luke back to Square One.
–I just watched Soul Surfer with my wife about an hour ago; Misty’s CGI stump arm looks better than Bethany’s.
–Well, dang. (The song is called “Night Nurse”. Clever.)
–“I was rockin’ full congregations […] on my name alone.” Rev, that ain’t how it’s supposed to work. That’s some Osteen crap.
–Dave “D.W.” Griffith, a black videographer named for the director of Birth of a Nation. You had to know that, Cheo.
–Netflix is subtitling the Jamaicans phonetically, which actually makes them *harder* to understand.
–We have our first MAGA reference. We haven’t heard from Matthew Ellis since the November 2016 elections, so it’s possible that he was succeeded by Drumpf, or that Drumpf lost but his campaign slogan persisted.
–Well, dang. Mariah’s had one heck of an awakening.
–Looks like recooking Luke made him Judas-proof.
–Misty’s new captain tries to recruit Luke under the Accords. It doesn’t work.
–“…Stokes. Mariah Stokes.”
–“I am di rock.” I am di iiiiisland.
–Mariah, you’re goin’ legit anyway. All you have to do for Luke not to bother you anymore is nothing. Leave him & his alone. He won’t bother you anymore.

#2.02 “Straighten It Out”:
–Luke’s training session with the Jets is very silly, but the good kind of silly.
–Bushmaster’s got a weird entitlement complex about a city he’s never lived in & doesn’t actually like.
–Rey, you are just so dumbdead.
–Misty’s colleagues are pretty consistent with what I’ve been seeing on the news the last few weeks.
–Mariah having a daughter is kinda outta nowhere. Her being a former-med-student-turned-essential-oil-saleslady is even more outta nowhere.
–Cockroach cracked the code. You don’t need a gun that kills Luke; you just need a gun that gets him out of the way long enough to escape.
–Ok, so the nightshade potion heals Bushmaster, but what makes him so tough in the first place that the bullets don’t just rip through him?
–This cat deserves the beating he’s getting, but Luke is still going out of control.

#2.03 “Wig Out”:
–Well, double dang. (The coffee joke is only cute when Luke does it, though.)
–Misty shaking down Cockroach is extra funny ’cause he’s Simone Missick’s husband.
–Guy in the background of the restaurant is being real sneaky with his phone. Harlem’s Hero app?
–“Stokes. Mariah Stokes.”
–The music is even better this season.
–“Stokes. Mariah Stokes.”
–Bushmaster, Mariah is trying to go legit anyway. All you have to do is nothing, & she’ll be out of your way anyhow.
–That grenade was super comic-booky in the best way.
–Daughters of the Dragon bar fight FTW!
–The transition from Bushmaster’s face to Mariah’s didn’t quite work. The one with the crowns over Shades & Mariah was better, even though it was a redo of the Cottonmouth shot from S1.
–Luke is really out of character in this argument with Claire (until he punches the wall; that fits with his flaws we’ve seen established over these 3 episodes).
–Let’s hear it for Rosario Dawson. 32 episodes of 5 shows. She actually has appeared as much as Danny freaking Rand.

#2.04 “I Get Physical”:
–Luke used to be a soldier & a cop, but in his current state he’s adapted his fighting style to try to avoid killing anyone (unless they piss him off like Cockroach did). This leaves him very vulnerable to people like Bushmaster, who require that extra force.
–Speaking of Bushmaster, his messiah complex is completely unwarranted.
–“You gotta be the only straight guy I know who likes show tunes.” I resent that remark, Nandi.
–It does seem strange that Mariah doesn’t know how her nest egg functions; it’s a pretty simple investment scheme. I don’t even think Piranha is cheating her.
–“Give Claire some time”? The apartment is gone.
–Nightshades are a very broad family of plants that include peppers, tubers, tomatoes, tobacco, mandrakes, belladonna, & more.
–You’d think Stark Industries would be developing something like this too, but Rand’s personal connection to Misty would get them faster access.
–We’re losing Bobby Fish too?
–Luke legally changed his name, so no, he’s NOT “Carl Lucas” anymore. This better be about something from prior to that, or else the paperwork is invalid…

#2.05 “All Souled Out”:
–…nope, it’s Cockroach. That suit needs to be re-filed.
–This episode written by Stokes. Ian Stokes.
–Foggy might’ve been able to get Luke off if he hadn’t broken the table on camera.
–“This is [Mama Mabel’s] dream!” No, it isn’t; her dream was a criminal empire. Mariah is getting delusional as the mental tailspin began when Cornell died progresses.
–Shades seems to be the only one in the Stokes empire who’s taking Bushmaster’s obvious threats seriously.
–Misty was let in legally & witnessed Cockroach using his “broken” arm. He’s busted.
–Scarfe’s corruption wrecked a lot of lives, both by falsely imprisoning the innocent & by leading to the release of the guilty. This is part of why good cops are only good if they stop bad cops.
–Piranha scored our next Wu-Tang appearance in Ghostface Killah.
–Misty shares my understanding that the Mets are pond scum.
–Bushmaster killed Mariah’s investor & one of her henchmen, which makes sense, but why Cockroach?

#2.06 “The Basement”:
–Weak Warriors reference.
–Piranha: Free. Your. Mind.
–Anansi does not approve of Bushmaster’s tactics, & he’s the only one brave enough to say so to his face.
–Lonnie! So glad to see you’re still alive & still smart.
–Shades & Comanche’s stakeoutchat in the barbershop is deep & revelatory on multiple levels. Shades is our first bisexual MCU character.
–Why’s Mariah asking about Tone?
–If your quest for revenge requires you to hurt a lot of people who had nothing whatsoever to do with the person who wronged you, then all those people deserve revenge on you too.
–Bushmaster hits hard, but not as hard as Luke. He’s superhumanly resiliant, but not unbreakable like Luke. His primary skill is speed/agility, & once Luke learns how to work around that, all Bushmaster has left is a sneak attack that he promised not to use, voiding his bargain with Luke just like how Gao voided her bargain with Danny.

#2.07 “On & On”:
–Rev. James, at least try to protect the witness whose life your son entrusted you with.
–“…Stokes. Mariah Stokes.”
–“Who says you’re not my sidekick?” “Me. It’s my show.” Wade Cage? Luke Wilson? Powerpool?
–Misty’s hop move in the garage fight was hype.
–Piranha didn’t scam Mariah, but letting him sit on the account for that long was a mistake; that’s why Bushmaster was able to get at it. (Also, he can’t pay Luke anymore, but Luke also doesn’t need the cash with Cockroach dead.)
–Solid “This Is Us” joke.
–Comanche, Shades isn’t stupid. Notice he showed up wearing gloves already. This is hard for him; he’s gonna feel bad about it, but not regret it.
–Props to Mariah for pulling the trigger right away.
–Buggy & Poppa McIver went out the same way Shades is gonna tell people Comanche & Ridenhour went out.
–Tilda isn’t restrained in any way. Does Bushmaster *want* her to save Mariah? (And if she wasn’t gonna, why’d she just stand there in the burning house!?)

#2.08 “If It Ain’t Rough, It Ain’t Right”:
–Tilda’s being real weird about Luke. If she’s been working here a while, surely she’s heard about him.
–“O’Reilly moved to New Orleans.” Yes, looks like Harlem has it’s own mayhem going on right now anyway.
–Mariah didn’t have any clue about Ridenhour, but does Misty believe it?
–30 blocks!? That’s a hell of a long way.
–“The hell’s a fawn?” Mariah never saw Bambi.
–Bushmaster is the only character having a good day, but he’s too brain-fried & blood-lusting to accept it.
–“Stokes. Mariah Stokes.” And a few seconds later, “Stokes…”
–So, Bushmaster is gonna grow nightshade on the floor of the club?
–“He shot you!” “Bullets bounce off, man.” “I don’t care! You can’t be shootin’ my baby.” Daw.

#2.09 “For Pete’s Sake”:
–Mariah sure seems pissed off that the person she asked to keep her alive is succeeding.
–Tilda, you actually understand the science behind these herbs; a lot of the people hawking them don’t.
–“I’m the only reason you’re not a chimichanga….” ~Wade Cage
–Adam Clayton Powell is NEVER to be confused with Adam Clayton.
–“…Mariah Stokes.”
–James & Mariah have an interesting conversation. Both are bad parents & know it, but one is a good person & the other isn’t.
–Mariah & Tilda have a much more painful conversation. Jackson Dillard was a good man, but homophobia runs deep. And we already know what kind of man Pistol Pete was.
–“Yuh caan drown.” Yes, he can; he just got out fast.
–Sheldon wasn’t ready for that large file transfer.
–This time Bushmaster was out of PP on Stun Spore, so Luke won easily.
–Bushmaster is trying to do a Kingpin speech in the prison truck.
–This was Reg E. Cathey’s final episode of his final role, so I’m glad James & Luke parted on good terms.

#2.10 “The Main Ingredient”:
–Cage chatting with the kids & D-Dub is pretty dang fun & silly.
–The Iron Fist has destroyed the Hand; Danny is correspondingly much more chill than he used to be.
–Mariah is being really nasty to Anansi for sitting calmly & being annoyed with her. I doubt she even realizes he hasn’t been helping Bushmaster.
–Danny’s thinking that living simply without his wealth negates it, but since he doesn’t need the fortune, he should use it for good. Glad he finally learns something about that today.
–Nandi is just dumb as hell.
–“Who’s the biggest rat you know?” Oh, good, I was worried we wouldn’t see Turk.
–“All you’re known for is Marley, marijuana, & murder.” And bobsledding!
–Seriously, a Heroes for Hire miniseries would be awesome, if this UV fight is any indicator.
–“…Stokes. Mariah Stokes.” ~Mariah Stokes
–Poor literally everyone who happened to be eating at Gwen’s that night, but especially Anansi. Even Shades is horrified at what just happened.
–“You’re starting to sound like I did. That’s not good.” ~enlightened Danny

#2.11 “The Creator”:
–Flashback: Once again, Mabel & Pete are the source of Mariah’s sorrow. Bushmaster knows how that whole meeting went, but Mariah does not.
–Alex is in way over his head like Zip, but from the other direction (& not stupid).
–The type of nightshade Bushmaster’s been taking is real (except for the magic Jamaican healing powers part), & is toxic. Tiny doses might be applicable for medicine, but he’s been using so much that it’s built up in his system.
–Tilda should not feel guilty for Gwen’s death; she wasn’t even conceived yet.
–Mama Mabel had the same rule as Don Vito.
–The 2017 West Indian Day parade took place on September 4th.
–Ingrid, Luke does try to destroy evil, but unlike your nephew, he cares about collateral damage.
–Mariah’s hallucination of Mabel & Pete is a great representation of her fragile mental state, but it pales in comparison to Jessica’s hallucination of Kilgrave.
–Ingrid, I get not trusting the justice system, but you’re choosing to do NOTHING.
–Luke was in a real good place after hanging with Danny, but this whole slaughter has totally reset him.

#2.12 “Can’t Front on Me”:
–I can’t tell if the audio in this episode is lower than the others, or if everyone’s just whispering.
–Putting a real person’s name on your drugs is a douche move.
–Yang, what would Danny think if he found out what you’re up to?
–“Rats always follow the cheese. (Make it Swiss!)” That’s a really good line.
–Cottonmouth did one good thing in his life. He kept Tilda out of the family business.
–Hi, photo of Stan as Forbush Man!
–“That kid was my son.” “Well, then you should be ecstatic.” Shades’s whole confession sequence is amazing, but that exchange in particular is the best part.
–Comanche’s mom deserved the truth.
–If I’m in a club where I know people were very recently shot & somebody starts playing gunshot sound effects in his music, it’s gonna freak me out.
–The 5-way fight in the safe room has an awesome intensity.

#2.13 “They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)”:
–Donovan, you can’t object to the reading of the charges.
–The judge is another of Mariah’s sorors, so she lets her make a threatening you-can’t-handle-the-truth speech. But Mariah, you could’ve helped prepare others to protect the neighborhood without the mass murder. Instead, you milked Harlem for your own profit.
–Sugar did his best, but he’s getting forced back into the life again. Only thing keeping Shades from falling back in is that he got himself banned.
–Luke successfully scares a mafia queen into backing down. That’s impressive.
–Mariah’s trying to turn into Kingpin in prison. Ben Donovan’s complete lack of ethics might just let her.
–Bushmaster has RRoD’d.
–Tilda, you don’t have to harbor him or call your mom, but at least get the poor sap out of town! Poor Alex.
–Mariah is trying to use her abuse to excuse her abuse of others. Tilda isn’t having it, but that was a lovely parting kiss.
–Tilda’s song is kinda just…there. This episode is 70 minutes long; it should’ve been cut.
–Was this timed to frame Luke? (Not that it would’ve worked; obviously Luke doesn’t wear Peggy’s shade.)
–Shades unequivocally lost, but he still kinda has the best ending out of anybody.
–Props to D.W. for stepping up & rebuilding Pop’s Barbershop into what it needs to be.
–I resent the implication that somebody can’t own a nightclub without becoming an organized crimelord. I’m also confused as to how Luke still ended up running the club after rejecting it.
–Nice Godfather shot. Luke Corleone indeed.
–Wait, this song is *about* Luke.
–“Tell Claire to go home.” Oof.

Executive summary: These episodes are too long, but the season as a whole is very good. Bushmaster & Nightshade are great additions, & there’s no Diamondback to drag things down. Colleen, Foggy, & Danny make for nice flavor. The entire finale is dreary as hell, though.

Part 42 – Jessica Jones season 2

[Originally posted 6/13/20.]

Part 42, the meaning of life, the universe, & everything….

Jessica Jones season 2:

#2.01 “AKA Start at the Beginning”:
–Geez, you kill *one* uncontainable mind-controlling psychopath serial murderer/rapist, & suddenly everybody thinks you’re an assassin-for-hire.
–Why would they shut movie guy down?
–How do radio shows track ratings anyway?
–Jess flew up to the top of a freaking skyscraper & Cheng knew she was there? That’s not predictability; that’s surveillance.
–These “urns” are kinda sad.
–They want us to think Trish is being followed by an asthsmatic, but it’s obviously Nuke.
–That flashback very carefully avoided Mrs. Jones.
–Cheng knows about Kilgrave but thinks Jess hasn’t suffered? That’s willful ignorance.
–Hogarth, today you must consider yourself the luckiest woman on the face of the Earth.
–Poor Whizzer. (The pet mongoose was a nod to Whizzer’s origin story, in which he got a transfusion of mongoose blood.)

#2.02 “AKA Freak Accident”:
–Well, dang.
–Jess found Koslov just in time for him to have died a few days ago.
–Dorothy is her usual crappy self, especially if what Trish says later about her involvement with Max is true.
–I think Costa likes Jess’s style. Detective Mathnet sure doesn’t, though.
–Hogarth’s coke-fueled pity orgy is a tremendous waste of our time. Like, I get it. It makes sense. It’s just way too long & boring.
–“Your phone has a video camera, right?” Trish, *my* phone has a video camera, & I use a flip from 3 years before this is set (& 4 years before it came out).
–If witnessing a crime from across the street puts your custody rights at risk, then something is really screwed up in the family court system.
–“With great power comes great mental illness.” I laughed. I’m horrible.
–Griffin is such a complete 180 from Cheng & Oscar & Max; it’s really refreshing.
–Come on, we’re killing off Simpson already?

#2.03 “AKA Sole Survivor”:
–If psychologists really wanted to reach people who are scared of psychologists, they wouldn’t take so much offense to the word “shrink.”
–Only about 10-15% of ALS patients display signs of dementia. How did Chao & Benowitz even find out about Hogarth’s diagnosis?
–Quick reminder that Foggy works for Jeri now.
–Alas, poor Dr. Leslie Hansen, I knew her, Trish.
–I now know about as much about Jessica’s smug landlord as I did about Pam last season, but unlike Pam, the landlord isn’t important.
–We like Vido. He’s fun. And he says “Captain America” very naturally. (Nice touch with him losing the shield like real Cap did.)
–Griffin, don’t sneak up on a paranoid woman with martial arts training; you’ll make her accent slip.
–Trish’s producer deserves better than this.
–“Could this be any more cloak-and-dagger?” Has Jess been looking at my rewatch itinerary?
–“She’s spreading lies.” …All she said was that Hansen was a good doctor–OH SNAP.

#2.04 “AKA God Help the Hobo”:
–It’s summer 2017.
–A lot of the people in that anger management group really do deserve the help & the rehab, but a few of them are abusive jerks.
–“My clients value their privacy” *after* looking at the picture is a yes;
–“A man can serve himself, or a man can serve humanity” is not the right sales pitch to give to somebody who *is* serving humanity to try convincing him to join you to serve humanity.
–Well, double dang.
–Malcolm, my man. Magnificent.
–Hogarth must be getting desperate; she’s not even symptomatic yet.
–That taser looks like a dang rocket launcher.
–Cheng may not’ve been dirty before, but he just committed B&E, sabotage, theft, & conspiracy…& since his guy got killed, felony murder.

#2.05 “AKA The Octopus”:
–Kevin Smith tells the story about how when Jason Mewes was kicking his drug habit, he replaced it with a LOT of sex. I think Malcolm knows that story. Trish, on the other hand, is headed towards relapse.
–Don’t worry, mystery killer lady! You can still play that piano!
–The irony of a black woman saying “you people” should not go unremarked upon.
–Ah, Costa was there the day Kilgrave visited the station; that’s why he trusts Jessica.
–Cheng has a lot of effing gall showing his face outside the precinct right now. Jess is right; he is actually horrible at this job. It seems like all he actually knows is security.
–I liked that plainimetric view of Malcolm & Inez; they should’ve held that longer.
–Griffin is actually really sweet. I wonder how Trish is gonna ruin this for herself.
–Jeri’s safe house is her own home? That’s neither safe nor ethical…crap, she wants IGH treatments to cure her ALS, because she learned absolutely nothing last time around.
–Jess is being genuinely sweet to this Dave dude.
–Huh, Trish actually has a father? I always thought Dorothy built her in a lab. (Nice slap, by the way.)
–Poor fish. (But where’s the person who called for help?)

#2.06 “AKA Facetime”:
–And we start off with everyone escaping outside, Jess soaked from the waist down, the “help me” from the last episode completely forgotten.
–Well, dang. There’s something symbolic about Jessica in purple.
–Trish is wandering the streets looking for a fight like an jerk, & expecting gratitude for it like an entitled brat.
–Of course Inez has a tacky kanji tattoo that probably doesn’t mean what she thinks it does.
—The inside of Malcolm’s mind righ–her name is “Niche”!?
–Jeri, Malcolm warned you about your valuables.
–“Malus”? As in “I’m a bad guy”? Or as in the final Colossus?
–Men-only & women-only clubs aren’t illegal; why not just say that’s the reason upfront instead of lying about “not accepting new members”?
–Inez sounds like she’s describing SCP-590.
–Well, dang. Now I’ve seen Malcolm’s butt. Ay-yi-yi-yi-yi. (“I see you”? What the hell is that, Trish?)
–It’s appreciated that Jess realizes she’s crossing lines she shouldn’t.
–Is “Here Comes Santa Claus” really that emotionally resonant to–HOLD UP. If this is Jessica’s mom, whose ashes are in the box?

#2.07 “AKA I Want Your Cray-Cray”:
–Alisa’s POV is interesting. They’re playing off the recast as “facial trauma.”
–Oh my. You can tell Trish wrote this song herself….while drunk.
–“It got the It’s Patsy theme song out of my head.” True.
–It’s sweet because they have in fact called each other for those exact reasons since.
–No, Stirling, her middle name is “Private”. Jessica Private Jones.
–It’s BIZARRE seeing Jessica this happy. Stirling seems a good dude, but with some pride issues.
–“Club Alias”? Oh no, he’s gonna die.
–Kinda feel bad for Alisa a little, but she keeps maiming people & refuses the treatment to make that not happen, so my patience kinda wears thin.
–Even in a drunken grieving rage, Jessica has more control over herself & her powers than Alisa does.
–Best episode of the season so far.

#2.08 “AKA Ain’t We Got Fun”:
–Trish has never read “Flowers for Algernon”.
–Post-Accords, the Raft is now standard operating procedure for powered criminals. Screw you, Thunderbolt.
–Alisa, you don’t need to make up a story about impending divorce to justify starting a new relationship 5+ years after being widowed. And yeah, Michigan is a good school, but if you were good enough to get hired there, you could get hired somewhere closer too.
–“Didn’t [Cobain] commit suicide?” I mean, did he, though?
–I never even heard of a duvet until I met my wife, & my childhood was more like Jessica’s than my wife’s was.
–Wait, Oscar lives right above Jessica…in Robyn’s old place. Where did the previous super live?
–“Unless it doesn’t have to end.” Memento mori, Alisa.
–Being gay, not blackmail material. Cheating on your wife, however….
–Trish had been clean for 10 years; falling off the wagon was her call. Malcolm had been clean for what was probably closer to 10 months. What Trish did to him was NOT acceptable, & I’m proud of him for running away afterwards.

#2.09 “AKA Shark in the Bathtub, Monster in the Bed”:
–Wow, Cheng’s not even good at military stuff; he completely botched that snipe.
–Trish is gonna get herself hurt if she keeps huffing combat enhancers & throwing her childish sense of humanity around.
–Griffin’s been in Syria for *weeks*? They only broke up 4 episodes ago, & one of those was a flashback!
–Butter on spaghetti is delightful; I just had some myself. But jam?
–Jeri, you still aren’t even showing symptoms, & you’re blackmailing a man to force him to shorten his lifespan for yours.
–Trish clearly has seen Network but didn’t understand the ending.
–Hi, photo of Stan as Forbush Man!
–Sonia just screwed herself big time on custody.
–This is slightly less awkward than the sex scene in Matrix Reloaded.
–Trish didn’t hang up. How did her call with her agent end?

#2.10 “AKA Pork Chop”:
–We open with more Accords-related Constitutional rights violations.
–Hey, Trish, maybe don’t show up to a job interview stoned.
–Malcolm has a valid complaint.
–Oh, this guard is a real piece of work. A very Rackham-esque fellow.
–Looks like Karl is good for something after all; Shane the Healer is a fraud.
–Trish, stop poking the bear. Also, the bear has a point about your jealousy.
–Ok, now I actually do feel bad for Jeri for a few seconds.
–I also feel bad for…Jessica. Not Dale. Screw Dale. Bye, Dale!

#2.11 “AKA Three Lives and Counting”:
–Those purple flashes & little whispers & glimpses of at first, that’s shock. The fully manifested hallucinations of Kilgrave, though, that’s guilt–undeserved guilt, of course, because all she did was stop somebody from murdering her, but still. Jessica has a deep-seeded fear that her abductor rubbed off on her.
–David Tennant singing “I Want Your Cray-Cray” is the greatest moment in television history.
–Heart rates are a big deal in the MCU. Banner, then Daisy, then Elena, & now Alisa.
–Trish’s plan is completely idiotic, & she not only torched her relationship with Malcolm & his sobriety, but also torched his job.
–Alisa’s new guard iswas a genuinely good person. Poor Marilyn.
–Ok, now THIS is the best episode of the season.

#2.12 “AKA Pray for My Patsy”:
–Dorothy actually isn’t the one being horrible this time (Thembi is), but she’s still screwing things up.
–Poor Sunday. She was a jerk, but she wasn’t the kind of jerk who deserved that.
–So *that’s* how Turk keeps getting out of jail; he gets Hogarth stuff in exchange for free legal services.
–Jessica’s escape plan stinks. Literally.
–Holy crap, Jeri, this plan is cold-blooded. (And watching this just a few days after the Central Park video makes it even worse.)
–In the comics, Patsy/Trish dies & comes back, so hey.
–Two of Jess’s plans for capturing Kilgrave alive were rather good, & one was bad but understandable. Thinking she’d be able to shoot her mom, however, is completely nuts.
–This turned into the end of Terminator for a second.

#2.13 “AKA Playland”:
–“We are the two most powerful women in the world!” Um, Carol may not be home, but Wanda is.
–The car crash rescue sequence is really strong. It’s a more hopeful version of the Hero Kilgrave sequence last season, which works on two levels; (a) unlike Kilgrave, Alisa actually has human empathy, (b) Jessica herself has just scored a victory against her inner Kilgrave.
–Oh, Oscar, you gotta be a little more savvy; you’re lucky they didn’t find your forgery kit.
–I figured Chao was dirty, but I didn’t realize Benowitz was in it with her. Malcolm is learning to be devious; hopefully he doesn’t lose his previous ethics along the way.
–Alisa’s resignation is kinda tragic, but it’s also the most human she’s been all season.
–How do you operate a ride from insid–oh dear lord. Trish what have you done.
–This turned into the end of Of Mice & Men for a second.
–Trish, for one gorram second, stop trying to make this about you. Let your sister grieve. She’ll get in touch with you again when she’s ready.
–Ugh, how is Pryce even still in business?
–Jessica back to work & starting a healthy relationship is at least a high note to go out on.

Executive summary: There’s very good character work here, & very bold plot choices, but the season as a whole is too disjointed & meandering for what is allegedly a single story. Nuke was thrown away too soon, IGH fizzled out, and Malus & Alisa were underwhelming. The only real payoff to anything is Hellcat’s origin story.

Part 33 – The Defenders

[Originally posted 5/25/20.]

Part 33 overlaps the past couple parts.

The Defenders:

#1 “The H Word”:
–The Immortal Iron Fist, protector of K’un-Lun & sworn enemy of the Hand, just failed at saving a dude from a Cambodian sewer. I truly cannot see his opponent beyond that she’s a woman. Glad he & Colleen found something to do after their backpacking trip fell through.
–The design of the opening with the street grid of Manhattan forming the heroes is very cool-looking, but the song is just kinda there.
–Jumping straight to Jessica’s direct cynicism after having spend so long with Danny’s cryptic goody-goody-ness is a breath of fresh air I didn’t expect it to be.
–Luke’s going home! Looks like Foggy was able to put his new gig to good use.
–Matt kicked some butt in court, but he kicked even more butt with the firsthand advice he gave that kid.
–Danny still isn’t comfortably flying, but it’s still absurd of him to keep thinking K’un-Lun was slaughtered when (a) the only corpses at the gate were Hand, & (b) the city was gonna disappear anyway.
–Sigourney-effing-Weaver is on this show.
–The color scheming is very clever. It’s all very natural, mostly through practical light/costume/set design moreso than exposure tricks.
–Fun fact: If you don’t want a PI to do something, don’t tell them not to do it.
–Well, dang. Claire really wanted that coffee.
–The whole crew is here: Claire, Foggy, Karen, Lantom, Trish, Malcolm, Misty, Colleen, Gao….
–Matt’s went to confession twice in 5 days? My parish only even offers it once a week.
–I don’t wanna be around the person who scares Madame Gao.
–$24 in 1700 is equivalent to $1500 today. Minuit was still a crook, but let’s not act like inflation isn’t a thing.
–There is a faultline through Manhattan, but it shouldn’t be causing this–holy crap, it’s Elektra.

#2 “Mean Right Hook”:
–Weirdly, this Daredevil sequence is flashing between red & green.
–The Hand has its…hands in Trish’s station.
–A licensed PI who calls the cops about a bunch of explosives she found, has a reasonable story about finding them, and stays until the cops arrive definitely is not involved with the explosives. Misty certainly knows that, & if she’d gotten to the scene sooner, she could’ve questioned Jess quickly instead of Officer Lunkhead.
–Colleen, your contact sent you back to New York because the Hand are here. Danny, you’re making progress against the Hand because you left your post.
–Whoever wrote the line “We’ve never encountered a wall before” should be fired.
–Hogarth might actually be thinking in Jess’s interests for once. She’s not connected to the Raymond case, so it can’t be her usual self-preservation.
–Turk saw Luke & took a long look at his life to wonder how he got here.
–White Hat is not a White Hat.
–How do you know that’s a picture of K’un-Lun, Danny? There are no distinctive features.
–Luke has a very different reaction to “Who are you?” than T’Challa does. Iron Fist, meet Iron Jaw.
–So this is how Foggy keeps the firm distant from Jessica, by sending Matt.

#3 “Worst Behavior”:
–Alexandra, it’s been a long time gone, Constantinople.
–“Months ago.” Elektra died just before Christmas 2015, so it’s spring or summer 2016 now, overlapping the Hive arc, Civil War, & Black Panther.
–So that’s why Ellen Ripley is worried about dying of cancer; they used the last of the resurrection potion on Elektra. We saw both Nobu & Harold bounce back from fatal injuries without the secret sauce, so each dose must last for at least a couple rounds.
–What the hell is a Black Sky?
–Stick pulls a Deadpool, but his hand won’t grow back.
–“I’m the Immortal Iron Fist.”
–Claire’s proving her worth as the glue binding these shows together.
–Hi, photo of Stan as Forbush Man!
–Jess couldn’t just jump back that far without drawing attention; she would have to have hovered just slightly off the ground.
–Luke & Danny are talking past each other. What Danny needs to understand is that the Hand doesn’t tell everyone they employ what they do & that the people at the bottom can’t fight him back, & what Luke needs to understand is that most of the Hand is NOT “at the bottom” & that Danny’s connections & money don’t work on a cult that cares about nothing but their own lives.
–The sitting balls ARE dumb, Jess, you’re right.
–“There’s a box in here, but it’s too high up for me.” Cole, you clever boy; rest in peace, sir. Mrs. Miller perfectly illustrates why you can’t just leave people like the Hand alone; even though on the surface, they just wanna live, but they do it by destroying other people who also just wanna live & weren’t hurting them, weren’t even in their way, but were just related to somebody who just maybe might’ve someday said something slightly off. Kinda like Killmonger’s plan to slaughter children.
–“I am the Immortal Iron Fist, weapon of K’un-Lun.”
–Danny opens this fight very cleverly, using the darts against their own shooters. And then it becomes a Daredevil hallway fight, so that’s always nice. Only took 3 full episodes, but the Defenders are finally in the same place.

#4 “Royal Dragon”:
–Jess & Luke reuniting makes me very happy.
–“I’m the Immortal Iron Fist, sworn protector of K’un-Lun.”
–Somebody who lives in Hell’s Kitchen & sees a guy in a mask moving like that can tell he’s Daredevil without being a PI.
–What the hell is a Black Sky?
–The colors are blending now.
–I am getting really tired of characters with superpowers refusing to believe characters with other superpowers exist.
–If Warden Walker was sneaking up on you, she wouldn’t have worn such loud shoes.
–“We serve life itself” by desperately hogging as much of it as you can while depriving others of theirs.
–Oh, Elektra really wants those sai back.
–“Because this one, the Immortal Iron Fist, living weapon, & protector of the ancient city…is still a thundering dumbass.” Love you, Stick.
–The more I learn of K’un-Lun, the less “heavenly” it seems. The elders taught Danny (& apparently also Bakuto) absolutely nothing about the Hand except to keep them out of the city at the expense of the rest of the world.
–Earlier, Dana Barrett said Elektra was “more powerful that you can imagine.” But I dunno, I can imagine how powerful a car is. Nice shot, Jessica.
–Most of this episode is just arguing or fighting in a restaurant, yet it’s so good!

#5 “Take Shelter”:
–Gao, Sowande, & Murakami’s entrances are really cool.
–What the hell is a Black Sky?
–Sowande overestimated the advantage of a truck hitting Luke.
–“Do as I say or I’ll kill you. I love you!” ~Gwen DeMarco to Elektra
–Everyone mocking Danny for K’un-Lun being destroyed is gonna feel really silly in 15 years when the city reappears.
–Crap, Bakuto’s back. Not “crap” because I thought he was dead; it was obviously that he’d come back. “Crap” because that means I gotta hear him talk more now.
–HOW DID BAKUTO VANISH WHEN LUKE WAS LOOKING DIRECTLY AT HIM?
–Karen doesn’t get it; she’s on the Hand’s crap-list anyway, regardless of what’s happening now.
–Stick makes a Toph-quality blind joke.
–Foggy doesn’t get it; Matt didn’t seek this out & genuinely wants not to be involved with it. (Also it’s technically Foggy’s fault that Matt got dragged into it.)
–Misty thinks it’s “weird” to own a family heirloom just because it’s a sword?
–“Cut off a finger, you can still use your hand” is (a) true, (b) directly contradictory to what Danny thought about the Hand before, & (c) pretty cool-sounding, even from a guy getting choked out.
–I love that the Hand has absolutely no worries about the Iron Fist, the weapon specifically tasked with destroying them, but they are openly TERRIFIED of Daredevil.
–Translator, Murakami did not say “Elektra Natchios.” Proper names don’t translate.
–“Can be killed” is not the same thing as “expendable”, Working Girl.
–Sowande is certainly the most interesting of the 3 new vill–and he’s dead.

#6 “Ashes, Ashes”:
–Immortality is like a record skipping. It’s not supposed to happen, & it prevents what’s supposed to happen next.
–So maybe that’s why the elders had the past Iron Fists just hang around the gate all the time instead of actually hunting the Hand, because they knew he could be used to unlock something for them? But then, if that was the case, surely they would’ve been smart enough to TELL HIM THAT.
–Daredevil vs. Iron Fist is hilariously one-sided.
–You can tell Elektra is dreaming because Matt is making poper eye contact.
–What the hell is a Black Sky?
–Gao is still her scheming self. That’s comforting.
–Locking Danny in time out is the smartest thing the Defenders have done.
–“You & I belong out there together on the front lines.” Solid Heroes for Hire reference.
–Jessica looked into Battling Jack. Nice.
–The Hand keeps saying Daredevil “let” Elektra die, but he didn’t.
–Sigourney’s delivering all her lines as if she was talking to a toddler. I don’t get it; she’s never talked like that before.
–Matt learned to play the Defenders theme song in church?
–Stick screwed himself over; the knockout incense kept Danny from being able to fight Elektra & save him. The Chaste are gone; only the Defenders remain.
–Finally somebody confirms that K’un-Lun isn’t destroyed….& then dies. Alexandra was billed as the primary villain of this story, & there are now 2 episodes left she won’t be in.

#7 “Fish in the Jailhouse”:
–Remember, just because Stick was one of the good guys doesn’t mean he was always right. Vice versa, just because he was wrong sometimes doens’t mean he was one of the bad guys.
–Crap, Stick never finished getting rid of Sowande’s bodies?
–Matt is a lawyer known to be working Jessica’s case & there was nothing on the scene to implicate him or identify him as Daredevil, so he gets special privileges in the station, but Misty isn’t stupid.
–“I did everything I could to avoid people with abilities.” The writer of this episode did not watch LC1 or IF1; she explicitly said there that she wanted to keep working with powered people & demanded to be involved with them.
–“Last I heard, they still have legal rights.” At least a few; we’ll see how the Accords affect that moving forward.
–KAREN, THERE IS A CULT OF NINJA ZOMBIES TRYING TO IMPLODE THE ISLAND. LET THE SUPERS DO THEIR WORK. Even Foggy gets that, & he actually has something to lose if Matt’s found out.
–Misty’s CO is a freaking douchebag.
–“I […] protect K’un-Lun & destroy the Hand.”
–Metal Gear Wing.
–AKA High-Functioning Alcoholism.
–It’s hilarious that Gao has to fight Luke because she’s the only one of the 3 remaining Hand leaders who can do anything to him. Luke & Jess tag-teaming her is pretty cool, too, as is Daredevil holding off both Bakuto & Murakami long enough for Colleen to arrive.
–Meanwhile, at the bottom of a giant hole, Danny fails to understand that he’s being baited.
–At least Misty has finally gotten with the program.
–“These people aren’t really alive.” Marvel Zombies confirmed.
–It’s too dark to really tell what I’m looking at other than just “some bones.”

#8 “The Defenders”:
–Stop title-tracking episodes, Marvel; it’s very disorienting.
–Luke stipulates that no innocent people get hurt, but Matt already confirmed there’s no innocent people in the building *to* hurt.
–So the Hand’s “substance” is dragon bones, but as we’ve seen, they have to mix it with human blood to make the resurrection roux.
–“The unyielding woman” is a very awkward nickname for Jess.
–The captain is a moron; Luke & Jess couldn’t have stolen the C4 because that didn’t happen until after they’d escaped the station.
–The two journalists comparing notes is actually pretty interesting, especially because for once Karen isn’t being the worst.
–“The epicenter.” “Of what?” OF THE EARTHQUAKE, GENIUS.
–I’m about 70% sure Mike Colter ad-libbed “I’m not hugging you” & they just kept it because it was so good.
–Colleen, this isn’t the moment for a nurses-are-heroes-too speech.
–“Did you simply follow?” Shut up, Bakuto. They told her NOT to come.
–Danny & Gao both seem to forget that Shao-Lou grows back. Danny’s dumber, though, because he should realize Shou-Lou is physically somewhere else right now.
–“Tell me something I don’t know.” Danny proceeds to repeat the thing he said that Luke already knows.
–More Wu-Tang. “Protect Ya Neck” has a lyric about Spider-Man in it, but Spider-Man is active in the MCU by this point, so it actually works.
–Never has dismemberment been such good news. Don’t worry, Misty, things are gonna get awesome for you.
–Colleen lathes Bakuto’s throat, & I’m happy that his destroyed larynx means I’ll never have to hear him speak again. Then she kills him.
–An elevator should not be slower than literally climbing the scaffolding.
–What the hell is a Black Sky?
–Jessica flies up to catch the elevator.
–Each lightsaber duel in the original Star Wars trilogy is a philosophical argument. Matt & Elektra are having a fight like that right now.
–Sowande, Alexandra, & Bakuto have been decapitated. Murakami is impaled, but without the bone broth, he ain’t coming back. Gao is just walking around uninjured, though.
–Ah, that explains the red & green lights before; it was foreshadowing.
–We’re not getting Danielle Cage anytime soon, are we?
–Stinger: Oh my gosh, Karen & Foggy were so close.

Executive summary: The good news was that the IF1 team didn’t make this. Leaning into Danny’s reputation for being dumb helped make his character more tolerable. And there are a whole bunch of genuinely cool & enjoyable things in here. The bad news was the DD2 team did make this. The Hand is just so dull, & the writers here don’t have Whedon’s wit to make all the introductions & get-to-know-yous sound natural. Three new major characters were introduced, & two of them were basically blank slates.

Part 28 – Iron Fist season 1

[Originally posted 5/15/20.]

More news: New Mutants is finally rescheduled again, for 8/28, which would be fine if we’d taken the past 2 months seriously. But we didn’t, & so that might get bumped again.
In other ambivalent news, it’s time for this crud…

Iron Fist season 1:

#1.01 “Snow Gives Way”:
–Let’s start with these opening credits. The animation looks terrible. Black on black, which is dumb for a character whose signature color is green. There is no point to the motion trails. The kata hits a climax, but then keeps going for a few more beats. The music is dull & fizzles out at the end.
–Danny leaps sole-first onto the spire of a fence & doesn’t get his bare foot impaled.
–The clickwheel iPod is an excellent piece of hardware. Pity you can only use it with the craptacular mess that is iTunes.
–Whoever wrote this dialogue should never be allowed near a keyboard again.
–Is Danny communing with this hawk? Is this an Animorphs crossover?
–Also, it’s really convenient that our other Ward finally died just in time for this one to show up.
–Colleen’s flyers match the ones Claire was looking at the end of LC1.
–It’s Chinese New Year, February 2016.
–The Rand security guy thinks he’s gonna assassinate a guy in a huge crowd with a loud gun & not get caught?
–Just like in Return of the King, Faramir is not as dead as people thought he was.
–“How the hell did he learn martial arts?” is a dumb question.
–Poor Big Al. Credit where it’s due, Danny’s response is sweet.
–Why does Joy just happen to have drugged tea in her office?

#1.02 “Shadow Hawk Takes Flight”:
–So we’re in the kind of asylum where a patient with known homicidal tendencies is able to freely visit other patients who are restrained & can’t defend themselves. Delightful.
–Why is Colleen teaching her students how to mug people?
–Colleen is doing the Mary Catherine Gallagher armpit pose.
–“Immortal Iron Fist”, “sworn enemy of the Hand”, & I think earlier in this episode he said “protector of K’un-Lun.”
–Okay, we get it, he’s proven his identity to Joy & the doctor & Harold. Why are there still 10 minutes left in this episode?
–Credit where it’s due, the bioluminescence of the actual Iron Fist is genuinely a cool effect.

#1.03 “Rolling Thunder Cannon Punch”:
–Why. Are. All. These. Episodes. So. Long.
–Colleen hides behind a column that’s narrower than her head, & the invaders don’t notice her shoulders sticking out when the flashlight sweeps over them.
–Darryl isn’t actually sweeping.
–Joy & Ward can’t seem to comprehend that Danny isn’t after the money; he just wants to keep his identity. If they’d asked him to simply forfeit his share of the company without changing his name, he’d have agreed.
–That’s 3 shows with Hogarth now, or…a Trinity.
–“You’ve got your look.” No, he doesn’t; he’s wearing a standard men’s business suit.
–Just move the dang glass, Harold.
–Is the theme song the only music they have?
–Wow, they just went to Metro General & DIDN’T see Claire.
–The kid playing Lil’ Danny can’t wince in time with the blows.
–Credit where it’s due, this fight is a fairly realistic depiction of how somebody as small as Colleen could beat a guy as big as Zangief from Street Fighter here: dodge a lot, strike quickly & then back off, block what you can, redirect what you can’t.
–And Danny falls to his death. The end.

#1.04 “Eight Diagram Dragon Palm”:
–Ok, not quite the end.
–Of course Danny’s never seen the Hand; K’un-Lun has been cut off from the world that whole time.
–“Sworn enemy of the Hand” again.
–And the Hand is in Rand making Demands.
–“I think one of my favorite things about Colleen is she always looks like she just woke up from a really good nap.” ~my wife
–Credit where it’s due, Danny’s prepped speech & his answer about the asylum were genuinely good.
–There’s a lot of room between $5 & $50 for pricing this drug.
–Another realistic cage fight: Faced with two opponents, initial strategy is to always keep one of them stunned or distant to prevent being overwhelmed. Once that stops working, she uses one as a shield against the other until one of them is KO’d.
–This hallway fight is not as good as other hallway fights. The overhead shots were nice, but they’re cutting way too often.
–Danny should not’ve had to force that elevator open; they should automatically reopen once they hit something.
–Harold just complained about not getting weapons training, & now he can do that?
–The boy with the dragon tattoo.

#1.05 “Under Leaf Pluck Lotus”:
–It takes some big brass ones to go selling heroin that publicly.
–Why would Ward see a tiny paper rectangle & instantly think it’s heroin?
–Ok, Claire’s here, we can start the plot now.
–That Danny’s comment on the street in a video where he straight-up says he doesn’t know the details of the situation could cause such trouble for the company is a sign of how broken the corporate system is. At the same time, that the company can’t treat the people they got sick, or enact safety measures beyond the bare minimum required by law, is also a sign of how broken the corporate system is.
–Every nunchuck exhibition looks like the one from the first TMNT movie.
–How strong is that gun that it shot through a steel door at a distance & still had enough force afterwards to break through a windshield?
–Gotta be honest, I fell asleep for the last few minutes of this episode around 3am. Woke up about 20 minutes later, restarted & paused the next episode that had begun, & went to bed. Had to be online by 8am for work.

#1.06 “Immortal Emerges from Cave”:
–What I’m really learning from these shows is that absolutely every restaurant in New York is run by organized crime.
–“Corporate leaders do not admit culpability.” He didn’t. He just said he’d help.
–Danny, you can’t just say stuff from your magic city that only connects to Earth once every 15 years & expect everyone to instantly know what it means.
–“I have a vision of total victory.” SO DO THEY.
–I should start sending all my messages written on bamboo popsicle sticks.
–Gao up in here acting like she’s not the one in charge.
–Credit where it’s due, the Thunderer is really interesting, & I’m glad we’re getting a lot of him.
–Needle Storm here lives in an amateur haunted house. Also, Danny is moron for letting somebody he knows is gonna try to kill him get that close.
–Those camera zooms are hideous.
–Ward’s hand is swollen like a balloon, & this awesome nurse is not having his bullcrap.
–Ken vs Byleth on Arena Ferox is the first decent fight we’ve seen Danny in.
–Gao violated Danny’s terms, so he isn’t bound to honor hers.
–RZA directed this episode, which explains its very different tone from what we’ve had before & establishes a Wu-Tang thru-line with Method.

#1.07 “Felling Tree with Roots”:
–“Iron Fist, sworn enemy of the Hand.”
–“Told you what?” …THAT HE KNEW GAO. THE THING HE JUST SAID. DEAR LORD, DANIEL.
–We didn’t need the closeup on that finger.
–Well, dang. Colleen’s enthusiastic consent is a nice touch.
–Credit where it’s due, Ward is having an incredible breakdown, & it might be the best thing about this season other than Colleen’s general competency.
–Gao’s secret base isn’t the cool lair from the tournament or either of the drug houses we saw her work out of in Daredevil, no; it’s a random floor of this office building, where she takes inventory meetings after giving clunky expository lectures about Daredevil & Luke Cage.
–“…keep everyone on payroll, so nobody loses their job.” Yes, that’s what keep-everyone-on-payroll means.
–How do people who make up less than 25% of the company’s ownership oust the people who make up at least 75% of that ownership, one of whom is 51% all on his own? Disney can’t manage to kick out Ike Perlmutter, & he has nowhere near the controlling interest there that Danny has in Rand.
–Anzhou is pretty close to Beijing; there could be legit reasons to go there.
–Welp, Harold’s dead.

#1.08 “The Blessing of Many Fractures”:
–Claire is really out of character here, which I’m gonna chalk up to crappy writing, like most of the dialogue-based problems on this show.
–“Bringing Danny into this company was a toxic decision.” Was it, though? He seemed to just get you lots of positive press.
–Ward’s going through the 5 stages of Lady Macbeth.
–In this episode, the part of Anzhou, China, will be played by a warehouse in Manhattan.
–Joy hired Jessica & got results.
–Credit where it’s due, the drunk fight is pretty fun to watch.
–Claire in this episode: “Killing is wrong, no matter who kills this trigger or why.” Also Claire in this episode: *puts on freaking wolverine claws*
–There’s something satisfying in seeing Gao truly afraid for the first time ever. Too bad it’s undermined by the anticlimacticness of her just standing there after Danny busts the wall down & letting him grab her.

#1.09 “The Mistress of All Agonies”:
–Welp, Harold’s not dead.
–Gao’s laughing like she shoots sodium pentathol to get high.
–Mandatory New York “hey, I’m walking here!”
–On the one hand, the boiling water probably keeps those hot dogs sterile anyway. On the other, it’s not like hot dog carts are known for particularly clean water anyway.
–Even shambling zombie Harold can remember Ward’s birthday. Daww.
–How can a shambling zombie whose portrait is on the wall wander the building freely when they have security on high alert to stop the ousted executives.
–Of course the perfect thing to do when you have two major plot threads that are barely progressing at all is to introduce a new character with his own baggage to clog up the works even more.
–I used to sit like Danny does in my Acting classes, rather than in the usual cross-ankle style. Everybody thought it hurt, but it was actually much more comfortable to me.
–Credit where it’s due, Mr. Yang’s story is appropriately chilling & explains a lot not only about Harold, but about all of the Hand.
–Oh, Kyle. Poor sweet Kyle. You deserved none of this.
–Healing makes no sense as an ability of a living weapon.
–Your first “Sweet Christmas” was cute, Claire, but knock it off.

#1.10 “Black Tiger Steals Heart”:
–Bakuto’s voice is a chore to listen to.
–Wow, so we could be watching a show about a competent Iron Fist?
–We’re just sitting around this college campus the whole time, eh?
–Danny, breaking all this stuff is a really good idea, but do it more quietl–how did Bakuto get back here so quickly?
–Credit where it’s due, Davos’s first line of dialogue is the thesis statement of the season: “Wow, you are the worst Iron Fist ever.”

#1.11 “Lead Horse Back to Stable”:
–Danny actually has a good point for a change; there is a massive concentration of Hand operations in New York, so the Iron Fist would actually do more damage to them here instead of just standing at a gate that’s only accessible once every 15 years.
–Bakuto, like the Thunderer, is mired in a traditional mindset of never questioning authority. I recently learned that a lot of Japanese companies have begun staffing a “Loud American” position in their domestic offices so that there is somebody who is culturally allowed to argue with the boss when a bad idea is presented, to protect the company.
–Genuine funny moment when Davos doesn’t know what a stapler is but Danny is in dread.
–Harold’s performance is really interesting, & Ward has the best character arc of the season, but whenever Joy is present, the Meachums’ story is all business, & all the enjoyable bits vanish.
–These repeated jabs at Danny’s “limited thinking” would be a lot less dumb if we hadn’t already seen what the Hand are in Daredevil.
–“I am the Iron Fist, protector of K’un-Lun, sworn enemy of the Hand.”
–The way New Yorkers talk about pizza is so cringey.
–“We cut off the head & the snake will die.” Tell that to Hydra.
–I had to rewind to get a closer look at Colleen’s…escape.

#1.12 “Bar the Big Boss”:
–Ward’s dream of zombie-Harold is a delightful Big-Lipped-Alligator-Moment.
–Davos seems really upset that somebody reacted badly to him attacking her.
–Oh, look, Bakuto can’t be trusted to honor his deals. Shocker.
–Remove the head or destroy the brain. The Hand really are just zombie ninjas.
–Davos got slammed into that elevator button like 3 times & the elevator never came.
–Credit where it’s due, Colleen’s fight with Bakuto is genuinely exciting, & it’s really cathartic to watch him lose & die, even if we know from Bakuto’s prior words that he’ll be back.
–Davos, his duty is to “destroy the Hand”. You can lock some of them up along the way to destroying the organization.

#1.13 “Dragon Plays with Fire”:
–“Danny made a poor decision when he attacked the DEA agents.” Well, the DEA agents made a poor decision when they didn’t identify themselves.
–Hi, photo of Stan as Forbush Man!
–Ugh, a whole season of getting his head straight, & now we’re back to the twitchy Danny of episode 1.
–Joy is having a very hard time comprehending the “you would have been assassinated” thing.
–Die Hard had a more convincing window swing than that 30 years ago.
–Credit where it’s due, Danny’s shockwave attack is pretty cool.
–Danny successfully disarms his foe…& then runs away for no reason.
–This camerawork is so bad.
–“Oh, Danny boy.” Harold is impaled on a pipe, a pipe, & calling him.
–There’s clip-art Tobias again.
–Well, cremation separates the ashes of the head from the ashes of the neck, so that counts.
–Joy is very blasé about the idea of killing Danny after being deeply upset about killing Bakuto earlier.
–“It’s blood.” No, it isn’t. There’s nothing there.
–What do you mean you don’t know where K’un-Lun went? You know the city disappears after a while. That’s all that happened.
–EXTREME SKIN CELL CLOSEUP.

Executive summary: On the one hand, there’s Colleen, Harold, Ward, & Gao. On the other hand, there’s every-dang-thing else: sloppy fight choreography, god-awful dialogue, hideous camerawork, a horribly-developed protagonist, & a refusal to delve into the K’un-Lun material that would actually enhance this mess. Finn Jones got set up to fail. Hopefully after a screwup this bad, Marvel won’t hire Scott Buck again.

Part 26 – Luke Cage season 1

[Originally posted 5/11/20.]

Part 26 here slightly overlaps the preceding events. Keep an eye on Turk & Claire.

Luke Cage season 1:

#1.01 “Moment of Truth”:
–Very 70s groove on this theme song. I like it. (The alternate version ain’t bad either. 😉 )
–Lonnie’s mom pays for Kumon? Pfft, get a Varsity Tutor instead, better schedule & cheaper.
–Luke told Pop about Jess shooting him, but didn’t tell him why? That’s cold, Luke.
–Kid, it’s been 3 years; people aren’t gonna buy Incident footage forever.
–Luke, people still say “album.”
–Cottonmouth mixes his metaphors; you don’t want pure water to blow holes in battleships. And you sure as hell don’t want Hammer Tech!
–Shameek’s gonna get a lot more people killed.
–“Coffee” is gonna be our go-to on this show for “well, dang.”
–See, his name is Shades because he wears shades.
–The strip club is just gratuitous.
–This shot in front of the Biggie photo is gorgeous.
–Whoa, Reva gets lines now.
–“Amos…show the man what you famous for.” …Give him tiny cookies?
–I really like the name “Genghis Connie”. It tickles my punny bone.

#1.02 “Code of the Streets”:
–This mugging will not ends well.
–Misty’s case-solve-o-vision is really cool.
–“Trim” is not swearing, Pop.
–Cottonmouth, stop moving your jaw while you’re being shaved.
–Bobby & Turk in the background are hilarious.
–Baby Pop looks like he’s in a Spike Lee movie.
–Turk’s not supposed to be here & he’s not limping.
–Oof, Turk’s really not supposed to be here.
–Bloody hell, Tone. RIP, Pop.
–This would normally be the kind of thing that ends an episode of Daredevil with the cops on the scene at the start of the next one. Coker don’t play that way, though.
–“I’m going back to Hell’s Kitchen where it’s safe.” …where you’ll be abducted by a ninja cult & have your leg sliced open.
–Mahershala bringing the manly tears.

#1.03 “Who’s Gonna Take the Weight?”:
–Another frame story flashback right after the last one.
–Colter & Ali play off of each other really well.
–“Nothing humbles a man like gravity.” Tell that to the Wright bros.
–“The bullet that killed Pops probably bounced off you.” There were SO MANY bullets, Chico, you nitwit.
–Girl in the safehouse reminds me of Trevor Slattery’s groupies.
–Misty & Scarfe have good chemistry too, but Scarfe is annoying.
–My first thought was “why does he need a shield?” then I realized it wasn’t a shield, it was a battering ram. Also, it was a car door.
–It’s not a complete breakdown of the system, Misty. It’s somebody helping the system work more effectively.
–So that’s why Scarfe is so annoying. Poor Chico.
–Public opinion: “Diamondback was too cartoony; that’s why Cottonmouth was better!” Cottonmouth: *shoots a rocket launcher with a digital scope at a restaurant in episode 3*

#1.04 “Step in the Arena”:
–That beard.
–So Luke was in the same prison as Trevor Slattery at roughly the same time. So the Ten Rings didn’t wreck the whole place after all, just the one wing.
–I’m genuinely surprised Reva warmed up to…Carl…after the first impression he made.
–Rackham is like Umbridge, completely corrupt, completely vile, & completely realistic. People like him exist.
–You may know fights, Squabbles, but you don’t know films. Bruce’s stuff was better.
–So the guard moves on to threatening the psychiatrist & the doctor. Jackhole.
–So all I gotta do is boil myself in acid to get super strength & unbreakable skin? Deal.
–Dat tiara tho.
–Luke father used to say he’d regret the life he led before he was framed & imprisoned!? He was a COP before that!

#1.05 “Just to Get a Rep”:
–Ope, Claire’s here, & she ain’t putting up with these muggers’ crap.
–Koko had a decent idea, but too bad it didn’t really apply to a specific conflict already in progress.
–Why are they talking about Tyson like he’s dead?
–I love how everybody knows everybody else’s nicknames in the neighborhood.
–This man’s just trying to get to a funeral & everybody’s trying to stop him.
–Claire’s moving back in with her mom after having just quit her job. The timeline overlap is complete, & she’s becoming the Night Nurse.
–The Judas Bullet is appropriately horrifying.
–I have never seen a funeral this much like a debate.

#1.06 “Suckas Need Bodyguards”:
–Trish Talk? Really?
–Scarfe has poor survival instincts.
–Claire reaching out to Luke is a nice proactive move on her part, & she’s just in time to save Scarfe.
–I haven’t talked about Mariah much at all. She’s just sorta had her own thing going on underneath everything else with her political career. It’s intriguing, but overall it’s just been background decoration. The interview subplot in this episode is a nice moment for her to shine.
–I had to rewind for a second to get a better look at Misty’s…entrance.
–How did Claire’s mom see her from the street? The door to the barbershop is sunken behind a wall.
–Zip is such a freaking moron.
–This confession sting brought to you by Wendy’s.
–Scarfe didn’t even get to sort anyone as being metrosexual.

#1.07 “Manifest”:
–The trash talk in this cold open is awful. Telling people what they *want* to hear isn’t gonna make them upset.
–“I can handle Ridley.” I sure hope so; he’s got a massive hurtbox & surprisingly bad recovery.
–“I’m a strong believer in party first, no matter what.” That’s not something to brag about, Damon.
–“Get out of the rain.” It’s not raining.
–Mama Mabel shares the ethics of Vito Corleone (good with all manner of horrible business but not drugs), but lacks the family values.
–Dubya Bush is a pretty good artist. Imagine if he could’ve just done that for his whole career instead of his father forcing him into the family business. Replace “Dubya Bush” with “Cornell Stokes.”
–Ridley wants Misty to arrest somebody she knows to be innocent or else lose her job. Sad thing is, Ridley ain’t even on the take; she’s just that big of an a-hole.
–Welp, Cottonmouth’s dead. That I couldn’t predict (unless I knew in advance that they only had Mahershala Ali for 6 episodes), though I could predict that Mariah wouldn’t react well to being told she wanted her uncle to rape her; don’t ever do that to a rape victim. Ever.
–Looks like the Judas bullet worked after all. Who the heck fired it, though?

#1.08 “Blowin’ Up the Spot”:
–Solid Warriors reference.
–Pulp Fiction Cleanup 101 with Professor Shades is kinda cool.
–Oh, ok, Ridley isn’t on the take, but she IS buddy-buddy with Mariah from their sorority. I freaking hate that who-you-know crap; it’s just nepotism without the blood ties.
–Same sleazeball that represents Fisk is also covering Candace? Hmm.
–Stryker? Like from X-Men?
–Just like Mariah, Diamondback is attacking out of personal rage, & it’s causing him to make stupid decisions. But since we’ve only just met Diamondback, it doesn’t mean as much.
–Misty is having a breakdown, & Ridley’s continued presence is only making it worse. Doesn’t excuse Misty’s actions, but the problem with somebody like Ridley is that she’ll never admit fault.
–“I am your brother.” “NOOOOOOOO!”

#1.09 “DWYCK”:
–Clearly it was all of the above, psyche-eval-guy.
–Diamondback’s little magic trick was clever, but ain’t no way he knew that shot was only gonna hit a shoulder.
—48 Laws of Power was published in 1998; Diamondback “got through [his] darkness” sometime in the past 17 years.
–Oof, dat stop-&-frisk tho. 😦
–The lemonade story is too true too.
–“Tonight” is kinda vague, Mariah.
–Reva’s flash drive (not a hard drive, Claire) returns, this time with stuff relevant to Luke.
–Why lie about the psych eval being observed. Obviously it was being observed; there was NO other reason to do it in an interrogation room.
–Burstein is kinda nutty.
–Oof. All Mariah wanted was out of the business, & here Diamondback shows up, kills all the people she was gonna help for reasons that probably weren’t even true, & forces her to stay in.
–Irony that the moment when Diamondback thinks Luke can’t run is the moment when he already has run for a totally different reason.

#1.10 “Take It Personal”:
–I wouldn’t normally say backroom boiling acid baths were realistic, but then I saw the president use a hashtag about firing his medical expert during a pandemic.
–Diamondback’s out there like Vaan shouting “I’m Captain Basch!” Anybody who believes that’s Luke is just plain dumb.
–“When justice is done, it is a joy to the righteous, but a terror to evildoers.” Yeah, but when injustice is done, it is the opposite.
–Dang, Reva was in on it!? And does Burstein not know Reva married Luke?
–Misty, you actually HAVE evidence: the facial recognition. Why aren’t you telling Ridley about it?
–Very convenient flashback.
–That reverend just stuttered exactly like Nuke.

#1.11 “Now You’re Mine”:
–Solid Diff’rent Strokes reference.
–There’ve been 2 different Obama references in this show, but we know President Ellis is in office. Obama must’ve lost the 2008 primary to Ellis.
–Boone clearly does drink, or else he would flinch at the burn of the alcohol going down.
–Claire is being very smart. Ridley is finally catching on that Mariah is the problem. Misty finally knows Luke is innocent. Shades is coming to realize he needs to get the hell away from Diamondback. The only person with no leverage right now is Candace; sucks to be her.
–I don’t know if Willis meant to turn the PA back on, but at least now Luke knows what the hell his problem is.
–Poor Boone.
–If Misty keeps that tourniquet on too long, she’s liable to lose that arm.
–“We know you innocent, Luke!” The optics may be bad, but all the testimony is on his side, & even American racists should let off an innocent black man when there’s another black man they can punish instead.

#1.12 “Soliloquy of Chaos”:
–Turk’s looking a little worse for the wear. Big scar on the ankle will do that to a man.
–The convenience store robbery with Method Man is a nice light moment.
–Shades mopped the floor with Ridley.
–Hi, photo of Stan as Forbush Man!
–Candace is probably gonna do something stupid, but even if she doesn’t, she already let herself get followed.
–“Bulletproof Love” is pretty good.
–Zip, you are so dumb & so dead.
–I think I understand what really makes this season drag. First of all, yes, Diamondback doesn’t hold a candle to Cottonmouth; the former thinks he’s in the 70s comic while everyone else has their feet firmly planted in the universe built by Iron Man & Daredevil. But secondly, there aren’t any short episodes on this show like there are on DD or JJ. This one in particular is 65 minutes, & 10 minutes could’ve been chopped out of it at no dramatic loss.
–Domingo comes VERY close to killing Willis here. It’s only bad luck that stretches this another episode.
–Bobby can’t catch a break.

#1.13 “You Know My Steez”:
–I do not, in fact know your steez.
–Based on this flashback, Luke is definitely the one with the accurate memory.
–“This suit’s Hammer tech, made just for you.” Then why does it work?
–Why is Final Fantasy save music playing at Soledad’s apartment?
–This fight ain’t half bad.
–His name is “White Thomas”?
–Pop’s place is 8 blocks from the Apollo, where Hulk faced Abomination 4 years prior to this.
–On the one hand, Misty absolutely did screw up with handling poor Candace. On the other hand, Ridley has repeatedly given Misty reasons not to trust her, so she shouldn’t be upset that Misty didn’t trust her.
–Bobby found the file in the barbershop, which means Carl Lucas should eventually be exonerated once Claire sends her lawyer friend to follow up. At least these marshals are being decent.
–Mariah has awful trigger discipline.
–Burstein has Willis? Either Willis is gonna die, or we’re gonna have another Abomination scenario in Harlem.

Executive summary: Diamondback isn’t as bad as everyone likes to hype him as being, but he’s definitely a downgrade from Ali’s outstanding character work as Cottonmouth. Luckily Shades & Mariah are able to carry the villain work through to the end. On the other side, Luke, Misty, & Claire do a killer job. Really, Diamondback & the freaking long episodes are the problem.

Part 25 – Daredevil season 2

[Originally posted 5/9/20.]

We now enter a brief interlude of darn-near 4 full TV seasons before the next phase of films begins.

Daredevil season 2:

#2.01 “Bang”:
–Something something Father’s house den of thieves.
–Mr. Delfino is smiling very proudly for his dog.
–I first saw Nelson & Murdock being paid in food in the 2003 movie. Glad to see they didn’t leave that out here.
–Well, bang.
–That’s a good question; where IS his hand?
–The Dogs of Hell got hit too? Oof, so much for Rooster’s crew.
–Karen Page is much better at improvising than Jemma Simmons is.
–Oh, look, it’s Turk.
–The “Dogs of Hell” sign is hilarious.
–Daredevil is infiltrating the place where they make Soylent Green.
–Oh, wow, it’s the Punisher.
–What was up with that color shift when Matt stood up? It was kinda cool.
–Well, bang.

#2.02 “Dogs to a Gunfight”:
–I would hate to live in a building with anyone dumb enough to fall for “I lost my keys.”
–Reyes is back, & she’s still a jackhole. Foggy handles her beautifully, though.
–Hi, photo of Stan as Forbush Man!
–When you’ve sold a guy your security tape & your security gun & he has shown no interest in your porn, do not stop him on his way out to offer him kiddie porn.
–Matt’s spending this episode living through what’s probably been his worst nightmare since the car accident.
–Reyes, lying to defense counsel is never the right move.
–That’s some Cap-style stuff with the baton.
–They keep saying “war zone”, & it’s gotta be a reference to that crappy movie.

#2.03 “New York’s Finest”:
–In Karen’s words to Reyes, I’m reminded of Betty’s words to Thunderbolt Ross, “You made him a fugitive to cover your failures & to protect your career.” Reyes is threatening to make Nelson & Murdock a patsy to cover her failures & to protect her career.
–“‘You’re one bad day away from being me.’ ~Joker to Batman” ~Punisher to Daredevil
–Claire’s life hasn’t been great lately, but Foggy’s helping.
–Most of this episode is Matt & Frank arguing on a roof about philosophy & methodology. And it’s one of the best dang episodes of this series.
–Hallway fight 2. Matt’s whipping that chain around like he’s Ghost Rider or something. (Wouldn’t an MCU Ghost Rider be a hoot, though?)

#2.04 “Penny & Dime”:
–This Finn guy is as much a nutter as Frank is. At least he didn’t kill the dog.
–Lantom’s back with a deeply honest eulogy for an audience of 3 about Grotto.
–At least Tower is aware that his boss is a crapstain of a person.
–Frank’s shot in the head like he’s Ghost Rider or something. (I wonder if they’d ever actually do that?)
–So this carousel is where it happened, eh? That’s messed up. Gangs don’t usually like to throw down in places like that. Frank must’ve been really lost in his memories to be snuck up on like he was.
–We did NOT need that closeup on the foot.
–The penny-&-dime thing is a children’s book!? I thought it was some Marine slogan or something.
–These idiots fell for the old booby-trapped money trick.
–Matt gaining Frank’s respect & Frank pouring his heart out to the Devil is a great emotional beat.
–“I think we’ve had enough Punisher for one evening” is right; I need to go to bed after this one & resume tomorrow. But what are the next 9 episodes supposed to be about?
–Wow, there’s gonna be a little somethin’-somethin’ going on with Matt & Karen n–HOLY CRAP ELEKTRA IS HERE.

#2.05 “Kinbaku”:
–Those leftovers get thrown away anyhow; they can’t be resealed. The money is already lost. So I truly don’t understand what the problem is with someone else eating it.
–Elektra is the most English Greek person I’ve ever seen.
–Somebody with less-refined hearing than Matt would’ve heard “electric nachos.”
–Foggy really needs to start recording all his conversations with anyone from Reyes’s office.
–Well, dang. That’s quite the…knockout.
–That Roxxon dude’s arrogance offends ME, & I’m not there.
–Ellison is much more reasonable than he used to be. Of course, back issues should be easy enough to come by.
–Marci comes through with Reyes’s motive. She’s working with Hogarth now?
–This is a very awkward date. Now, am I talking about Matt & Karen now, or Matt & Elektra in the flashback?
–They say those Murdock boys got the devil in ’em.

#2.06 “Regrets Only”:
–NINJA GAMES ON MOTORCYCLES!
–Roxxon has had ties to crime since at least the 1940s, & the false Mandarin exposed some of those crimes just a few years before this. You knew, Elektra.
–I feel bad for little Roth here. Thankfully Matt & Foggy were easy on him.
–Reyes seems to feel invincible. This is gonna bite her in the butt.
–Frank has some kind of special connection to Karen, & I wanna figure out what it is.
–It’s still very bright in that bathroom for the power being out.
–Just realized, this episode is the first time Frank has eyes upon Reyes. No wonder he changed his plea.
–What’s with the string on the guards’ fingers?
–That “starts next week” announcement would be a lot more poignant if this show ran weekly.

#2.07 “Semper Fidelis”:
–So, none of these people are gonna be approved for the jury, right?
–Frank raises a very good point about the stigma against veterans with PTSD.
–Elektra is gonna completely wreck Matt’s preparation for every stage of this case.
–Karen has a moment like she’s describing. That’s the connection she shares with Frank.
–I don’t like sand. It’s all shapeless & rough & train car filling. And it muffles the sound of approaching footsteps.
–Foggy pulled that the hell out of his butt, & he was amazing.
–Karen is not as good at defending Frank as Frank is.
–Why the hell would the jury be cleared out so quickly just because a witness is slightly upset?
–Foggy’s anger with Matt is justified. Matt’s anger with Elektra is justified. For once, though, nobody’s anger with Karen is justified.
–This is quite a plot hole.

#2.08 “Guilty as Sin”:
–Faceless ninja horde fight in the dark #1.
–Madness? This…is…STICK!!!
–Colonel Eugene Krabs for the defense.
–Schoonover was shot in the arm, but Reyes just shot herself in the foot.
–What the hell is a Black Sky?
–Dat skull tho.
–I never understood how “I instruct you not to let that influence your opinions” is supposed to work. Obviously it’s gonna; everything everyone experiences influences their opinions.
–Stick, you let her see that on purpose, you jerk.
–Those signs should not be allowed in the courtroom; they influence the jury as much as that kid shouting did.
–Why does Castle have to be brought in? Why did proceedings begin before he was in there?
–Matt, why.
–That’ll teach that kid not to join the evil ninja cult.
–None of them understand. He’s not locked up in there with them. They’re locked up in there with him.
–Ok, maybe one of them understands. Hello, fatty.

#2.09 “Seven Minutes in Heaven”:
–Fisk has been busy in here.
–Dutton seems very…generic.
–Matt, all you have to do is tell Karen you weren’t sleeping with Elektra.
–Matt & Foggy breaking up hurts more than any of the romantic relationships on this show.
–How are neither Karen nor Ellison noticing there’s a car pulling up behind Tepper’s window!?
–Fisk just made a very dangerous enemy.
–Hallway fight 3. I had to look away a couple times.
–The shield drumming is so stupid.
–So is Karen just a reporter now? She just gets Ben’s old office? Ben didn’t know he was gonna die; did he just give Karen his password?
–The Kingpin finally claims his title.
–What the crap; it’s Nobu?

#2.10 “The Man in the Box”:
–This crap with the blood-draining is horrifying. It’s not even gory or hard to look at; it’s just so psychologically screwed-up.
–Reyes was corrupt, but Tower is a coward.
–Donovan, blindness is not unusual enough to be addressed that way.
–Crap, Fisk knows. Matt let him get too close & threatened him too similarly to before.
–A bar in a hangar? That’s just tacky.
–Sometimes overcoming latent sexism means continuing to protect a woman because you realize you should’ve also protected a man in the past, not refusing to protect a woman to match the mistake you made not protecting a man in the past.
–“Punished”, the fire new album from MC Foggy & the Night Nurse!
–I learned the term “hair shirt” from a Barenaked Ladies song.
–Cox’s accent is slipping as badly as Matt’s emotional stability is.
–Frank makes a strong case for his innocence by not being the one shooting at Karen right now.
–Elektra tries the Black Widow move, but it didn’t work. Luckily she found another way to cut the dude down to sais.

#2.11 “.380”:
–Faceless ninja horde fight in the dark #2. (Gotta admit, this one’s a little more memorable because that nurse got murderstabbed.)
–Fun fact: The Foot from TMNT were conceived as a parody of generic ninja villains like the Hand.
–Karen making things worse #52837.
–“We’ll be just outside.” *leaves the hotel entirely*
–Chicks dig battle scars, Foggy.
–Gotta say, Gao again is a surprise; is she Hand too? Two of Fisk’s branches?
–Looks like those two dishes… *shades* …just got served. YEEEEAAAAHHHH!!!!!
–“What made you think I ever left?” …You said you were leaving.
–Claire makes quitting look smart. It isn’t, but she makes it look like it is.
–Well, bang.
–Stick is normally a joy to watch, but this sword-sharpening scene is just a bore.

#2.12 “The Dark at the End of the Tunnel”:
–Baby Elektra is actually kind of an adorable widdle psychopath.
–Faceless ninja horde fight in the dark #3.
–Brett: “It’s over. Frank Castle’s a dead man.” Narrator: “Frank Castle was not a dead man.”
–Karen just got hired & she gets the veteran investigative reporter’s office. The rest of this staff is gonna hate her.
–Faceless ninja horde fight in the dark #4.
–This is just like in Carnivale when Clancy Brown was revealed to be the villain all along!
–Faceless ninja horde fight in the dark #5.
–Stick giving advice was clever, but do we have to watch fingernail torture again?
–Matt’s the boxer’s kid, but clearly Stick is a fan of Mike Tyson.
–What the hell is a Black Sky?
–These flashbacks to Elektra’s youth with Stick are a real Sucker Punch.
–Faceless ninja horde fight in the dark #6.
–Punisher wins. Fatality.
–Faceless ninja horde fight in the dark #7.

#2.13 “A Cold Day in Hell’s Kitchen”:
–What the hell is a Black Sky?
–Matt’s making a very strong case against killing cult leaders.
–Hmm, not sure if Hogarth is a healthy jump for Foggy, but at least he’s gonna get paid what he’s worth for a change.
–Melvin, mah man.
–God bless you, Turk.
–Relying on Nobu for this plotline, the member of Fisk’s ring who mattered the least & had no personality, was a mistake.
–Faceless ninja horde fight in the dark #8.
–Realistic helmet hair is a nice change of pace compared to most other superhero things.
–Madrid & Tunisia are both south of NYC, Matt.
–Faceless ninja horde fight in–wait, no, this one actually matters. Poor Elektra. Dat skull tho. Finish him, Stick.
–This season started in a heat wave, didn’t it? And now there’s snow. This all took quite a while.
–Don’t print beat poetry in a newspaper, Karen.
–Karen sucks, but she deserves the truth, finally.

Executive summary: Elodie Yung does a fantastic job as Elektra, & absolutely everything about the Punisher plotline was amazing (except Karen being herself). But the Hand stuff slogged, in part because Nobu is a big bunch of nothing, in part because there were 137 faceless ninja horde fights in the dark, & in part because what the hell is a Black Sky?