Tag: review

Agents of SHIELD/Agents of HYDRA Season 4B and 4C: LMD Review and HYDRA Photos, Posters and Speculation

~ Metacrone ~ 1 Comment

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The LMD arc is one of my favorite arcs that this show has ever done. The story was compelling and a balanced combination of characterization, action and plot. All of the characters had something to do, or at least their LMDs did. We were kept guessing about the LMDs right up until the last episode. The only major disappointment was the writing for the Superior, who turned out to be a flat, boring character after his foreshadowing suggested someone more exciting. How you can make Zach McGowan boring, I don’t know, but they managed to do it. Maybe Ivanov will be more exciting as an LMD. He was offset by all of the Patton Oswalts, and all of the Mallory Jansens. Both were fun and amazing with their multiple characters. The other disappointment was the death of Senator Nadeer. I still have a small hope that she’ll turn out to have been an inhuman all along.

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Legends of Tomorrow Season 2 Episode 14: Moonshot Recap

~ Metacrone

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This week, we go to the moon with Ray and the Reverse Flash! We lose another member of the Justice Society of America. And Rip figures out what the rest of us have known for a long time: Sara Lance is a much better captain than he is. I spent most of season 1 yelling at Sara and Snart to stage a mutiny. Also, a duet by Victor Garber and Dominic Purcell, which is the kind of thing that makes this show must see TV.

We start with original Rip dropping Henry Heywood/Commander Steel off in Manhattan in 1965, where he will be responsible for protecting the last piece of the Spear of Destiny. Moments later, new Rip, Nate, Amaya and Sara arrive to find them and retrieve the Spear fragment. We all know it won’t be that simple, though, or there won’t be an episode.

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Legends of Tomorrow Season 2 Episode 13: Land of the Lost Recap

~ Metacrone

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This week we finally get original flavor Rip back, or as close to it as he’s ever going to be. This show has found its rhythm in season 2 and is currently the best in the Berlantiverse at doing what it sets out to do. It’s become such a joy to watch, and on top of that we get Sara Lance fighting Sara Lance! I could’ve watched another 10 minutes of Sara on Sara hand-to-hand.

Sara and Jax are trying to find out the location of Nate’s grandfather and the last piece of the Spear of Destiny using the medallion, interfaced with Gideon. Things aren’t going well. Nate rushes in, all rude and impatient with Gideon. Gideon doesn’t appreciate the slight. Best not to insult the AI who runs the ship you live in, buddy.

Evil Rip is still in the brig, and calling for Gideon. She tries to ignore him, since she’s not supposed to talk to the bad man, but finally relents to tell him she’s supposed to ignore him. He uses three code words on her: “Spaniel, broad, bicycle.” She tries to refuse the order, but Rip repeats it. The brig door opens, and every other door on the ship slams shut. The team realizes what Rip is doing.

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Legends of Tomorrow Season 2 Episode 12: Camelot/3000 Recap

~ Metacrone

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Is sweeps month over yet? I love all of the action, but the death and destruction get a bit intense by the end of the month. Thank goodness we have Supergirl and Legends to lighten things up a bit. Remember, I said a bit. Supergirl was the designated hitter for humor this week. Legends is still coping with an evil ex Time Master.

It’s the year 3000, and we’re in Detroit. The local economy has improved in the last thousand years, if the skyline is anything to go by. I now have a Jonas Brothers song stuck in my head. Soon the Legends will be going to the Year 3000, as well, because Rip is already there, creating mischief. Rip approaches Dr Mid-Nite in his future lab. He wants the fragment of the Spear of Destiny that he left with Dr Mid-Nite, explaining to Mid-Nite that he’s taking it to the Vanishing Point. Mid-Nite points out that Rip said the Time Masters couldn’t be trusted. Boy, that turned out to be even more true than Rip knew. Rip shoots Mid-Nite and decides to retrieve the spear fragment the hard way. He assumes that means removing it from inside Mid-Nite’s body, since the doctor was researching cybernetic implants. Rip is also interested in Mid-Nite’s biomorphic mind control technology.

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Legends of Tomorrow Season 2 Episode 11: Turncoat Recap

~ Metacrone

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This week’s opening narration brought to you by Mick Rory:

“Seriously, you idiots haven’t figured this out by now? It all started when we blew up  the Time Masters. Now history’s all screwed up and it’s up to us to unscrew it up. But, half the time we screw it up even worse. So don’t call us heroes. We’re something else. We’re legends. Who writes this crap, anyway?”

Sometimes I wonder that myself.

Christmas Day, 1776. Rip Hunter has killed George Washington, and is now supplying the British army with modern weapons. This is a set up to attract the Legends so that Rip can kill his former teammates and acquire their piece of the Spear of Destiny. Rip tells Eobard that he’s looking forward to having fun with the plan.

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Legends of Tomorrow Season 2 Episode 10: The Legion of Doom Recap

~ Metacrone

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“My name is Damien Darhk. In 2016 I was murdered by the Green Arrow, but I was removed from the timeline 31 years before my death by a speedster named Eobard Thawne, together with Malcom Merlyn, the former head of the League of Assassins. The three of us are going to locate the spear of Destiny, a mystical object which can rewrite reality itself. With the spear in our possession we will change our past, and our future. And the world as you know it.”

Wouldn’t we all love to see that show, with the addition of a few more Legion of Doom members? We could probably write a popular post ranking our choices for who should fill out the remaining regulars in the Legion. (The Snart siblings, Carrie Cutter/Cupid, and Helena Bertinelli/The Huntress, for the record). Alas, it’s just the fake out opening for this week’s episode of Legends of Tomorrow.

Following that fun opening, we flashback 8 months to find Malcom watching Oliver Queen/Green Arrow killing Damien Dark to foil Damien’s evil plan to destroy Star City. Damien and Eobard pop into Malcom’s shabby little apartment and offer to take him away from all this. Malcom obviously accepts.

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Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Season 2A Review and Analysis

~ Metacrone
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend — “Where Is Josh’s Friend?” — Image Number: CEG201a_0010.jpg — Pictured: Rachel Bloom as Rebecca — Photo: Scott Everett White/The CW — ©2016 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend — “Where is Josh’s Friend?” — Image Number: CEG201a_0151.jpg — Pictured (L-R): Vincent Rodriguez III as Josh and Rachel Bloom as Rebecca — Photo: Scott Everett White/The CW — ©2016 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Rebecca’s peddling as fast as she can to avoid taking a good look at herself. She doesn’t have Josh, Greg, or Paula to keep her relatively sane any more. She has her new girl group, but neither Val, nor Heather are likely to go as far down the obsession path with her as the other three did. Val shares her obsession with Josh, but has too much self-respect to take the stalking too far, I think. We’ll see. Even if she does, I doubt it will affect the other parts of her life.

Rebecca was seeing “signs” everywhere, right from the pilot on, and Paula encouraged it. It was literally a giant sign pointing to Josh that told her to move to West Covina. That makes the negation of the signs that much more meaningful. Greg was the anti-Josh when he refused to give the “danger” sign credit for his decision to leave instead of staying in West Covina with Rebecca. He took responsibility for the decision, and told her that straight out. The acknowledgement of Josh’s love kernels was also a step in the right direction for Rebecca, but she still had to ask Greg if he loved her. She’s still too caught up in seeing what she wants to see in people, rather than seeing what’s actually there. She’s been forced to face that Josh never really loved her, and the results have been difficult for everyone, and will probably continue to be.

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Agents of Shield Season 4A: GhostRider Review

~ Metacrone

I knew I’d miss Grant Ward and his ability to instigate both plot and relationship events when Agents of Shield killed him off at the end of season 3, but holy cow, it’s like both dried up completely when he left the building. He was a complex character with an ability to draw different groups of characters together. He was one of my favorite characters for that reason, but I didn’t think the show would suffer all that much from the loss. It’s a show full of interesting characters, with a comic book universe to draw more from.

Except, for most of this season, all of the returning characters have been separate, chasing random macguffins and/or being chased most of the time, or becoming or dealing with “ghosts”, who turned out to have no plot significance whatsoever long-term. It feels like we took 8 episodes to say wow, we’ve got a guy who’s head catches fire, the movies have magic so we get to have it too, especially this extra evil book, and the world hates inhumans even more than they used to. That looks like an episode or 2 worth of plot to me. We didn’t need any of the red herring distraction of Eli’s accomplices. We could have gone straight to Eli, although even his plot was cut short and explained in very broad strokes.

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Crazyhead Season 1 Episode 1 (Pilot): A Very Trippy Horse Recap and Review

~ Metacrone ~ 2 Comments

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Crazyhead is a new comedy-horror series which premiered on the BBC in October and globally on Netflix in December. It’s Shaun of the Dead meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but with demons and demon hunters instead of zombies or vampires. Buffy and Faith get to be friends rather than rivals in this version, and they look like real women with the muscle mass required to win their fights, rather than anorexic stick insects who’d pass out before they’d finish their first roundhouse kick. (I love you, Buffy, but professional fighters need some bulk. But we won’t get into my issues with Joss Whedon here.)

We start at the end of the story, with demon hunter Amy’s best friend Suzanne in the trunk of a moving car. When the car stops, Amy and fellow demon hunter Raquel, wearing clown masks, take her from the car, lay her on the ground, and tie her up. Very serious and scary. Then the fun starts. Suzanne recognizes Amy, and they argue about the ownership of the jacket Amy’s wearing, demon possession, and their friendship. While Suzanne is laying on the wet pavement, in the dark, tied up. I found this completely realistic. Roommate boundaries are important! As are cute jackets.

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Travelers: New Sci Fi Series from Netflix: Pilot Recap/Review

~ Metacrone ~ 1 Comment

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Fair  warning: Stargate SG-1 was a big deal in our house while my kids were growing up. We watched every single one of its 214 episodes, both made-for-TV movies, and the spin-off series Stargate Atlantis. I am predisposed to like anything Brad Wright does. Travelers was created by Brad Wright.

And I really do like the pilot of Travelers, even without knowing Brad Wright was involved. Pilots are tricky things. They often feel forced, since they have to cram character introductions, world building, and a plot line that hooks viewers enough to make them want more, into their 42 minute time frame. Travelers manages to avoid making the viewer feel like piles of exposition are being thrown at us all at once. The action and the characters keep moving, and we find out enough about each character and their lives by being shown their environment and the people around them, not just told. I feel like I understand the basic premise of the story, but there’s still so much I don’t know, which is where you want to be after a pilot.

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