In this edition:
Living With Yourself (season 1 - Netflix)
Batwoman (3 episodes - CW/Showcase)
Stumptown (pilot episode - ABC)
Genndy Tartakovski's Primal (season 1 - Cartoon Network)
His Dark Materials (3 episodes - HBO)
The World According to Jeff Goldblum (4 episodes - Disney+)
Harley Quinn (5 episodes - Cartoon Network)
Impulse (season 2 - YouTube)
Rick & Morty (season 4 - Cartoon Network)
The Mandalorian (season 1 redux - Disney+)
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Over the holidays I did back-to-back viewings of Us and Enemy (unfortunately The Double was unavailable), getting some intriguing doppleganger viewing in. I had forgotten that, back in October, we had watched Living With Yourself, the Paul Rudd-starring Netflix vehicle about a struggling advertising executive who is referred to an experimental self-improvement process, and comes out feeling like a new man...because he is, literally, a new man. The Paul Rudd that steps out of the treatment is actually a rapidly grown clone with some behavioral modifications that immediately starts improving his life...better performance at work, a better relationship with his wife. But the original Paul Rudd, who was supposed to be terminated, wakes up in a shallow grave and finds his life usurped by this newer version. But rather than being nefarious nemeses they wind up more like twins, since they both basically have the same shared memories and experiences, just their attitudes are slightly different. The show doesn't put them through any overtly extraordinary paces, despite their unique situation, instead it reminds us that the only person who can make our own lives better is ourself (it's a metaphor). That said I loved how the show would keep switching its POV character from episode to episode, following one Paul, and then at the start of the next episode recapping the previous episode's events from the POV from the other Paul. The show may not be the goofy comedy I was hoping for, nor is it a forced farce, or sci-fi nightmare, instead it's a light drama in the vein of Amazon's Forever or Netflix's Maniac (both shows left unreviewed from The Dark Year of this blog). It has some sharp storytelling tricks to establish a very human and grounded tale. Not exceptional but certainly watchable (as most Rudd vehicles are) with some very enjoyable elements.
[10:00 (I actually forgot to start the clock, oops)]
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Batwoman as a comic book character is a difficult choice to base a whole TV series off of. Kate Kane is an excellent character, but the modern interpretation of her is not even 15 years old at this point and she's only had a handful of solo adventures. In the time between her introduction into comics and today, the entire universe she exists in had at least one huge reboot and a few soft ones, so the character hasn't really had time to grow as part of the DC superhero community. The basics is she's Bruce Wayne's cousin (from his mom's side). Her dad is a hard-driving ex-military. She dropped out of the military due to "don't ask, don't tell" policies. She had childhood trauma as a result of the deaths of her mother and sister in a car accident. She becomes Batwoman, for reasons I don't recall.
In the show, she becomes Batwoman because Batman/Bruce Wayne up and disappeared from Gotham three years prior and someone has to do something about all the crime (and her dad's private security force is...problematic). Kate's comic book time hasn't been long enough to establish a very thorough rogues gallery, so the only villain she's really connected to is Alice, who runs an "Alice in Wonderland" gang motif, and who is really Kate's crazy, long-thought-dead sister.
The reveal of Alice as Kate's sister was a hugely dramatic one in the first major Batwoman story arc, and the show could have easily used that as a big mid-season twist, but by the end of the pilot it's already out there, Kate knows and believes Alice is her sister, and then spends the next few episodes trying to turn this self-confessed terrorist to the good side. It's pretty tedious.
The show looks good, and it's built a fairly decent supporting cast (introducing some new characters, like a new step-mom and step-sister), but it seems lost and without specific direction. There's a lot of Kate narrating letters to Bruce which only serves to remind us that Batwoman is living in Batman's shadow, that she owes everything to her cousin (even though it should focus on her forging her own path). The biggest complaint in geek circles about the series right now is Ruby Rose's acting, and I agree, it's not always great, but we have to remember that Stephen Amell in season 1 of Arrow was sub-soap opera quality in his acting but by season 3 he was a powerhouse performer. Rose, hopefully, will get there too.
The show looks good and somewhat distinct from the other CW superhero shows, so if it can improve its stories and build out Kate in a way that the comics haven't really had the chance to, that would be fabulous.
[22:43]
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Throughout the pilot episode of Stumptown, reluctant private eye and ex-marine Dex (Cobie Smulders), gets the crap kicked out of her and bashed up in a car multiple times. She may get knocked down, but she keeps getting back up again (total tubthumper that one). She's got endurance, she's tough as nails and she never says quit. She's also suffering from PTSD from her military days, has a drinking problem, and has a problem playing nice with people. She's a very endearing and exciting character. But the whole time I'm watching her, the idea of superhero origin story keeps running through my mind. So much superhero TV, Movies, comics and more I have consumed that almost everything could be a superhero narrative. I certainly wouldn't have blinked twice had Dex punched a hole through the trunk of the car she was kidnapped in the back of. But she doesn't. It's just through guts and moxy, and a bit of training that she's able to get herself out of some terrible jams and actually help the people she's supposed to be helping. I quite loved the pilot. Smulders is great. Jake Johnson shows up in a shot-later and spliced-in role, and in spite of those scenes standing out as they do, they're still pretty good. Dex has a brother with down's syndrome she takes care of and he's a great aspect to the show as well. Her booty call relationship with the cop is also not uncharacteristic either, but she's too self destructive for anything real. There's a lot of meat on these Stumptown bones. It's based off the comic book created by Greg Rucka (who also created the modern interpretation of Batwoman used above, so he's having a good year), Matthew Southworth, and Justin Greenwood which I quite enjoy, but there's really only three or four current story arcs of that comic so the show has a lot of room to forge its own path. Unlike a Marvel or DC Comics adaptation, fans aren't going to be super-sticklery if this of-the-week detective show doesn't stick to a certain formulae or fit in with "the universe". There's tremendous potential with Stumptown and I've been meaning to catch up with it beyond the pilot, but there's just too much out there right now. When it reaches a streaming service, perhaps in the summer.
[32:55]
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Oh, I loved Samurai Jack. Still do. If there's a peak to animation, that show reached it. Creator Genndy Tartakovski's animation and comic book influences run deep and they all found their way into the show, but primarily among them were the moody, bloody Samurai movies of the 60's and 70's. The angular, bold figures of Jack were certainly unique, and incorporating cinematic editing techniques alongside all its animation inspirations (from Rocky and Bullwinkle, to Looney Tunes, to anime) made for exceptionally exciting viewing. The show was never afraid of silence and relied upon sound design and music even more than dialogue, which was often sparse.
For Primal, Tartakovski goes even deeper and more specific than Jack ever did. Through its five episodes, there's not a single line of dialogue... it relies entirely upon sound and score to deliver much of its emotional impact. As well, Tartakovski strips away a lot of the influences on storytelling and goes whole hog into the savage world where primitive humans live with vicious dinosaurs and other gnarly beasts. The pilot finds our protagonist caveman losing his family to a dinosaur attack, while a small t-rex like beast equally loses her family to the same monsters. The two unite to fight their shared enemy and then continue to band and bond for the rest of the series as they traverse a violent, dangerous land.
It's stunning viewing, if each episode is perhaps overlong. I think 18, rather than 22 minutes would be the sweet spot for these (alas it's still television and specific time-frames need to be met). But the music is spot on and the stories are action heavy. There's no big plot to all of this, it's just episodic storytelling in a short 5-episode season.
[36:31]
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I haven't read the His Dark Materials trilogy, because I don't read much outside of comics. I did see The Golden Compass, but I don't really remember it and I can't find my archived review right now to see what I thought of it. My impression was that it wasn't perfect, but I kind of enjoyed it, despite critical consensus being it was bad (and fans of the books left thoroughly disappointed).
With Game of Thrones over, HBO was hoping that a proper heir to their prestige fantasy would be the His Dark Materials adaptation. It was the safer bet, I'm sure. Riskier was doing Watchmen. Both came out at the same time, I think the network hoping fans of one would provide support for the other. It turns out the latter became the massive cultural success story, and the former just disappeared into the background.
I found the pilot episode confusing and a little dull. A religiously governed reality where there are fantastical elements that are both everyday common (like the spirit animals/animals-that-are-their-spirit that accompany every human here) and the uncommon/unnatural/outlawed. James McAvoy is an explorer of those outlawed magics, but he's left behind an orphaned "niece" at a collegiate estate to take care of her. But she's special, and part of the mystery is as to why. Meanwhile, children are being stolen from the gypsy-like people and they've had enough. They're on the warpath against the establishment to getting them back. These are mere foundational stones that surprisingly all weave very tightly together.
It's not a very action packed show, so week-to-week viewing is harder if you're unfamiliar with the source material, but it does get more interesting with more concentrated viewing. It's a quality production that's certainly taking time with its adaptation, but I think only serves better to capture the nuance of its source. I'll continue watching, but only in concentrated doses.
[46:54]
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The World According to Jeff Goldblum is a vehicle for oddball personality Jeff Goldblum to explore a single subject each episode and interact weirdly with people who deal with that subject matter. I find Goldblum's innate persona to be a delightful character, and it's genuinely charming to see him interact with people and discover worlds he doesn't know much about, such as the behind the scenes reality of making ice cream, or the culture of sneaker collecting, or the world of competitive barbecue. He has a deep rooted curiosity and enthusiasm, and his peculiar mannerisms mean exploring any topics is always delightful. That said, these would work better as occasional specials rather than a program released week-over-week. An episode full of Goldblum goes a long way. By episode 5 I was ready for a break. I have no doubt I'll go back and watch the remaining episodes, but like any entertaining reality television, it's there for when nothing else is on.
[51:40]
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Since her introduction in Batman: The Animated Series almost 30 years ago, Harley Quinn has become one of the biggest characters in comic books. She went from "Joker's girlfriend" to starring character in surprisingly short amount of time. She basically followed a similar trajectory as Deadpool, as an also-ran to a comic book comedy powerhouse.
I liked the original animated Harley and have never took to this more for-the-Hot-Topic-crowd Harley that we've gotten in the past ten years or so. In the process of taking her meta, and making her a stand-alone highlight, creators and designers also took her look in a much, erm, trashier avenue for some time, putting her in a thong and a bodice for a while before settling into a comparatively demure halter top and hot pants. And then there was the Suicide Squad which brought Harley to life in the form of Margot Robbie, and put her in front of the masses who now love her greatly.
So this new Harley Quinn animated show was treading dangerously close to repeating Deadpool territory, just with butts and breasts... hyper violence, excessive swearing, and third-wall busting meta-jokes. The pilot is not without it's laughs, but it's just so, so much. Too much in fact. I was ready to call it quits by the half way point of the episode. Given the liberty to be "rated R", it was trying way too hard to be "adult", and punctuated its indulgences too much.
Each subsequent episode has been a gentle course correction. Rather than flagrant swearing and purposelesshyperviolence, both of those elements now are in service of the character or situational comedy. The show has taken a few episodes to find its core group, but they got there, with Harley (Kaley Cuoco), Ivy (Lake Bell), Clayface (Alan Tudyk), Doctor Psycho (Tony Hale) and recent addition King Shark (Ron Funches), plus ex-boyfriend Joker (also Tudyk) being the defacto nemesis for Harley (even as she attempts to find her own big name superhero adversary to fight and gain her place with the Legion of Doom). It's actually turned into a really fun, very entertaining romp which I find myself enjoying more than I ever thought I would. Oh no, have I turned into a Harley Quinn fan...?
[1:03:23]
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I watched the first season of Impulse during The Dark Year of this blog, so there's no review of it. It's a show that's been flying fully under the radar for two seasons since it's a YouTube original series and I'm sure that there are too many people who think to turn to YouTube when looking for television quality original productions (we're mostly there to watch people talk about quality original productions, no?). Anyway, this is based off the same group of novels that the 2007 box office bomb Jumper was based off of, about people who have the power to teleport. That Samuel L. Jackson/Hayden Christiansen film doesn't have a good reputation and certainly doesn't seem like the kind of project that would adapt well to television. Well, there's a reason they changed the name from Jumper to the second novel in the series, Impulse.This is an incredible, intense, emotional drama that's as much, if not more about sexual assault and the long lasting psychological trauma that results from it than it is about teleportation. Probably not the brainless 90's syndicated scifi you were expecting, eh. The show's first season deftly weaves through Henry's life as she's just getting accustomed to her new town, living with yet another of her mother's new boyfriends, when she's basically targeted by the star football captain who tries to force himself on her. In the process of the assault her abilities to teleport manifest and she arrives home while the truck she was in implodes on her assailant. The result is a shitstorm for Henry as her PTSD keeps triggering new jumps, another jumper with ties to a secret organization starts monitoring her, and her assailant is trying to point blame at her for his paralysis. Beyond Henry's immediate tale, there's very rich stories for all the supporting cast throughout both seasons. The second season focuses more on Henry's training, her new mentor (Kent favourite Callum Keith Rennie), and her entry into the secret web that's been catching jumpers for years. The second season also gives more time to supporting characters stories, feeling even more well rounded than the first, and the stakes increasing both on the meta scale and the personal.
It's an exceptionally fine drama with equally enticing intrigue. I think most people dismissed it because of where it's "airing", but it's an amazing show with incredible performances from everyone involved, and a much different story than TV often tells, with real importance in understanding and examining trauma in the wake of abuse or assault, and giving it the weight and time and relevance it deserves.
[1:17:51]
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We know Rick and Morty. It's a great show. It is one of the funniest shows on TV and yet still manages to deliver some real deep moments of darkness, and provide purpose to the characters and their adventures. What could just be trivial and silly, well, is trivial and silly but with an actual backbone to it.
I've been rewatching Community lately, specifically Seasons 3, 5 and 6. Season 3 was the height of the show, where everything was firing on all cylinders, when creator/showrunner Dan Harmon got fired before season 4. Season 4 was a disaster and Harmon was then rehired for season 5, but at that time the show started shedding cast and having to reinvent itself. Community season 5 is an effective revision of the same show (with two of my all-time favourite episodes), but with season 6, the show jumped networks and lost yet more cast members, and had to reinvent itself yet again, and it does into something almost radically different but still familiar and watchable. That it could essentially reinvigorate itself twice over (even if it tanked the Yahoo streaming service in the process) is testament to how in control of characters and characterization Harmon is, and how much a show run by him is a reflection of himself. The show didn't work without him, and it managed to survive quite well losing half its cast for one more season.
What all this is to say is that Rick and Morty season 4 feels like full Harmon. That Harmon id, ego and superego is on full display throughout its five episodes. The first is about one facing their own mortality, the second Rick's petty desire to have a solitary place of his own to poop, the third a spoof/takedown of heist movies, the fourth a dive into fantasies coming true but gone awry, with the final taking a heavy sidetrack into an alternate reality world where snakes are the predominent species.
Not to at all discredit the legion of talented script writers, art directors, illustrators, colorists, and everyone else involved in making what is easily one of the most ambitious animated series on TV, but that Harmon voice comes through so clearly every episode this season, that it was no surprise to hear (via the Adult Swim Podcast) that he has stepped up his input into almost every aspect of the show production this season. While there are fewer episodes of the show, and there's probably real issues behind the scenes with Harmon having his hands in every pot, this season almost all five of these are top tier, all-time classics of the show. The show received a huge 70 episode order after Season 3, so hopefully Harmon doesn't burn himself out by doing too much too quickly. But we'll see how long this ride can last, because it's legitimately great.
[1:24:53]
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I've already written about The Mandalorian's first three episodes, and, in the time since, I have seen Episode IX: The Rise Of Skywalker, which I haven't written about yet. It's pretty telling that I would rather write about The Mandalorian again than write a review about the latest big Star Wars movie.
I love The Mandalorian and even though throughout it's 8-episode first season there were small, small dips in quality, it was all good to me. Every moment of it was good with me. I could have little nit picks, but I'm just so overjoyed with everything they gave me in that show that I can't be upset with any of it.
I love that the show did have an over-arcing plot, but at the same time it went very episodic with it, like a 70's roaming-hero show (ex. The Incredible Hulk or Kung-Fu). The series has some very deep cut, deep Star Wars lore referenced within it, but at the same time little to nothing centers around that deep cut lore. Anything that the audience absolutely needs to know, the show provides (or will provide, or intentionally leaves out), and the rest is kind of gravy for the mega fans to fawn and discuss and speculate.
The show gives us a baby (50-year-old baby) of Yoda's species, and he's undeniably cute. It also gives us an awesome cast of supporting characters, some of whom we see again, some who we don't, some who we lose along the way. The casting is peculiar but in a tremendously enjoyable way. Some definite bold choices. Gina Carano, Nick Nolte, Taika Waititi, Amy Sedaris, Richard Ayoade, Bill Burr, Giancarlo Esposito all appear as voices or characters, Adam Pally and Jason Sudekis show up as scout troopers in the final episode, and best of all Werner Herzog is so perfect for Star Wars.
They stick the landing in the end, leaving plenty of questions open for season 2, but also giving us a sense of closure for the first run. It has been a triumphant success for the Disney+ launch, received much needed boost of near-universal love from fans. If Hasbro, the company with the Star Wars toy license currently, doesn't go all-in on The Mandalorian line over the next 2-3 years they're going to severly disappoint legions of new fans of all ages (or, maybe just me)
Episode Rankings (number of times watched...so far):
1. Episode 2 (4x) - that scaling the sandcrawler sequence is what I live for
2. Episode 7 (3x) - if only because they put the Imperial Troop Transport live on screen for the first time ever, but also getting the gang together
3. Episode 1 (5x) - it's kind of rough, and yet every little aspect works, especially IG-11
4. Episode 8 (2x) - still great as a finale, but a little overstuffed and perhaps a little rushed. Much better the second viewing.
5. Episode 6 (2x) - the prison transport heist... everything's better with Clancy Brown
6. Episode 5 (3x) - we get to visit Tattooine again. It's great to go back there without all the weight and importance the Skywalkers bring to it
7. Episode 3 (4x) - so much great Mandalorian detail, especially at the end...so much that I kind of forget what happens in the rest of it
8. Episode 4 (3x) - laying low in the farming fields...it's a nice episode, and still very Star Wars-y, but more Ewok Adventure Star Wars-y than I think most people want.
[1:41:28]
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