3 Short Paragraphs: Angel Has Fallen

2019, Ric Roman Waugh (Snitch) -- download

Mike Banning has been trying to quit his job since the beginning of this franchise. It started in Olympus Has Fallen, where he persevered to save the POTUS after a horrible attack on the White House. He stuck around for London Has Fallen, when a number of world leaders are killed and POTUS has kidnapped. When we return, he's still protecting the POTUS, but the presidency has moved on to Trumbull (Morgan Freeman). Mike is not as old as his boss, but he's more broken down, suffering from the effects of so many years of extremely dangerous service. So, of course, we toss him immediately into the fray, as an assassination attempt on President Trumbull plays out. And then, to add insult to literal injury, Mike is implicated.

The first two were about attacks on the US from outside, this is about an attack from within. In the Movie Universe, progressive presidents have been moving the US away from its aggressive stance, towards a more moderate one, a more just one, the one that much of the American people still believe they represent. When America plays in fewer wars, they buy less guns, and the Military Industrial Complex loses money. An old buddy of Banning is a profiteer in said Complex, and is seeing his own American Dream die because of the POTUS and his plans. So, die he must. He doesn't.

Gone are the reasons to watch this movie, no connection to the first beyond characters, no style choices beyond Generic Actioner, not even a closed room movie. I watched it because I had to round out the commitment I already made, sort of like I finish off so many books, "just because". But as mentioned in the last movie, they are often Easy Clicks, when dancing around the HDD full of Movies I Should Watch Instead. And yes, it satisfies something base inside of me. I like Gerard Butler, for pretty much the role he plays here (aging, full of ouch) and I like Danny Huston, who has done a lot of Generic Actioners, despite my brain type-casting him as a thoughtful supporting member, via Silver City and 21 Grams.

3 Short Paragraphs: Den of Thieves

2018, Christian Gudegast (writer London Has Fallen) -- Netflix

*flick flick flick*

Too heavy, already seen, too heavy, too heavy, too heavy, Marmy wants to see, etc. Those are my usual "flicking through the channels" thoughts as I sit in front of the TV on a Saturday afternoon.And some days I am just in the mood for a "generic crime movie". So, I like Pablo Shreiber and Gerard Butler, so why not. And I got exactly what I was looking for; something to turn the brain off and make mental notes on the generic nature of crime movies set in LA.

A bunch of bad guys rob an armoured car, geared up like it was a video game inspired by the famous scene from Heat. Some people get killed including one of the bad guys. Next morning, enter Gerard Butler and his Major Case Squad. First impressions -- tough guy, bad guy, possibly even the actual bad guys or maybe they are even going to be worse than the actual bad guys, and the armoured car robbers will be robbed by them. In watching these kind of movies, there are thousand cliche directions these movies go, even when they are trying to do the unexpected. Alas, this movie went in ways I didn't even expect.

At its core, it's a heist movie. Pablo Shreiber is leading a squad of his own, all ex-cons with military training. They stole the truck, not primarily for its money, but to bolster the real job -- where they will steal from the Federal Reserve. There's a complicated plan involving lots of misdirection. Meanwhile Butler and his squad, all tattooed and grimy and chasing hookers when they should be home with their wives, are on Shreiber, knowing something is up, but not sure what. At the end, the real end of the movie, where bad guys shoot at good guys and key characters are lost, we find there was an entirely different misdirect, one that I both admired and rolled my eyes at rather heavily. Why does everyone have to be trying to setup a franchise?

I Saw This!! What I Have Been Watching: 2020 Edition: Pt C

I Saw This (double exclamation point) is our feature wherein Kent(!) or Toasty(¡) attempt to write about a bunch of stuff they watched some time ago and meant to write about but just never got around to doing so. But every time I try not to write, bad things happen, very bad things. Somewhere. To someone.

What I Have Been (or Am) Watching is the admitted state of me spending too much time in front of the TV. And despite what I said above, I have been avoiding telling you about what I have been watching. Not that you care. But at least I am not telling you about my character

Pt A is here. Pt B is here.


And They're Back !!

The Expanse S4, 2019, Amazon

This is my show. I watch it by myself (as opposed to Marmy next to me and if she IS next to me, she's on Reddit), few others I know watch it and Kent is not enamoured with it. My brain is somewhat enthralled with the idea of small space opera, where the entire universe is contained within the single solar system. I have been faithfully watching since the first season, and actually racing the story by picking up the novels in the meantime.

As I expected, from my notes in the first season, the show did end up becoming majorly about the politics, especially when the three powers of the universe (Earth, Mars and the Outer Planets) had to deal with the incursion of an alien molecule wanted only to alter and destroy humanity. That storyline culminated with the "defeated" protomolecule creating massive Stargate-style rings in/through which people found gateways to a thousand other worlds. Suddenly the small solar system, where resources were tight and land, real earthy land, scarce, was cracked opened massively.

Season 4 picks up in a small story on a single Earth-like planet that was discovered, and immediately colonized by folks displaced by the wars in the first three seasons. But an Earth corporation legally laid claim to  the planet, and sent a security detail to deal with the squatters. The powers at be, send the main characters, the crew of the small, liberated, Martian ship Rocinante. Captain Holden is (barely) trusted  by all three governments (having been the whistleblower on the horrors of the protomolecule) and is asked to help mediate peaceful negotiation between the two groups. Meanwhile, political turmoil has expanded in the main system as a splinter group of the Outer Planets Alliance is causing chaos.

This the first Expanse season that takes place primarily on the ground, but it also absorbs the key plots from a separate book, to lay the plans for the next season. So much is going on here, as we pick at the threads of so many plots & character storylines. Are the squatters criminals "stealing" a lucrative planet (valuable mineral everywhere), or just plucky underdogs finally getting somewhere? What's up with the planet itself, and all the ruins of ancient technology? After generations of terraforming their planet, Martians are losing their definition of self, as they can now just hop in a ship and find a brand new, empty planet already fit for habitation. Bobbie Draper, recently discharged Martian Marine (she sided with Earthlings against the protomolecule) is dealing with her own loss of identity & becoming a civilian. And the OPA (Outer Planets Alliance) having only recently been recognized as a proper government (instead of just protectorates of Mars and Earth) is dealing with internal strife over OPA identity. Everything that defined them -- making lives for themselves on asteroids and in space stations -- is in jeopardy when there are so many more planets to colonize. They fear becoming, as a people (Belters), only historical notes and one man  (Inaros) is not willing to give up his hatred of the Inner Planets, and sets the OPA on a course to war.

Amazon saved the show from extinction (cancelled by SyFy) and it returned with the next arc in the series. The universe is no longer a single system, but it still focuses around the small crew of the small ship, and all the people that satellite around them. There aren't a whole lot of differences that appear with the change of Motherships, and they are smart to keep what fans want -- a whole lot of focus on their favourite characters.

Jack Ryan S2, 2019, Amazon

Jack has had a lot of faces: Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, Ben Affleck and Chris Pine. There is enough there to establish the character -- the CIA analyst who ends up in the field. At first blush, John Krasinski is the perfect choice, as he is slightly nerdy (i.e. Analyst) looking but also equally buff (i.e. ex-Marine) and fills out the role very well.

Season 1 re-introduced the character, not bothering to recreate the wheel, but I found it strange that we are here, 30 years since the first cinematic viewing & original novels, just expecting the audience to get who he is. So, not an origin story but an updated continuance, skipping past the novels where Republican Ryan ends up as the President.

Season 2 tenuously uses his skillset and character to portray a general political upset in Venezuela and how a few Americans, if not the country at large, fly in to save the day. But, propagandic leanings aside, it was a decent, tense, well produced spy thriller season. As a whole, it is entirely unsatisfying, dancing about in tone and intent, with little care for the characters or story. But the high production values overshadow it enough to make acceptable entertainment value.

Lost in Space S2, 2018, Netflix

That last sentence pretty much defines how I feel about THIS show as well. The first season's post was lost to the hiatus mind, and while it left me entirely unsatisfied, there was a enough of the enjoyment of Shows Set in Space that had me come back. Besides, the leads are charming and charismatic enough, that I enjoy watching them act.

So, the Robinsons from the first season, are a family of smart people chosen to leave a dying Earth (we never really understand the dying, from ... what??) along with all kinds of other families, and head to a distant world to begin a colony. I never understood if this was abandonment or early setup, but considering the amount of free space in these colony ships, it all felt a little ... elitist. Anywayz, while on said journey, alien robots attack, the ship the Robinson family is on (each family gets their own ship!) crashes on a planet and is ... lost !

Turns out they were not the only ship lost in this particular system, and eventually a bunch of them get back together, both in space (in the space station cum mothership) and on another planet in the system. While I was not a big fan of the original series, its key premise always seemed to be that he Robinsons (as in Caruso) were alone, lost in space. These Robinsons keep on getting lost, and then almost immediately found, and then lost again.

The haphazard style of the first season is back, aaaaaaand I am beginning the think this is particular to the Netflix was of doing things. There is no real tone to the show, and it dances around a lot. I guess that lends itself to binging, allowing the easily bored (myself included) to find something they like, somewhere, bringing them back for another season. The Netflix Producers are less concerned with finely tuned quality, and more concerned with just enough effort to recoup costs. I guess how the obviously, clearly styled Marvel shows lost more and more viewers as time went by, while terrible, yet less rigidly designed shows keep viewers coming back, says something for what Netflix wants to make.

And yes, posting about this show is less about the show, and more about how I am pretty much in a pattern of watching shows that leave me mostly unsatisfied, but with a modicum of entertainment, enough so to keep me coming back, hoping for .... more? I could blame it on life stresses and the need to be easily entertained, but that's the cheap way out.

I need to start being more discerning. Just because something is a Space Show, and I like some of the characters, doesn't mean I have to watch it.

[We Agree] 6 Underground

2019, d. Michael Bay  - Netflix

The opening 20 minutes of 6 Underground is frenetic, aggressive, and overly self-satisfied. Bay produces a car chase sequence that not only isn't exciting but is genuinely upsetting in how it wastes all its talents and resources just to keep slapping us in the face with juvenile gags, purposeless dialogue (meant to pass as witty banter, I think), and protagonists who seem to constantly and senselessly endanger the public, and are pretty glib about doing so. The crashes are overblown, often absurd (Bay remarkably limits himself to only one Baysplosion here), but seemed to require a lot of effort, all for usually a 1-3 second cut so you can't even really marvel at them. This type of quick-cut filmmaking wasn't even really that enjoyable at the height of Bay's powers and now it just seems so passe.

It's not that the premise is stupid, because any premise can work if you treat it right, but Bay can't take anything seriously, and when he tries he can't stop himself from overly indulging in effects, explosions, wisecracks or dumb gags. There's no room for real emotion or sentimentality.

But yeah, this movie is bad. The story has terrible pacing. It keeps interrupting any momentum it gains with flashbacks and origin stories. There's no real character building, because that would entail spending any amount of time getting to know them with any earnestness. Halfway through the film we don't know these characters or have any reason to care about them or their safety.

Ryan Reynolds' voiceover continually pops in to tell us... something... but nothing ever meaningful. It's supposed to be background or insight but only serves to fill any quiet moment (like an establishing shot) with noise.

I got one laugh (when there was that nerdy kid sitting with them at dinner and Reynolds calls out that they perhaps shouldn't be talking about their plans in front of him) and I really only found the parkour sequences exciting (and for all the effort that went into car chases and gun fights, they're astonishingly tedious).  I guess the giant magnet was interesting, except Bay kept overindulging in juvenile gags and improbable effects.

Just...what a fucking waste of time, money, talent, resources.

(Toast's take)

Horse Girl

2020, d. Jeff Baena - Netflix

Sarah's family has a history of mental health issues, and lately Sarah has been having spells of lost time, troubled sleep and sleepwalking. It's also possible she's being abducted by aliens and experimented upon.

It's the specificity in Sarah's character that I like so much about this film. She's sweet and awkward, but obviously nervous because of the emotional traumas she's experienced. Those specifics are a necessary part of the film's deft obfuscation of reality. Is it her psychosis that we're seeing or is she really being abducted?

I honestly think the time is trying to say why can't it be both. It's certainly saying that this is Sarah's truth, whatever we may think of it. Sometimes it's hard to have understanding of someone's struggle with mental health, but it doesn't mean we can't have compassion. I think that is ultimately what this is about. It's not about accepting or relating to Sarah's truth but having compassion for what she is experiencing.

Alison Brie is phenomenal, delivering a complex and rich performance which, as co-writer, doubtlessly is something she's been needing to get out. I won't say risky or brave, instead it's confident and self-aware.

I haven't been exceptionally pleased with any of Jeff Baena's films I've seen so far (Joshy, The Little Hours), but there's exceptional growth here as a filmmaker, if still a little clunkiness that I'm sure increased budgets and more technical experience will smooth out.

It's a twisty, mysterious, boggling and beautiful film, resting somewhere between mumblecore drama and retro-90's thriller, but certainly not everyone's cup of tea. Sort of the trippy, experimental 80's sci-fi vibe if not quite as beholden to aesthetic as, say, Beyond The Black Rainbow or Under The Skin.

3 Short Paragraphs: Time Trap

2017, Mark Dennis, Ben Foster (Strings) -- Netflix

I think it's well established that I am a fan of time travel movies. THIS blog started as a back of the streetcar argument nee raving about a time travel movie. Well, at least it did in the previous timeline, as the evidence doesn't match up with my actual recollection. How did Kent do his post in May, mine was in July and the first actual posts were in MARCH ?!?! I think some agents of time have been having some hijinx at my expense. But even the time bureau cannot wipe away my enjoyment of time travel fiction, especially thought indie level, where the idea is often more important than the executio or budget.

That said, I think the execution of this lofty idea (ok, not really that lofty, but I imagine the back of the streetcar pitch was lofty) is decent enough, if rather low key. The movie begins with Hopper, the archaeology prof bringing his students into the desert with him for his pet obsession -- the trail of some missing hippies from times past. There is something about going into the desert to discover a mystery that lends itself to indie scifi creators. But nevermind that, in the entrance to a cave the Prof finds a man frozen mid-stride. And like a fool, he follows. Days later, the students, who he had sent away are returning with their own group of friends, and tag-alongs, to find out what happened to Prof. Inside the caves, they discover something inexplicable, something that changes their lives forever.

There is no point in going into this movie without spoiling everything. If you don't want to know how it goes, just let me tell you it was a fun, twisty flick, a little naive at times, a little lofty (i already said that) at other times and one that solidifies that time related movies never truly leave their cast untouched. You see, what they find is a cave system where time travels faster, or slower, in many different parts of the system. They are not the first who were trapped in here, and trapped they definitely are having gazed up through a chimney to see flashes of light, strobes of night and day moving by at breakneck pace, showing them exactly how much time is passing them by. By the time (pun intended) they have an idea of what is going on, they start running into others investigating the same phenomena, people who are also out of time, and who are seeking to break the power this place has. Oh, and cave folks.

3 Short Paragraphs: Fighting with my Family

2019, Stephen Merchant (Hello Ladies) -- download

But Toasty, why are you watching a wrastlin' movie? You don't even like wrestling (sorry rob). Yes, that is true, but I heard it was a standard British feel-good comedy, and we were in the mood for something light, so we gave it a chance. It might also be my totally inappropriate Hollywood crush on Florence Pugh. For someone so new to the business, a few small parts in standard British fare, she sure has sprung into the spotlight, with her roles in Midsommar (yet to watch; i know i know) and Little Women (an Oscar nomination!) and her coming part in Black Widow. Personally, I think she's going to have a brief moment in the Hollywood spotlight, and the return to making small, British films that mean more to her.

Anywayz, yes this definitely was a typical British feel-good movie. Saraya is being raised by her cringe-trashy wrestler parents (played by Lena Headey and Nick Frost), along with her brother, to join the family business -- a really really small wrestling league/group in Norwich, England. Her family is really REALLY into this, while she feels dragged along. At tryouts for the WWE, nobody is more surprised than Saraya that she is picked, rather than her brother, than Saraya herself. But despite tension and resentment, she owes it to the family to try. Off to America she goes, encouraged by words from The Rock.

This is bio-pic light, because unknown to me, her character Paige was a real WWE wrestler. We get to see how Saraya deals with being the small town English girl shoved into the bright sunlight of the Florida training camp, her being more gothy than her fellow tryouts. I almost see this part as a metaphor for Pugh's current state, and maybe more than a little inspiration to pursue her career in Hollywood. After the typical setbacks, Paige comes at the whole WWE thing renewed and with even more vigorous, and becomes the famous star that actual wrestling fans will have to explain to me.

Bonus Paragraph: There are small home-video clips in the rolling credits scenes, that confirmed that Headey and Frost did a spectacular job playing the utter cringe  nature of her parents. They are utterly unashamed of who they were (criminals) and who they are (wrestlers) and surprisingly, that's the most feel-good part of it.

I Saw This!! What I Have Been Watching: 2020 Edition: Pt B

I Saw This (double exclamation point) is our feature wherein Kent(!) or Toasty(¡) attempt to write about a bunch of stuff they watched some time ago and meant to write about but just never got around to doing so. But every time I try not to write, bad things happen, very bad things. Somewhere. To someone.

What I Have Been (or Am) Watching is the admitted state of me spending too much time in front of the TV. And despite what I said above, I have been avoiding telling you about what I have been watching. Not that you care. But at least I am not telling you about my character

Pt A is here. 

The First Season; Binged

The Witcher, 2019, Netflix

Every so often, I enter a search into Reddit / Google for "generic fantasy novel". Usually that generates a debate between what is generic or not, and how most people are searching for things that go against the tropes. Not me; give me more heroic adventurer types, sword wielding grim warriors, elves & dwarves and monsters to be slain. One of those times, it led me to a Polish series about a professional monster killer, a man from of an ancient order, corrupted by magic potions and wandering the countryside, taking bounties on things that prey on the people. The stories were faery tale adjacent, as if someone was reinterpreting Grimm for their D&D game, and Mary Sue-ing the Hell out of the stories. I loved the books. Not long after reading, the games appeared, or I discovered the games -- not sure exactly of my timelines. The games never took hold of me. I am currently on my second attempt to get through The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt, which should have all the hallmarks for a game I would love, but for some reason I cannot get into.

And then Netflix came along to adapt it for the English audiences. This is not the first time the books have been tackled for the small screen. In the early 2000s, there was The Hexer, a poorly received TV series based on the books. I watched a few episodes; it was terrible. Netflix chose to represent for fans of the books and/or the games. Hell, even Henry Cavill himself is a big fan of the games, which lends at least a familiarity with the source, if not a genuine love. Netflix even did the bathtub scene from the game.

Big surprise, but I was a fan. This is definitely another series intending to ride the coat tails of Game of Thrones and while it doesn't (not as cinematic; Netflix does not yet seem completely capable of epic), it still does a solid Generic Fantasy story for me.

It takes a while to get into, and to be honest, their playing with timeline presentation doesn't help. Sure, Westworld did it, but remember, Netflix doesn't do epic very well, so it ends up coming across as confusing and disjointed. By the time (pun intended) we catch on, its time to draw the story lines together. So, Geralt of Rivia, a grimdark monster killer for hire. Yennefer of Vengerberg, a not-young sorceress, bought from her family (as a twisted, deformed young woman) recreates herself in power and manipulation. Princess Ciri of Cintra, granddaughter of the Queen, and the last surviving member of the royal family after the country is invaded by Nilfgaard. These are the three storylines and timelines we chase. This is a world of elves, and dwarves (but I don't think we see any) and fantastical creatures, some monstrous, some benign. This is a world of great magic. And the first season is about introducing characters, and setting and world building. Unfortunately, its a little light on story, as the next season, when all is gathered together, is where the real story begins.

But it still works, for the most part. We get all the elements we want from The Witcher: swordplay, and nasty monsters, spell play and beautiful sorceresses (the milieu is very *cough* classic), we even get Dandelion the bard, but under the not-translated name of Jaskier. And while I am not sure we fans needed it, we got a really catch tune. So, go ahead, toss a coin to your witcher.

The Watchmen, 2019, HBO

Now, if you want epic, HBO does epic and it does it well. This was easily the best thing I saw on TV this year, in that it gave me what I wanted from a franchise related story, but also gave me something challenging and exciting and just so... fucking... well... done.

This is not a sequel to the movie, though you can see some inspiration taken from Zack Snyder's visuals. This is a straight up sequel to the comics, but thirty years later. This is the world that came after Adrian Veidt dropped a psychic alien squid on top of NYC, killing millions in the psionic blast. This is a world of costumed vigilantes, but not exactly superheroes. This is also the world that suffered and benefited from the fallout of Veidt's act. The cold war was ended, and there seems to have been a lasting peace between nations, as Ozymandias continued to worry people of alien incursions via regular "squid fall", basically rains of pollywog sized squid babies.

But of course, all is never quite right with the world. In a Thor's hammer sized hit-on-the-head reminder, we always believe things are great while marginalized folks still get the shaft. This show was so woke some people could not get past it's political agenda, but to be honest, it was that which kept me attached. This is often an uncomfortable watching, as it starts with a view into a part of history I didn't even know existed -- the Tulsa Race Riots (which in itself, is a white washing of a name for an event) where white Tulsans attacked a prosperous black neighbourhood, killing indiscriminately and burning down the neighbourhood. In the series, Tulsa is providing reparations to the descendents of the terror, while its police force deals with the reemergence of a white supremacist group called the Seventh Kavalry, and yes, the K is intentional.

This is pure Damon Lindelof (The Leftovers, Lost) with lots of plots and subplots and weirdness and amazing characters and incredible performances. Time and stories twist around, not quite Westworld style but confusing enough to cause big grins when you start cluing in. In a world where Dr. Manhattan no longer perceives time as a linear stream, but as all, at once, this kind of makes sense.

This is not a superhero TV show, despite some imagery of masked vigilantes, but it is a show about the legacy of allowing people to dress up and fight for justice, and the ramifications and fictions that would be built around them. Remember Hooded Justice from the comic? Turns out his hangman motif is not quite what it seemed, and was accepted as. Nor who and what he was.

As usual, I am trying to remember what stood out. I am such an in-the-moment kind of guy. But Jeremy Irons as the older Adrian Veidt, Regina King as a masked crusader working for the Tulsa police department, Jean Smart as the ex-superhero now FBI agent, and Tim Blake Nelson as "Mirror Guy". And of course, the Excalibur cannot be unseen.

Dracula, 2020, Netflix

In a world where the Universal Monsters Reboots have failed in numerous attempts, we are not going to get a proper Dracula in Modern Day movie. And then comes along an unexpected British produced, Netflix delivered version in the vein (pun intended) of Sherlock, in that it is done by Gatiss and Moffat. It both succeeds and utterly fails in an attempt to gives us something new in the recently post-vampire world.

So, British-style, in that we get only three longish episodes. The first episode is just, in my humble opinions, brilliant. They give us the familiar story of Jonathan Harker visiting Count Dracula to solidify a real estate deal. But we are getting the story via a requested narration, by a forthright nun to a very Renfieldish Harker. We get the familiar visitation story, with so many nods to previous versions, I got dizzy. We have the classic Hammer stories, we have Francis Ford Coppola's, we even have a little bit of the 1979 Frank Langella Drac. It was compelling and humorous, chilling and inventive.

The second episode places us on the Demeter, the ship that transports Dracula's coffin & soil. The retelling is almost a Murder on the Orient Express meets The Thing in that Dracula is picking off the other passengers one by one, while making the rest believe each is the murderer. All along Dracula is portraying more and more of the vampiric powers we are familiar with, while manipulating and altering them. For example, how does an ancient shut-in vampire expect to know about the world and age outside of Transylvania, late 1800s? By imbibing the knowledge he needs from the blood of his victims. With the knowledge taken, he slaughters everyone left on board.

And then he arrives on the coast of England and the helicopter is flying overhead.

*record scratch*

Yeah, the third episode was just ... weak. Modern day Dracula, played by 50ish Clays Bang (what a name!) is supposed to be seducing young, beautiful, irreverent Lucy while being foiled by the Harker Foundation led by Zoe Van Helsing, the descendant of the nun from the first two episodes. Yawn. They take a nice reworking attempt, and want to smoosh it into the sexy, seductive trope we have been dispensing with for a decade. Wasted.

Well, at least he didn't sparkle.

Raising Dion, 2019, Netflix

This was a thoroughly unexpected, enjoyable superhero origin story where the hero of the story is an eight year old boy coming into his powers. I have previously mentioned enjoying genre and crime TV from other countries, because it gives me a familiar experience but in a new light. In the age of Marvel, we are used to seeing how a youngish, usually male, usually white main character discovers he has powers, and how to handle them. But take an average, very grounded eight year old kid being raised by his mother, after his father, cameo-ed by Michael B Jordan, was killed saving a woman from drowning.

I imagine dad's insurance keeps them afloat, as he was a successful tech engineer, but it doesn't mean things aren't still tough. Mom is young, too young to be widowed, and while she gets support from dad's best friend (played by Jason Ritter) and her own sister, things are not helped when Dion discovers he can move things with his mind, go incorporeal and even more. Best Friend gets introduced soon enough; Dion and him bond over superhero names and how to train. But then a conspiracy involving aurora borealis over Iceland emerges and things get really interesting.

The core story is fun enough, with twists and turns, but the meat of this show was Dion and his mother. Dion is just a rambunctious little hellion, constantly pushing himself to the boundaries of what his mother can handle. She gets some help from Best Friend and from Dion's own best friend, Esperanza, a mouthy little girl confined ot a motorized wheelchair. But Dion is eight; lack of control is inherent. Mom dances the line from barely keeping it together with the drama these powers bring, while showing immense strength in front of all this.

I am very very glad Netflix is giving this one a second season. Please give all the monies intended for Dracula to this one please, and while you are at it, fund a TV show for Fast Color, which I briefly thought THIS was the TV adaptation of, as the use of colour and lights to depict their superpowers fooled me. Also, how many black centric superhero shows are out there, a sad comment on our supposed progression.