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Reviews
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law: A Normal Amount of Rage (2022)
7 feels like an accurate rating
I just finished watching the first episode of She-Hulk and I can safely say that I enjoyed what I saw, though I can't necessarily say why I enjoyed it...Tatiana Maslany is a good main, though once again the MCU is casting A-level actors and not giving them A-level writing.
After watching The Bear, Marvel has no excuse to be giving lack lustre content in 40 min or less. I'm still confused as to how Marvel makes content for "kids" yet the show is riddled with sex jokes. Just make some of these shows 16+. Stop trying to make these jokes work in a 8+ show.
I hope She-Hulk is not a case of living off cameos. Hulks appearance in epi 1 is a major reason why the episode was good in the first place. But I was happy to see him send her back out into the world and leave the door open as a mentor.
WTF was that quick court fight scene at the end. That was some of the worst stuff Ive ever seen from the MCU. Like borderline worst lol. If the rest of the sequences are like that I would just say turn it off anytime someone starts fighting. It's very odd to introduce Titania in that way considering she's the main villain apparently.
I don't know I definitely liked this less than Ms Marvel epi 1. Which managed to get me excited for a new character without the aid of OG avengers. It's only episode one so I can't cast judgements on the whole series but as far as a debut episode goes, this should receive no more and subsequently no less than a 7/10.
Ms. Marvel (2022)
Show was much better than these reviews give it credit for
I'm going to start off by saying I didn't think I was going to watch Ms marvel originally. Based on the trailers I had thought "damn this one just isn't for me". I loved Kamala's story in the avengers game and always felt confused why they couldn't replicate something like that.
For having much less budget than shows like Moon Knight, Loki, WandaVision, etc I thought Ms Marvel did a great job with the action and character of Kamala.
The underlying story of this show is actually excellent. The Djinn, partition, and Kamala's teen roots had potential to tell a really compelling story, but as with previous Disney+ shows, it just simply lacked the episode count to fulfill this. It definitely deserves a season 2.
Surprisingly great character was Bruno, who oozed Peter Parker vibes as I'm aware the actor was in the final running for that role.
My only problems with the show come with certain characters, and really it all comes down to the runtime they were given to tell their story. The clandestine villains were quite boring as they didn't get a ton of screen time to flush out their motivations. And Kamala's moms inconsistent treatment of her daughter made that storyline hard to come to terms with. But in the end it didn't bother me a ton.
Kamrans final evil moment was weird lol, but I think it proved to me more that I was really enjoying Kamala's character.
I can't believe that I'm saying this but Kamala Khan has single handedly intruigued me into looking forward to "Captain Marvel 2" which should be testament enough that this show was pretty good.
Obi-Wan Kenobi: Part VI (2022)
As good as it will get for modern age Star Wars
Now I want to start off this review by saying I really enjoyed this episode and it definitely felt like a fitting finale. There is no fight that will ever top Revenge of the Sith but Vader vs Kenobi was still a showdown. Terrible location though. You could see they relied heavily this time on moving camera angles because the fight choreography wasn't as strong as in the prequels. Another reason why both resorted to a lot of force using this time around where they didn't the first time.
Probably could've spent less time wallowing over "should I leave, should I not leave?" at the beginning. Obi Wan knew the entire series Anakin just wanted him and neglected to make this call in the past episodes.
Anakin speaking with the broken mask truly made the episode. The way his voice bounced between Hayden and the machine was an excellent way to cement that Anakin will always be in there. (Great callback to Rebels) Loved how they teased sidious' subtle tactics of torturing Anakin for his failures. Please Disney we need a Vader show because he was the best part of the series.
While I was a fan of Moses Ingram in an inquisitor role, they definitely devoted too much of the series to a very bland character arc. I wish that she had simply been interested in the role of grand inquisitor, instead of trying to fit an entire story within someone else's series. She will likely get a spin off show, though I feel she is much better placed in cameo roles throughout other shows from now on. (I also have zero explanation of how she got to tattooine so quickly lol)
Qui Gon at the end should assure a season 2 of this show. And I am yearning to hear his view on Anakin's turn to the dark side. Maybe Qui Gon knew this the whole time...
Overall this series definitely did not live up to the hype, though rarely anything does nowadays. If they could find a way to make 6 one hour long episodes every Disney Plus show would have incredible potential. They also need to cut some filler content as now I see a majority of episodes 2 and 4 as completely pointless and you simply don't need them in such a short series already.
Obi Wan is a character fans will always come back to see and I certainly will, Hopefully he returns for a second season that centers around the clone wars. MORE FLASHBACKS PLS!!!
Finale rating: 8/10
Series rating: 7/10.
The Flash: Pay the Piper (2020)
The Flash has become a soap opera
This show does an amazing job and doing nothing. This was another filler episode if it wasn't noticeable. They started the episode off with a good sense of urgency, for once everyone seemed to be on board with either finding a way out of the mirror-verse or creating the artificial speed force...and yet the only progression we get in these storylines comes in the final minutes of the episode.
I'm not a fan about how they keep changing history on the flash...one flaw that I noticed was that Barry was able to throw lightning in the flashback from season 1...even though he doesn't learn that until season 2. Even if crisis changes that then why doesn't it change anything else...like potentially letting Barry's dad survive???
Hartley was actually my favourite character this episode, his witty sarcasm was definitely needed and his and Cisco's hate for each other is always comedically enjoyable. I can't believe that they had to wait 30 minutes into the episode before they revealed that Hartley and Roderick were in love...I don't know about everyone else but I kind of put that together when Cisco was explaining the whole bridge situation.
Barry also showcased a TON of speed this episode, which gave me a 50/50 enjoyment factor because finally the flash was back! But also confuses me as to why he was able to use so much speed here in comparison to the last few episodes. Also why does every speedster have so many cool abilities and Barry can only throw a bolt of lightning...they seem to understand the mechanics of how these speedsters do this stuff because they are able to come up with counter solutions. And yet Barry doesn't ever go like wow maybe that might be useful to at least know how to do some of that stuff.
When they defeat Godspeed and we see his blue lightning blood I got super excited that was the key to Barry retaining some speed or something to do with the artificial speed force. Also if the speed force is dead how does Godspeed have speed...why is that question never asked...and also if they had 4 Godspeed speedsters why weren't they trying to study them in order to make this speedforce? Having Barry draw on a board is not sufficient enough to say they addressed that issue.
I know Hartley helped Barry in the fight but I don't think that was necessarily the mutual agreement they had in mind when they saved his boyfriend...think they would have hoped he would help out with some more important stuff later. Cisco says Hartley left some ideas but Hartley was obviously the smartest person on the show since thawne, so I would have liked to see him stick around for more.
This Caitlin/killer frost side story is just laughable. Calls a 911 message that takes Ralph away from helping work on the urgent issue of helping get everyone out of the mirror-verse, only for it to not be an urgent issue and then Ralph doesn't let Caitlin know that team flash is falling apart and while Barry is trying to save lives he's printing out jokey Dib-plomas???
I hope Nash is somehow able to channel thoughts from the other Wells eventually which will make his character more interesting, his post crisis Allegra story is just boring and irrelevant.
Next weeks episode is the last and I can't help but think we're going to be left disappointed...I know the season was cut short and they couldn't have predicted that but it does look like all the problems are somehow going to get solved in what was going to be episode 22. I thought that Barry and Hartley's pep talk at the end was going to ignite an idea in Barry but no...it was just to get him to do another pep talk for team flash. I'm happy he's getting back to being a leader...but this was not necessary.
Also now that every superhero is on the same earth I can't help but think that Barry without his speed wouldn't call Kara or someone...I guess they'd rather just let more people die...
Don't think they thought the after effects of crisis through that much and it seems the writers just write these on an episode to episode basis without having a plan for the season. Eva also just took a good old break this episode...there's absolutely no explanation of why she didn't just go straight to her husband and start punishing him.
I hope Barry gets his speed back next episode, I hope iris and Camilla get out of the mirror verse but I think that's just asking the flash to work too fast for their capabilities...see you all next week!
The Flash: Liberation (2020)
That was fast Flash...
This episode contained a lot of action that would rank it as a pretty good episode of TV, but this wasn't a great Flash episode.
They just skipped all of Barry speculating about Iris and then just had him have a huge epiphany in this episode. I realize she kicked him out which would cause him to start thinking something was wrong, but this kind of stuff doesn't just happen with no pretence. The only speculation Barry had was when he slightly looked at the mirror, Joe was the one who had all these suspicions and he never let Barry know.
Also, I love how we just got rid of all the smart people in this episode, just another excuse for the writers to continue all this tomfoolery. Cisco is conveniently doing something unrelated to the main story again, he would have immediately been able to tell that was really Barry.
I'm also over Barry not having his speed! This show is called the Flash! If creating the artificial speed force was the main storyline for the last couple episodes, it would have made Barry's inability to use his powers more interesting. But for some reason they just give us a 30 second moment in every episode where they just fail. I think they're either going to have Barry get his speed back in the "finale" of this season, but knowing the writers this we won't see Barry use his powers again until season 9.
Also we never know how much speed Barry has left, which is fine, it builds interest in whether or not he'll be able to save other people. But Barry why do you keep letting the bad guys talk, just speed them into the cell immediately! I don't care if you lose your speed half way there just try!
Eva is evil but also isn't...says Barry doesn't need to get hurt if he just stays out of her way...after she stabbed him like 12 times lol. Her leaving the mirror was far too late, should've happened in episode 14 or 15. Think iris is gonna be stuck in the mirror dimension until next season, if they somehow get everyone out of the mirror and get Barry his speed back for the finale that's going to be the fastest movement that's happened all season and that includes the Flash. It would be like when you leave your assignment until the last day and then do it all in the 20 minutes before midnight.
They need to have 2 storylines: one main and one side story. Because no one can explain why all the important characters are always absent. Ralph chasing sue...Cisco treating a killer frost...cold? Mirror dimension and artificial speed force that's all they need, because I frankly don't care about anything else.
Will be back because I have hope...Barry please be the main character again we miss you!
The Flash: So Long and Goodnight (2020)
Shocking
A lot of stuff happened in this episode, like a lot. Yet it seems that all the stuff that did happen wasn't the content we wanted to see. Man I NEED Barry to crack this artificial speed force soon, it is interesting to see the side effects of the flash losing his speed. Although the flash kind of just went from 0 to 100 with everyone's emotions, seems that people need to constantly explain to Barry that he's losing his speed, and according to the show they're running simulations, so we can presume that Barry and Cisco are doing as much as they can. The word "witness protection" means a lot of different things on flash...usually I think they just put them in safe houses because I hardly think they've renamed or relocated everyone as much as they've just done with joe. Also that was out of nowhere...guess Jesse L Martin had some Broadway to do...because they always ignore that the safest place for anyone on team flash is star labs. Sue Dearborn is such a confusing storyline...I know they're trying to build up Sue Dibny but come on let's pick up the pace here, there was absolutely no progress in that story this episode. I particularly don't like this sue Dearborn story because Ralph has seemingly exited the show for stories other than that. And somehow when Cisco has nothing to do all hell breaks loose creating a lot of problems that Cisco could solve and yet no one called him or Ralph. They did spend a bunch of the beginning of the season grooming Ralph to be the new city superhero. The flash just is juggling too many stories, they have like 5 sub stories going at once. They're really making Legends look like a organized show. There's not enough time in the 45 min episodes to include all these stories they need 1 main story like Barry creating this speedforce (which I sadly think is gonna be deduced to a mere 10 minute section of an episode) and then have 1 sub plot story. We don't care for Allegra and Nash, that doesn't do anything for the story and there is no evident chemistry between the characters.
Iris breaking up with Barry was just...uh...well it happened. Barry somehow noticing nothing weird about his wife, who is obviously...OBVIOUSLY... trying to get him to use his speed even though the normal iris would know this is bad. And to just see joe...as if Cisco can't make a untraceable FaceTime gadget...the mans literally a genius. I honestly don't want iris and Barry back together...in my opinion they have the worst chemistry out of all of Barry's love stories. And iris has just been an annoying character for years, always changing her role every season. Somehow she runs the citizen and is boss of team flash, Barry is not allowed to make decisions to keep her safe and yet she can just tell anyone she wants that he's the flash??? It honestly seems that all these new characters are just hindering Barry's progression. I just rewatched season 1 and it was and still is AMAZING we need the big 3 Barry Cisco Caitlin and then have joe and potentially iris as side characters. And we want THAWNE they say he might be s7 villain which I hope he his.
Flash I will always come back to watch every episode because grant gustin is the perfect Barry Allen but I can't help but call out the writing for getting worse and turning more into riverdale than the flash.
See you next week
The Flash: A Girl Named Sue (2020)
No... We said the REAL Flash
I know a lot of people joke about being able to write TV shows better than the writers, but come on...how have we gotten here. Let's start with problem 1: Where's the Flash in "The Flash"? I swear they let someone else kick ass and then call Barry to look pretty and put the cuffs on. Also why is Barry a supporting character now?I can't even remember the last time the Flash was all about the Flash, they might as well have him last in the new theme. Ralph finally returns in this episode, which when I read the description I hoped he was going to wrap up the sue Dearbon story and get back to the team...nope. The one time I wish for a one-off episode on the flash and it doesn't happen. It's hard to think that this is the same show as even the first half of the season. Cecile has gotten to be very annoying, at first her mind reading scenes were funny but now they just make her seem like she talks too much because we no longer hear the other person say what they're going to say. I can't help but feel like the people who write this show feel the need to shove female empowerment in our face all the time. Why can't we have a balance on the show of powerful men and women? Because as much as they joke about the "don't treat me like a damsel in distress" treatment of women...it's hard to see past the fact that the men are very weak on this show. We saw it in this episode how Ralph had to be saved countless times by Sue, I think they said 3 times maybe. And we see it all the time with Barry, he hasn't done anything himself since season 2 I think. I applaud showcasing women of power, I think Caitlin is another completely wasted character who they took her cold powers and basically made her a teenager. That fight scene at the end was pitiful, they might as well have played "because I'm a girl" like in captain marvel. If I wanted to watch hand to hand fighting I would be watching arrow or super girl, but I'm here to watch the flash save the day using the flashs powers. Please writers stop submitting these episodes the night before like you used to do for assignments in school. Still will come back to watch more...cause I have faith still...kinda...ask me again in season 7
Arrow: Starling City (2019)
Why do people think we care about anyone else than Oliver Queen??????
First off...this episode was excellent in terms of arrows recent standards. The original cast was excellent, john showing up was surprising but he was great this episode. The ways they showed how life would be different without Oliver was interesting, especially since this whole season is building up to a Arrowverse without Oliver Queen. Stephen Amell killed it in the episode as per usual, and we get to see a great side to Oliver especially without Felicity. I truly got sad during the scene when he leaves his mother again. The destruction of earth 2 does get me excited for further episodes and excited to find out how Oliver is using these materials to save the universe...or is the monitor deceiving him...who knows.
Now to the bad...this new cast... I think one of the only words that comes to mind is...why? In a 10 episode season why are we devoting almost half the time to bad actors and bad unrealistic fights. Seriously...u don't have to pose after every kick. It's incredibly obvious the writers are hoping to get a spin off... which is just bad. To quote my title, "why do people think we care about anyone's fate other than Oliver's?" At least in the early seasons the flashbacks were relevant. Now these flash forwards are just awful, I still laugh about how Oliver never contacted William because he knew the burden he is to the show.
This indeed was a great episode full of nostalgic moments for every arrow fan. And this episode undoubtedly has me wanting to come back for more. I know there's nothing we can do about getting rid of the future cast, but every week I will hope in my mind that when they destroy another earth the future kids somehow get destroyed too.
CW a little advice: "Arrow should die with Oliver Queen"
Arrow: Inheritance (2019)
1 minute of the old Oliver
I was very much impressed with 1 minute of Oliver's skills. The scene in the bunker against Emiko was very cool. It was almost perfect except for Emiko catching the arrow at the end which once again is supposed to highlight the fact that her and Oliver are of equal skill level. I also like Oliver shooting the drones at that speed, it reminded me of season 1 with the tennis ball. I don't understand why Oliver is so dead certain on trying to change Emiko. John was a spectacular supporting character this episode literally giving the exact scenario they are in now. And John made the hard decision about his brother who he knew his whole life. Oliver has known Emiko for 30 seconds by my count. I would understand and connect with the story more if it was Thea who he was trying to change, but there is no emotional resonance between Oliver and Emiko, no chemistry. It was interesting to find out Emiko is the leader and not the follower of the 9th circle, well done writers I'll give you that. But come on Oliver... you just need to kill this one... she is pure evil she has accepted she's pure evil... if she turns good at the end of the season I will accept that the CW and DC has no depth.
Thank you for reading
The Flash: Time Bomb (2019)
3 minutes of excellence.
Long story story short... you can just skip to the last scene. That last scene contains some of the greatest story telling in the past 2-3 seasons. A scene that should have occurred right before the mid season break in my opinion...but I am ok that it came now. The reason I gave it a 7 is because the last scene is the only interesting scene in the entire episode and I liked it so much that I gave this episode a 7.
The rest of this episode is essentially pointless. If u want u can actually just skip to the last scene and not miss anything major to do with the story.
The Flash: Failure Is an Orphan (2019)
What was the point of this episode?
This is my second review for season 5 of the flash, and I have to say that I am still disappointed. This pains me because I love this show, i come back to my TV every week hoping that it will get better, but it hasn't. I don't understand the point of this episode, they build up this episode as the finale between the Flash and Cicada, and then...they replace Cicada with Cicada Jr. I am personally tired of the Cicada storyline and thought that they should have switched to Nora/Reverse Flash storyline after the mid season break. After seeing the promo for next weeks episode, it does appear that this is going to happen, but knowing this show they will probably delay it another episode. The reason I gave it a 5/10 is because I was semi happy with Barry and surrounding characters this time, although I still struggle with how a team of scientist can be so dumb in so many situations. Cicada's down...but wait, lets not capture him because there's 45 minutes left in this episode. I am also convinced that the writers have no concept of science themselves, how does one block a lightning bolt...I didn't realize that one could spin around with some flare faster than lightening can travel. It also confuses me how Barry can't just put the meta-human cuffs on her. I don't believe anymore of this crap that he's not fast enough to make it across the room, this is the same man that just a season ago, ran to Tokyo and back before a camera turned. I beg that the writers move on to the more interesting storyline that they have been teasing this whole season, because I just don't feel like these episodes are anything more than fillers at this point, where the team starts and ends in the same position. Speed it up Flash and get rid of Cicada.
The Flash: Cause and XS (2019)
Speed it up Flash
This season has just failed me in every way. Cicada has been around for too long without barely any progress towards stopping him. It seems as if the writers ran out of ideas and are just giving us pointless 1 off episodes that don't mean anything to the season. I am sick and tired of Nora. She's been screwing up the entire season and it has gone beyond any comedic value, it is just annoying. I have never seen a show that has the title character barely in it. The flash is barely doing any flashing at all. This isn't a show about Nora and that's what it has become. They show Barry has crazy powers and yet he always seems to fail and need to be saved by Nora. And Iris...oh lord Iris can somehow do more damage to Cicada than Barry ever could. I have no problems with gender equality within the show but I just can't help the fact that the women have been the main focus over the title character, which just so happens to be a man (barry). Please writers bring back the Barry as the main character who actually does the saving rather than always letting Nora be the hero. Or you might as well call this show XS. Please move beyond cicada onto reverse flash storyline...because I'm beginning to lose faith