Television Reviews

Invincible – Here Goes Nothing

  • Title: Invincible – Here Goes Nothing
  • wiki: link

Invincible - Here Goes Nothing television review

With his father in the hospital, apparently another victim of whoever killed the Guardians, the second episode of Invincible focuses on expanding the world and giving Mark (Steven Yeun) his first real action as a hero working alongside Teen Team to fight off an alien invasion. Don’t worry, he’ll get better at the whole super-hero thing. Several of the teen heroes will get larger roles as the series continues, including Atom Eve (Gillian Jacobs) who Mark discovers goes to his high school and becomes the first person he can talk to about the unusual path his life has suddenly taken. The episode is also notable for the first appearance of Allen the Alien (Seth Rogen) testing the planet to see if its heroes are up to snuff. As with the Flaxans, we’ll see Allen again before the end of the season.

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What If…? – Episode Three

  • Title: What If…? – Episode Three
  • IMDb: link

What If...? - Episode Three TV review

The third episode of Marvel’s What If…? offers the most interesting setup of the first three episodes as being more than just swapping out one character for another. Instead we see the systematic murder of various Avengers before the team can be assembled to take down Loki in The Avengers. The deaths are shocking without cluing you into who might be behind the attacks. It’s a great setup, offering an intriguing mystery, only to fall completely apart by a reveal that simply doesn’t work as mastermind behind the entire plot is one of the least likely within all of the MCU (and I’m not buying the motivation suggested here as enough to turn him into a mass murderer). Do I believe the powers/tech within this individual’s hands could do what we see unfold here? Perhaps, but I don’t buy he would be the one to do it (and especially not for the reasons suggested). What started out as the best episode of the series, quickly turns into its worst.

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Supergirl – Welcome Back, Kara!

  • Title: Supergirl – Welcome Back, Kara!
  • wiki: link

Supergirl - Welcome Back, Kara! television review

Supergirl returns from its mid-season hiatus primarily dealing with the fallout from the lackluster first-half of the show’s final season. There’s plenty of phantom talk here, along with Kara (Melissa Benoist) readjusting to life back on Earth and, only in the final scene of the episode, acknowledging and dealing with the PTSD from her time in the Phantom Zone. Kara’s attempts to find other stories to reporting on than phantoms backfire when Andrea (Julie Gonzalo) assigns William (Staz Nair) to dig into the city’s superheroes for more juicy stories.

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Stargirl – Summer School: Chapter Three

  • Title: Stargirl – Summer School: Chapter Three
  • wiki: link

Stargirl - Summer School: Chapter Three television review

Stargirl follows up the introduction of Green Lantern’s daughter (who is nowhere to be found in this episode), with the introduction of a new villain and pulling a plot thread left dangling since early in the show’s First Season by having Mike (Trae Romano) become the new master of the mad genie Thunderbolt (Jim Gaffigan). Both stories offer twists as Mike’s short-run as a potential member of the JSA disappears (along with the pen) when he wishers Thunderbolt to someone more worthy, and for all the darkness coming out of the Shade (Jonathan Cake) he does actually little harm to the new generation of heroes as he seems primarily interested in the Black Diamond and the havoc it is about to unleash on Blue Valley.

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Leverage: Redemption – The Card Game Job

  • Title: Leverage: Redemption – The Card Game Job
  • IMDb: link

Leverage: Redemption - The Card Game Job TV review

The Leverage team use a fantasy card game to target a greedy CEO (Max Sheldon) known for buying up paramedical companies and jacking up the prices of medical drugs while stalling research on potential cures. Using the target’s interest in the game, the team attempts to sell him his heart’s desire which becomes more complicated when the creator (French Stewart) of the game shows up willing to sell. Now to beat the man, the team will need to prove his unworthiness and show him up at the game’s annual celebration which offers opportunities for Eliot (Christian Kane) to go medieval on some thugs, Breanna (Aleyse Shannon) to use her love for the game to help Parker (Beth Riesgraf) find buried treasure, and to remind us that Sophie (Gina Bellman) is only good on stage when it’s part of the con.

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