'Dragon Ball Super' episode 80: 'Awaken Your Sleeping Battle Spirit! Son Gohan's Fight'

The second round of the tournament kicks off with Gohan facing the murderous Lavender.  Both are eager to commence as the prior wants to show off what he can do and the latter just wants to partake in some of the old fashioned ultra-violence.

I said before that the odds were stacked against Gohan due to the structure of narrative story telling.  That seemed to play itself out as Gohan is almost immediately blinded by Lavender's....smoke breath?  It's also poison, so yeah.

While this fight wasn't quite as fast paced as the previous one with Buu, it managed to work rather well in its own right.  There was a nice back and forth as Lavender would gain an advantage and than Gohan would find a way to counter and regain the upper hand for a while before Lavender changed up his strategy, forcing Gohan to once again come up with a new counter.  It managed to show that both were fighting smart.  Even the opposing spectators give the competitors credit at various points during the fight.

It would have been nice for Gohan to hit super saiyan 2 again, but alas, we only see him hit first level.  Maybe that will come later, this is an exhibition after all.  It seems to impress the others, even the pair of Zen-ohs, so it wasn't a total bust.

Of course, given that even that transformation expedited the poison's spread, it may have also been for the best.  It seemed like Gohan was pushed to his limits as it was.  It's quite possible that hitting super saiyan 2 would have killed him.

The idea of giving Gohan a senzu bean is brought up, and there is precedent for it to be OK, but Gohan actually declines, saying that he wants to really test his abilities.  Even with the differences in personality and upbringing, it shows that this really is Goku's son.  You can tell that the latter is quite proud of his son's resolve.  The senzu beans also come in handy when it comes to needing an antidote for the poison after the match is over.

I was convinced that Gohan was going to lose, but in the end, the match ends in a tie.  Really, I think this was the best way to go.  It allowed Gohan to get a strong showing, but it also keeps the third and final match relevant and necessary.  Gohan does apologize for not being strong enough, but Goku makes it clear that he's impressed with how strong Gohan has gotten.

Before said concluding match can begin, the high priest announces to all, the stakes of the tournament.  Suffice it to say, they're as shocked as Beerus, Goku, and Supreme Kai were when it was first announced.  You would have thought that the high priest would have already conveyed this to the others the same way he did to universe 7, but I suppose it is easier to just announce it once while everyone is together anyway.

Furthermore, he reveals that these are two of the weaker universes of the 12.  The fact that Universe 7 beat Universe 6 in the last tournament doesn't come up, oddly enough.  We already knew from Goku Black that super saiyan blue was beatable, but it's still hard to imagine that they're on the lower end of the spectrum.  On the plus side, we know that our heroes are in for some serious fights.

There is a weird development when the high priest announces that 4 of the universes (1,12,5, and 8) will be exempt from erasure due to their high strength.  Didn't they say that only one universe would survive? Why can't the gods keep their own rules straight?  First it was "the winner gets a wish on the super dragon balls...no they get nothing except continued existence" and now it's "all but one will be destroyed...except for these ones".  Maybe the randomly changing circumstances are meant to add a "wild card" element that adds some unpredictability to things, I'm not sure.

I know the Zen-ohs are child like, maybe this is supposed to reflect that?  If their attention span and commitment to consistency is that weak, maybe Goku could have just talked them out of the whole erasure thing.  Then again, the high priest does say that the two omni-kings were planning on cleaning house anyway, so it likely wouldn't have worked.  The tournament does give one of the weaker universes a chance to survive, so there's that at least.

If those universes are exempt from erasure, are they even fighting?  If they are...why?  It doesn't seem like there's much point.  I could see giving them some sort of bye round as a way to save time, but removing them from the equation entirely is a strange decision.  After all, the whole point was to have all 12 universes compete.  Weird.

Just as the last episode ended with the succeeding match about to begin, so too does this one end with Goku and Bergamo, the last of the trio de dangers, entering the ring to begin the decisive final fight of the preliminary.

Overall, this was a solid episode.  Even though it was "just another fighting episode" it played out differently enough that it didn't just feel like a rehash.  There was still tension as Gohan's life was in danger and Lavender was able to keep turning the tables, but it wasn't to Gohan's detriment.

The announcements from the high priest were oddly placed, and they do run counter to a lot of what was already established, but it was nice to have it there as it gave the episode a bit more meat in terms of plot development.  It also gives us some vital information that lets us know what the universe 7 fighters are in for in the episodes to come.

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'Godzilla' (2014) movie review

America had taken a crack at bringing the king of the monster to the big screen back in the late 90's.  The results were...less than stellar.

After almost a decade and a half, they decided to try again.  It's understandable, this is a big, well renowned franchise.  People were skeptical, but a solid trailer and the inclusion of Bryan Cranston did a lot to assuage people's worries.

Sure enough, this movie actually ended up turning out rather well.  It manages to capture the feel of the original and still stand on its own as a solid, entertaining movie.

The premise is simple enough.  Miners accidentally awaken a gigantic monstrosity that wreaks havoc across the country and the military can barely keep up with it.

Now, the trailers made it seem like Godzilla was the villain of the piece.  It would have fit right in with the idea that the movie was hearkening back to the monster's roots.  In actuality, he is something of the hero and it is different monsters that fill the role of villain.

In a way, this allows the movie to have its cake and eat it too.  We still have the allegory about man's hubris with the "Mutos" (massive unidentified terrestrial organisms) while Godzilla acts as a quasi-protector, as he had in many of the later "Godzilla" movies.

One of the biggest criticisms I heard was that the movie didn't have nearly enough Bryan Cranston.  The way people talked, I figured he was going to die within the first 10 minutes.

As such, I was surprised to see him survive well past the movie's prologue. He does die fairly early, but from my perspective, it seemed like a fairly decent amount of screen time.

It's true, his character is one of the more dynamic in the movie, being sympathetic, layered, and likable. His performance is, of course, beyond solid, so the praise there is absolutely merited.

Ultimately, though, it is his son who takes center stage.  I don't think he's as bland as some people make him out to be, but compared to Cranston, I can understand the mindset.  He has some nice moments with his family (though they spend most of the movie separated) and he's heroic enough, but the performance isn't quite as memorable.

I was impressed with Elizabeth Olsen's performance, though.  She does a good job carrying the emotional weight of the movie.

I do kind of wish that Ken Watanabe had more to do.  I wasn't surprised to see him do a good job with what he had, but more screen time would have been nice.  Of course, this is a big ensemble movie, so some juggling is to be expected.

Back before "Cloverfield" came out, I remember the producers making a big deal about how they didn't want the monster to just rampage for the sake of rampaging.  They came up with this whole thing where it was a scared baby looking for its mother.  It's a nice idea and all, but none of that comes through in the movie.

Here, the mutos actually do have motive and consistent behavior patterns.  They're simply trying to meet up to mate and the ensuing destruction is just a result of them walking around while being very, very big.

While the monsters don't do much more than roar, they do have personalities.  When they do meet up, they show affection for each other in a strange, but still rather heartwarming moment.  

It's later revealed that the female is pregnant and about to lay eggs.  When the main character ends up destroying the eggs, suffice it to say, the mother is less than pleased.  

Judging by the look on the main character's face when she stares him down, he wasn't expecting the creatures to have that level of intellect and emotional connection.  

It does a great job of showing that these creatures aren't just mindless beasts.  It makes them more compelling to watch; though seeing them wreck stuff and dominate military forces is quite entertaining too.

In addition to a lack of Cranston, the movie is also criticized for a lack of Godzilla.  It sounds weird, given that he's the title character, but they're not wrong here.

He does pop up from time to time, and he's talked about, but he doesn't really get any significant screen time until the movie's final acts.

While this is something that popped up in some of the original Japanese "Godzilla" movies, I feared that it was going to result in a slow, plodding movie experience.

This did not turn out to be the case.  While I did initially feel like Godzilla needed to show up, the mutos did a more than admirable job delivering the giant monster action that a movie-goer wants to see with a movie like this one.

When Godzilla does show up, the results are appropriately jaw dropping.  The movie's climax really is something to behold, as the king of the monsters takes his throne by taking on the two other monsters simultaneously.  

The movie even gives a solid reason as to why Godzilla is fighting the monsters.  It isn't so much that he's a hero trying to protect the public (though characters note he's their best shot of killing the mutos and he is later hailed as a savior,) but he's a predator hunting his prey.  It's simple, but it works rather well.

As to Godzilla's design.  He got some flack for being "fat", but as you're watching, you hardly even notice.  It's pretty close to the original design, but has some differences that help make him stand out.

Overall, I really liked this one.  It did a great job of building up tension, culminating in the aforementioned epic showdown.  It did a pretty decent job with the characters. 

Most importantly, it made good on delivering the crowd pleasing, jaw dropping action that you want to see in a movie that involves the military fighting giant monsters and giant monsters fighting other giant monsters.  

If you're a "kaiju" fan, I recommend giving this one a watch.  I'm actually hoping to give it a second watch sometime down the line.

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'Legends of Tomorrow' season 2, episode 12: 'Camelot/3000'

As one might surmise from the episode, this episode has the team travel to Camelot in order to retrieve another piece of the spear (no surprise, it's Excalibur).  While the title is a clear nod to a comic, that really has nothing to do with this.  The name is justified, though, as the team does go to the year 3000 before going back, but that's about the extent of it.

Superheros are frequently compared to knights and this episode really showcases why.  The inherent nobility, courage, and sense of altruism are prominent in both, so this was a genre mash up that worked really well.  The overlap is made most evident in Ray, who grew up reading the stories and has modeled his own ideals off of them.  When Guinevere is giving her rousing speech, you almost feel Ray's enthusiasm from your seat on the couch.

His arc was probably the strongest.  It had the most emotional weight and I imagine a lot of comic book fans can put themselves in his shoes and connect to that mentality on some level.

The episode also rather cleverly incorporated that artwork of Ray as a knight that we saw back in the season premiere into the narrative.  It's largely used as a tension builder to showcase the fact that Ray's going to die (spoiler: he doesn't) but I thought it was a nice call back.

The return of Stargirl was a nice touch.  Sadly, it didn't live up to its promise.  Considering she was one of the more underdeveloped JSA members back when they first appeared, giving her more screen time should have been a good thing.  This plot development about the team being spread throughout time to guard the fragments also allows for future appearances from other heroes without having to drag the Legends back to WW2.

The reveal that she was Merlin was interesting, though it didn't go anywhere.  I'm also not sure how necessary it was.  Yeah it's supposed to make the mythos more real and show that the stories are just that, but considering how magic is an established thing in this world, is an elderly wizard really that big a pill to swallow?

In any event, Stargirl didn't really have a whole lot to do.  There is some tension with Amaya and a resolution meant to solidify her role on the new team, but it was a tad underwhelming.

Even her showing in the final fight seems like it should have been more than it was.  For that matter, why does this team constantly avoid using their abilities?  Ray goes out and engages in sword combat when it seems like he'd be much better off shrinking down, flying around, and zapping his foes.  Admittedly, him creating a make shift "light saber" was cool and something he would do, but he's not the only one.  Vixen should have cut loose with her animal spirit powers, but again, she chooses to ignore her extraordinary abilities. Firestorm is, once again, sidelined as well.

Vixen does get one nice moment when she pulls the sword from the stone.  Having the theme from the animated series play while she did so worked rather well.  It was a nice shout out and it gave the scene some extra umph.  It does bring up the hope, though, that Mari can make a return to the live action series at some point.  The animated micro-series is nice, but having her pop up on a more regular basis would definitely benefit the universe.

Once again, Rip as a villain was a highlight.  He's not lurking around the ship's hallways hunting down Jax, but he's still cunning and carries the necessary sense of menace.  True, he gets abandoned by Damien and taken captive, but the previews for the next episode show that that may be short lived.

All in all, this was another fun and entertaining one and done.  It was able to pay homage to Arthurian lore while also putting its own spin on things.  It even drives the season narrative forward a good deal to boot.

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Dungeons and Dragons Essentials Dungeon Tiles Master Set: The Wilderness review

You can read my review here.

Pros

- Low price tag

- Provides dungeon masters a fast, easy way to lay out the surrounding terrain without having to worry about artistic ability

- The smaller pieces for camp fires, ruins, carts, and rocks can be used multiple times without drawing suspicion from the players




Cons

- Surprisingly few open terrain tiles

- Some of the tiles can get repetitive due to limited "wilderness" options


Overall

The kit does a solid job of giving dungeon masters what they want.  Some more variety would have been nice, or at least more large and open tiles, but DM's could certainly benefit from picking this up.  Admittedly, if the campaign is going to go the distance, you'll need more than just this one box set, but it's a decent start.























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'Dragon Ball Super' episode 79: 'Universe 9's Basil the Kicker vs. Universe 7's Majin Buu!'

The preliminary exhibition tournament really kicks into high gear as the fight between Majin Buu and universe 9's Basil begins in earnest.

Goku happily notes that none of the fighters are giving off energy, at least not that they can detect.  Where the others are worried, the fact makes him even more excited to be involved in the tournament.

Given that the other fighters are from different universes, it makes sense.  On top of that, it raises the tension, as we don't know what any of the fighters are capable of.  It's also a nice way to sidestep the power level issue and just focus on the fights themselves.

And what a fight this was.  Basil proves to be no slouch, as he gleefully and repeatedly kicks Buu in the stomach and face.  He even gets a couple of crotch shots in there too.  The fact that this is dirty pool is somewhat negated by Buu being...well Buu.  Even putting that aside, fighting dirty and cheating seem to be within acceptable parameters according to the omni-king's decrees.

It's pretty clear that this tournament isn't going to be like the others.  In addition to the aforementioned point about cheating, where previous bouts ended when a fighter was knocked out of the ring, the omni-kings declare that the fight will continue until they either get bored or a fighter is knocked completely unconscious.  Whether this escalates to full on death matches later on down the line remains to be seen.

In the meantime, though, Buu continues to contend.  It doesn't look too good, though, as even when he starts fighting back, he can't seem to get a good hit in.  Having the Supreme Kai be the one to express the most shock at this was a nice touch, but the tables soon turn in his favor, when he becomes enraged at Mr. Satan being injured by some debris.  While Buu has been kind of obnoxious, it was nice to see that he still legitimately sees Mr. Satan as his friend and shows concern for him.

All in all, the fight was very reminiscent of Buu when he first came out of the egg.  Even the beings and gods from other universes express shock at Buu's ability to shrug off insane amounts of punishment, they flat out admit that they have no idea what he is (though it is suggested that the multiverse is filled with similar beings,) and Basil exhausts himself attempting to pummel and blast Buu into submission.  There are some decent fake outs where it seems like Buu is down for the count, but he just pops back up with a smile on his face.

It was nice to see, in all honesty.  It seems like it's been a long time since this iteration of Buu has gotten a definitive win.  It was very entertaining to see him have the upper hand in a fight again.

Even putting that aside, Basil was kind of obnoxious.  To his credit, he can back up his boasts, as he put up a hell of a fight; but you really wanted to see Buu put him down for the count.  His universe's Supreme Kai isn't much better.  He spends most of his screen time cackling and taunting the Universe 7 team.  It just makes Buu's win all the more satisfying.

It's a testament to the fight that there's a legitimate sense of relief at it being done.  Not because the fight stunk, far from it, but the tension was held for a vast majority of the episode, so having that breather was appreciated.

Of course, it isn't long before the second round is announced.  Not surprisingly, Gohan steps up to the plate.  For his part, he's eager to show his dad the results of his training, but things aren't looking too good for him.

For one thing, his opponent, Lavender has a blood lust that Basil lacked.  He's actually quite eager to kill his opponent and is insistent that as long as he can kill, he'll win.

From a meta-perspective, the rule of tension dictates that he lose.  Granted, this is just an exhibition match and likely won't have any consequence, but having universe 7 win all three would be anti-climactic.  It's possible that Goku will lose, but I'd be surprised if they didn't try to amp up his bout by making it the tie-breaking fight.

Exhibition or not, this was a great way to kick off the tournament.  The fight was really well done, there were some nice callbacks to "Z", and it seems like this was just the beginning.  I'm more than OK with this arc only going uphill from here, but it does make me excited to see what comes next as this was quite a bar to set.

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'Guillermo Del Toro Cabinet of Curiosities' book review

You can read my review here.

Pros


- Packs in a lot of content including interviews, photos, sketches, interviews, and ruminations by celebrities

- The section devoted to touring his house was fascinating and awe inspiring

- Easier for newbies than the similarly structured "Hyrule Historia"


Cons

- As Del Toro's notes are in a foreign language, the publishers had to annotate translations, which breaks the flow for readers.



Overall

If you're a fan of Guillermo Del Toro's, a geek in general, or an aspiring film maker; this is definitely worth a purchase.  The immense amount of content makes for a great value and the deluxe, high quality hardcover makes this a fantastic addition to your bookshelf.















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'Evil Dead' (2013) movie review

You can read my review of the film here.

Pros

- Stronger pretense for the characters being at the cabin that gives them a reason to stay and ignore warnings.

- Call backs to the original movie are well done and done just frequently enough to pay homage without relying on them too heavily to get viewers through the movie.

- Handful of creepy or emotional moments peppered throughout the film


Cons


- Most of the movie is just torture porn

- Characters are largely flat.

- The cause of the spirits being reawakened is head desk levels of stupid



Overall


I can understand the rationale behind wanting to remake a low budget horror movie with a bigger budget.  Sadly, said budget increase led to an inverse relationship in regards to the movie's charm.  There's little to like here and I wouldn't recommend it.  Stick with the originals.




















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'Dragon Ball Super' episode 78: 'The Gods of Every Universe in Shock!? Losers Erased in the Tournament of Power'

This episode picks up right where the last one left off, with the omni-king's high priest detailing the structure of the upcoming tournament.  It starts off pretty standard.  He reveals that they've collected the super dragon balls and that, much like the last tournament, the winner will get a wish.

Oddly enough, the high priest directly contradicts himself less than a minute later when he says that the winning universe will get nothing for their victory.  Beerus takes this to mean that the honor of victory will be the prize, but the other shoe drops when the high priest announces that universes that get defeated will be erased.

I'm torn on this development.  On the one hand, it does give the story some stakes.  The last tournament was largely just for funsies, but now there's tension.  On the other hand, we've only gotten brief glimpses of portions of other universes.  Wiping them out this quickly seems like a waste of a lot of story potential.

Even though, we knew that this was going to happen (given that it's the whole hook for this arc) this was still a pretty dramatic bombshell.  The look of horrified shock on everybody's face really sells the fact that this development was not what anybody had in mind.

To Goku's credit, he does offer to talk to Zeno, in the hopes of talking him out of the whole universe erasing thing, but Whis tells him not to, saying that angering Zeno by asking him to change his mind would likely result in him getting erased on the spot.

Goku's vow to win is nice and all, but it still ignores the destruction of 11 other universes.  Even Supreme Kai channels Goku's selfishness a bit when he notes that he'd be forced to feel great shame if his universe was defeated.  Granted, there's not much they can do, but it still seems like a case of warped priorities.

Because the future omni-king has never seen a martial arts tournament before, the high priest also decrees that three of universe 7's fighters will fight three of universe 9's in a preliminary exhibition match.  There are no stakes, but it is later said that boring fights could result in erasure, so fighters can't rest on their laurels here.

As Vegeta still refuses to leave Bulma, Goku recruits Gohan and Majin Buu.  The prior is reluctant, but is eventually convinced when he learns the stakes.  Goku alludes to the fact that Gohan will get his fighting spirit back, but hasn't he been training with Piccolo?  Gohan also had that whole run-in with Watagash, so he shouldn't be that rusty, right?

Buu, on the other hand, gets coaxed by chocolate.  I can see why the fighters consider him, given his strength and resilience, but he seems to be more of a detriment.  Again, he falls asleep when his round is about to begin and it doesn't seem like he understands what's happening.

When he does make it to the ring, he makes no effort to counter his opponent's kicks.  It's hard to tell whether Buu is faking him out or whether it's actually having an effect.  An argument could be made for both sides.  On the one hand, the fact that Buu is largely impervious to physical damage suggests he's playing possum.

On the other hand, we've seen him legitimately lose and get pummeled into submission by both Kid Buu and Beerus, so him getting his clock cleaned isn't outside the realm of possibility.   The smirk on Buu's face suggests that it's the prior, but the episode ends on that note; so we'll have to see how his fight plays out.

It was cool seeing all of the gods gathered in one place.  Champa and Vados are clearly seen.  Goku's even nice enough to give a cheerful greeting to the rival god of destruction.  We also see Gowasu make a return appearance, though he doesn't say anything and isn't acknowledged by anyone.  There are of course, several other unique kais, gods of destruction, and angels.  Though, we don't get their names just yet.

Having Mr. Satan tag along also worked well.  He's largely there to manage Buu, but his presence adds a nice perspective to the fact that we're seeing a mass assembly of gods.  Considering the other characters have regularly interacted with various kais, his sense of awe and amazement is refreshing.  While both he and Gohan aren't aware of the various protocols involved, you can tell that they are at least trying to show the proper respect.  It's heartwarming in its own weird way.

Goku on the other hand....Well, he's Goku.  He doesn't put his foot in his mouth the same way he had in the last episode, but his overall casual demeanor is still pretty facepalm inducing at points.  Even the other gods comment on how impudent he's being.  I want to defend the saiyan, but they're not wrong in this case.  You really start to miss the Superman-esque persona that Goku had in the Z dub.

Overall, this episode was OK.  It was largely about setting things up and getting the ball rolling.  We still managed to get some humor and nice character moments peppered throughout, though.  It was good seeing Goten and Trunks continue their training and Pan is, of course, super adorable in the one scene where she appears.

Next week, the exhibition begins in earnest as Buu starts to take the fight seriously.

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'Legends of Tomorrow' season 2, episode 11: 'Turncoat'

On its face, this episode bears some similarity to "The Chicago Way"; what with the Legion luring the team into a trap by altering history in some major fashion.  In this case, it's killing George Washington.  Even Sara notes that it's a trap, but with the future of the United States at stake, they don't really have much of a choice.

While the villains don't manipulate the heroes to the same extent that they did before, the villains do again gain the upper hand.  A lot of this comes from the addition of Rip Hunter to their roster.  Really, the rest of the Legion sits this one out, though I did get a kick out of the amused look on Thawne's face as he watched the British soldiers firing assault rifles during target practice.

I do like that this wasn't just traditional brain washing.  The heroes jump to this conclusion and try to "snap him out of it" to no avail.  It makes sense, as they restored his memories, just tweaked his outlook on things.

The new state makes Rip a formidable villain, as he knows about his past with the team and uses that to gain a psychological advantage over his intended victims.  The sequences where he is stalking around the Waverider's dark corridors hunting Jax (I see what you did there, writers) make for one of the episode's highlights.  Rip has this cold, assassin like quality that makes for a tense viewing.

Of course, credit goes to Jax too, setting up various traps and using guerrilla tactics to fend off the British invaders.  Considering he was, once again, unable to fuse into Firestorm, he managed to hold his own fairly well.

The episode wasn't completely without levity, though.  Ray getting stuck in his small form made for some fun sequences.  It was relegated to a small portion of the episode, but given the CGI involved, it was probably for the best.  Still, the rat chase was fun and the gag was set up nicely by an earlier exchange with Mick.  It would have been nice to see that dilemma resolved on screen as opposed to just showing a full sized Ray in the episode's closing scene, but the episode only has so much time.

We also get a subplot that starts to push Nate and Amaya together.  The two do have good chemistry, but it does seem weird given the fact that Amaya and Mick seemed to be the two getting close not too long ago.  I'd say this new budding romance comes out of nowhere, but these were the two that were left on the ship back when Barry called them for help, so maybe they bonded off screen.

It does speak to this weird problem where it seems like the characters don't interact all that often.  An ensemble like this is tough to juggle, and the show does enjoy splintering everybody off, but you'd think that there would be more palpable bonds at this point.  They seem to think of themselves as family, though, so there's that.

I did like the Jax/Sara scene, where the two discuss the responsibilities of leading a team and making the right call when there isn't one.

Overall, this was a strong episode.  There were some solid character moments, a lot of tension, and just enough comedy to balance out the darker tone that the episode seemed to take.

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'Attack on Titan' episode 16: 'What Needs to be Done Now: Eve of the Counterattack part 3'

Training officially ends for the cadets, meaning they have to decide which branch they want to join: the military police or the scout regiment.  If that doesn't sound like enough to carry a whole episode, you're right.

This seems like the sort of thing that should be peppered sporadically through multiple episodes, as opposed to crammed into one.  Characters have several conversations about how committed they are and whether they want to risk their lives to fight the titans.  Most of said conversations have the characters looking at the ground, speaking in hushed tones while sad piano music plays in the background.  It almost comes off as over the top.

It all culminates with a speech from Erwin, wherein he lays down the mission: reach Shiganshina to obtain whatever it is in Eren's basement, and talks about the initial high fatality rate of scouting expeditions.  One of the other troop leaders later chides him for instilling too much fear, but isn't that kind of honesty a good thing in this case? I mean, the people should know what they're signing up for, yes?

It's a nice idea in theory, but a lot of the new recruits end up walking away, presumably to join the military police.

As it happens, the characters with whom we are most familiar are the ones who stick around.  The sequence is a bit drawn out, but it does yield some benefit as we get glimpses into why some of these supporting characters joined in the first place and why they'll keep fighting despite the fact that they're terrified of what will happen.

On top of that, the group is brought to the same location as Eren, providing a bit of plot consolidation.  The reunion of the show's big three was nice.  I also liked how Mikasa still holds a grudge against Levi.  I share her desire to see him get what's coming to him, so that was a nice moment.

There's another moment that stands out, though for completely different reasons.   One character introduces a horse named Chalet, and lets the cadets know that said horse likes to eat human hair.  It is at this point where the horse bites on to the rag that said man is wearing on his head and proceeds to start pulling.  I'm guessing the horse had some hair too, or maybe the guy didn't want to give up his rag, but it prompts a bizarre game of tug of war.

It's silly, so it achieves the desired result of getting a laugh; but it comes out of nowhere, has no bearing on the episode's plot, and we just cut away after as if nothing happened.  I can appreciate the desire to throw some comic relief in after so much solemn introspection, but that was just strange.

From there, the episode closes as the team embarks on a new expedition.  It was appropriately rousing.  Having the two kids looking on in awe at the scout regiment from a nearby window was a nice touch.  Even Eren seemed to appreciate it, considering he was in that position not too long ago.

All in all, this episode didn't have a whole lot to do.  It tried to shine a light on the lesser known characters and give them a bit more depth, which is a nice idea, though the result wasn't particularly engaging.  Plot advancement was minimal, but it should set things up for the next story arc.














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'Dragon Ball Super' episode 77: 'Let's Do It, Zen-Oh! The Universe's Greatest Martial Arts Tournament'

New story line, new theme song.  It's OK, and after almost 80 episodes, I can see why they thought it was time for a change, but I'm going to miss 'Chozetsu Dynamic!'

I was going to comment on how fitting it is that the tournament arc starts on the same day as the Super Bowl, but alas, the titular tournament doesn't become a factor until well into the second half of the episode.

We do see that the pair of Zen-Oh's are getting bored of the game they're playing.  It's not clear what said game is, but it involves knocking planets into one another.  You can't help but wish that they would go back just to holding hands and spinning around in circles.  Fittingly, the two seem to be constantly tied in terms of win to loss ratio.  It really makes you wonder why gods of destruction are needed, especially considering what happens when they get distracted and screw up, but it does give you an idea as to why Beerus is opposed to Goku going to Zen-Oh to get the ball rolling on the universal tournament.

Before that, though, we have a nice "slice of life" episode, as Goku gets paid for his farm work and gets into various shenanigans.

That robbery attempt was right out of a "Dungeons and Dragons" campaign, but you can't fault Goku for wanting to help somebody seemingly in need of aid.  It wasn't remotely close to an even fight, but it was really satisfying (not to mention a load of fun) seeing Goku turn the tables and utterly dominate the thugs.

Much like Krillin, Goku gets grazed by a bullet, indicating that he needs to start training again.  Unlike Krillin, I'm not sure I buy this.  Based on what we've seen, Goku's been training plenty.  In any event, he convinces Whis to take him under his wing again.... in exchange for food of course.

It was nice to see Goten and Trunks eager to train as well.  I know that they aren't partaking in this arc, but it should lay the groundwork for future badassery in later story arcs.  I also liked how quickly Goku agreed to take Goten along to train.  Goku gets a lot of flack for being a negligent father, but he does still enjoy his family and jumps at the chance to bond.  Chichi, isn't too keen on it, but the two kids compromise by training on Earth instead.  You do have to wonder if Whis would have even agreed to it anyway.

Once again, Vegeta turns down a training opportunity, though we do get a more concrete reason as to why.  It turns out that Bulma's pregnant, presumably with Bra/Bulla.  She's apparently pretty far along too.  She's riding around in a motor cart for mobility and it's said that she's due any time now.  Was there a time skip or something? Maybe Vegeta's saiyan genetics speeds things along, I don't know.  Even Goku seems caught off guard by this revelation and mistakes it for Bulma putting on weight.

Despite both Goku and Whis pointing out that Vegeta isn't the pregnant one, thus there should be no problem with him going to train, he declines.  It really does show you how far Vegeta's come over the years.  I don't think he was this dedicated when Trunks was coming, though that was skipped over, so I could be wrong.  It does show that, while Goku is more chummy, Vegeta does have a greater sense of loyalty and honor.   MasakoX discussed this topic in a video a while back and this episode really cements his points.

To wit, Goku's insensitive nature gets played up to a great degree here.  Not only does he laugh at Bulma's baby bump, but he is confused when Bulma suggests that he went to Capsule Corp. to see her.  He does offer her Whis' food bribe as a gift, but had to be reminded that those treats were already spoken for by Goten.  At least with the latter faux pas, you can acknowledge that his heart was in the right place.

It's when Goku is training with Whis, that he remembers Zen-Oh's idea for another multiverse tournament.  As noted before, Beerus isn't too keen on this and tells Goku to drop it.  Zen-Oh may be innocent, but that persona still presents a grave threat to any given universe.  Goku acknowledges this, as he's seen it first hand, but the saiyan still says that the Omni-king is good people.

The god of destruction goes so far as to threaten Goku and notes that maybe he's getting too lenient.  While Beerus is usually played for comic relief, it's nice to see that he can still be menacing when he needs to be.  Of course, it doesn't work, as Goku has a button that instantly teleports him to Zen-oh's realm, but it was still a valiant effort on Beerus' part.

Interestingly enough, present day Zen-Oh admits that he completely forgot about the tournament idea.  Both Omni-kings seem eager to get the ball rolling, though, and it is announced soon after that the tournament will begin in short order and that each universe is to round up their 10 greatest fighters to participate.

For those eager to see the next big story arc kick off, this might not be the episode you were expecting.  That being said, there's still a lot to like here.  There's a healthy dose of humor and a lot of great character moments.  The animation was a bit wonky at times; Beerus took the brunt of this.  I don't know if new animators were brought in, but he looked stiffer and his skin is a different shade of purple.

Still, I was never bored and the time flew by.  I think the next episode will be more in line with what you may have expected here, though, as the fighters gather and the stakes for the tournament are laid out.

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'Legends of Tomorrow' Season 2, Episode 10: 'The Legion of Doom'

As one might surmise from the title, this episode brings the season's big bads, the titular "Legion of Doom" (a name Sara still refuses to acknowledge) into focus.  If that wasn't indicator enough, it's Damien Darhk who delivers the show's opening narration, discussing how he died at the hands of Green Arrow and aims to rectify that fate.

Considering the heroes are in something of a holding pattern, it's the perfect time to step off to the sidelines for a little while.  It pays off as the episode is quite entertaining in its own right.

It's not surprising, really.  Malcolm, Damien, and Thawne are all strong characters in their own right, played to the hilt by their respective actors.  As such, giving them more screen time and more chances to bounce off one another makes for great viewing.

It becomes clear that this alliance isn't quite as solid as one might think.  You'd think that each having a reason to seek the spear would be enough, but there's a lot of hostility brewing under the surface.  The resentment between Malcolm and Damien makes sense, given their involvement in rival organizations, though it's surprising that it's taken this long for that to come up.  Their differing approaches to problem solving also leads to some sword clashing, both figurative and literal.  Add to that, Thawne's belittling treatment of the two and you have character conflict aplenty.

Once again, you feel bad for Rip/Phil as he's stuck in a situation completely outside his comfort zone.  While the villains do torture him, they are considerate (or pragmatic) enough to acknowledge when he legitimately doesn't know anything and decide to take different tacts to get what they want.

Still, that doesn't stop him from playing the situation to his advantage.  I'm kind of surprised that he stopped Malcolm and Damien from fighting.  You'd think that just sitting back and letting one of his problems get eliminated would have been the right move, but he gets them to put aside their differences for a greater cause.  Unorthodox as it was, it was rather clever on his part.

The side trip to the future bank was fun.  I do think it was a missed opportunity, though.  Considering the year was 2025, I would expect at least some mention of the crisis that occurred the year before.  There isn't any.  The bank and surrounding area seem to be in perfect condition and it isn't brought up in any capacity.

Still, that's but one missed continuity nod, and this episode provides plenty of others. If you're not terribly vested in the other Arrow-verse shows, this might be a problem.  If you're all in, than you're going to love the little links, but I'm just throwing that out there.

Just as this week's episode of "The Flash" took a small detour to Supergirl's hometown, so too does this one briefly visit Star City circa Damien's death.  It allows us to see how (and when) Malcolm was brought into the fold.

The heroes also venture to present day Central City to gather intel on the amulet.  You'd think other characters would use this chance to visit friends or family.  Maybe they do off-screen?  It's never said, though it's a safe assumption.

Sadly, no "Flash" characters cameo...Well.....we'll get to that later, but the coffee shop is visited and it gives us the return of Stein's daughter.

Garber always nails the emotional material that this show gives him and that proves once again to be the case, as Lily discovers the nature of her origin and is sent into an existential tailspin.  Not only does it advance one of the show's subplots, but it gives the episode some emotional weight that really elevates the episode considerably.

Thawne himself also brought a lot to the table.  Not only was it nice to see the heroes deduce his identity (courtesy of Stein, the most likely pick given he's the only one to encounter him) but we also see his nature as time remnant get brought to the forefront.  Not only does it help explain why it took so long for the heroes to figure it out, but that is his reason for seeking the spear in the first place.

The reveal that he's being pursued by something worse than he is added an interesting element.  For one thing, seeing the normally cocky villain scared out of his gourd was a fun turnaround, but it also made him surprisingly human.

You might think that he's being hunted by the time wraiths, but that isn't the case.  Thawne himself says that he was initially under that impression too (nice to see those haven't been forgotten completely after their single appearance) but it turns out to be someone else, more specifically...


Spoiler alert..


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Zoom.

Or what's left of him, anyway.

I kind of figured that Zoom would make a comeback at some point, much like Thawne himself did.  These villains are too cool to put down for good.  It was still great to see.  It's true, there's no Tony Todd voice work, but the thing we see here is still fairly creepy and unnerving.  The CGI was questionable at points, but in a way, it made the entity seem that much more alien and off putting.

The way he's defeated is a bit too easy.  You do have to wonder why Thawne didn't think of that, but it still worked out fairly well.  I don't know if the nod to "Jurassic Park" was intentional or coincidence.  I find it hard to believe that it was the latter, but it made for a fun scene in any event.

Villains usually make for compelling characters.  I don't know if I'd want to see villain based episodes become a regular occurrence, but every so often, it can be a fun side trip.  That certainly proves to be the case here, as this episode stands out as a highlight for the season, if not the show as a whole.

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