'Luke Cage' Season 2, Episode 1: 'Soul Brother #1'

 The second season of 'Luke Cage' kicks off on a high note, picking up where the last season left off, but also setting the stage for what's to come.  

Unlike 'Jessica Jones', we actually see reference to the events of 'The Defenders', this largely comes from Misty's presence as she still comes to grips with the loss of her arm.  This does give her character a bit of a mini-arc, as she starts off wanting to back off from crime fighting, but decides to get her job back when she learns that Scarfe's corruption has resulted in the release of several criminals.  

For Luke's part, he is still Harlem's hero and is becoming something of a local figurehead.  People come out to get selfies with him and there is even Luke Cage merchandise, both mundane and illegal.  On more than one occasion, Luke is told to try to monetize his herodom.  He (again) declines, but valid arguments are made for it.  The barbershop is struggling and he could also put the money to good use.  Claire also points out that cops and firefighters get paid, there's no reason he shouldn't.

On that note, it kind of sounded like the police chief was offering him a job.  His speech started off like an anti-vigilante tirade, but the "you should do what you're doing legally" part gave me that impression.  Granted, Luke throws it back in the guy's face, but assuming that was his intent, it was an interesting curve ball to throw the street level hero.

The bit with Luke's reverend father was an odd addition.  His "sermon" lost some of its kick due to the fact that he was just rehearsing.  One also can't help but wonder how well it would have been received seeing as everybody seems to like Luke.  He also has a quick run in with Luke.  Maybe more will be made of it later in the season, but it seemed oddly out of place and didn't really add a whole lot to the plot.

It does seem like the fame is getting to Luke's head.  He's still likable and charismatic as ever, but the unbreakable skin and the constant attention are subtly starting to have an effect.  At one point in the episode, he challenges Harlem's underworld to come at him.  Given that he survived an explosion and even managed to shrug off a Judas bullet, I understand the rush, but the scene also gave me flashbacks to Iron Man 3 when Tony called out the Mandarin in a similar fashion.  As I recall, that didn't end well.  Whether this is setting up a "pride comes before the fall" thing remains to be seen.  It's still early in the season.

While drug dealers make for the episode's primary antagonist, the end of the episode does mark the arrival of what appears to be the new "big bad", a martial artist crime lord who goes by the name of Bushmaster.  His hand to hand combat skills are impressive, but I was very perplexed as to how the gangsters he was attacking kept missing when they were trying to shoot him.  Even stormtroopers would have been able to hit a target from that distance.  Come to find out, the bullets did hit, they just don't hurt him.  It'll give the season a figure who can fight Luke on that level.  Mariah makes a play to get Luke off her back by threatening Claire, but even that doesn't end up working as well as you'd think it would.  

Speaking of, it looks like Mariah wants to retire.  She is presented with the opportunity to get controlling interest in a successful plastics company and give her family name a rebranding.  It does require quite a bit of capital.  Why she doesn't just invest what she can, I don't know, but that appears to be her arc so far.  

Like I said at the top, this was a strong start.  The main characters are all given something to work with.  The episode's well written and paced well.  You're never bored.  There's a healthy dose of humor to keep things from feeling "grimdark" and the fights are still entertaining, even if they are all fairly one sided.  I wasn't expecting Lucy Liu's name to pop up as director, but she did a good job; so there you go. 

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'Castle Rock' Season 2, Episode 4: 'Restore Hope'

 Yeah, I don't have any punny turn of phrase to open this article.  It's unfortunate, but what can you do?  Hopefully, future episodes will present more opportunities, but I can't promise anything.

After the powerhouse that was the last episode, this episode acts as more of a breather.  I get the logic, but it would have been nice to see the momentum put to better use.

Not that this episode is bad, there's quite a lot to like, but it doesn't have the same impact that the preceding episode did.

Annie herself takes a backseat this time around.  She tries to reconnect with Joy to no avail.  When we last see her, she's curled up on the couch, eating ice cream in a bit of depression.  You can't really blame her.  Joy wants nothing to do with her, Nadia steps in and not only enforces the separation, but tells Annie that she can't work at the hospital anymore, which I assume cuts her off from her medication supply (though seeing as she stopped taking them anyway, that might be a moot point.)  On top of that, Annie comes out the loser in two major confrontations. Abdi getting the upper hand, I understand.  He's more seasoned and has a tougher background, but even Joy's friend Chance mouths off to Annie and shoves her with no repercussions.  Not exactly a proud moment for Annie Wilkes.

Instead, the episode shifts its focus to Pop Merrill, as he learns that his chemo isn't working.  While Nadia does present him with possibilities beyond that, he chooses to accept his fate.  The scenes with him are well done and Robbins does a good job making it count.  The Irish wake that he decides to throw is one of the highlights of the episode, bringing both a bit of humor and pathos to Pop, as well as his family.

Speaking of family, a bombshell is dropped as Nadia learns the real reason why Pop adopted them in the first place.  It had been hinted at, but it's made clear here that he was the one who killed their parents and took them in due to what he saw as a debt.Suffice it to say, Nadia doesn't take it well.  Her storm off was well deserved, but I'm not sure why that was the note the writers decided to end it on.

I would've thought that the scene with Ace taking his brother to the church to be "converted" would have been the way to go. It was the most intense scene in the episode and, despite being fairly brief, did a lot to set up what is to be the arc for the remainder of the season.  Ace's speech to Chris is a bit of an exposition dump, but at the same time, it's a milder example as Ace is speaking rather casually about what had happened before.  

Credit to Chris, even after being stabbed in the stomach, he puts up a decent fight.  His response was both a highlight and oddly humorous.  Things don't end well for him, but he went out on a high note. 

One quick follow up, apparently it was Greg Grunberg who played the cop.  Neither his Wikipedia nor his IMDB page said anything about it, which is why I concluded that it wasn't him.  After seeing him again here, I became even more convinced it was him and did some more digging.  On the plus side, I was right, so that's good. It would have driven me nuts if I had remained under the impression that it wasn't him, but just someone who looked almost exactly like him.  

In any event, this episode was solid.  It doesn't leave as lasting an impression as its predecessor, but it does what it does well and while it isn't quite as tense, it's never boring.  It's sad to see Annie sidelined, but there's still plenty of good character and story arc material to keep the viewer happy.

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'Legends of Tomorrow' Season 4, Episode 7: 'Hell No, Dolly"

 This episode doesn't really have a central plot per se.  Instead, it juggles three story lines.  Other episodes have done this but this one doesn't do quite as good a job.  It results in an episode that feels more like wheel spinning and filler for a good majority of it.

The Constantine plot has the most going for it.  Not only does it have the biggest ramifications, but it was also the strongest just from a character perspective.  Ryan's fantastic, as usual, but we get to see John's past come back to haunt him and him respond by taking measures to undo it.    This also plants a potential seed as far as the season's big bad goes.  Neron is only mentioned, but he is a heavy hitter in the comics; it makes sense that he could be the one going after John.  We'll have to see how that plays out, though.

Another sub-plot has Sara trying to act as mediator after Ava and Mick have something of a falling out.  You can't really fault Ava for taking the magical diary.  Even if Mick was able to have it without any serious negative ramifications, the possibility of somebody else coming in and swiping it (whether they knew about its power or not) is too great a risk. I can kind of see why Mick was miffed, but he should have been smart enough to get her reasoning.  

The Mona plot was...strange.  I mean, Mona is odd enough where her falling in love with the Kaupe would make sense, but at the same time...it's odd.  Maybe they were trying to parody the trope, but at the same time, the episode plays a lot of those scenes perfectly straight. 

It does result in an amusing identity mix up when Nate goes to talk to Mona on Gary's behalf only to be met by ambiguous dialogue that Nate assumes is in reference to Gary.

Oddly enough, the plot that inspires the title is the most blase and is even an afterthought as far as the episode goes.  The killer doll thing has been done a lot, but you'd think that they could have done more.  It doesn't help that "Mike the Spike" is a pretty weaksauce villain.  There are one or two creepy moments, but he's pretty underwhelming and his dialogue isn't menacing in the slightest.

Overall, this was one of the weaker episodes for the show.  It has moments, but it never really gains momentum due to having too many things going on.  Some of the gags and jokes work, but some are fairly cringe inducing.

Really, the episode's big saving grace is the cliffhanger, where John's attempt to change the past has huge ramifications for the timeline.  It's not quite as bad as the team breaking time back in season 2, but about on par with Barry and the whole Flashpoint fiasco.  We don't get a full glimpse of the ramifications, but Zari is a cat, and an adorable one at that.

After a pretty strong string of episodes, this one was a let down.  I mean, nobody bats 1000, but it's still a shame to see.