'Attack on Titan' Season 3, Episode 10: 'Friends'

 

This episode picks up where the last one left off, with Levi finding Kenny near death.  We do see a snippet of the prior being alerted to the latter being found, which helped mitigate one of my quibbles with the scene in the last episode.

With Kenny on the verge of death, it should come as no surprise that this is largely a flashback episode that tells us his story.  It's a little weird that he gets the most development just as he's dying, but it does still work out pretty well.

We come to see how he came to become in league with the Reiss family and what his reasons for doing so were.  We also see how he came to take Levi, who is actually his nephew, under his wing. Some of this was hinted at here and there, but we get a much fuller picture here than we had ever gotten before.

While Kenny takes center stage, the real show stealer is Uri Reiss, Rod's younger brother.  He is one of the wiser characters we've seen in the show.  He also has a pretty eerie introduction as he is able to go into a sort of quasi-titan form that gives him the monstrous power, but also allows him to maintain full control of his actions.  The style they use for his eyes really helps sell the weird effect.

Despite his creepy appearance, Uri is quite compassionate, even going so far as to bow and apologize to Kenny for the persecution his family has suffered. It's what allows Kenny to put aside his cruder impulses and begin to form a genuine friendship with the man.

Said friendship is what sets Kenny on his path to try and obtain the titan serum.  Interestingly, while he craves its power, it isn't so that he can unleash more bloodshed.  On the contrary, after seeing Uri, he wonders if compassion is a luxury for those who have power.  As such, he wants to see if him obtaining that power will give him the same sort of empathy that Uri has.  It's an interesting subversion of the usual tropes involving the acquisition of power.  It gave the episode a more layered approach to the story and allowed it to stand on its own rather than retread all too familiar territory.

There isn't too much forward progress in the overall plot.  Kenny hands Levi the serum and reveals their connection before he dies.  Historia takes her crown and is universally respected and admired.  We also see a quick stinger where the Beast titan looms over a beaten colossal titan and reveals that they will go through with his plan to obtain the coordinate rather than try to rescue Annie.  It would have been cool to see the fight, but the quick scene we get tells us all we need to know.  It was just good to see the Beast titan again after such a lengthy absence.  It seems like he's coming back to the forefront.

While I did like this episode quite a bit, this probably isn't an area where you want to take a lengthy hiatus.  Having the family mechanics and history fresh in your mind will help you enjoy and appreciate this episode a lot more.  I was able to get by on my broad strokes recollection of certain details, but it's looking like more regular viewing is going to be required if I'm going to move forward into the series.

'In the Tall Grass' Movie Review

 

This had been sitting on my Netflix list for some time now.  I figured it was time to start cleaning house and finally knock it out.  I read the original novella back when it was originally published in Esquire, but that was some time ago.  I did write about it, but those articles were lost when Examiner shut down.  I do remember not being particularly blown away by it.  That was probably one of the reasons why I kept this one on the backburner for as long as I did.

To the movie's credit, it actually is a stronger work than the source material.  Where the story felt pretty thin, the movie has time to flesh out certain elements and give the characters more time to shine.  While the characters are still daft for never thinking to use their car horns as a way try to help get others out, they do act more intelligently here than they did in the story.  One character attempts to leave himself a trail by tying some of the grass stems in knots and he later uses a child as a sort of periscope to try to keep them oriented while they try to make their way back to the main road.  Neither effort works, but still, credit for clever thinking.  Surprisingly, nobody tries to set the field ablaze.  We see one character smoking early on, I thought for sure that it was going to be a "Chekhov's Gun" situation, but nope.  Even when they're convinced that they're not getting out, nobody suggests taking the field with them.

Speaking of, the field itself gets more to do.  The disorientation and relocation are still present, but we see that the field can even distort time itself.  It adds to the eerie, alien element of the field and gives the movie some interesting "timey wimey ball" elements that end up playing a pretty critical role in the plot.  The rock also gets more detail and focus brought to it.  We're never told what it is exactly, but we get a lot more detail as to how it works and what its attempting to accomplish.

That being said, despite the movie being well under 2 hours (an hour, 40) it still drags quite a bit.  The director does get a little over-indulgent at certain points, especially as the movie gets closer to the climax.  It also gets tough to care when you see characters die repeatedly only to pop back in later.  It makes sense, as it's shown that the characters have gone through several loops and they're all intersecting at various points, but it does undercut the tension quite a bit.

The cast all do a good job.  Patrick Wilson is probably the stand out, as he gets to play both friendly and menacing, sometimes at the same time.

As far as King adaptations go, this one's solid.  It's faithful enough, but it also goes in its own direction.  It does have problems, so I don't know if I'd call it a must watch, but there's enough good stuff here to say that it doesn't warrant a hard pass either.

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'Legends of Tomorrow' Season 4, Episode 16: "Hey, World!'

 

It's been a bit since I dived into this one.  You might think that this was just another instance of epic schedule slip (see Attack on Titan for an example).  However, there actually was a somewhat valid reason to keep this one on the back burner.  The episode after this is the finale of "Crisis on Infinite Earths".  As I still have quite a bit of other things to watch to build up to that, I figured I'd wait until I got closer.  There's still more to watch, but I think it's time to finally knock this off the to do list. 

All in all, I found it a little underwhelming.  Part of it is the gap, but as a finale, it was pretty lackluster.  It has its moments, but I don't know if I'd mark this as a highlight of either the show or even the season as a whole. 

It turns out that Neron's real plan isn't to rule Hell, but to use people's fear of monsters and magical creatures to open a portal to it.  Or, as he so originally and subtly puts it, "Make Earth Hell Again".  

To counter this, the Legends decide to revive Nate's dad's idea for a creature theme park as a way to show people that the creatures aren't to be feared, only be better understood.  It leads to more than a few cornball moments and speeches.  Some work OK, others, not so much.  The stage show they put on is cringe, but that fact is mitigated by the fact that the in-universe viewing audience boos and is just about to walk out before the big dragon shows up.

This is an element that has been foreshadowed quite a bit via the egg.  It finally hatches and we finally get to see it.  Interestingly, it starts off rather cute and cuddly.  Young Zari and her classmates all take a liking to it and a video of that goes viral.  

This actually marks one of the few instances where the Legends' time travel has lasting consequences for both the present and the future.  As a result of both the video and the amusement park, Zari has a better childhood and her family is saved from future calamity.  This means that she never joins the Legends, who are instead joined by her brother.

Sara had earlier vowed that they weren't going to lose another Legend, but Nate seems to be the only one aware of any change to the timeline, which just adds salt to the wound.

Speaking of Nate, he comes close to biting the bullet, sacrificing himself as a way to get Neron to break his contract and get sent back to Hell.  The moment worked well and the cast all did a good job of showing the necessary grief and shock. 

This leads to one of the aforementioned cornball moments as the spirit of Nate's dad uses music to trigger the power of love, which can be channeled into magic to revive him.  Ray's point about love being channeled the same way that Neron was fear gives it at least some legitimacy, but there's a part of me that wishes that the death had stuck.  It was a noble hero death.  It's good to see he and Ray reunite, but still backpedals like that are a mixed bag.

Did anybody else find it odd how they sidestepped the whole Heaven thing?  You've established Hell, the existence of souls, and the divinity of Christ (through the Spear of Longinus in season 2) in this universe, I think you can just say "Heaven".  

I did like the Monitor cameo.  He doesn't actually do anything and considering the next episode is the crisis, it's not that surprising.  It was cleverly done.  It was a way of teasing what's to come without outright saying it.

The Vandal Savage appearance was also a curveball of sorts.  I don't know if it was an intentional nod to an episode of "Justice League" where Vandal turns over a new leaf, but I did get a similar vibe.  It's another instance of Ray's positivity being infectious.  Had they known, the Legends could have used that to stop his evil plans back in season 1, but hindsight is still 20/20, even when you have a time machine.

As noted, I've still got some watching to do before "Crisis", so there will likely be another gap, but I can at least move forward on those shows and check this season off the to-do list.

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'Attack on Titan' Season 3, Episode 9: 'Ruler of the Walls'

 

Rod Reiss' giant titan makes its way towards the city of Orvud.  As established at the last episode's cliffhanger, Erwin declares that they won't be evacuating the city.  

The others are rightly perplexed and angry, but Hange jumps into explain that abnormal titans are drawn to large, crowded areas.  Not only would evacuating not solve the problem, but it would also put people in greater danger.    Having them stay put to draw the titan to where they want it to go is the better play.

Risky and callous as it may seem, this aspect of the plan makes sense.  Erwin's confidence that the perimeter cannons will be super effective is another story.  Have they ever worked?  Maybe it annoys them or causes them some degree of pain, but it seems like the only real way to take a titan down is through the nape slicing that the scouts do so regularly.  

The episode paints the cannons not working as some big surprise, but they do have a plan B.  It's a little peculiar, but it works.  

Eren's fit of self doubt was a little forced and didn't really add anything to the episode.  I know the last few episodes put him through the ringer, but his whole, "I suck, I'm useless, and not anything special" felt a little forced.  Shouldn't what he learned about his father make him more driven to at least try and make things right?  While he doesn't "verbally" express guilt, we do see him beat himself up...literally, he starts punching himself "Fight Club" style.  On the plus side, it got all that out of his system (for now, anyway) and he's able to focus on the task at hand.

Historia herself is especially determined.  Not only is she eager to fight and stop her father, but her reasons for fighting show a degree of political savvy.  She recognizes that people won't readily follow a new queen due to bloodline alone, so by fighting on the frontline, she wants to prove herself and show that she's someone worth following.  It's commendable, and for his part, Erwin does see her reasoning.  He still protests, but notes that he can't really stop her, so that settles that debate.

Sure enough, Historia is the one who delivers the killing blow.  It was a good moment for her and it got her her desired results.  She's still not sure what her role and purpose are, but she seems closer now to finding herself than she was before. 

The episode offers a nice parallel to the first, with a set of kids witnessing the titan rising above the walls the way the colossal titan did way back in the day.  Not only does Eren vocally acknowledge the parallel, but a lot of the imagery mirrors what we saw before.  As Armin notes, though, this time they're ready for it, and thus a much better outcome is achieved.

Levi himself also manages a victory as he finds a wounded Kenny out and about.  I'm not sure how he knew where to find him or what he was doing out there, but it does give the two a small scene as Kenny starts to succumb to his wounds.  Before he dies, though, he unveils a syringe with the titan serum in it, thus marking the end of the episode.

This episode was fairly solid overall.  It was straightforward, but it did give several characters a moment to shine.  It also provided some nightmarish imagery as the eroded face of Reiss' titan will likely haunt the dreams of many a viewer.  We'll see where things go from here.

  

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'It: Chapter Two' Movie Review

It's been a while since I watched the first part of this adaptation of Stephen King's book, but with it coming off of Hulu pretty soon, I figured it was about time to finally check out how this concludes.

I was a little surprised by the runtime at first.  The movie comes in at just under three hours.  Most of the meat of the story occurs in the childhood portion and it seemed like that was covered in the first film.  This one actually takes a more balanced approach, going back and forth between seeing the characters as children and as adults.  The script actually manages to justify it pretty well, as they are remembering things about what happened that they had forgotten.  It allows them to flashback, but not rehash scenes that were already seen in the first entry.

As was the case before, the movie is well cast.  Everybody does a solid job, though Bill Hader as Richie was pretty inspired.  His is probably the most memorable performance.  He does a good job with the wisecracks, but the movie actually gives him more to work with, so you get some solid emotional scenes from him as well.

On a similar note, Skarsgard gets more to do as Pennywise.  I was a little whelmed in his first outing, but he did a much better job here.  His depiction here still fits with what we'd seen before, but it feels more like the Pennywise from both the book and the original mini-series.  He taunts the characters a lot and the scene where he lures a girl under the bleachers is well done.

It's strange, as much as the movie hammers in the idea that the losers have to work as a group, a majority of the movie is spent showing the characters on their own individual fetch quests to retrieve personal items to be used in the film's version of the ritual of Chud and to reminisce (leading to the aforementioned flashbacks.)  You'd think that it would make the movie feel padded or repetitive, but they actually managed to avoid that.  The fact is even more surprising given how things play out later in the movie, but that's spoiler territory and while the movie is a couple of years old, I don't want to give everything away.

Sadly, no real mention of the turtle.  We see a shot of a turtle statuette, but that's it.  I guess it's not surprising that it was cut, but it would've been cool to see that element brought in this time around.  The movie does provide a unique mechanism for us to see Pennywise's arrival on Earth, though.

Then again, given some of the special effects on display here, that's probably for the best.  The CGI here was a little on the lackluster side.  There's one scene where it's actually used to somewhat comedic effect, but there were quite a few misses.  This movie did a better job in terms of horror, as it wasn't entirely reliant on jump scares, but the special effects did somewhat undercut the tension.  The good news is that the giant spider is much more impressive.  I'd guess that the final confrontation was the focus for the effects team and it did at least pay off on that front.

Overall, I enjoyed this quite a bit.  It actually improved on things from the first one and gave elements from the book that didn't make it to the original mini-series to get adapted.  

 

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'Attack on Titan' Season 3, Episode 8: 'Outside the Walls of Orvud District'

 

Alright, gotta get back on the ball here, can't have another multi-year hiatus with this thing.  The episode picks up where the last one left off, with Reiss transforming into a titan.  Even by titan standards, this one's a big boy.  His transformation alone is enough to have the ceilings start caving in, threatening to crush both the scouts and Kenny's troops under the rubble.

Despite declaring herself an enemy of humanity, Historia does still make a valiant effort to break Eren free.  She sees a kindred spirit in him, even if his own spirit is pretty much broken.  The revelations of the last couple of episodes prove too much and Eren is convinced that his own death is the only thing that can fix the situation.

Anime protagonists do have a tendency to get pretty angsty, but Eren takes it to a whole other level here.  Even the other characters repeatedly tell him to stop whining and get his act together.  

He ultimately does, at least enough to drink a potion that not only allows him to trigger a transformation, but to also develop crystal armor similar to what the female titan had.  This not only allows him to create new pillars to keep the caverns intact, but Levi later notes that he'll be able to restore the walls and give humanity a new glimmer of hope.

Eren muses that this will also allow him to finally get to his father's cellar.  I did find it amusing how Sasha hung a lampshade on how that plot point was important for a while, only to be forgotten, before springing back into relevance now.  

Eren is also thrown another bone when the others realize that his father did what he did, not out of greed or lust for power, but to give humanity a chance to fight back against the will of the founding titan's legacy.  

The fact that Historia can claim her rightful place on the throne also gives the remnants something positive to focus on.  The others point out that this may be awkward, as Historia had renounced her father.  The fact that she views herself as an enemy of humanity doesn't come up.  It might make things weird later on, but she does still agree to do it.  She even seems resolved to play it straight.  You don't get the impression that she has some ulterior motive here, at least not yet anyway.

With Eren safe and the government coup successful, the team turns its attention to Rod's giant titan, which seems to be made of molten rock that prevents the scouts from getting too close.  It's heading for one of the walls, which they know from the jump will do nothing to stop it.  Oddly enough, rather than evacuate, Erwin says that he wants to keep everybody where they are.  It's a puzzling move, to say the least, and it makes for a decent enough cliffhanger.

It was nice to see Hange survive, though it was also a bit surprising.  More surprising is the fact that her injuries are presented as minor.  She was just impaled, thrown into a wall, and fell a pretty good distance, but somebody actually says that she's in pretty good shape.  Maybe it is more of a relative thing, but it was still a weird line.

All in all, this episode was OK.  It was easy to follow, even after a good-sized break, it was well paced, and it moved the plot forward.  It was good to get back into it, hopefully I can maintain the momentum this time around.

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'Iron Fist' Season 2, Episode 10: 'A Duel of Iron'

Thus, another chapter in the MCU comes to a close.  While the show was not as well received as some of the others, this season was a step up in a lot of respects and this episode pays off quite well.

Not surprisingly, the first order of business is putting an end to Davos' reign of terror.  While Colleen did take some of the Iron Fist's power, because Davos interrupted the ritual, the two are now put in mortal peril.  While both parties are in a great deal of pain, Davos does escape, forcing them to pursue.

The agony doesn't seem to hinder them too much, however, as they end up in an impressive fight scene.  At first, it was a little weird that the main character wasn't facing his "enemy" in the big showdown, but he does step in later and gets a chance to throw hands for a little while.  Heck, Davos is even able to briefly fend off both fighters at the same time.  Considering what he had been through up to this point, you really can't fault the guy's determination. 

Walker and Misty even get in on the action.  I don't know if it's quite as good as the final confrontation with Bushmaster, but it did succeed in giving everybody something to contribute and a highlight moment on which to end the battle.

The fight is all well and good, but the episode balances it out nicely, devoting the second half of the episode to character moments.

Ward gets quite a few highlights.  He starts to mend fences with Joy, and even tries to step up and be a father to his impending child.  The offer on the latter is gently rejected, but it was still a pretty impressive gesture in its own right.  It's especially impressive as the Meachums were the weak link for me back in season one.  They fared a lot better this time around and the show certainly benefitted from it.

While it was certainly possible for the show to get a third season, this does feel like a pretty organic end.  Even the opening voiceover, which turns out to be a..."dear Jane" (?) letter talks about endings and new beginnings.  The episode even wraps up by showing us how they are all starting new chapters in the hopes of achieving various goals. 

Colleen has taken on the mantle of the Iron Fist, though it turns out that Danny retained some of his power as he is able to use chi himself.  On the one hand, it makes some sense.  Once you've learned to master and control your chi, you should be able to do so despite a ritual.  On the other, it kind of negates the crux of the season's conflict.  It seems like they could have saved a lot of trouble if Danny and Davos could have both had the power.  Still, it does allow him to keep fighting the good fight.  The MCU roster of heroes is adding a new member, not replacing it, and that seems like the better way to go.  Will either of them ever actually show up again?  Posssibly, Marvel does seem to be trying to tie the older stuff back into the larger narrative, so we'll see how things play out.

 Hopefully there's something as Walker's story demands a follow up.  She confronts Joy and basically does the exact same thing Davos did, forcing an extension of the arrangement due to new factors that have come into play.  On the plus side, Walker's goals aren't quite as violent.  She's aware of a third alter and wants to find out who she is.  Yes, danger is still involved, but it still seems much more amenable than working with Davos and helping his mad crusade.

Speaking of, Davos lives to fight another day.  He wants to be killed, but the heroes don't grant him that request.  He may not have powers, but it is possible for him to do something later on down the line.  I'm not sure his speech about inspiring others and creating a global perspective shift rang true.  He enlisted some street hoods.  This isn't like one of the Joker's endeavors.  You could see what they were trying to do, but it fell flat for me.

Overall, though, this episode worked well.  Still, I am glad to move on to the next series.  I've got several to go.  Up next, the return of Daredevil.

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