'Dragon Ball Super' episode 67: 'With New HOPE!! In Our Hearts! Farewell, Trunks'

Zamasu has been neutronized, hooray! Now it's time for a light breather episode completely free of tension and full of levity, right?

No.  Just like Gozer, Zamasu's total protonic reversal doesn't quite stick and the breath of relief is short lived.  As was the case with the Sumerian destructor god, the sky soon turns black and the heroes are taunted by a voice from the sky.  It's mostly mad cackling, but it certainly gets the job done.

The image of multiple demonic Zamasu faces filling the sky certainly rank among the show's most nightmarish images.  It only gets worse when he starts raining down death on what little is left of humanity.

The whole scenario seems utterly hopeless.  Not only is the mass death an emotional gut punch in and of itself (a scene made all the more heart wrenching by Mai's response.) but it prevents Trunks from using the spirit sword again.  Meanwhile, Goku and Vegeta expended all their energy with the final kamehameha during the Vegito fight, leaving them unable to go into super saiyan blue.

God bless em, the three do try to fight back, launching a galick gun, kamehameha, and a final flash that combine into one large attack, but it does nothing to the incorporeal entity.

While Goku is out of senzu beans, he does have the button to summon Zen'o.  That's right, it's deus ex machina time!  I joke, but I really can't fault them for it.  They are literally out of options and have no other way out.  Calling him in like this also avoids the "why didn't Zen'o do anything productive when so much was at stake?" question I brought up before.

It isn't like it's just Future Trunks' timeline at stake.  We see Zamasu's malevolence start to spread back into the past (though alas, all the present day characters do is gawk.)  It likely would have eventually infected and destroyed every timeline in every universe if it wasn't put in check.

Seeing as he is the most powerful being who rules over all of existence, you'd think that there would be only one Zen'o that is omnipresent and omniscient.  That doesn't turn out to be the case.  Instead, Goku summons the Zen'o from this time period specifically.  That means that he has no idea who Goku is, though he doesn't seem too fazed by the bear hug that the saiyan gives him upon his arrival.

To his credit, Zen'o is willing to deal with Zamasu, but he does so by destroying the entire timeline.  I'm not sure whether this was an instance of overkill (with Zen'o deeming a universe where Zamasu exists to be undeserving) or a legitimate countermeasure.  It is explicitly stated that Zamasu is becoming the universe itself, so maybe it was the only way to deal with him once and for all.  Still, I don't think that's what Goku had in mind.

Fortunately, the two kais are able to teleport away while the others escape using the time machine.  Why the kais didn't take everybody with them when they teleported is beyond me, but it's moot.  I'm also surprised that there was no repercussion to Vegeta and Goku hanging on the outside of the time machine while it ventured back.

It's here where the characters are finally able to legitimately celebrate the defeat of the evil foe and the saving of existence.

You'd think it would lead to mood whiplash, but it works rather well.  Having the celebration in the brigher, more colorful present day also seems more fitting and adds to the sense of optimism.

Still, there are some loose ends that need tying up, thus Goku and Trunks return to the future to find nothing but future Zen'o.  You'd think that Zen'o would have just gone back to whatever realm he was in prior, but he seems confused as to what he's supposed to do.  Fortunately, Goku brings him back to the present and introduces future Zen'o to present day Zen'o so that they can become friends, fulfilling Goku's promise.

You have to hand it to the guy, that was pretty clever thinking on Goku's part.  I'm not sure what the ramifications are to having two omni-kings, but at least the two get along swimmingly.  Even another angel, who is revealed to be Whis' father, admits that it was smart.  Whis gives credit where it's due and acknowledges that it was entirely Goku's idea.

With that matter taken care of, there's just the question of what to do with Future Trunks and Future Mai.  I'd think that just having them live in the present and start a new life together would be plenty, but it is decided that they have to go back to the future....Well, a different future.

In keeping with one of the running themes of this arc, the timey-wimey ball comes into play, and Whis explains that they can go to a time before Zamasu began his campaign and warn future Beerus about it.  It wouldn't be the exact future that Trunks and Mai lived in, but it would be a new, brighter future for the two of them.  The only downside seems to be that there will be two Trunks' and two Mais.  I'm calling it now, the second future Trunks will have the original purple hair and that's going to be how we tell them apart.

If they're going to do that, though, why not go one better and go back to before the androids? They could save the future's Goku from his heart virus as they did for the present one and the other Z-fighters (not to mention countless other lives) would be saved to boot.    

You could also argue (as the characters themselves do) that this wouldn't solve anything, as even killing Zamasu before he became immortal didn't seem to work.  Whis just shrugs it off and says that they have a way of imprisoning him that surpasses even the urn of the mufuba.

When Goku rightly calls them out on not bringing this up earlier, Beerus chides them for being too reliant on the gods.  I'm not sure how true that is, and to be fair, this crew has been reliant on Goku for decades.  He's tried to pass the burden to others, first Gohan, and then Goten and Trunks; but he can't seem to shake it.

As the title suggests, it is here where we say goodbye to Future Trunks.  It is a heartwarming and poignant scene, especially when Gohan arrives to see his friend off.  On the plus side, Future Trunks does depart with the words "until we meet again" leaving the door open for another possible appearance sometime down the line, though hopefully under better circumstances.

I have mixed feelings on this episode. There's a lot to like here, no doubt.  As mentioned, there's a lot of creepy imagery and a foreboding sense of hopelessness in the early parts.  The lighter moments also work well and make for a nice happy ending.  I did get a kick out of the Trunks/Mai shipping as kid Trunks starts crushing on Future Mai (just as Mai did for Future Trunks.)  The idea that the two kids could get together is even brought up, though Mai seems...reluctant?

I said before that the last episode was as satisfying a conclusion as one could hope for in regards to this storyline.  I stand by that, and alas, this episode undercuts that to a certain extent.  I thought having Future Trunks, as well as the support of humanity being what took Zamasu down had a lot more kick than just having Zen'o be the one to do it.  The follow up is logical, given that there was still an immortal half of the god that needed to be dealt with, but while it's a good ending, it wasn't the great ending that we had before.  

While this episode's preview gave off the impression that it would be lighter, the next episode seems like it will follow through on being the needed breather.  I'm assuming the super dragon balls are back in working order now, though that has yet to be determined.  Maybe that's one of the wishes that will be used next episode when the standard dragon balls are collected, but we'll have to wait to see and find out.

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'Legends of Tomorrow' Season 2, Episode 6: 'Outlaw Country'

A time quake brings the team back to the old west.  Not surprisingly, this makes for something of a sequel episode to "The Magnificent Eight".  Jonah Hex even makes a return appearance.

This episode handled him a lot better, to be honest.  Last time, it seemed like he was just along for the ride and gave some exposition.  Here, he plays a more active role and the script gives him more to do while also fleshing out his character to a much greater extent.

The real show stealer here, though, is Nate.  As this is his first venture into the old west, he naturally spends a lot of the episode geeking out and invoking western movie tropes.  He gets a lot of the best lines and starts to form a closer bond to Ray, which I'm surprised took this long given that both are idealistic dorks.  I do find his lamenting his role as research guy to be a bit odd, given that that is what he offered to bring to the table when he first joined the team.  I get the logic, given his sheltered upbringing and the possibility to go out and be a hero, but it still comes off as odd

Also odd is the direction the episode went with Mick.  Seeing him get along swimmingly with Turnbull was a great bit, but the idea that he is still the crazed pyro that he was when he first started seems like a step backward.

Speaking of Turnbull, he made for a decent villain.  A lot of credit goes to Fahey, who gives the character enough energy and charm to make up for his thin motivations.  The dwarf star bullets were also a nice way to level the playing field and make him a credible threat to the team, while also giving Ray what he needs to put the A.T.O.M Mk II suit together.

I was surprised that Barry's message still wasn't revealed.  It's mentioned, but with the mention of an oncoming war, I figured it was setting up the crossover.  Considering that the crossover is coming next, it's continued secrecy is surprising.  Then again, it's possible that my original theory was correct and it deals with Eobard.  You'd think that if it were Eobard, that Stein would have said something given that he helped take down Reverse Flash before.  Or maybe the message gets brought up in the crossover itself, we'll have to see.  The episode's end does make for a nice lead in, though, as Sara reveals that their friends in 2016 need their help.

There are areas where this episode certainly improved on what we saw in "The Magnificent Eight".  It still has the fun, as almost every character gets in a solid highlight or one-liner.  I don't know if it quite hits the same heights (which is odd, given the aforementioned improvements) but it is certainly a worthy follow up.
















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'Dragon Ball Super' episode 66: 'The Climactic Battle! The Miraculous Power of a Relentless Warrior!'

While the last episode ended with a blinding flash of light from Goku's and Zamasu's beam attacks, this episode backtracks a little so that we can see the battle of wills.  It's fair as, not only is it exciting to watch, but it is a staple of the franchise.

Sure enough, Goku does win with a little help from the kaio-ken (Zamasu's reaction isn't quite "kaio-what?" but it was close enough that I still found it amusing,) but it doesn't put the mad god down for good.

Make no mistake, Zamasu is straight up psychotic by this point.  While both the original Zamasu and Black thrived on being creepy in a calm and soft spoken way, this new being is beyond rabid.  Even his motive rants are much more manic and he's quicker to fly into blind rages. Between this and the deformity that comes as a result of the new form's inability to heal as well as we originally thought, it really shows that he is a legitimate monster.  Considering Zamasu started off as a prodigy who wanted to stop violence, it was quite a fall.

The reveal that half of Zamasu's body is immortal and the other isn't was an odd development.  I did kind of wonder if they would cancel each other out, but it seemed like the new form took the best of both.  The heroes needed something at this point, so I can understand why the writers threw that vulnerability in there.

Mortal or not, this form is still insanely powerful, so much so that the combined might of Goku and Vegeta aren't up to the task, thus the supreme kai suggests using his potarra earrings to fuse.

The preview kind of spoiled this, but I figured that the two saiyans would perform the fusion dance, as the fusion that came from the earrings was said to be permanent.  To address that, there's a bit of a retcon.  We were led to believe that it was being in Majin Buu that broke the two apart when they fused before.  However, Supreme Kai explains that with mortals, the fusion only lasts an hour.  It kind of makes sense, if you think about it.  I mean, Gotenks didn't break up in that fashion when he was absorbed.

While it would have been cool to see Gogeta become canon, we do get the return of Vegito; not to mention the fact that the heroes also have the benefit of a longer fusion time to better their chances of victory.  This was a being who was already absurdly powerful, but add the fact that both saiyans are now god-tier in their base form and the fact that he can go super saiyan blue and you don't even want to think about what sort of power level they've hit at this point.

Credit to Zamasu, he puts up a hell of a fight.  You get the best of both worlds, as he doesn't go out like a complete punk, but you still get the satisfaction of seeing Vegito smack him around quite a bit while Zamasu tries to boast about how superior he is.

For those who still hold a grudge against the series for the animation seen in episode 5, this episode should more than make up for it.  Special credit goes to the editors too.  The episode was full of multiple rapid cuts, but it never got hard to follow and made the fight much more exciting and engaging. Whoever they are, they deserve a raise because they hit it out of the park here.

Oddly, Vegito is not the one to put Zamasu down.  Admittedly, Vegito kind of threw the fight against Super Buu in order to rescue those absorbed, but it's fascinating to think that this insanely powerful being is, for all intents and purposes, still winless.  Still, seeing him perform the "final kamehameha" was a treat.

No, the honor of stopping this apocalyptic threat goes to Future Trunks.  I actually liked the plot going this way.  This saga has really played him up as the champion for this timeline, so having him step up and abolish the threat helps carry that to its logical conclusion.  Having the humans of the Earth all give him their energy may feel repetitive, as it's been done before, but given how heavily humanity played a role here, I think it makes perfect sense and makes Zamasu's ultimate defeat that much more resonant and satisfying.  Having somebody else put down the big bad also helps address the criticism that this is the "Goku and Vegeta" show.

Endings are tricky, especially when everything that came before it was so enjoyable.  So often, you see people try to write off bad resolutions by pointing out that the journey is more important.   Thankfully, this didn't do that.  This followed through and delivered as satisfying an ending as you could hope for.

Next episode, not surprisingly, is going to be a breather, as the storyline reaches its denouement.  After all this, I think the characters, and maybe even the viewers, could use it.  Apparently, the omni-king is going to show up, likely to help bring about the second tournament he talked about.  I'm not going to lie, a part of me wants to see somebody chew him out for not doing anything while an omnicidal kai waged war on mortals and gods alike.  The fact that he only shows up just as the ultimate villain is defeated makes it that much more galling.  Given how the omni-king has been characterized thus far, it's not the best idea and would most certainly end badly, but it would still be nice to see.

Long story short, loved the episode, loved this storyline.

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'Legends of Tomorrow' Season 2, Episode 5: 'Compromised'

After some one and done stories, the ongoing story arc resumes as Damien Darhk rears his head in the 80's.  It leads to a lot of fun nods to the time period.  Heck, the episode opens with a homage to Miami Vice.

While the Reagan administration is used as a backdrop for the plot, the episode manages to avoid getting too soap boxy.  There is, however, quite a lot of debating going on, which I suppose is fitting.

Jackson, for example, wants to step up their game and change history as opposed to just maintaining it.  You can understand his point, and the intention is certainly noble, but that sort of rhetoric has also made way for many a super villain.  At the same time, Stein's assertion that they need to worry about the butterfly effect also comes off as hollow considering how many times the team has cut loose over the course of the series.

Sadly, it isn't given much focus as the episode has many other aspects to explore.  It was kind of disappointing to see Amaya regress to the colder, more detached persona, as she chides the team for their chumminess.  It's consistent with the JSA as seen here, but it's a far cry from the comic team, that took the Titan approach and viewed it as more of a family than a team.  Again, she warms up at the end, but it seems like a journey that was already taken.

Even the concept of the JSA being a legacy is tossed aside, as we see that the team disbanded soon after the war.  To be fair, I'm OK with this development.  If it were suddenly revealed that the team was still active, it would have pushed suspension of disbelief too far.  It's said that the team operated under deep cover, but it still would have been a hard pill to swallow that there was a team of superheroes this whole time, even before Oliver and Barry rose to influence.

On the plus side, we get to see Lance Henrikson as an older Obsidian.  It would have been nice for him to get more screen time, but he manages to do a lot with what he has.

The episode picks up a few dangling plot threads, such as Sara's desire for revenge for Laurel.  It makes sense and, once again, her desire gets the team in trouble.  Luckily, she is aware enough to acknowledge the mistake and try to avoid it, albeit temporarily.

Stein once again running into himself didn't work as well.  It didn't really do anything that wasn't already done when they had met previously.    Honestly, it would have been nice to see that time focused elsewhere.

Mick actually got to shine this week.  Normally, he's just comic relief and he's great at it, but Purcell got to show some actual depth as we see that Mick is still mourning the loss of his old partner.  It's one of the more memorable parts of the episode, in all honesty.

It was also interesting to see how this episode still managed to tie in the events from last season of Arrow despite technically taking place before it.  Sure, Damien is unaware, but Thawne makes a reference to the ark and how that plays out and Sara goes into much greater detail as a way to break him.

It almost worked, except now Damien wants to change things, leading to him forming a more official alliance with Thawne.  If the intent is to "fix" the events from Arrow's fourth season, this could be the means Sara needs (or the writers need) to bring her sister back.

I do find it a bit strange that immortal characters are repeatedly given access to time travel.  First Vandal, now Damien.  It seems redundant, as Darhk can play the long game, but going back is certainly an asset.  Watching McDonough play off himself would be interesting to see, I'm not going to lie.

We're still not sure what Thawne's end game is.  Darhk is a bit clearer, he's begun his quest to collect potentially powerful artifacts, presumably to combat the metas who now plague him.  This lends credence to the self fulfilling prophecy I mentioned before.

The episode was a fun watch, but I don't know if it will go down as one of the season's highlights.  Things moved forward on several fronts, but there weren't as many stand out moments as other episodes had delivered.



















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'Legends of Tomorrow' Season 2, Episode 4: 'Abominations'

The team travels to 1863 to respond to a distress signal from a time pirate.  It seems simple enough, but things get more complicated when the team discovers zombies.  Zombies tend to complicate things.

It makes for a fun episode, as we see that Stein suffers from a severe phobia regarding flesh eating corpses.  Said fear only gets worse when Mick is infected and it is up to he and Ray to cure him.  Garber is given some solid comedic material, but the scenes also offer some solid horror aspects.  Many of the scenes take place in dimly lit hallways, the pair are confined to the ship until a cure can be administered, and when Zombie-Mick does appear, his eyes get an eerie glow.  It worked really well, especially given the fact that it aired right around Halloween.

As the episode takes place during the Civil War, it should come as no surprise that, much like 'Night of the Hawk', it tackles the issue of racism.  Where that episode was eye-roll inducing and annoying, this one is incredibly effective, becoming moving and powerful as a result.  The episode is much better written and, as such, the obstacles feel a lot more natural as opposed to having the characters do something simply because the plot needs them to in order to start preaching.

It did give Jax a bit of an internal struggle, as he initially put more focus on preserving the timeline as opposed to helping people in the short term.  It seems like Rip had a bigger impact on him than he thought.  It does differ from the venture into future Star City, as that was only a possible timeline, where as Jax's situation requires him to protect an already established timeline.  Still, at face value, he isn't entirely wrong, butterfly effect and all that. Still, given what the team's done at this point, the timeline's all kinds of wonky anyway.  The dilemma also gives Amaya a chance to show her heroic spirit and bring Jax into the "save people now" mentality.

Last season, I used to chide episodes where everybody split off into various subplots, but this episode (as well as a couple before it) have done a much better job of justifying the splits and giving them the room they need to function.

It actually built up tension here as many heroes were put at a disadvantage.  While it would have been cool to see the whole team take on a massive zombie horde, I get why they decided to go this route.

At the very least, we see Sara and Nate having to contend with said horde, as it attempts to overrun Ulysses S. Grant's camp.  You'd think that Nate's ability would give them a distinct advantage, but it never really comes up until the final gambit.

I do wish Grant got more to do.  As he's unfamiliar with zombies, he's fairly limited in his ability to contribute to the problem at hand.  However, his final scene manages to do quite a lot for him, as we see him offering food, shelter, and aid to newly liberated slaves and follow that by having a heart to heart with Sara about how to handle the burden of commanding people who are putting their own lives at risk.  I just wish the episode gave him more moments like that throughout the episode as opposed to just giving him a really good send off.  

Alas, there isn't much in the way of ongoing arc material.  There's a brief scene where we hear a part (though still not all) of future Barry's warning.  I was convinced that it had to do with Reverse Flash, but given his line about a war coming, this could be building up to the big three and a half part crossover concerning the Dominators, maybe even tieing into what Alchemy is doing over on "The Flash".

There is follow up about Ray concerning his lack of suit.  While he was able to contribute by playing medic here, Mick helps Ray deal with the existential crisis by offering him Snart's gun.  I'm kind of surprised that there was no talk of a new suit.  I do wonder how long "Ray as new Captain Cold" is going to last, but given how chummy he and Mick are now, it seems like it could be interesting to see.  
This episode covered the emotional gamut, providing dark, real world horror, over the top zombie horror, comedy, and several heart warming moments.  You'd think that it would lead to mood whiplash or inconsistency, but it actually made for a very well balanced episode.  It never gets so dark that it becomes grim, but the comedy doesn't undermine the serious nature of what's on display either.
All in all, it made for an entertaining one and done.  All of the characters got a chance to shine in some capacity and it allowed for some nice character development along the way.


















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'Dragon Ball Super' episode 65: 'Final Judgment!? The Supreme God's Ultimate Power'

Now invincible and capable of infinitely increasing his power, the newly fused Zamasu is more than a little drunk on this new form.  Odd as it may sound, the kai develops one of the most extreme god complexes you're likely to see.

The episode really plays up his god form too, with all sorts of religious imagery and rhetoric.  Zamasu spends a lot of the episode hovering in the air with his arms out in a Christ pose, his attacks all have Biblical-style names now, and he even gives himself a halo, not to mention all the references to being light or bringing light.  It really gave the episode a bona fide apocalyptic feel.

In the face of this, the resilience of the human/mortal spirit really comes to the forefront.  The more obvious instance is the saiyan's refusal to surrender, but even the human survivors get some highlights.  They don't contribute to the fight in the same way they had before, but when they see someone get blasted to death when they're trying to escape the tunnels and have to send somebody out to do recon to make sure it's OK, every single person offers to go themselves.  It's slightly undercut (though still funny) when they all immediately agree to let Yajirobe go when he offers, but it was still a really nice moment.

The saiyans themselves also get some great highlights as they wage battle against a foe that even Gowasu and Supreme Kai note is absurdly powerful.

We get not one, but two "beams o'war" as Zamasu attempts to finally destroy the world in one foul swoop.  Trunks puts up a valiant effort on his own, which is impressive considering Zamasu overpowered both Goku and Vegeta in Blue form with ease, but with Vegeta's aid, the two are able to repel the attack.

I was expecting Goku to join in too, but just seeing the father and son blasting alongside each other was still pretty epic.  Vegeta jumping in front of Trunks to take a hit was also an incredibly effective moment, both awesome and heartwarming in its own right.

Goku gets his own when Zamasu just tries it again.  Considering he's doing on his own what it took two incredibly powerful warriors to do, it really shows what Goku can do.

 The climactic blast off also makes for the episode cliffhanger, as the episode pulls a "Lost" and ends with a bright flash of white light.  If you didn't watch the preview for the next episode, it was rather effective, but if you did, it loses some of its luster.

Again, we're given a highly enjoyable episode.  It seems like they're pulling out all the stops.  You wouldn't think it possible by this point, but it really does feel like the stakes have never been higher.  It seems like we're reaching the end of the saga, but what an ending it's turning out to be.  I kind of feel bad for whatever arc has to follow this, but for now, we can just look forward to the next episode to see the cataclysmic battle between good and evil, gods and mortals continue.

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'Luke Cage' episode 7: 'Manifest'

The open and shut case regarding Stokes is closed, though not in the way you'd think.  I know, having the rich, well connected villain dodge the charges is a common plot device, but this still felt abrupt; especially after the last episode made it look like the legal system had the organization dead to rights on multiple crimes.  It does feel like the "status quo is god" trope is kicking in hard.

On the plus side, having Stokes out gives Mahershala Ali a chance to have some fun.  He really does steal the show here.  I think the major highlight is his little palaver with Luke.  True, he can't physically harm his nemesis, but he does have leverage, which he dangles over Luke's head to get him to stay out of it.

It allows him to get his confident swagger back, but also put on a faux affable front.  On top of that, he gets some legitimately funny one liners in there.  You'd think making the villain a wise cracker would undercut the menace, but it worked well here.

The episode also gives us a glimpse into his upbringing.  Not surprisingly, the contrast between the past and present personas of Cornell is striking to say the least.  Suffice it to say, the influence of "Mama Mabel" was quite strong.

Even though she didn't have a ton of screen time, she still made a lasting impression.  Just the sight of her nonchalantly chopping off some kid's finger really tells you all you need to know.  A part of me wishes the show could find a way to make her the main antagonist because...damn.

I'm not sure I buy the idea that Cornell never wanted the "gangster" life.  We see that he was a musical prodigy and it does give him some depth, but it isn't like he "had" to do this.  He could have gone straight and just run the club as a legitimate enterprise.  If anything, he basked in the role of bad guy.

It probably wouldn't be that big a deal in the grand scheme of things, but the episode makes it a big deal when, all of a sudden, there's resentment between Cornell and Mariah regarding her ability to escape the life of crime.  It escalates quickly and makes for a decent "wham moment" but it really does come out of left field.

Luke isn't left completely in the dust, as he too has an arc of sorts.  True, it's yet another iteration of him deciding whether or not he wants to be a hero, but it works better than you'd think.  It could have easily come off as redundant wheel spinning, but the episode does a solid job of explaining why.  Between the speed in which Stokes was back on the streets and the threat of going back to prison, you can understand why Luke would want to retreat into obscurity.

Thankfully, Claire is there to keep the heroic fire burning.  It was nice to see some nods to Daredevil.  More specifically, I did like Claire's allusion to knowing a lawyer friend.  Matt is traditionally the go-to lawyer for superheroes, so it's nice to see that come into play here.  I doubt he'll actually appear, but we are seeing some groundwork for the Defenders being laid.

Where the last episode's ending didn't really do much to leave you hanging, this one manages to pick pu the slack.  After seeing Luke's skin deflect all manner of ammunitions and weapons, he is finally struck with a Judas bullet, which succeeds in wounding him.  On the plus side, Claire is right there, but things aren't looking good.

Speaking of, I did find it a bit odd that Diamondback was hesitant to sell Stokes the Judas bullet because of Stokes' conflict with Cage, but dealing with Cage was the main reason he wanted the bullet in the first place.  It's a bit of circular irony that was, sadly, never brought up.

All in all, this episode was a mixed bag.  There were notable highlights, to be sure, but there were areas where it didn't work as well as it could have for me.  At the very least, it does change up the status quo significantly by the episode's end as we move into the second half of the season.












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