Rick and Morty: Final DeSmithation

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Rick, voiced by Justin Roiland, and Jerry, voiced by Chris Parnell, go on a fortune cookie related quest to stop the latter from sleeping with his mum.

Right off the bat I just want to say that the whole incest theme running through the show doesn’t particularly bother me, honestly I think it is done out of desperation to try and seem edgy and keep the controversy and in that the attention on the show. No, I don’t think one of the writer’s fetish is bleeding onto the show, it’s just for attention.

With that in mind I am starting to question whether I might be tapped out on this show, as I am just finding with this new season that I am not really enjoying it anymore and quite often, though there are good parts to some episodes, I am finding them a slog to finish. Again with this episode I liked that it was a Rick and Jerry adventure, those are fairly rare, and I also liked the fact that fortunes played such a big part of the final battle sequences, but at the same time it just didn’t hit in the same way an earlier season episode would have. Moreover, I also think the social commentary of the show is starting to become far too obvious and on the nose, in short I think the quality of the writing is getting worse.

Overall, the fortune cookie angle is a nice gimmick for the episode but it is nothing special.

Pros.

The fortune fight at the end

Seeing more of Rick and Jerry

It is very watchable

Cons.

It lacks the spark it once had

The writing is not great and that effects the episode in a number of ways

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Andor: The Eye

4/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Cassian, played by Diego Luna, and co finally rob the Imperial base.

I thought this was a strong episode, I liked that we got to see the native people who lived on the planet it helped the world to feel more realised.

I think rather predictably we got several deaths here and more than a few loose ends. Nemik’s death was the most obvious and when it happened I thought finally, however, it also packed an emotional punch and feels like it will be important to Cassian’s wider journey. Skeen’s turn to the dark side is again not particularly surprising, however, what is surprising is just how quick Cassian puts him down- pretty dark for a Disney + show. There are several other characters that just seemingly walk off into oblivion for no real reason, to me these are irritating loose ends but hopefully the next few episodes will explore what happened to them.

I do appreciate that this show continues to play with moral ambiguity and go a lot harder than we have seen any other Star Wars property go in a long while. I am curious to see where the show will go from here as nothing particularly has been set up, but I do hope they don’t bring Kyle Soller’s Syril back again as I feel he would be a weak villain for the series on the whole.

Overall, a strong episode but one that also raises the question where do we go from here?

Pros.

The tension

The stakes

Luna

The darkness and moral ambiguity

Cons.

Too many loose ends

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She-Hulk: Whose Show Is This?

1.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

She-Hulk, played by Tatiana Maslany, breaks the fourth wall and in doing so ruins everything her own show has been building towards in the pinnacle of lazy writing.

Where to begin with this? I think the most egregious thing this episode does is have its first half be bad on purpose so that Jen can call it out and then break out of the show and go and talk to the writers, acknowledging your own poor writing doesn’t make it any better. Worse still, the choice to have Jen talk to the sentient A.I overlord K.E.V.I.N to fix everything is the ultimate Deus Ex Machina fake out which just throws away everything the season has been building towards in just a few moments.

Why does the episode do this? Well because in its bad headed own way the show thinks this is funny, it thinks by crapping all over other Marvel films and shows endings that they are in on the joke and that by having it all magically tie itself up that that is clever subversion. Marvel would do well to remember how well subversion by Rian Johnson in Star Wars was taken. Also to make this all so much worse the jokes don’t actually land at all and for the most part are back to the early season cringe wine mum jokes. If this show has taught me anything it is that writer Jessica Gao really wants to appear down with the kids when in her every attempt she translates this into being cringe, moreover her heavy handed political comments only make this cringe issue all the worse.

The ending of the episode has to bring back Hulk, played by Mark Ruffalo, and Daredevil, played by Charlie Cox to try and leave us on a positive note, but even here we are reminded that this show was only ever good when it was relying on cameos from other characters that people actually like.

Overall, boy oh boy Marvel screwed the pooch on this one.

Pros.

Jen’s line about the X-Men

Bring back Daredevil for a few brief scenes

Cons.

It is cringe

It throws out everything that the series has been setting up

The meta joke mostly don’t work

It feels gimmicky throughout

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Andor: The Axe Forgets

4/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

The crew further plan for the heist.

I would say this episode was good and watchable but was certainly the filler episode before next week’s heist. We get a lot of slow character interaction scenes, which don’t get me wrong I really enjoyed, but for those expecting weekly action this week would have been somewhat of a turn off.

I appreciated the focus this episode had on building out its world and its characters. It was nice to see Cassian, played by Diego Luna, interacting more with the other members of the heist team, I feel like bonds are being established before no doubt a bunch of them die in next week’s episode.

I didn’t much care for the Syril, played by Kyle Soller, subplot about him being dressed down by his overbearing mother, it felt far to obvious and generic in terms of character motivations for him to then renew his search for Cassian. Widely this section of the episode felt like it was stalling for time.

Overall, a good episode but certainly a lot more slow and filler like.

Pros.

Luna

Cassian and his fellow rebels

The ending of the episode

Wider exploration of Mon Mothma as a character

Cons.

Some parts of it feel like filler

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Chucky: Halloween II

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Continuing on from the end of last season Andy, played by Alex Vincent, seemingly perishes destroying the last of the Chucky dolls. However, a few months later the original group of teens from the first season start to find themselves under attack again.

I still do like this show, even if I think this opening episode is quite weak. I think Brad Dourif’s Chucky is still al lot of fun and the show can really master tension when it wants to. I enjoyed the Chucky scenes we got in this episode.

However, my issues with this season premiere is that the writing feels quite contrived. Andy is seemingly killed off even though it is super obvious that he will be coming back, and the kids all find themselves sent to a Catholic boarding school at the end of the episode, can you get anymore cliché. Furthermore, this idea of a school for troubled kids reminded me a lot of the military academy setting for Child’s Play 3 so it seems as though the series is just recycling ideas from the films.

In addition to that I thought this episode really went out of its way to sexualise Alyvia Alyn Lind’s Lexy, which is extra creepy when you realise that the actor is only 15. This is not just a one off incident either as there were scenes in the first season that again put her character in very revealing and sexualised scenes. I understand that the show wants to tackle teenage sexuality, but it could have at least had an older cast playing younger rather than having minors play out sex scenes, it feels very inappropriate.

Overall, the season will need to do a lot more to keep me around, also stop sexualising a 15 year old it’s weird.

Pros.

Dourif’s Chucky

It is watchable

It can still deliver the scares and the tension

Cons.

It is creepy towards a minor

It feels deeply cliched

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She-Hulk: Ribbit And Rip It

4.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

She-Hulk finally brings in Daredevil, played by Charlie Cox, and it produces one of the best episodes of Marvel Disney + content yet.

This was a magnificent episode, Tatiana Maslany was great and so was Charlie Cox. The central case of the episode really did just play second fiddle to the blossoming relationship between Jen and Matt, which by the way when that hit it was the biggest fist in the air moment ever. I think Jen is at her most likeable here and you really do feel for her when Matt goes back to New York. I personally hope that maybe in the last episode she moves out their and starts her own practice and the two can explore things a bit more, but hey maybe that is just a fan fiction dream.

I also really enjoyed the end of the episode were things took a sharp dark turn. At first I was about to role my eyes that the big villain of the series is an organisation of incels, but then I thought about it and realised that it was actually perfect. The fact that not only do they steal Jen’s blood but they also try and slut shame her makes the fight so personal, and I really liked the fact that we saw her truly hulk out at the end, my one note is that I would have liked to see her go way more savage like full on berserker, but I guess this isn’t the audience for that.

Overall, this episode made up for all the wine mum jokes, all the awkward feminist rants, all of the man hating and the god awful mess they made of Titania.

Pros.

Jen really comes into her own here

The surprisingly dark twist at the end of the episode

Seeing Jen sort of hulk out

Bringing in Daredevil

Jen and Matt were a great couple

Cons.

I would have liked to see Jen go way more hardcore at the end of the episode

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She-Hulk: The Retreat

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Jen, played by Tatiana Maslany, heads to a retreat for a few days to try and get over the fact a guy she likes hasn’t text her back.

Once again the show promised Daredevil and didn’t deliver, like I have said before I am now convinced that he won’t show up until a post credits scene in the final episode and he will have been used to try and draw in audiences who don’t care about a show about a whiny, spoilt white girl who has a series of wine mom issues and first world problems.

I would say however in favour of this episode that it is probably one of the better ones of the series and has Jen actually think about how she views herself which I thought was interesting to see. I liked the character growth she got, and thought that bringing back Tim Roth’s Abomination was a very good idea. Fun was had.

I didn’t like that during her therapy scenes they used actual tweets about the She-Hulk show as why she feels bad about herself, as I think this just makes the show look petty. Likewise I also think it is a bad look when one of the main stars of the show Jameela Jamil has to go on the record saying about how much the show has upset men, as though all criticism against the show is sexist. It makes the whole production look like it has a chip on its shoulder.

Another thing that I thought was bad, please do believe though I am finding all these negatives with the episodes it probably is one of the better ones, is the fact that Jen’s latest potential love interest is revealed to be a villain. This continues the shows obsession with every none established male character having to be bad or incompetent in some way, though I suppose her therapy buddies do kind of balance things out on that front.

Overall, better but still not good, luckily there is only a few episodes left.

Pros.

Maslany and the focus on Jen

Bringing back Roth

The therapy scenes

Cons.

Still no Daredevil

Continued man bashing

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Andor: Aldhani

3.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Andor, played by Diego Luna, embarks on a heist and the embers of the rebellion begin to form.

I think this was a very good episode and way better than a lot of the other Disney + Star Wars shows we have had so far, however, I would say that it is a step back from what we got last week. This is very much a talking set up episode, which by no means is a bad thing as we will get to, but it does mean that the episode suffers with pacing issues. I think the worst thing about pacing in this episode is where it leaves off on, as the ending of the episode just feels like a random cut to black in the middle of a scene.

I enjoyed the scenes with Stellan Skarsgard’s Luthen, it is nice to see that he is a man of many faces. I have no idea where his story is going but I am excited to find out. Moreover, I thought his scenes with Mon Mothma, played by Genevieve O’ Riley, were really strong, and I thought that O’ Riley was really starting to shine in the role.

I also thought the heist planning scene was a lot of fun later in the episode, I liked the fact they built a model diagram and that yet again it seems like Cassian will be doing a suicide mission. I thought the two stand outs of the Cassian scenes were Faye Marsay as Vel and Alex Lawther as Nemick, both instantly created memorable and likeable characters who I want to see more off.

Overall, a slower episode but still one that is a lot of fun.

Pros.

Seeing more of Luthen

O’ Riley’s Mothma

The heist planning scene was a lot of fun

Seems like there is a lot to be excited for later in the season

Cons.

Pacing issues, mainly where they choose to end the episode

Not a lot happens

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Rick And Morty: Night Family

3.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

The family program their sleeping selves to do all of the things they don’t want to do.

I think this was probably the best episode so far of the new season. I liked the premise and thought that it mixed in a nice amount of horror into the usual science fiction formula, Night Summer, played by Spencer Grammar, was especially creepy.

I also enjoyed the bond between Jerry and Night Jerry, both voiced by Chris Parnell, I thought that the relationship between the two was nice to see and moreover, it is just nice to see someone treat Jerry like an actual human being for once.

The downside of this episode for me was that it all just boiled down to one big car chase which whilst entertaining feels like the most mediocre way to end things. What’s more the whole thing ends up feeling redundant as in the end the Night family win anyway, which further adds to the powering down of Rick, voiced by Justin Roiland, this season.

Overall, a fun episode but not the best the show has ever done.

Pros.

The horror elements

The friendship between Jerry and Night Jerry

It is a good premise

A number of funny moments

Cons.

The ending feels a bit lackluster

Rick is far too easily beaten

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House Of The Dragon: The Princess And The Queen

3.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A time jump highlights the breakdown in relations between Alicent, played by Olivia Cooke, and Rhaenyra, played by Emma D’Arcy, meanwhile Daemon, played by Matt Smith, grieves.

I think again this was a slower paced episode but also one that featured a lot of great performances. Emma D’Arcy is magnificent in every scene they are in, and can communicate a great deal with even the smallest facial gesture, Cooke is also excellent and her character is quickly becoming a love to hate villain.

I thought the Dameon side plot was a little out of left field, but it was nice to see him actually happy with his lady wife as it adds some greater depth to his character. I do think the asides the episode makes to check in with his character slow it down a lot and not in any kind of good way.

The final battle/ red wedding esque fire scene was a very fitting end for the episode and really helped to make it feel as though things are ramping up as we head into the final few episodes of the season.

Overall, a good episode but definitely slower and less interesting than some of the others.

Pros.

Exploring new depths with Daemon

D’Arcy

Cooke

The ending of the episode

Cons.

It is quite slow paced

Some of the breaks away to focus on Daemon’s new life feel quite dull

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