The Bad Batch: Rescue On Ryloth

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Following on from last week’s episode we see Hera ask the Bad Batch to break into the capital and save her family, where they have another run in with Crosshair.

I am glad this show is using Crosshair more, he makes for far more of an interesting antagonist than whatever random villain of the week they would otherwise use. Though in this episode the confrontation between Crosshair and his former teammates is not as thrilling or as tense as it has been in the past there is still enough there to make it enjoyable. Moreover, the series promises a bigger confrontation going forward as Crosshair is finally sent to hunt the Bad Batch down.

I enjoyed the Ryloth characters and seeing the show tie into Rebels, however, I think in doing this the show creates an inconsistency. Howzer is a clone, who despite the inhibitor chip can still disobey the rule of the Empire and think for himself- therein lies the problem. If Howzer and later other clones can disobey their programming then why can’t Crosshair, is the showing trying to suggest he was always bad so therefore his morality wouldn’t force him to break orders because I don’t think that is true. The episode as a whole glosses over this issue but it needs to be addressed.

Finally, as I have said before so won’t belabour, Omega is the worst character on the show and her naïve self-righteousness doesn’t make her any more likeable as a character.

Overall, for the most part a good episode

Pros.

The promise of more Crosshair

The action

The wider lore being set up

Cons.

The Howzer inconsistency

Omega

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iCarly: iNeed Space

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Spencer’s new girlfriend tries to lure Carly and Harper into a cult.

This is a very average episode of iCarly, there really isn’t much more to say about it than that. It is neither particularly good nor bad, rather it is just bland. However, it does say a lot that the B plot revolving around Freddie, Nathan Kress, and Millicent, Jaidyn Triplet, bonding over their own version of the girl scouts, is far better than the A storyline revolving around Carly, Miranda Cosgrove, and the Cult.

I think the reason for this is because the show has been building the relationship between Freddie and Millicent for a while now and it is nice to finally see them share some emotional scenes together. Personally, I thought the scene where she finally called him dad was sweet and very well done. As such this storyline feels weighty to the audience, whereas the Carly in a cult storyline feels the opposite, incredibly throw away.

I do like however, that the series is moving away from ‘internet culture’ based jokes and commentary and is instead dipping it’s toes into more out there storylines where we actually get to know these characters between.

A big issue within the episode for me was Harper. For the most part Harper, Laci Mosley, has been a very so, so character but at this point in the series she is starting to become annoying- I imagine this will only get worse as the show carries on. The reason for this is that all of her jokes fall into three categories ‘straight people are weird’, race jokes, and I don’t know what that is, none of these are particularly funny, at least to me, and as such become irritating the more they are repeated.

Overall, a fine episode, nothing more.

Pros.

Freddie

Millicent

The emotion

Cons

Harper

The A story is boring and throwaway

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Loki: For All Time, Always

4.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Loki and Sylvie meet the man in the castle and learn a lot about the multiverse. Meanwhile Mobius and other rogue TVA agents bring down the organisation that has proven to be a lie to them.

I called this a while ago, though Wandavison was being billed as the project that would effectively bring on the Multiverse of Madness, I had guessed that in fact it would be Loki– I was right.

I think this could be the best episode of the series, it delivers on nearly every front. The only reason I didn’t give it full marks is because I thought the TVA resolution with Owen Wilson’s Mobius was a little weak and that Gugu Mbatha-Raw’s Renslayer also gets short-changed by the episode: I would assume both of these things will be made up for by a later movie or TV show, but I was hoping we could have got that here. Really the episode could have done with being about half an hour longer.

However, on the other side of things the Loki Sylvie plot line totally delivers. We get Kang, played wonderfully by Jonathan Majors or at least a multiverse version of the character and the promise of far more to come. Though this section of the episode is a little exposition heavy, I did find it all interesting as it sets up the next few years of the MCU, if not beyond that as well.

The ending of the Loki Sylvie romance is as heart-breaking as I was expecting it to be, but luckily neither of them died so it can be continued in future. I thought both Hiddleston and Di Martino gave very strong performances here that really resonated. I hope we get to see far more of Di Martino going forward in the MCU.

Finally, I wanted to mention the end tease wherein Loki finds himself in another dimension one that has already been conquered by Kang and say that I am very excited for season two I think the show is heading in a very interesting direction.

Overall one of the best episodes of a Marvel Disney + show to date.

Pros.

Kang

The multiverse

The ending tease

Sylvie and Loki

Cons.

Mobius and Renslayer

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Tuca And Bertie: Vibe Check

2.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Bertie receives unwelcomed sexual fantasies and Tuca worries if she has been ghosted by her hopefully new girlfriend.

At this point I don’t think this show is a comedy anymore. It is never funny and is more often than not depressing. That is not to say it is bad, rather to adjust your expectations with the show.

For this week’s storylines I thought Bertie had by far the stronger arc. I think the further exploration of how Pastry Pete affected her is important character work, I think the storyline is handled maturely and actually makes some great points about sex and relationships widely.

Tuca however…… The show does not seem to know what to do with her this season, we have established that she is lonely and that she pushes people away, but the show does not want to seem to explore these issues deeper, rather it just gives her character throwaway storylines such as this. For most of the episode she worries she has been ghosted, and then she hasn’t been, that is the depth of the arc here.

It seems to me this show is far more interested in exploring Bertie and her character than Tuca and if that is true that’s fine, but then it shouldn’t really be called Tuca and Bertie it should just be called Bertie.

I may give this show up as I don’t find myself enjoying watching it and if anything it often bums me out.

Overall, Tuca is side-lined once again but Bertie has some interesting, nuanced character work.

Pros.

Bertie’s storyline

Exploring the aftereffects of abuse

Important conversations about trauma, sex and relationships

Cons.

They don’t know what to do with Tuca this season

It is depressing

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Rick and Morty: Rickdependence Day

3.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Morty uses a piece of surgical equipment for elicit means and creates a worldwide disaster, that leads to humans having to patch up their long standing feud with the subterranean CHUD people.

This was a fun episode of Rick and Morty,not too heavy and mostly just throw away fun. The premise of the episode is a little icky for my tastes, but I enjoyed how they built the reveal of the sperm monsters origins as a point of tension between the titular pair as Rick did not know what Morty had done.

Moreover, I thought Summer and Beth really stood out as characters here. Their comments on sexism and how women and their ideas are often overlooked and basically ignored were both insightful as well as humorously delivered.

I thought the episode had a few funny moments such as the joke at the expense of Marvel frontman Robert Downey Jr, but struggled to keep that comedy up throughout. For the most part a lot of the jokes in this episode just left me cold and were a little bit too gross out for my tastes.

I thought the CHUD people were an interesting addition to the episode, and it made for a great Rick moment at the end. However, I am starting to become perturbed by how this show keeps creating new characters and civilisations and then never references them again, it feels a little throwaway and I prefer it when the show builds up a character or group and makes them important to the wider narrative of the show.

Overall, a fun episode of Rick and Morty that struggles to be anything more.

Pros.

The Robert Downey Jr joke

Summer and Beth

The tension between Rick and Morty

The ending/ The CHUDs

Cons.

Some of the characters feel throwaway

Not all the jokes land

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Monsters At Work: Welcome To Monsters, Incorporated

2/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A new character who has always dreamed of being a scarer, has to come to terms with the change in direction at Monsters Inc and try and find his place.

So this show is exactly what I was expecting it to be- needless. There is no reason for this show to exist at all, did we really need to see how the business would run once they switched over to laugh power instead of fear? The answers we get are boring and easily guessable.

Furthermore, the new characters, whose names I cannot even remember are also entirely pointless. Clearly they are being written to fill the whole in the show that comes as a result of Mike, Billy Crystal, and Sully, John Goodman, taking a reduced role. Can they even hope to be worthy replacements? If this first episode is anything to go by no.

Finally, I am left to wonder who is this for? If it is for long time fans who loved the film when it came out and have then grown up with it why only have Mike and Sully in such small roles, if this is to attract new people then why not just create a fresh idea altogether. As it stands this show is for no one.

Overall, the only reason it got a 2 is because the animation is good, and the score is suitably jazzy.

Pros.

The animation

The score

Cons.

The new characters are bland and uninteresting

Why does this exist?

It answers questions no one asked

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The Bad Batch: Devil’s Deal

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

We leave the story of Hunter and Co, as we instead follow the series return of Hera Syndulla.

This is the first episode of The Bad Batch to barely feature the titular heroes themselves. Instead the gang play second fiddle to the origin story of a young Hera. We see her early experiences with the Empire that would be instrumental in forging her into the Resistance warrior we know and love.

Surprisingly, I thought the change of pace worked quite well for the series, showing that maybe we don’t need to follow the Bad Batch every week. This episode has a lot of stakes, perhaps the most of any episode of the series so far as we see a whole planet on the brink of war, with no doubt the Batch having to come in next week to save the day.

I would say that is the big issue with the episode, though it is nice to see Hera and her family return this whole episode just feels like set up for next weeks’. Furthermore, this idea then suggests that Hera and her family are basically being used as plot devices within the driving heroic narrative of the Bad Batch themselves. I would like to see the situation resolve itself with minimal involvement from our heroes.

Moreover, this episode brought back Crosshair which is always a good thing in my book. The series is at its best when he is around, and they should use him more rather than just ignoring him for vast numbers of episodes at a time.

Overall, an interesting episode but one that ends up feeling like filler.

Pros.

Crosshair

Hera’s Origin

Less involvement from The Bad Batch themselves

Cons.

It feels like filler

The Omega ‘friend’ sequence felt awkward and forced

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iCarly: i’M Cursed

3.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Carly has trouble celebrating her birthday as she believes she is cursed with yearly bad luck.

These last two episodes of iCarly have been the best of the series so far, they have been less interested in trying to lampoon online culture and have instead focused on our characters as people having fun together. It turns out when they are not trying to force an outdated meme reference into every episode, the series works a lot better.

Moreover, Miranda Cosgrove is finally starting to get back into the groove with the character managing to hit the sweet spot between being likeable and being self-involved. You actually root for the character here and want to see her have a nice birthday, this episode does a lot to make her sympathetic.

Though I enjoyed the main Carly storyline, I thought the Harper and Freddie side stories were on the weaker side and could have definitely done with being further developed because as they stand they seem incredibly throw away. Freddie reverts back to a partying student as he worries that he has wasted his twenties being too serious and mature and Harper can’t talk to someone she admires, both of these sub-plots feel simply written to give these characters something to do as the show clearly doesn’t know what to do with them.

Overall, a good, fun episode of iCarly with some story issues but nothing too bad.

Pros.

Carly’s curse

Miranda Cosgrove

Moving away from referencing/mocking memes

A few funny moments

Cons.

The side stories feel throw away

The episode is badly paced

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Loki: Journey Into Mystery

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Of the episodes so far this is definitely the most emotionally impactful episode of Loki. There were a number of moments here that both made you want to cheer whilst also bringing a tear to your eye, the two that particularly affected me were the hug between Owen Wilson’s Mobius and Tom Hiddleston’s Loki and the admittance of feelings between Loki and Sophia Di Martino’s Sylvie.

I enjoyed seeing all the other Loki variants that exist beyond the void and I thought there antics were fun enough for the short amount of time they were on screen. I would have liked to see them be more developed and have more to them then very surface level treatment they are given. I thought that Richard E Grant’s older future Loki was easily the best and had the most going for him in terms of character work: I would have liked to see more of him but sadly now that looks unlikely.

I thought the ending tease was interesting and sets up for one hell of a finale. All signs look pointing to the arrival of Kang The Conqueror, though I wouldn’t be surprised if the show pulls a fast one on us and subverts that. I do think this episode has very much of a waiting for the finale vibe to it, which is certainly a draw back at times.

Additionally I don’t like what they have done with Gugu Mbatha-Raw’s Ravonna Renslayer, as they have basically made her cartoonishly evil and stripped the character from any wider subtlety or nuance and just made a generic bad.

Overall, a good episode for the most part though the foundation is weak.

Pros.

Loki and Sylvie

Loki and Mobius

Richard E Grant’s Loki

Cons.

The other variants really don’t get much to do

The episode feels like it is just passing time till the finale

Renslayer

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The Bad Batch: Common Ground

2.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

The Bad Batch finally get to set out on their own for a mission without Omega that takes them right into the heart of Separatists space.

I have been excited about the prospect of the clones setting off on an adventure of their own, without Omega, for a while. Sadly, the chosen adventure for this outing is one of the tamest and most boring of the series so far.

I think the group works better on missions without Omega, and here it is nice to see them back in their element again. Although the idea of having the clones have to help out their former enemy may look good on paper as a character growth storyline the emotional pay off here just doesn’t land at all and it all feels very inconsequential.

Whilst away from the Batch Omega has a side story about how she isn’t useless, though she is and the only reason she often saves the day is because of blind luck rather than skill. Anyway, this storyline finishes with her paying off the groups debts and having a bonding moment with Hunter, which as I have said before and will say again does not work, they are trying to do a Grogu esque father/child bond and it is not taking at all.

Overall, this is very much a miss-able episode.

Pros.

Seeing the Batch do what they do best

The idea of the clones having to help the Separatists

Cons.

The episode is dull and boring

The emotional pay off doesn’t work

Omega is still dragging the show down

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