Welcome back to Boomb Tube! Here, we will be catching you up on the week in comics TV, both through micro-reviews, as well as links to our full-length TV reviews. We also tend to review series that are dropped all at once weekly so there are a few ‘older’ shows mixed in for good measure. Are we missing your favorite show? Let us know in the comments!
Dragon Age: Absolution – “A Woman Unseen” (S1E1, Netflix)
Read our full review of the season 1 premiere by Laura Merrill.
Quantum Leap – “Paging Dr Song” (S1E10, NBC)
Before we get into this episode, a public service announcement: the episode begins with a “Seattle, 1994” designation on the screen, accompanied by “In the Meantime” by Spacehog playing in the background. This was supposed to be shorthand for ‘GRUNGE!,’ except that Spacehog wasn’t a band in 1994, isn’t grunge, and isn’t from Seattle. Music supervisors, be less lazy! There was nothing about this episode that was 1994 or Seattle dependent, so if the goal was just to use Spacehog, then set the episode in 1997. Signed, a grump.
Anyway, this episode does a nice job of showing Ben and the audience the rush of working in an Emergency Room, and lays out one of the more complex plans that Ben has had to execute so far. There’s not a ton of ‘plot’ in the main thrust of the episode, partly because with having to save three lives and also stop the hospital’s use of an experimental drug, plus help his new friend reconcile with her dad, there’s really no time for Ben to ponder the greater meaning of leaps.
Where all the plot happens is back at Project Quantum Leap. With Janice Calavicci in ‘custody’ there, there are a bunch of scenes where different people – Magic, Addison, Jenn – speak with her and attempt to get her to show her cards a bit. At the end of the episode, there are two things that Janice reveals that will be very important: Ben needs to stop talking about things he remembers, or the other leapers may hear him, and that he can trust no one, even Addison.
Now all of this is a little boilerplate, but it is delivered in a way that works. As the information is doled out, it feels important and relevant, even if writing it up a few days later, it suddenly sounds a little silly. But the show is making the most of the split storytelling, and Janice coming on board has shaken things up nicely. – Brian Salvatore
Star Wars: The Bad Batch – “The Solitary Clone” (S2, E3, Disney+)
So much of The Bad Batch‘s first season was spent on the conflict between Crosshair, a soldier with a decidedly Imperial bent, and the rest of Clone Force 99. By removing Crosshair from the crew always meant that some of the drama baked into the Batch was going to go away. While the first two episodes didn’t feel particularly sunny or free of disagreement, seeing Crosshair here is a reminder of what used to be.
More than that, this episode feels like a true sequel to The Clone Wars due to the presence of Commander Cody and the third episode of three to deal with the question of Separatists. Cody was inarguably the second most featured Clone from that series, as he was the wingman to Obi-Wan the way Rex was to Anakin. And, like his former general in command, Cody takes a humanitarian approach to the situation he finds himself in. He may have fallen prey to Order 66 like the rest of the Clones, but we see Cody has ruddier stock than many of them. Cody, perhaps due to his proximity to Obi-Wan, looks at things differently and isn’t content following orders just because.
This episode is one of the darkest of this series thus far, and paints a picture of the Empire as a cold, evil, and ruthless place to be. And yet, Crosshair has chosen this, and not just chosen it because that’s what he was bred for. As he is asked early in the episode, why did he return? He could have fled and done anything, but he came back. Why?
Continued belowThe question of Cody’s survival has been one that’s been posed by fans for years now, and pairing him with Crosshair provides a truly stark contrast in how they see themselves. For Cody, he can no longer call himself a soldier; for Crosshair, he can’t be anything but. – Brian Salvatore
Wednesday – “You Reap What You Woe” (S1E5, Netflix)
It’s parents’ weekend at Nevermore Academy, so what other reason would it be to have an episode that gives us a break from the mystery we’re trying to figure out and give us an old-school one that we didn’t even know we wanted to know? So we’re already aware that Wednesday is a legacy at Nevermore due to both of her parents going there, but we didn’t fully realize that Gomez had been the prime suspect in a murder that occurred on campus. As it turns out, the son of the wealthiest family in Jericho, Gideon Gates, falls for Morticia back in the day but can’t take no for an answer and tries to confront her and Gomez to gain back some “honor.” Now the flashbacks make it seem like Gomez accidentally stabbed Gideon, and then he fell to his death. It also doesn’t help that Gomez isn’t willing to say anything else, but it certainly makes it seem like something else exists.
Wednesday finds Morticia at Gideon’s grave, and that’s when it’s revealed that while Gomez was trying to avoid confrontation, despite being in the middle of a sword match, Morticia stabbed Gideon. However, the final twist of it all is Wednesday’s vision of Gideon receiving a vial of Nightshade poison to not only take out Morticia and Gomez but all of the kids at Nevermore Academy. Yet when he got there and got into a shoving match with Gomez, the vial smashed in his chest pocket, and he became a ticking time bomb until he died. Wednesday and Morticia convince the sheriff to turn in a drug test on the bones, and it’s the missing piece to get Gomez released from jail. The overall information dump from this episode is that the current mayor was the sheriff back in the day and helped with the coverup for Gideon’s death. Hence, he’s more about keeping up public appearances than solving crimes. Thus, giving the audience even more reason to keep guessing what will happen next in Jericho and Nevermore Academy. – Alexander Manzo
The Witcher: Blood Origin – “Of Ballads, Brawlers, and Bloodied Blades” (S1E1, Netflix)
ICYMI, read our full review of the season 1 premiere by Laura Merrill.
