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!
Echo – “Maya” (E5, Disney+)
Read our full review by Christopher Chiu-Tabet.
Hilda – “The Fairy Isle” (S3E8, Netflix)
Tune in tomorrow to read our review of the series finale by Matt Garcia.
Masters of the Universe: Revolution – “More Things in Heaven and Eternia” (S1E3, Netflix)
Our heroes are having a reaaaaly bad time in this episode, first we are formally introduced to Hordak and his way of dealing with problems, having other do the dirty work. He speaks with the Motherboard and Skeletek, and when the skull embarrasses her, she reacts violently and threatens to cut his head off.
On the subplots, snake-Teela learns to fight with her newfound powers while training with Lyn. Meanwhile, Orko and Duncan visit Gwildor a kind of dwarve that is an engineer, in order to expand the newfound healing capabilities of the sword, the dwarf, a man of science, immediately starts clashing with the magical Orko.
Later, Kaldor (Skeletek disguised) begins his attack to destroy the kingdom, he sends a swordless He-Man to figt directly in Snake Mountain, and he convinces the Man-At-Arms Andra to retro-fit the techno-virus that they used to attack them last time… that means that the kingdom is unprotected when Hordak arrives, and every citizen is turned into part of the horde immediately.
So, things are worse than ever, Skeletor dominates the kingdom, Hordak is here, and the entire team is dispersed throughout Eternia, we’ve never had stakes this high ever and this time they might lose. And what’s worse, we only have two episodes left! How are they going to wrap everything on time? –Ramon Piña
Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur – “Belly of the Beast” (S2E3, Disney Channel)
It’s time for a Fantastic Voyage homage this week, as an argument between Lunella and Casey over their new base of operations leads to Devil accidentally swallowing a grenade capable of turning anything it touches into goo, forcing the girls to shrink themselves and enter his stomach before anything sets it off. This was easily one of the weakest episodes thus far, as Lu and Casey’s bickering was pretty tedious, and the song at the center, “Count on Friends,” was one of the show’s more cloying. Still, there was a poignant pay off with us learning Casey was behaving controllingly because of how powerless she felt when Lu disappeared, and an important message in Lu similarly learning (to borrow from Multiverse of Madness) to not be the one holding the knife all the time.
Poor Devil really went through it in this, having to stay perfectly still despite getting set on by a mosquito, Mimi telling him a broken down ice cream truck was handing out free treats, a leaking sewer pipe, and more mosquitoes, all before Lu and Casey emerged with the grenade from his… you know what, I’m not even going to say it, the episode smartly allowed you to put two and two together, and I’ll do that as well. (I yelled, “The nose, the nose Casey!”) Someone give that boy all the frozen treats, stat! – Christopher Chiu-Tabet
Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur – “Ride or Die” (S2E4, Disney Channel)
After capturing QuickWhip/Zakiya (Robin Thede), a thief who’s outwitted her for some time, Lunella is forced to take her to SHIELD uptown via the subway, as Casey and Devil need to go home to record the finale of a soap opera. The train is set upon by QuickWhip’s vengeful ex-boss Lady Bullseye (Miki Yamashita) and her Diabolical Darts, forcing her and Lu to team up to stop her from endangering everyone on board. This was an excellent episode about Lu challenging her assumptions about criminals, as we learn the rent was literally too dang high for Zakiya to pursue her dream of baking, and her coming to understand the system can encourage reoffending. She ultimately learns to borrow a leaf from QuickWhip’s deceptive nature, allowing her to defeat Lady Bullseye before she and Devil reunite to stop the train from crashing.
Continued belowThere were some fantastic flourishes, from the narrower aspect ratio that better reflected the setting in some shots, to the use of an emoji to avoid showing QuickWhip vomit in one scene; I also loved the way Lady Bullseye’s ultimatum essentially gave Lu a real-life trolley problem. I wasn’t sure about Casey and Devil’s subplot about trying to avoid tipping off Lu that they were watching the show before her, although it was a nice little nod to the problem of social media and peer pressure, and (much as I love Craig Robinson) Principal Nelson’s busking debut felt like they couldn’t come up with a better reason for the obligatory climactic song. But all in all, it was great: I haven’t even mentioned how nice it was to hear Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill again after her thankless demise in Secret Invasion, or how cool it was having Carol Kane as Zakiya’s new boss, Bubbe Bina! – Christopher Chiu-Tabet
Quantum Leap – “The Family Treasure” (S2E10, NBC)
Both iterations of Quantum Leap have put a premium on bringing modern context to historical situations. The key difference between the two is that in the TV landscape of the early 1990s, there was more of a stomach for showing bad people doing bad things. Modern network television, for reasons both good and bad, has fallen into the trap of not wanting to show people use hate speech or being bigoted. Now obviously, those are terrible things, but they are terrible things that, when used properly in a story, can deliver a point. In this episode, Ben meets Dean, a person from the 1950s not fitting into the male/female binary. This is obviously something that has happened throughout the years, and it is a story well worth telling.
However, the ease at which the conservative sister accepts this seems absolutely out of the blue. Her entire portrayal up to this moment was one of dismissal and bitterness. And while the story is lovely with a family reunion, this series is leaning too hard on everyone being an understanding person who is willing to change at the drop of a hat. That’s not how life always works, and it undercuts the importance of the message when it is so easily received. I’m not saying that these stories can’t have happy endings, but it undermines the struggles of the people who fought for acceptance and justice to make every struggle so easily won. It also can serve as a history lesson or a reminder that we, as a society, haven’t always been so understanding. Tell the stories of the people who fought and clawed for acceptance if you’re going to tell a non-binary story.
Anyway, besides for the actual leap, which was dime-store Indiana Jones stuff, there were the dueling real world stories of Addison’s impending marriage and the discovery of Project Quantum Leap by the ‘hacker genius’ we’ve heard about all season. Both of these kick the can down the road in unsurprising and, frankly, disappointing ways. Making Addison still not ready to let go of Ben is the worst decision for the series, because it – here’s that term again – undermines all the work done both with her relationship and Ben’s with Hannah.
Quantum Leap has already exceeded expectations for the series, but when it starts to make real progress towards changing key elements, it tends to keep reverting back to the formula. Let’s hope that changes soon. – Brian Salvatore
