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!
Hilda – “The Fairy Isle” (S3E8, Netflix)
Read our full review of the series finale by Matt Garcia.
Masters of the Universe: Revolution – “The Dogs of War” (S2E4, Netflix)
After the defeat in the last episode, it is our heroes’ turn to try and fight for victory, but it is not easy because Skeleton still holds the scepter of Hav’ok, Hordak is still in power, and Prince Adam is powerless, without his sword, which is being modified, and detained in a cell in his own castle.
Ironically, the one who leads the Revolution against Hordak is Skeletor himself, who has recovered his memory thanks to a kind of schism in his mind, where he also perceives his essence as Keldor. Throughout the episode we see brief passages of the past, about how his master taught him in exchange for loyalty, and Skeletor perceives that said loyalty was not well reciprocated; after all, Hordak’s second-in-command was Motherboard.
At first I thought that Hordak was going to be an exceptional villain, a final-boss type of guy, but ultimately, it is Skeletor, who we don’t need to be reminded, is our main character’s archenemy; so, he manages to jointly use and mix magic and technology to defeat his mentor and master, who never cared to learn how to use magic to his advantage, having always depended on someone else to do his bidding.
In a brief moment Evelyn appears and manages to rip off Skeletor’s arm with his staff, and quickly flees before seeing him finally turn into his final form.
After managing to defeat their brainwashed friends, our heroes finally reunite but they have a final mission, which is going to be very hard to overcome, fortunately, Teela now has the three staffs, but we still don’t know if she can withstand that much magic.
This was a very exciting episode, that begins to close all the plotlines that have been developing since the very beginning of the series; there is only one more chapter left before seeing the full vision of Kevin Smith and company completely realized, and I can’t wait to see it. – Ramon Piña
Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur – “Kid Kree” (S2E5, Disney Channel)
Appropriately for the week of Valentine’s, Lunella was assigned to welcome awkward new kid Marvin Ellis (Xolo Maridueña), and despite a rough start, they became “soul-nerds.” However, when Lu discovers Marvin is actually Mel-Varr, the “Kid Kree” who has become a regular adversary for her and Devil on the streets of New York, she feels betrayed. Despite Casey cautioning her he might not have known she was Moon Girl (in fact, he believed she was too weak and goofy to be her), Lu accuses him of faking their friendship; heartbroken, Mel-Varr confesses he was only trying to capture her to please his father, Pad-Varr (Andy Garcia), who was disappointed that he had flunked out of the Kree Combat Academy.
Realizing her error, Lu and Devil find Mel-Varr before he returns to Hala, and emotionally apologizes for judging him. Mel turns on his father for trying to capture Lu and kill Devil, and after his defeat, Varr Senior admits that while he’s disappointed his son isn’t a warrior like him, he is very impressed by the tech he’s developed. Mel still returns home with his father, but not before giving Lu a communicator to stay in touch. All in all, this was another great episode that taught kids the importance of not making assumptions, while adding in a relatable story about a Latin-coded immigrant boy struggling to please his father while it was at it. It concluded as a sweet, sincere ode to puppy love – something that made the end credits animation of Pad flexing his pecs all the more hysterical.
Continued belowOther great stuff on this episode: the show finally using a “speak of the Devil” pun; the use of emojis to illustrate some of the things brought up, including the word extraterrestrial; the gag of Casey’s affinity for phones meaning she can unexpectedly unlock Mel’s communicator; Devil briefly reminding us how ferocious he can be fighting Pad-Varr; and the especially stylish (even for Moon Girl) animation of our heroes searching for Mel, which strongly brought to mind Saul Bass, the graphic designer who worked on so many of Alfred Hitchcock’s films. Maridueña and Garcia’s voices, as well as the return of Asia Dillon as LOS, also demonstrated how effective the guest casting on this show is, and how it really makes every character feel unique. Magnifico! – Christopher Chiu-Tabet
Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur – “Wish-Tar” (S2E6, Disney Channel)
This busier second episode of the week sees Lu get caught up in trend-chasing, as the school becomes obsessed with musician Bobby the Myth (Ephraim Sykes), and humiliates herself when she creates knock-offs of the shoes he sports. When Lu learns the Beyonder has taken up the role of Wish-Tar, an old mechanical genie her father has installed on the rink, she slowly but surely comes around to his newfound role of an actual genie, and asks him to help her and Casey keep up with all the fads. Eventually, Lu asks him to orchestrate events so Bobby performs at the rink, but Beyonder misinterprets her request to give him the “baddest” piano, causing it to corrupt Bobby into a supervillain.
Certainly a weaker installment, this episode manages to overcome the hoary old message of being yourself by having the high-tech shoes Lu created before getting caught up in peer pressure be how she defeats Bobby at the end, and by simply being really funny. Devil as a bouncer? James Lafayette making caviar nachos, and only just learning that they’re fish eggs? His Dinkleberg-esque rivalry with Jimmy Jones? Lu drowning her sorrows with nacho cheese? Her and Casey looking like literal clowns after trend-chasing? The running gag of the price of the shoes being censored? Great stuff. Lu loses her temper at Beyonder, leaving her wondering if she was too harsh and actually hurt his feelings, but the episode avoids ending on a bum note with her dad’s hysterical reaction to Wish-Tar being destroyed: he genuinely sounded so distraught it was hilarious. – Christopher Chiu-Tabet
Quantum Leap – “The Outsider” (S2E11, NBC)
One of the most unrealistic parts of Quantum Leap is how Ben is not driven absolutely insane by the constant jostling of his life, especially given the Hannah-situation that has emerged this season. How he is able to put her out of his mind seems totally unrelatable, but that’s the nature of a show with multiple plots dovetailing together. This week is far more about Addison and Tom’s failed relationship which, as longtime readers of my Quantum Leap recaps will note, is a terrible, terrible decision. Addison and Tom had so much more chemistry than Addison and Ben have, and the starcrossed lovers aspect of Hannah and Ben’s romance gives the show a heart that had been lacking in its first season.
The HQ stuff took a turn for the dramatic this week as well, with Tom being forced to give Magic an ultimatum that someone’s head needed to roll for lying to the government. The obvious choice is Ian, though they are needed to bring Ben home, or Jenn, whose job, honestly, seems the least important, but is irreplaceable because…show reasons. But Magic does what any good boss would do, and takes the fall for his team, and resigns effective immediately. Because this is television, this likely will not stick, but the answer seemed obvious from the start. Magic was in the military; he knows how chains of command and chains of responsibility go.
Overall, the season feels, since its return from hiatus, that it’s somewhat spinning its wheels. With only two episodes left, there’s a lot to put a pin in because it looks, sadly, like this will be the final season of the reboot. I don’t see how everything can satisfactorily wrap up, even just for this season, in just 80 or so minutes. – Brian Salvatore
Continued below
Resident Alien – “Lone Wolf” (S3E1, Syfy)
Read our full review of the season premiere by Christopher Chiu-Tabet.
