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!
The Flash – “The Good, The Bad and the Lucky” (S9E06, The CW)
Okay, here’s the thing, this show has a very special way of winning me back, every time there is an episode that I consider bad, the next one is a good one that I really enjoy.
This time we have a standalone story without Barry or Iris, who went on vacation; here we meet Becky Sharpe again, a meta that has the power to attract good luck. Ever since the last time we saw her, she has learned to control her powers so as to not affect other people, But this time she is the one who is having bad luck, to the point that she finds her fiancée lying on the floor in a pool of blood, and what’s worse, the police arrive just in time to arrest her, at least she has some good luck, as Captain Kramer has a gut feeling, and she asks Cecile for help.
Cecile embarks on a mission to prove Becky’s innocence, but time is against her, because at the end of the day she must take a train to go to her and Joe’s new house outside of town to celebrate their daughter Jenna’s birthday.
Meanwhile, Chester helps Mark discover Khione’s powers, after several unsuccessful attempts to find out if she had ice powers, Blaine shows his frustration… one could say he didn’t act Chill, get it? And it is Khione herself who helps him calm down and understand his own feelings. After the kiss that practically revived him, he remains eager to somehow reconnect with the deceased Frost, but he slowly begins to understand that the Snow sisters are different from each other, and Khione remains a mystery they will eventually have to uncover.
Cecile is feeling like a bad mother for not being with her daughter, and also like a bad lawyer for not helping her defendant, this time it is Allegra who helps her elevate her morale, and together they discover that it is Becky’s brother-in-law who has been manipulating the situation against her from the shadows because he is drowning in gambling debts. The guy used a crystal that reflects the powers of any Meta, and that is precisely the rock that she has in her engagement ring. In the end they save the day without the need for the Flash to intervene.
This was a very fun and light story before the next story arc, and it is exactly the kind of episodes that make me still enjoy this show. By the way, next week we won’t have an episode, so see you in two weeks! – Ramon Piña
The Mandalorian – “The Convert” (S3E3, Disney+)
Read our full review by Brian Salvatore.
Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur – “The Beyonder” (S1E6, Disney Channel)
Laurence Fishburne’s sassy narrator makes his presence known to Lunella, Devil and Casey, revealing via song-and-dance that he was sent by his kind to learn about humanity, and that he wants Lunella’s help. She doesn’t have time for him though, as she needs to win a contest to visit the Wakandan Outreach Center, and unfortunately, she’s been paired with the annoying Eduardo (Michael Cimino). That’s when the Beyonder adds that (before Lunella so rudely cut him off) he was going to say his job is to determine whether humanity is worth preserving, and as far as he’s concerned, something is only as good as its weakest link – namely, Eduardo.
Panicking, Lunella tries to brush off Eduardo and complete their project herself, only for a disappointed Beyonder to turn it into pickles. Lunella realizes she was wrong, and works together with Eduardo to build a musical device improvised from trash and other spare parts. The judges aren’t impressed, and the Beyonder erases humanity, until he basically says “psych,” and admits Lunella successfully demonstrated there is an inherent worth to everything and everyone – he just wanted to perform another number about getting rid of all the other “hew-mans” first.
Continued belowIt should go without saying the show’s take on the Beyonder is extraordinarily entertaining, a satanic drag king voiced with camp aplomb by Fishburne, who makes lines like, “Hey what’s poppin’” instantly hilarious. (With all due respect, I didn’t know his voice could go that high.) He and the animators attack the role with absolute relish, completely blowing apart any semblance of groundedness: it was nearly impossible to pick a single screenshot for this episode as a result. It was also genuinely eerie to see him casually threaten and then apparently destroy humanity, proving from the get go he’s not some Impossible Man 2.0, but a true match for Lunella — the Q to her Picard, as it were — whom she’s truly going to have to stay on her toes around.
And if that wasn’t enough, we got to see Devil get turned into a baby, and a genderbent take on Stilt-Man called Stiletto (Kari Wahlgren) – how cool is that? – Christopher Chiu-Tabet
Quantum Leap – “Ben Song for the Defense” (S1E14, NBC)
While Ben’s patchy memory has mostly faded from the show’s conversations, “Ben Song for the Defense” brought it back in a big way, adding a layer to what was a compelling, but a little boilerplate episode of Quantum Leap. In fact, allowing Jenn into the imaging chamber, which in turn jogged Ben’s memory and led him to remember Magic, was the best decision the show has made lately. While Addison remains a little bland, Jenn was quick to bend every rule to get Ben to succeed. It was a nice approach and a bit of a refutation to the idea that Addison always needs to be the one in the chamber.
One of Jenn’s tricks was to basically pull a Biff Tannen and use future knowledge to gamble on sports, and she referenced Back to the Future in the process. What’s funny about this is that I don’t believe the original Quantum Leap, which came out in the midst of BTTF-mania, ever referenced the film, but we’ve had at least two references on the reboot, almost 40 years later.
What also worked about this episode, aside from the righteous center of it, is the reminder that while Ben is the one who is lost in time, his friends are hurting as well. This episode shifted the perspective a little bit, and reminded us that Ben is as missed as he is missing. It added some emotional stakes to the series, which can sometimes appear a little too detached.
An inherent problem in Quantum Leap is that Ben is almost always successful in his leaps, and while I understand why that has to be the way it is, I wish the show had bitten on the idea of his client taking a plea deal that would, eventually, work out for everyone. I get the allure of a happy ending, but Ben seems like Superman if he can pull every one of these off perfectly. Give him a little more adversity; it’ll make the wins feel even bigger. –Brian Salvatore
Star Trek: Picard – “Imposters” (S3E5, Paramount+)
Michelle Forbes makes a welcome return as Commander Ro Laren this week, where it’s revealed the Bajoran officer, who betrayed the Federation to join the Maquis, returned to them at some point after The Next Generation, with her experience with terrorists allowing her a second chance with Starfleet Intelligence. Now the security officer of the USS Intrepid, she’s sent to the Titan to ascertain whether Picard and Riker are themselves guilty of treason. After Picard provokes her into an emotional heart-to-heart about her betrayal, they’re both persuaded neither is a Changeling, and that’s when Laren reveals the infiltration is much worse than he thinks.
Despite her orders to detain Jack Crusher, Laren decides to return to the Intrepid without him, while giving Picard her Bajoran earring. Her two subordinates betray and trap her aboard her shuttle with a ticking bomb, and Laren decides to fly it into one of her ship’s nacelles to buy the Titan a chance to escape, bidding Picard and Riker goodbye via the viewscreen while she does. Four of the Intrepid’s security team beams aboard the Titan, but Jack, whose visions of the red door and branches have become only more disturbing, enters a fugue state, and effortlessly dispatches the infiltrators. Beverly later asks how he knew they were all Changelings; alarmingly, he replies he didn’t.
Continued belowBack on M’talas Prime, Worf and Raffi are captured by a Vulcan crime lord, Krinn (Kirk Acevedo), who helped the Changelings pull the Daystrom heist. Krinn forces them to fight to the death, and Worf feigns his demise — albeit at the cost of a lot of blood — to turn the tables on him, forcing the gangster to give up the anti-AI tech he supplied the Changelings with. Later, Worf is surprised on making contact with his handler, Laren, seeing Picard and Riker instead after the pair discover her findings inside her earring. Despite the sadness of Laren’s sacrifice, it was good to see them reunite, and to know that her death will not be in vain. – Christopher Chiu-Tabet
Star Wars: The Bad Batch – “Pabu” (S2E13, Disney+)
While both shows have Dave Filoni listed as executive producer, there really isn’t much about The Mandalorian and The Bad Batch that feels like they are in conversation with each other. However, “Pabu” felt like a Mando episode in parts because it introduces a better life for its characters, if they simply stopped running. While we know that tranquility is going to be short-lived, it was fascinating to see the remaining Clone Force 99 members not immediately dismiss the idea of stability.
Part of this is due to the Cid-situation, which has grown more contentious and frustrating for everyone involved, and part of it is due to the re-emergence of Phee Genoa. Her trustworthiness seems to still be up in the air, but her actions have consistently been in the best interests of the clones, and especially Omega. But her connection to Cid seems like a bit of a red flag, especially since she keeps positioning herself as the better alternative. That’s not always a sign of an actually good option.
But the biggest takeaway from this episode isn’t the possibility of a life after these actions, or even the Cid situation; it is the idea that, even on a planet that is uncorrupted by the Empire, life is still incredibly hard. So many times, the Empire is treated as the boogieman that, if eliminated will take all trauma with it. But, again, like “Chapter 19: The Convert,” “Pabu” shows that even without the Empire there is still terror, heartache, and natural disasters. While the Empire is terrible, it isn’t the only trouble out there. – Brian Salvatore
Superman & Lois – “Closer” (S3E1, The CW)
Read our full review of the season premiere by Michael Mazzacane.
