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!
Avatar: The Last Airbender – “The North” (S1E7, Netflix)
Read our full review by Ramon Piña.
Invincible – “I’m Not Going Anywhere” (S2E7, Amazon Prime)
In cast you missed it, read our full review by James Dowling.
Invincible – “I Thought You Were Stronger” (S2E8, Amazon Prime)
Read our full review of the season 2 finale by James Dowling.
Resident Alien – “Homecoming” (S3E8, Syfy)
Read our full review of the season 3 finale by Christopher Chiu-Tabet.
Star Trek: Discovery – “Red Directive” (S5E1, Paramount+)
Read our full review of the season 5 premiere by Christopher Egan.
Star Trek: Discovery – “Under the Twin Moons” (S5E2, Paramount+)
The race to retrieve the stolen Romulan tech is still on as the scavengers Moll and L’ak, continue to elude Michael and her crew. Having the over-arching plot of this season tie back to Star Trek: The Next Generation not only continues Discovery‘s history of these plots that are both massive in scale and in idea, but allows it to potentially tie a bow on long-standing Trek lore.
Possibly giving a close to this storyline that’s been in a holding pattern for 30ish years is exciting. And having Star Trek tackle the idea of ‘Where do we come from?’ is an exciting notion and feels like something that would be a more common plot for this franchise. It fits perfectly within the confines of this show and while I’m not always the biggest fan of this story prompt, they can do great things with it here and I truly hope they do. This episode also does a lot of politicking – called out as such by Captain Rayner. These sort of discussions and seeing the cracks and flaws in both the Federation and Starfleet is nothing new, but new era Trek really relishes the chance to show a bunch of people in a room talking in circles, and that is prevalent here too.
That said, this episode also maintains its zippy action and plucky dialogue, keeping things light amidst the major and mildly dark plot at the center of all this. I am pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed these two episodes and it bodes well for the rest of the season. I was never not rooting for this show, and always applauded the chances it took, but not always the choices it made. I could see season 5 potentially being the best one as I’m enjoying it, so far, the most since the first season. – Christopher Egan
Star Wars: The Bad Batch – “Identity Crisis” (S3E10, Disney+)
There is no way to remind viewers just how evil the Empire is by showing how they treat children. This entire episode is essentially a reminder that, no matter how cool the “Imperial March” is or how much you can get behind the idea of ‘law and order,’ the Empire are monsters. A lot of this episode is designed to break your heart, whether it is feeling for the kids who are in captivity, or showing how bounty hunters like Cad Bane are being used by the Empire to add to their managerie.
But the most important thing that “Identity Crisis” did was to explain just why Omega is so important. She’s not Force Sensitive, her M-count isn’t impressive, but for some reason, her blood acts as a ‘binder’ to help replicate M-count. In some ways, that makes Omega even more important to the Empire than if she was Force sensitive, as her blood can do something they can’t get elsewhere.
This episode also reminds us that both Nala Se ad Dr. Karr have an almost parental relationship with Omega and the other children. Does this somewhat undercut the message of Imperial evil? Not really. This actually helps that point: evil can happen when the people perpetrating it don’t think of themselves as evil. Evil doesn’t need a full buy in, it just needs you to not fight it. – Brian Salvatore
Continued below
Star Wars: The Bad Batch – “Point of No Return” (S3E11, Disney+)
Much like the second season, The Bad Batch has really ramped up as the end is nigh. This episode doesn’t have the long-term build-up or existential consequences of “Identity Crisis,” but it does the only thing that really matters: it reminds us that all of this is fleeting. Sure, our heroes have been on the run for some time and have found a place that seems safe for now, but we see just how quickly it can all fall apart. And, when the shit hits the fan, desperate measures are needed.
This episode, though not as stereotypically heart-string yanking, does manage to remind the viewers just how much has changed. Tech’s goggles are entombed, letting Omega, but us as well, truly mourn his loss. We see Crosshair finally admit to himself how much he cares for Omega, only to let her slip away. Hunter and Wrecker, who have been single-minded in their protection of Omega, cannot help her. The only thing she can do is to let herself be captured. This will save lives, as well as let her friends follow her to Tantiss. It’s a good plan, but Crosshair, still shaky, misses the homing beacon he tried to shoot onto her ship.
This is a story that is wrapping up for good in a month. And while I wish that the series took a better path to get here, especially this season, it now feels like a story worthy of the Star Wars name. – Brian Salvatore
The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live – “The Last Time” (S1E6, AMC)
Read our full review by Alexander Manzo.
X-Men ‘97 – “Motendo/Lifedeath – Part 1” (S1E4, Disney+)
As suggested by the title, this episode consists of two parts, with the primary one revolving around Jubilee turning 18, but having no one to celebrate it with. That’s when she and Sunspot discover a Motendo console in her bedroom, which turns out to be a trap by Mojo that sucks them into a virtual world to garner new ratings. (The mansion’s security is truly terrible.) She fights alongside Roberto through a trip down memory lane, aided by the mysterious Abscissa (voiced by original Jubilee voice actress Alyson Court), who turns out to be an aged virtual recreation of Jubilee Mojo used to test the simulation. Together, they incinerate Mojo’s own avatar, letting Jubilee and Sunspot return home, where the two share a kiss.
I admit to slightly zoning out during this part (I may have grown up in the ‘90s, but I have very little nostalgia for the era’s games), but it was still a cute spotlight for Jubilee, and I’m intrigued as to how her relationship with Sunspot will pan out. His admission that he expressed bigotry towards mutants out of fear his mother’s attitude towards them wasn’t as progressive as it seemed was especially interesting: was she really internally “spooked” by mutants, or was he just projecting his own self-hatred? We’ll see I guess. I also enjoyed the unspoken subplot with Spiral, who was clearly finding her master Mojo increasingly burdensome, and the way his weight was portrayed as a sign of health.
The secondary part continued Storm and Forge’s story, which quickly went from romantic to horrifying, as Ororo discovered he created the prototype for the mutant inhibitor collar that was reverse-engineered to steal her powers. (Darn unaffordable healthcare!) It’s then she discovers she can’t escape his home, as the Adversary has come for her. It was a curious decision to pair the two stories like this, especially as we apparently won’t get a follow-up to this part until the sixth episode, “Lifedeath – Part 2,” although I imagine it was done to ward off potential criticisms of the main segment being supposedly filler, focusing on a less popular character, blah blah blah – well, OK then. – Christopher Chiu-Tabet
