Welcome to our newly revamped 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!
Big Nate – “Belles-a-Ringin'” (S1E6, Paramount+)
One of the best parts of Big Nate is how it uses pop culture. In this episode, all about romance novels, we get a Brian McKnight JAM (the classic “Back at One”), a number of sly references to romance novelists, and some lighthearted jabs at the publishing industry. Now, all of these things seem destined to be for the parents, like me, watching this with their kids. Now, that’s an age-old trick, but Big Nate does it in such a way where there’s never a stop and a wink that disrupts the story for the younger viewers. It is seamlessly integrated into the show, never disrupting the action like a children’s version of Family Guy, pulling away from the story for a gag.
Nate decides to use Ellen’s romantic misadventures and make a romance graphic novel out of them, under the pen name Wayne Canine, Attorney at Law. The problem is that they get popular enough to both spawn sequels and a signing. Nate needs his friends to help him pump out more novels, and they steal stories from the locals, all of whom are not so happy to have their romantic lives put on paper. This also leads to Nate’s dad posing at Wayne Canine for a signing, and the continued pathetic life of Martin Wright gets ratcheted up to 11.
There’s also a very funny subplot of Chad getting locked in the girl’s bathroom and going full Lord of the Flies, issuing judgments against toilet paper and imagining a mop as a plate of spaghetti and meatballs.
When asked what they would write for their own romance novels, Ben said his would be about someone named Gdaddy, which is a reference to something in the episode, and is a typical Ben at 6 answer. Amelia said hers would be about two sailors who fall in love on the sea. I think she may have a career as the next Wayne Canine. – The Salvatores
The Flash – “Resurrection” (S8E11, The CW)
People say you never stop grieving, and in Caitlin’s case, when there’s a chance to get Ronnie back, she’s gonna take it, even if there’s the risk that she’s being deceived.
As we saw last episode, the Black Flame appeared to Caitlin and presented himself as a memory of Ronnie, and she speculates that when he died, his matter didn’t die, it only transformed itself and he has been stuck for 7 years.
Then, Cecile felt the angst of the flame, and talked to Barry, maybe Ronnie doesn’t want to be brought back, maybe he wants to die. This is the big conflict of the episode, while Caitlin is getting ready to resurrect her husband (she even broke up with Marcus), Barry and the rest of the team bet on helping Ronnie die.
There’s one scene between Caitlin and Frost with the camera moving, and I’m really impressed with both Danielle Panabaker doing double duty (and clearly enjoying it) and the technical level of the scene with a moving camera and both characters on screen, it’s awesome to see the whole team doing new things and bringing new ideas to an 8-year-old show.
Well, at the end, Caitlin imposed her plan and brought Ronnie back, the team apologized to her… only to discover that Ronnie was dead and an evil entity took his place: Deathstorm! Finally we met the villain of this story arc. – Ramon Piña
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe – “Meanwhile” (S2E5, NETFLIX)
“Meanwhile” is an apt title for episode 5, in what feels much like a filler episode. This season seems to be focusing more on developing characters without pushing the plot heavily. Beast Man and Trap Jaw spend a scene tap dancing with each other in a pointless display of machismo that develops neither character nor plot. While there are some cute moments, like Duncan having a singalong birthday event with Skelator while they are trapped in limbo together, there isn’t enough meat on the bones to provide much sustenance.
Continued belowThis version of He-Man has a lot more WWE influences than I initially realized. Most characters are shaped like a top heavy bruiser with biceps like tree trunks. And as Skelator slaps Duncan into a giant statue with comical ease, I can’t help but enjoy the cartoonish violence. In this world the good guys and bad guys can smack each other around endlessly and the stakes don’t seem permanent. As the season goes on we are seeing each episode with matchups between good and bad both individually and together in small teams. I am interested in seeing how the new character developments and dynamics between squads affect the inevitable mass showdown at the end.
King Randor continues his own hero’s journey to assert his individuality. He walks in like a brainwashed buffoon, dancing like a zombie. See, everyone is under Skelator’s mind control, including the poor king. Or so we think, with Skelator trapped in another dimension, he attempts to get back control over his army. This is him learning to define what being a King means, as he uses a technicality to trick his brainwashed guards to almost lead a coup. – Henry Finn
Moon Knight – “The Friendly Type” (S1E3, Disney+)
“The Friendly Type” feels like the first episode of Moon Knight where we’ve seen a real cohesive version of the character, he’s (begrudgingly) slipping between Marc, Steven, Mr Knight and Moon Knight at the drop of a hat, and it improves the pace a lot. This really came to the forefront when we saw the first clean transition between alters, we’ve been treated to very jagged jumps up until now so it felt like a great, well-paced moment. I did think the running sense of humor between the two was a letdown though. Marc’s jokes aren’t bad, but it’s just the same material as Steven, only delivered with confidence. It sort of leaves it falling flatter because it ends up in the same schlock style that we see all over. You could give the same jokes to Aquaman or Doctor Strange or Hawkeye and it would work the same, it just feels like a rote devil-may-care archetype at this point.
Seeing as “The Friendly Type” is much more in the general swing of things, there’s less building than the previous two episodes, that said it still seems to be setting up some plots that could even be longer term than this debut miniseries. For one there’s the mysterious and violent third persona that both Steven and Marc are unable to observe. So there’s a strong chance here we could see Jake Lockley popping up as the third alter ego, which has me excited for what kind of costume they might pick for him. A lot of people have floated the Ultimate Moon Knight suit, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they actually went for the more ragged Randall Spector Shadow Knight costume. This also feels like it’s setting up Marc’s alters as closer analogues to him, rather than in the comics where Jake and Steven are wildly different personalities all together. Between Steven’s egyptology and the third persona’s ultra-violence, they’re all embodying aspects of Marc, but taken to their furthest extremity.
The other big addition with this episode was the introduction of the Avatars of the full Egyptian pantheon, and they’re just sort of a bunch of regular people. Obviously that is kind of the point but it made the scene a lot less engaging than it could have been. Still, it allowed Oscar Isaac to show off his Khonshu-style shouty melodrama which was fun. I don’t like to nitpick logic usually, but it did feel a bit cheap that the Avatars can summon these magic portals but never keep tabs on each other. Like Harrow really isn’t that secretive about his Ammit obsession, yet everyone else had less than no idea about it.
Now that this series is FIRMLY into archaeology/adventure Uncharted territory, it’s found a style that’s really charming. There’s even the moment where Marc just socks a guy in the face while he’s showing off and licking his knife, which felt ripped straight out of the first Indiana Jones. It really felt like Nicholas Winding Refn was haunting the editing room because this episode was DRENCHED in neon. Helping out that sort of neo-noir North African adventure vibe was the music here. They’ve really been holding out on us up until now because the soundtrack all throughout this was consistently engaging. Still it does feel like they’ve always had a specific intention with the music through this show, so if it swings in some eps and misses in others, I can live with that.
Continued belowAgain, the supporting cast is a mixed bag. Layla gets railroaded into the hysterical woman role all through “The Friendly Type,” and Arthur Harrow is holding on by a thread in terms of being engaging. Ethan Hawke has really had to squeeze every bit of scenery out of his scenes to avoid falling into the schlock Marvel villain category. The Moon Knight fight here was also the first where he’s going up against regular people, which definitely highlighted how plastic-y that suit can look. Even though Pin cushion Moon Knight taking off the cowl was a great image, it just highlighted that floating head effect that takes me right out of so many superhero shows.
Today’s episode was also likely the final performance of Gaspard Ulliel, and as unfortunately brief as it is, he carries all that same casual confidence and poise he’s had through his career. Hopefully this episode acts as a nice entry point for international audiences into the remarkable career he’s left
behind. – James Dowling
Riverdale – “Chapter 104: The Serpent Queen’s Gambit” (S6E9, The CW)
Read our full review by Elias Rosner.
Star Trek: Picard – “Monsters” (S2E7, Paramount+)
Jean-Luc is trapped in an imaginary recreation of his ready room, being evaluated by a Starfleet psychologist (Clive Church), who turns out to be a representation of his father Maurice. It’s heavily implied Maurice was abusive towards his wife Yvette, and that his son’s sagely personality, as well as his loneliness, were reactions to this, but it’s instead revealed Yvette had an untreated mental illness that led to their relationship becoming fraught – it’s certainly a curious twist, given the apparent similarities between Patrick Stewart’s own traumatic childhood, and what was being indicated about the Picards.
This is a fairly short episode, heavy on introspection and light on story progress: however, after gaining this insight into Picard’s personal history, Tallinn discloses that she is a Romulan, causing Jean-Luc to speculate she is Laris’s ancestor. The biggest turn here though is Teresa discovering their mind meld, forcing Rios to admit (ala Kirk in Voyage Home) that he is a man who works in “outer space” — he then takes her and her son to La Sirena, prompting much awe and astonishment (it’s pretty clear he’s going to become a stepdad, no?) Meanwhile, Seven and Raffi discover Jurati returned to infect the ship with Borg code, and begin tracking her down in L.A.
Tallinn asks Picard to consider whether Q set all of this up so he could unpack his relationship with his parents, causing him to decide it’s time they had a chat. He reunites with Guinan at 10 Forward, and she agrees to summon the trickster, by using a bottle from a time the El-Aurians and Q Continuum made peace. (It’s… very strange.) However, instead of Q, a federal agent enters, and after making small talk, reveals he has footage of Picard transporting to the bar: more agents then storm in to arrest them. To quote another character played by Admiral Archer’s actor: oh boy… – Christopher Chiu-Tabet
The Walking Dead – “Acts of God” (S11E16, AMC)
Read our full review of the kinda-sorta-mid-season finale by Christopher Cole.
