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!
American Born Chinese – “What Guy Are You” (S1E1, Disney+)
Read our full review of the series premiere by Paul Lai.
American Born Chinese – “Monkey on a Quest” (S1E2, Disney+)
Tune in later today for our full review of the second episode by Paul Lai.
Riverdale – “American Graffiti” (S7E10, The CW)
Read our full review by Elias Rosner
Superman & Lois – “Collision Course” (S3E10, CW)
Unlike the episode title from two episodes ago, “Collision Course” more than lives up to its name. The threads and objects we have been following this entire season now seem to be on track to some climatic confrontation, and it might be the personal ones that are more impactful than when Superman and John Henry inevitably come to blows with Manheim’s monsters. As the title implies there is very little impact in this episode, or what impacts do occur appear to be the pre-shocks for the real earthquake that is to come.
On the Peia front, Matteo delivers Bruno’s cure for cancer after Lois tries to get a confession to setting up Lex Luthor. Even by television standards, that cure is extremely fast acting. Rejuvenated Peia destroys the DOD facility she is in and escapes. Daya Vaidya pulls of this transformation very well, it is all maybe a little too fast, but after sitting with her character for all of these episodes, the escape sequence shows why she will be a challenge to John Henry and Clark. We also get more talk of Lex Luthor, who is still coming…soonTM.
The Kids segments of these shows at their best, feel the way nostalgic audiences remember Smallville. This week’s episode centered around a party under the bleachers, and the social relations of parties felt like something out of that old show but with a twist. Jordan Kent running around Smallville as a blurry Superboy provides the Super but not-yet-a-man avenue for teen angst and VFX. For the shows part the drunk driving chase sequence was honestly the best sequence in the episode. It also continues to fuel the awkward secret keeping by Sarah, which puts further strain on an already strained friendship. This latest blurry act of heroism is one too many for Kyle, who finally confronts Clark with the obvious conclusion: all of this insanity only started happening once your family showed up!
It is always worth a little bit of a chuckle when the show has to show some of Clark’s true strength, such as when he just nonchalantly shoves Kyle backward. Erik Valdez, for his part plays the confusion quite well. Revealing the heroic identities is a tried and true trope of this kind of show, but this instance is different. Clark does not have time and quickly tells him they’ll talk about this later and flies off. It’s the kind of moment that would be the cliffhanger for an episode. Instead, it is maybe the second most important hanging thread in this episode. That is an interesting shift in importance and one worth keeping track of going into next week. – Michael Mazzacane
Sweet Tooth – “How it Started, How It’s Going” (S2E6, Netflix)
Read our full review by Alexander Manzo.
