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!
The Flash – “Into the Still Force” (S8E15, The CW)
It’ going to be hard to talk about this episode because nothing happened… well, that’s not true, some things happened, but I mean, the plot didn’t move forward, we are on the exact same place than last week.
This time, Barry went into the Still Force to help Deon find the particle that he put inside of Iris, and, as Joe warned, Deon kinda betrayed the Flash, trapping him in the Still Force.
Then, Nora appeared and helped Barry to temporarily tap into the Still Force and use it to get out of it.
And that’s it, Iris is still lost, Caitlin is still frankensteining her sister Frost, but at least we set up three new things to be explored in the future, either immediately of for next season:
Chester discovered that someone used one of his designs to threaten a building, and although it seemed to be a misunderstanding because someone was trying to give free hot water to the apartments, at the end of the episode some hacker stole all of Runk’s designs.
Then, when Barry was in the Still Force, he briefly saw a scene between Allegra and her coworker Taylor, where apparently she discovered one of Allegra’s secrets (Her time on jail? Her powers? Her friendship with Frost?)
And finally, we discovered that in the far future Nora has a wife, so finally she’s revealed to be part of the LGBTQ+ community. Way back in the episode “Legacy” (5×22), I said that I was a little disappointed, because they promised a queer main character and it never happened (although it was barely implicated), so I’m glad that this finally happened.
Next week we’ll seemingly have a fun one: “The Curious Case of Bartholomew Allen.” – Ramon Piña
Heartstopper – “Boyfriends” (S1E8, Netflix)
In case you missed it, here’s our full review of the season one finale by Christopher Chiu-Tabet.
Naomi – “Ready or Not” & “Who Am I?” (S1E12 & S1E13, The CW)
In case you missed it, here’s our full review of the 2-part season, and series, finale by Brian Salvatore.
Riverdale – “Chapter 109: Venomous” (S6E14, The CW)
Read our full review by Elias Rosner.
Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles – “Run Rabbit Run” (S1E4, NETFLIX)
Lord Kogane continues to be the standout character of the series and you cannot convince me otherwise. He is also barely in the episode. 3/10. Not enough Kogane.
…Fine. I’ll do more of a review.
“Run Rabbit Run” tries to do for Chizu what it kinda did for Gen in “Possessions,” in that we get enough backstory to fuel the episode but not enough for a full character exploration nor does she get enough solo screen time to call it the “Chizu episode.” The flashback sequences triggered by “friendship candy” were a highlight and I wish the show would lean more into that tone overall. It’s very melodramatic but it takes itself more seriously and doesn’t feel like it’s talking down to the audience as much.
The bulk of the episode is predicated on Lord Kogane putting a bounty on Yuichi, which is a thin pretense for the show to indulge in more fights that go nowhere; one with a bunch of townsfolk, one with Chicka Booma who I incorrectly identified as the leader of the Bat Squadron in my “Possessions” review, one with said Bat Squadron who’re dressed as fascists that’s an extension of the Chicka Booma fight, and a minor scuffle with Lord Kogane and the Yokai Hat from the last episode.
It’s all rather dull and ends with Yuichi learning the same lesson as before, or, well, a similar message about how rushing to fight leads to unintended consequences. Oh and respect your hats or they’ll come to life, possess your boss, and turn the whole town against you. Which is funny but way less funny than if Kogane was simply being feckless and decided to deny Yokai existed to mess with Yuichi.
Continued belowStill, there are a few good moments. Chicka Booma’s box cutter sword and Yuichi coveting it is good stuff. The bounties being on fans was a nice touch. Chizu saving Yuichi & Kitsune’s bacon by staring really hard was perfect. The hat declaring vengeance got me. And finally, Lady Fuwa gets my favorite line in the episode – “Then the whole of Neo Edo will be at my mercy…That was a joke. I have no mercy.” She’s still far less fun a villain than Kogane since the Neko Ninja are the most stock bad guy organization I’ve seen in a long time, but lines like those let me dream it could be better.
I’m still not loving Samurai Rabbit. “Run Rabbit Run” is very unfocused, unable to decide if we’re doing stories that are episodic, serialized or a combination of both, ultimately feeling like a waste of 24 minutes. It also loses points by opening and closing on the hospital scenes with the horrifying, annoying nurse dogs. No amount of Kogane can save an episode from that. – Elias Rosner
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – “Ghosts of Illyria” (S1E3, Paramount+)
The Enterprise is investigating an old Illyrian settlement to learn about its original inhabitants when an unusual virus is brought on board. This contagion causes the crew to become obsessed with feeling the nearest and brightest light source. It also leads to some shocking revelations.
In an already great season this episode felt the most like a classic Trek adventure with the crew dealing with this virus on the ship while Pike and Spock stuck on the planet due to an ion storm disrupting the transporters and communications. While planet side the two officers must fend for their lives from the raging storm outside and from fluid light beings that seem to be pretty violent.
“Ghosts of Illyria” is about masking your deepest secrets and not judging someone at face value. While those concepts are pretty basic, this episode layers them in multiple ways to really make the reveals significant. Several of our core cast must not only face their secrets in private, but show them to someone else and hope that their friend/colleague will understand. There’s also the thread of changing yourself so much to appease the beliefs of others will eventually make you something unrecognizable Also, for being a virus plot, it never feels heavy for releasing in the age of Covid, which is nice.
It’s a beautifully told story on the importance of being open with those you rely on while also throwing in some good horror-lite elements. This could have easily been a TOS episode.
