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 – “Monkey on a Quest” (S1E2, Disney+)
Read our full review of the series premiere by Paul Lai.
American Born Chinese – “Rockstar Status” (S1E3, Disney+)
Tune in later today for our full review of the third episode by Paul Lai.
Riverdale – “Halloween II” (S7E11, The CW)
Read our full review by Elias Rosner
Superman & Lois – “Complications” (S3E11, CW)
“Complications” felt like a season finale, or at least the penultima episode of the season. The core familial drama between the Manheim and Kent families comes to a conclusion. Jordan gets new powers and shares a good scene with his brother. Sarah’s recent episodes come to a head with the potential for greater understanding with her parents. The core themes of this season all just seem nicely wrapped in a bow. But we have two episodes left, and Lex Luthor is finally arriving next week in “Injustice”. To say nothing of Bizzaro Superman wandering around the Metropolis sewers. That feeling of emotional cathartic finality is never as secure as it seems in these kinds of shows; you’d think I would have learned that by now.
I am honestly surprised that they went through with Lois’ surgery; it’s the kind of thing a show like this could’ve walked back through various macguffins. Arrow did it with Felicity’s paralysis. Similar things have happened on The Flash. To say nothing of how death is never really that permanent in these kinds of stories. Lois’ surgery and recovery is contrasted with Peia’s body rejecting Bruno’s cure and causing her body to rip itself apart and threaten the surrounding area. It took them a while, but once the show got the Manheim family up and running, Bruno became more effective overall as an antagonist. Chad L. Coleman gave a fantastic performance from the start but there was not emotional reason to it was just playing a Bond villain. Putting him with Daya Vaidya gave that character a reason ‘why’ to it all, and you also understood why her character was so committed to him. Spence Moore II isn’t giving much to do, but his and Coleman’s work together as they mourn the impending loss of their mother-wife is wonderful physical acting. Vaidya’s largely silent end also stands out for a sequence that is buffeted by VFX work. “Complications” humanizes this family and recognizes their pain even if they are the “bad guys” for this season, which will be useful once Lex Luthor gets out of prison next episode.
One of the things that has grown on me with Man of Steel over the past decade is how that film represented Clark’s super sense kicking in and the impending sensory overload. As a friend of mine who is on the spectrum pointed out not soon after the film’s release, “oh Superman’s autistic.” Superman & Lois borrows similar visual language and scene structure from Man of Steel as Jordan gains x-ray vision, only instead of his Mom arriving and becoming an island for him it was his brother. Michael Bishop has really grown on me as Jonathan and plays that scene in a way I don’t think the previous actor was capable of. As someone who has also come to realize they have sensory issues, the affective reaction to everything feels right or makes sense in the way that cinematic realism works on an affective level, if not on a purely technical one. That sequence also just provides a good reminder of how the Twins are their own core show to themselves and that their relationship has and hasn’t changed over the years.
I got done with this episode thinking we’d reached the end of the road, time for a nice relaxing finale. That’s not going to happen. Peia might not have turned into a monster, but there is mad science afoot and it might spell doom for Superman. This entire season has been about rendering Superman incapable of protecting his family and highlighting his limits even as he is the Man of Steel. Now’s the right time for some creature to come in and bend him. – Michael Mazzacane
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Sweet Tooth – “I’ll Find You” (S2E7, Netflix)
Read our full review by Alexander Manzo.
