Boomb Tube: The Week of Comic Book Television, 6/5/22 – 6/11/22

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!

And since the summer is here, check out our 2022 Summer TV binges, where Multiversity staffers reach back in time to review comics/comics-adjacent/nerdy shows all summer long. (Here’s a handy list of what’s being covered too.)

The Boys – “The Only Man in the Sky” (S3E2, Amazon Prime)

Read our full review by Ramon Piña.

The Flash – “Keep It Dark” (S8E17, The CW)

Dr. Light and Sunshine are back, and this time they took over the former gang of Allegra, the Arañas, and graduated it from carjacking to murders and kidnappings, and now they are hunting Lydia, the girl Allegra helped a couple of episodes back by doing a piece on her.

Why would they take over a simple gang of teenagers instead of creating their own team after Black Hole? Well for plot reasons, otherwise Allegra wouldn’t be personally involved, I guess. Well, the point is that the main team of CCCMedia reporters ends up trapped in their own building and they have to come up with a plan to save Lydia and themselves, but Taylor is not going to make it easy at all for her boss.

Taylor reveals to the team that Allegra was in the gang, and that’s the reason for her insistence on covering this story. In order to gain the trust of the team back Allegra reveals that she is the light-based meta that helps The Flash every one in a while.

I was very appalled by Taylor’s complete lack of morals and journalistic integrity, she revealed personal information about an ex-convict that properly carried out her sentence and repaid her debt to the society; she also opted for giving the victim (and their source) to the criminals, thinking that her life would be spared. She’s an incredibly bad journalist and should be fired at the spot, but I guess we needed some tension at the office.

Meanwhile, Barry discovered that a new speedster appeared in Central City, and went to Thawne to ask him questions, just like Clarice would do with Hannibal Lecter, this was a brief and almost inconsequential scene, but at least we got to enjoy a little bit of Tom Cavanagh.

At the end, Barry discovers that the new speedster is Dr. Meena Dhawan, who will eventually be known as Fast Track. I’m glad to have a new character of Pakistani descent, and it seems that she will be a regular character on the show, so welcome!

Ps.: After Barry destroyed her lab, Caitlin asked the team for a time off, of course that’s because Danielle Panabaker is expecting her second child, so she’s going on maternity leave, congratulations to the new mom! – Ramon Piña

Ms. Marvel – “Generation Why” (S1E1, Disney+)

Read our full review of the series premiere by Christopher Chiu-Tabet.

Obi-Wan Kenobi – “Part IV” (S1E4, Disney+)

Read our full review by Brian Salvatore.

Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles – “Belly of the Beast” (S1E7, NETFLIX)

I wish I knew what Samurai Rabbit wanted to be. We’re seven episodes in and I still cannot get a sense of things. Does it want to be a monster of the week show? Does it want to be a big story of multiple factions vying for power with our protags stuck in the middle? Is it a coming-of-age tale? It’s so messy and all over the place and after I thought things had been clarified in episode 5, we get two episodes that should just be titled “Shenanigans.” That’s all we get here. Shenanigans.

Gen & Toshiko mess around with a Ashibasha that’s possessed by a baby yokai, Kitsune & Tetsujin play with taiko drums while a battery charges, and the least shenanigan-y of the lot, Chizu & Yuichi break into the Neko Ninja hide-out to find Giman, the Deception Yokai. I can’t say I didn’t have fun with the episode. Giman!Hana’s fight with Lady Fuwa and the Neko Ninja was creative and a good demonstration of the character, the Ashibasha crying and throwing springs & stuff at Gen was cute, and of course the whole Taiko drum ping pong looked like an amazing ride. It just all felt really insubstantial.

Continued below

We get a little character work for Gen and Toshiko, but it’s both introduced and resolved in this episode. Like, we’ve only had one other episode with Toshiko and now we’re watching Gen get angry that she’s going to duck out again after not commenting on it in any previous episode? It could be fine drama if it wasn’t so sudden, handled with the subtlety of Lord Kogane, and over in four scenes that last a collective 3 minutes.

We get a little for Yuichi too but it’s the same lesson as before about not to judge a book by its cover with an added twist of reminding him to not sacrifice his values on the path to achievement. Actually, I liked a lot of the Neko Ninja stuff this time around. It’s not particularly deep stuff but it doesn’t have to be. Hana is lovely and Chizu getting to save at least one cat from being dragged into that horrible life is moving.

I think what bothers me is having Giman be another misunderstood Yokai is that it breaks the pattern the show was creating without offering anything interesting in return. No additional introspection about his past actions, no curiosity on what to do now, and we don’t get resolution to his Karasu Tengu mission in the episode, which would have been a great place to leave things instead of leaving it for the next one. I’m all for changing things up to complicate a narrative but this isn’t that.

Anyway, next time it looks like Kagehito finally finds his big evil weapon and Chikabuma realizes he may be with the baddies. Here’s hoping Bargain Bunji appears and Lord Kogane reappears. Ikuzo! – Elias Rosner

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – “Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach” (S1E6, Paramount+)

As the Enterprise attempts to intervene when a small battle cruiser attacks a shuttle, the crew is unwittingly thrust into a significant planetary conflict amidst its most sacred tradition. This ordeal also brings one of Pike’s past loves back into his life.

As the episode explores and expands this week’s main story, it uses it to push certain relationships and threads forward. While Pike is the focus; Uhura, La’an, and Spock are significant to how things play out. The conflict surrounds the Ascension of the First Servant on the planet Majalis. This ceremony is said to be a key component to the future of their civilization. Political plots, secrets, and their disconnect from the Federation keep answers at arm’s length as Pike and Co investigate. With Pike’s former love, Alora, at the center of this, his affections somewhat blind him to some odd questions that arise. However, his strengths as a Starfleet captain and true hero shine throughout.

For viewers who have been wondering if Dr. M’Benga’s daughter was nothing more than a manipulative emotional beat, we get some more movement on that. There is hope for her with the Majalis’s medical technology, but there is no easy fix.

There are a lot of layers to this story and the writers have out-done themselves this week. The episode feels long in the best way because of how much it needs to cover. It’s a perfectly balanced story web that lifts and enriches its components with each passing minute. It gives us a lot of plot and more than one philosophical question and scenario to ponder. As this conflict progresses and twists, there are elements that mirror Pike’s decisions and ultimate fate. It enlightens us and him as to why this fate must come to pass. It gives us no easy questions, no easy answers, and a no-win scenario that Trek is famous for. Sometimes succeeding in your mission doesn’t mean everything is going to turn out alright.

This is a huge episode both in terms of story and ideas, and is far bigger than this mini review can handle. It is an absolute 10/10 must watch as it exquisitely portrays everything that “Star Trek” is about. – Chris Egan