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!
Futurama – “How the West Was 1010001” (S8/11E3, Hulu)
Bitcoin is back from the dead in this Wild West homage, where Farnsworth winds up in debt to the Robot Mafia, and moves the gang to a crypto mining town (that’s a throwback thanks to all the electricity being wasted there) to find enough thallium to pay them off. It’s a pretty disjointed episode until the climax, between Fry becoming the sidekick of his idol the Borax Kid, Leela and Zoidberg finding work as the local barmaid and surgeon, Bender buying a donkey, and Hermes struggling to connect with his son Dwight, who decides he’d rather partner up with the psychotic robot Roberto (until Dwight accidentally breaks his spine.)
It’s hit-and-miss: I know Fry is a dimwit, but it still took him a while to realize the Borax Kid was a fraud hitting on his girlfriend. On the other hand, we got Bender’s glorious song about his asses (his donkey, and the detachable part of him Farnsworth was using for panning) – I don’t know if a cartoon’s got this much mileage out of the word “ass” since Pinky and the Brain’s Samson episode. Things kick in when Roberto and Bender get kidnapped by the tavern owner Delilah, whose brothel turns out to be a mine using robots’ heads instead of servers.
It culminates in a spectacular triple duel between Bender, Delilah, Fry, the Borax Kid, the Pianist, and the Thallium Buyer, where Dwight’s broken spine helps him successfully limbo around to save his dad, and Roberto of all people winds up becoming the voice of reason. The Robot Mafia appears to collect their debt, but Delilah lures them away to her “brothel” – I’m a little perturbed the Planet Express crew are apparently going to let her keep kidnapping and beheading robots, but it was a fitting fate for them, that ended the episode on an amusingly macabre note. – Christopher Chiu-Tabet
Good Omens – “The Clue” (S2E2, Amazon Prime)
Read our full review by Mel Lake.
Good Omens – “I Know Where I’m Going” (S2E3, Amazon Prime)
Read our full review by Mel Lake.
Harley Quinn – “Getting Ice Dick, Don’t Wait Up” (S4E5, Max)
Gordon returns! If you are a Harley Quinn fan, you probably have a fondness for the sad sack, Commissioner Jim Gordon. Lucky for us, he’s now the Legion of Doom’s sad sack. Welcome back, Gordon! It’s good to see you (kind of) back on your feet. I promise no Gordon Watch this season. Harley is trying to fit in with the Bat Family, opting for eye surgery to see better in the dark. You know, for fighting and such. This plot point doesn’t pay off in this episode, but it shows Harley’s extreme devotion to her new crew. Harley loves completely or not at all. Ivy starts her rapid decline into an empty corporate figurehead. Her impressionable young mentees, Volcana, Terra, and Tefé, are out to prove themselves as the next generation of supervillains. Sadly, Ivy falls for vapid public admiration and abandons her wards in the process. It’s on-par behavior for Gothamites and hasn’t been Ivy’s trajectory until now. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Lex Luthor’s strange body dysmorphia story. I’m interested in where this is headed, hopefully towards a Cronenburg situation. We can call it a commentary on Lex making his outside as ugly as his mind. So deep.
As for the title of the episode, we can just call it another entry in our out-of-context moments from this episode. It’s a fun one. – Carl Waldron
Heartstopper – “Promise” (S2E3, Netflix)
GCSEs are over, there’s gonna be a party in the woods to celebrate, the kids are raring to go to Paris, Elle accepts Tao’s offer of a date, and even Isaac has hit it off with a boy named James (Bradley Riches). Everything’s going great right? Except Tao and Elle’s date goes horribly, between his haircut, and decision to pick a screening of a film he hates but she likes (Moonrise Kingdom), which makes her feel like he’s being inauthentic. Despite Charlie’s attempts to help, Tao goes home after Elle leaves him to confide in her new art school friends. Tara also inadvertently tells Darcy she loves her, shattering her usually confident girlfriend, apparently causing her to find an excuse to avoid the party.
Continued belowAll the while, Nick continues to struggle to come out to the rest of the school, although Coach Singh (Chetna Pandya) finds out when she catches him sneaking a kiss with Charlie. We learn Singh has a wife when she tells him she understands why he’s become so distant from the rest of the rugby team, and that perhaps “We don’t owe them that information.” At the party, Nick becomes overwhelmed from the guilt, imagining all the criticisms he fears from his friends (especially biphobic ones) crowding him, until Charlie decides to take him home. At the Nelson house, Charlie reinforces what Singh said, telling his boyfriend that his promise at the beach was perhaps a bit much, and that he could put off coming out – truly, this episode demonstrated how much their roles have reversed.
Song of the episode: “The Sound” by The 1975 (I dislike their lead singer, but perhaps this made it all the more appropriate for the party that went south) – Christopher Chiu-Tabet
Mech Cadets – “Underdogs” (S1E1, Netflix)
Read our full review of the series premiere by Christopher Chiu-Tabet
Mech Cadets – “Evolution” (S1E2, Netflix)
Before I begin, I should note that last time, I used masculine pronouns for Buddy, when it’s clear from this episode the Robos have gender-neutral pronouns; which in a way, is a great decision to help normalize them for kids.
Captain Tanaka comes to Stanford and Buddy’s rescue while investigating the new Robo’s arrival, killing the overgrown Sharg. They return to base, where Stanford is given a tour by official recruits Maya and Frank, while Tanaka informs General Park about the Sharg’s tougher armor. Olivia is pretty angry that Stanford has bonded with “her” Robo, and nearly strikes him before Maya intervenes. Stanford decides to tell his mother, and she doesn’t take the news well either, albeit in a much more subdued way, more concerned for her son’s safety than anything really.
The next day, Tanaka takes the cadets flying, giving them exo suits that allow them to bond properly with their Robos, transporting them to a virtual mental space – imagine Iron Man’s heads-up display, if Robert Downey Jr.’s whole body was shown, and he was doing everything the suit did. Outside, they discover Sharg eggs, forcing them to return while Tanaka investigates. That evening, Park gives Stanford a contract for his mother to sign: he’s skeptical she’ll give him clearance, but she enters his office to do so, and it’s a surprisingly touching moment, especially if you’re an Asian person with strict parents.
Meanwhile, Park reveals to his daughter Hero Force One, an artificial mech built because he and several others felt they shouldn’t rely on the Robos so much. She enters the cadets’ quarters, unhelpfully stating she has her own Robo now. The episode ends with one of the recovered eggs ominously glowing, while another, unaccounted one responds in kind in the desert. – Christopher Chiu-Tabet
My Adventures with Superman – “My Adventures With Mad Science” (S1E6, Adult Swim/Max)
In case you missed it, read our full review by Matthew Vincenty.
My Adventures with Superman – “Kiss Kiss Fall in Portal” (S1E7, Adult Swim/Max)
Read our full review by Matthew Vincenty.
Riverdale – “For a Better Tomorrow” (S7E18, The CW)
Read our full review by Elias Rosner
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – “Hegemony” (S2E10, Paramount+)
Read our full review of the season 2 finale by Christopher Egan.
The Witcher – “Out of the Fire, into the Frying Pan” (S3E7, Netflix)
After accidentally exploding the tower at Aretuza, Ciri (Freya Allan) has landed in Korath, a desert also known as “The Frying Pan.” She walks, starving and dehydrated, for days, surviving on the occasional lizard or bug. She meets a unicorn, who helps her avoid a giant predatory sand-worm-monster, and leads her to a water vein. As they wander, Ciri has many visions. She sees her mother, Pavetta (Gaia Mondadori), and her grandmother, Calanthe (Jodhi May), who give voice to her fears that she’s not doing enough to save The Continent, and that Geralt (Henry Cavill) and Yennefer (Anya Chalotra) have abandoned her. She also sees a mysterious hooded woman, who turns out to be Falka (Hiftu Quasem), another ancestor with the powers of the elder blood, who was burned at the stake for leading a massive bloody rebellion.
When the unicorn is injured by another sand monster, Falka encourages Ciri to use fire magic to heal him. It works, but the unicorn flees, afraid of this powerful and dangerous kind of magic. Ciri imagines using her powers to get revenge on Vilgefortz (Mahesh Jadu) and Cahir (Eamon Farren), but also imagines the pain it would cause Geralt, Yennefer, and Jaskier (Joey Batey). Finally, a group of strangers find Ciri lying in the sand, and drag her away, promising to trade her to “him” for money. Back at Aretuza, Yennefer searches in vain for Ciri, and Triss (Anna Shaffer) takes Geralt to Brokilon Forrest to heal. Jaskier speaks with Radovid (Hugh Skinner) but their relationship is still on the rocks. Jaskier goes to Brokilon to be with Geralt, and they’re told Geralt might not survive, though the healers will keep trying. –Laura Merrill
