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!
Bodies – “The World is Yours” (E6, Netflix)
The main body (no pun intended) of this episode is in 2023, which kicks off with Hasan and counterterrorism officer Bothroyd (Kae Alexander) discovering a bomb in a vault, kept under Hasan’s name since 1941, at Harker Bank. Barber calls, demanding Hasan come and see him and Elias alone. Barber comforts Elias, telling him it’s his choice to make while giving him the detonator, before continuing to brainwash him. Bothroyd sneaks in, and Barber is killed during the ensuing shoot out. Hasan offers to drive Elias back to prison, but he asks to see his birth mother first. Sarah refuses, and Elias, feeling abandoned again, sneaks out, and steals a teen’s phone to call a number his father slipped him to detonate the bomb. It culminates in a searing, near silent chase, where Elias stares Hasan in the face, and gives into fatalism.
In 2053, Hasan tells Elias she wishes she’d killed him that day, and pleads for Maplewood’s help, before grabbing a pistol to shoot him. Her intervention backfires, and Mannix threatens to kill her unless Defoe programs the Throat to send him back to 1890. Mannix limps into the past, while telling Maplewood to keep the faith. Defoe then makes a grab for a pistol, and tries to persuade Iris to let him go back into the past to break the loop. Although she still has a gun pointed at him, Defoe steps into the Throat (which instantly sends a duplicate of him through time), but Iris rewards his optimism by (quite graphically, in slow motion) shooting him in the eye.
In 1890, Hillinghead tells Ashe about Harker’s ultimatum, and warns him to flee. Ashe calls him a coward, and Hillinghead responds, in a truly touching move, with a passionate kiss, imploring him to go for his sake. Henry asks him to leave with him, but he responds he needs to finish this. After closing the case with the chief inspector, Hillinghead goes to inform Charlotte and Polly about what’s transpiring, but his wife has already deduced he is in love with the photographer. Polly eavesdrops as Alfred assuages Charlotte’s fears he never loved them (hurray for avoiding bi erasure), but it’s then the penny drops: Hillinghead framed himself for the murder, and is already being arrested for his supposed crime.
In 1941, Polly is killed after her son, Hayden, fails to strike a deal with Whiteman, and he makes a dramatic escape from custody, using a broken bottle to stab him in the throat, before handing in his resignation. Heading to Harker House, he coldly shoots Polly after a mealy mouthed comment about trying to kill Esther gently, and then Harker on his deathbed; Harker goes to the grave cackling about the futility of his revenge, and Whiteman is left to ponder if he has truly avenged Esther as the cops arrive. The last we see of Whiteman is of him being led inside the hangman’s noose. – Christopher Chiu-Tabet
Doctor Who – “Destination Skaro” (BBC One)
Russell T Davies serves up this five min appetizer for the 60th anniversary specials, aired as part of the BBC’s annual Children in Need telethon, where a delirious Doctor, still fresh from regenerating into David Tennant again, becomes paradoxically responsible for the name of his greatest enemies, and the look of their most infamous weapon. It begins during the Thal-Kaled War, as a younger Davros (Julian Bleach again, sans prosthetics this time) unveils their descendants’ travel machine to his assistant Castavillian (Mawaan Rizwan), who rattles off suggestions for its final name. When Davros disappears to attend to matters of war, the TARDIS crashes into the room, knocking off the machine’s claw arm. The Doctor steps out, and uses a plunger to fix his mess, while giving Castavillian its future name: Dalek. When Davros returns, he’s as shocked as we are, but realizes he actually likes the simpler arm design.
Continued belowSuffice to say, it’s a very silly change to the show’s history, like a parody that got lost and accidentally found its way into the canon script pile, because the plunger design is apparently still such a hang-up for Whovians and non-Whovians alike. But what I think Davies was trying to say, is that it’s Doctor Who, it is ridiculous sometimes, and yes, the greatest evil in the universe looks like it’s wielding a suction cup and egg whisk, so don’t treat it so damn reverentially. He’s saying he’s not the messiah, here to restore the show to its glory days during his previous tenure as showrunner, just an idiot with a box and screwdriver, and if you don’t go into every Ncuti Gatwa episode expecting them to be an all-time great, then maybe you will wind up having fun by mistake. After all, the Doctor thoroughly screws up everything here, and Davros (Davros!) comes away being fairly cheerful about it. – Christopher Chiu-Tabet
Gen V – “Guardians of Godolkin” (S1E8, Amazon Prime)
Read our full review of the season finale by Alexander Manzo.
Invincible – “In About Six Hours I Lose My Virginity To A Fish” (S2E2, Amazon Prime)
In case you missed it, read our full review by James Dowling.
Invincible – “This Missive, This Machination” (S2E3, Amazon Prime)
Read our full review by James Dowling.
Loki – “Glorious Purpose” (S2E6, Disney+)
In case you missed it, read our full review of the season 2 finale by Robbie Pleasant.
Pluto – “Episode 4” (E4, Netflix)
Read our full review by Elias Rosner.
Quantum Leap – “Secret History” (S2E6, NBC)
One of the least realistic parts of Quantum Leap is how infrequently a leaper reveals who they are to someone they meet in a leap. Sure, we can all see why this is a bad idea, but imagine how much easier it makes the conversations? Well, regardless, Ben tells Hannah that he’s a time traveler but, because of who Hannah is, the information goes over pretty well. This is a very rare leap for a few reasons, mainly because Ben comes upon Hannah for the second time. After just meeting her a few leaps ago, he was able to use his knowledge of Hannah and her situation to bring her into the light.
It is also interesting to see Ben and Hannah have some sort of romantic chemistry. With Ben and Addison’s relationship sidelined, it is nice to see Ben have an emotional connection with someone. Not only that, but the chemistry between Raymond Lee and Eliza Taylor is off the charts in a way that Ben and Addison never was. This cannot end well – even if Ben encounters her a few more times, how can they maintain a relationship – but the romantic element is something effective and new for the show.
What’s less effective is the Ian and Jen subplot involving the quantum chip and blackmail. It’s all a little too vague and a little too boilerplate to really rise above. But that said, in an episode with Nazis, Ben and Addison’s new boyfriend interacting, and that final kiss, it’d be hard for much to live up. – Brian Salvatore
