We find ourselves at the end of the run for Shazam, which is coincidental because the series will only be on DC Universe until December 18th. I’m glad we got through the entire series, and these four last episodes we are discussing (as we discussed two episodes last time as part of the crossovers with Isis) continue to represent the overall tone of the series quite nicely, though each episode still has its quirks. Let’s dig in for the last time!
Now that I’ve had a little more time with John Davey as Captain Marvel, there is one area of his performance that I feel is superior to Jackson Bostwick’s portrayal, and that is his relationship with Mentor. When Captain Marvel and Mentor interacted with Bostwick in the red suit, they had a fundamentally different banter than Billy and Mentor do. But with Davey in the costume, he is able to joke more with him, and it seems like more of an extension of Billy’s personality. Now, this is at a time when, in the comics, they had distinct personalities, but we can still take it that way and just say that Davey is more playful than Bostwick in the role.
I still feel that Bostwick is the superior Cap in a lot of ways, but the way Davey handles the scenes with Mentor is a clear improvement.
These four episodes all take place in the wilds of California, which is one of the most distinctive parts of this series. I’ve literally never seen a show set in these types of locales before, and while they border on incredibly depressing most of the time, there’s something charming about taking a show to a region that is so rarely seen on television, at least right now.
In a similar way, this show reflects a time that I never really knew, though one I certainly know more than kids today (boy does that sound old), which is a world where kids weren’t constantly monitored by their parents. While my parents never quite said “go play in the mountains,” I didn’t have scheduled play dates and whatnot. Every kid in this show seemingly lives a life fully divorced from their parents.
In “The Contest,” the plot is built around a high school or college kid having a job at someplace called “Alva Space Products.” This, apparently, is a place that both makes experimental gyroscopes and can sell Billy and Mentor propane tanks for their RV. What exactly does this company do? I honestly cannot tell you, nor can I tell you the mechanics of the core conflict of the episode, which is built around one of the myriad sleazebags tricking his friend into cheating at a contest to gain blackmail on him. The presence of a ‘big boss’ behind the plan is literally tossed off at the end of the episode with little explanation, and with even a hint more writing about this mastermind earlier, the episode would’ve been infinitely more understandable.
Also, I was greatly relieved that it was not the same plot as the Seinfeld episode of the same name. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, don’t Google it, lest I ruin your day with mental images of Mentor shouting “I’m out!” and walking into the motorhome.
The second episode is called “Bitter Herbs,” and I jokingly wrote in my notes before starting “Is this a Passover episode?” Nope, it’s a Sukkot episode!
Wait, what?
This episode deals with prejudice, specifically Anti-Semitism, in a nice and appropriate way. It is one of the most well-intentioned episodes of the show, even if the jackass Antisemite states no reason for his dislike. Usually people have stereotypes they lean on, or some sort of bad experience they can state. But nope, he just hates the Jewish family because they are Jewish.
Oh, and he’s a thief, who is using running a faux-Boy Scouts group as cover for stealing treasures from Mexican churches. To the show’s credit, they show what a piece of shit he is, even allowing him to be slightly mauled by a mountain lion. The lion doesn’t do too much damage, but it’s nice to see a jackass knocked down by a fucking wild cat.
Continued belowThese episodes continue the obsession with forms of transportation that are anything odder than a regular car. Speed boat? Check! Dune buggy? For the tenth time, yes. Prop plane for skydiving? YUUUUUP.
Skydiving is the central activity in “Ripcord,” which sees a little kid essentially think he’s an expert at a thing he’s never done before, and it nearly costs his brother his life. Everything about this episode is the result of people waiting slightly too long to do things. No one thinks to check the parachute pack until the plane is in the air. Billy waits to transformer into Captain Marvel only when someone jumps from a plane. It’s a weirdly passive episode of a weirdly passive show.
The final episode discussed (though the penultimate to air, because of the Isis crossover “Out of Focus”) is “The Sound of a Different Drummer,” which pits passion for baseball against passion for the violin. This is a classic peer pressure episode, buttressed with a guest star and a running gag about Mentor being allergic to cats. It also takes the danger quotient up to unforeseen levels, which makes it a perfect place to wrap up the series.
The guest star in question is former Los Angeles Dodger great Maury Wills, who shows up to drop some wisdom and give the show a little pizzaz. He shows up both in a regular scene, and part of the moral of the story with Billy at the end, and does as good of a job as you could expect a professional athlete to do in such a situation. He talks some sense into the bullies that don’t want their former shortstop Curtis to play the violin, and it results in them helping Billy and Mentor track him down.
This episode is also one of only a handful of episodes to feature kids playing sports. Now, I know not everyone is an athlete, but in the world of Shazam, it seems far more likely to see someone trying to find a gold mine or riding a dirtbike over some flats than it is to see them shoot hoops or throw a football. I can only recall one other episode to have anyone engaging in a sport, which seems insane for a show that features mostly high school kids.
“The Sound of a Different Drummer,” unlike much of the series, features a supporting cast of color, with Curtis and one of his ballplayer friends having a discussion about being black and playing the violin being (to his friend) incompatible. The conversation never gets more heated than that, but it is an interesting commentary on racial stereotypes, and is played relatively well. The episode’s moral of respect above personal desire is an evergreen one, and one that doesn’t feel as forced as some others on this series.
But the climactic moment sort of undercuts the more logical, serious tone of the episode. Curtis runs away from his problem, literally and figuratively, and to get away runs into a missile testing site. You know those classic areas that every small town has, with exactly one guard and no fence, right? Well, thankfully, Captain Marvel is there to save the day, and everything ends happily ever after.
And, that does it for our Shazam series chat. We’ve gone one more installment of the Chronicles of Shazam next week, featuring all the other Shazam-centered video content on DC Universe, so you can get in a viewing of it before it all goes away in a few weeks. See you then!
