Hi all, here we are at the mid-season finale, a concept I thought died off in 2013. It’s a nice, operatic blood-drenching that doesn’t always meet the mark, but it’s hard not to be entertained by the episode’s end. Spoilers abound.
1. Omni-Mess
In a show that has an impeccable sense of the multimedia aesthetics of its characters, it’s hard to think of a single song choice more fitting for a character than Omni-Man’s sad dad montage in space to the tune of Nick Cave. It actually is an incredible song, and it keeps the episode’s opener from being just ‘he cured his evil by staring into the middle distance and having a masculine emotion’. But fuck is it funny when those first few notes of Avalanche start and you watch a man in red spandex contemplate whether he can ever lift the weight of sin from his shoulders. Before we dive into the nitty-gritty I do think the music this episode was pretty stellar, I appreciate that the Mauler Twins have a permanent RTJ soundtrack at this point. I also hadn’t heard I am Yesterday by Zoe Boekbinder before, really liked it, it might be the first time the show hasn’t had a soundtrack ripped almost straight from one of my playlists.
Jabs aside, the opener here is beautiful, containing some of the best animation of the season (mainly in the beard), and drenched in the most magnetic, subjective lighting. It’s especially gut-wrenching you see Nolan staring down into this blackhole and letting himself float into its pull. I do understand that’s the headspace he was in, and it would probably be the one thing that could kill him for certain, but what a terrifying way to consider killing yourself. We don’t know what happens inside those things! What happens if you get Matthew McConaugheyed for the rest of eternity???
Even when he cleans himself up a little and becomes god-emperor of a new planet he fits the exact archetype of a dad trying to pretend he did okay after the separation. He’s just sort of a deadbeat, but expects every point he makes to be perfectly reasonable to everyone around him. When Mark arrives, Nolan is railroading every conversation straight away and acting like it’s Mark who’s immature. Then when it’s finally his turn to have a bit of a cry he reverts to Homer-brain, when in doubt, strangle boy.
Even having Oliver, who I adore, is just great proof that Nolan has never had a life purpose he couldn’t let his dick get in the way off. At this point Nolan has also ruined the civilisation of both the Thraxans and the Flaxans, when will he learn from his actions!
2. Nolan, you ARE the father
Sorry, I’m still not done ragging on this man (it’s just a testament to how aggravating JK Simmons and the writers room can make him). I think the best way to look at the Nolan we have in season 2 compared to the confident ‘father figure for the Earth’ from season 1 though, is to look at how he acts as a father figure to his actual son Mark in the episode. At first it’s a bit clumsily written, having Mark hug him right away is a such cheap emotional beat that even Omni-Man seems to find it abrupt, just patting him on the back in response to the unearned reconciliation. But in contrast, the berating fatherly speech he deliver as Mark tries to fly away from Thraxa is spot on. It’s a 1:1 analogue for that feeling of storming off from a parent as they drive next to you, reminding his son that it’s too far to walk, and he’ll get lost if he doesn’t take the lift, infantilizing him the whole way. The fact that they’re flying in space is entirely supplementary.
I love how this comes to ahead at the halftime in the fight with the Viltrumites, where Nolan’s like a boxing coach, lashing Mark for getting absolutely mopped. Which is obvious, the last time he showed this performance it was against NOLAN, it shouldn’t be a surprise. But if anything, he seems ashamed that Mark’s embarrassing him in front of his cool Viltrumite friends.
Continued belowMark is similarly far out of his depth, and letting the fucks fly at the end of every sentence. Especially when we meet Rhea Seehorn’s Andressa. As a side note, what a crazy talent to bring onto the cast. She kicks goals in a role that would feel small otherwise, what I would give to see Bob Odenkirk in season 3. Having her as this mirror-Debbie in Mark’s view is great, she has a similar sort of assertive charm and it’s obviously disorienting for Mark. I get it though, I would date the Rhea Seehorn bug-lady too, Nolan.
3. Meanwhile on planet Earth
It’s easy to forget, but this episode does actually return from outer space at points. I wish it could have done something more insightful with the cut-aways however. I’ve been grinding this same ax since the season premiere, but Debbie is again relegated to the ‘sad Mom’ plotline, with just the catchy backing track of Olympus by Blondshell to prop it up. It could have been a complete wash though with the comparative characters and objects to plant the character’s emotions in reality. I love the use of family photos in her scenes, which are perfect Cory Walker sketches, which use the more simplistic comic style to idealize the childhood scenes within. We also have the god-given return of Art the tailor to launch this story back into gear.
Art’s appearance coaxes out an incredible monologue that highlights just how strong Debbie was beside Nolan. It makes the view properly think about the dynamic of their relationship, and Debbie’s repetition in missing her superhero husband all the time, before missing him with finality and being disgusted by the person a part of her is yearning for. It’s the actual depth we should have had from the start, when too often the image has been ‘she’s sad and he’s evil’.
Donald is in this episode too. He does things. I like that they cut the Guardians sub-plot in favor of Donald, and I don’t even think their priorities are off. I feel like Donald’s plotline fills the void of Damien Darkblood from last season (whose voice actor, Clancy Brown, returns gallantly as General Kregg in this episode), but just doesn’t have the same howcatchem magnetism as that plotline did.
4. A Killcannon relapse
It’s hard to describe the thrill of seeing Eve appear at college in “It’s Been a While”. That voice in that setting? I smell a crossover episode, and not the one everyone else is theorizing. She has a great, albeit abrupt, arc through the episode. I especially loved her Killcannon rematch, in which the oft-trounsed villain weirdly held his own this time. It really showed how Eve might have to get the lesson in anger management that should be mandatory for every character in this show.
This is just a technical thing but the scene with Amber, William and Eve is just weirdly really bloated. Screenwriters talk about starting a scene late and cutting early to keep things moving. This goes in the opposite direction, it has a conversation that’s introduced when it could just be a callback later, and then lets the whole reunion fizzle out before it cuts. I don’t think it’s endemic of anything, but just could have been a lot, lot sharper with very little work.
5. For Viltrum
The whole creative team seems to know the crown jewel of this episode is Mark and Nolan fighting against the Viltrumite squadron sent to eradicate Nolan’s bastard child. Phil LaMarr as Lucan immediately steals the show with a very elite, very Viltrumite one-finger curbstomp, and the fight only amps up from there. I’m also a big fan of the Viltrumite who fights wearing Oakleys.
The moment that really stuck with me from the buffet of violence in this episode, amidst all the appropriately brutal fatalities, is the smashcut of collisions near the fight’s end. There’s no movement in it, just connection after connection between fist and head. At the time it really reminded me of the splash page in the Conquest arc of all the punches overlaid with the one central fight image. Later I realised that was the actual page from this same fight they modeled it after!
The whole battle ends with some appropriate Lucan supremacy. I found it very funny that he pulled the “next time you kill somebody make sure they’re dead” card, but then he radioes in fucking immediately, says the mission was a success and then dies before checking if Mark and Nolan actually are dead. What a hypocrite, what a dead hypocrite. Love that Viltrumite logic.
Well, Seeya next year guys. I know some people are pretty mad about a mid-season break after four eps. It’s annoying, but all I’m going to say is, when we look back on this show years after it’s all done, that wait isn’t what you’re going to remember. Will that help you wait? No. But I hope it makes you feel guilty every time you get mad. Enjoy your holidays.
