The Shannara Chronicles: Season 2 Review (Spoilers)
Also reviews for the latest episodes of Big Hero 6: The Series, Muppet Babies, Ben 10, and Power Rangers Super Ninja Steel.
The Shannara Chronicles "Druid"
Cheesy and underwhelming. So an average return for this show. ***.
The Shannara Chronicles "Wraith"
Some creepy visuals in this one. Much better than the first episode of the season. ****.
The Shannara Chronicles "Graymark"
Allanon's escape at the end was SO cool and boss.
The needle going into Will's cheek made me cringe though. But that ending made me forgive a LOT. ****.
The Shannara Chronicles "Dweller"
That kid being murdered was incredibly upsetting to watch. But the family's fate reminded me of why you should never talk politics over the dinner table with strangers.
The Dweller's puppet tentacles looked unbelievably fake, but in fairness, the CGI on the spider wasn't so hot either.
Didn't much like this episode. **1/2.
The Shannara Chronicles "Paranor"
What is it with this show and having kids getting murdered on-screen?
I liked the ending a lot. I was also amused by the notion that old police stations once "housed evil beings". That's how everybody sees the past, isn't it?
A little too dark in place for me but the stuff with Will and his father was good. ***1/2.
The Shannara Chronicles "Crimson"
Bummer ending. It was sort of like the Red Wedding but some of the heroes survived.
Eretraya worries me greatly.
Flick's sacrifice was a really smart one. Too bad Bandon made off with the skull anyways.
Things are getting dire. ***1/2.
The Shannara Chronicles "Warlock"
The Warlock King looks like Allanon? That was an unexpected twist.
It was a good episode. ****.
The Shannara Chronicles "Amberle"
I liked it a lot. A lot of big notions and deep ideas including Jax lamenting that leaving nothing but ghosts and shadows behind when he dies is NOT the ideal way to die he thought it would be, and the Warlock King saying that Evil doesn't serve him and Bandon, it's the other way around.
I totally forgot how much Katanya wound up hating Ban before he killed her. The question he should have asked himself beforehand is if she would be happy he raised her from the dead, or whether or not she would even be better off at all. I don't agree with the Warlock King's twisted notions about love. But when he says nobody has ever loved Bandon, I think that is probably true.
I cannot believe the General tried to say he was immune to magic as to why he didn't fear the Warlock King. Immunity to magic is like the weakest defense ever. Because maybe you can't be cast aside by a spell. But magic has practical applications. Somebody could still make a building fall on you and you'd die from that. Pure hubris on the General's end.
Eretreya is now a murderer. Just thought I'd point that out.
Really good episode. ****1/2.
The Shannara Chronicles "Wilderun"
That was a little bit awesome. Seriously dire cliffhanger and that swordfight was crazycool.
But my most favorite thing was the ambiguous death of Bandon. As far as deathbed repentances go, his sucked. "Allanon was right about you," would sound like a lot better apology for his actions if he hadn't just been impaled for trying to take the Warlock King's place. Read that again. He decided the HE should be the Warlock King and failed to take out Big Dog. That is no kind of deathbed repentance I'd ever accept.
Manu Bennet's performance as the Warlock King is great. What's interesting is that in the episode his Allanon performance is better than it's ever been too. I think stretching brings out the best in that guy.
Fantastic episode. *****.
The Shannara Chronicles "Blood"
I love Jax's meta line of "If this is our last show, we're gonna make it a d*mn good one!"
It WAS good, but not great. I think killing off Allanon was a huge mistake as Manu Bennet is the biggest name on the show. Likewise fake killing off Will until the last few seconds gives the ending a morbid and morose feeling it should not have considering the heroes won. I love sad endings where the heroes win by sacrificing everything. But you need to save those sacrifices until the end of the series. You don't kill off half of the main cast by the end of Season 2. That's not smart. Like I said, Will's last-minute alive status is good, but as far as I'm concerned it should never have been in question to begin. That weakened how much I enjoyed the ending. I probably could have even accepted Allanon dying if they hadn't done that.
It amuses me that thousands of untold years in the Post-Nuclear Apocalyptic Future with Elves and Gnomes, "bad@$$" is still slang word. Jax also referring to Eretraya as "Girl" was nice too, because I'm glad Ebonics survived the Nuclear Holocaust.
The series being canceled is even more frustrating in hindsight. The producers are looking for another network, but I am not optimistic. Spike TV WAS the second-chance network. I don't see it coming back again on an even weaker tier channel than that.
Not a good episode to go out on. ***1/2.
Big Hero 6: The Series "Big Problem"
Ultra Armor? Mommy! Mommy! I want that!
Love Hiro going through all that trouble to invent a thermometer. For a genius that kid can be pretty dim.
I liked it. ***1/2.
Big Hero 6: The Series "Baymax Dreams Of Evil Sheep"
I seem to have seen similar sheep before but I can't for the life of me remember where. Maybe Serta?
Fun to see Baymax in 3-D again. ****.
Big Hero 6: The Series "Baymax Dreams Of Too Many Baymaxes"
The different colored Baymaxes with the different personalities reminded me of The Colors Of Raven from Teen Titans Go!. ****.
Big Hero 6: The Series "Baymax Dreams Of Bedbugs"
Scott Adsit's drunk Baymax voice is still hilarious. ***.
Muppet Babies "Grandpa Camp / A Backyard Divided"
Grandpa Camp:
I love Gozno painting a photograph of himself with two random elderly humans who are supposedly his grandparents.
Fozzie has never met his grandparents? Nuh-uh, Muppet Studios. You are NOT retconning A Muppet Family Christmas. Never. You only have that power if we let you have it. Unacceptable.
Will never get used to Statler and Waldorf being nice to Fozzie and thinking his jokes are funny.
Good cartoon. ****.
A Backyard Divided:
Summer makes a cute sandwich. ***.
Ben 10 "Alien Worlds: Shockrock"
It frustrates me to no end that the franchise does all of this mythology and world-building, and it never shows up in the actual badly-written and stupid show. What a waste of a bunch of cool concepts. ****.
Power Rangers Super Ninja Steel "Prepare To Fail"
Okay, I've been giving this show positive reviews for a couple of weeks. But the good thing about this weak episode is that the specific flaws it had are things I can actually discuss and go through instead of just saying "This show is stupid" and "Little kids deserve better." Both of those statements are still true. But I grok the problems in the episode better than most weeks.
First off, mea culpa. I love the premise. I love the premise so much I was very much expecting to love the episode. As far as Evil Villain plans go, lowering the heroes' expectations does not suck. Maybe if the Rangers were smarter they'd figure out what he was doing, but I didn't get it at first either, so maybe not. But it's smart and effective. It's also dirty, cowardly, makes the villain look bad, and is unnecessarily messy and complicated. This tactic is best used by a villain with precisely zero shame. Which is why I dug the idea in the first place.
But the episode just didn't deliver. Mostly for other reasons, but if you can't make something good work because of other reasons, that doesn't give you a free pass. If the small details are ruining the big picture of your show, it's the showrunner's responsibility to get those small details right.
Let's start off with my problems.
The fart scene. It kills me to say the following sentence, considering what utter trash the original series was, but this show's humor has seriously devolved. This is worse than Bulk and Skull at their stupidest and grossest. Frankly, I don't get who Victor and Monty are for. I get Mick appeals to little kids because he's cute. Ditto for Redbot. I suppose Victor and Monty are supposed to appeal to the kids who like gross-out jokes so long as they aren't the butt of them. They seem designed to appeal to the kids on the playground browbeating the unpopular kid into eating worms and egging him on while making him. Here's a novel opinion: That is not a healthy mindset for kids adults making a children's show should be feeding into. As bad as Bulk and Skull were (and they were bad) they were around long enough for the writers to give them some nuance and even positive qualities. Can you picture the same for Victor and Monty? Bulk and Skull's gimmick is that they are stupid. Victor and Monty are just horrible on every level.
And the teacher's solution for the gas masks ticked me off too. First off, where did she get them? No school should have those. Does she have them in her desk in case a kid is randomly eating a tin of beans? Because that's stupid. And you know what? If the smell really WAS that big of a problem, the test SHOULD have been postponed. Gas masks are bulky and uncomfortable, and you can barely see out of them. It is unfair to ask the kids in the class to concentrate on a writing assignment while wearing them. And you could accuse me of overthinking a show for toddlers. My response is so what? What is wrong about pointing out the logical fallacies of bad writing in kids show? Who said I wasn't allowed to do that simply because the show usually isn't geared me? Nobody, that's who.
I also resisted the idea of the teacher's moral about different tests having different difficulty levels being used to tie into the monster they were fighting. I know kids shows like to do that, but the good ones won't be so ham-fisted about it. Power Rangers is the show it's cool to like when you are in first grade. But I bet once you're in second grade it is a show for babies. And maybe that wouldn't be true if they didn't always lay it on so thick with that sort of thing. Just a thought.
The next complaint is something that can't be helped, (because it IS a show for toddlers) but because of the premise I notice it, and recognize it as a plothole. But the Rangers are never allowed to get injured on the show, even slightly. So when they come back after that epic defeat with their first ever retreat from a villain, it's jarring that they look perfectly fine, and J Crew model ready, with not a single strand of hair out of place. They are panting heavily, but I think heroes should probably be panting heavily after battles they've won and not taken a hit during too. I am well aware that the Rangers talking about how tough the monster is means precisely nothing in that moment.
The final complaint is the Skull Gators. And that was actually where the episode lost me. They were obviously short on time, and needed a last second twist. But it's totally Crab People, if South Park wasn't actually making fun of that trope, and were serious when they were revealed. It's just dumb, and out of nowhere, and completely tacked on, and totally phony.
So that's why this week sucked. I hope my review didn't. *.
The Shannara Chronicles "Druid"
Cheesy and underwhelming. So an average return for this show. ***.
The Shannara Chronicles "Wraith"
Some creepy visuals in this one. Much better than the first episode of the season. ****.
The Shannara Chronicles "Graymark"
Allanon's escape at the end was SO cool and boss.
The needle going into Will's cheek made me cringe though. But that ending made me forgive a LOT. ****.
The Shannara Chronicles "Dweller"
That kid being murdered was incredibly upsetting to watch. But the family's fate reminded me of why you should never talk politics over the dinner table with strangers.
The Dweller's puppet tentacles looked unbelievably fake, but in fairness, the CGI on the spider wasn't so hot either.
Didn't much like this episode. **1/2.
The Shannara Chronicles "Paranor"
What is it with this show and having kids getting murdered on-screen?
I liked the ending a lot. I was also amused by the notion that old police stations once "housed evil beings". That's how everybody sees the past, isn't it?
A little too dark in place for me but the stuff with Will and his father was good. ***1/2.
The Shannara Chronicles "Crimson"
Bummer ending. It was sort of like the Red Wedding but some of the heroes survived.
Eretraya worries me greatly.
Flick's sacrifice was a really smart one. Too bad Bandon made off with the skull anyways.
Things are getting dire. ***1/2.
The Shannara Chronicles "Warlock"
The Warlock King looks like Allanon? That was an unexpected twist.
It was a good episode. ****.
The Shannara Chronicles "Amberle"
I liked it a lot. A lot of big notions and deep ideas including Jax lamenting that leaving nothing but ghosts and shadows behind when he dies is NOT the ideal way to die he thought it would be, and the Warlock King saying that Evil doesn't serve him and Bandon, it's the other way around.
I totally forgot how much Katanya wound up hating Ban before he killed her. The question he should have asked himself beforehand is if she would be happy he raised her from the dead, or whether or not she would even be better off at all. I don't agree with the Warlock King's twisted notions about love. But when he says nobody has ever loved Bandon, I think that is probably true.
I cannot believe the General tried to say he was immune to magic as to why he didn't fear the Warlock King. Immunity to magic is like the weakest defense ever. Because maybe you can't be cast aside by a spell. But magic has practical applications. Somebody could still make a building fall on you and you'd die from that. Pure hubris on the General's end.
Eretreya is now a murderer. Just thought I'd point that out.
Really good episode. ****1/2.
The Shannara Chronicles "Wilderun"
That was a little bit awesome. Seriously dire cliffhanger and that swordfight was crazycool.
But my most favorite thing was the ambiguous death of Bandon. As far as deathbed repentances go, his sucked. "Allanon was right about you," would sound like a lot better apology for his actions if he hadn't just been impaled for trying to take the Warlock King's place. Read that again. He decided the HE should be the Warlock King and failed to take out Big Dog. That is no kind of deathbed repentance I'd ever accept.
Manu Bennet's performance as the Warlock King is great. What's interesting is that in the episode his Allanon performance is better than it's ever been too. I think stretching brings out the best in that guy.
Fantastic episode. *****.
The Shannara Chronicles "Blood"
I love Jax's meta line of "If this is our last show, we're gonna make it a d*mn good one!"
It WAS good, but not great. I think killing off Allanon was a huge mistake as Manu Bennet is the biggest name on the show. Likewise fake killing off Will until the last few seconds gives the ending a morbid and morose feeling it should not have considering the heroes won. I love sad endings where the heroes win by sacrificing everything. But you need to save those sacrifices until the end of the series. You don't kill off half of the main cast by the end of Season 2. That's not smart. Like I said, Will's last-minute alive status is good, but as far as I'm concerned it should never have been in question to begin. That weakened how much I enjoyed the ending. I probably could have even accepted Allanon dying if they hadn't done that.
It amuses me that thousands of untold years in the Post-Nuclear Apocalyptic Future with Elves and Gnomes, "bad@$$" is still slang word. Jax also referring to Eretraya as "Girl" was nice too, because I'm glad Ebonics survived the Nuclear Holocaust.
The series being canceled is even more frustrating in hindsight. The producers are looking for another network, but I am not optimistic. Spike TV WAS the second-chance network. I don't see it coming back again on an even weaker tier channel than that.
Not a good episode to go out on. ***1/2.
Big Hero 6: The Series "Big Problem"
Ultra Armor? Mommy! Mommy! I want that!
Love Hiro going through all that trouble to invent a thermometer. For a genius that kid can be pretty dim.
I liked it. ***1/2.
Big Hero 6: The Series "Baymax Dreams Of Evil Sheep"
I seem to have seen similar sheep before but I can't for the life of me remember where. Maybe Serta?
Fun to see Baymax in 3-D again. ****.
Big Hero 6: The Series "Baymax Dreams Of Too Many Baymaxes"
The different colored Baymaxes with the different personalities reminded me of The Colors Of Raven from Teen Titans Go!. ****.
Big Hero 6: The Series "Baymax Dreams Of Bedbugs"
Scott Adsit's drunk Baymax voice is still hilarious. ***.
Muppet Babies "Grandpa Camp / A Backyard Divided"
Grandpa Camp:
I love Gozno painting a photograph of himself with two random elderly humans who are supposedly his grandparents.
Fozzie has never met his grandparents? Nuh-uh, Muppet Studios. You are NOT retconning A Muppet Family Christmas. Never. You only have that power if we let you have it. Unacceptable.
Will never get used to Statler and Waldorf being nice to Fozzie and thinking his jokes are funny.
Good cartoon. ****.
A Backyard Divided:
Summer makes a cute sandwich. ***.
Ben 10 "Alien Worlds: Shockrock"
It frustrates me to no end that the franchise does all of this mythology and world-building, and it never shows up in the actual badly-written and stupid show. What a waste of a bunch of cool concepts. ****.
Power Rangers Super Ninja Steel "Prepare To Fail"
Okay, I've been giving this show positive reviews for a couple of weeks. But the good thing about this weak episode is that the specific flaws it had are things I can actually discuss and go through instead of just saying "This show is stupid" and "Little kids deserve better." Both of those statements are still true. But I grok the problems in the episode better than most weeks.
First off, mea culpa. I love the premise. I love the premise so much I was very much expecting to love the episode. As far as Evil Villain plans go, lowering the heroes' expectations does not suck. Maybe if the Rangers were smarter they'd figure out what he was doing, but I didn't get it at first either, so maybe not. But it's smart and effective. It's also dirty, cowardly, makes the villain look bad, and is unnecessarily messy and complicated. This tactic is best used by a villain with precisely zero shame. Which is why I dug the idea in the first place.
But the episode just didn't deliver. Mostly for other reasons, but if you can't make something good work because of other reasons, that doesn't give you a free pass. If the small details are ruining the big picture of your show, it's the showrunner's responsibility to get those small details right.
Let's start off with my problems.
The fart scene. It kills me to say the following sentence, considering what utter trash the original series was, but this show's humor has seriously devolved. This is worse than Bulk and Skull at their stupidest and grossest. Frankly, I don't get who Victor and Monty are for. I get Mick appeals to little kids because he's cute. Ditto for Redbot. I suppose Victor and Monty are supposed to appeal to the kids who like gross-out jokes so long as they aren't the butt of them. They seem designed to appeal to the kids on the playground browbeating the unpopular kid into eating worms and egging him on while making him. Here's a novel opinion: That is not a healthy mindset for kids adults making a children's show should be feeding into. As bad as Bulk and Skull were (and they were bad) they were around long enough for the writers to give them some nuance and even positive qualities. Can you picture the same for Victor and Monty? Bulk and Skull's gimmick is that they are stupid. Victor and Monty are just horrible on every level.
And the teacher's solution for the gas masks ticked me off too. First off, where did she get them? No school should have those. Does she have them in her desk in case a kid is randomly eating a tin of beans? Because that's stupid. And you know what? If the smell really WAS that big of a problem, the test SHOULD have been postponed. Gas masks are bulky and uncomfortable, and you can barely see out of them. It is unfair to ask the kids in the class to concentrate on a writing assignment while wearing them. And you could accuse me of overthinking a show for toddlers. My response is so what? What is wrong about pointing out the logical fallacies of bad writing in kids show? Who said I wasn't allowed to do that simply because the show usually isn't geared me? Nobody, that's who.
I also resisted the idea of the teacher's moral about different tests having different difficulty levels being used to tie into the monster they were fighting. I know kids shows like to do that, but the good ones won't be so ham-fisted about it. Power Rangers is the show it's cool to like when you are in first grade. But I bet once you're in second grade it is a show for babies. And maybe that wouldn't be true if they didn't always lay it on so thick with that sort of thing. Just a thought.
The next complaint is something that can't be helped, (because it IS a show for toddlers) but because of the premise I notice it, and recognize it as a plothole. But the Rangers are never allowed to get injured on the show, even slightly. So when they come back after that epic defeat with their first ever retreat from a villain, it's jarring that they look perfectly fine, and J Crew model ready, with not a single strand of hair out of place. They are panting heavily, but I think heroes should probably be panting heavily after battles they've won and not taken a hit during too. I am well aware that the Rangers talking about how tough the monster is means precisely nothing in that moment.
The final complaint is the Skull Gators. And that was actually where the episode lost me. They were obviously short on time, and needed a last second twist. But it's totally Crab People, if South Park wasn't actually making fun of that trope, and were serious when they were revealed. It's just dumb, and out of nowhere, and completely tacked on, and totally phony.
So that's why this week sucked. I hope my review didn't. *.