everyone must stand alone
Heads up, guys, the first episode of the new Avengers cartoon, Avengers Assemble, is up for free on iTunes (or it was last night anyway). It's no Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, at least not yet (and I thought that show took some time to find a groove), but it wasn't terrible. Too much Tony Stark, but I feel that way about everything that doesn't have RDJ in it. RDJ is what makes Tony palatable to me, and without him, I'm just like, "Ugh, can we cut to anybody else now (except Hank Pym)?" I liked A:EMH Tony just fine, but here it was too much.
I like the character redesigns for Hawkeye and Black Widow and Thor a lot. Hulk is Hulk (his bickering with Hawkeye and Thor endear him to me greatly). I'm not sure about Cap's new look yet. SAM is the best thing about the episode, though having him be Tony's protege instead of Steve's is a big WTF and also makes me feel like they are trying to shove Tony down my throat, which is a huge DNW. Also, Sam is the SENSIBLE ONE. I guess making him younger here and a SHIELD trainee instead of an adult social worker can account for that, but I like SAM being the sensible one while Bucky and Steve are all throwing themselves off buildings and out of planes at the drop of a hat and hoping someone (SAM. CAROL.) will catch them on the way down.
On the upside, they showed Tony being remarkably bad at leading a team, which feels pretty true to me, or even being on a team, which feels less so, since this isn't the first time they've worked together as the Avengers, though they do talk about why they disbanded the team (which seemed to be mostly because they couldn't get along with each other).
Anyway, it doesn't seem to have the same tics that made me quit watching Ultimate Spider-man, at least not yet. But it is a cliffhanger and part 2 isn't available (and I don't know when the show starts airing), so it's up to you whether to watch or not. (Which begs the question if A:EMH was canceled because Jeph Loeb wanted to do less serialized storytelling, WHY MAKE YOUR FIRST EPISODE A TWO-PARTER? Otoh, if it was canceled because they wanted to get the look more in line with the movieverse, then the character redesigns make more sense. And I guess they want to be able to cross USM over.)
Speaking of billionaire playboy superheroes, I finally watched the last two episodes of Arrow, and I gotta say, if you are looking for a show to catch up on this summer and you like superheroes, you could do a lot worse. It starts out rough, and there are certainly a bunch of clunker episodes along the way, but it's improved remarkably quickly and the showrunners appear to be willing to tinker on the fly to go with what works and minimize what doesn't.
Because I knew both Emily Bett Rickards and Manu Bennett had been promoted to regulars for s2 (\o/), I knew that they were both safe. I also am totally shipping Oliver/Felicity/Diggle in all permutations. And Slade/Ollie/Shado on Flashback Island. I didn't think any Slade Wilson could come close to Teen Titans Slade Wilson, but they've managed. I hope he just becomes an anti-hero and not an outright villain on this show because I enjoy him immensely. and I just adore Felicity. ♥
I am really sad about how uninteresting they've made Laurel in this show, even after they finally gave Tommy some real character growth - I did not expect him to die, I expected him to take over for his father as the Dark Archer after he spied Ollie and Laurel bumping uglies (more on that anon) but when he confronts Malcolm about the Undertaking - AND THEN HOLDS A GUN ON HIM INSTEAD OF JOINING HIM TO RULE THE GALAXY CITY - I was superimpressed with the show for subverting the obvious trope and also with Tommy as a character, which made it all the sadder when he died RESCUING LAUREL while Ollie couldn't be there.
Otoh, Ollie, what the hell? I mean, I get that he suddenly realized that he could 'retire' from vigilantism if he stopped the Undertaking, so he could be with Laurel after all, but maybe give Tommy a heads up on the change of heart, since he's your BFF and all and you JUST TOLD HIM to go to Laurel since you could never be with her!
I feel like this love triangle has been the least interesting part of the show, but they're determined to go with it because Laurel is Dinah and the comics are set on Dinah/Ollie (EVEN THOUGH DINAH/BABS IS THE TRUE OTP and Ollie is terrible for her), but ugh. It has not really worked at all, because 1. Laurel is really going to go back to the guy who got her sister killed? and 2. they haven't given Laurel all that much in the way of characterization.
I did think she was going to Canary Cry her way out of that rubble though. I liked that Tommy showed up to save her, because he did love her, and I did believe that, more than I've believed any of the Laurel/Ollie scenes in the present. So I was actually kinda sad to see Tommy go, when previously I hadn't really cared much for the character.
Otoh, I didn't like that Laurel went running out of the building without making sure Tommy was right with her. I also didn't like Thea just driving away from Roy as he helped rescue the people on the fiery bus. I also didn't like all the heavyhanded musical cues, especially in the finale. Oh my god, stop with the portentous hero music! We get it! But those are pretty much my only complaints here. I liked that Roy got an actual heroic moment, though I really hope that both he AND Thea get to be Ollie's sidekicks. She does have wicked aim, after all. (Also, I think this is the first time I noticed that Moira's maiden name was Dearden. MIA DEARDEN SHOUTOUT.)
I LOVED that Moira went to the press with the news and undercut the plan. I've liked what they've done with her all season and Susanna Thompson is always great in these roles (Queen Rose!). My heart broke for her when Walter left - WALTER NO, DON'T GO! I like his calming influence.
I also really liked Barrowman in these two episodes - his "oh, no" when he discovered Ollie was the Hood, and then his totally batshit monologue to Tommy were excellent moments for the character. Maybe he's not really dead? Though if so, that undercuts some of the poignancy of Ollie telling Tommy he didn't kill his father. I thought Stephen Amell really sold that moment, too, and I really believed his crying over Tommy's body. He's come quite far as an actor this season, I think.
Plus, FINALLY AN INTELLIGENT SUPERVILLAIN WHO BELIEVES IN REDUNDANCY. I was really surprised that even though they thought they stopped the Undertaking, they really didn't. They only mitigated the effects. That was a real HOLY CRAP moment in an episode full of HOLY CRAP moments.
Lastly, holy shit but the salmon ladder pays off with that climbing the chain bit. That was something else.
so yeah, there were some missteps, but this show really impressed me this season, considering it is a superhero show on the CW, with all the limitations that entails.
***
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/570302.html.
people have commented there.
I like the character redesigns for Hawkeye and Black Widow and Thor a lot. Hulk is Hulk (his bickering with Hawkeye and Thor endear him to me greatly). I'm not sure about Cap's new look yet. SAM is the best thing about the episode, though having him be Tony's protege instead of Steve's is a big WTF and also makes me feel like they are trying to shove Tony down my throat, which is a huge DNW. Also, Sam is the SENSIBLE ONE. I guess making him younger here and a SHIELD trainee instead of an adult social worker can account for that, but I like SAM being the sensible one while Bucky and Steve are all throwing themselves off buildings and out of planes at the drop of a hat and hoping someone (SAM. CAROL.) will catch them on the way down.
On the upside, they showed Tony being remarkably bad at leading a team, which feels pretty true to me, or even being on a team, which feels less so, since this isn't the first time they've worked together as the Avengers, though they do talk about why they disbanded the team (which seemed to be mostly because they couldn't get along with each other).
Anyway, it doesn't seem to have the same tics that made me quit watching Ultimate Spider-man, at least not yet. But it is a cliffhanger and part 2 isn't available (and I don't know when the show starts airing), so it's up to you whether to watch or not. (Which begs the question if A:EMH was canceled because Jeph Loeb wanted to do less serialized storytelling, WHY MAKE YOUR FIRST EPISODE A TWO-PARTER? Otoh, if it was canceled because they wanted to get the look more in line with the movieverse, then the character redesigns make more sense. And I guess they want to be able to cross USM over.)
Speaking of billionaire playboy superheroes, I finally watched the last two episodes of Arrow, and I gotta say, if you are looking for a show to catch up on this summer and you like superheroes, you could do a lot worse. It starts out rough, and there are certainly a bunch of clunker episodes along the way, but it's improved remarkably quickly and the showrunners appear to be willing to tinker on the fly to go with what works and minimize what doesn't.
Because I knew both Emily Bett Rickards and Manu Bennett had been promoted to regulars for s2 (\o/), I knew that they were both safe. I also am totally shipping Oliver/Felicity/Diggle in all permutations. And Slade/Ollie/Shado on Flashback Island. I didn't think any Slade Wilson could come close to Teen Titans Slade Wilson, but they've managed. I hope he just becomes an anti-hero and not an outright villain on this show because I enjoy him immensely. and I just adore Felicity. ♥
I am really sad about how uninteresting they've made Laurel in this show, even after they finally gave Tommy some real character growth - I did not expect him to die, I expected him to take over for his father as the Dark Archer after he spied Ollie and Laurel bumping uglies (more on that anon) but when he confronts Malcolm about the Undertaking - AND THEN HOLDS A GUN ON HIM INSTEAD OF JOINING HIM TO RULE THE GALAXY CITY - I was superimpressed with the show for subverting the obvious trope and also with Tommy as a character, which made it all the sadder when he died RESCUING LAUREL while Ollie couldn't be there.
Otoh, Ollie, what the hell? I mean, I get that he suddenly realized that he could 'retire' from vigilantism if he stopped the Undertaking, so he could be with Laurel after all, but maybe give Tommy a heads up on the change of heart, since he's your BFF and all and you JUST TOLD HIM to go to Laurel since you could never be with her!
I feel like this love triangle has been the least interesting part of the show, but they're determined to go with it because Laurel is Dinah and the comics are set on Dinah/Ollie (EVEN THOUGH DINAH/BABS IS THE TRUE OTP and Ollie is terrible for her), but ugh. It has not really worked at all, because 1. Laurel is really going to go back to the guy who got her sister killed? and 2. they haven't given Laurel all that much in the way of characterization.
I did think she was going to Canary Cry her way out of that rubble though. I liked that Tommy showed up to save her, because he did love her, and I did believe that, more than I've believed any of the Laurel/Ollie scenes in the present. So I was actually kinda sad to see Tommy go, when previously I hadn't really cared much for the character.
Otoh, I didn't like that Laurel went running out of the building without making sure Tommy was right with her. I also didn't like Thea just driving away from Roy as he helped rescue the people on the fiery bus. I also didn't like all the heavyhanded musical cues, especially in the finale. Oh my god, stop with the portentous hero music! We get it! But those are pretty much my only complaints here. I liked that Roy got an actual heroic moment, though I really hope that both he AND Thea get to be Ollie's sidekicks. She does have wicked aim, after all. (Also, I think this is the first time I noticed that Moira's maiden name was Dearden. MIA DEARDEN SHOUTOUT.)
I LOVED that Moira went to the press with the news and undercut the plan. I've liked what they've done with her all season and Susanna Thompson is always great in these roles (Queen Rose!). My heart broke for her when Walter left - WALTER NO, DON'T GO! I like his calming influence.
I also really liked Barrowman in these two episodes - his "oh, no" when he discovered Ollie was the Hood, and then his totally batshit monologue to Tommy were excellent moments for the character. Maybe he's not really dead? Though if so, that undercuts some of the poignancy of Ollie telling Tommy he didn't kill his father. I thought Stephen Amell really sold that moment, too, and I really believed his crying over Tommy's body. He's come quite far as an actor this season, I think.
Plus, FINALLY AN INTELLIGENT SUPERVILLAIN WHO BELIEVES IN REDUNDANCY. I was really surprised that even though they thought they stopped the Undertaking, they really didn't. They only mitigated the effects. That was a real HOLY CRAP moment in an episode full of HOLY CRAP moments.
Lastly, holy shit but the salmon ladder pays off with that climbing the chain bit. That was something else.
so yeah, there were some missteps, but this show really impressed me this season, considering it is a superhero show on the CW, with all the limitations that entails.
***
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/570302.html.
people have commented there.