Aside from last episode, I've had very few complaints about this season. That is, until now. I was looking forward to Jenny's return, but it just so happens that her return accompanies the worst episode so far this season. And I do use "worst" as opposed to saying "least good" because this episode has some problems.
Oh yeah, my review on Chapter Six didn't go up until the day before Chapter Seven came out, so we'll see how long it takes for IMDb to post this one.
For starters, I understand where they're going with Rick's storyline, and it's probably gonna lead to him giving up his powers for good. The problem with this just stems from the fact that they play it up too much. Rick's historically had a self-control problem, nobody's denying that. But by now his character should've moved past that since it was an issue majorly present in season 1 when he was angry all the time.
Then we get to Todd. The actor does a fine job in the role, but this character is so underwritten you'd think he was Eclipso. Weirdly enough, Jenny didn't have this problem when she was introduced. Some people saw her as Mary Sue-ish, and I can understand that to a point, but not every character that's mild mannered is a Mary Sue. Even if you wanna say "Oh no, Mary Sue Jade is back this season", don't worry, they gave her an attitude and a bit of backbone this time around. And considering that she's been hanging out with the smarm-king Shade for the last week or so, I can understand her annoyance. Point being, Jenny doesn't have the same problem Todd does. Todd isn't really treated as a character here. Maybe that will change in the next episode, but the only things we find out about him here is that he's gay and homeless, which are not character traits. I'm not saying that he needs to be some incredibly deep character right off the bat, but give us something to relate to. Is he a little bit jaded at the world because he's been living off presumably nothing since Alan Scott and his wife separated? Is his outlook more optimistic than it should be because he's trying to raise the money to see his sister again? Does it constantly feel like his head's in the clouds because he's a creative kid that's constantly imagining better scenarios for himself? That's all we really need for a base level of characterization so that he doesn't feel like a plot device.
And yes, I do expect it to get revealed that Mr. Bones and Helix were responsible for the Gambler's death, because this was the first episode that really felt like we lost the murder plot entirely. Not to mention that Helix answers all the questions about the murder without any of the intrigue. And I totally called this in my review of "Frenemies - Chapter Three: The Blackmail" when I said "I think the killer is going to be... A character we won't see until they're revealed to the audience that somehow ties up all loose ends." Although, to be fair, there was no way to continually keep the audience guessing when the entire message of the season is that nobody is beyond redemption, hence the season's subtitle being "Frenemies".
However, the episode is good in a lot of superficial ways. The CGI on this show is still great, especially on Mr. Bones' skull and that shot of the shadow creatures near the end of the episode. Not only does Keith David give a very "Keith David" performance as Mr. Bones (not as subtly menacing as Kevin-Michael Richardson's Tombstone in Spectacular Spider-Man, but the cadence in the voice is very similar), but the CG model on his face looks fantastic! And at the end when you start to see the shadows crawling out of the table Todd was being experimented on, the way they move, especially the main one, looks so ominous how it reaches for the air and tries to pull itself free. God that was a good-looking shot!
And on a non-superficial level, this is undeniably Yolanda's best episode this season. It's unclear as to whether she got kicked out or she left, but that scene of her showing up at the Whitmore-Dugan house almost had me tearing up. Maybe we can finally get the Yolanda from seasons 1 and 2 back as opposed to the high-and-mighty version of her we've been seeing so far this season.
And by the way, Yolanda's mom is just the worst! Yolanda didn't share her pictures to the entire school, Cindy did. So the only thing Yolanda's guilty of is liking a boy. So why is her mom still treating her like she's less than dirt? It baffles me that we have literal supervillains like Icicle and the Crocks that are better parents than Yolanda's mom on this show! And just for the record, the only parent on this show worse than Yolanda's mom is Dragon King. You know, the one that turned his daughter into a monster just like him because he felt like it, who made his daughter kill her own mother, and who would gas his daughter as a child because "it always calmed her". I just think it's hilarious that it takes *literally gassing your kid* to be worse than Yolanda's mom.
Another positive was the scene between Zeek and Jakeem. Jakeem is still barely a character at the best of times (seriously, the pink pen that's had its voice recasted is more of a character than the pen's wielder), but I liked getting to know more about Zeek (who just has the craziest stories that you'll honestly never know whether or not they're true) and about how the Thunderbolt's wishes work. In season 2 we found out that you had to be specific, but now we've learned that you also have to wish with confidence in your voice. Mike never had that problem because every time he wished he was confident that it would work (except for at the end when he said "I just kinda wish it was in better hands", which I still think shouldn't count as a wish), so it's great to learn that additional caveat.
This was overall probably my least favorite episode this season. I liked some of the small stuff, notably Yolanda's story and every single line that the Shade says (I wasn't sold on Jonathan Cake at first, but he was absolutely the right guy to play the Shade), but a lot of the big stuff in the episode was what tripped me up. Seems like while things are looking up on the Yolanda front, and while the season's finally introduced us to Todd Rice, it may have been at the detriment to the season's pacing.
6 / 10.
Oh yeah, my review on Chapter Six didn't go up until the day before Chapter Seven came out, so we'll see how long it takes for IMDb to post this one.
For starters, I understand where they're going with Rick's storyline, and it's probably gonna lead to him giving up his powers for good. The problem with this just stems from the fact that they play it up too much. Rick's historically had a self-control problem, nobody's denying that. But by now his character should've moved past that since it was an issue majorly present in season 1 when he was angry all the time.
Then we get to Todd. The actor does a fine job in the role, but this character is so underwritten you'd think he was Eclipso. Weirdly enough, Jenny didn't have this problem when she was introduced. Some people saw her as Mary Sue-ish, and I can understand that to a point, but not every character that's mild mannered is a Mary Sue. Even if you wanna say "Oh no, Mary Sue Jade is back this season", don't worry, they gave her an attitude and a bit of backbone this time around. And considering that she's been hanging out with the smarm-king Shade for the last week or so, I can understand her annoyance. Point being, Jenny doesn't have the same problem Todd does. Todd isn't really treated as a character here. Maybe that will change in the next episode, but the only things we find out about him here is that he's gay and homeless, which are not character traits. I'm not saying that he needs to be some incredibly deep character right off the bat, but give us something to relate to. Is he a little bit jaded at the world because he's been living off presumably nothing since Alan Scott and his wife separated? Is his outlook more optimistic than it should be because he's trying to raise the money to see his sister again? Does it constantly feel like his head's in the clouds because he's a creative kid that's constantly imagining better scenarios for himself? That's all we really need for a base level of characterization so that he doesn't feel like a plot device.
And yes, I do expect it to get revealed that Mr. Bones and Helix were responsible for the Gambler's death, because this was the first episode that really felt like we lost the murder plot entirely. Not to mention that Helix answers all the questions about the murder without any of the intrigue. And I totally called this in my review of "Frenemies - Chapter Three: The Blackmail" when I said "I think the killer is going to be... A character we won't see until they're revealed to the audience that somehow ties up all loose ends." Although, to be fair, there was no way to continually keep the audience guessing when the entire message of the season is that nobody is beyond redemption, hence the season's subtitle being "Frenemies".
However, the episode is good in a lot of superficial ways. The CGI on this show is still great, especially on Mr. Bones' skull and that shot of the shadow creatures near the end of the episode. Not only does Keith David give a very "Keith David" performance as Mr. Bones (not as subtly menacing as Kevin-Michael Richardson's Tombstone in Spectacular Spider-Man, but the cadence in the voice is very similar), but the CG model on his face looks fantastic! And at the end when you start to see the shadows crawling out of the table Todd was being experimented on, the way they move, especially the main one, looks so ominous how it reaches for the air and tries to pull itself free. God that was a good-looking shot!
And on a non-superficial level, this is undeniably Yolanda's best episode this season. It's unclear as to whether she got kicked out or she left, but that scene of her showing up at the Whitmore-Dugan house almost had me tearing up. Maybe we can finally get the Yolanda from seasons 1 and 2 back as opposed to the high-and-mighty version of her we've been seeing so far this season.
And by the way, Yolanda's mom is just the worst! Yolanda didn't share her pictures to the entire school, Cindy did. So the only thing Yolanda's guilty of is liking a boy. So why is her mom still treating her like she's less than dirt? It baffles me that we have literal supervillains like Icicle and the Crocks that are better parents than Yolanda's mom on this show! And just for the record, the only parent on this show worse than Yolanda's mom is Dragon King. You know, the one that turned his daughter into a monster just like him because he felt like it, who made his daughter kill her own mother, and who would gas his daughter as a child because "it always calmed her". I just think it's hilarious that it takes *literally gassing your kid* to be worse than Yolanda's mom.
Another positive was the scene between Zeek and Jakeem. Jakeem is still barely a character at the best of times (seriously, the pink pen that's had its voice recasted is more of a character than the pen's wielder), but I liked getting to know more about Zeek (who just has the craziest stories that you'll honestly never know whether or not they're true) and about how the Thunderbolt's wishes work. In season 2 we found out that you had to be specific, but now we've learned that you also have to wish with confidence in your voice. Mike never had that problem because every time he wished he was confident that it would work (except for at the end when he said "I just kinda wish it was in better hands", which I still think shouldn't count as a wish), so it's great to learn that additional caveat.
This was overall probably my least favorite episode this season. I liked some of the small stuff, notably Yolanda's story and every single line that the Shade says (I wasn't sold on Jonathan Cake at first, but he was absolutely the right guy to play the Shade), but a lot of the big stuff in the episode was what tripped me up. Seems like while things are looking up on the Yolanda front, and while the season's finally introduced us to Todd Rice, it may have been at the detriment to the season's pacing.
6 / 10.
