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Post by fonebone on Jun 21, 2023 7:48:50 GMT -8
Secret Invasion "Resurrection"
I think it was equally good and bad. I am ultimately reserving judgment, but it was certainly an unusual opener for a Marvel Studios TV show. Generally for most of the TV output, the first episode is amazing and it quickly goes downhill in the ensuing weeks, until it's dreck. This was just so-so. And I also got the distinct feeling that like The Book Of Boba Fett, weekly episode drops are going to hurt it. This show strikes me as something that would be better received it it were able to be binged. As polarizing as The Book Of Boba Fett was, there is no doubt in my mind the entire thing would have been MUCH better received if all the episodes had been released at once. I think the same deal will probably be true for this show.
Let me offer a perspective you might not hear too much. The death of Maria Hill was not devastating or a way to raise the stakes. It was annoying. It was annoying how rarely that character has been used and how the show just wasted her as the cautionary tale. And here is where I differ from most of fiction. I do not believe killing off major characters for either shock value or to raise the stakes is a legitimate storytelling tactic. If you find yourself needing to do that to hold the viewer's interest, you literally have nothing else going on.
All these complaints being said, I imagine Marvel purists are unhappy about how Marvel Studios has portrayed the Skrulls in the Captain Marvel movie and here. Honestly? I don't like the comic book Skrulls. They are cheesy and their conquest jag is just pointless and stupid. Here, not only do the Skrulls have legitimate grievances, there are good Skrulls working for the heroes. I like Talos. I like him telling Gaia she has no business throwing bad judgment accusations at him while she was working for the people who killed her mother. He thought that would turn her but I think she's a lost cause.
I'll probably have a more solid opinion when the season is over. For now I can take it or leave it. ***.
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Post by fonebone on Jun 28, 2023 12:48:22 GMT -8
Secret Invasion "Promises"
Last week I sort of had a "wait and see" mentality, but I can now clearly see this isn't working. I mean, it's still early, and it COULD technically turn things around. But it won't. I can safely predict that. Pretty damn unlikely if you ask me.
I don't know WHAT the Hell they've done to Samuel L Jackson. Fury is played both damaged and understated now, which wrecks the entire appeal of Jackson hamming it up in the role. When he says "I'm Nick Fury, even when I'm out, I'm in," you should cheer. But it's the first type of line like that he's said on the series, so I cringe instead. Fury didn't make me believe he believed that. And I would understand making Fury quieter and more contemplative. On somebody's else's airtime. On his own damn show? It's inexcusable.
You forgot how old Jackson and Fury are until he reveals he lived through segregation. The characters in the MCU actually age in real time. Which is interesting.
That cheery British torturer woman alarms me. What frightens me most is that even though she appears to be on our side against the bad Skrulls, I am still certain she's a bad guy. I don't like much about the show. But it's refusal to take black and white stands about these kind of people is interesting.
Another Fury complaint. I can't believe he ordered Talos out of his traincar. Fury, Talos is the ONE ally you have left you cannot afford to alienate. You can lose Rhodey, you are still you. But pushing away the only shot humanity has, especially when it would actually simplify his life and his relationship with her daughter to betray you? That's crazy.
I thought it was interesting that when the show used Fury try to get solidarity for him and Rhodey for both being black men with power, for Rhodey to declare his power included firing those of their peer group not measuring up. I don't know if it feels like something a black man would say to another black man, which is why I'm iffy on it. But at least Rhodey is owning the fact that he's a d-word. I'll give him that much.
Fury is married to a Skrull? He must know. It would be more dramatically interesting if he did at any rate.
Are you like me? Do you not only dislike this show, but most of the projects, TV and film, in the current MCU? Do you think Kevin Feige has lost his touch? Do you want to commiserate over how much he sucks and what a failure he is?
Look elsewhere for that shoulder to cry on. Yes, I hate almost currently everything in the MCU right now. But I refuse to talk smack about Feige. It's amazing the whole thing held together for as long as it did. THAT is an accomplishment and nobody can take Endgame away from him The problem is there is too much stuff by too many different people now. No quality control. Too many cooks, so to speak. And I could blame Feige for that, but we got a string of awesome movies for awhile there, and just because the movies suck now doesn't stop the earlier movies from being awesome. I'd call that a win.
This isn't working. **1/2.
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Post by fonebone on Jul 5, 2023 2:15:21 GMT -8
Secret Invasion "Betrayed"
It didn't really do anything wrong. But it also didn't do anything right.
That is one of the worst episode titles I have ever seen. It sets negative expectations for the audience and makes every part of the episode, even the good stuff, impossible to enjoy. I have rarely seen such an incompetent episode title as this one. And a TON of genre shows have episodes called "Betrayed" or "Betrayal". Not a one of them did as wrong by that title as this episode did.
I like Fury and Talos' buddy cop thing they got going on. And I kind of loved that Fury just sat and took his abuse. Because the truth is, Fury has been doing wrong by his friend the entire time. He is so bad at the friendship he actually thinks Talos must have actually been tempted by Gravic's offer.
Is Gaia dead? Doubtful. Too soon and they wouldn't have cast Emilia Clarke is that was the end of it.
More or less so-so, but the episode title made it impossible to enjoy. I would have been frustrated because of that even if the episode had been good. Since it was mediocre, it's really quite unforgivable. **1/2.
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Post by fonebone on Jul 12, 2023 0:33:16 GMT -8
Secret Invasion "Beloved"
This feels like the first episode where Nick Fury feels like Nick Fury. Or at least Samuel L. Jackson is allowed to be Samuel L. Jackson.
I did not get the deal with Fury's Skrull wife. I thought he knew she was a Skrull. If that was so why would she need to replace Fury's wife? The problem with the show (and Skrulls in general) is that it can get so damn confusing. It is very hard to keep straight.
Rhodey is a Skrull. Where is OUR Rhodey? And do we get him back by the end of the miniseries?
I don't think Talos is dead. However there was something about the scene I thought was good for both him and the good guys. A soldier actually saw his alien face, Fury said he was with him, and the soldier believed him. Not only does that suggest humanity will not as intractable to the Skrulls as feared. But when the smoke clears and they see he and Fury saved Ritson, it gives Fury's story credibility. Which is the last thing Skrull Rhodey wants and needs for him.
Talos is surprised G'iah walked off upon hearing his "plan". I'm not. Because it's a sucky plan. I had assumed he had something better cooking with Fury. The fact that he did not is damning.
I'll tell you what I like about Fury. When he learns his wife has betrayed him, he confronts her immediately. He doesn't string her along or manipulate her to get further intelligence. He talks to her frankly and honestly, which says he's a better husband than he is saying he is.
The show is not gonna set the Marvel Cinematic Universe on-fire. But as far as episodes go, it was above average. ***1/2.
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Post by fonebone on Jul 19, 2023 3:03:34 GMT -8
Secret Invasion "Harvest"
Not feeling it.
One of the things I disliked most about both Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., but ESPECIALLY the Netflix stuff, is they'd take the most far-out Marvel concepts and "streamline" them, making them utterly ordinary and boring instead. And Marvel Studios has started to do that too. It started alarmingly with Ms. Marvel, and the liberties they took with her creative powers for budgetary reasons. But while part of me really loves and digs the idea that there are good and evil Skrulls, and that they aren't all conquerors, it feels like the premise is not superhero enough anymore.
I love that there was a mutiny with Gravik, and the decent Skrulls had had enough. But there was something to the notion from the comics and cartoons that the Skrulls were simply evil conquerors. I thought the take of refugee, friendly Skrulls in Captain Marvel was great. But I think this show trying to have it both ways weakens both concepts. I could have lived with good Skrulls populating the MCU. Or entirely evil Skrulls. Misguided Skrull bad guys? Takes a LOT of fun out of things.
I think Sonya is very funny, and has a delightfully warped sense of humor in deadly situations, so this classy British woman seems like a total badass. My problem is that I don't think she should be teaming up with Fury. A lot of her behavior is purely evil and unforgivable. In her own way she is as violent and dangerous as Kravik, and I don't like the fact that this episode means she will never be held to account for that, and treated like a Punisher-style antihero instead. I'm not happy about that. And yes, I find the character funny and charming. She is also despicable, and not somebody who should ever be redeemed.
I like that when G'iah said something horribly and personally rude to Priscilla, Priscilla called her on it. I think G'iah was under the mistaken impression that because her father wanted her cooperation so badly he was willing to tolerate her abuse, that that went for every single other Skrull on Fury's side. I like that she forgot she was dealing with people outside of her family drama, and that Priscilla gave her the proper level of shade deserved for her disrespect.
The eyepatch is back. Are we supposed to cheer? Because while I do struggle to understand why it's come back at all (it literally adds nothing to Fury's arsenal but a badass fashion statement) I struggle even more trying to understand why the show stopped using it in the first place. It was the defining thing about Nick Fury in both the MCU AND the comics, and if people are wondering why fans are resisting the low-key Fury Samuel L. Jackson is being asked to play for this show, that's Exhibit A.
By the way, Fury's bum eye isn't actually disfigured or disgusting. Why did he need an eyepatch to begin with then?
The Marvel Cinematic Universe was a truly remarkable thing for a few sustained years. Occasional bad movies and all, the overall quality and consistency was quite an achievement. I believe its best days are behind it at this point, but I again want to point out that shows as dull as this, and movies as dull as Quantumania cannot erase that specific achievement. I feel like critics and fans are gunning for the MCU because they smell blood in the water, and there is nothing quite like bashing a successful project, especially one as successful as the MCU. My opinion is the franchise's current failures do nothing to take away from those successes. And I think if people are claiming otherwise they need to check themselves. It's actually remarkable the franchise remained as good as it was, for as long as it did. In any other beloved franchise dreck like this show would have been common fifteen years ago. Quality cannot be sustained in huge genre franchises for long periods of time, when their are so many different cooks stirring the pot. Kevin Feige kept all the ingredients together until Endgame, and it's a shame it feel apart soon after. But I found that fact inevitable, and something that does not take away what an achievement those first Three Phases of movies were.
Where were we? Let me sum up the episode in one word: "Eh." **1/2.
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Post by fonebone on Jul 26, 2023 1:03:32 GMT -8
Secret Invasion "Home"
Like most of the Marvel Studios TV finales, it was underwhelming.
Also, it turns out Ritson is a monster. Fury called him a one-term President, in a direct shot against the bow at Trump, but I don't see his hateful, awful words that way. I'm betting his Presidency has the same trajectory as George W. Bush's. They were channeling the wrong awful President when Fury said that. Wartime Presidents who talk ill-conceived crap get reelected. That's just how it works.
Russia on the Ukrainian border? The episode is already dated a year ago, and because of the writers strike, they couldn't exactly fix it.
The reveal that the "dying" Fury was actually G'iah was both good and bad. First of all, I'm glad Fury isn't either dying or gaining superpowers. But despite Kravick pointing out she didn't recognize him, (which was the first clue she wasn't Fury), I think she, as Fury, said a LOT of things that she would have no way of knowing. You can say, "Fury gave her a script," but a LOT of it felt kind of personal, and not something Fury would trust to another person, especially one he didn't trust like G'iah. Honestly, I loved Kravick's rant about his regret of killing the guy with the family, and that being why he took his face. And I would have liked Fury to have been the one to hear it, because on some level, I think he needed to.
The end montage of vigilantes accidentally killing humans and Skrull "friendlies" (and getting their dumbs asses killed by competent Skrulls) shows the Idiocracy has finally hit the MCU too.
Sonya and G'iah coming to a "mutual using of each other" understanding isn't exactly what I'd call a happy ending.
As far as I'm concerned, the stuff with the Kree at the end wanting to make ANY kind of peace pushes Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. even further out of MCU canon than I already believed it was.
The end with Fury kissing "Priscilla" as a Skrull was supposed to be romantic, but it looked ridiculous. I Get What They Were Going For. But they should have seen it didn't play, and gone for a different moment.
No tag? Unusual, but I don't actually object. I'm tired of the tags.
Not great. But it's not like I expected it to be. The show's underwhelmingness has been consistent from the start. I am (sort of) pleased to report that it didn't actually disappoint me there. **1/2.
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