Legends of Tomorrow S01E02 Review: Awesomeness

Legends of Tomorrow, Season 1, Episode 2: Pilot, Part 2

Beyond the fact that neither Rip Hunter nor Ray Palmer stood out much this episode, it really addressed a lot of the problems that the first part of the pilot had, and ended up living up to its potential. Now not having to do a rushed, pacing-destroying recap of all the members of the group, the show is given ample room to breathe and actually tell its story.

Team Legends spends their time in 1975, though once more the team gets split up a couple of ways. We deal a lot with time-travel this episode, hilariously funny because the Flash this week also dealt with the ramifications of changing the timeline. Well, while the moral of the Flash is that you can't forcibly make changes to the timeline, that's the ultimate goal of Team Legends. And while they managed to at least minimize damage to the timeline this time around, their little time-traveling crusade claims a casualty as Hawkman dies!

Well, no big loss there. Hawkman's easily the least interesting of the group, especially when he proves himself quite useless and kind of a jerk. Not only does he barely react to his son's death last episode despite theoretically remembering him, he also makes advances towards Kendra when they should be figuring out how to get Kendra to meditate and learn how to use the magic knife to kill Vandal Savage. Also, Hawkman's excuse for not knowing of the language on the dagger (itself ending up to be a sappy love poem) ends up to not really quite hold. 'It's a language known to the clerics'? Carter, you've lived 4000 years, you're telling me Chay-Ara never taught you that language at all? Doubtful that this is the last we'll see of Hawkman since reincarnation and everything, but we did the threefold way of removing a character that didn't really work, creating a martyr figure for the team to rally around, and delivering a big sacrifice to raise the stakes. 

But other than that, the episode focused a lot on characterization. It doesn't quite touch on everyone quite as well, and not all of them worked (RE: Carter Hall), and both Heatwave and Rip Hunter aren't really doing that much, but everyone gets their moment to shine and develop. None moreso than Martin Stein, though Captain Cold does give him a run for his money.

Stein's scenes just utterly shine throughout the episode. From the moment he walked on stage in this episode just threatening the random TerroristCon guard with historical knowledge (and earning him the respect of Heatwave) and just hamming it up in what is easily my favourite Martin Stein moment of all time, to the sub-plot of him having to hunt down his younger self to get the Alpha Particle Scanner that his younger self had (apparently the Waverider doesn't have the capability?)... and meeting his younger self! At first it's just good fun as Stein's younger self is just this super-brilliant bong-smoking dude who keeps hitting on Sara (and has thick luxurious hair) it ends up being a bit of an introspection moment for the older Stein as he is filled with self-loathing over how little he hasn't changed over the years, how he's still an arrogant prick who thinks he has all the answers -- and he points to his grandstanding earlier in the episode as clear evidence of that. Huh.

The older Martin Stein also very nearly had his entire marriage annulled by interacting with his younger self (who followed Team Legends to the Waverider and missed his first meeting with Clarissa), and I have to admit, it would be an easy sacrifice to make for the show-writers, with the loss of Martin Stein's marriage going to factor extremely heavily onto Stein's character and be a huge loss, but they don't have to kill anyone to do it. The prospect of Stein losing his marriage actually affected me more than the actual death of Carter Hall, I can't lie.

Sara and Jax plays off well the older and younger Martin Steins, and Jax's talks of encouragements to the older Martin Stein is well-written, and we finally address the fact that Stein basically abducted Jax against his wishes. Sara... still doesn't do much other than swapping the Rogues for the Firestorm Duo as the ones she hung around with, but she does get a couple of starring roles as she teases the older Stein because his younger self keeps hitting on her, and she does beat up a bunch of Savage's thug single-handedly.

Captain Cold also steals the show, even if his storyline isn't quite as tragic and self-introspective as Martin Stein. Cold just owns every scene he shows up in, from talking to the guard to TerroristCon, or planning a heist, or simply interacting with the novice do-gooder Ray Palmer. He's finally gotten back the smooth charm from the Flash that he kinda lacks in the first episode, and he plays off Ray Palmer quite well. We get a bit of an impression that Cold is more concerned about actually making a mark with his heists instead of just making money, we get more references to the asshole of a father he had... and, y'know, he's just awesome all around. 

Ray is a bit less so. He gets to learn that he can't just cock his way through everything and has to actually leave some things to the experts -- like breaking and entering -- as well as ending up causing a big temporal flux by dropping a chunk of his suit in the 70's... but otherwise I still don't really think Ray got adequate screentime or characterization. The miniaturization effects were still cool, though, even if it's lower-budget than Ant-Man. Oh well, we still have an entire season to go. 

Kendra also gets to rant about how Carter shouldn't let destiny decide that they have to fall in love together (even if Kendra ends up falling for Carter in the end for... some reasons I don't understand) and it's a nice scene for her when she's just trying to meditate and solve how to use the magic Aman Dagger while Carter's more concerned that Kendra has remembered them having sexytimes and seems to want to re-enact said scene. We get the twist that the dagger's power has to be wielded by Kendra to actually finish off Vandal Savage, which is cool. And leads to Carter's death. Whoops.

Savage himself is still a pretty effective villain. He's just full of gravitas and works quite well for me, being a real threat especially when he establishes his credo as a hero killer. Making him immune to, well, everything other than Kendra's dagger ends up being a bit cheap of a way to take him down, but as this show proves, an Atom suit blast to the face can sure as hell slow Vandal Savage down, and I bet being nuclear-blasted to the face would hurt a hell lot to Savage as well. We'll see just what the full scope of Savage's powers are, however. Back during Arrow/Flash he had these magic tricks which he hasn't exactly shown now. Still, I like Savage. He's cool.

Damien Darhk, all dressed up Blofeld-like, shows up unexpectedly in the 70's, looking as old as he did in Arrow of the present day! Blood rituals? Demonic immortality? Lazarus Pit? Whatever the case, it's a welcome cameo, and not one that ended up being a big 'what is this all about' like Claire Temple's cameo in Jessica Jones. Darhk shows up, does some Darhk things, doesn't overstay his welcome, and leaves.

The action scenes in this episode are likewise awesome. The big superhero throwdown in the VillainCon thing (already awesome because of Martin Stein hamming it up), the other big superhero throwdown in Vandal Savage's holiday home, Sara Lance beating the fuck out of the random scientist goons... it's just fun all around. 

The Flash S02E011 Review: Zooms and Reverse-Flashes, Oh My

The Flash, Season 2, Episode 11: The Reverse-Flash Returns

This was an episode which I wasn't sure would be handled well. I guessed correctly that the Eobard Thawne/Reverse-Flash that showed up at the post-credits scene last episode was Eobard Thawne when he first time-jumped into the past to do battle with the Flash, one of the first times in his career as a time-travelling supervillain instead of his final gambit in season one. It's beautifully complicated, but it definitely makes sense. The Eobard Thawne here has not experienced everything that we have in season one, and it's kind of a temporal echo where everything that Thawne did (from Thawne's point of view) needs to have happened for him to go back to the past (in Thawne's future, stick with me here), kill Barry's mother and masquerade as Harrison Wells, thus leading to the whole events of Flash season one and his eventual death. But what about Eddie Thawne's death and Eobard Thawne being erased from the timeline and shit? Well, Harry Wells made up something about temporal echoes and alternate splinter timelines, so that's what we're going with.

In any case, this episode gave us a wonderful origin story to the Reverse-Flash, allowing a villain of credible threat to return as a recurring villain in the future. It's a great way to reuse the Reverse-Flash, and the fact that this is a very faithful adaptation of a more 'classic' Eobard Thawne compared to the far more engaging Harrison Wells Evil Mentor Life Destroyer we got in the first season is a nice touch. Eobard Thawne here relates his extremely comic-book backstory, that he idolized the Flash, only to learn that he's destined to be a villain, so he said 'fuck it' and became a villain. It's like it's taken from a DC character book or something! Eobard Thawne really can't hold a candle to the sheer charisma of his season 1 counterpart, but few villains can. And Thawne's role as the villain of the week was particularly great. It's a bit disappointing, perhaps, in that it ends up being a pretty self-contained episode and not a big game-changer like it was hyped up to be (Zoom, again, is a no-show) but hey.

Barry's interactions with Thawne was great, even if he might have inadvertently caused Thawne to learn so much more regarding the fastest man alive. Cisco and Harry Wells also get some really great lines and interactions with the rather confused but still standard evil Thawne, showing that even when this Thawne is utterly inexperienced and was beaten by Barry in less than a scuffle, he still carries enough gravitas and caused-slash-will-cause enough psychological damage to totally fuck up our heroes.

Also Dr. Tina McGee shows up to do stuff! She's cool. I like her. 

Barry also has to struggle with the fact that he has to send Thawne back to the future because Thawne is involved in this insane time loop system (which may or may not hold up to the time travel rules in Legends of Tomorrow, we'll see) and Thawne being locked up in their basement instead of travelling back to the future changes the timeline significantly enough to nearly cause Cisco to disappear. Barry did end up throwing Thawne back to the future, but he did save McGee from dying. We'll see if this ends up having ramifications, or if it's just something inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. 

Speaking of Cisco, he got a bit of a superpower upgrade thanks to Harry Wells figuring out that adrenaline is the thing that causes his Vibe powers to be activated, and created these cool sunglasses (based on his comic counterpart's sunglasses) that will cause him to better Vibe things. I don't think we got any easter eggs in the montage of stuff that Cisco vibed in this episode, though.

Iris and Wally get a rather decent, inoffensive side-plot. Iris is so much better utilized when she's not bogged down with nonsensical, borderline-incestuous love triangles, isn't she? The bit with Iris and Wally eventually reconciling with their dying mother and forgiving her is something that you could see from a mile away, but it was done well, without much fanfare but without glossing over it. 

Oh, and Patty, despite going away last episode, is still around. To go away again. Her storyline is getting exhaustive, and Barry ends up just looking like a gigantic tool. He's all like "aw, I didn't get a chance to tell her" at the end of last episode, and when Patty shows up with dialogue that's almost literally "tell me, I'm giving you a chance now before I leave" Barry... decides to pussy out again. And then Patty calls Barry out on some fake threat and ends up figuring out the identity anyway. It's boring, and honestly a bit of distraction from far more interesting stuff, but hopefully it's over and done with. Bye, Patty. Don't come back.

Even moreso than Patty, I don't care much about the Jay/Caitlin nonsense romance, but we did get a gigantic bombshell dropped upon us that Jay's Earth-1 counterpart... has changed his name. And he is... HUNTER ZOLOMON! Who will sound like a stupid name for anyone who isn't familiar with the comics, but Hunter Zolomon is the alter-ego of Zoom from the comics, who is radically different than the Zoom here. Time will tell where this big plot twist will go, but it's definitely a moment that made me go "whaaaaaaaaaat?!" as it's a clever little plot twist that doesn't seem to be pulled out of the writers' ass. 

Overall, a pretty great episode, despite my whinings. I just wish we get a bit more Zoom, because comparing the positions of the first and second seasons, Zoom still is nowhere the credible threat like Reverse-Flash was. Hopefully he gets better. 

One Piece 814 Review: Assassin Prince

One Piece, Chapter 814: Let's Go See Master Nekomamushi

Drum Kingdom's new soldier hats have Chopper antlers! That's funny. We see Kureha and Dalton, who probably won't really ever show up in the manga ever again other than in montages like this. Which is a shame. Kureha's one of my favourite one-off islander character.

This chapter is alright. It's mostly just characters talking, and introducing us to Nekomamushi properly when he's not in his angry 'kill the intruder' mode. He's quite smart and able, evidently, and respects the Straw Hats a great deal, as we see the short flashback after Sanji and Capone went away, noting that the remaining Straw Hats evidently had something personal happen, and tells Carrot to stay out of their business when they clearly don't want/need their help. Nekomamushi, despite being a big scary lion-man samurai... is distracted by catnip. And balls. And despite Brook trying to talk him up earlier in the chapter, Nekomamushi's a bit of a fun character. 

Luffy, Brook and Nami discuss a bit about Sanji's wedding, which is basically what we got last chapter, but emphasized. Luffy's fine with the idea of Sanji getting married, but not that they would be Big Mom's underlings... and less okay with the idea that Sanji will not return. I like how Luffy keeps hitting the giant crocodile mount they were riding on without even noticing it. Robin notes that she had heard the name Vinsmoke before, and Brook... is just silent. We got a reaction out of him last chapter, but he apparently is keeping mum (probably because he doesn't have lips. Yohoho!) for whatever reasons.

Zoro, meanwhile, is in "who cares" mode. He for whatever reason sees Sanji leaving as being ungrateful and causing problems for the group, which is hilarious. But Zoro does make a good point, noting how they've angered Kaidou due to their actions in Punk Hazard and Dressrosa, also noting that the confrontation with Kaidou is close considering that the Minks and the samurai are involved as well. The last thing they would want to happen is, y'know, picking a fight with another Yonkou. Even though Luffy already did it at the end of Mermaid Island. Zoro and Nami argue a bit about Sanji's fault in all this, Luffy wants to just charge in, while the rest of the crew has more logic than that.

They arrive at Nekomamushi's realm to talk to Pekoms, and we meet Pedro the jaguar, who we briefly met before as the unseen master of the cow and gorilla that fought Luffy earlier in this arc. They lead the Straw Hats to Nekomamushi, who's eating Lasanga in what can only be a reference to Garfield. Nekomamushi's just a fun ditz, while still being competent enough to give our heroes some information. No wonder he and Brook get along well. 

Also Chopper's got a deer mink girlfriend! Maybe. He likes her, at least.

The Straw Hats meet Pekoms (or Peko-mamushi as Luffy calls him um what) and Pekoms reveals to us that the Vinsmoke family... is a family of assassins in the underworld. So, 'Prince'... was way completely off the course and all the speculations that we've made over the years? Prince of a kingdom, son of a Celestial Dragon... all of that... is just quashed as Sanji is apparently a member of the biggest assassin's guild in the One Piece world. Woo curveballs! One Piece, you crazy manga, never stop surprising us. 

Agent Carter S02E02 Review: Zero Matter

Agent Carter, Season 2, Episode 2: A View in the Dark

Still a lot of fun and far more interesting than the first season of Agent Carter was at this point in its life. We get straight to the point with the whole Isodyne conspiracy, revealing that Chadwick is a member of a secretive Council which may or may not be Hydra/AncientHydra (whose only other member is the underwhelmingly-named 'Tom'), but Chadwick himself seemed to not be the brains of the outfit, and rather the more active beast among the pair is Whitney Frost herself. Chadwick gets dismissed by the Council who appreciate having a senator among their members more than, well, anything about the Zero Matter project that he put a lot of resources and time into... though, as Frost points out, it is Chadwick's womanizing that apparently put him into all this business, even if I'm not quite sure what Chadwick banging Jane Scott has got to do with Jane Scott touching the Zero Matter.

 We also get some backstory regarding the black goop courtesy of Jason Wilkes, who helps Peggy out. The black goop is named Zero Matter apparently, which is this mysterious crack in the universe that resulted in Isodyne's atomic tests... which then proceeded to suck up a crapton of tanks and soldiers before becoming, well, a goop. That absorbs everything around it unless held in place by all the special harness and whatnot. By the end of this episode the Zero Matter explodes, seemingly consuming both Wilkes and Frost, but since Frost is revealed to be alive, albeit a Zero Matter crack on her forehead... things are going to get interesting. This is certainly a plot that could rival the likes of Agents of SHIELD instead of some spy stuff... which, while certainly interesting, is extremely underwhleming compared to everything else running along in this universe.

We get a bit more romance on the Peggy front. She seems quite accepting of Sousa finding his love of his life -- though to be fair the nurse and Peggy got it off almost immediately. Sousa seemed to be pretty sure too, intent on popping the question that night until Peggy's SOS (to Jarvis, admittedly) caused him to completely lose everything and go ballistic. I do hope we don't get too exhaustive with this little 'does Sousa have a torch for Peggy' arc. Peggy herself seemed to really like Wilkes during the short time they were together, and I found it pretty decently done even if Wilkes is written to be pretty flirty from the get-go the two actors do have some decent chemistry for Peggy to mourn his death.

(This is the MCU, though. Wilkes will probably return as a metahuman soon)

We also get some nice, far more subtle yet still present addressing of sexism in the era, most notably to Whitney Frost, who in her day job has to struggle at being a slightly older lady actor, having to deal with an actor who disparages her body shape and age to her face. Way more subtle while still being pretty prominent of showing how women are discriminated against instead of... well, everything Supergirl does. Meanwhile, when she's not doing her day job, she apparently is far more active than Chadwick is, going off and threatening doctors with a gun to hand over liquid black hole. Wilkes himself also gets to deal with being a black man in the 40's, briefly dropping the fact that no other company would have his kind as a scientist, and that random eclair-selling douchebag refusing to even talk to him. 

We get a couple of decent action scenes, and a fair amount of cool scenes with both Jarvis and Anna... including Jarvis lifting weights while dressed like someone about to participate in Smackdown to battling with Bernard the flamingo. They don't appear as much as the first episode with the focus on Peggy and Wilkes, but are still a pair of fun characters to be around especially when they deliver comedy in small doses. We don't get anything from Jack's end of the story which I don't mind because I honestly don't care.

Overall a pretty decent episode, quickly setting up all the sci-fi bits. Again, far more eager to start telling the story about Zero Matter and the Council and everything, still fun, still solid and a vast improvement over the first season. Also, it goes without saying that it's a better female superhero show than Supergirl is, tackling feminism without being laughable in the way it does that, handling the romantic subplot well and generally having better pacing and buildup than it. The only thing Peggy Carter really lacks is powers and super-suit. And honestly, I've gone from being apathetic and indifferent about this show to actually quite liking the fun charm it has. 

Agent Carter S02E01 Review: Frozen Corpses and Wine Refineries

Agent Carter, Season 2, Episode 1: The Lady in the Lake

Well, that was fun, if nothing else. I've never really been too impressed by the first season of Agent Carter -- it was certainly a good show, a fun show, but I remain unconvinced that it needs a season two. I mean, this episode is definitely great, and the little ancient-Hydra-cult pin (which probably makes jack shit sense to anyone not caught up to Agents of SHIELD) alone means that there would be tie-ins to that series... and it's definitely a solid episode, and Peggy Carter certainly has her fans out there. I just... I dunno, a series set in the past of a continuity with such a rich present-day storyline means that there's not much that you can really change and the status quo can't be shaken. It's a given that Peggy Carter will survive, that the SSR will get dissolved and replaced with SHIELD, and whatever big threat we're facing will inevitably get taken out. But I digress, because I like Peggy Carter as a character enough -- she's fun -- and the series is serviceable even if it never really reaches the epic heights that other superhero series do. 

The show has kinda changed genres as well, as instead of being a Cold War piece where Peggy needs to gain the respect of her SSR teammates and be regarded as someone more than a secretary... it's delved into a bit of a mystery detective show. And it's definitely an atmospheric piece. I honestly don't care too much about David Sousa and her ship-sinking moment with Peggy when it's revealed he has a new woman during the timeskip, but having Peggy and Edwin Jarvis back is definitely a blast. The two are simply hilarious to watch, and play off each other so well. The main plot is serviceable... the mysterious frozen body in the lake ends up being something far more sinister than a serial killer, and the friendly policeman that Sousa and Carter befriended, Andrew Henry, turns out to be the killer, hired by someone big. But he's contracted the mysterious freezing-virus or whatever the hell that is, and ends up dying. It's a nice enough plot twist, I guess.

The ones behind Henry's death and the whole frozen thing is revealed pretty quickly, as Calvin Chadwick and Whitney Frost, the two owners of Isodyne. Of course the character named Frost is going to be involved with someone getting frozen, eh? Whitney Frost shares a name with the alias of a Marvel supervillain, Madame Masque, so we're going to have ourselves another worthy opponent for Peggy Carter to fight, in addition to the possible team-up of Johann Fenhoff and Arnim Zola that was teased at the end of last season. Oh, and Dottie Underwood.

Dottie shows up at the beginning of the episode, impersonating Peggy and robbing a bank... and immediately gets taken down by Peggy herself. The proto-Black-Widow is one of the outstanding plot strands form the finale of the first season, and I for one am glad that season two is not going to be all about fixing the cliffhangers from season one. Dottie gets arrested, but because Jack Thompson is a bit of a dick (and a sexist dick, though not as much as he was in season 1, and it might be because he just wants the credit here) he pulls Peggy off the Dottie case and lobs Peggy off to Sousa's branch office in L.A.

Jack gets utterly humiliated during his interrogation of Dottie, though, who nearly snaps his neck with a table. Dottie only wants her beloved Peggy and there's definitely some twisted infatuation on Dottie's part. And then Agent Vernon of the FBI shows up, takes Dottie away, and tells Jack that the SSR is done for and the times they are a'changing. Jack is enough of a power-grabber that he decides to throw his lot in with the FBI, though I honestly don't care about Jack Thompson as a character. Dottie, though... I doubt her character's going to be written out so soon, and I wouldn't be surprised if she breaks free and shows up in LA to fuck things up in Peggy's campaign against... whoever the hell it is she's fighting. 

In addition to Calvin Chadwick and Whitney Frost, we get a new character, dr. Jason Wilkes, who is this scientist who quickly flirts and struck up a friendship with Peggy but ends up apparently being involved with some... floating black goop that I'm sure is the plot device behind all the freezing things and whatnot. Jason Wilkes is an extremely minor character in the comics, so I didn't get much about him from a quick google... though honestly I don't care enough to know everything about every new character and would prefer to be surprised by what they do and who they are. 

But the plot with Frost, Chadwick and/or Wilkes honestly don't interest me that much. I mean, it's cool, I guess, but it's so ambiguous at the point that it's hard to care about them beyond being the threat of the week. No, what's fun in this episode is Peggy, Jarvis and the previously-unseen Mrs. Anna Jarvis just mucking around and interacting. And Bernard Stark! Who is Bernard, you ask? Well, Howard Stark's new flamingo! The episode gets a bit too comedic at times, the show might get, yes, but it's certainly fun. It benefits in cutting out all the surplus fat from the first season like the whole Fry's dormitory or the endless scenes in that diner. 

Overall, though, the episode felt a bit choppy as we cut back and forth between the various plot strands and the various new characters, but it's definitely a strong, if low-key, opening to the second season. This show might not be as spectacular or heavy in universe-building as Jessica Jones, Agents of SHIELD or Daredevil are, but it's definitely a fun little side story. Can't fault that, really.

Vixen Season 1 Review

Vixen, Season 1

I knew Vixen existed, this little animated web-cartoon project that was set in around the timeline of Arrow's third season and Flash's first season (possibly before the time Oliver joined the League), featuring the introduction of DC C-lister hero Vixen, done in animation a la the DC movies as opposed to live-action. Except that Vixen's coming to Arrow in live-action mode soon, so I guess I should check it out. Vixen runs for six episodes, each lasting a scant five minutes... I'm honestly kinda confused why they didn't just make it a 30-minute mini-movie/episode instead of releasing it in this piecemeal format, but eh, whatever works. It's kinda weird calling something that's shorter than a regular TV or cartoon episode a 'season'... but if that's what the showmakers are calling it, well. We're getting a second season of this relatively soon.

Honestly the biggest thing that Vixen has going against it is its extremely short duration. All six episodes strung together barely reach thirty minutes, and episodes one and four repeat an almost identical sequence of Vixen fighting the Arrow and the Flash, with the one from episode one just serving as a 'this action scene that makes no sense so we're going to rewind time after this' prologue. Considering how in thirty minutes they have to introduce Vixen herself as a character, introduce her background, her powers, her backstory, a customary villain to beat and have her interact with Arrow and Flash, well, thirty minutes isn't quite adequate time to work around with.

Thankfully the show writers did it well. While I am still honestly kinda irked why they had to repeat the same action scene in episode four -- surely we could just cut away to the action starting, and then to Vixen falling, going all "that's how we got here" and flying back up -- the opener gives us a decent look at Vixen's range of powers, namely manifesting the powers of animal spirits through her totem. Of course being a bit of a DC geek I'm already familiar with Vixen's powers and character, and know the rough edges of her backstory, but it's still quite well done.

The earlier episodes focus more on Vixen -- or rather, her alter ego Mari McCabe -- as a person. She has a bit of a strenuous relationship with her foster father Chuck. Chuck really tries hard to be a good daddy and most of the time Mari is quite polite to him, if rather cold -- though she notes that this might be an effect of the death of Mari's foster mother. Also the fact that Mari's soul-searching for her real parents and her real parentage, apparently her status as being adopted bothering her quite a fair bit. We also get hints that she has an interest outside her soul-searching, namely searching for a career in fashion design. She also stabs some douchebag in the hand for trying to get a 'job' from her if you know what I mean.

Then, of course, the mysterious family heirloom totem grants her animal powers, and we have Mari get her feet wet relatively quickly. Meanwhile, Barry and Cisco (who look awesome in animated form) realize what's happening and mobilize. I honestly find it rather hard to believe that a single metahuman would cause Barry to call for backup when comparatively larger threats like Reverse-Flash or Zoom never made him call Oliver... but eh, crossovers. Arrow and Flash battle Vixen for a bit, which is cool, but they quickly establish that Vixen isn't a metahuman and her powers come from somewhere else -- Oliver is quick to accept magic, and as we see in season four of Arrow, for good reason. Also, Vixen isn't remotely interested in this whole superhero/supervillain thing. 

Mari went to a nice historian doctor ask information about the Anansi totem necklace (and we get an introdump on) and we get a legend about a shapeshifting trickster god from African lore... and the doctor sells Vixen over to this mysterious African lady Kuasa who knocks Mari out and brings her to the Zambesi Village. Kuasa herself is not named in the show, mind you, other than the credits. Anyway, Kuasa reveals herself to be Mari's biological sister, removes the clingy totem forcibly with the poison of a certain spider... but Mufasa the animal spirits talk to Mari, she accepts her role as the totem's guardian, and she beats Kuasa up even without the power of the totem. Now the climax could've been handled better, with Kuasa bringing Mari all the way to Africa just to tell her a story and leave her for dead being quite strange when Kuasa had the chance to kill Mari when she was unconscious all the way during the flight from Detroit to Zambesi. We also don't really get much follow up on what Mari did to Kuasa, or the cultists worshiping Kuasa -- implied to be part of a ritual after Kuasa received some powers from 'darker sources'. The Rising Darkness from Constantine? I doubt Vixen was created before the decision to fold Constantine into CW was made, but eh.

Then Vixen talk a bit to Arrow and the Flash, and ends up parting on friendly terms with them and becoming the heroine of Detroit. As cool as it is to hear the Arrow and the Flash show up as stylized animated versions voiced by their real actors (also to a lesser extent Cisco Ramon and Felicity Smoak), delivering some of the funniest lines in the entirety of CW lore, I am honestly quite unconvinced that their presence needed to be so major. Mari went from distrusting the two capes to... befriending them... after the whole Zambesi conflict? I thought that was just odd, and it might've been better if they initially parted on friendlier terms. Vixen outrunning Flash also ended up being kind of an odd way to build Vixen up as super-awesome, but honestly we've seen Flash outrun missiles and jets, and a cheetah can't be faster than that. I suppose it's Vixen jumping all around the cityscape that slows Flash down. But still, the presence of Oliver and Barry (who are definitely in there for marketing) isn't a minus in my books, and honestly the story still functions quite well even with the big distraction of two other superheroes in it. So yeah.

Overall, though, it's certainly a solid addition to the ever-growing CW universe, and I can see why they went with a web-animation to introduce Vixen. All those crazy special effects with summoning elephant and rhinoceros auras would be damned difficult to replicate in live-action... though since Vixen's going to actually show up in Arrow soon (played by her voice actress) I guess it's just budget constraints versus actually introducing the character? Or something? It's a nice introduction of a wider range of superpowers and magic into the CW-verse, and it's an actually pretty solid little mini-movie on its own. It's an origin story to one of DC's most unique characters in both her status as a female black superhero, as well as her origin story and concept in general, and in my opinion it's done quite well.

Legends of Tomorrow S01E01 Review: Getting Weird in the 70's

Legends of Tomorrow, Season 1, Episode 1: Pilot, Part 1

(Lots of 1's in that title)

Legends of Tomorrow is a series that I have been looking forward to for a long, long time. And, well, it delivers. Mostly. It's the CW-verse's answer to superhero movies like Guardians of the Galaxy and the upcoming Suicide Squad, taking a bunch of C-listers and throwing them into a big adventure away from the bigger names that are dominating the movie screens... or TV channels, in this case. Legends of Tomorrow has the benefit of actually having these characters being already established in their home series Arrow and The Flash, so this feels more like a C-List Justice League movie instead of 'let's introduce the audience to a bunch of people they're likely to know jack shit about!'

And, well, the only real newcomer in this whole Star-Trek-esque team is Dr. Who Rip Hunter, who quickly brings us up to speed in a big meeting with the mysterious Time Masters that our favourite immortal, Vandal Savage, has basically conquered the 22nd century and is lording it like some video game villain or something, shooting little kids in the head and shit. The rest of the team are mostly known quantities. Sara Lance, the White Canary, has been a major supporting character in Arrow's seasons two and four, and is a major source of personal grief for her sister and father, both prominent characters in the show. Ray Palmer, the Atom, is likewise a major character in season three and featured in season four as well. Captain Cold is a prominent recurring villain-slash-anti-villain in both seasons of the Flash, while his buddy Heat Wave has shown up ever now and then in the first season.

One half of Firestorm, Jefferson Jackson, may only have one episode's worth of screentime prior to this, and as I had said in my review of said episode, seemed to be quite hurriedly written in to cover for Ronnie Raymond's actor not being available for whatever reason. But Firestorm as an entity, and Martin Stein, one of the characters with the most screentime in this episode, is certainly an established character in both seasons of the Flash, graduating from recurring character to full-on supporting character for a brief time in the second season. Hawkgirl and Hawkman, like Jefferson, suffer from having only two (plus a couple of earlier bit roles in Hawkgirl's case) episodes which are mostly introdumps about their unconventional backstory, so they're likewise more ciphers. Especially Hawkman.

So anyway, the focus of this episode is mostly bringing the team together, and while Rip Hunter seems like a benign, happy-go-lucky "let's save the world!" mission command type dude who knows what he's doing... British accents tend to have that effect... it soon spirals out of control as more and more rogue elements show up. There's the evil time-traveler, Chronos, who DC fans might just assume is there as an appropriate time-travelling enemy... but turns out to be more than meets the eye. Lenny, Mick and Sara going wild at a bar in the 70's is hilarious, but it definitely left their timeship defenseless. Jefferson Jackson does not want to be on board the time travelling business, but is drugged and forced on board by Stein. Kendra is insistent on bringing her son-from-a-previous-life with them to avoid his supposed destined death. And Rip Hunter turns out to not be exactly who he says he is.

Chronos in his low-budget Vision cosplay...

See, while a good chunk of the episode shows Rip Hunter as a slightly-maverick but seemed-to-be-totally-legit Time Master, fooling both the audience and the Legends (which is what I'll call the group for now), he turns out to have gone rogue after acquiring the timeship Waverider, which for whatever reason comes with Eobard Thawne/Barry Allen's A.I. buddy from the future, Gideon. All more and more mysterious on that end with Gideon, but hey. Rip Hunter's a rogue Time Master, and instead of the 'you are all legends where I came from' line, apparently Hunter picked out the Legends simply because they have minimal impact on the timeline after that particular time... except maybe the Hawks, who seemed pretty integral to the whole Vandal Savage immortality thing. Plus people like Ray and Stein, as we saw, are pretty desperate for some validation in life, for some glory and recognition, enough for them to get myopic and realize that Rip Hunter didn't go for what is easily the most powerful hero in the CW-verse, the Flash himself.

Chronos in his high-budget Darth Vader cosplay

Also, Chronos, a.k.a. time-travelling Boba Fett (as Captain Cold points out) turns out to not be just a time-thief like he is in the comics, but is in fact working for the Time Masters... albeit he shares Boba Fett's role as a bounty hunter so as not to make him too good in this adaptation. Chronos himself honestly isn't just that threatening, even if he does have a laser gun (Rip Hunter has a laser revolver, which does not make sense even if it looks cool) to vaporize the two random witnesses who have minimal impact to the timeline. He's at least awesome-looking, though, and despite not doing much other than break the Waverider's cloaking device, it did take almost the entire Legends team to drive him off.

The episode itself is honestly pretty much setting things up, and thus we get a rather long exposition about the origin of Vandal Savage, Hawkman and Hawkgirl, something that we have already gotten back in the crossover episodes a while back. I thought this could've been shortened, since it's just exposition we don't really need. Yes, it's nice to make Legends of Tomorrow relatively standalone by making the exposition repeated here so anyone who's just interested in seeing Firestorm and Captain Cold time travel don't have to work through a backlog of six seasons to understand everything, but still, I thought it was a wee bit too much, and kinda hurt the pacing as someone who views this is next in a series of superhero-themed material. But oh well, it doesn't impact the show too much.

We get a couple of requisite tie-ins from Arrow characters. Ray Palmer has apparently been helping Oliver out off-screen in his war against Darhk and HIVE, presumably in a scene that takes place after the whole 'Felicity is in danger over her life' episode that premiered a couple days before this one. Ray's going around sabotaging HIVE computers with the ingenious method of expanding to full side while being inside one, and Ray and Oliver get a bit of a heart-to-heart as Ray considers whether he should accept Hunter's offer. I thought it was a nice little scene for the two of them, and it's telling that Ray went to Oliver instead of Felicity, who he's closer to. Ray and Oliver have always been portrayed as love rivals or simply just allies, but we have a dearth of the two of them just talking and acting like friends. It's nice to have that scene.

Sara and Laurel get a nice sparring lesson, and Laurel's own character development from being a joke of the least-likable character in the show into the Black Canary post-Sara's-death, finding a purpose and a sort of twisted release in punching criminals in the face, certainly is a nice analogue for Sara's own search for a purpose after returning from death and attempts to distance herself from her older Canary assassin moniker. To this end Laurel rebrands Sara's alter-ego as White Canary (cleverly tying in to Oliver's similar change of persona from the more violent Arrow to the more idealistic Green Arrow) and tells her to go for it.

Rip Hunter, prior to being British
and posh and everything

I thought the montage of them considering Rip Hunter's offer was pretty decently well-done, explaining why they ended up going with it. Hawkman and Hawkgirl's scene didn't work out as well for me, mostly because Hawkman is still a gigantic tool and they're just arguing over hunting down their arch-nemesis and ends up settling it with an off-screen fight. "Couples' counselling is in order" indeed. Stein is being adorable about time-travelling and shit, and he's still a joy to behold in this show, but Jax is far more reluctant. He ends up getting drugged, which is hilarious, and mellows out later in the episode, and I'm honestly slightly more receptive about Jax and Stein's relationship in this series than the one they were forced upon in the Flash. Captain Cold just wants to steal stuff through time. Heat Wave just wants to punch people through time.

The character dynamics are certainly the focus of this episode, with unlikely friendships and partnerships being formed between the group of people with scant little interaction with each other previously. Sara and Lenny quickly struck up the most unexpected and oddest of friendships as they just kinda hang out and walk around in the 70's, and it ended up being extremely fun. Stein and Ray grow a bit of a mutual respect for each other, and apparently Ray Palmer used to be one of Martin Stein's students, a fact that was not alluded to in either one of their home series... but totally makes sense.

We also get the return of Aldus Boardman, previously seen in a short video clip from the Flash/Arrow crossover where he was apparently this expert on Vandal Savage from the 70's. We learn that he, in fact, was the son of a previous reincarnation of Hawkman and Hawkgirl, all grown up. There's definitely a sense of parallelism with Hector Hall (maybe he will show up in the show's future?) from the comics, though obviously Boardman is not donning a mystical golden helmet any time soon. But the surprise and the sheer confusion on Kendra's face as she has to accept that she's somehow the mother of this man older than her who she has no memories of... and the conflicted, guilty look on her face as she lies about remembering her son on his deathbed, plus another layer of guilt for inadvertently causing Boardman's death by bringing him along with them.

Meanwhile, Carter Hall, Hawkman, who apparently remembers everything from his past lives (he even says something about his 4000-year-old memory) doesn't even share a scene with the son he supposedly remembers... and doesn't even acknowledge him! Any defensive action Hawkman makes is only because Kendra was the one to initiate it first and he just wants to score points. You birdbrained asshat, Hawkman.

Jax and Stein don't really work too well. There's the nicely-written scene about how Jax was inspired because he saw Stein run towards the ship to help him, and how he likes being a team and whatnot... but honestly you'd think Jax would jump at the chance of getting glory again since his past characterization has been about his desire to be someone great like how he was when he was a football star. Yet he spends a good chunk of the episode trying to run away from this chance at glory, when you'd think he would have a reaction similar to Ray Palmer. It's just odd, is all.

Rip Hunter gets a great scene near the end when the cocky Dr. Who persona breaks down, and he reveals himself to be as flawed as the other people in the room, revealing that he broke the rules of the Time Masters in trying to want to change time, and he's going to seek revenge for Vandal Savage killing his son, Jonah, who was the kid Savage shot in the cold open. That was an unexpected tie-in to the seemingly-throwaway scene at the beginning, which is clever even if Vandal Savage himself doesn't really do anything at all and Chronos steals the show's villain role. What little Savage got this time around is great, though, and the descriptions from Hunter and Boardman certainly makes him feel great.

Meanwhile, Sara, Lenny and Mick are just having fun mucking around in the seventies. Fuck being benched, right?

We get some nice little nods to DC comics -- the Waverider, Rip Hunter's ship, borrows its name from Waverider, an actual person and member of the Time Masters. While talking about 'rank amateur' dictators throughout time, Rip Hunter name-drops Per Degaton, who is a time-travelling villain that nominally battles the Justice Society and would actually be a more appropriate antagonist for the time-travelling Legends team...

Overall, though, there are a couple of things that don't really work here. Hawkman is easily the weakest of the characters (Heat Wave doesn't count as he is intentionally simple), and Jax is still kind of a cipher. The amount of introdump and repeated information also hurts the pacing somewhat... but honestly, those are minor problems. The show was fun, the show had an insanely and unexpectedly awesome series of action scenes against Chronos, Rip Hunter's twist near the end of this episode isn't wholly unpredictable but ends up being pretty great. This is awesome. I'm looking forward to the next episode. 

Arrow S04E10 Review: Anarky Returns To Slow Down The Plot

Arrow, Season 4, Episode 10: Blood Debts

Arrow had a great cliffhanger at the end of last year, so of course this episode goes back and shits all over it. I mean, it was a possibility that Felicity didn't receive a mortal wound, and it's not like she gets out of this unscathed, but after all the teasing about the body in the grave, about Felicity being shot and the cliffhanger scene being dramatic as all fuck, and this episode even replaying the "four months later" scene at the graveyard just to remind us... pulling the rug out and going 'lol gotcha' is just shitty writing. At the very least put Felicity in a coma for an episode or something, I dunno. She survives but is in a bad shape... and apparently she's going to be crippled for life, but she's not the one in the grave. Present-day Oliver is certainly angry and on the warpath thanks to Felicity's near-death experience, but honestly the whole thing with Felicity's near-death experience just felt poorly handled. I dunno.

It doesn't help that this episode really felt low-key. I mean, Flash opened the second half of its season with a relatively low-key episode, but it was well-written and well-paced. This one, not so much, and the key difference is how both shows had their cliffhangers. Arrow's last episode seemed to imply a sense of urgency, that Damian Darhk and HIVE is going forward with their plans and will be going on the frontal assault onto Oliver Queen and Green Arrow. But other than Oliver beating up a couple of faceless HIVE mooks, Darhk and his organization takes a backseat to a returning Anarky.

And Anarky, while entertaining, still doesn't really have much in common with the more philosophical and nuanced comic-book version of his character other than using a staff in combat and leaving that A symbol in red graffiti. Oh, and he gets a white version of Anarky's Greek-face mask thing, which I guess is something. Arrow's Anarky is at least a pretty decent character, an adaptation of the concept of anarchy itself, so at least points to the show for originality even if I don't particularly like it. Anarky is a wild card thrown into the battle between Team Arrow and HIVE... and honestly he's more a distraction than anything.

After finally deciding that Felicity's near-death is the moment where the kiddie gloves come off, Oliver gets Quentin to give up the information of Darhk's base, marches in... only to find Anarky has killed every HIVE mook in that base. And then the main plot is pushed aside in favour of this relatively less interesting side-quest as Team Arrow hunts down Anarky, catches him, and thanks to some disagreements between Oliver and Laurel (though nowhere as verbally violent as they normally are, for a change) Anarky gets captured by the police, let off, captured, and escapes. It's no fault of Anarky's character, of course. He's still a decently terrifying villain, terrorizing Darhk's family, able to gain intel on Darhk's whereabouts without an explanation, and having developed a slightly unhealthy obsession with Speedy, viewing each other as kindred spirits. 

And indeed a good chunk of the episode does focus on Speedy, giving some nice moments where she talks to Laurel and, uh... Boyfriend Dude about her anger issues, and eventually overcoming them and showing that she is stronger than her bloodlust and that she's a better person than Anarky, able to control her urges to kill. And it's certainly an impressive feat since she actually does have some mystical powers that's causing her to need to kill, unlike Anarky who's just psychotic and emo over his burnt-up face. But is it the right time for an episode to focus so much on returning filler villain Anarky and developing Speedy, when really the main plot point should be more centralized on HIVE, Oliver and Felicity? The show just loses momentum and while the episode's Anarky plot isn't necessarily bad, the decision to show it at this point in the show is a strange one and not one that I thought was well done. 

I guess setting Anarky loose to have a single and disposable madman take out the dangerous Damian Darhk, head of HIVE, is supposed to symbolize Oliver Queen giving into his rage and baser desires, and parallels Thea's own personal journey, and all that jazz, but still, it's a distraction. And while Oliver's initial plan is to storm Darhk's building -- alone, I might add, instead of bringing the entirety of Team Arrow, the League of Assassins, the Flash, John Constantine, Firestorm and the Hawks, or at least the first two if the powers-to-be doesn't allow the others to show up. When Green Arrow actually faces off against Darhk at the end, Darhk trounces Oliver as badly as he did before, and makes it clear that Darhk's mastery of the Force or whatever will absolutely overwhelm Oliver. So, uh, kinda bad planning on Oliver's part at the beginning of the episode. 

John Diggle gets some nice moments being forced to talk to the stone wall that is Andy Diggle and not get any answers, but a quick talk with Lyla causes Diggle to take another approach and approach Andy like his brother instead of like a member of HIVE, which naturally gives them a hint on where to find Darhk. While Andy is still in a cage, and still kinda pissed at Diggle, they're at least playing cards which is something.

Felicity doesn't get much to do since, y'know, she's paralyzed and in and out of operation, but she does get a short, powerful moment where she almost breaks down because for a moment she thought Oliver is planning to leave her thanks to her disability. Oliver is, of course, going all 'hunting down Darhk is what Felicity would want', and in an unexpectedly subtle manner, Laurel, Diggle and Thea all nudge Oliver to at least pay Felicity a visit, because as strong as any human being can be, Felicity's still going to need emotional support from the person she loves the most. There's a nice sweet moment which almost mollifies my concerns with pacing, at least.

And while the whole point of the episode is apparently to give us a moral that no one should give in to their baser desires and kill -- as exemplified best by Thea refusing to shoot the psychotic Anarky in the head, and John Diggle getting some headway by using words, not fists -- the episode ends with Future!Felicity insisting that Future!Oliver needs to kill Darhk. Um. Okay, I guess Felicity can be dark if she wants to. It runs kinda contrary to the whole message of the episode, and it just odd all around to skip around to future scenes. Points to note is that Felicity isn't wearing her ring in that future scene, and it's just odd to show all this when really all they do is to add into the confusion because the whole Darhk arc has kinda slammed on the brakes as far as pacing and momentum goes. 

Oh, and Darhk's family is as much HIVE as Darhk is, despite looking like innocent people caught in the crossfire at first. Darhk's wife actually is kinda pissed Darhk didn't kill Green Arrow then and there. Interesting, but still, ultimately all this achieves is just prolonging the conflict after the promised escalation.

Some shit goes on in the Island as Oliver and Taiana is brought by Conklin before Reiter, but Constantine's magic rune stops Reiter from killing Oliver. I don't give two shits, honestly.

Oh well, count your blessings, I guess. It's not a bad episode at all... it's just oddly-paced and the revelations done to the death tease end up being utter disappointments. The episode clearly works on its own merits. Anarky and Thea were quite strong this episode, and so was Diggle. Oliver and Felicity got a nice moment together. But overall pacing-wise the season has kinda pulled the brakes on what had been a very interesting series that built up HIVE, Darhk and the ghosts making their move. But whoops, this episode spent a good chunk hunting down a returning one-off villain, whose purpose in the grand scheme is just to give Darhk an excuse to stop doing anything interesting and sensible in the war for the next couple of episodes.

One Piece 813 Review: Sanji's Note

One Piece, Chapter 813: The Tea Party Invitation

A far more solidly-paced chapter than the previous one, and while we still don't get too much information regarding the workings of the Vinsmoke (which makes a lot more sense than Vinsmoak) Family or Big Mom's pirates or whatever, but Sanji gets a crapton of focus and he does a fair amount of cool shit in this chapter. 

We get a nice cover page of Laboon and Crocus being happy. Did Laboon know about Brook? That's a question that's been bothering me for a while. I guess he does? But, eh, whatever about Laboon. Be all happy. This chapter continues upon the big bombshell that Capone dropped on us last chapter, and Sanji is just so shocked that the cigarette just drops out of his mouth (and sets Capone's castle-floor on fire a couple pages later, which I thought was hilarious). Brook apparently knows what the Vinsmoke Family is, though in true anime fashion he just trails off and doesn't tell us what he knows.

Capone confirms that Sanji's family was the one who approached Big Mom and arranged for the wedding, and Caesar also confirms that Pudding (or Purin, depending how you want to romanize her name) is Big Mom's daughters, and it's definitely a power play on Big Mom's part to get Luffy's crew as her underlings.  Lady's got a lot of daughters! That must've been hell for her womb. Or maybe she just adopts daughters the way Whitebeard or mafia godfathers do. Nami and Brook discuss this, and we get a short flashback of pre-timeskip Sanji during the pre-Skypiea arc telling the crew about how he was born in North Blue instead of East Blue, and Brook confirms what the theorists have been clamoring about for years, that it's not easy to go from North Blue to East Blue, because you have to pass through the Red Line. 

Of course, it's something that would be easily explained if Sanji was the son of a Tenryubito/King/Gorosei or whatever, but why any one of these parties would want to wed Sanji to a pirate's daughter, let alone the daughter of the Yonkou... Obviously Big Mom is one of the most powerful people in the One Piece world, but you'd think the Tenryubito and the Kings would look down on encouraging pirates, unless Sanji's family cares so little of him that they just want to have some leverage over Big Mom? I dunno. It's weird.

Sanji gets over his shock quickly, though, and gets to be all badass, talking down on Capone and Big Mom's tea party, and firmly tells Capone that Monkey D. Luffy will never be anyone's underling because he'll be the Pirate King. Hell yea. It's always awesome to hear the likes of Sanji or Zoro, people who are equal badasses as Luffy is, insist that Luffy will be the Pirate King. 

Sanji goes all "I'll let you keep Caesar. Let us go" (so much for that theory that the Curly Hats will be developing a reverse-Stockholm Syndrome on Caesar Clown), going all ultimatums on Capone, but Capone himself isn't backing down. Capone notes how the Curly Hats don't have a choice since they're already captured within Capone's castle -- the large body can walk on its own apparently -- and Capone displays more of his ability, able to morph the insides of his castle body and create cannons, goop Nami up, create chandelier-knives and whatnot. 

One of Capone's Firetank Pirates, "Monster Gun" Vito (who is the Caribou-looking dude fro before) shows up and monologues about how scary Big Mom's tea party is and how people who are invited but don't come basically sign their own death warrants. Vito's got huge hands and ends all his sentences in -rero, which kinda reminds me of... Rubber Soul, was it, from Stardust Crusaders? The one who created the memetic rerorerorerorerorerorero thing? In any case, though, Vito (love the Godfather reference, by the way even if this Vito has nothing in common with Vito Corleone) whispers something into Sanji's ear that kinda pisses him off. This apparently causes him to get a resolve to go along with the marriage thing for now. 

Sanji writes something on a paper, basically an innocent-sounding "hey Luffy I'm going off to see a girl", and makes a show of being all whisper-whisper with Nami, Brook and Chopper. Sanji notes how he needs to deal with all his past alone -- basically kinda like Robin from Water Seven but a lot more badass since Sanji's planning to fight instead of just let fate have its way -- and having sensed a powerful presence outside (good ol' Observation Haki!) Sanji kicks the three other Straw Hats out, leaving a pretty distraught Caesar and Sanji himself stuck inside Capone. 

Sanji doesn't stop there, though, stealing a gun and pointing it at Caesar Clown's head, taking the poor gas man hostage. Sanji does an awesome monologue reminding the Firetank Pirates about his 'only alive' status, how the person who arranged his marriage and the one behind the wanted poster are likely one and the same, and he makes an awesome demand for everyone to leave his friends alone, while Sanji will come with Capone. Capone takes the deal...

Though in the outside world, Nekomamushi has shown up and is towering over Capone's real body. Nekomamushi is pissed off, having found Pekoms (who in the present-day is probably hanging out with Nekomamushi, which makes sense that we haven't met Nekomamushi in the present day since that would spoil Pekoms' presence) bleeding and whatnot. Capone tells Nekomamushi that he is Pekoms' comrade (he's not wrong there) and they were attacked by one of Jack's subordinates. There's a bit of confusion, and Nami's just screaming at Sanji (who tells him that he'll be back) and Capone... transforms his legs into tank treads and rolls off. Wait, what? If your body is a fortress you turn into T-1000? What the hell? That's Baby-5's power!

Wanda begins pursuit of Capone, but Brook tells them it's useless, because even if they catch up to Sanji, Sanji has no intention of coming back. Well, Sanji doesn't accept his fate to be executed so you can bet he's going to do some stuff in Big Mom's presence and all that. Getting more and more interesting here and I honestly don't care much for staying long at Zou and dealing with the likes of Whitebeard Jr or the samurais. Get on with either Jack or the big Big Mom arc! Or both!

The Flash S02E10 Review: Tell Her Already Damn It

The Flash, Season 2, Episode 10: Potential Energy

Well that was a nice episode to start off the second half of The Flash's second season. It's mostly meant as a low-key episode dealing with a polarizing topic among fans: Patty Spivot. A character who you either love or loathe, and I'm honestly in the latter part most of the time. It's not that she's annoying, though that's a slight problem -- she's just badly handled. She's either shoved down our throats and given an obscenely large amount of screentime in favour of far more interesting and plot-relevant characters (Caitlin, Iris, and especially Jay Garrick), and the nonsensical Secret Identity Drama redux is just annoying.

And even in an episode that should be sending her off, Barry had three different occasions to tell Patty "hey by the way, my big secret is that I'm the Flash". When he first came into the apartment, when he saved Patty from the Turtle, and when Patty apparently just decides she's done with all this shit and decides to leave Central City. The thing is, Barry's already agonized about telling Patty and has resolved to do so during the art exhibition, something that the rest of the team points out is a bad idea because they were expecting trouble. But no, several chances for Barry to tell Patty about his identity and potentially avoid the big fallout that follows, and Barry just ignores it. It's just as well that Patty leaves the show, hopefully permanently, because all she represents in the show is more and more of exhaustive drama with no payoff whatsoever.

Other than my annoyance about the handling of Patty's character, I thought the episode was decent. Patty was given multiple chances to show that she's not just being bitchy, actually being pretty damn patient with Barry considering everything that's going on to her and the implosion of their relationship lies solely on Barry's head. Not that it's something that I will mourn, mind you, but it made a pretty decent focus for the majority of the episode, ending with Barry losing his love interest not because she got Zoom'd, but simply because, well, real life happened.

The main villain of the episode is the Turtle, one of the earliest villains for both the Jay Garrick and Barry Allen versions of the Flash. Originally in the comics he's just a supervillain (dressed in a turtle suit, naturally) who's dangerous because of how slowly he operates, until writers realized this doesn't make a lick of sense and gave him speed-stealing powers. And, well the Turtle in this series does have the speed-stealing powers. He's a nice little villain and we get a nice running gag that most of the cast already know the Turtle as someone Cisco has been keeping tabs on while the crew is preoccupied with bigger threats like Zoom and Grodd.  The fact that the Turtle, despite his utterly game-breaking powers, is only interested in stealing stuff and keeping them preserved makes him pretty low in the villain hierarchy as compared to people like Zoom.

Also, the Turtle shares his origin with most of the Season 1 villains -- changed by the particle accelerator, as opposed to Season 2's "Earth-2 immigrant forcibly recruited by Zoom" origin. Well I guess the Turtle's just that slow.

But the episode quickly found some momentum as the Turtle turned out to not just be a harmless dude in a hood who wants to steal stuff. He quickly establishes how basically stopping time (well, absorbing kinetic energy from everyone around him) is an awesome power, and while Barry does manage to beat the Turtle eventually, the scene where he's ready to go all Dollmaker on Patty simply because the Flash cares for her is just flat-out insane and terrifying, something that I would not expect from the freaking Turtle of all people. And they manage to do this without resorting to excessive gore or violence. Good show, there.

Meanwhile there's a nice little B-plot running along that deals with Wally West. He skirts the line between being a stereotypical black punk and being, well, non-stereotypical. He does things like race in Fast-&-Furious races, but he does it to earn money for his sick mother and his daddy issues haven't really annoyed me yet. I honestly wished that they just forego the amount of drama that the estranged relationship got, but it didn't quite grate as hard as it could, and Joe and Wally reconcile at the end of the episode. Wally did say a couple of hurtful things in this episode to Joe, but on the other hand, well, despite his aloof attitude it's clear that Wally's more than a little pissed off that Joe left him... even if it's no fault of Joe's and really Francine's the horrible parent in all this. Honestly the brilliant acting from Joe's actor is the only thing that made me forgive this relatively needless drama.

Meanwhile, Harrison and Cisco bond over a story about Zoom's horrendous atrocities, and Cisco very nicely offers to 'vibe' Harrison if he ever needed to make sure his daughter's alive. Of course, Harrison knows that Jesse Quick is alive as long as Zoom needs Harrison to help make Barry faster, and a good chunk of his scant screentime in this episode is him trying and getting frustrated at trying to achieve his end of the deal... but evidently Cisco's speech at fighting Zoom and slowing him down at the beginning of the episode got to Zoom because at the end of the episode Harrison goes into the Pipeline cells, either kills or seriously injures the Turtle when he took the tissue sample... all in the name of beating Zoom, while he delivers an awesome narration about how he lost Jesse at a planetarium one time and how he swore he would do anything to get her back.

The Stinger in this episode is freaking Reverse-Flash running around, vibrating and being scary, a little fake-out that Earth-2 Harrison Wells has also became Reverse-Flash... except that this is Eobard Thawne, in his original blonde form, apparently having traveled into the past for the first time, because he has no idea what's going on. That was fucking unexpected, and I suspect Reverse-Flash might be a far more entertaining villain than 'I wanna steal speed' Zoom.

(Gideon calls Eobard Thawne 'professor' as a nice in-joke to the character's original lengthy name of "Professor Zoom, the Reverse-Flash")

There's also a couple of scenes between Caitlin and Jay, which explores that Jay is apparently dying and, uh, the only way for them to stop that is to get Jay his speed back which can only be done by beating Zoom. As if we need any more inclination to beat Zoom. It's just fuel for more drama, which by this point just seems overkill.

But honestly, as much as I harp on and on about CW's insistence at adding more drama than needed, I honestly quite enjoyed this episode. Turtle, Joe and Harrison were definitely the high points of the episode and for such a Patty-centric one it doesn't annoy me as much as I thought it would. With both the Patty and Wally dramas taken out of the picture, maybe we can get some proper story in the next episode? Please?

Constantine Ep. 13 Review: And So It Ends

Constantine, Episode 13: Waiting For The Man

Ah, it’s such a shame that this series – this season, even – got cut off before it can have a proper conclusion. Trying to judge this as a season or series finale really isn’t fair (and likewise I wasn’t really being fair to the previous two episodes), because the way it is written it really feels like a mid-season finale and the show writers are really confident that they are going to get around ten to fifteen more episodes down the line to properly flesh out their plotlines and characters.

And this episode really feels like an ‘escalation’ episode. We get the surprising but not unwelcome returns of both Jim Corrigan (a.k.a. Spectre) and Papa Midnite as the horror movie cliché we go for this time around involves satanic weddings, hillbillies and implied pedophilia. This rather sorry excuse for a filler plot really hurt this episode the most, because, well, the one-shot guest stars for this episode are borderline annoying, and “the Man” isn’t threatening at all to our heroes. Sure, we fear for the life of the poor little girl but honestly I’d rather we just dispense with the filler plot entirely. For all the buildup that this is yet another in a series of many, many things caused by the Rising Darkness we get scant little in lieu of information about said Rising Darkness.

The fact that the girl doesn’t really seem to come from a particularly broken home, neither did the Man or his ghostly child-wives really tempt Vesta or whoever beyond going all “hey, y’wanna get married?” which really screams idiocy that the girl played along all the way through the Man’s fly-infested home and all the creepiness and only backing out at the satanic altar. The Man and his ghostly child-wives don’t even seem to be putting any kind of spell on her, so it’s yet another strike for the moronic filler plot.

Also, this episode it’s Chas’s turn to go absent.

There is a lot of content in this episode. There is Papa Midnite and his voodoo zombie (an actually accurate adaptation of how voodoo-created zombies are, actually) trying to claim the bounty that the Brujeria has put on Constantine’s head, with Papa Midnite having somewhat of a sympathetic goal in reviving his sister. Midnite’s definitely being built up to be more than just a villain with a funny accent, and, again, it’s a shame that the show didn’t get to do as much with him as I would’ve liked. There is Jim Corrigan’s return as your helpful friend in the police force, and Zed having to deal with both falling for Corrigan as well as seeing visions of his death and eventual rebirth as the Spectre – something we’ll sadly never see. And honestly I'd rather we get more stories about Constantine instead of just trying to jump the gun and make even more DC character tie-ins. We get a bit of nice little moral ambiguity from Constantine, which is something the show version sorely lacks – he goads Corrigan into letting the Man run away so they will have a justifiable reason to shoot him. We also get a surprise appearance by a corpse-possessing Gary that warns Constantine about the Rising Darkness and Brujeria, neither of which we are getting real answers about.

And, most of all, we get the final twist that Manny the angel is really the man pulling the strings behind the Brujeria all along. It’s a nice, awesome little twist that makes sense yet warrants a crapton of explanation. Why is he doing this? What are his motives? Why did he deem Constantine untouchable at the end of the episode? How far does the Brujeria organization extend? Why recruit Constantine to fight demons and the rising darkness if Manny is the one behind it all? I’m thinking of all the previous Manny appearances. Him being dissatisfied with his lot in life has been hinted in his two most prominent episodes – the previous episode and the Imogen one – and he has been uncharacteristically cryptic and whatnot. Just who the identity of Manny, and what his main goal is…

Ah, so many questions, and none of them will get answered. Or maybe they will, if I ever decide to read the gigantic collection of comics that is Hellblazer.

Also, y’know, add Resurrection Crusade, Spectre and Papa Midnite’s fight against Constantine into the big pile of “unresolved things” alongside Manny and the Brujeria. It’s a shame, really, and I know this episode isn’t filmed with the mindset of resolving things, but honestly I wanted and expected at least one of the plot threads to be tied up. There really isn’t any finality, or even a sense of finality, to the episode. Maybe it would’ve been better spent cutting either the filler ‘the Man’ plot or the Papa Midnite angle and having something more Brujeria-related thrown in. But alas, we are out of time. This review is written a fair amount of time after the show’s cancellation and any attempts at resurrecting it like a voodoo zombie is cut short.

Although I do mourn the loss of the show thanks to losing the opportunity to learn about the stories of these interesting characters and all the mystery surrounding them, the things that work against the show’s favour really isn’t ignorable either. The show focuses way too much time on meaningless filler horror show with vague allusions about ‘rising darkness’ every episode, and while it’s interesting… fifteen episodes down the line and we really didn’t get much answers. The fact that the show is insistent on putting one or two of its primary supporting cast (Zed and Chas) out of commission every other episode is also a bit of a poorly-managed thing, as is the whole “oh, this episode is supposed to be aired after the pilot” or “oh, this episode is going to introduce the NEW female lead” mess that is the earlier episodes. The fact that Constantine tries to adapt Hellblazer… and then proceeds to create a fair amount of their own original – and in several cases, extremely filler-worthy – stories is probably another mark in the fans’ eyes. I have it on good authority that they filed off a lot of John Constantine’s more questionable character parts, more of the darker side of his character that we saw in the Gary episode, ended up not being adapted in favour of a more family-friendly lead. And the fact that, well, Constantine is trying to compete with shows like the ten-season-strong Supernatural and what-have-you on the network that also cover a lot of the same angel/demon/mystical beings premise and really based on Hellblazer a fair bit… yeah.

I think it’s still a bit too harsh for the network to hammer the nail down on the coffin before they can get at least 20 episodes to wrap up this first season, but hey, at least part of the cancellation is justified. Doesn’t mean that I like it, though, because what the hell Manny I need to know the conclusion to that!

Constantine Ep. 12 Review: Eclipso Except Nope

Constantine, Episode 12: Angels and Ministers of Grace

Yeah, we're at the penultimate episode of not just the season, but the series. Because of all the cancellation and stuff. It's a bit sad, really, how ultimately filler-y the series ended up being. Way too many episodes are just generic horror movie cliche settings, building up cryptically towards the ever-present Rising Darkness without really revealing anything. We get some nice buildup for recurring villain Papa Midnite, the B-team and hints at Zed's ever-mysterious Resurrection Crusade backstory. Alas, it seems that with one episode left to go, and this one being relatively filler-y as well.

Don't get me wrong, as always there's something relatively good here with developing both Manny and Zed -- a two-for-one deal when most Constantine episodes generally tackle a single supporting character. We get some nice funny moments as Manny gets himself trapped within a mortal body, and some deeper ones as he gets a bit more metaphysical and kinda goes all flustered over things that he previously really doesn't seem to be bothered with. Zed gets to face the question of whether her visions are side effects of a tumour, or something granted to her by higher powers. Chas even gets significantly more screentime than his non-spotlight episodes, and has a more emotional role as he keeps emphasizing to Constantine the need to pay attention to his allies' mental health. It's a nice little question and honestly these plot threads could've been running through so many of the more filler-y episodes of the past.

We get a nice little DC Comics nod too, with the Black Diamond, the cursed plot device of the week. I kinda smiled a little when the Black Diamond got mentioned -- the Black Diamonds are pieces of Eclipso, the Angel/Spirit of Wrath that kinda likes going around and causing shit as one of DC's bigger villains. We don't get a mention of Eclipso or any of that backstory, though, other than a sly nod about the properties of the Black Diamond, how the shards want to rejoin with each other and stuff. It's otherwise an unremarkable demonic plot device granting berserker powers and amplifying anger.

The plot, though? Again, like last episode, it has nothing to do, really, with the Rising Darkness and the Resurrection Crusade and I probably have to make my peace that only one, if any, of these big organizations will play a role in the series finale. It's a generic cursed plot device causes a serial killer, and the episode even plays out like a generic Scooby Doo episode -- around one-thirds into the episode and we're introduced to an obviously assholish ugly-looking character that looks like the obvious killer but is not, and there's a good-looking guest star that is memorable enough to remember if he shows up later, but doesn't really give much of an impression... other than he's suspiciously unremarkable for someone that the show lingers so long upon. And lo and behold, the crazy angry drunkard isn't the killer, but rather the nice doctor who showed up a couple of times to deal with Zed.

The main points of the episode, of course, go to Manny as he actually gets a chance to be a character instead of a plot device that yaps mystical gibberish. Though honestly I'm not quite sure just why Constantine trapped Manny in a mortal body other than to get back at all the passive-aggressive mysticism he's done throughout the season. Yes, Constantine is a dick, but honestly that really could've been written far better.

Overall, though, it's a far stronger episode than most of its filler ilk, and possibly the strongest of the filler episodes, really, considering the character work done for Zed, Constantine and especially Manny, but it's overall really just filler... and one that's unfortunately placed one episode before the finale. And that's not an optimal spot for filler episodes.

One Piece 812 Review: Civil War, Al Capone and Last Names

One Piece, Chapter 812: Capone "Gang" Bege

Holy shit this chapter got so interesting so fast. The cover page's just another showing of the civilians on the earliest chapters of One Piece reacting to the new bounty posters, and this time around it is the turn of Nami's village-mates Genzo and... Nojiko? reacting to Nami's new sexy poster. And that's definitely the only thing in this chapter that's not remotely interesting.

The chapter is almost entirely in flashback form and while the effectiveness of having the whole Jack/Big Mom/Mink hullabaloo all happen in the flashback sequence, you can't deny that it's entertaining as all hell. We pick up with Pekoms arriving to find Zou all torn apart... accompanied by the titular Capone Bege. Capone is easily among the least interesting of the Ten Supernovas. Well, before this chapter, anyway. I didn't quite realize how much Pekoms would love Zou and how freaked-out he would react when he saw Zou in shambles. He blames the Straw Hats, of course, and is utterly furious.

We cut a bit to Nami and Sanji hanging out in the city, with the silly clothes-switching thing between Nami and Wanda which literally everyone thought was the case. Sanji is taking advantage of the culture to kiss every pretty furry girl. Caesar Clown is actually... starting to be a bit more amicable, even if it's only to show off his own genius.

We then see Pekoms get a tearful reunion with his family and friends, finding them mostly alright. He finds out that Jack is the one responsible, whereas the Straw Hats are instead Zou's saviour. All this while Capone is just standing behind him looking wholly disinterested in the whole thing. Sanji and Nami witness the arrival of Pekoms (who Wanda and the other Minks just treat as a delinquent, out-of-touch-with-the-world people that they are) and discuss what to do. Sanji immediately considers handing Caesar Clown over, especially after they find out that, well, Caesar basically didn't pay back Big Mom some funding that he owed her. But Sanji also considers the fact that Luffy already picked a fight with Big Mom, Chopper points out that they broke Big Mom's ship, and Caesar Clown is all like 'hey man let's assassinate them eh eh'. 

Sanji and Capone meet each other's eyes and understand each other in a way that only smoking men can do. Sanji brings Brook along -- again, as a big Brook fan, I cannot understate how awesome it is that Sanji puts him above Nami and Chopper in terms of being important/intimidating/fight-capable enough for a negotiation. But intimidation seems to be unnecessary as Pekoms just breaks down and thanks Sanji and even bows down in front of him. Pekoms even immediately makes a deal -- they will intentionally fail the mission to kill the Straw Hats, and will leave them after Sanji hands over Caesar. 

Capone gets understandably pissed, but Pekoms tells the 'newbie' to shut up and says that he'll take the heat, talking about how the Straw Hats saved his family. Capone's just pissed, and opens fire at Pekoms with the little dudes hiding inside his fortress body. Internal dissent within the Big Mom pirates! Pekoms falls, and Capone unleashes his Devil Fruit powers upon Team Curly Hats. We only saw Capone's powers a grand total of once, and it was kinda trippy and weird, but it's confirmed that Capone's body is a walking fortress in which he can shrink and hide his army of mafia pirates. An army of mafia pirates that materialize and surround Sanji and Brook. 

Capone introduces himself all badass-like, and confirms his Devil Fruit as the 'Shiro Shiro Fruit', the Castle Fruit. Capone's underling 'Whit', some creepy-looking dude that looks like Bacchus from Fairy Tail and Caribou underwent the fusion dance. Whit has apparently captured Chopper and Nami, and Capone successfully gets Caesar Clown to come out of his hiding place. Pretty cool of Caesar to actually have the balls to hang out and observe or try to ambush the Big Mom Pirates... Caesar Clown for next Straw Hat? I highly doubt that, but maybe he can hang out with the Straw Hat Fleet or whatever. 

Capone captures the entirety of Team Curly Hats and shrinks them down and forces them to sit on a dining room table all Blofeld-like, and apparently Capone can create a projection of his real body within his fortress body all goop-like. Apparently Capone has a change in orders, though, and there is an invitation to Big Mom's tea party... a wedding between the 35th daughter of the Charlotte (Big Mom) family, Pudding... and the Vinsmook family's third son, Sanji.

Yep, Sanji is a Prince after all. Fifteen years of jokes and whatnot, and Sanji is a prince of some sort. Sanji Vinsmook. Huh. Tenryubito? One of the as-of-yet-unnamed kingdoms? Also, he has siblings? What. Just what.

Not sure if Pudding is Chapati Lola or not, or even if Lola is indeed Big Mom's daughter, but still.

Overall a pretty awesome chapter. Sanji was awesome, Capone was awesome, Pekoms was unexpectedly great, we get some nice moments from Caesar Clown as well... yeah, definitely looking forward to seeing how all this is going to turn out. So who's going to be the big bad of this arc, is my question. Is it Jack the Drought? Is it Big Mom? Is it Whitebeard Junior? Man, so many to choose from. Also, motherfucking PRINCE SANJI!

Constantine Ep. 11 Review: Inception

Constantine, Episode 11: A Whole World Out There

It's an episode that honestly would've worked better as one of the filler episodes earlier in the show's life. As the third-last episode in a season, though? A season that built up two big organizations, one of which is causing the still-vague 'rising darkness' deal that is the driving force of the season's plot... you'd think they would go for something more plot relevant. Yeah, Constantine really had a fair bit going on for it, but poor plot and character management (once more supporting characters Zed and Chas take a break and are wholly absent) and it's honestly no wonder that the show got cancelled after its first season.

On paper it's a solid concept, even if it plays on two more overly-used horror genre -- a serial killer targeting a group of young friends, and a killer that lives in a dream world/mirror world. In this episode, an Egyptian soul-hopping ritual thing went awry on a campus where Ritchie Simpson was teaching with. Ritchie, the reluctant ally that Constantine recruited in the pilot, ends up getting screentime to develop his character since he's a stark contrast to the likes of Zed and Chas who are all in for fighting the fight. Ritchie is, as Constantine points out, a coward running away ever since the Newcastle incident, and despite his knowledge regarding the spiritual world he wants nothing to do with it. An episode starring him is awesome.

Only... Jacob Shaw, the titular antagonist, is not very threatening, nor does the show really make him feel threatening. Someone who has jumped out of his soul a long time ago and is living in a twisted house that he can manipulate all Inception or Matrix-style, and is kinda hellbent on enacting some Freddy Krueger shit through mirrors... yeah, a random serial killer doesn't feel all that threatening to John Constantine.

There is some creepy visuals as the wounds inflicted on Shaw's dream world manifests on the students in the real world, of course, and some nifty intentionally-bad-CGI as Shaw and Ritchie both manipulate the dream world... but it's ultimately filler stuff, and a filler plot that honestly dragged on for way too long than it should. Both Constantine and Ritchie really play well off each other and their characterization and discussion about guilt and whatnot are decent, but the general filler-y nature of the plot really doesn't make me engaged in what is going on. The philosophical bit near the end where Ritchie seems happy to be left behind in the dream world is done quite well too. There's some nice discussion about Gary and about Constantine's past, but there's a bit of a sinking feeling that since we're only two episodes down the road we probably won't get the full story about Newcastle, or if we do it'll compete for screentime alongside the Brujeria and Resurrection Crusade plots.

The random deus ex machina that Ritchie somehow has There Is No Spoon powers and can manipulate the dream world really came out of nowhere, and felt like a cheap way to end the crisis.

Honestly, as well-acted as Ritchie's character is, he's ultimately throwaway. We already have Constantine confronting the events of Newcastle with both Gary and Anne-Marie, both of the part of far more interesting and engaging stories respectively. So I really don't know what the point of this episode is in the grand scheme of things.

Overall, though, there really isn't much content to really analyse in this episode. It's one of the filler-y-est of Constantine, possibly rivaling or surpassing the child murderer one in how detached and utterly meaningless filler fluff it has. Manny tries to substitute for the lack of Zed and Chas and Rising Darkness by uttering some cryptic lines, but not even his scenes really had any weight to it. It's an episode you can easily skip without missing much.

Constantine Ep. 10 Review: Chas vs. Felix Faust

Constantine, Episode 10: Quid Pro Quo

So this is the Chas (I may have misspelled his name for like nine episodes now) origin story. We learn about his backstory and his family life, which has been built up for quite some time now. Apparently Chas isn't just immortal -- he's got 47 lives stored within him all Full Metal Alchemist style. By the end of this episode, he has 30. Apparently a half-drunk Constantine cast a 'joke' spell from the ages of Merlin which, when Chas ended up being trapped in a burning accident, ends up sucking the souls of the other 47 people present (because he's a worthier knight than the rest) and, well, basically having the ability to return from the dead 47 times.

And apparently his wife and daughter are estranged simply because Chas keeps going off to help Constantine to fight Monkey Kings and shit, a far more mundane and non-mystical reason than I expected with this show... and while it's understandable and we don't get to see a lot of the interplay between Chas and Renee I felt that this angle could've really been explored further instead of just having Renee being upset because Chas missed a birthday party or two. Bringing up Newcastle and being afraid that Geraldine would end up like Astra is actually a good point, but after that one line of dialogue it ends up being shuffled aside in favour of the rather trite TV excuse of "you don't spend enough time with your family" deal.

The villain of the piece is Felix Faust, a classic DC villain that is the go-to villain when they need a sorcerer villain that's threatening enough but don't want to disturb the fringe properties like Hellblazer or Sandman or cheapen one of the bigger pan-series threats like Trigon or Neron or whatever. Felix Faust here is basically a pretty generic evil wizard, with Constantine consistently pointing out what a big loser Felix Faust is if not for the Rising Darkness. He's casting this spell that steals the souls of random people in Brooklyn -- Chas's daughter included -- to power him up for, uh, generic evil villain purposes, I guess.

I honestly didn't expect Felix Faust to appear in the show, so I was, well, pretty surprised that the big scary Fennel-possessing evil demonic voice was good ol' Felix Faust. He's dressed more like Emperor Palpatine than his normal quasi-Egyptian (well, Atlantean) garb from the comics, and looks far less menacing, though it fits for this particular incarnation on the character.

(Poor Fennel! Apparently he's an actual character from Hellblazer. In any case that was a gruesome death for someone who clearly wants no part in this)

Felix Faust's power boost does complicate things because he can threaten to kill Chas's daughter, and he sends Constantine to do his dirty work in hunting down the demon Karabasan (who looks like a lightning wolf). Random little fun fact here -- in real life, Karabasan is the Turkish version of the Germanic evil spirit Mare, who, like Karabasan in this show, attacks the sleeping. The spirit Mare is the origin for the english word 'nightmare', because unlike lightning wolf here all the Mares did was give you nightmares. The bit with Karabasan is honestly a bit unnecessary and merely a bit of padding for Constantine and Zed to have a couple of action scenes here before Chas steals the show again.

Anyway, Felix Faust just keeps altering deals and Chas makes the good point of why not just assault and beat Felix Faust right then and there, while Constantine doesn't want to take the risk of Felix Faust just snuffing out Geraldine's soul. Chas's lack of self-control is more than understandable considering all the warnings his wife has told him about staying away from Constantine, and, well, the fact that his daughter's soul lies in balance here.

Of course, Chas ends up knocking Constantine up in the head and making his own yolo gambit of trying to offer thirty-one (well, thirty after his demonstration) souls to Faust in exchange for his daughter's... and then altering the deal with a well-placed grenade. I thought having Renee come in just to see Chas blow up and then coming over to their way of thinking was a bit too overdramatic and didn't play off as well as it could've, but it's a fine little climax where Chas manages to remain the star of his own episode. Granted it's foreshadowed with Chas telling Constantine how if a mage dies all his spells go null and void, but with all the precautions Constantine seems to be taking over the whole situation you'd expect something more.

Felix Faust explodes, of course, but hey, this is DC comics. Faust can come back. If Constantine didn't get cancelled or somehow gets a season two, I would bet good money on Felix Faust returning. Sadly, though, poor Faust probably will only ever show up if they ever decide to do another crossover on Arrow.

We get a wee bit more on the Zed situation in the beginning and the end, with a nice little warm scene between her and Constantine to cap off the episode, with her telling Constantine how his mother didn't consider her death his fault, and a rare moment of vulnerability from the master of the dark arts. Zed also gives his daddy's organization its name, the Resurrection Crusade... though I knew this since two episodes ago when they debuted thanks to some people in the internet telling me. It's not much, but at least she's not keeping it a secret from Constantine and Chas and sparing us potential needless drama in the future.

Overall, though, as someone who amounts as a tagalong dead weight with a peculiar ability, Chas finally gets a chance to shine after ten freaking episodes of staying in the background and serving as black comedy whenever he dies. We get both an awesome flashback and a decent showing in the present day with him taking down a pretty big villain all on his lonesome. It's honestly a pretty basic episode without anything really refreshing or game-changing here, but the sheer novelty of a live-action Felix Faust and the awesomeness of giving Chas actual backstory and characterization elevate this a bit more than just being throwaway filler.