Let's Play Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu, Part #1: Brock to Erika

I haven't done one of these text-based let's plays for... for forever, because, well, I haven't really been playing a lot of video games. The last couple of games I played were Assassin's Creed II, Arkham Origins, Deus Ex: Human Revolution and... well, basically a lot of random fighting games that don't really make for a good let's play. Video gaming content on this blog has mostly been monster reviews and Hearthstone card talk anyway, but... but I've been passively playing Let's Go: Pikachu on my Nintendo Switch over the past couple of weeks. I'm very late to the party, and... and I honestly considered not doing a let's play at all, really. The fact that I'm not really speeding through the story at all and just taking my time to quite literally stop and smell the flowers and look at the pretty new graphics is also a factor. But hey, yesterday I reached what would probably be considered the mid-point of the game, with Lavender Town and the Snorlax stuff, so I guess I have enough to talk about to have something to say on a let's play segment.

So... so the game's basically a remake-plus of Pokemon Yellow, except they implement the Pokemon Go mechanics for Pokemon capturing, which is... it's admittedly a stupid decision and one that I am not a huge fan of, but let's get the rant out of the way first. I understand the marketing reasoning for why they did it -- Go is a very big game and perhaps the biggest break Pokemon's gotten since the original cartoon aired, and it is pretty smart, from a marketing standpoint, to at least attempt to draw in the new blood who may not have touched a real Pokemon game. From that point of view, it's actually a pretty great marketing move. Intellectually, I understand that. But playing through this game, I honestly really feel that there is absolutely very little incentive to grind and capture the random Pokemon in the wild. Sure, you get experience points and shit for your entire party, but it's honestly such a bland and unrewarding experience to just throw the ball at the wild Pokemon without any sort of real change to what's going on. At least with the old system, each wild Pokemon encounter can feel different depending on your own Pokemon, y'know? Throw in the fact that the motion sensors for the Switch... isn't the best, and it adds a whole layer of frustration to the whole thing. I honestly wished that there's an option to go for the more classic battle system.


That said, though, once you get over that hump, Let's Go Pikachu is actually a decent remake. Like, I wouldn't say that it's revolutionary or anything, but I feel like it's basically similar to Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire in that it's... it kind of ticks the boxes of what I want from a remake. And having the wild Pokemon actually move around on-screen after the pop out of the grass, Digimon World/Pokemon Ranger style, is nothing short of amazing. That's honestly what probably sold the game for me, in spite of the pretty poorly-thought catching mechanism. It's just so fun walking through the grass and then seeing Pidgeys flying around and Oddishes waddling around, or walking through caves and seeing Geodudes popping out of the ground and wandering around. It's something that none of the previous 3D games from Generation VI and VII really managed to do, to really show these Pokemon wandering around in their habitat. Plus, it's just fun to see the scale of these Pokemon compared to your trainer.

Best of all? Pikachu rides your shoulder, so you can have a Pokemon follow behind you, and that is like the most crucial part in a Pokemon game, and I am genuinely surprised that only Yellow and Heart Gold/Soul Silver has ever made this a proper feature. It adds so much to the game! They also basically replace the Bicycle with riding larger Pokemon, which I find is great. You're also no longer just limited to Tauros as in Sun/Moon, which is neat! Wouldn't have pegged Persian of all things to be ridable, either.

Oh, and you can basically access the Pokemon Box anywhere you want, which is... convenient as hell, but at the same time also kind of silly. I do like that they made it so that Pokemon retain their HP and fainted status until you actually go to a Pokemon Center, but at the same time it essentially makes an already easy game even easier since you basically have an army of replacements ready to swap in at any given time. Throw in Pikachu (and Eevee)'s special overpowered moves... yeah. I know the game's for newbies, but, jeez, there are so much crap that make the game way too easy to play through.

Multiplayer is... well, it's primitive, and it basically allows whoever holds the other Switch controller to help out in capturing or battling. It does turn every single battle in the game into a two-on-one bully, though, and I really wished that it instead turned the battle into a double battle instead. I mean, it's not like Pokemon is any stranger to the double battle system. It's cute, and the sheer hilarity of playing the game with someone else is fun in the same way that Mario Kart is fun. It's a nice feature that is... kinda nice that they included, but ultimately kinda throwaway.

Anyway, let's talk of my experience through the game. We've had the Kanto games remade so many times that I really will just be brushing through most of the actual story and areas unless they're relevant. The introduction is basically similar to Pokemon Yellow, except apparently in this game, the actual Generation I protagonists (Red and Blue, as subsequent games gave them the names of) already exist and has became great trainers, but without encountering Team Rocket or going through Oak's pokedex quest? The timeline is a bit wonky, really, and it's best not to think too much about it.

Since I play Let's Go Pikachu, I get to meet the Pikachu in the wild and he basically hops around within his own Pokeball. It's... it's honestly adorable, and Ikue Otani's iconic voice acting for Pikachu is just on-point. Pikachu is utterly adorable, and we get some additional extra cutscenes at some points where it's just your character and Pikachu being adorable. Throw in some clothes customization and a little 'play with Pikachu' mini-game (a Pokemon-amie clone, basically) and it's just... I don't know. I'm just a sucker for it, apparently. It's adorable.

The role of your rival is taken over by a new character, "Trace" (I called mine Gary), who is... yet another in a series of generic nice-guy helpful-guy rivals. And while I think the internet disdain at nice-guy rivals have been overblown, this is kind of silly. Dude's pretty generic, and rival battles in this game feels so neutered and generic, especially compared to the original Blue. I dunno. I just really don't like him and don't care for him.

I do like that the beginning sequence of the game ends up being significantly pared down, though, with the ability to just skip the backtracking and just immediately 'go to Pallet Town' to deliver the package or whatever. Most of the opening is pretty similar to the original games, with the changes being made mostly to accommodate the new rival and to promote some of Let's Go's new features. And... and I really don't think I have much to say about the journey through Viridian City, then into Viridian Forest, and into Pewter City, and the gym battle with Brock. The redesigned Viridian Forest and Pewter City museum are sure pretty as hell, and the music remixes are great. Ultimately, though, not much to talk about.

Mt. Moon was... it was fun, and I do like the animation of how Pokemon spawn in the caves. Honestly, the way the wild Pokemon spawn and move around the overworld is honestly my favourite part of the game. The anime's Team Rocket, Jessie and James, show up at various points in the game, similar to how they did in the original Pokemon Yellow. They take over as the roadblock in Viridian City, and hunt for fossils in Mt. Moon... although this time around, Meowth doesn't get to battle. He is precious, though.

I don't really have much to say about Cerulean City and the whole Bill side-quest, either, although we do get a fun little animated cutscene for the Bill sequence. I find the rival mildly annoying at this point because his role seems to just be 'freak out at everything', but eh. You still get the Kanto starters in a similar manner, by getting them from NPC's after catching a certain amount of Pokemon. The mechanic changes mean that some parts of the game end up being redundant, but I do like that, say, the Cerulean City bike shop still exists with its silly exorbitant price, even if you can't buy the bike. You see this repeated with some other parts of the game that has basically became kind of defunct, like the move deleter, or the name rater, or the game corner in Celadon City. Oh, in-game trades are also removed, but I do like that Dux the Farfetch'd is an actual NPC in Vermilion City. That is adorable.

S.S. Anne is pretty, and Pikachu gets a Titanic moment at the tip of the boat. The cutscene of the S.S. Anne leaving is also pretty neat. Oh, and you meet Blue, too! Both here and earlier in Pewter City or something, I think? It's so weird seeing Blue as a nice guy. I... I am very much neutral at his inclusion as a recurring NPC. In a neat bit of next-generation cameo, a younger Mina of all people is apparently left behind by the S.S. Anne, and you get to fight her team of Kanto-region Fairy types. It's cool!

Oh, this is around the time that you get Cut, huh? HM moves are basically just treated as a passive ability your Pikachu is able to do without taking a move slot, which is neat! This is definitely a change that I can definitely say is a vast, vast improvement. Sun/Moon did away with HM's, and I am definitely very happy that they're moving away from them, even in remakes.

Let's have a brief moment of silence for Lt. Surge's gym. It's frustrating, for sure, but I really wished that there was a better way to implement the 'changing switch' thing that's not quite as frustrating. Anyway, I do like that after getting the Flash equivalent in that house outside Diglett's Cave, we get teleported immediately to Rock Tunnel in another bit of "let's teleport you to where you have to be".

Random fun little tid-bits: Misty and Brock both do the poses of their original Generation I sprites. Misty's Staryu is replaced with a Psyduck to give a nod to the anime, and Brock has a brief extra line of dialogue saying he wants to become a Pokemon breeder. Oh, and Lt. Surge also gives you an autograph, which is a very obscure reference to the Generation VII protagonist having Lt. Surge's autograph on a wall.

Rock Tunnel is long as shit, although it's where I got an Onix and spend a huge chunk of the rest of the game riding around on an Onix. Oh, and you get a brief cutscene of Elite Four member Lolerei showing up before Rock Tunnel to help you beat up Rocket grunts offscreen, which is... it's kinda neat. It's not a particularly memorable scene, but it helps make the Elite Four feel like actual characters instead of just these four random dudes you meet as final bosses.

One of the biggest story improvements is that after you pop out of the Rock Tunnel in Lavender Town, the residents of the city make it more clear that a lot of the dead Pokemon in the tower are killed thanks to Team Rocket's poaching, including the mother of a particular Cubone. And then you see said Cubone being basically kidnapped by the Team Rocket trio, which ends up giving you a story incentive to go to Celadon! It's well-done.

Celadon City's pretty. That's honestly a compliment I kind of have on most of the cities in the game. Oh, and the way the Fly HM is handled is apparently Pikachu operating a weird mechanism with balloons, which is... eh, okay? Celadon City's game corner, its huge poke-mart, its refurbished gym... everything is just pretty. After beating Erika, you meet Team Rocket playing pachinko in the Game Corner, which is funny. You then go into their base to rescue Cubone (and get the Silph Scope, but that's more of an incidental objective). And I really do love the Game Corner Rocket Base! There is a segment where an undercover agent from Looker's international police organization give you and Pikachu Team Rocket clothes, which is neat. There's even a brief moment where you take control of Pikachu and have him run around rafters to get a card key or something, which is just adorable.

And then the actual journey to Giovanni actually feels like a boss rush. You first face off against Jessie and James, and then you face off against Archer from Heart Gold/Soul Silver, who is a character who I genuinely didn't expect to meet in this game. And then you face off against Giovanni. Who... is kind of a pushover since they swapped out Kangaskhan with Persian, but eh.

This is where you rescue Cubone from Giovanni, and then you go through the whole Lavender Town storyline. It's fun to note that the Ghosts basically become Zelda Wallmasters before you get the Silph Scope, which I thought was a fun way to do it. The Marowak boss encounter also ends up being a pretty well-done cutscene, which... yeah, I really liked it.

Interestingly, for something that's more subtle in the original games, we get Jessie and James attacking Mr. Fuji and straight-up demanding that he continue his research for Team Rocket. It's always implied in the game (and outright confirmed in manga/anime adaptations) that Fuji is a retired scientist that worked on the Mewtwo project, but I do like that the story's making it a bit more relevant. Another boss fight against Jessie and James, and that's it for the Lavender Town quest.

I last played the game at around the Snorlax encounter, and apparently, with Snorlax (and what I presume are how legendaries work) you... you fight them, but you just bring their HP to zero to start off the capture minigame? That seems utterly bizarre and honestly backwards to me. But at least I can walk around riding Snorlax, Totoro-style!

Anyway, despite some of my hang-ups with the game, it has been... it definitely has been pretty enjoyable. The improvements to the story, the nice graphics, and the sheer charm of having the Pokemon actually move around in the overworld have definitely won me over. It's definitely a very flawed game, but I would definitely be lying if I said I didn't enjoy myself playing this game. This went a bit longer than I originally thought it would. Don't expect part 2 to come too soon, because this is a game that I am definitely not rushing to completion.

Arrow S07E12 Review: The Hunter of the Hunters

Arrow, Season 7, Episode 12: Emerald Archer

One of the most powerful episodes in the TV series Babylon Five is an episode that is a documentary being shot by reporters on the space station, which is such an interesting format change from what we usually see, and remains one of my favourite episodes because it also helps to showcase just how powerful and how easy it is to twist the scenes shot in a documentary.

Arrow's 150th anniversary episode... tries to do that, but it really falls short. Don't get me wrong, I really do appreciate the amount of cameos we get in the first leg of the episode. We get the unexpected return of Quentin Lance and Thea Queen, recording bits in an interview, which is pretty damn cool that the actors are actually happy to shoot small cameos despite their huge departures from the Arrow series. We get unexpected ones too, like Rory "Ragman" Reagan, and Sin, neither of whom are characters that I honestly remember about, but it's nice to have them back.

And I do love the brief callbacks to earlier seasons, as well to the various different people's perspectives about vigilantism in Star City. But then after that, around 8 or 10 minutes into the episode, we just cut away to a third-person viewing as the shooting of the documentary gets interrupted when William and Felicity arrives and interrupt the shooting, and we just do a bizarre back-and-forth between "this is a faux-documentary" and "this is a regular episode, but there are cameraman in the background until we don't need them". It's pretty weird that they don't even play ball with the concept of a documentary being shot, with the cameramen walking behind Team Arrow as they go around town hunting a vigilante-hunter called Chimera. There's honestly nothing that significantl changes other than brief cutaways to guest stars being interviewed, and I am utterly baffled.

Anyway, this episode basically has a pretty bland plotline of Chimera abducting Emiko Queen off-screen, and the asshole mayor demanding that Oliver and Dinah show up at some sort of town hall talk instead of hunting Chimera. And it's... it's bizarre, and doesn't really mesh particularly well with the whole documentary main plot, which, as much as I do love the documentary segments (especially when we get people like Barry or Curtis's POV on Oliver's psyche), also makes it kind of weird why they choose to do this format while also ignoring it for the most part.

The only real relevance is that the cameramen and the documentary catch New Team Arrow on-camera as they save the mayor and all the people from Chimera when he inevitably crashes the party to get Green Arrow's hood, and it's... it's honestly kind of bland, y'know? We're supposed to get this triumphant return of Team Arrow as Spartan, Wild Dog and Mr. Terrific suit up to take down Chimera, and Dinah even shows off her black canary cry in public, but it's honestly kind of messily done, and I genuinely never bought into the fact that Chimera was so powerful that he needed the entire Arrow Team to show up for the party. It's a bit bizarre, and while, yes, the episode ends up having Pollard deputizing everyone for the SCPD, it is genuinely bizarre and it seems utterly forced. Especially with Diggle, who is already a leadership figure in a government organization.

Also, despite being shown off as this vigilante-hunter that apparently took down Huntress and Ragman, apparently Chimera just... steals their equipment like a fucked-up collector? Eh.

The other B-plot running through this episode, and, again, something that doesn't mesh with the documentary thing, is William having a shouting contest with Oliver, and then hanging out with Zoe because he hates his parents' ignoring him and everything. And apparently he faked the school website to hide the fact from Felicity and Oliver that he got expelled and... the actor for William is great, but I've honestly had my fill of William/Oliver angry parenting drama from season six, so no thank you to this sub-plot, please.

We then cut to the future segment, where Blackstar (whose real name is Mia) and Connor Hawke (Diggle's kid, which we see in Legends of Tomorrow) are watching the documentary and are talking shit about this pro-vigilantism stuff. And it's... I honestly don't get what the whole point of it was. There's no real point to them doing a format-breaking story since it doesn't even really tell us anything, there's no real tie in with Mia and Connor's storyline, and... and as fun as the cameos were, I honestly feel like this ended up like one of the weakest episodes of Arrow's seventh season. It's so muddled.  

DC Easter Eggs Corner: 

• Chimera, a.k.a. Kevin Meltzer, is loosely based on a minor villain for the Checkmate comics, Chimera (named Adam Sharp in those comics), who is also a hero-hunter. 
• Blackstar's real name is apparently "Mia", which is a reference to Mia Dearden, a.k.a. Speedy, the comic-book character that Thea Queen is based on. 
• The title of the episode, "Emerald Archer", is a reference to Green Arrow's comic-book moniker, sort of like how Man of Steel is for Superman. 
• Among the returning characters for the interview include: Quentin Lance, Thea Queen, Sara Lance, Barry Allen, Rory Reagan and Sin. Rory hasn't been seen since season 4, Sin since... season 3, I think? Sara and Barry are busy on sister shows, whereas both Quentin and Thea's actors have had pretty huge "exit" episodes. Connor Hawke also returns in the future segments, not seen since a season one Legends of Tomorrow episode. Huntress's mask, at least, makes a brief appearance. 
• Wayne Enterprise and Gotham City are brought up once more. 

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Vento Aureo S04E16 Review: Shot Through The Heart, And You're To Blame

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind, Season 4, Episode 16: The Grateful Dead, Pt. 2

We continue off where we left of in the previous part as Bucciarati and Prosciutto dangle from the train after Bucciarati unzips the train and let the two of them fall out. Hanging on for dear life, we get to see the unfortunate body of the conductor go splat on the rushing side of the train. Pesci, meanwhile, doesn't get sucked out and wakes up, and manages to use Beach Boy to rescue Prosciutto, targeting him and stabbing him in the hand, which is a fun usage of Beach Boy.

This leads to a nice bit of opponent respect moment between the two of them as Prosciutto apologizes for mocking Bucciarati earlier, noting that, yes, Bucciarati is indeed a worthy capo. And we then get a pretty interesting power abuse. Bucciarati was informed by one of the Sex Pistol sprites that all attacks on Beach Boy's fishing line is sent from the line to the tip of the hook, so Bucciarati has Sticky Fingers attack the line in order to send the 'unzip' effect onto the end of the hook, and we actually get a pretty cool scene as Bucciarati tries to unzip Prosciutto's hand away from the hook, while Pesci tries his best to re-hook his aniki. The result of this little conflict is Bucciarati re-zipping the Beach Boy hook around his own hand, while letting Prosciutto fall into the "hell of 150 km/h velocity", which is kind of a ridiculous line.

And I do like that while Bucciarati manages to use the information of that particular property of Beach Boy, he has no idea that Pesci is actually able to tell some information from the targets he's hooked, and Pesci immediately realizes that Beach Boy isn't hooked into Prosciutto. Pesci panics the shit out... before realizing that the people next to him are still aging, meaning that the Grateful Dead isn't taken out of the picture yet.

And apparently the mangled Prosciutto is stuck between the parts of the train, with limbs missing and blood all over his body, which is just gruesome, but like Bucciarati, Prosciutto talks a huge game about how he's got the same amount of determination to see this fight to its end. This actually ends up being an inspiration for Pesci. A recurring insult in some flashbacks we've seen of the execution squad is people mocking Pesci for being a mammoni (Mama's boy), and as Pesci repeats Prosciutto's creed of "the moment we think of killing someone", he kills the random old passenger who insults Pesci as a mammoni. Honestly, for a villain-of-the-two-parter, I am actually very impressed at the character growth Pesci is showing in his limited screentime!

This leads to a re-invigorated Pesci who is determined to murder the shit out of Bucciarati, and I really love the amazing animation of Bucciarati unzipping and rezipping his arms while Beach Boy's hook and line spins around and just tries to burrow its way back in. The train battlefield also gets some great usage, with Bucciarati at one point being forced to unzip a train-roof shield to avoid being sliced by the cables on top.

And as Bucciarati re-enters the train, he uses Sticky Fingers to unzip his own body, scattering his pieces apart, which is... it's kind of a backwards thing to do, honestly, but while watching the episode you just get taken in by the whole theme of "do whatever is needed to win, even if it means sacrificing yourself". Pesci uses an imaginary Prosciutto to calm himself down and just uses Beach Boy's hook to hunt for Bucciarati, ripping off random hearts from different passengers. Bucciarati pulls off a Jotaro and uses his Stand to stop his heart from beating... by unzipping it!

We get a tense scene before Pesci assumes that Bucciarati has moved out of that particular cabin and is gunning for Prosciutto's body, and Pesci stops the train while recalling his Stand. It is very fortunate that this movement ends up causing Bucciarati's heart-halves to get stuck back together. I have... I have a lot of questions about the specific mechanics of Sticky Fingers, and why is it that it's just his heart's unity that apparently dictates whether he lives or dies. You'd think having blood vessels and nerves disconnected would kill him as well.

And... and as Bucciarati walks out of the train to confront Pesci, we do get some genuinely awesome animation as Pesci stands tall in full resolve, and I am honestly surprised at how much I like this villain. A dying Prosciutto tells Pesci some encouraging words before his death, and we get an amazing animation of Pesci immediately launching Beach Boy not through Bucciarati's arm, but straight towards his chest. It's apparently symbolic of Pesci's own growing confidence and determination, because he does the whole 'find a limb and crawl up it' if he can't see his prey. It's badass, but Bucciarati ends up pulling off a badass move of his own, grabs the line, and use the Beach Boy line to wrap around Pesci's neck and snaps it. Holy fuck, that's an awesome scene.

And even then, Pesci's not done yet, as he continues moving around with his neck snapped, threatening to smash poor Coco Jumbo the turtle. Bucciarati then launches Sticky Finger's arm in a fun little zoom punch, and notes that this is just cowardly and not at all like the resolve he had before. I'm... I'm not sure what Bucciarati is talking about since Pesci is an assassin and sneaky stealth-kills is kind of in his job description, but Bucciarati gives a badass speec about how you'll fail no matter what if you are a "piece of shit", and then does an ARIARIARIARI barrage, capping it off with "Arrideverci" (goodbye). Never has gratuitous Italian been so badass, and Pesci gets killed by being straight-up unzipped into pieces of his body.

The episode ends with Trish revealing that she can actually see the 'strange things', implying that she is actually a Stand user. It's... it's a bit weird why she didn't actually question shrinking down and hiding on a room within a turtle, though. I'm not sure what's up with that. The episode ends with the arrival of another assassin, Melone, who finds the train stopped, his two buddies dead, and swears vengeance as he collects Bucciarati's blood sample.

Anyway... it's a pretty badass episode, and if you can't tell, I am a huge, huge fan of both this fight and the two villains involved. The Stands used interact pretty well with each other, and I am a huge fan of the mutual respect Bucciarati and Prosciutto have, as well as Pesci's growth as an assassin and a character. It's honestly a bit of a rarity of minor villains in JoJo to even have character growth at all. It's also a great episode for Bucciarati -- one of the bigger complaints of Vento Aureo is how little Giorno actually gets to do in the middle portion, but honestly, when treated as more of an ensemble cast and not a story that revolves around a main character, Vento Aureo actually splits screentime around the main duo of Giorno and Bucciarati pretty well. Anyway, this has actually been my one of my favourite villain fights in Vento Aureo. Good stuff. 

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Vento Aureo S04E15 Review: Zipper Action

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind, Season 4, Episode 15: The Grateful Dead, Pt. 1

I'm splitting the Grateful Dead two-parter as individual episodes because I genuinely do have a fair bit to talk about both parts. It's a pretty fun little fight, and honestly, this entire train sequence has been pretty great. We follow up immediately from the previous episode with Mista being 'reeled in' by Pesci's Beach Boy, and we do get a pretty tense bit where Mista doesn't seem to be able to do jack shit about the fishing line while he is simultaneously being dragged bodily through the train, while the hook continues to move up his bloodstream. Really do love the pretty creative usage of Beach Boy -- how the fishing line can move through walls, but Mista is just dragged bodily through the train, Looney Tunes style.

Mista then gets the great idea of basically just shooting the little Sex Pistol sprites off on their own. Not to hunt Pesci, but to hunt down any glass of ice and just shatter it, with the logic that Pesci would be cooling himself down to resist the effects of the Grateful Dead's ability. This ends up causing poor, poor Pesci to panic the shit out and dismiss Beach Boy instinctively.

We get a pretty badass sequence of Guido Mista advancing on Pesci, with an ice cube onto his face and a gun pointed at him, demanding that he tell him where his partner is. Throughout this entire sequence, one of the aged-up passengers is just being confused and interrupts both Pesci and Mista... and we later get the revelation that this old man is, in fact, Prosciutto, who has disguised himself as an old man by affecting himself with his own Stand's powers. It's... it's kinda cool when it happens, but I really didn't like how he apparently sees that it's necessary to bother a panicking Pesci earlier in the fight? I'm genuinely not sure what that is supposed to accomplish, and Prosciutto really doesn't seem like a character to dick or troll around.

Mista and Sex Pistols get old and fall to the ground after being touched by Prosciutto, who reverts back to normal, and fucking shoots Mista multiple times in the side of his head. It's... it's kind of obvious that they aren't killing Mista so early on, but at least the story didn't drag it on as much as they did Avdol's death in Stardust Crusaders.

I really do like Prosciutto and Pesci's dynamic throughout the episode, though. The way that Pesci keeps calling Prosciutto his big brother (well, 'aniki', which is more of a gangster thing, but still) and just acts flustered and panicked, while Prosciutto is angry at Pesci not in the way that a bad guy is angry at his incompetent minion, but more of in a mentoring way, is pretty interesting. Prosciutto is more disappointed than angry, telling Pesci that he would've still won had he not panicked and dismissed his ability when the glass of ice was shattered. We get a repeat of the Execution Squad's "we don't say we're 'going to kill' someone" motto just as he shoots Mista, which is honestly pretty cool. It's more of a supportive tough love bit, and even if Prosciutto and Pesci are trying to kill all of the characters we like, I do very much appreciate that they took the time to craft a fun little friendship between the two.

Prosciutto even tells Pesci that despite the harshness that he shows Pesci, it is still okay for Pesci to be confident in his own abilities, noting that he had said that Beach Boy detected two living things in the driver's cabin, and had gone back on it because of his own self-doubt. It's... it's a genuinely interesting direction to take the villains in, especially since Prosciutto and Pesci are glorified villains-of-the-week. Normally in JoJo we just get a pair of assholes working together. A more confident Pesci then looks under the seat and finds animal droppings, and Prosciutto figures out that they're hiding within the animal and breaks the cabin's furniture to find the turtle lurking in the shadows.

Of course, though, Mista isn't really dead. Apparently, Sex Pistol #5 had hidden inside Mista's hat and... blocked the bullet? And kept him relatively young with a piece of ice? Not sure how the blood splatter caused by the gunshot ended up happening, though -- that was a bit of an ass-pull for the sake of drama. But Sex Pistol #6 had gone on ahead to warn Bucciarati, who's hiding with the power of Sticky Fingers. And after nearly ten episodes of Bucciarati doing nothing but be the man in the background, it is so awesome to see him summon SUTIKKI FINGAZU once more, complete with the badass zipper sounds. Honestly, that might probably be my favourite sound effect from the entire season -- Bucciarati's Sticky Fingers.

We get some pretty awesome fighting between Prosciutto and Bucciarati as Sticky Fingers and Grateful Dead get a pretty badass ORA ORA exchange. The fact that Sticky Fingers just rips zippers open in Prosciutto's body is also pretty creepily awesome. Poor, poor Pesci freezes up at the order to crush the turtle, and ends up being kicked in the chin by Bucciarati, which is pretty freaking badass. A particularly badass sequence in this smooth and beautifully animated sequence is when Bucciarati unzips his own head to let Grateful Dead's punch pass harmlessly through thin air.

Of course, we get more of the wacky JoJo pseudo-science when Prosciutto notes that Bucciarati has been too intent on finishing things immediately, and by exerting himself and burning calories, he is increasing his body temperature, which, in turn, causes Grateful Dead's effect to manifest more -- and thus weakening Bucciarati and Sticky Fingers.

And then, in typical advantage switching in a JoJo fight, Bucciarati gives a badass speech about the responsibilities of a capo, that he has to make sure the mission succeeds by any means... and then fucking unzips the train, fully willing to take Prosciutto down to his death with him by falling down onto the speeding ground outside.

I'm not the biggest fan, ultimately, of the Mista death fake-out, but that is honestly not dragged out for that long. Really do adore this episode, from the badass Bucciarati/Prosciutto showdown to the brotherly interaction between Prosciutto and Pesci. Probably one of my favourite story segments of Vento Aureo, honestly. 

Gotham S05E04 Review: Kangaroo Trial

Gotham, Season 5, Episode 4: Ruin

This episode of Gotham is... it's a pretty fun one. Following up on the surprise cliffhanger from the previous episode what Haven got blown up straight to hell, we start the episode off with a pretty well-shot scene of Gordon wandering through the burning ashes and just yelling at everyone, telling everyone to get their shit together and save as many people as he can. And when we cut to one of those scenes of Gordon talking to the faceless people from the United States Government who can only offer hollow condolences, we really feel the simultaneous defeat and rage in Gordon's voice. In a somewhat unusual detail, Gordon notes that the death toll is more than 300, which... holy shit, that really puts into perspective just how huge the blow was from last episode, huh? Hell, we even get the surprisingly subdued scene as one of the random GCPD officers hand Gordon his badge... which we knew was one that he gave to that kid in the previous episode. That's another gut-punch for Gordon.


Hell, I even love the reactions of the other characters involved here. Penguin is utterly shocked and horrified, and is caught up in all the chaos in the first five minutes. Sure, he gets to be his usual campy, hammy self later on, but during the actual chaos of Haven exploding, Penguin was utterly stumped, and honestly, even his motivations throughout this episode is partially inspired in finding justice/vengeance for Haven's fall. Barbara backing off and returning to her base instead of putting a bullet through Penguin's head might be plot contrivance, but I do like that Barbara apparently has enough heart to not fuck up Haven even more by killing one of its influential leaders or whatever, which I guess is what Penguin is? Part of his motivation in this episode does seem to make himself look like the saviour for the people of Haven. So.

Gotham, again, splits this episode into three main storylines, with the main one still dealing with the aftermath of Penguin and Gordon trying to hunt down the mystery man who blew up all of Haven. Penguin walks up to the GCPD building with an army of goons and guns, very much willing to lend his help pro bono to get whoever is behind all of this. And while I do question just where Penguin got all those dudes (I guess they're just the Street Demons?), it does make for a pretty cool 'let's roll out' scene as the cops and gangsters go off on a tip to hunt down the suspicious, shady person who was seen leaving Haven during all of the chaos of Penguin and the Street Demons' takeover of Haven. And after Penguin and his dumbass megaphone ruins any chance of them catching the suspect by surprise, we get the revelation that it's Mr. Zsasz!

I really, really loved Zsasz's subdued, dry performance, and it's back in full force. "Is this about Sofia Falcone? Because you really need to move past that. It's not healthy." I completely forgot about this little connection between Zsasz and Penguin, but if making himself the hero in front of all the people of Haven isn't enough motivation for Penguin, this just drives him onto overdrive. There is admittedly a particularly silly bit where apparently they just unload every single bullet they have on Zsasz's apartment sniper's perch so Gordon can run and tackle Zsasz. It's badass, for sure, but after the first three episodes make it such a huge point that bullets are hard to come by, it's a bit odd that this was the strategy they used.

They capture Zsasz, who claims to be innocent. Zsasz's (dry) defense is actually pretty solid -- he's someone who carves a tattoo onto his flesh every time he kills, so if he actually blew up Haven, he would want everyone to know. Gordon wants actual evidence before actually condemning Zsasz, but Penguin wants to give the people of Haven their pound of flesh and basically rallies the people in the only way Penguin knows how -- the hammy court scene. Somewhat Dark Knight Rises-esque in its setup, Penguin ends up using this as an opportunity not just to give closure to the citizens out for blood, but also to basically make himself look good and Gordon look bad.

Of course, the B-plot (which we'll talk about later) ends up with the revelation that it couldn't have been Zsasz who caused the explosion. And as Lucius Fox tells this to Gordon, we get a brief bit of Gordon wondering if he should just let the people have their justice before realizing that, shit, he's a hero, god damn it. I do like that brief bit of doubt, though -- as much as he self-styles himself as the pure white beacon of justice, Gotham's Jim Gordon has fallen into some questionably amoral things in the past. And as Zsasz gets shoved into a fucking guillotine (and I get the hilarious mental image of Penguin pulling the guillotine out of his closet or something) Gordon ends up rescuing Zsasz, escaping with him while Penguin screams at the people how Gordon cares more about a murderer than their welfare.

It is, of course, pretty questionable what Gordon does next, as both Bullock and Penguin call him out on. Yes, having him killed in a sham trial isn't right, but at the same time, releasing him into the wild? Bullock notes that Zsasz is a psychopath that cuts his flesh whenever he kills, and while he is entertaining as all hell, Zsasz has a pretty high bodycount in this show. But I guess it wouldn't be a Batman show without the hero refusing to kill, so. I do love the little bit at the end where Zsasz kind of taunts Gordon about how the city will always belong to the scum like him, and Gordon very nearly demands that Zsasz just cowboy-duels him right then and there. It's something that Bullock later tells Gordon is a stupid thing to do, which... I kinda liked. Whatever the case, though, it ends up with the Penguin/Gordon alliance basically ending after half an episode, which is par the course for Gotham.

Interestingly, the episode ends Gordon's story with him talking with Barbara, the two of them bonding over hunting down who blew up Haven... and then they have some really aggressive kissing. The two of them probably had the most epic of hate-fucks afterwards.

The B-Plot, which takes place concurrent with the first one, continues with the Riddler storyline. Or is it Edward that's the main personality? I honestly forgot and may or may not be mistaken in my review of the first three episodes, because this episode makes it look like it's Edward that's confused and trying to retrace the steps of his alter-ego, while it's the Riddler that's doing villainous things and leaving riddles for Edward. That's what I'm assuming until proven otherwise. Whatever the case, though, the episode ends up with Nygma being left a riddle by his later-ego, and he goes off to hunt a Blackgate Prison inmate.

While trying to steal records, he's stopped by Lucius Fox, who's been honestly under-utilized and part of the scenery since around halfway through season four. Making a deal for Nygma to help out with figuring out how Haven blew up in exchange for the records, it's a fun scene as Nygma and Lucius basically go through a buddy cop routine to figure out how Haven blew up. It's not particularly long, but the two play off each other very well. Whatever the case, though, they realize that whoever blew up Haven stood on a rooftop and launched an RPG onto the fuel tanks, and it's certainly not Zsasz, who was on the ground the whole time.

However, and in perhaps the biggest plot twist in this episode, Nygma fins out that the riddle doesn't actually refer to a Blackgate inmate, but to an old lady in a nearby apartment building who saw the rocket being launched at Haven. Nygma talks to the old lady... and ends up realizing through a strangely-edited flashback (it has weird digital distortion effects?) that it's his alter-ego that fired the bazooka that blew up Haven. Whether Riddler did it just to murder people for shits and giggles, or if this is part of a bigger plan where he perhaps is working with some of the other players in No Man's Land (or maybe part of a big riddle, I dunno) it's a pretty surprising and well-done payoff for the Riddler B-plot storyline we've been having over the past four episodes. Good stuff!

The other B-plot is, of course, Bruce, Alfred and Selina. We get a brief scene of Alfred freeing Bruce, and like a good butler, basically tells Bruce that you can't save someone from herself... but they can very well keep Selina alive until she realizes what's going on. We get some scenes of Jeremiah and Ecco hamming things up, as you do... and apparently Jeremiah is behind this bizarre plan of digging under the river? I dunno, it still seems dumb. I really enjoy the interactions between Jeremiah and Ecco, which is just crazy and very much reminiscent of B:TAS Joker and Harley Quinn.

Of course, in another surprising twist, Selina walks up to Jeremiah in the middle of "dig deep within yourself!" and just stabs Jeremiah repeatedly in the god damn gut. For all the drama on whether to kill Zsasz in the other side of the city, this is just an abrupt stab. No drama with Bruce and Selina angsting over whether to do it, no prolonged final battle, no nothing. I don't doubt that Jeremiah will still survive in some way because he's kind of the Joker (and if this is just the end for Jeremiah, it's bad writing), but god damn, that's surprising. Bruce and Alfred barge in with a smoke bomb and grab Selina and escape, but that leaves Jeremiah presumably dead, and sets up a lot of fun potential for drama between Bruce and Selina, as well as Ecco hunting them down.

Overall, a pretty spectacular episode of Gotham. I don't think I have much complaints. It's over-acted and hammy as usual, but honestly, that's part of Gotham's charm as much as anything else. 

Supergirl S04E12 Review: Symbiote

Supergirl, Season 4, Episode 12: Menagerie

I completely missed this episode of Supergirl back when I was catching up to TV shows! I thought it went on one of its many hiatuses already. Honestly, with the news that a lot of CW shows seem to be on the brink of conclusion or cancellation -- and apparently going to be replaced with more 'big' names -- it's going to be interesting to look at Supergirl's fourth season as a potential last season as opposed to just another season in the life of Supergirl.


This episode introduces us to a villain-of-the-week, sort of, in the form of a character who never actually got her time to shine in the comics, Menagerie. Jumping right ahead to the final part of the episode, Menagerie's actually introduced in the comics as part of Manchester Black's team of edgy anti-heroes, but we know scant little about her beyond the fact that she's bonded with alien parasites that she can control. Here, we get some shades of Venom as the woman who would become Menagerie, Pamela Ferrer, is established to be a jewel thief who ends up encountering a meteor that crash-lands and bonds with her.

And while I do kinda like the return to a fun villain-of-the-week episode, I think this particular episode is just kind of confused at what it wants to do. Kara, J'onn and Alex investigate the crashed alien separately in an attempt to also strike up a team-up between Kara and the amnesiac Alex, but we just jump around from random, disposable suspects and filler characters as we follow Menagerie's trail of bodies and it honestly feels both unnecessary and too convoluted for its own good. Menagerie as a villain works well with her CGI beaked snake alien, and we actually get some really Venom-esque moments as Pamela talks with the Menagerie alien. For the limited amount that we see it, the Menagerie symbiote is pretty creepy, basically a PG-13 version of a hypothetical love-child of Venom and the Xenomorphs.

This all ties in with a B-plot meant to bring Agent Liberty back as the main villain of the season, which... yeah, I guess is kinda interesting? Liberty does do some really shady shit by basically telling his son George to take up his mantle, and George, happy to please his dad, basically does so. And this ends up riling up the Children of Liberty to do their own personal manhunt for Menagerie, getting in the way of the DEO and George basically kill-stealing Menagerie and apparently killing the alien by slicing off the snake head. All of this ends up culminating in apparently good public opinion for the Children of Liberty (which I don't really buy, but okay) that leads to President Sheridan releasing Ben Lockwood from jail. It's... I kinda intellectually get how we got to that point, but at the same time, it also feels kind of handwaved.

Perhaps one of my biggest problems with Supergirl at this point is the insistence to drag on the dumb amnesia plot. As J'onn notes, it's destroyed their family and while the actors involved do their best in making me at least care for their plight, the fact that this is an easily reversible condition honestly makes the entire situation end up being a self-wrought mess that they're dragging on.... because? It's probably neat for a one episode outing, but the fact that we're apparently dragging this utterly unnecessary bullshit storyline irks me a lot. And then Alex apparently 'gets the courage' to basically start dating and adopt a kid and it just seems like such a bizarre non-sequitur and such a misplaced set of priorities for both the character and the writers. Like, it's probably adorable and all for some viewers and I'm not judging anyone who ships Alex and Random Girl From The Party or whatever, but god that really isn't what the story needs at this point. It just feels so shoehorned in.

Haley also is still kind of a flat card-carrying villain, although she's not as hilariously poorly-written as the previous episode, with her reasonings for not condemning the Children of Liberty being assholish but at least somewhat logical (the US Government doesn't want to credit Supergirl). Still basically don't really care about her character at this point, though.

We get a couple of B-plots, with the whole Ben Lockwood stuff tying into the main Menagerie stuff... but I do like the Brainy/Nia storyline. Brainiac really wants to try and make Nia Nal a superhero despite some insensitive timing, a Valentine's day party is involved, some romance flags are raised (and the Brainy/Nia stuff flows a lot better than Alex's), and Nia Nal finally suits up in her Dreamer costume and jumps into the fray to briefly help Supergirl against Menagerie.

The other B-plot involves James and Lena breaking up because of... ideological differences over Lena working with the government with the super-serum. And I really want to say that I care, but I really just don't give a shit about the James/Lena romance. Lena working with Haley and giving the super-human serum to the government, though... that's far, far more interesting, and, honestly, removing James out of the picture so we don't spend 5 minutes every episode with Lena and James repeating the same song and dance is probably for the best. I've always felt like Lena Luthor is so much less interesting whenever we focus on her romance, and so much more interesting when she's an independent figure with allegiances to no one.

Anyway, I do like some aspects of the episode. Menagerie is a fun villain of the week, Nia's rise to superheroism is well-executed, Lena's descent to morally ambiguous deals is also well-executed. Everything else is honestly either middling or actively irritating, though. Perhaps it's me just being in a bit of a funk with these superhero shows, but there's just not a lot I find super-interesting about the direction of the season. 

DC Easter Eggs Corner:

• Menagerie, a.k.a. Pamela, was originally introduced as the sometimes-antihero, sometimes-villainous super-people team, the Elite, led by Manchester Black (which is, of course, what the episode cliffhanger is building up to). While the specifics of her alien symbiote isn't fully fleshed out in the comics, she does have similar powers of manipulating as well as transforming into alien monsters. 

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Vento Aureo S04E14 Review: Turtle Express

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind, Season 4, Episode 14: Express Train to Florence

This episode's more of a setup episode for the next pair of villains, Prosciutto and Pesci, who's a pretty fun pair of villains and probably the few examples of villains-of-the-week in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure who would display some decent camaraderie with each other. But we'll really talk about that in the next episode. I do remember really liking the train arc of Vento Aureo, though!

We get a brief handwave (hee) that Abbacchio apparently had his hand 'reattached' with no fuss -- which is a huge shame since we could've had some permanent consequence to that fight. The mysterious instructions from the Boss tells Team Bucciarati to take Trish by train after visiting a fountain with a turtle statue, and the mission to protect Trish will end once they reach Venice. And... and we get some fun bits with Fugo and Mista enjoying Trish's ample assets, with Fugo accidentally slamming into Trish's boobs and Mista apologizing in a way that insinuates that Fugo did it on purpose. The scene is actually significantly censored compared to the manga, which showed some nipple.

Of course, apparently the Boss's vague instructions nearly lead to the death of Team Bucciarati yet again, and it's actually pretty bizarre that the boss would give so much resources to them yet at the same time give instructions that require some leaps of logic to really interpret properly. In this case, despite the specified fountain having multiple key holes, none of them fit the actual key left behind in Pompeii, and it's not until the last second that Bucciarati figures out where the key fits in -- a turtle's shell -- and it's just their luck that the turtle's Stand allows the entire team to escape Prosciutto and Pesci as they try to pincer-attack the Bucciarati Team.

Let's talk about Prosciutto and Pesci for a bit. We've seen the nebbish Pesci a bit in the flashback sequence for the execution squad, but we get to see a bit more. Pesci gets admonished by his 'big bro' Prosciutto for saying "I'm going to kill him", noting that for assassins, the phrase does not exist in their world. They can only say "I have killed him" after the job is done.

And I do like how this part of the episode is kind of the reverse of the typical JoJo episode. Instead of our heroes trying to figure out the enemy's Stand, this time it's Prosciutto and Pesci trying to figure out the specifics of the Stand Bucciarati used to seemingly disappear, noting that Bucciarati picked something as he ducked into the train, and probably used whatever that is to escape.

We get to see Pesci's Stand, Beach Boy, which is a Stand that manifests as a weapon -- a fishing rod! And its line can just freely pass through walls and floors, and Pesci can manipulate the hook and basically 'detect' the details of whatever unfortunate human gets hooked by Beach Boy's hook. We get a gruesome bit where Pesci hooks the train driver through the mouth and is utterly confused when he realizes that there's only a single person in the cabin, when Beach Boy detects two living things. While I can understand if Pesci's self-deprecating attitude might cause him to doubt his own senses, it's a bit inexcusable that Prosciutto (who we later learn knows about Sticky Fingers) doesn't start suspecting that the second person is hiding somewhere.

Of course, it's at this point that the audience learns of the turtle (Coco Jumbo!) and his Stand, which is... the ability to shrink them down and hide in the fully-stocked room within the key. We get some talk from Bucciarati's team noting how turtles will always hide in the shade, and Narancia briefly demonstrates how the shrinking ability works.

Pesci very nearly looks under the chair when a misty miasma comes into the cabin, causing Pesci to freak the hell out. This is Prosciutto's Stand, the Grateful Dead, which design-wise is probably one of my favourite villain Stands. Its just half of a person's body, with long gorilla arms, eyes all over the Stand's body, and from the bottom part of the torso a bunch of tendril-entrails just wriggle around. It's ability is apparently to cause everyone to become old... and that includes Team Bucciarati.

It's interesting that this effect is apparently triggered and regulated by body temperature, something that is kind of an old wives' tale, but ends up being bizarrely incorporated into this storyline as a major plot point. And unlike the pretty poor understanding of the antivenom stuff in the Purple Haze storyline, this one at least manages to sort of be more believable as a mechanic, I guess.

And I've seen people pointing out that Grateful Dead is basically sort of a nastier, reverse version of Set from Stardust Crusaders, where it's an age-manipulating Stand whose effect is applied by something you can't see. But in this case, Grateful Dead's miasma turns you old, with a pretty horrifying sequence of Narancia getting old and senile while eating a decomposing banana. Bucciarati quickly figures out that since only half the group is affected (only he, Mista and Trish are spared), they are still safe within the turtle since if they're really found out, the execution squad would've used a more direct approach.

And they sort of realize that this is a way to spare Trish, with Bucciarati noting that apparently Grateful Dead operates under the (incorrect IRL) assumption that women are less susceptible to changes in temperature, and that both Bucciarati and Mista just drank cold water, and this lowered their temperature enough to be spared the effects of Grateful Dead. Plus as a tortoise with immense lifespan, Coco Jumbo is just plain unaffected by the mere addition of a couple of decades, which is genuinely clever. But... but we actually see random women extras in the background aging, so I dunno.

They figure out that they can temporarily reverse the effects of Grateful Dead with ice -- and Pesci is munching on the ice in the restaurant cabin, which is funny. Mista comes out of Coco Jumbo to hunt down the enemy. The thing, though, is that Mista assumes that there's only a single enemy (he's getting used to the villain-of-the-week format, it seems) and when Mista tries to switch on the air conditioning system for the train, apparently Pesci has laid a trap there, and we get to see the hook of Beach Boy zip through Mista's hand and up his arm.

Overall, that's a fun little cliffhanger as the two teams finally engage each other. It's a pretty great introduction for three different Stands, and with both parties trying to figure out the other's Stand is a genuinely pretty fun sequence. In Stardust Crusaders the bad guys know all about the good guys' Stands, and in Diamond is Unbreakable no one ever really has to figure the good guys's Stand out, so this honestly stands out as a pretty interesting twist on the formula.

The JoJo Playlist:

• The turtle is called Coco Jumbo, and its Stand is called Mr. President. This is, of course, a reference to the 90's band Mr. President, and their single Coco Jamboo.
• Beach Boy is a reference to the Beach Boys, a 60's American rock band. Selected discography include Wouldn't It Be Nice, Good Vibrations, God Only Knows and Then I Kissed Her.
• The Grateful Dead
   (Za! Gurettofuuruuu deddohh! I love the hammy pronunciation for this one. It's no Red Hot Chili Pepper, but it's still fun)
   is named after a 60's American rock band, and among their more well-known singles are Ripple, Truckin', Touch of Grey and Scarlet Begonias. 
• The ending song is still Freek'n You, but we get a brand-new animation sequence for it!