Runaways: Destiny - Nov 30

The third episode of ‘Runaways’ got aired (on TV and otherwise), and what can be said about it?

Deviations from the comics abound, and if this is how things will keep going, then we can safely speak about a separate universe from the ‘Runaways’ comic-verse. The TV/web-TV series continues to loosely follow the main comic plotline, but are continuing to create something that is more original than otherwise.

Again, is that bad? As it was already commented in the review of the first two episodes, by now MCU has developed and implemented several strategies when it comes to canon vs. original content in its’ TV shows. AoS is original, period: it does introduce canon characters, (as do the MCU movies proper) but in new, original ways; the show’s plotline in the end is its own. This is a good thing, but AoS does not have too good a grip on it, and so its’ numbers have fallen – the viewers, the ratings, etc. This is AoS’ fault; AC had something similar during its run, but it managed to do so more coherently than AoS did…but it was the one show that got cancelled. Go figure.

Conversely, ‘Gifted’, (as well as ‘Legion’, probably) has some canonical characters (at least), but it is set in a completely original, different setting…basically, the same thing that AoS, (and AC – even more so) did, just in ways that still keep the audience enthralled; fast pace of the series, and the intense conflict that is the main plot-driving device helps. ‘Runaways’ doesn’t have it, period.

No, ‘Runaways’ aren’t a ‘teenage soap opera’ according to some reviews, at least. That will probably be more of ‘Cloak & Dagger’ thing – that show comes to Hulu in 2018, next year. It will feature two teenage superheroes, the titular Cloak and Dagger – an Afro-American young man who has a cloak of shadows and an Anglo-American woman who generates daggers of light. Together, they fight crime…and even in canon, there was some soap opera/drama elements to their tale; what will Hulu do to their story remains to be seen. But ‘Runaways’? They are a soap operate, just not a teenage one – a family one: the parents have as much drama as their children do, if not more.

Now this probably reminds one of ‘Riverdale’ the TV series, only ‘Riverdale’ is based on ‘Archies’ comic series, and unlike Marvel™ or DC™ ‘Archies’ never had any specific canon; their comics were, or are, mostly one-shots that weren’t really connected to each other, plot-wise. These days, this situation has changed, to some extent, but still, ‘Archies’ don’t keep all of their eggs in one basket; i.e., ‘Riverdale’ is only a part of their franchise, and a distinct one – but we got sidelined.

Unlike the other shows mentioned so far, ‘Runaways’ it trying to be both – remain true to the original plotline of the comics, and be original. The result is unusual – a mixture of sorts, but is it ‘the best of both worlds’?

…It is always possible to sit on both chairs for a while, but only for a while. Then we enter the FH territory, with its’ Shaman, who is armed not so much with a hatchet and a dagger, but rather with a hatchet, (or a hand-axe), and a kukri. The latter is something intermediate between a proper dagger and a short sword, a weapon that can not just stab, but also slice – it was featured in the penultimate DW episode, as a Gurkha weapon, when the latter went against the French Foreign Legion (FFL). WWII settings aside, that was a good DW episode, but the point is that the kukri is decisively not a Viking weapon, so how does it fit into the FH universe?

…And the same can be said about the Centurion and the Gladiator of the FH’s Knights’ faction, as it was discussed earlier: FH has clearly strained into the outer margins of its initial idea – knights vs. Vikings vs. samurai. They now have to go back to what they had, or abandon the old entirely, and go for the new. Since so far their main updates are various suits and armor designs, (for example, the Vikings now have an owl motif named the ‘night raptor’ or something similar), they will probably do neither, but end up worse, (respectively) than AoS has had by the end of S4 – and ‘Runaways’ are going down the same route as FH has had: sooner or later they will have to turn back to the old plot, or go somewhere entirely new, (but then they won’t be ‘Runaways’ anymore, technically speaking), or continue to straddle the line, eventually failing on both sides – but many seasons can pass before this actually happens, and in the meanwhile? We will be watching.

Well, that is it for today; see you next time!

Runaways: Ep I & II - Nov 23

Marvel’s ‘Runaways’ made their premiere in Canada, and what can be said about them?

The show started slow, with the titular heroes – the children of the Pride – are hurting over the death of Amy, Nico’s sister, who was not shown yet – in a flashback, on a photo, etc. This is important, because – spoilers, or rather – the comics.

Just as the rest of MCU, ‘Runaways’ have existed as a comic book series a long time before now, (when the TV series/web TV series got released) and people have gotten familiar with them by now, with their parents, friends, enemies, etc. They know the plot, they know where it is all going, and so they are not too surprised with how it all is developing, TV-wise.

…So now ‘Runaways’ are throwing plenty of original content, and while they are still seem to be following the initial plotline and conflict (parents vs. children, etc.) they are throwing plenty of their own, new twists into the plot, possibly inspired by the initial comics, but something new all the same. This makes ‘Runaways’ different from such Marvel shows as AoS and ‘The Gifted’, which are simply original from the start, but also introduce various Marvel characters from all over the MCU as part of their narrative, (AoS) or are outright redesigning comic book characters into someone new (‘Gifted’). This is very impressive, but is it good?

So far, most reviews claim that ‘Runaways’ are a soap opera, but so were the ‘InHumans’, actually, and no one made a big deal out of that. Of course, this raises the next question: was the first season of ‘InHumans’ good of its own, and honestly? While it had some flaws, it certainly was not any worse than, say, AoS, (especially in the later seasons), so it is doubtful that it had earned all that hate… However, the truth is that people did not hate ‘InHumans’, they just did not care about the show, and so it collapsed. A show can pull out all of its stops, but sometimes, it is just not good enough. Are the ‘Runaways’ good enough?

Judging by the first two episodes, they can be – certainly by the second episode the action begins to go up, the plot begins to have layers, and the new developments, away from the original comics, certainly help. So for now let us remain cautiously optimistic and hope that the ‘Runaways’ continue to deliver, period – MCU needs it.

The Gifted, eXtinction - Nov 21

This week’s episode has news that are both good and bad, depending on whether you’re in ‘The Gifted’ universe or outside of it – the Sentinels are back, bringing forth more brainwashed mutants. Sadly for the Sentinels, so far they are not doing very well with their a-game either: the Strucker grandfather has killed Augustus, (the mutant whose powers are to turn off the powers of the other mutants) and Johnny and Marcos have caught another brainwashed mutant as well – and a telepath has gleaned that the Sentinels are brainwashing mutants for real, so now the mutants are beginning to deliver their own a-game too.

Let us elaborate. Last time around Lorna was angry with Marcos because he went to Carmen, (his ex-girlfriend, who is a normal human – so far – and a head of a drug cartel) and not told her anything at all. So she became angry and huffy and then they all met a brainwashed mutant who had lost her baby on top of everything else, so naturally now Lorna is a lot more wonderful and has forgiven Marcos completely because she has realized that she herself isn’t invincible and that the stakes in the mutant-Sentinel battle are even higher than what she has thought, so now she and Marcos are back together…

Yes, when it is put like this, cut and dry, it does sound clichéd, but on screen, thanks to the actors’ acting, it really works. In addition, the return of the Sentinels here also helps, because so far, ‘The Gifted’ was all about the mutants’ conflicts with the Sentinels, and by extent – with the American government, though as last week’s episode has shown – remember – this may not be the case forever…

However, this episode’s main plotline is Reed Strucker’s visit to his father, who revealed that he was a mutant, Reed’s father and aunt were mutants, and that Reed himself was a mutant until his father gave him some sort of a ‘cure’ for mutations that turned Reed into an ordinary human – but because sci-fi, his children, of course, are mutants once more, and very powerful ones too, hence why the Sentinels want them… What, mainly, is interesting here, (aside from the drama, generated by the script and the acting), is that in the world of ‘The Gifted’ the mutants have existed for a long time; yes, in Marvel universe proper one of the greatest mutants ever – Apocalypse/En Sabah Nur – was born in the time of ancient Egypt, but here, in ‘The Gifted’, this is the first indication that mutants aren’t a recent phenomenon after all, this is a true alternate universe from RL, and should be treated as such – keep it in mind. Otherwise…

Otherwise, ‘eXtinction’ – this week’s episode – was not exactly a filler episode, just a Strucker-focused one. So far, it is unknown as to what relationship these Struckers have to baron von Strucker, a Hydra villain from the MCU ‘Age of Ultron’ movie and his son Werner, who appeared in the first half of AoS’ S3…and vanished into nothingness by the second half – but AoS was doing this even back in S2, so let us not judge it too harshly…at least until its’ fifth season airs in December 2017.

What can be said about that? Before S4 was aired, AoS and MCU did an advertising campaign, clearly telling that this season will feature the Ghost Rider, (Robbie Reyes). This time, they kept their cards closer to their chest and there is no hint of just who will be the heavy hitter of this season – there is footage of the Kree, but most of the videos so far featured some sort of an alien predator, with ‘alien’ being the key word here: it looks like a variant xenomorph from the AVP franchise, and this just isn’t encouraging: AoS S4 finished on its’ lowest note yet, AoS still has plenty of fans, but will they be as excited to watch S5 in the long run? Who knows…

Getting back to ‘The Gifted’… there isn’t much to speculate – just that maybe the mutants’ new telepath is herself a more advanced brainwashed minion of the Sentinels, (here the brainwashing seems to be less clockwork orange and more drug addiction than it was in AoS), so some twists in the narrative are still possible, because otherwise? The mutants are coming for the Sentinels and their brainwashed mutants, period. This will be in two weeks – the next week is a timeout for ‘The Gifted’, but there are new Marvel series on Netflix and Hulu to fill-in the gap.

Until next time, people!

The Gifted, eXtreme - Nov 14

Not unlike the previous, ‘got your siX’ episode, this one – ‘eXtreme measures’ – is something of a filler episode, with one important difference: in this episode, mutants and Sentinel Services are taking a break from each other, and are worrying about something else. The result? A very different episode from ‘siX’.

‘siX’ was a filler episode, but it still fit with the rest of ‘The Gifted’ (at that point), as the mutants battled the Sentinels. ‘eXtreme’ does not do that – instead the Sentinels are beginning to bring-in their a-game – brainwashed mutants of their own – to the battle, while the mutants…deal with their internal problems. The Struckers are dealing with the fact that their daughter’s new boyfriend had used his powers to rob jewelry stores, (he can create various illusions), while Lorna isn’t handling the fact that Marcos is working for Carmen once more, and Johnny went on a discovery spiritual journey with Clarice/Blink to re-discovery her past. Or, to put it in an alternative manner, the Struckers are dealing with a typical middle-class problem in a refugee setting, while the main mutant fighters are involved in a typical X-men social drama. Now what?

Well, the Sentinels managed to get their secret weapon through by breaking some of the U.S. laws and using the secret weapon in question on a U.S. official to show-off their villainy. Their former number one villain, agent Jace, is already having second thoughts about this – his white side is coming to the core; or rather, since he’s a man who sees most things, if not everything, in black and white, what would his wife and (deceased) daughter would think, he is beginning to realize that he is no longer a hero of his/their own story anymore – and he doesn’t know where to go next.

…Will he be redeemed? It is anyone’s guess. Apparently, ‘The Gifted’ is 13 episodes long, not 10, so sorry about that. Also, this means that ‘The Gifted’ S1 is only at its’ halfway point, so things are just getting started.

Back to the redemption. AoS tried to do that Grant Ward and failed badly; they tried to fix it finally by the final third of S4, and it was so-so. Now, in the upcoming S5 they will be trying something new, apparently, but will be enough? Who knows. Hopefully, ‘The Gifted’ will do a better job with a redemption story arc than AoS did…or maybe they will not do it at all…who knows?

…Anyhow, while Jace is beginning to realize that he just may not be on the side of the angels at all, Marcos is returning to his roots by working for Carmen and her organized crime family. This is one aspect that could have been expanded here: the introduction fragment of how Marcos left Carmen the first time around and joined Johnny and Lorna was sadly short here – and now Marcos is coming back to Carmen, and Lorna is angry with him, so tough break!

Lauren Strucker, meanwhile, had her own problems, as it was discussed earlier – her new boyfriend, Wes, was a criminal, and-

And here would be a good time to discuss what in RL differentiates a revolutionary from some sort of a double-agent/spy type of character. The latter is a blackguard and a villain, because s/he is working for their own personal interest, including betraying their comrades and homeland for personal benefits at heart. A revolutionary, on the other hand, is working for a greater good, for their country (usually), their cause. Yes, a revolutionary will be willing to make a deal with a literal devil for that sort of thing, let alone a common criminal; if the mutant underground of ‘The Gifted’ was some sort of a revolutionary organization there wouldn’t be any problem with Wes’ criminal past, provided that he stayed true to their cause, (and Reed Strucker’s behavior is in line with that – in the past episodes he had troubles fitting in himself, as he remembered in the second of this episode), but right now, Lorna and Marcos and the rest aren’t revolutionaries – they are more like refugees: so far their plan is to escape, with their people, to Mexico, if anything.

No, seriously, so far the mutants are still on the defensive from the Sentinel Services and the government, (so yes, this episode has also shown that there are cracks appearing, but the mutants don’t know this yet), and they aren’t doing anything to make the world of ‘The Gifted’ a different place. The past episodes have shown that this wasn’t always the case in their flashbacks, but now? This is how it goes – the mutants are still on the defensive, the Sentinels – on the offensive. For now.

Getting back to Lauren and Wes, one cannot shake the feeling that the scene where Wes confronts the Struckers at their meal was fudged: given how it was staged, it is possible that Wes has lied to Lauren, Reed and co. and just left for newer pastures, cutting his losses with the Struckers’ daughter. It is one of those moments that can go either way; in this particular instance, it will matter only if Wes returns to Lauren’s life, and if he does not – then no.

And the final strand of the plot is, of course, Johnny and Clarice’s bonding journey, and the gradually widening rift between Johnny and Dreamer. Again, this is basic X-men plot, where there is always some sort of a romantic ‘polyhedron’ and angst. Most viewers so far are rooting for Johnny and Blink, so this is good news – for them. For those who like Dreamer better it is the opposite, and for those who do not care either way, it does not matter – so there.

Yes, there we have it: a filler episode that shows that so far a part of ‘The Gifted’s’ success comes from the main conflict – the mutants vs. the Sentinel Services, and without it in place the pace slows down, some. That said, the Sentinel Services are bringing their a-game – the brainwashed mutants – so next week the pace could speed back up. See you then!

PS: Real life has stabilized, some, but I'm still remaining cautiously pessimistic, here.

InHumans, Black Bolt - Nov 11

‘InHumans’ S1 has reached its conclusion. What can be said about this?

This was a show where the actors and the rest of the crew know and respect their characters, and know where to take them - usually. I.e., Maximus may be sympathetic, but he is still a villain because he is selfish and does not care about anyone but himself at the end, unlike the rest of the Royal Family, who do care about each other, period. The thing is, so could Maximus, but…he does not. He fails his empathy checks – or whatever they are called – every time, despite anything and everything. He really wants to go through the Terragenesis once more and become a proper InHuman. (Of course, the obstinacy that he is facing isn’t very convincing and seems more obtuse and/or childish more than anything else – but that is a problem for ‘InHumans’ S1 entirely, as it was said in earlier discussions of the show). He does not want anything else and he does not care about anyone else, although he could. But he does not. That is his tragedy.

And on the other hand, we have Triton, who was reintroduced in ‘Havoc’ – the previous episode – for no good reason. Surely, Karnac could defeat the royal guards and capture Maximus just as well? Triton’s role is superfluous; possibly the only reason why he returned was that MCU and co. wanted to get their money worth from this character, and so they did – sort of. Neither Triton nor Gorgon have much to say in the last two episodes and their roles are minimal, but there you have it. Even Crystal played a larger role, even if it was just as an assistant or an accessory to the amazing Lockjaw, who has been a treat to watch on the show.

And as for women,…Auran’s role got rearranged some in these last two episodes. In particular, in last episode, she and Maximus ended their friendship and she left, befriending Karnak, helped him to resurrect Gorgon (with mixed results), and then just left Attilan – supposedly. And in ‘Black Bolt’ – this episode, the season’s finale – she was shown at Maximus’ side once more, as if nothing happened. But something did happen – pieces of the season’s script got shifted around; AoS had it especially bad in the later seasons; now it is coming back in December 2017 – completely rebooted, it seems. Not surprising: the last season, the fourth, was focused on basically resolving the leftover issues from the first three seasons with mixed results…where were we?

…If Auran’s role and character development got rearranged, then Declan’s just got terminated: the resurrected version of Gorgon killed him, period. His death carried no meaning, no reason, just – to frustrate Maximus again. Considering that Declan was even less of a villain than Auran was, this is just unfair and pointless; at least Mordis came across as some sort of a villain, more or less, but Declan? He was genuinely helpful to all of the InHumans, and he got no epitaph, he was just forgotten by everyone, including the Royal Family – the heroes of this series.

Here is the thing. Maximus makes an unconventional villain, but still a villain. His opponents, as far as heroes go…not so much. Medusa, in particular, allowed Auran to kill a bus driver before fighting her in the first episode of the season, and now we got more of the same. Yes, Maximus is no hero or a victim, he has set the bar low, but his brother and the rest of his relatives do not exactly do a sterling job of surpassing it, on a regular basis. They are unconventional heroes? Perhaps, but also not very good ones, and the script’s occasional twist doesn’t help matters either – whether it is revealed that Maximus and Medusa were friends once, before she married Black Bolt, or when Karnak channels his inner Jedi and declares that as strife has created Attilan, so it has destroyed it: what exactly he is talking about? Has the show intended to have another episode or two that featured the past lives of the Royal Family and the history of Attilan in general? Such episode(s) would have actually been helpful, they could have answered some of question, like – when and how Karnak had built a containment unit for Black Bolt…and why did he think that it would work? Just an example…

So, the actors and acting was good, the script – not so much, (and some humor, in particular, was somewhat juvenile), and the conclusion? Nothing surprising here: the InHumans have returned to Earth and are going to live there, at least for the foreseeable future. Considering that the show is met with low numbers and unfavourable reviews, it doesn’t have much ties-in with the rest of MCU (deliberately, it seems), the odds aren’t looking good that the show will be another AoS – but we’ll have to wait and see what will happen next in real life.

That is it for now, see you soon!

PS: And did I mention lately that real life sucks lately? Because it does, though this time it is probably my fault. I hate my life. 

For Honor: Aramusha and Knight - Nov 9

FH has finally released its latest heroes, the Aramusha and the Shaman, fully. What can be said about them?

As we have talked about them the last time, the ‘Aramusha’ means a fierce warrior, which is a fairly basic description, when you think about it: which warrior, especially in FH, isn’t fierce? Today, however, we heard the full promo – and now we know that for FH the Aramusha is a ronin, aka a masterless samurai.

To elaborate, in RL history samurais were knights of ancient and Medieval Japan, serving a noble lord – in theory. In practice, most of them ended up unemployed for a part of their lives at least, and were named ronin – masterless. Such masterless or unemployed samurai wandered the lands of Japan, ready to work for anyone for money or food and board, doing anything…but usually something military, because the samurai were the professional military class of the feudal Japan, just as the knights were of the feudal Europe.

So far so good, but if the European kings, emperors, lords and popes usually sent their knights, (especially the poorer ones) to fight abroad, especially in the Crusades in the Middle East and in similar undertakings in eastern Europe, keeping them under control, and their numbers down, their Japanese counterparts…didn’t, and as a result feudal Japan had plenty of professional warriors in its lands that were ready, eager and/or desperate to join in any civil mischief/uprising and make it worse/more intense, because professional warriors, remember? Consequently, feudal Japan was much more tempestuous and unpredictable than feudal Europe was…for a time. Then it all changed…and it can be noted that the European system of dealing with unruly and sometimes landless knights didn’t always work – from the Middle East came the Templars – yes, those Templars, which caused a lot of trouble in western Europe…and might’ve become the Illuminati…but we’re going conspiracy theory here, which isn’t good or healthy.

And in eastern Europe? The knights failed there too, though perhaps not as spectacularly, and vanished without a trace from history again. At least the samurai left a spiritual legacy to their descendants, which has caused no end of trouble for the Sino-American relationships in WWII and beyond – the two countries do not always get along, no matter what both of them would say…

However, this is RL. What about FH?

In FH, the question here is why the ronin is called an Aramusha instead? A rose by any other name and all that – but before get into it, let us talk about the Shaman also.

…As it was said before, the Shaman may be a part of the Viking faction, but in FH, s/he is also a Native North American stereotype, and the weapons do not disavow this motion either. The Aramusha is armed with two katanas – the Japanese version of the longsword that requires just one arm to wield, unlike the nodachi or the claymore, for comparison, which require two. This puts the Aramusha right next the Orochi, who, admittedly, uses only one katana, a fact that is so convincing to players, undoubtedly.

…And on the other hand, we got the Shaman, who is armed with a dagger and a hatchet/hand-ax, more similar, especially in size, to the ones used by the Berserker than the Dane-ax used by the Raider. This is not the worst idea the game designers could have come-up with, but-

Why a Shaman? A Shaman is a religious person, a priestess or a priest, in a non-European tradition, (especially of Native Americans and Asians). So how exactly did the Shaman in question become a ‘Viking assassin class’? Leaving aside the fact that contemporary Native Americans tend to view this sort of their depiction with dissatisfaction and are able to protect their legal rights quite well, where exactly, in what imaginary depths, did a ‘Viking assassin’ become associated with a Shaman?

Here is the thing – imagination, especially when it comes to mass media – online games, TV series, movies, etc., can be tricky. Just look at the ‘Dark Universe’ – it was supposed to be some sort of a response to MCU & DCEU, but with movie monsters, (including Frankenstein, Dracula and the Wolfman). Sadly, after the first movie, (yet another ‘Mummy’ reboot), this idea half-stalled and recently has fallen apart completely. There will be other monster movies, (a ‘Creature from the Black Lagoon’ reboot is in the works), but they will not be a part of a shared universe, that is shelved, for now. Minus one for imagination, here.

Or take the upcoming SW8 film. The previous, SW7, was already rather lackluster by SW standards, ‘Rogue 1’ was the better film out of the two, but the point is, SW8 will be introducing yet another ‘new’ character, Rose Tico, as a possible love interest for Finn.

Here is the thing – Rose is Asian, Finn is Afro-American, whereas Rey and Kylo Ren are WASPS – and the last two are supposed to be/become a couple. Unfortunately, as far as many people are concerned, Kylo and Rey showed zero romantic interest in each other, (though plenty of the other sort), while Rey and Finn had plenty of romantic interest between each other. The problem is, Rey is the female lead, while Finn is a sidekick, plus there is the entire racial issue.

To clarify: the racial issue exists in Hollywood, whose inhabitants ruminate on it long and hard, about as much as politicians from D.C. do. In real life, there is no issue, aside from what some morons make about it. One of them may have become the current president of the U.S., but so far, there is no indication that even that character is actually racist, because if he was, the press would have ferreted it out by now – but no, he is just an overly horrid person, it seems. However, SW has nothing with RL, (duh!), so there are issues; there is already an Afro-American actor playing a role of importance, (does anyone remember Lando Calrissian, anyone?), so let us give him an Asian-American love interest as well.

The problem here is not just racial, it is the cliché – in movies and on TV WASPs tend to get paired-up with other WASPs, and POCs – also with each other. When there is an exception to the rule, such as on ‘Remedy’ as an example, they do not always last, (the couple on ‘Remedy’ broke up by the end of S2, and the show itself got cancelled not long after). Basically, when it comes to relationships, Hollywood and co. (‘Remedy’ was a Canadian show, actually), are clichéd and unimaginative – kind of how the FH creative team was with the Shaman. With the Aramusha, they might have gotten ‘too clever’ instead, and unnecessarily so: when push comes to shove, ‘Ronin’ can be as good as a label as ‘Orochi’ is, for example.

Moreover, as for the weapons… The Aramusha has the same katana(s) as the Orochi does – this is the first time FH repeated a weapon; it might be a landmark but not a good one – and the Shaman’s weapons are a part of the character’s image problem, which was discussed earlier…

So, there you have it: a ronin by unnecessarily different name, a Native American/Asian mystic that has even less ties to Vikings than a Centurion and a Gladiator have to the Knights, and a possible creativity problem in FH in general. See you all next time!

The Gifted, siX - Nov 7

‘got your siX’ was aired this week. What can be said about it?

It is a filler episode, so to speak. The plot is progressing, of course – the mutants are getting valuable info at the Sentinels’, and the government’s expense while getting away with it – successfully – while the Sentinels are doing their best to step up their game with the help of the government. Okay, this works, though has anyone figured out yet that Sage – one of the more mainstream X-men characters – is one of ‘the Gifted’s’ secondary characters as well? No, well there you have it – and ‘the Gifted’ are still a better show than AoS is at this stage. (More about this later, maybe).

Why AoS got mentioned? Because one of its trademark plotlines is teamwork, how important and essential it is… Because of issues, (and not just RL), this is not always apparent, and does not always work on AoS, as opposed to ‘Blindspot’, (especially the first two seasons), and now – ‘the Gifted’ as well: ‘siX’ was all about teamwork, which is important because Clarice/Blink left because of what Dreamer did to her – i.e. used her own memories to make a bond between Clarice and Johnny…and now Clarice is angry and wants to be on her own for a while.

This makes perfect sense – between their mutual competency as a team and Clarice’s own powers, mutants could run rings about Sentinels (within the show’s parameters, anyhow), and this could get boring in a while – ‘the Gifted’ is about suspense, after all. ‘got your siX’ shows it perfectly, mutants and Sentinels are equally matched, what mutants have in powers, Sentinels make in everything else…although the robots haven’t made much of an appearance yet, aside from the spiders in the first episode ever, and the drones that appeared in a couple of episodes by now…

Back to AoS? The two shows don’t have anything in common so far, though in RL, 21^st Century Fox (which owns the mutant portion of MCU right now), may be selling some of their property to Disney, (which currently owns the bulk of Marvel MCU), so some things might be changing soon. On its own, ‘the Gifted’ continues to deliver, it may not be the most intellectual TV show, but it has plenty of feels and human touches and perfect actors’ performances, so it works, and it works very well. It delivers via the ‘human factor’, as do ‘InHumans’, only ‘the Gifted’ do it better.

…Well, this is it for ‘siX’ – it was a good filler/bridge episode but nothing more. Lauren has made a new friend, his name is Wes, and apparently, in the next episode, we will learn something bad about him – and the drama continues. See you then!

InHumans, Havoc - Nov 4

This week’s ‘InHumans’ episode, ‘Havoc’, was a mixed bag: when it worked, it really worked, and when it did not, it really did not. To elaborate?

This penultimate episode of S1 was supposed to show the fall of Maximus and his regime. The problem is, we were never shown his regime and what it actually did to Attilan – rather we had Maximus walk around the royal palace, sometimes with an entourage of royal guards, sometimes with Tiber, in this episode – with Declan, etc. We had some glimpses in the first two episodes, but nothing more. Thus, it is hard to feel any emotions for the supposed plight of Attilan’s citizens, and it is hard to be impressed when Triton defeats Maximus in a fight.

Yes, Triton is back this episode – if he had more than 15 to 20 minutes from the first episode ever and nothing more, we might have cheered for him and his defeat of Maximus. But…the Royal Guard of Attilan make SW troopers look competent and good, (especially in SW7 and Rogue 1 films), and Maximus was never a fighter, so nothing impressive here, team Maximus and team Black Bolt are breaking even.

In part, this was intentional: Black Bolt has a secret bunker and he has supposedly outmaneuvered everyone, not just Maximus, but also even Medusa and the rest of his team. This didn’t endear him to Medusa, to Crystal and everyone else, but hey, this is Marvel’s take on GoT, right? There are no clear-cut heroes or villains, just regular people, albeit with supernatural powers.

…Actually, while GM’s novels are somewhat murky on this topic, the TV show – not so much, especially when it comes to Starks vs. Lannisters, which is probably the main plotline of the show. Secondly, as AoS have experienced with Grant Ward and Kara Palamas, creating a sympathetic villain for your show can be tricky: even these days the viewers and fans of AoS are divided on those characters; they do not get along with each other, and in general, character mismanagement caused AoS more harm than good.

Now, ‘InHumans’ don’t mismanage, or even disrespect their characters, so no problems here. The problem is in the plot, or the script, as well as the budget – for a TV show that was supposed to be an epos, it is surprisingly small-scale and tightly contained, just as AC was – but as it was said, AC was a very different Marvel show.

Back with ‘Havoc’ proper, one thing that stands out is not Karnak and Auran’s new relationship, (although Karnak did acquire a girlfriend back on Earth, remember?), but Gorgon’s resurrection. Seriously? As AoS, and even the movies, have shown, death and resurrection are a big deal in MCU, and here ‘InHumans’ just brought Gorgon back because…the audience needed to understand that Maximus isn’t that different from the good guys? Then who is to say that it is the good guys who are winning, and not the villains? Hopefully, this slippery moral slope will be addressed by Medusa in-universe and by the script in general in RL, because otherwise? The plot twist of the dead but resurrected Gorgon can backfire and ‘InHumans’ can get cancelled after the S1 ends, because this has happened to other shows…

…Well, this is for ‘Havoc’; see you all later!

For Honor: Order and Havoc - Nov 2

It came to pass, that FH is going to have yet another update/season – its’ fourth so far. Yay?

Well, its’ problems haven’t gone away – but I’m not talking about the technical issues or about the matters with its’ story line: I want to talk some about the latest two new characters that will be appearing in the FH universe – the Aramusha and the Shaman.

First, the Aramusha. It is a part of team Samurai, and…I have no idea of what it means. No, actually, I do – it means ‘fierce warrior’ in Japanese, and is a more generic term than a ‘kensai’ or a ‘shinobi’ would be. Ergo, this means that the Aramusha is designed (was designed?) with a more generic, basic standard in mind than the Highlander or the Gladiator were; it is a much more generic and fundamental stereotype, and that makes it had to like him, because of that. Again, how you will be able to play him is another matter, but so far, the Aramusha does come across less exciting than the Highlander was, for example.

And as for the Shaman…look. A shaman is a religious figure, not exactly a priest, or rather – yes, s/he is a holy person, but specifically in a non-European tradition, which includes the Vikings – the European traditions, I mean. A Viking Shaman…it can work, but not necessarily, and as J. R.’s foray into Native American culture in order to further fuel her new works – aka Newt Scamander and the pre-Harry Potter era – showed that Native North Americans, at least, are on alert when it comes to their interests, however remotely, and as such, if FH isn’t careful, it can be accused of being racist, or racially insensitive, or something similar that it doesn’t need, either. And moreover…

Moreover, this shows that FH continues to have issues with creativity. Its’ storytelling mode was one of its’ weakest points from the start, and ever since this issue did not get better, but probably worse. Even the Centurion, ‘back when’, showed signs that the FH creative teams had issues in expressing as to what the game sought to achieve initially; now we have yet another character in the Vikings, which, historically, had nothing to do with the Vikings, and another character in the Samurais that is so generic, that it is the same problem as the one with the Vikings & the Shaman, just from the opposite side…

End rant for now, more on this when more details on the Aramusha and the Shaman will become known… Until next time!

Pathfinder: The First World - Nov 1

For a change, here's a wolverine, rebuilt with the new rules from 'The First World' campaign setting. What do you think?

FIRST WORLD WOLVERINE CR 2

XP 600

N Medium animal (fey)

Init +2; Senses low-light vision, scent; Perception +10

DEFENSE

AC 14, touch 12, flat-footed 12 (+2 Dex, +2 natural)

hp 22 (3d8+9)

Fort +5, Ref +5, Will +2

Defensive Abilities Resist cold 5, electricity 5; SR 7

OFFENSE

Speed 30 ft., burrow 10 ft., climb 10 ft.

Melee 2 claws +4 (1d6+2), bite +4 (1d4+2)

Special Attacks rage

STATISTICS

Str 15, Dex 15, Con 15, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 10

Base Atk +2; CMB +4; CMD 16 (20 vs. trip)

Feats Skill Focus (Perception), Toughness

Skills Climb +10, Perception +10

ECOLOGY

Environment cold forests

Organization solitary

Treasure none

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Rage (Ex) A wolverine that takes damage in combat flies into a rage on its next turn, clawing and biting madly until either it or its opponent is dead. It gains +4 to Strength, +4 to Constitution, and –2 to AC. The creature cannot end its rage voluntarily.