AoS: S6 spoilers - Jan 28

It’s official – no new episode of ‘The Gifted’ this week. Boo, but let us talk about something else instead all the same.

Real life sucks, (which might be one of the reasons behind cosplay as such – I like MCU, and DCEU, and etc., but cosplay? Not so much), which is why we will turn to one of our more usual topics – AoS. It is coming back in summer 2019, which is initially why I thought about talking about the upcoming GoT S8, but…

But truth to tell, I’m feeling decisively disenchanted with George Martin’s ‘Planetos’ universe lately – whatever he had intended it to be initially, by now it seems to be all about the Targaryens, as his latest ASOIAF novel shows. For me, the Targaryens might have been – once – something greater than the average people, but then they lost their dragons, and became something lesser instead, (re: Aerys, and Rhaegar, and Viserys).

Oh, but wait – Dany is bringing back the dragons! One of them is already pwned by the Night King!! Yay?! Sigh.

One of the inspiration sources for ASOIAF & GoT was Tolkien’s Middle-Earth Universe, and its’ Aragorn and Arwen, (plus their ‘initial versions’, Beren and Luthien, might’ve had a say in it). Naturally, Jon is a bit like Aragorn, a ranger turned king, (well, Jon is in the process of becoming one, he already is in charge of the Night Watch), and Dany is Arwen, cough, the closest thing to an elven princess that Martin’s Universe does.

…Yes, it has its’ own version of elves – children of the forest or whatever, but they are different from Tolkien’s elves because of all sorts of reasons. Yay! And Jon and Dany are still an aunt and a nephew, so how is Targaryen incest different from the Lannister one? Unless of course Jon really was Ned’s bastard all along, (from Ashara Dayne or anyone else), and isn’t a Targaryen at all, in which case all we have are Starks getting a leg over the Lannisters at last. Period. Does that bring us to AoS?

Yes, because of plot twists. In AoS’ S6 case, we got Coulson officially dead on one hand, (both Mack and May state so to the audience officially) and then, at the end of the teaser, we have a depiction of… Clark Gregg’s new character, who looks exactly like Coulson, just..., having no idea of who he is, what S.H.I.E.L.D. is, and etc. Maybe Clark Gregg will be playing Coulson’s clone on AoS from now on, who knows? Basically, this is another case of AoS trying to have its’ cake and eat it too. It never worked for them so far, and it is not likely to start now – welcome back to the mental geniuses behind AoS, people! ‘Blindspot’, for contrast, too has gone downhill post its’ own S2 finale, (and this is why we do not talk about it anymore), but AoS is still the worse show out of the two, period. Anything else?

No, not really. Aside from Coulson, so far, AoS S6 seems to be all about the titular agents fighting various new InHumans, (maybe also Hydra and aliens?), that’s it. Not very informative; yes, the agents are good at kicking butt, (saving the world – so-so, re: Thanos), but yes, let us be honest: the show is more than just them fighting their enemies, (well, it is trying to, at least), so this teaser trailer? A disappointment regardless anything else.

…Well, this is it for now – see you all soon!

PS: Oh, and Deke Shaw seems to be getting hurt in S6 as well, but because of all the plot twists and etc., it's really hard to be sure. Plus, the bloke is even less popular than Grant and Kara/33, Kasius and Sinara are, and that's really saying something. Here's for hoping that Deke will last out AoS S6. ...Since his role back in S5 wasn't very well defined, the odds against that are quite good. Sad face.

FH: Black Prior - Jan 24

…With ‘the Gifted’ taking a hiatus for the next week, (dumb idea, but theirs, so there), let us talk about FH once again instead. They are introducing a new character into their mix again, his name is Vortiger, and he is a Black Prior.

Let us start with the most obvious feature of all – his name. If it sounds familiar, it is because it is – it is a variant of Vortigern, who was the king of Britain – well, one of them – before king Arthur, and in the 2017 movie, he was a villain that His One and Future Majesty had to defeat to become, well, the One and Future King. That said, in reality, Vortigern had been just ‘a king’ that reigned before Arthur did; Hell, he reigned before Uther did, (i.e. Arthur’s father), and to be honest, ‘reality’ isn’t the best term to use here – the man was already obscure by the Medieval times, (when king Arthur’s legends began to take shape for real), and the most established version of him is that he was the British king, (or a British king, or a chieftain, whatever) that invited some of the first Saxons, (i.e. Viking invaders) to help him battle Picts and Scots – a very ironic action. Why?

On one hand is that the Saxons themselves took over Britain, (if king Arthur had been real, he would have battled them long and hard and often), and then they got conquered themselves, by their more derived continental cousins, the Normans. Does anyone remember DW, S3? The second episode of the season featured William the Conqueror, precisely the king who had conquered Great Britain, (hence the nickname Conqueror). The result was a culture clash – yet another one – depicted in such literary classics as Walter Scott’s ‘Ivanhoe’ - you should really read it.

And on the other? Those Picts and Scots and co. that Vortigern had Saxons help him battle with, they were here before the Britons, or whatever the proper name of Vortigern’s people was. Vortigern and his people were initially conquerors themselves, just like the Vikings, (who became Saxons and Normans at different times in different planes), and then they were conquered themselves.

…That is it for the historical Vortigern, such as he is. There is even a theory that ‘Vortigern’ is not a proper name, unlike Arthur, say, or Henry, but more of a title, meaning something like ‘the high king’. However, this theory is not very popular or thorough, so let us not bother with it.

Then we come to FH Vortigern’s ‘label’ – he is a ‘black prior’. In real life, a prior is a generic term, or title, for any monastic superior, aka a high-ranking clergyman (in the Catholic Church)…well, one that ranks higher than an average cleric, anyhow. We’re talking monastic orders, here, not some sword-wielding yahoos – but as we’ve discussed on a regular basis in the past, FH often mislabels its’ characters, going for whatever name/label that sounds cool, regardless of what it actually does. In case of Vortigern, (and the entire new Black Prior class) it is swinging a sword, and – a kite shield. To paraquote Captain Obvious, it is a shield that is shaped like a kite… or a leaf… or an almond… or even a raindrop – usually rounded on top and curving down to a point, (rounded or otherwise) on the bottom. FH made it more angular and flying-kite-shaped, as opposed to raindrop-shaped in real life. They were made especially popular by the Norman cavalry in the 1000s – see William the Conqueror mentioned above. Their size and shape made them poor choice for infantry, but unlike the Saxons, the Normans preferred to fight on horse rather than on foot. By the mid-thirteenth century or so the kite shields got replaced by so-called heater shields instead, which were more compact and proportionally smaller and wider than the kite shields were, making them easier to use. The Crusaders, (especially in the First Crusade) introduced this sort of shield to the Muslims… and where does it leave FH?

Being more derived, actually. For a while Ubisoft struggled with making new memorable and interesting characters, and it even went for the ancient Chinese for a while, but now it seems to be coming back to its’ initial stock, which is mainly Medieval Europe. Yay! Yes, the character probably still has flaws, but Ubisoft did get better at ironing those kinks out, so playing a Black Prior, (whether male or female – Ubisoft has both by now) should be fun.

…Well, this is it for now – see you all soon!

The Gifted: teMpted - Jan 22

‘the Gifted’ continue to surprise, in a pleasant way, its’ viewers. This is good, because so far? Its’ numbers keep on dropping, sadly, because it is a good show and should be continued for at least another season, if not several.

Where did it go this week? In this week’s episode – ‘teMpted’ – the Morlocks finally played a bigger part than the usually did, which is…

Wait. Firstly, we actually got to see more of the rank and file Mutant Underground members, even if their appearances were just a combined cameo, really, but given how we’ve usually had just Clarice, John, Marcos and Lorna, (plus the Struckers, technically speaking), this is already noteworthy.

Secondly, we actually had Reed team up with John for a change as they tracked down Lauren, whose mind is being worn down by Andy and the Frosts, with mixed results. Sadly, this is one of the weaker plotlines of the episode; the scene where Lauren is prevented – by ‘fate’ – from leaving D.C. because some cops are taking down some poor saps feels especially contrived; understandable, of course: they need to keep Lauren on the show (for now) – but contrived and not very believable or sympathetic, for that matter.

…While Reed spent some time with John, (and yet John still got to go home alone, while Reed did his best to help Lauren with the Strucker family legacy – double ouch), Catelyn actually helped the Morlocks to help Glow, (who seems to be something of a love interest for Erg the Morlock leader) to recover from a bullet wound and did her best to show them that they aren’t living on a literal island, they are part of a bigger world and if they don’t accept it, things can, and probably will, get worse.

This brings us to the main point of ‘teMpted’, and it is not Lauren’s supposed temptation to join the dark side; it is the fact that the Morlocks aren’t just an occasional wild card to be thrown into the Inner Circle/Mutant Underground face-off, but a society, and a factor, in its’ own right. Morlocks may be liked or disliked, but they have issues and needs and they need to be addressed; sadly, until this week, these issues and needs were addressed mostly off-screen, so to be brought forth into the forelight so abruptly is…jarring. ‘teMpted’ was still a good episode, mind you, but for apparently different reasons that the scriptwriters have intended, (re: Lauren’s supposed temptation), plus… the show is taking a week off again and will return only in Feb 2019. These gaps are also a part of the reason as to why ‘the Gifted’ is not doing that well anymore.

Finally, we had Lorna and Marcos trying to capture/suborn one of Reeva’s new minions – Max. It failed by 110%; Max is dead, and Marcos himself is badly hurt. This is something of a cliffhanger ending, to keep the viewers excited and ready for the show’s return next month, but it doesn’t work like that in real life; shows always lose viewers and etc. after hiatuses, and the same goes for ‘the Gifted’, because it is a TV show and all. A very good TV show still, but nonetheless…

Well, for now, this is it; see you all soon, (hopefully)!

The Gifted: hoMe - Jan 15

‘hoMe’ the episode has arrived, and-

And it was impressive. For a show that is still working on a limited budget, (as compared to AoS in the seasons past, for example), ‘the Gifted’ continues to impress as our mutant heroes sink further into the pit of despair.

Let us begin with the most obvious plot development here: the Mutant Underground is officially dead: Reeva’s new batch of hired thugs had killed them. Off screen, because of the limited budget issues, but they are dead regardless, even Evangeline Whedon, (a canon comics’ character, by the way). At least this is how things are for now, for in MCU and its’ satellites death isn’t always permanent, especially since the Avengers are planning to fight Thanos in their next movie, and maybe undo the effects of the Cosmic snap, so there’s that.

…‘Runaways’ have also debuted their S2 on TV, but due to real life issues, we are unable to talk about them, or watch them, because in the end? Real life sucks, but you got to make choices about how you navigate it, ‘cause you’re living it. Until you’re not, and are dead – by accident, by suicide, by being unlucky, by deliberately doing crime (fill in your own blanks regarding the crime in question), etc. As long as you live, you have to make choices – and sometimes you get lucky; today my family, (include me, naturally), got to observe a red-tailed hawk in the wild for a few minutes before it fly off because of its’ own reasons and reasoning…

Back to TV and ‘the Gifted’? As it was implied above, sometimes you cannot get what you want because of your choices, because no one is an island and you get to live in the bed you made; sometimes the results, (good or bad), are unintentional, but they are still here, you got to handle them, somehow. This includes no ‘Runaways’, at least for now. What is left?

The next ‘Spider-Man’ movie is coming, featuring – apparently - Tony Stark’s lawyer Happy Hogan dating Peter’s aunt May, (well, at least it isn’t Tony himself, that would be even more awkward), Peter and his classmates on a trip, the return of Nick Fury to MCU proper, (yes, he’s doing that in ‘Captain Marvel’ movie, technically, but still), and some new-old Spiderman faces, including Mysterio… who may not be the typical villain he’d been in the previous Spiderman incarnations, including the 1990s’ Spiderman cartoon series. The biggest heavyweights in this movie, however, shaping up to be the Elementals – four extradimensional entities with the mastery of one element each; it’s all very Pathfinder™, if you ask me.

…The point is that in the Marvel-world we got at least three epic-sized exciting movies with a distinctive positive vibe…which is as far as possible from ‘the Gifted’ at this point: in their world, the Mutant Underground is officially dead, Clarice has left John for Morlocks, (so now it’s really just him, his dog, Marcos, Lorna – sort of, and the Struckers, who tend to do their own thing much more often than not), and then there are the Struckers…

The Struckers are actually the low point of ‘hoMe’ – ‘the Gifted’ is back in mashing Andy and Lauren together as they did back in S1, especially in the second part, when the Strucker siblings had to get their act in synch to defeat Trask’s and its people. This time, it apparently is the Inner Circle, and this plot twist had been nowhere in evidence; it is something old and something new at the same time; this strategy had been used in AoS time and again as its’ seasons progressed, and it didn’t help the older Marvel show in the matter of numbers; and as for ‘the Gifted’? Its’ numbers in S2 go up and down, true, but on average? It is lower than what they had back in S1, and that is not good, and that recycling of ideas is not helping either.

On the other hand, what else do they have? Lorna acting undercover in the Inner Circle reminiscent of S.H.I.E.L.D. infiltrating Hydra (and vice versa)? Check. ‘The Gifted’ further going with the entire Elf-king situation? Also, check.

…This probably deserves some elaboration. As we might have talked last time, in the ballad of Goethe, the child constantly sees things that are not quite real and his father is constantly explaining them to the boy, calming him down some, until it does not work anymore in the ballad and when they arrive at their destination – purposefully vague – the boy is dead. Ouch, and now we got ‘the Gifted’ trying to access Lauren via her dreams that are shared by Andy. It would be impressive if it were not so ‘tacked on’ and contrived, even more so than Marcos’ contrive conflict with the Morlocks.

The same goes for the Clarice/John conflict. Basically, Clarice had had enough of John’s heroics and her caring for him, so she quits. Well, considering that the Mutant Underground is gone, she technically does not quit, but the result is still the same: Lorna is back in, Clarice/Blink is out, and we got more drama among the non-Strucker mutants. What will they do next? I guess we will just have to wait and see.

…Well, this is it for this time – see you all soon!

The Gifted: meMento - Jan 8

Even though life is what it is, we were able to see this week’s episode of ‘the Gifted’ – ‘meMento’ - and it was good.

Where to start? Real life sucks, so let us skip over it and go forth somewhere else. ‘meMento’ had less conflict and more drama than the episodes of ‘the Gifted’ usually do. Central in it were the relationship of Marcos and Lorna, the struggle of the Struckers, (though Andy sat this episode out), Jace having an epiphany of some sort, and Clarice drawing the line in her relationship with the Morlocks, (‘the Gifted’ version of them, anyhow). And again, where to start?

The relationship of Marcos and Lorna was masterfully done. The young couple in question genuinely tried to make it work with other people, but because the show’s budget is not big enough still, it did not work, and they came back to each other. How do the lyrics go? ‘After all stops and false starts, we keep coming to our hearts, two angels that are destined to fall. After all that we’ve been through, after all’… Yeah, that is how. Marcos and Lorna, Eclipse and Polaris, are back together again, (and it can be noted that ‘meMento’ did mention Magneto, just not by name – either ‘the Gifted’ is being unnecessary coy, or there’re some copyright issues involved – it can be either thing or something else entirely), and they learned that Reeva is in cahoots with Benedict Ryan at least on some level.

…Benedict Ryan is the leader of the Purifiers in this universe, and Jace’s new boss. As it was already mentioned, Jace had an epiphany of his own in this episode – he realized that he is working for a variant KKK here. On one hand, calling this out on ‘the Gifted’ took some guts – AoS had its’ own variant, (from S3 onwards) – the Watchdogs, but it never acknowledged them as KKK directly. ‘the Gifted’, with its’ Purifiers, did – bully for them.

What is the difference between the groups within the Marvel universe? The Purifiers are religious bigots, while the Watchdogs are not as much. Indeed, the Purifiers already appeared in a cameo back in S1 of ‘the Gifted’, showing their comics’ trademark black-and-white get-up, but now they are more of a secular, rugged, rough-and-tumble outfit with no order…though Jace is shaping them up into something…or at least he did. Now that he realized that the Purifiers are KKK, and are chaotic evil to his lawful neutral, he might be more ambiguous about them. The damage, however, has been done, as he told Benedict Ryan (cough Benedict Arnold cough?) about Lorna and Marcos and co. working as a team to rescue John/Thunderbird from the Purifiers’ back in ‘eneMy’ – and Benedict probably told Reeva, so now both she and Andy will have some flack coming their way for sure.

This brings us to the Struckers: on one hand, Lauren herself is going into the dark side, (raising the question – where does it leave Andy, then?), and on the other, Reed and Caitlyn are having their own issues as to how to deal with this situation. Trivia alert: the Erlking is a poem/song by Goethe; it’s, naturally, Gothic, and it consists of a rider and his boy (presumably) as they are being chased by the Erlking…just think Shakespeare’s Oberon, for example. The boy sees him and his entourage, the rider – does not, (or is in denial), and so when he arrives at their destination, he discovers that his boy has died in his arms. Yeah, it is a dark poem, (but then again, Goethe and his fellows usually didn’t do sweetness and light in their works, period), but the version that Reed and Caitlyn discussed in ‘meMento’? ‘the Gifted’ clearly took liberties with the poem, creative license at its’ finest. The end?

No, because there is also Clarice and the Morlocks. Well, not really, not anymore – Clarice has rejected the Morlocks’ way of life, it seems, so now their relationship with her will change. Of course, considering that the cast and crew of ‘the Gifted’ went to some distance to bring them to the show, the Morlocks aren’t disappearing any time soon, but on the other hand? The conflict between them and the Mutant Underground, (primarily John and Marcos, here), was one of the most contrived and unbelievable on ‘the Gifted’, so hurray that it is over. What will happen next as the mutants – all of them – on ‘the Gifted’ go and prepare for some sort of a civil war is another story, and we’ll just have to wait and see as to where it will go in the future episodes, (provided that real life doesn’t intervene and prevent us from watching this show)…

Well, this is it for now. See you all soon!

The Gifted: eneMy - Jan 1

And so, we have finally made it to 2019. It was tough, those last few weeks/days/months etc., but we have reached a new year. Yay! No, really – yay. Let us see now what greets us.

Well, many new movies/TV series/online series and etc. ‘Runaways’ S2 has premiered on Hulu, but we’ll have to see if we’ll be able to see them on TV because of real life reasons. Talk about ‘the Gifted’ in its place?

Well, we can always talk about the upcoming S2 of ‘the Punisher’ instead – on Netflix. With ‘the Defenders’ being down, (save for JJ), it is up to Frank Castle to carry the Marvel for Netflix. It also further complicates the Disney-Netflix Marvel relationship, and as it was said back in 2018, until it is resolved, it is unlikely that Daredevil or any of his immediate cohorts will appear in MCU because otherwise? There might be real life conflicts and even lawsuits. Disney already got issues with SW, it does not really need problems with MCU, especially now that it finally got its’ act together with FOX – and yes, this brings us to ‘the Gifted’.

In this week’s episode – ‘eneMy’ – the Mutant Underground has technically teamed-up with the Inner Circle to rescue John/Thunderbird. In reality it were just Andy and Lorna returning to their old families and friends to, well, rescue John, even though Lauren is still upset in regards to Andy’s initial defection, and Lorna & Marcos’ relationship is still a mess. Of course, in ‘eneMy’ they actually work together to take down the Purifiers, but so do the Strucker siblings, alongside Clarice/Blink…who appears to be more skillful with her powers than how she initially looked. Go her, though odds are that this hidden knowledge will somehow cause trouble for the Mutant Underground in the future.

That is actually a worthwhile point to mention – ‘the Gifted’ really doesn’t do internal conflicts all that well; the new/old/renewed conflict between Andy and Lauren Strucker feels decisively contrived and forced; the script just doesn’t come naturally here; neither it does when the Strucker parents calm Lauren down in their car: the acting feels just thin here; the actors are being just actors, not their characters, as they usually are on the show.

As the script, so the visual effects – a large chunk of ‘eneMy’ was executed in sepia tones of some sort. Were they supposed to add to the atmosphere, to make it more dramatic and intense? It did not really work, it looked strange rather than oppressive, so yes, when they vanished, the viewers did feel relived, just for the wrong reasons than the show’s crew and cast were going for.

Back to the plot? Jace has gone full Sith here, torturing John with psychological warfare and eventually trying to kill him by shooting him full of lead. Hopefully, John will survive, as there is no indication that ‘the Gifted’ are bringing in a replacement character for him. Again, however, the show will set new conflicts for him and Clarice, because this is how ‘the Gifted’ appear to run in S2. It is doubtful that it is a good strategy, as the numbers of the show went up and down and all over the place, and the December hiatus did more harm than good for them, as such hiatuses often are. Ah well, it is still a good reason to enjoy the ride until it is over and the lady sings.

Yes, AoS is coming back for S6 in summer 2019, but so far, the information is sparse, and the shots of Daisy being a blonde-haired woman now are not encouraging either. AoS has driven itself into a tangled knot and while it had tried to untangle itself, true, it did not really work: the show got stuck with the character of Deke Shaw, who is even less popular than Kasius and Sinara had been, and they were villains, plus the titular agents have established themselves as a bunch unsympathetic gits…but that is another story. ‘The Gifted’ is doing something different: it took an original narrative and is now trying to diversify it with a bunch of contrived conflicts that make the show less derived and more drawn-out instead; plus…

Plus ‘the Gifted’ is more like AC than AoS; it still has a tightly knit, relatively small main cast with which it works: ‘eneMy’ brought them all together, albeit on different sides; Jace is still the odd man out, as he usually is. No Inner Circle, no new kids, no nothing. (Also, Andy did not go over to the Inner Circle because of their money and power as Lauren claimed on this episode – he left because he felt that he could do better over there instead, as did Lorna – now we will just have to see if he and Lorna made the right choice). Sadly, for ‘the Gifted’ this sometimes borders on ridiculous, again, and the show tries to do something about it – in 2018, for example, we’ve seen Marcos trying to contact other Mutant Underground members, but all in vain: everyone else became afraid of what the Inner Circle had Lorna and Andy set in motion to do something about it. That said, it would be nice to see more new mutant faces; instead, ‘eneMy’ barely acknowledged the chaos unleashed by the Inner Circle, Andy and Lorna and was all about John’s rescue instead. That is justifiable, but the way that John had rammed the Purifiers’ track back in 2018…not the smartest move either, not even by him; (the fact that it felt almost like DW the combat simulation part hadn't helped the episode either - it was that contrived). Anything else?

Ted of the Purifiers’ isn’t dead, Andy and Lorna are back with the Inner Circle, (if Reeva and the others even realized that they were gone – hopefully this issue will be addressed in the next episodes), Jace continues his holy/unholy war and descent into the dark side, and the Strucker siblings are setting forth to have a confrontation of their own. Sigh. ‘The Gifted’ tried to give them character development back in 2018, but instead they keep coming back to being full Lannister. Let us just hope that they will resolve their issues before S2 of ‘the Gifted’ is finished and we all can move on…somewhere. New, that is.

Well, so far, this is it. See you all soon!