She-Hulk, Magic - Sep 8

 Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks – Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain has passed today, on Sep 8, 2022, at 96 years of age. May she rest in peace! The rest of the world will be in a worse place now that she’s gone, as her immediate heirs – her son Charles, and his sons, William and Harry, don’t get along, (and there are plenty of lesser scandals and fights in the family too), so it’s anyone’s guess as to what will happen in the British politics next. Given that the modern world is already a rocky place, this is not good. Shall we try to lose ourselves in the world of fiction instead?

…Yeah, that is tricky too – we got a partially live-action remake of ‘Pinocchio’ coming out today, (i.e. Sep 8, 2022), but, frankly, I am not the biggest fan or connoisseur of this franchise, so I politely pass over this. ‘She-Hulk’ is onto the 4^th episode (‘is this not real magic?’) of its’ franchise so far, and it seems to be finding its’ legs by now, and… it’s somewhat decent, as we get to meet some new and original characters, and get to see the titular character actually do something more aside from some rom-com lawyering – she isn’t Ally McBeal, after all!

…The problem with ‘She-Hulk’ is that by now it is unintentionally diminishing the Marvel characters that are featured in it – the Abomination, Wong, Titania, the Wrecking Crew, and even the titular character. Instead of being, well, characters, heroes and villains, as the characters of the Phase 1 through 3 were, the characters of ‘She-Hulk’ seem to be as relatable, realistic and sympathetic as the characters of any rom-com – say, ‘Friends’, had been. People just do not care about the adventures of J.W. and her Gal Friday, Nikki, (the duo are trying just a touch too hard to come across as straight), as they seem to meander from case to case, from episode to episode, (while looking sexy, because reasons). Oh, and Bruce/the original Hulk is gone from the show, having left for the vastness of space once more. Planet Hulk, here we come!

Back on Earth, the titular heroine is about to get sued by Titania, (whose RL is Mary) about who is the real She-Hulk. Hold on to your horses, you cannot stand the excitement! …The poor bloke from Michigan, who got mauled by a grizzly bear and her three cubs, is causing more excitement on the Internet than the ‘She-Hulk’ does. And finally, there is the entire issue with Amazon’s latest series: ‘LotR: RoP’ – people hate it.

Now, Amazon, is actually denying it, which is just dumb – either those negative numbers and reviews are a lie, in which case Amazon should just ignore them, or they’re the truth, in which case calling them a lie is a mistake. Disney was already in such a place with their SW franchise – the SW movie sequel trilogy, to be more precise. They tried to do something about such criticism, and their actions resulted in the SW fandom to be still split into several factions, and Disney/SW itself is trying to rebuild itself…, which includes ignoring that the sequel trilogy had ever taken place. I do not know as to how Amazon will handle their misadventure, but that will actually be interesting to see. Anything else?

Aside from the fact, that team Amazon had no open indication that anything LotR-related is guaranteed to be an immediate hit? I am afraid not. Gorbachev is gone, Her Majesty is also gone, and we are left with the live action Pinocchio-2022, which even IGN openly calls ‘mediocre’, which means that it is that bad. Therefore, for now, this is it. I will see you all soon instead.