Weekly MCU Review for 10/29

Happy Halloween!  Another week, and more MCU news!  Not too much of note, though Thor: Ragnarok finished filming.  Put some ketchup on your eggs, and catch-up on your Marvel news!

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 4, Episode 5, "Lockup" REVIEW (SPOILERS)

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First off, I am sorry for the long delay in publishing this review.  If you (still) play Pokémon Go, you probably have some idea what I’ve been doing since Tuesday that has kept me distracted from this!  If you were playing Pokémon Go and stopped, this might be a good time to return during the first Pokémon Go event.  In essence, between now and Tuesday you receive twice the candies for hatching, catching, and transferring Pokémon, and your buddy Pokémon earns candies four times as fast.  So I’ve been cycling through eggs and buddy Pokémon as quickly as I can since Tuesday!  Good thing I just got new shoes…

However, I didn’t want to just let this review fall by the wayside, so here is my (belated) review of this week’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., “Lockup.”

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 4, Episode 5, "Lockup" EXPECTATIONS

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Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. continues tonight with “Lockup” (4x05) at 10:00 PM Eastern/Pacific.  What do we expect from tonight's episode?

Follow-Up to Luke Cage

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No review today (busy weekend), so instead, you get my thoughts on the follow-up to Luke Cage.  Obviously there are spoilers for the whole season.

Now that Luke Cage has been released and we’ve had some time to digest it, there is a lot to unpack as far as where these characters will go from here.  Luke Cage was unique when compared to the other Netflix shows in that this one ended with the least definite resolution.  Daredevil season 1 ended with Matt in a very good place in both his personal and superhero lives.  Jessica Jones season 1 ended with Jess still about as broken as ever, but in a position to begin healing and helping.  Daredevil season 2 ended with a bit of unresolved tension, as Matt revealed himself to Karen and the Hand began the process of resurrecting Elektra, but the primary conflict did end with the Hand defeated and Frank Castle walking around wearing a skull on his chest.  Compare that to Luke Cage, and Daredevil season 2 practically wraps it all up with a bow!

In other words, we’ve got a lot to talk about as far as where things will go from here!

Obviously there will be spoilers for Luke Cage ahead, and obviously there will be a ton of wild speculation as far as Iron Fist and The Defenders are concerned.

Weekly MCU Review for 10/22

Another week, and more MCU news!  We’re getting closer and closer to the Doctor Strange U.S. premiere, and more movies and Netflix shows are entering or nearing production.  Put some ketchup on your eggs, and catch-up on your Marvel news!

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 4, Episode 4, "Let Me Stand Next to Your Fire" REVIEW (SPOILERS)

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One benefit of a comic book-based TV series or movie is the opportunity to see radically-different characters interact with each other.  You wouldn’t expect a science-based hero like the Hulk, a technology-based hero like Iron Man, and a magic-based hero like the Scarlet Witch to work well on screen together, but put them into an Avengers movie, let them fight robots, and they’re all right at home.  That is a definite benefit of placing all these characters into a universe together in a logical fashion.

This episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., “Let Me Stand Next to Your Fire” (4x04), is a prime example of both the benefits and problems with putting radically-different characters on-screen together.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 4, Episode 4, "Let Me Stand Next to Your Fire" EXPECTATIONS

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Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. continues tonight with “Let Me Stand Next to Your Fire” (4x04) at 10:00 PM Eastern/Pacific.  What do we expect from tonight's episode?

Luke Cage Season 1, Episode 3, "Who's Gonna Take the Weight" REVIEW (SPOILERS)

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After the excitement in the last episode, “Code of the Streets,” you would think that Luke Cage needed to take a moment to reflect on what happened to Pop and Chico.  However, that is absolutely not the case in “Who’s Gonna Take the Weight,” as Luke gets right back into the action.  There’s plenty of exciting action in this episode, but that doesn’t mean it’s all action; there is still plenty of intrigue, as well as a few moments for reflection.

Weekly MCU Review for 10/15

Another week, and more MCU news!  There’s a lot going on with the Marvel Netflix shows, with shows finishing production, entering production, casting…  Put some ketchup on your eggs, and catch-up on your Marvel news!

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 4, Episode 3, "Uprising" REVIEW (SPOILERS)

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Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. continues its very strong fourth season in “Uprising,” as we see both the dark side of the Sokovia Accords (and attendant Inhuman Registration) and the dark side of human nature at work.  This episode feels like it has been a virtual necessity ever since Captain America: Civil War introduced the concept of the Sokovia Accords—a document which all enhanced individuals must sign, under which they are registered and monitored by the governments of the world.

And along with this exploration of the Accords—and why Steve Rogers didn’t like them in the first place—we also get some very strong development from our main characters.  These last few episodes have actually felt a little more like what I think people were expecting from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. when it was first announced:  a show set against the backdrop of enhanced people running around but which focuses on representatives of the massive international peacekeeping agency tasked with keeping the enhanced people in line.  The cast is spread out all across America, and all working on different pieces of the same puzzle, with the Director (officially named “Jeffrey Mace” for the first time on the show) as the only real connecting link.  This makes S.H.I.E.L.D. itself feel bigger while the (extremely large) cast feels a bit smaller and more manageable.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 4, Episode 3, "Uprising" EXPECTATIONS

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Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. continues tonight with “Uprising” (4x03) at 10:00 PM Eastern/Pacific.  What do we expect from tonight's episode?

Luke Cage Season 1, Episode 2, "Code of the Streets" REVIEW (SPOILERS)

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After the first episode of Luke Cage introduced the instigating conflict, things really start moving in the second episode, “Code of the Streets.”  Up until this point Luke is content to largely stay out of the way, keep to himself, and keep his unbreakable skin out of everyone else’s business.  However, events take a turn decidedly for the worse, and Luke can no longer stay on the sidelines.

The episode is very serious, but there are also a few fun moments, particularly having to do with Turk Barrett, who it seems decided to take a break from being Daredevil’s go-to punching bag in order to visit some friends in Harlem.

Luke Cage Season 1 (Second Half) NON-SPOILER REVIEW

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Last night I finally managed to finish Luke Cage season 1 after a lot of being busy—and a lot of Internet and Netflix frustrations.  Consequently, here is my (non-spoiler) review of the second half of the season, episodes 7-13.  If you missed the first half, here it is.

If you’re looking for a quick verdict of whether or not to see it, the answer is:  Yes.

Luke Cage follows in the tradition of Daredevil and Jessica Jones by offering a good, character-driven series that mixes in strong super-powered action.  The character beats his extremely well, particularly with the main characters.

Weekly MCU Review for 10/8

Another week, and more MCU news!  Just about everything exciting is on Netflix: Luke Cage is out, The Punisher is filming, and The Defenders is close to starting filming.  Put some ketchup on your eggs, and catch-up on your Marvel news!

Captain America: Civil War RETRO-REVIEW

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So unfortunately there was no new Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. last night because the Vice-Presidential Debate between Democrat Tim Kaine and Republican Mike Pence took precedence.  So, like any good, patriotic American, I turned on my television to watch two men, one with red in his suit and one with blue in his suit, coming from opposite ends of the ideological spectrum in terms of the security-vs.-freedom debate, fight it out on an international stage.

That’s right:  I watched Captain America: Civil War.

(What, you thought I would actually watch the Vice-Presidential Debate???  Come on!)

Consequently, this seems like as good a time as any to look back at my original review of Civil War from May and see how time and repeated viewing (and deleted scenes) changes/improves opinions of the movie.

Luke Cage Season 1, Episode 1, "Moment of Truth" REVIEW (SPOILERS)

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Apologies for the late update; I was at a meeting most of the day.

Marvel Netflix continues its strong streak with Luke Cage, a series about the hero of the same name, who receives super-strength and unbreakable skin from a sabotaged experiment and eventually decides to use his newfound abilities for good.  In the comics it is a long road for Luke to move from fugitive escaped convict to “Hero for Hire” and from there to become an Avenger.  The same looks to hold true for the Netflix iteration of the character, who began on Jessica Jones as a fugitive escaped convict who decided to leave Hell’s Kitchen after his entire world got turned upside down by Kilgrave.

Luke Cage Season 1 (First Half) NON-SPOILER REVIEW

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Marvel continued its Netflix programming yesterday with the release of the 13-episode Luke Cage season 1.  As you should be aware by this point, Marvel and Netflix entered into an agreement several years back by which the two companies would jointly produce 4 13-episode character-based series, which would all culminate in the 8-episode miniseries The Defenders.  Luke Cage represents the third of the four character series, and the fourth season overall (Daredevil season 2 was released earlier this year).  Next year Iron Fist will be released (probably late winter or early spring, and The Defenders will finally arrive sometime over the summer.

Weekly MCU Review for 10/1

Another week, and more MCU news!  There's a new Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and Luke Cage came out yesterday, too!  Put some ketchup on your eggs, and catch-up on your Marvel news!