Weekly Geek Outs - 05/27/16

Greetings!

I've been busy this week but was able to catch the season finales of some of my favorite shows on the air right now (still need to catch up on SHIELD...) so I wanted to share my (spoiler-free) thoughts on those episodes and their respective seasons here:

• Arrow

I've ordered these bullet points generally in order of my least to most favorite season finales. Arrow has been struggling for a little while now, with weak flashback stories and frustrating plot points. It's a shame since it was the genesis of the DC TV Universe, but the show hasn't really figured out a good path forward. With major characters being killed off or quitting being heroes, lackluster villains, and character moments being rushed or poorly done, Arrow has some structural flaws to address going forward. I would hate to see this show go on life support in terms of quality, but it seems to be trending that way. I have faith it can shape up, but I could also see it becoming a show that gets too comfy and gets lazy. I'll be watching season 5 but might let go of the show if it doesn't keep me engaged since there is plenty of other great TV on right now.

• Legends of Tomorrow

On a more positive note, LoT grew in a positive way over the course of its first year. Struggling with similar flaws like Arrow with its villain, LoT eventually got to a good place by investing better in the great cast of characters they have and keeping the tension at a decent place. Strange that time travel adventures could feel a tad boring at times, but nevertheless, LoT looks to be heading in the right direction with season 2, especially with the teaser that happened at the end of their satisfying season finale.

• The Flash

The Flash is still easily my favorite show of this bunch. It fully embraced its comic book roots early on, has kept a good pace (for the most part), and Barry Allan and the crew are just great fun to watch. While season 2 got a little darker, it was still great TV, and wasn't afraid of going down some different dramatic and intriguing turns, especially with the finale. I loved the inclusion of time travel within this show (for the most part) as well as the acknowledgement of alternate Earths. There still seems to be so much they can explore with all of that, so I'm more optimistic for The Flash than some of its sibling shows.

Thanks for stopping by!

Weekly Geek Outs - 02/26/16

Greetings!

Here's what I'm geeking out about this week:

• Love on Netflix

My partner Jenn and I blew through this show over this past weekend, and we loved it (pun intended)! An atypical romantic comedy series from Judd Apatow, Jenn and I really connected with the main characters. The whole show is very unique, engaging, and funny. Sharing a similar space to its Netflix sibling show, Master of None, Love is a very real look at modern relationships and how we make decisions about who to be with. I highly recommend this show! We'll get season two next year and I can't wait!

• Vixen on Arrow

We were treated to the live action debut of Vixen, who was originally featured in the CW Seed web series set in the DC TV Universe. She brings a fun attitude, an awesome female character, and cool mystical powers. I'm glad they got the same actress who voiced Vixen in the animated web series to depict the character in live action. Just provides some nice consistency and the actress nails it. I hope we can look forward to more Vixen on Arrow and Flash in the future!

• Legends of Tomorrow

This week's episode takes us to the Star City of 2046, a dystopic wasteland with an older, grizzled (and one-armed!) Oliver Queen who has become a recluse in the wake of the tragedies that have befallen his city. This glimpse was a tease of a potential future that would be really neat to explore more as a sort of what if scenario. This week's episode of LoT struggled a bit with a weird romantic subplot, but otherwise it was a cool episode and I'm always eager to see where the team ends up next!

Thanks for stopping by!

What I'm Geeking Out About This Week - 01/22/16

Greetings!

Here's what is going on in my world this week:

• Agent Carter

Some of my favorite shows are coming back this week, which makes me very happy. One of them is the limited series Agent Carter, which like last year, is covering the mid-season break of Agents of SHIELD. Season 2 premiered with a two-hour event on Tuesday, and I'm excited to continue to explore the story of Peggy Carter. These first two episodes (out of a total of 10 this season) were great and I'm looking forward to where the rest of the season goes. They have done her very well in the past, and she is a hallmark character of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, so I'm optimistic that they'll continue this trend. There is so much of her story to tell too, since we know she has a big role to play the in the creation of SHIELD, and based on the beginning of Ant-Man, is still influential up until at least the late 1980s. So that means we still have over 40 years of story to cover for Peggy, and I hope we at least get to glance at some of that at some point in some form or another. I'd be totally down for some deep, Cold War Agent Carter action!

• The Dark Knight Returns

I checked out this two part animated movie on HBO Now the other day in anticipation of Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, which takes some inspiration from this story. I had some cursory understanding of what this pivotal comic book was about, but I never read it so I was really excited to delve into the story deeper. The setting is a dystopic 1980s America, where a older, grizzled Batman comes out of hiding to free Gotham from the grips of a new wave of criminals. There are a bunch of nods to the rest of the DC Universe's fate in this timeline, which is cool, and I overall enjoyed everything about this. The action is good, the animation is solid, and the performances are good too. It's a unique interpretation of classic characters and settings, but I liked it's take on everything. These alternate universe stories always intrigue me since they allow for very fresh interpretations of well known tropes, and at times have no responsibility to be accountable to what came before or what comes after. Seeing this also has me even more excited for what Dawn of Justice will entail, and we're only like two months away now!

• Legends of Tomorrow

This brand new series just premiered last night and sets up a tantalizing premise of what boils down to Doctor Who with superheroes. The first episode has me excited for what is to come, and the time travel inherent to the show will allow for some cool DC Universe nods, like Jonah Hex. It will exist outside and alongside it's sibling shows of Arrow and Flash, since, again, with the time travel ability, the characters can come right back to where they left their timelines (a clever trick) which I'll be intrigued to see how that exactly works in practice versus in theory. For the next couple of months, we'll be spoiled with new weekly episodes of Flash, Arrow, and LoT, further bolstering their already robust shared DC TV Universe. As much as I enjoy Agent Carter and Agents of SHIELD, DC has them beat here.

Thanks for stopping by!