The Walking Dead ‘Mercy’ Review

Originally published on Set The Tape

The Walking Dead returns for its eighth season with the promise of ‘all out war’, and jumps straight into proceedings. Whilst the series is known for taking it’s time to reach certain decisions, or to develop storylines (some viewers also call this time wasting), the first episodes of seasons go out of their way to give the audience something big, and whilst this episode does lack some of the energy and ferocity of the previous seasons finale, it does at least deliver the start of the promised war.

The episode spends a lot of time jumping around within events, to the point where it becomes almost impossible to tell what order things actually happened. We have Rick (Andrew Lincoln) giving a rousing speech to the assembled masses of Alexandria, Hilltop, and the Kingdom, a speech that is delivered in pieces throughout the episode, even right up to the end. This is intercut with Rick’s daydreams of his future, as well as closeup shots of his teary eyes and sweaty forehead.

Whilst some may feel that this adds something to the episode, I can’t help but feel that it detracts from the overall momentum of the proceedings. Surely a rousing speech from Rick before they go into battle would be more effective than a speech delivered disjointed over 40 minutes? It would be like getting the Independence Day or Braveheart speeches split over half an hour, it wouldn’t have helped those films, and it doesn’t help this episode.

The Walking Dead has tried a lot in the past to be more than just a horror series, and sometimes it does manage to do this, but other times it feels like the show is trying to force itself to be better than it is. Decisions about how a story is edited seem to be made because the creators feel that it will make the series appear deeper and classier than it is, and often lead to duller episodes because of this.

There are some good aspects of the episode, however, this review isn’t just going to be me bad mouthing it. There are some good character moments that are subtly weaved throughout the narrative, such as Michonne (Danai Gurira) telling Carl (Chandler Riggs) that he’s in charge of protecting Alexandria, Rick telling Maggie (Lauren Cohen) that he’ll be looking to her as a leader once they’ve beaten Negan (Jeffery Dean Morgan), and the subtle look that Ezekiel (Khary Payton) given to Carol (Melissa McBride) when they’re reunited.

The episode manages to convey a lot about these characters, where they are in these moments and how they see the future, with very little dialogue, and it actually manages to be subtle and meaningful without trying too hard.

The plan that Rick and the others have is still not clear (why not just shoot Negan straight away instead of luring a horde of walkers?), but it becomes clear by the end of the episode that the assault on the Sanctuary is just the beginning stages of a larger plan, with the group having split up to attack other Saviour outposts and facilities in the final moments. It will be at least a week, possibly longer, before we see the full scope of their plan, which actually starts to pay into the promise of all out war.

The choice to pad out the episode with Rick’s daydreams about his future feel slightly off, and add to the pacing issues the episode experiences. Rick appears to have aged about twenty years, all gray hair, bussy bearded and walking with a stick, whilst Michonne looks no different, and Judith appears to have only aged about six years. Hopefully this is something that will only appear in the first episode and won’t be repeated throughout the season.

Despite some pacing issues at the start of the episode ‘Mercy’ manages to deliver an entertaining piece of television before the end credits role, and creates enough mystery and intrigue going into the second episode to keep audiences engaged.


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Supergirl ‘Triggers’ Review

Originally published on Set The Tape

The second episode of the latest season of Supergirl continues a lot of the themes from the first episode, continuing to explore the effect of losing Mon-El (Chris Wood) has had on Kara (Melissa Benoist). Whilst the first episode explored her loss through her anger, this week we get to see the fear and guilt that Kara feels, and how this ties into past trauma in her life.

Thanks to the villain of the week, the psychic bank robber Psi (Yael Grobglas), drawing Kara’s fear to the surface we get to see our hero more vulnerable and hurt that we have in the past. Whilst this begins as simple moments of claustrophobia, growing to her reliving the destruction of Krypton and the death of her family, before culminating in her literally on her knees weeping because she’s convinced Mon-El is dead because she sent him away, these moments have a huge impact, driving home that despite getting past her anger in the last episode she’s still nowhere near back to being okay.

Whilst Psi is an incredibly forgettable villain, with very two-dimensional motivations and an almost non-existent backstory, she acts more as a plot device to get Kara to the point where she acknowledges her fears and her trauma.

Being the only CW DC Universe show with a central female lead (sadly Legends of Tomorrow doesn’t count even though Sara is the leader because it’s a team show) it’s always been important that the show portrays its hero in a strong way. Whilst initially it may seem counter productive to have your hero on her knees crying with grief, doing so to then have her sister remind her just how strong a person she is so that she can overcome these fears to stop the bad guy is possible one of the most heroic moments the CW has given us. It may not have the flash and spectacle of her doing something spectacular (it lacks the awe of her lifting a submarine into the air like in last week’s episode) but it makes her stronger in a much more important way.

This episode also continued to explore the character of Samantha Arias (Odette Annable) and, most importantly, ties her into Kara’s world by the end of the episode. Whilst I was initially wondering if we’d simply be following her life completely separately from the main cast until her eventual transformation into Reign, it was a pleasant surprise that the final moments of the episode made her a part of Kara’s world.

With Maggie Sawyer (Floriana Lima) no longer being a series regular for the third season I’ve been waiting for something bad to happen to her to ruin her marriage to Alex (Chyler Leigh), and it may be possible that we see the beginning of that this episode. When Maggie reveals to Alex that she doesn’t want to have children you can see a definite moment of worry on Alex’s face. Will this lead to more? Is this the start of the end for the couple? I hope not, but with Lima no longer a regular cast member I can’t help but worry.

Despite only being in the episode for a small amount, ‘Triggers’ also sets an exciting new direction for J’onn (David Harewood) as he received a psychic message from M’gann M’orrz (Sharon Leal), calling him back to Mars. After having J’onn taking a back seat to run the D.E.O., and some fun character moments such as this week’s argument of band vs DJ, it’s exciting to know that the show will be giving J’onn some big and emotionally heavy stories very soon into the season.

Despite having a very throw away villain, and perhaps making the Samantha segments too dull, the episode manages to show a weakness that Kara has been hiding since day one, and a level of strength that makes her incredibly powerful. Simply for the moments where she faces her own past trauma and the loss of Mon-El alone, this is an unmissable episode.


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Power Rangers Ninja Steel ‘The Adventures of Redbot’ Review

Originally published on Set The Tape

After giving us one good episode last week, Power Rangers Ninja Steel is back to its usual fare of awful episodes, this week focusing on Redbot (Byron Coll). With so little characterisation having actually been given over to the Power Rangers, the heroes of the show, it makes no sense at all to give the spotlight to a side character.

This is the modern equivalent of having an episode of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers focus purely on Alpha-5, something that even then they knew wouldn’t work. The original seasons were very flawed, but they knew that if you wanted to give the robot sidekick some room to grow you had to do it as the B-plot of the episode whilst the Rangers took the spotlight. Here, however, Redbot barges his way to the forefront of the episode, and it’s much weaker for it.

During the course of the episode we learn that Redbot has his own blog, where he has been telling stories of the Power Rangers’ adventures, but putting himself in the role of the hero. When publisher comes to town wanting to turn his stories into a book Redbot becomes something of a celebrity.

The main conflict comes when the Rangers, and eventually the public, learn that Redbot has been lying about his stories, turning his fans against him. Meanwhile, the villains have hatched a plan to put a spell on Redbot’s books, freezing anyone holding one. This is accomplished by the monster of the week, Cat O’Clock (Charlie McDermott).

One of the things that Power Rangers Ninja Steel has going for it is some great monster designs, from the visually imposing such as Galvanax (Richard Simpson), to the ridiculous like last episode’s Phonepanzee (Simon McKinney). Cat O’Clock definitely falls into the same category as Phonepanzee, of being so ridiculous to be great. Unfortunately, the character isn’t given a great deal to do, and the gimmick of him freezing people with his clock powers feels like a missed opportunity.

As with many of the Power Rangers Ninja Steel episodes, I’m left wondering just how much better the monsters would have been in Shuriken Sentai Ninninger; the Sentai series the Ranger footage was taken from. Sadly, much of the monster is wasted in this episode, with a very standard and boring fight scene and Mega-Zord sequence that does little to stand out against other monsters of the season.

The episode even fails to land a consistent moral message for the child audience. Instead of sticking to the idea that telling lies, even small ones, will catch you out in the end and that you shouldn’t do it, the episode tells children that one good deed can erase dozens of lies and make people love you and want your autograph. It’s bad even for this season of Power Rangers.

Power Rangers can do better than this, the previous version of the show, Power Rangers Dino Charge, was excellent, and the monthly comic printed through BOOM! is still easily the best Mighty Morphin Power Rangers story ever told. Unfortunately, Power Rangers Ninja Steel continues to let its audience down with flat, boring characters, missed opportunities, and dull, dull writing.


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Should Star Wars Rebels Be Coming To An End?

Originally published on Set The Tape

Short answer to the question in the header: No.

Okay, in all seriousness, let’s have a proper discussion about Star Wars Rebels and if it should be ending with its fourth season.

At Star Wars Celebration 2017 the creator and producer of Star Wars Rebels, Dave Filoni, announced that the series would be coming to an end with season four. While I’m sad to see a show that I love come to an end, there are some reasons why bringing it to a close is a good thing.

With the show being set before the events of Star War: A New Hope and charting the creation of the rebellion as we know it, it always felt like there would be some kind of definitive ending to the series. Now that the end has officially been announced it means that the series has a definitive ending, something that the Star Wars: The Clone Wars never had.

Ending the show on their own terms means that Star Wars Rebels will be able to bring the story of the Ghost crew to the end that they want.

Many fans have speculated that the series would have something of a bleak ending, suspecting that both Kanan and Ezra would be unlikely to make it out of the show alive as Luke is referred to as the ‘last of the Jedi’ by a number of characters who would have been aware of Kanan and Ezra.

We know that Hera and Chopper survive the end of the series due to Chopper appearing in both Rogue One and the second season of The Freemaker Adventures, and Hera being mentioned in Rogue One and also appearing in Freemakers. Despite this reassurance that at least two of our characters will survive the events of the final season, there are still characters that fans are desperate to know their fate.

By bringing the show to a conclusion at least fans will finally have these questions answered.

Dave Filoni has already said that the final season will have a darker tone than the rest of Rebels. Considering some of the darker storylines that the show has had in the past, such as the reunion between Ahsoka Tano and Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker at the end of the second season, and how bleak an ending Disney managed to produce with Rogue One’s 12A age rating, there could be a number of deaths coming at the end of season four.

As much as I love the characters and the story of Star Wars Rebels, having the show end will finally answer the questions that have been awaiting an answer since the series began.

The end of Rebels would not necessarily mean the end of the characters or their stories. We know that Hera will go on to be an important general in the rebel alliance, and that Chopper will still be with her. The end of the series doesn’t have to be the end of Rebels. The characters can go on to appear in other series (such as some have done in both Forces of Destiny and Freemaker Adventures), they can have novels focusing on them, or they could even go on to appear in the upcoming films.

Yes, it will be sad to see a show I love come to an end, but ending on a high note, bringing their story to the end that they want, it means that the series can end in a satisfying way; one that will maintain the quality that we’ve come to expect from them. The end of Rebels will be sad, but I’m sure it’ll be satisfying too.


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Star Trek: Discovery ‘Lethe’ Review

Originally published on Set The Tape

Star Trek: Discovery continues to build its own interesting interpretation of the Star Trek universe as it adds character backstory, as well as hinting a more familiar aspects of the franchise.

The opening moments of the episode embody a lot of what the series is about, and the things that are dividing fans over how they feel about the show. Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) not only mentions the Constitution Class starship but the most famous one of all time, the Enterprise. Captain Lorca (Jason Isaacs) and Lt. Tyler (Shazad Latif) get to shoot Klingons on a holodeck. Sarek (James Frain) gets his shuttle bombed by a Vulcan Logical Extremist terrorist.

The Enterprise namedrop is fan service, pure and simple, though it does add to the idea that Discovery is part of the larger Star Trek franchise, not just it’s own separate entity. The appearance of a holodeck will annoy some, as this technology isn’t supposed to be around yet; however, the Discovery is a super advanced science/warship, so if any ship is going to have one it’s the Discovery.

The introduction of Vulcan terrorists is something that doesn’t seem to fit with the original version of the Vulcans, especially with the hopeful original series outlook on the future, but feels very much at home in a series that plays on a lot of modern fears of terrorism, war, and racial purity.

Whilst some may dislike Star Trek: Discovery for these kinds of decisions, I can’t help but feel that it helps make this new depiction of the Star Trek universe feel like a more layered and interesting place. Star Trek can’t just be an adventure of the week show exploring new planets anymore, it needs to tell stories that the audience can identify with and relate to, and this episode does that in spades.

The war with the Klingons is pushed to the backburner as we spend some time learning more about our characters, Burnham and Lorca in particular, seeing that they’re both quite tragic and damaged people. Through her connection to Sarek, Burnham learns that her adoptive father was put in a horrible position in the past, forced to choose only one of this not quite Vulcan children, Burnham and Spock, to go through into the Vulcan Expeditionary Group.

Whilst James Frain played a very stereotypical Vulcan in the first two episodes of the series we get to see him bring so much more to Sarek here. The subtle, barely controlled anger, shame, and guilt that he feels for essentially betraying his adoptive daughter by choosing to favour his biological son, the refusal to talk about the matter afterwards; it gives an incredibly nuanced performance in what would have been very cold and robotic with another actor.

These scenes not only give us a closer look into Burnham’s past, showing how much more emotional and human she has become since living on Vulcan, but also give her the opportunity to grow as a character, with a clear difference between her at the start of the episode and by the end.

We also learn throughout the episode that Captain Lorca is a lot more damaged than we were already led to believe. We learnt in the last episode that he killed his former crew rather than let them fall into Klingon hands, and that he’s refusing to fix his eyes as punishment for this, but here we see that he’s suffering on a much deeper level.

When his friend, Admiral Cornwell (Jayne Brook) visits him on the Destiny to tell him off for launching his rescue mission for Sarek we discover that she’s also there to find out if Lorca is really fit for duty, using her past as his friend, and as a psychologist, to see if he’s suffering from PTSD following the events of the last episode. Whilst initially able to allay her fears, even getting the Admiral into bed with him, we see that Lorca is far from fine, pinning Cornwell to the bed and shoving a phaser into her face when she wakes him.

We’ve had damaged captains on Star Trek in the past, Jean-Luc Picard and his trauma with the Borg, Benjamin Sisko and the loss of his wife, but we’ve never seen a leader so broken and psychologically traumatised as Lorca. The scene where he pins Cornwell down and holds a weapon to her is shocking, and a genuine surprise, and Cornwell makes us realise that perhaps he only slept with her to try to make her think he was okay, and perhaps the same when he assures her he would get help.

This idea that Lorca is a manipulator isn’t something new, and is compounded further when he suggests that Cornwell take Sarek’s place on his mission to hold peace talks with the Klingons. Did Lorca guide Cornwell into a scenario he believed could lead to her capture or death to save his command?

‘Lethe’ manages to deliver some of the best character development the series has given so far, and continues to set the series apart from other Star Trek shows of the past. With so much back story still to be explored, and now the added possibility of having to save Admiral Cornwell, Star Trek: Discovery continues to allow itself room to grow whilst delivering high quality television.


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Stranger Things: Season 1 Review

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I didn’t watch Stranger Things when it first came out. In fact, I only watched it a few weeks ago, after months of people praising the series and raving about how good it was. This meant that by the time that I actually got to watch the show there was so much expectation that it needed to deliver on.

Stranger Things follows the story of several members of the town of Hawkins following the disappearance of a young boy called Will. When investigations into his disappearance reveal a government conspiracy, a child with psychic abilities, and monsters from another world, the story quickly embraces the horror and sci-fi stylings of the decade that featured in so many beloved 80’s films.

From the look of the locations and costumes, to the way scenes are shot and the score reminiscent of John Carpenter, the series very much feels like a product of the decade it’s set in (though obviously with much more impressive visual effects).

Whilst many of the people I knew who were heaping praise upon the series were doing so for being ‘scary’ or for being ‘so 80’s’, I found that it was the emotional story at the centre of the show and the characters that made Stranger Things enjoyable to watch. The story was good, and unfolded at a relatively fine pace, but the first few episodes were definitely the weakest, and if it wasn’t for the characters themselves I may not have stuck around for the rest of the show.

The main adult cast of Winona Ryder and David Harbour are brilliant, with Ryder playing a very real and at times heartbreaking depiction of a mother being torn apart after the loss of her son. As the season progresses it’s nice to see how her initially slightly antagonistic relationship with Harbour’s police chief Hopper changes to one where they feel like a great team. Hopper may be one of the most interesting characters on the show; one who goes from being unlikable, to one that you feel a deep sadness for, before ending as someone that you’re desperate to know more about.

The stand-outs amongst the cast have to be the children, however, who managed to wow on more than one occasion. Whilst not being in the show a great deal, Noah Schnapp played Will with a sense of innocence and sweetness in the few scenes that he did have. Caleb McLaughlin was great as the sceptic of the group, whilst Gaten Matarazzo was laugh out loud funny as the ever enthusiastic Dustin.

Despite the whole cast being great, Finn Wolfhard and Millie Bobby Brown were amazing as Mike and Eleven respectively. A great deal of the series very much centred on the relationship between the two of them, and seeing the relationship that developed between them was incredibly heartwarming, despite being heartbreaking by the end of the final episode.

Even though Eleven had hardly any dialogue, she was played to perfection by Millie Bobby Brown, who conveyed more emotion and character development with body language and her eyes than actors many years her senior.

One of the other things that benefitted Stranger Things was the shorter season length. Whilst other shows rely on 10, 13, or even 22 episode seasons Stranger things had the sense to know that it didn’t need to stretch out its story. It told its story and was happy to do so within a shorter time. Not only did this mean that the story moved at a fairly brisk pace, but it didn’t overstay its welcome.

Stranger Things is a competent and well made series with great performances and an engaging story that continues to have its fan base grow as more people recommend the series to others. I am intrigued, however, to see how the series will progress into a second season. Will the story and characters continue to grow in a natural and interesting way, or will it overstay its welcome?


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Gotham Recasts Poison Ivy For Season Four

The Fox superhero series Gotham has recast Poison Ivy for the second time for it's fourth season. The iconic Batman character was originally played by Clare Foley before the decision was made to age the character to adulthood, recasting her with Maggie Geha. It has today been announced that the part has been recast with Flash actor Peyton List in the role.

After falling out of favour with both Penguin and Selina Kyle in recent events, Ivy finds herself in a florist's with some chemical compounds designed to give her more powers and abilities.

A statement from Gotham's producers accompanying the recasting announcement confirms that the change in actor is related to this alteration in Ivy's powers.

'In the continuing evolution of Poison Ivy's origin story, Ivy Pepper has been transformed once again taking another step towards becoming the Ivy we know from the comics. Dangerous. A live wire of energy. She'll set her sights on Gotham, intent on making the city her own green paradise.'


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The Walking Dead: 5 Spin-Off Ideas

Originally published on Set The Tape

With The Walking Dead television series entering its 8th season, and becoming more popular than ever, many fans are demanding more content.

Fear the Walking Dead explored the beginning of the zombie outbreak, but what other areas of the Walking Dead universe could be given their own spin-off?

Outbreak Elsewhere

With every story in the Walking Dead universe being set in North America, there’s potential to explore how the rest of the world would handle the zombie apocalypse. Whilst there are many different options for a spin-off set elsewhere in the world, a setting that doesn’t have the easy access to guns would make for an interesting counterpart to the main show.

Great Britain is an excellent candidate for such a setting, one that has been used successfully for zombie stories in the past. As 28 Days Later showed, there are some iconic British locations that would make for stunning visuals. A fun example of a London based zombie apocalypse, the little played Zombii U on the Wii U, shows how scary tackling undead hordes with only a cricket bat or metal pipe can be.

A Walled City

Whilst the main series has explored this idea in some of the locations the survivors call home, such as the prison and Alexandria, a walled city is a concept that hasn’t been explored in great detail.

Instead of a small group of survivors inside a small walled location a spin-off could easily expand the concept to a walled city home to hundreds of people, such as Pittsburgh in Land of the Dead. How would such a society work? What threats would they face from both inside and out?

It could even play with the formula of the show, changing location to somewhere else in the world entirely, or jumping forward in time to create a city that has been surviving against the undead for decades.

The Telltale Adaptation

The Telltale Walking Dead game was amazing. The first season of the game is easily one of the most engaging, addictive, and heartbreaking games I’ve ever played. Whilst adapting the story for television wouldn’t lend itself to an ongoing series, it would easily make a great mini-series or one off season.

The adaptation could even be made to fit into the main show in the same way that the game connected with the comic series, featuring small cameo appearances from Glenn and Hershel.

The Telltale game had such a powerful and emotional story to it that many fans of The Walking Dead will have not experienced due to not being gamers, bringing this story to television would mean that everyone has a chance to experience one of the best Walking Dead stories to date.

Soldiers

One area of the zombie apocalypse that The Walking Dead has touched upon slightly in the past is the military. We’ve seen groups of survivors that have included soldiers, but these insights have often been fleeting.

A series could easily follow a group of soldiers and military personnel during the early days of the outbreak through to the time that the main series is set in. This show could be similar to the main series, with the group being survivors simply trying to stay alive, or, they could have an actual mission that they need to accomplish.

If working towards an actual goal this would also allow the opportunity to look into what remains of the government, and how they would try to function during the collapse of society.

Anthology Series

One of the more popular spin-off ideas is an anthology series. This would allow the most creativity, and would even allow the creators to incorporate all of the other spin-off ideas. An anthology series would allow the creators to tell multiple stories, some that could be brand new to the Walking Dead universe, and others that could feature pre-established characters or plot threads that have been left dangling.

It could explore how characters such as Andrea, Dale, Glenn, Michonne, or Daryl came together as a group before they found Rick in Season One. It could show how Merle escaped the rooftop in Atlanta and ended up with the Governor. It could show the rise of Negan. It could explore what happened to Morales after leaving the group.

Having an anthology show would also allow the show to bring in other well known actors who want to be involved in the franchise for a role in an episode or two for a single story.


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Daily Mail Uses Trans Man's Photos Without Permission To Attack Trans Community

The right wing tabloid The Daily Mail has used the photographs of a transgender man without obtaining his permission in an article aimed at attacking the transgender community and trans rights.

Alex Bertie, a rans rights activist and YouTuber shared his outrage at the incident on his social media accounts on Sunday 29th October following the discovery of the theft of his images, and their use at attacking the community that he has worked hard to help.

The article, entitled 'NHS Pressured Our Kids To Change Sex', in which the tabloid's writers claim that transgender teenagers are being 'brainwashed' by social media sites and allowed by the NHS to transition without proper vetting. The article claims that parents of trans teens are 'terrified' to complain through fear of backlash from trans activist and being labelled as bigots.

Alex's photos, showing the progression of his transition, were used alongside the first line of the article, 'Transgender backlash as desperate parents accuse overzealous therapists of 'blindly accepting' children's claims to have been born in the wrong body'.

The Daily Mail has yet to respond to Alex's outrage at the theft of his images, and the anger of them being used in an article designed to attack the trans community.

Unfortunately, The Daily Mail has a long history of attacking the transgender community, and the LGBT+ community as a whole. The tabloid recently attacked the NHS for allowing trans people to freeze their sperm and eggs before transition (a service that is paid for by the patient, not the NHS), as well as complaining about the National Trust attempting to include more LGBT+ history.

The Daily Mail were also found to be responsible for the media onslaught that terrorised the transgender teacher Lucy Meadows, who took her own life following the tabloids campaign to ruin her career.


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Sources:
Attitude, Gay Times, Teen Vogue

Legends of Tomorrow ‘Aruba-Con’ Review

Originally published on Set The Tape

Legends of Tomorrow returns to answer the important question… what will the team do now that they’ve broken time and there are dinosaurs running around? The answer: have it resolved by someone else within the first five minutes of the episode, obviously.

Whilst the initial resolution to the surprise cliffhanger of Season Two might be a bit of a let down, it quickly becomes apparent that it doesn’t really matter, because that isn’t what this episode is about. Instead of having the Legends fight dinosaurs and try to fix time, we have them out of the job and trying to live normal lives because of the appearance of a five years older Rip Hunter (Arthur Darvill) and his new Time Bureau. This is the kind of thing that makes Legends of Tomorrow one of the most enjoyable shows in the CW DC Universe; its ability to subvert expectations, deliver wonderful character moments, and create genuinely laugh out loud funny moments.

With the team no longer playing hero to the timestream, Sara (Caity Lotz) is working in a department store with a dick boss; Ray (Brandon Routh) is working for a dating app company with a dick boss; Jax (Franz Drameh) has quit college and doesn’t know what to do with himself; and Nate (Nick Zano) is trying to be a superhero in Central City after his relationship with Amaya (Maisie Richardson-Sellers) has broken down. The only members of the team who are actually enjoying their break from being a superhero are Stein (Victor Garber), who is a grandfather to be, and Mick (Dominic Purcell), who’s enjoying a holiday in Aruba.

It’s fun to see our characters lost like this, dealing with the frustrations of the real world. It’s bad enough being stuck in a dead-end job that you don’t like, but it’d be extra frustrating after you’ve saved the world from aliens, fought dinosaurs, travelled to the distant future, and been to the court of King Arthur. Thankfully for the team, things soon kick off again when Mick’s vacation is interrupted by the sudden appearance of Julius Caesar (standard). With time needing to be fixed once again, it’s time to put the team back together, including stealing the Waverider back from the Time Bureau, who are using the ship as a training simulator for their cadets.

Legends of Tomorrow really embraces its role as an action comedy series, mixing some excellent fight scenes with ridiculous physical comedy. It may have taken time for the series to figure out the kind of show that it wanted to be, but now that it’s settled it’s easily one of the most enjoyable parts of the CW DC Universe. There’s also some great character moments in the episode, especially between Stein and Jax. With Stein about to become a grandfather he’s ready to put his superhero days behind him, but acknowledges that he owes Jax for tricking him onto the Waverider in the first place and agrees to rejoin the team in order to help make Jax happy.

The episode also sets up some elements that will be explored in the season to come; the Time Bureau and how Rip formed them, why Amaya went back to her own time, plus the mysterious threat that’s looming on the horizon. There’s a lot more to come with the third season of Legends of Tomorrow, and the first episode establishes a strong foundation.


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Darkness Visible: Volume 1 - Book Review

Originally published on Set The Tape

‘When the demons came, humanity reluctantly learned to share the world with another sentient race. Eighty years later, this uneasy co-existence has spawned an endless terrorist conflict. Detective Daniel Ashton, charged with being the thin blue line between the two sides, is tested to the limit when a demon sets up house inside his soul. But to save his daughter, he’ll pay any price – including genocide.’

Darkness Visible: Volume 1 collects together the first six issues of the ongoing Darkness Visible series, a story that establishes the world and characters of the book, giving readers a solid basis for future issues.

When Detective Daniel Ashton and his daughter are almost killed, he unknowingly makes a deal with a demonic criminal in order to help save his daughter’s life. Whilst this in itself would be a dramatic turn of events for most stories, here it’s used not just as a story of a man fighting a corruption of his soul, but also explores racism and xenophobia, the fear of the other, and the assumption that every member of a certain group is a terrorist.

This is perhaps one of the best things about Darkness Visible; it’s not just a story about demons living in the real world, it uses so much of what’s happening in the world today as a part of it’s universe. It addresses the fact that Shaitan are seen as an outside force that is ‘taking over’ the way of life. Even without reading the interview included at the start of the book with the writers, it’s clear that this is an allegory for the world of today, for the Trump-era and the Brexitiers, fearing anything different.

The book manages to entwine these real world fears and notions into a very fantastic tale, a world with warring demon factions that are fighting to be the first to gain control of a mystical artifact referred to as ‘the lamp’. By the end of the book we still don’t know what the lamp is, why it’s being sought out, or even where the book will head next. It manages to keep the progression a mystery by staying clear of tropes and forging its own identity instead.

Much of this first volume is about that, the world building. Two of the six issues within the book are actually flashback issues, one which shows the origin of the alliance between the human and the Shaitan during World War Two, and the other exploring how one of the characters joined with a Shaitan during the 1970’s (though I’m not mentioning which character as it’s a twist you won’t want spoiling).

These two flashback issues are the two standouts of the book for myself. They have a different art style to the rest of the book, and act as a refreshing break to the main story. Most importantly, however, they manage to show you a lot of the important details and history of this bizarre world we’re reading about, which is much more preferable to simply having a character just tell us it instead.

By the end of Darkness Visible I found myself not only invested in the characters, but genuinely intrigued by the world being created. I wanted to know more, not just about what would be happening next, but also more about the history of the world and how the presence of the Shaitan altered their historical events.

With snappy dialogue and some incredible artwork, the book will be a quick read for most, with the story and development driving you forward, eager to experience more. Having now completed Volume 1, I’m eagerly awaiting the next chapter of this universe.


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Legends of Tomorrow – Who’s Who in Season 3?

It’s a hell of a week for the Arrowverse! First Supergirl returns, then The Flash, followed by Arrow, and now arguably for its third season, the most complicated of all the tie-in shows, Legends of Tomorrow.

Balancing superheroics with blockbuster action (for television, anyway) and more than a liberal splashing of time travel, it’s one of the shows where a primer is pretty handy, so here’s a reminder of who’s who on Legends of Tomorrow…

Sara Lance/White Canary (Caity Lotz)

Sara Lance is the daughter of Quentin Lance, younger sister of Laurel Lance (Black Canary), and former lover of Oliver Queen (the Green Arrow). After appearing to die on the island of Lian Yu, Sara was taken in by the League of Assassins and trained to become a killer.

After her death and revival she felt lost and unsure of what her role in the world should be. Joining Rip Hunter and the Legends on their quest through time, she went on to prove that she was a strong and competent leader, becoming the captain of the Waverider and head of the team.

Ray Palmer/The Atom (Brandon Routh)

The former CEO of Palmer Tech, Ray is a genius engineer and inventor, managing to create the Atom Suit, a set of high tech armour that is capable of flight, energy blasts, and size alteration; enabling him to shrink or grow to whatever size he wants.

Ever positive and eager to do the right thing, Ray is often the first member of the Legends to put himself forward to protect the innocent and out himself in harm’s way to restore history.

Mick Rory/Heatwave (Dominic Purcell)

A pyromaniac and former criminal, Mick became part of the Legends team when Rip Hunter recruited his partner Leonard Snart (Captain Cold). When Mick and Snart fell out over their role on the team, Snart having come to want to be a hero and Mick still wishing to remain a criminal, Snart marooned him in a distant time period.

After being captured by the Time Masters and brainwashed into becoming the temporal bounty hunter Chronos, Mick fought free of his programming and rejoined the team. Following the death of Snart, Mick came to genuinely care about his teammates and their mission, honouring his friends desire to do the right thing.

Though he is often moody and quick to violence, Mick has proved that he has become a true hero, even fighting alongside such heroes as Supergirl and The Flash to save Earth from an alien invasion.

Martin Stein/Firestorm (Victor Garber)

A physicist who created the F.I.R.E.S.T.O.R.M. matrix, Martin was hit with the energy released by the particle accelerator explosion in Central City and became one half of the nuclear fueled hero Firestorm. When his original Firestorm partner Ronnie Raymond died saving the world, Stein would go on to merge with Jefferson ‘Jax’ Jackson.

Originally forcing Jax onto the Waverider in order to travel through time, Martin and Jax have gone on to become as close as family, enjoying their time together as a superhero. During their adventures through time Stein has interacted with his younger self on more than one occasion, resulting in him having a daughter, Lilly, that didn’t exist before he became a Legend.

Jefferson ‘Jax’ Jackson/Firestorm (Franz Drameh)

Following the death of Ronnie Raymond, Jax was approached by The Flash to merge with Professor Stein to become half of the superhero Firestorm. After joining with Stein in order to save his life he became a reluctant hero, even going on to being tricked onto the Waverider by Stein, who wanted to travel through time.

During his time on the ship Jax discovered his love of being a hero, as well as becoming the ship’s mechanic. Learning much about himself during his exploits through time, Jax and Stein have become as close as family, and has come to care for the rest of the team very deeply.

Nate Heywood/Steel (Nick Zemo)

A historian specialising in deductive historical reconstruction, Nate came to the rescue of the Legends when they were lost throughout the timestream. After saving the Legends, Nate joined the team to help them track down their latest foe.

The grandson of Henry Haywood, Citizen Steel of the Justice Society of America, Nate wanted desperately to become a hero, but was unable to due to his hemphillia putting his life at risk. After being exposed to a serum that unlocked his meta-gene, however, Nate gained the ability to turn into living metal and took on the identity of Steel.

Whilst on board the Waverider, Nate eventually entered into a relationship with Amaya Jiwe, Vixen.

Amaya Jiwe/Vixen (Maisie Richardson-Sellers)

A former member of the Justice Society of America, and grandmother to the modern day Vixen, Amaya joined the Legends on their mission following the death of Hourman, the leader of the Justice Society. Utilising a mystical necklace that grants her the abilities of any animal, Vixen proved to be an invaluable member of the group.

After helping to track down Hourman’s killer and saving the timeline, Amaya chose to stay on with the Legends, despite learning that she would eventually have to return to her own time to die protecting her village.

Rip Hunter (Arthur Darvill)

A former member of the Time Masters, Rip brought the Legends together to help stop the immortal tyrant Vandal Savage, the man responsible for the death of Rip’s family. After defeating Savage, Rip was lost in the timestream before being brainwashed into joining the Legion of Doom.

Eventually saved by his former team, Rip helped to stop the Legion of Doom before handing the leadership of the team, and the Waverider, over to Sara Lance.

Gideon (Amy Pemberton)

The artificial consciousness that controls the Waverider, Gideon was Rips only companion until the Legends came aboard.

Gideon has proven time and again that she is more human than would first be thought, and is an invaluable member of the team, caring for each of the Legends.

Leonard Snart/Captain Cold (Wentworth Miller)

Originally a criminal, Snart joined the Legends when he was recruited by Rip for his abilities as a thief. Eventually coming to care for the team, and wanting to be a true hero, Snart sacrificed his life to stop the Time Masters and save his friends.

When a version of Snart from before he joined the Legends was recruited into the Legion of Doom by the Reverse Flash, Snart fought against his future teammates. Once the Legends stopped the Legion’s plans they were able to erase Snart’s memories of the events and return him to his proper place in time, allowing him to fulfill his destiny to become a hero.


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Arrow ‘Fallout’ Review

Originally published on Set The Tape

The season six premiere of Arrow is possibly the most disappointing of all of the CW DC Universe shows for failing to live up to the previous season’s finale. With the whole of Team Arrow on Lian Yu as it exploded it put the characters in very real jeopardy. Who would be returning for the new season?

It’s very quickly revealed that the answer is… everyone. Whilst I do like all of the new members of the team and am glad that they’re still around, I can’t help but feel it’s a bit of a shame that the show didn’t have the nerve to actually kill off any of it’s characters. Yes, Samantha died, but she was a character that we didn’t really know or care about.

Whilst the characters did survive the explosion, some of them came out of the events of the season finale very different. Diggle (David Ramsey) has been injured and possibly has some kind of mental scarring that has affected his aim to the point where he can’t even shoot someone four feet in front of him. For a character that has been defined as the gunman for five years it’s going to be interesting to see how the show explores this storyline over the coming weeks. Hopefully it’s not just going to be the events of Lian Yu that have led to this post traumatic stress for Diggle, but will be a culmination of his experiences as a soldier and vigilante that have finally caught up with him.

We also learn over the course of the episode that Thea (Willa Holland) is now in a coma following the explosion on the island. For the last season or more it feels like the show doesn’t really know what to do with Thea since she hung up her costume, having removed her from the show for half a season last year. Putting her in a coma feels like a cheap way of keeping her out of the picture and not having to figure out storylines for her without having to kill her off. Whilst the show has a poor reputation for putting female characters through horrible things for the sake of Oliver’s story, it does feel like they took an easy way out of just killing her off. Hopefully the writers will figure out a way to make the character interesting by the time she eventually wakes up.

The most interesting developments from the end of last season is the relationship between Quentin (Paul Blackhorne) and Dinah (Juliana Harkavy). Having been together to fight the villainous Earth-2 version of Laurel (Katie Cassidy) following the explosion they’ve formed something of a strong relationship. We learn that this is because Quentin shot Laurel in order to save Dinah, something he believed killed her, and it really cements the two of them as being something of surrogate father and daughter.

This is possibly one of the best developments that has come out of the last season, and with Laurel back in town it means that the two of them will undoubtedly have many more scenes together; the two of them having the strongest connection to this other worlds Laurel. Bringing Laurel back as the first villain of the new season, and one that looks like they’re going to be sticking around for a long while, is a good choice. It connects to past events and draws upon the history of not just the show but the characters too; something that definitely benefits a show in its sixth season. It remains to be seen who the mysterious figure rescuing her from Lian Yu is, though it’s sure to be a mystery that will play a part in the larger season long narrative.

The scenes with Oliver (Stephen Amell) and his son William (Jack Moore) are easily some of the weakest moments of the episode, possibly due to some less than stellar child acting. With William having nightmares most nights and unable to see his father as anything other than ‘the bad man’, it does raise the question of whether or not he’s had any therapy following the season finale. Bearing in mind that he was kidnapped by a crazed assassin, saw a man shoot himself in the head three feet from him, learned who his father is, and lost his mother all on the same day – this kid needs some professional help.

With the episode ending on a surprise reveal of Oliver’s identity as the Green Arrow being made public (I honestly didn’t see that coming) it sets up for some potentially exciting developments for upcoming episodes. However, with the characters having found a way out of similar spots in the past, hopefully this will be a big development and won’t be quickly swept under the rug.


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Deviations: Beta Review

Originally published on Set The Tape

As with the previous volume of Deviations, this latest release from IDW takes a look at some key moments from a number of their comic universes and reimagines them. What happens to some of your best loved franchises when things take a very different path?

Deviations: Judge Dredd

In the original story ‘Cry of the Werewolf’ a flesheating werewolf made it’s way out of the Under-City and into the streets of Mega-City One. Attacking citizens and turning them into werewolves, Judge Dredd made it his mission to stop the monsters.

After being bitten by one of the werewolves and became one of the monsters. Judge Prager, a Judge on the long walk, managed to capture Dredd, who was returned to normal thanks to a cure developed by Judge Cassidy.

In Deviations: Judge Dredd, however, we find ourselves in a world where Judge Cassidy was killed before he was able to perfect his cure, leaving Dredd Stuck in his new, monstrous form. When the crazed composer Karl Heinz-Pilchards-In-Tomato-Sauce Clayderman causes destruction that puts citizens of Mega-City One in jeopardy, and accidentally frees Wolf Dredd from his confinement, the other Judges discover that Dredd has managed to regain control of his mind.

With Dredd now in control of his new form he stops Clayderman and saves dozens of citizens, leading to him becoming beloved by the city. Unable to allow Dredd to remain in the city he is allowed to take the long walk into the wilderness, where he can continue on as a Judge.

The artwork and story in Deviations: Judge Dredd captures the look and feel of a classic Judge Dredd story, and manages to be a worthy follow-up story to the original. Less intense than a lot of Judge Dredd stories, it does manage to incorporate a strong level of humour and charm to proceedings.

Whether a fan of Judge Dredd, or completely new to the franchise, ‘Howl of the Wolf’ is certain to entertain readers.

Deviations: My Little Pony

The My Little Pony segment of Deviations tells a very different story to the one that fans will know, retelling the very first episode of the series, but with a different hero in place of Twilight Sparkle.

In this new world, Princess Celestia did not choose Twilight Sparkle to be her student, instead choosing Prince Blueblood due to him needing more help with his studies. With Prince Blueblood proving to be self-centred, Celestia sends him to Ponyville in order to make friends in the lead up to the Summer Sun Celebration.

When he arrives in Ponyville he finds that Nightmare Moon has already escaped from the moon, and is terrorising the town. Encountering the ponies that would go on to be Twilight Sparkle’s friends, Prince Blueblood manages to alienate all of them with his selfish and self-centred ways.

Deviations: My Little Pony tells a fun and interesting reimagining of the first My Little Pony episodes, subverting expectations. Instead of having Prince Blueblood replace Twilight Sparkle and replicate her journey, things play out completely differently, with it eventually being Princess Luna who goes on to make friends with the characters of Ponyville.

The book manages to capture the look and feel of the show, keeping the charm that makes the show such a success. A very lighthearted adventure, Deviations: My Little Pony will definitely interest pony fans.

Deviations: Star Trek

Deviations: Star Trek tells a much darker story than most Star Trek fans will be used to, set in a world where the Romulan Empire has captured Earth and enslaved humanity, forcing them into penal colonies.

Over the course of the story we learn that at some point following the first contact with the Vulcans, and the formation of the Federation, the Romulans took over, and that they have since repressed all knowledge of this history from the people of Earth, having them believe that the Romulans found them as a young, savage race.

In this dark and brutal world we discover William Riker and his group of freedom fighters trying to break into a Romulan prison in order to rescue a man who can lead them to a secret federation base. He’s accompanied by Worf, the former prison security officer turned pacific; Geordi La Forge, who can see by having wired himself into the head of the android Data; and Deanna Troi, who was forced to use her empathic power to torture people in the camps. Together the group manage to rescue Jean-Luc Picard, who can help them with their fight for freedom.

Whilst Deviations: Star Trek is a one-shot comic, it feels very much like the beginning issue of it’s own series, more so than any other story in this collection. It ends having completed its story, but ready to take events further, ready to set our heroes off on their own brand new adventure.

The universe that it has created is an interesting one, one in which we don’t know what happened (or when) to change events, but offers a number of hints at some disaster befalling a young Federation. The tone of this universe very much feels like the mirror universe that was visited in Deep Space Nine, and takes a lot of inspiration from this, even down to the look of Deanna Troi being very similar to the mirror universe Kira.

Deviations: Star Trek works well as its own single issue story, but could also act as a great starting point to a new ongoing series. Hopefully this will be a world that IDW will be interested in exploring in the future.

Deviations: X-Files

Deviations: X-Files is a brave comic. With dozens of monster of the week stories that could have been altered, a parts of the overall mythology that could have been explored in a what if style, there were so many options this book could have taken. Instead, it throws the entire X-Files universe that we know on it’s head by simply saying, ‘what if Mulder got abducted instead of Samantha?’

Set in a world where Samantha Mulder went on to be the conspiracy theory believing, alien hunting FBI agent, this story sees her and her partner, Dana Scully, investigate a case of murders where all of the victims are identical looking Park Rangers. When a shapeshifting adversary kills another Park Ranger, and steals all evidence of the case, Sam and Scully must team up with the Lone Gunmen to delve deeper into the mysterious Syndicate and their far reaching conspiracy.

Taking characters and stories from the series and flipping things on their head works incredibly well for this story. We know everything that’s happening, we’ve seen it all before on the show, but the subtle differences make it all new and exciting. The moment when Sam tells Scully of the identical men I knew what story the book was telling. I knew we’d get the alien bounty hunter, and a clone of Mulder, but this pre-existing knowledge of what story beats would be explored didn’t ruin anything; instead it just made me more excited to see what was coming next.

Fans of The X-Files will get a lot of joy out of Deviations: X-Files, in getting to see the X-Files universe shifted so dramatically, yet following a similar path. A brilliant use of the Deviations premise.

Deviations: Beta collects together four amazing stories that explore their respective franchises in new and exciting ways, and would all make great limited or ongoing series in their own right. IDW have managed to deliver amazing content, and I can’t wait to see what ideas they can explore with future Deviations books.


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