Supergirl ‘Damage’ Review

Originally published on Set The Tape

The latest episode of Supergirl pushes Lena Luthor (Katie McGrath) to her limits as she faces the consequences of her past actions, and the series finally brings the brewing conflict between Alex (Chyler Leigh) and Maggie (Floriana Lima) to a head.

Lena Luthor has never had an easy time on the show. Being the younger sister of the worlds greatest villain, a man who stands against the worlds brightest becon of hope, means that she was straight away put into a position where she was tarred by the same brush before she could even make her on screen debut. When her mother turned out to be the head of a shadowy group that was trying to kill any alien and was willing to even put civilians in danger to do so, she was able to solidify her stance as being different from the other Luthors by standing against her.

Thanks to the Daxamite invasion at the end of the last season Lena finally showed the public how much she differed from her family when she helped Supergirl to stop the attack on Earth. She’s come so far and fought so hard to be seen as a good person, so this episode hits harder than you’d expect when it appears that she is responsible for poisoning a load of children, even if this was an unintended side affect of stopping the Daxamites.

McGrath plays Lena beautifully, and manages to play the anger and hurt that the character is feeling in very believable ways. It’s painful to see this very strong woman reduced to a mess, drinking alone, wallowing in her misery. She’s been such a strong person up to this point that it comes as a genuine shock to see her unable to handle the situation.

Towards the end of the episode when she confronts Morgan Edge (Adrian Pasdar) she’s taking a step down a darker path, one that is much more in line with the rest of her family, but you can’t really feel like she’s in the wrong for wanting to shoot someone who was willing to kill children just to get back at her. The fact that she even went on to tell Supergirl (Melissa Benoist) to let her die to stop more people from being put in harms way shows that despite this moment she’s still the good person we’ve come to know her as.

This episode manages to showcase just how strong the friendship between Lena and Kara is, with the latter refusing to allow her friend to give up and take the blame for the situation. I’d been a little dubious about their friendship in the past, but seeing it here it’s really obvious that it’s a good inclusion in the series, though there were a few moments in the episode where I was expecting Lena to reveal that she knew Kara was Supergirl. It seems like it’s only a matter of time until Lena does find out that Kara and Supergirl are the same person, hopefully this won’t be something that will drive the two of them apart, as this episode shows just how good their friendship is and it would be a real shame if we were to lose that from the series.

One of the things that the series has lost, however, is the relationship between Alex and Maggie. After a number of episodes that established that Alex wanted children, and that Maggie didn’t, this finally becomes an obstacle that the couple could not avoid. With neither side willing to budge on their stance on the matter it meant that their relationship couldn’t really go any further, and this episode they finally parted ways.

This may not be the last we see of Maggie, but it’s certainly the end of one of the better couples the series has had. Whilst it’s sad to see the two of them no longer together, and the end of the only long term LGBT+ relationship still happening in the CW’s DC Universe, it’s nice to see a television relationship end over very big real life things rather than the usual trope of one of them having been cheating.

The episode manages to showcase just how strong some of it’s female actors are, and even lays the seeds for further season arc developments as Samantha (Odette Annabel) discovers that she’s bulletproof. Whilst the series has lost a great relationship, it’s also showed just how strong the one between Lena and Kara is.


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Batman: The Telltale Series – The 5 Best Batman Games Ever

Originally published on Set The Tape

Batman has been around for close to 80 years, has been in thousands of comics, dozens of films and television series, and man, many video games. But with the character having been around for longer than we have, how do you know which Batman games are worth playing? Here’s a list of 5 of the best Batman games, ever.

5. LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham (PS3, PS4, PlayStation Vita, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Wii U, Nintendo 3DS, Windows)

The third entry into the LEGO Batman series is definitely the best, with players not only able to take control of Batman and Robin, but a whole host of DC heroes and villains in a story of galactic proportions.

Like all LEGO games, the gameplay is simple, and appeals to both children and adults, though it does occasionally feature some rather fiendish puzzles. Despite this simplicity the game is very addictive, and will keep you playing for hours.

Because it’s story focuses on other characters from the DC Universe as much as it does Batman, it’s the least Batman centric game on this list, but still manages to keep the caped crusader at the centre of the game.

4. Injustice 2 (PS4, Xbox One, Windows)

The follow-up to the successful fighting game Injustice: Gods Among Us, Injustice 2 stepped away from the idea of ‘what if Batman and Superman had to fight’ and took on a more complex story, one where that fight is over and Batman is trying to put the world back together.

This may be a fighting game that features characters from around the DC Universe, but it’s heavily a Batman story, more so that the first game. His characterisation is well thought through, and his interactions and relationships with other characters are enjoyable to watch, even when they’re with his enemies.

Thanks to a very strong fighting mechanic, challenges, and unlockable character customisation options, Injustice 2 is a very strong game with massive replayability.

3. Batman: The Telltale Series (PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Windows)

Set early within Batman’s career, Batman: The Telltale Series tells an episodic story where you not only play as Batman, but as Bruce Wayne too. Taking control of both sides of the character you will investigate crime scenes, build relationships, and make choices that will shape the story around how you play.

Despite some people worrying how Telltale would craft a Batman game when it was first announced, their ability to tell an interesting story with well thought through characters proved to silence any doubters.

With a second season of the Telltale series being released soon the game may end up increasing in quality as they continue to tell one of the most compelling Batman stories put to games.

2. Batman: Arkham Asylum (PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Windows)

The first game in the acclaimed Arkham series, Batman: Arkham Asylum stunned audiences and critics the world over as it produced one of the best Batman games ever made.

Fusing together a well made story (written by comics legend and long time Batman writer Paul Dini), seamless combat, and stealth, Batman: Arkham Asylum was the first game that actually made players feel like they were Batman.

With puzzles to solve and collectables to unlock the game managed to pace out its story without it feeling overly long, and set the template for how developers have approached superhero games ever since.

Let down only by a weak final boss, Batman: Arkham Asylum only just misses out on the top of the list.

1. Batman: Arkham City (PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Wii U, Windows)

The hotly anticipated sequel to Batman: Arkham Asylum, Batman: Arkham City builds upon the first game and improves upon it in every way. The sequel offered players an expanded and more intricate story, new characters, improved combat, and a new place to explore.

Having expanded upon the first game in size and spectacle, Batman: Arkham City is the high point of the series, and is still one of the best gaming experiences available on consoles. Incorporating dozens of nods to the comics, and even bringing obscure characters into the series, Batman: Arkham City remains the best Batman game on the market.


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Assassin’s Creed - 10 Years On

Originally published on Set The Tape

With the latest game in the Assassin’s Creed franchise, Assassin’s Creed Origins, newly available, and the series celebrating the 10th anniversary of the game that started it all, now seems like a good time to take a look back at the original game in the series.

Assassin’s Creed was one for the first games that I picked up when I bought my Xbox 360, along with Gears of War and one of the Ghost Recon games. I didn’t like it the first time that I played it. I’m not sure why, but there was something about the early stages of the game that just didn’t click with me. After a few days of playing it I ended up putting it aside, and even went and traded it in a few weeks later.

It wasn’t until years later, when I played and loved Assassin’s Creed 2, that I thought about going back and trying the first game again. This time, I absolutely loved the game. I don’t know why it didn’t click with me first time round, but I came to realise that it was one of the better early games on the Xbox 360. One of the things that I enjoyed the most about the game was the level of freedom that it gave you. It wasn’t an Elder Scrolls game, you couldn’t just go anywhere and do anything, but it was far from rigid in the way that it let you progress the story or completed your missions.

The game designed itself around this semi-rigid structure, building the world around you as you progressed through the story, yet giving you multiple options on how to traverse the environments, which included the free-running. Thanks to the success of the series, and the fact that many other games have tried to emulate (or outright copy) this, it’s become just another game play mechanic, but at the time the ability to scale buildings and leap from roof to roof was extraordinary, and one of the features that drew many gamers to try out the game simply to see it in action.

Whilst the game hadn’t yet perfected this, or the combat system, these would prove to be very solid foundations that the franchise would build upon over the last decade. Despite some elements that make the game stand out, there are a few areas in which the game really does drop the ball quite a bit. The segments of the game that are set in the modern day are very jarring, not least because there’s very little to do in these moments. This is something that the later games would go on to correct, having you fight people and traverse building sites, yet here the modern day sections simply bring things to a halt.

Whilst the main body of the game doesn’t suffer from this kind of dullness, it does struggle in some other ways, particularly in how annoying NPC’s can get. Within an hour of playing the game you’ll have heard pretty much every line of dialogue that the civilian characters have, meaning that you’ll get annoyed when you hear the same phrases spoken time and time again. If you can overlook some of these design flaws, and some clunky controls that haven’t yet been perfected, there’s a good game to be found here, with some interesting game play elements, collectible challenges, and mysteries to be unlocked.

Possibly overshadowed by some of the later games in the series, Assassin’s Creed is the title that started it all, and well worthy of another look by people both new to the franchise, and veterans of the series.


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Star Wars: Rebels 4×03 – ‘In The Name Of The Rebellion Part 1’ – Review

Originally published on Set The Tape

The third episode of Star Wars: Rebels final season finally reunites the crew of the Ghost on the Rebel base on Yavin 4. After an opening two parter that only showed Hera (Vanessa Marshall) in holographic form, and didn’t show Zeb (Steven Blum) at all, it felt slightly jarring to suddenly have the band back together, though it was welcome. After the wait between seasons (and then two extra weeks) it was good to see the family reunited, even with the newer additions like Captain Rex (Dee Bradley Baker) and Kallus (David Oyelowo) in the mix.

Unfortunately, the episode seems to be all geared towards a point where it would split the group up yet again to go into the second part of the story. Hopefully this will be something that the season will refrain from doing too much. Whilst it is always good to have an episode or two spotlighting a particular character, with so little time left with the crew of the Ghost I want to see as much of them together as a family as possible.

As well as bringing back all of the regular cast, this episode also brought in two of the big leaders for the Rebellion, Senator Organa (Phil Lamar) and Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly). With the series looking set to spend a lot of time on Yavin 4 now that they’ve lost Chopper Base, hopefully we’ll be seeing more of the inner working of the Rebellion, especially at this pre-Rogue One point, where they are less inclined to take direct action against the Empire.

‘In The Name of The Rebellion’ not only looks at the rebels, but expands upon their relationship with Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker) that was hinted at in Rogue One, and goes a long way to explain why he and the rebel leaders don’t get along. Despite being on the same side of the conflict, there’s a very different clash of viewpoints as far as how to take action goes.

Saw is a freedom fighter that has lost too much and been fighting too long, sliding further and further away from the man he started as and becoming so close to a terrorist. Whilst it’s only hinted at in the episode that Saw doesn’t care about civilian casualties, in some of the Expanded Universe lore Saw is more than happy to kill hundreds of people at a party just because it will hurt the Empire. He’s not a pleasant person, and we’re beginning to see that more here as he argues with Mon Mothma.

It’s sad that Ezra (Taylor Gray) appears to be buying into Saw’s idea of taking more outward action against the Empire. Perhaps it’s because he’s still a young man, or maybe because he doesn’t know that kind of person that Saw really is, but it feels like something of a step backwards for the character.

The action is fairly light this episode, and whilst the scenes at the Imperial relay station do get quite creative with the characters on the moving satellite dish, it does feel like it lacks some of the spark that previous episodes have given us. However, if episodes are willing to give more time over to character development and universe building the way this one has, I’m willing to lose a little action for that.

The episode ends with Ezra and Sabine (Tiya Sircar) having to flee their mission with Saw and Ediro Two Tubes (nice Rogue One callback). How this will play out is anyone’s guess, though I am hoping that by the end of the second part Ezra will have come to realise that perhaps Saw’s way isn’t the best after all, reaffirming his commitment to doing things the way the Rebellion wants.

Whilst not a particularly strong episode in itself, hopefully it will go on to work well as part of the larger story that is being told once the second part of the story airs.


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Batman: The Telltale Series – A Few Other DC Characters Who Deserve Their Own Game

Originally published on Set The Tape

Telltale are continuing to wow audiences with their incredible character driven video games, and are now about to release a second series of their much beloved Batman title.

With so many wonderful characters in the DC Universe to choose from, who else would deserve a Telltale game of their own?

Booster Gold

The greatest hero you’ve never heard of. Booster Gold is a hero from the future, who travelled back to modern day to seek fame and fortune. After becoming one of the guardians of the timestream alongside the Time Master Rip Hunter, Booster learnt to be a real hero as he protects all of reality.

Booster is a hugely underrated character, and one that deserves a video game focus. With the ability to travel throughout time, this opens the door to any setting, and the ability to have decisions in the past affect future settings, something that Telltale would do brilliantly.

John Constantine

John Constantine is a magician, and an arsehole. A working class occult detective, Constantine is known for his cynicism, ruthless cunning, and constant smoking. Despite outward appearances of not caring, Constantine is driven by a passion to do good and combat the evil forces in the world, even if it costs his own soul.

A game centred on Constantine would be able to combine both classic superhero elements, as well as a darker horror vibe. The game would be able to draw on the DC universe’s deep occult mythology to show gamers a side of the comics they’ll not have seen before.

The Flash

With the popularity of The Flash television series, it would be easy to make a leap into video games for the character.

The game would be able to take a similar approach as the Batman game, splitting the action between The Flash and his alter ego, Barry Allen. The Flash could handle the action when it comes to fighting villains, whilst Barry could use his forensic scientist training to solve a mystery of who the villain is and how to fight them.

The Green Lantern Corps

The Green Lantern Corps are the intergalactic police force of the DC Universe, made up of thousands of members from across the universe. The GLC offers the chance to have an extensive cast of characters to draw upon.

Telltale could easily craft an interesting and engaging super hero/cop drama mash-up story from the source material, and can set action literally anywhere within the universe. Possibly the biggest scope possible within the DC Universe, there’s very little limit to what could be done with the Green Lantern Corps.

Teen Titans

The Teen Titans are easily one of the most popular and recognisable superhero teams around. With dozens of members to choose from, including some of the most iconic characters in the DC Universe, there are so many variations of the team for Telltale to draw upon to create their own story.

A game based upon Teen Titans could split episodes between characters, shifting the player from one team member to another, it could focus on the drama of having a group of teenagers living and working together, and it could even include their most iconic villain, Deathstroke. With so many of the heroes and villains of Teen Titans so beloved by fans it would lend itself well to video game development.


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The Walking Dead 'The Big Scary U' Review

The season of 'All Out War' continues at a slow pace in this latest episode as we're given a look into some of the inner workings of the Saviours, and get to see a different side to Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) as we catch up with him and Father Gabriel (Seth Gilliam) trapped by a group of walkers.

Negan has been something of a one note character since his first introduction, a man to be feared, someone that commands the respect of his people, someone who forces women to be his wives/sex slaves, and a guy who keeps making awful dick and ball jokes whilst talking about people shitting themselves.

Other than the intensity of his first appearance and the killing of both Glenn (Steven Yeun) and Abraham (Michael Cudlitz) Negan has been something of a let down, constantly swaggering around talking lick a college frat boy and trying to look tough through sheer force of numbers backing him up.

This episode, however, adds a little more nuance to the character. We learn that he is very much keeping his people together, with the Saviours falling apart without him around to keep order. In the few hours he was trapped inside the trailer with Gabriel we see that his people have to deal with power and supply problems, a mutiny from the workers, and in fighting between their leaders. Whilst this does add credence to Negans statements that he helps people by keeping order, the fact that so much went wrong without Negan around for a few hours was quite ridiculous. Do the Saviours experience these difficulties every time he leaves the Sanctuary for more than five minutes?

Despite this slight ridiculous over exaggeration of just how quickly their small society falls apart without one man, we get some good scenes between him and Father Gabriel, particularly the insight into Negans past and his first wife, who died of a long term illness when the apocalypse happened. Unfortunately, half of these scenes are dragged down with more of Negan constantly talking about dicks, balls, and shitting.

It's a shame that the character is reduced to having to make these kinds of comments, to be reduced to puerile banter instead of being able to be a grown-up. We saw in his first appearance that he can be menacing, we've seen here that he can be quiet and contemplative, even deep, so please, stop making him so stupidly irritating.

The episode also shoehorns in some scenes with Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and Daryl (Norman Reedus), as they continue on from their story in the previous episode where they try to capture some large calibre weapons. Whilst that in itself is all well and good, and carries on the story of the conflict between the two opposing forces, having the two characters disagree about how to proceed and get into a physical fight feels so pointless.

The show did this a couple of weeks ago when Jesus (Tom Payne) and Morgan (Lennie James) did the exact same thing in regards to killing Saviours. If this was the first time this had happened it would still feel out of place, but at least wouldn't feel like a rehash of an idea that was dull weeks ago.

The Walking Dead appears to be struggling to keep quality and story going as it takes interesting concepts and character development and bogs them down in ridiculous dialogue, over the top moments, and poor storytelling decisions. It's of little surprise that the series is suffering with its lowest ratings since 2011.


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Power Rangers Ninja Steel 'Galvanax Rises' Review

The season finale of Power Rangers Ninja Steel has arrived (minus a Christmas special still to come), and we get a glimpse of just how good the season could have been.

With Galvanax (Richard Simpson) in possession of all of the Rangers Ninja Power Stars, except for the Rangers morpher stars, and a magnet that will allow him to attract anything made out of Ninja Steel the episode wastes no time with jumping straight into action as the Rangers attack their main villain.

Whilst the fact that the previous episode had no connection to the overall plot except for one scene at the very end that put the villain in a position of power, it's inclusion in the previous episode means that we have the entire Ranger team fighting within minutes of the episode starting.

This lack of a need to set up what's happening gives the episode a sense of urgency, something that continues on throughout the episode. Thanks to a constant escelation of the stakes, and the Rangers being put into more and more dire situations, the episode flies by, feeling a lot shorter than its 22 minute run time.

Despite feeling fast the episode does manage to pack in a lot of development, including the destruction of the Ninja Steel, the arrival of an asteroid full of Ninja Steel (though I'm suspecting this may end up being the Super Ninja Steel of the next season's title), the culmination of Madama Odius' (Jacque Drew) betrayal of Galvanax, and the return of Dane Romero (Mike Edwards).

The return of Dane, Brody (William Shewfelt) and Levi's (Jordi Webber) father, is a surprise moment, and is close to being one of the best of the episode as he becomes a second Red Ranger. However, the surprise of Mick (Kelson Henderson) becoming a third Red Ranger is truly the stand out moment of not just the episode, but the entire season.

Having been one of the consistently best characters in the series, and with Kelson Henderson having been involved with the Power Rangers franchise for over a decade, appearing in Power Rangers Dino Thunder, Power Rangers SPD, Power Rangers Mystic Force, Power Rangers Operation Overdrive, Power Rangers Jungle Fury, Power Rangers RPM, Power Rangers Megaforce, and Power Rangers Dino Charge, it's brilliant to finally get to see him become a real Power Ranger for the first time.

Whilst many of Kelson Henderson's appearances in the franchise were voicing a monster of the week, he's appeared in front of the camera enough that he's become a very recognisable part of Power Ranges. His morph feels like something of a reward not just for him, but for long time fans too. Plus, the fact that he kicks arse and is fighting with a sword before he even morphs shows how brilliant he is.

Without access to the Zord Power Stars the episode puts the Rangers in an interesting position where they have to beat a giant monster. There are a few times that this has been done before over the history of Power Rangers, but none that were season finale's as far as I can remember. Having the Rangers fight the giant version of the shows big bad without Zords is a bold step, and does mean that we get a fight scene that stands out against the rest of the series.

The only pieces that let the episode down are the scenes that involve Victor (Chris Reid) and Monty (Caleb Bendit). I know that the Super Sentai series that Power Rangers Ninja Steel was based upon, Shuriken Sentai Ninninger, was a comedy show, but inserting bad comedy into such a dramatic and action packed episode breaks the pace and tone. If these scenes were removed from the episode Galvanax Rises would have a near perfect score.

It's a shame that the best episode of the series is the last, and it's a shame that the rest of the season wasn't like this. However, seeing how well the finale was put together it does give me hope that the next season, Power Rangers Super Ninja Steel, may improve in quality.


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My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic #60 - Comic Review

Originally published on Set The Tape

The latest issue of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic follows the three Cutie Mark Crusaders, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle, as they plan on taking out a group of young ponies for a night camping in the woods in order to try to help them unlock their cutie marks.

Whilst they have planned for a weekend of apple picking, swimming, cooking out, and possibly even bungee jumping, their plans are thrown out when Rarity arrives to tell them that Fancy Pants is on his way from Canterlot, and that his niece, Gilded Lilly, will be taking part in their excursion in order to try to get her cutie mark too.

With Fancy Pants wanting his niece to have a Cutie Mark in something ‘important and influential’, the girls are unsure of how to go about helping the young pony, but proceed to run the event the way they normally would.

Over the course of the day a number of ponies manage to get their cutie marks in things like bird watching, and cooking, but Gilded Lilly is sad throughout. Fortunately for her, she enjoys astronomy, and gets to come out of her shell when she has to correct the Cutie Mark Crusaders, who know nothing about it and are getting their constellations wrong.

With her love for astronomy evident, Gilded Lilly unlocks her own cutie mark, a telescope with stars. Instead of making her happy, this reduces her to tears, as she feels that the cutie mark will let her family down because it’s not like theirs.

After a short heart to heart with Scootaloo, she agrees to talk to her uncle about her worries. Thankfully, her uncle proves to be incredibly understanding, and can see that astronomy matters so much to her. He tells her that whilst she might not enjoy socialising as much as the rest of the family, she’s going to be important and influential in her own way.

Skipping forwards a couple of weeks, the Cutie Mark Crusaders get a letter from Gilded Lilly, who tells them that she has now started working at the Canterlot Observatory, and that she and her uncle are holding a fundraiser for it, proving that she is indeed influential in her own way.

It’s a nice little story, one that puts across the message that you don’t have to quite live up to people’s expectations in order to be special, that you can follow your own path and be true to yourself by still make the people close to you proud. It’s an important message, one that tells readers that you don’t have to follow a strict path set out by others, but can be who you really are.


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Legends of Tomorrow ‘Phone Home’ Review

Originally published on Set The Tape

Legends of Tomorrow is doing E.T., set at Halloween, in the 1980’s. Yes, it’s absolutely as good as you think it’s going to be.

With the last episode of Legends of Tomorrow feeling a lot weaker, especially in terms of humour, ‘Phone Home’ completely turns things around, embracing it’s ridiculous side, whilst also managing to squeeze in one of the more touching character moments that the series has given us.

Whilst trying to get the team to bond with their new member, Zari (Tala Ashe), Ray (Brandon Routh) gets the team to try and take part in trust exercises before suddenly disappearing from reality. The moment that Ray vanishes should probably feel dramatic, but the fact that it ends up with Mick (Dominic Purcell) slamming head first into the floor mid-trust fall it’s easily forgiven. Realising that Ray’s disappeared from the timeline because he was killed in 1988. Travelling back to a few days before the young Ray’s death, which thankfully bring their Ray back into reality, the team discover that young Ray’s made a new friend in the form of a baby Dominator.

With the tease the week before I was expecting young Ray to come across some kind of creature, and was expecting an alien, but making it a Dominator was a great idea, tying it nicely into the existing mythology of the series. The baby Dominator itself is actually surprisingly cute, and it’s quite believable that a young Ray Palmer would see it as someone he could be friends with.

Despite the amount of comedy that permeates the episode there’s some surprisingly touching moments too, especially when you realise how sad and lonely Ray was as a child. In many ways this goes on to explain a lot of why Ray’s the way he is, why he’s always so positive, and why he so desperately wants to be part of the team and for the team to work. It really does feel like the Legends are Ray’s first real friends, and it’s a very bittersweet realisation.

Thankfully, there’s so much more fun in the episode to mean that these moments don’t leave you feeling too down, though mainly because you’re too busy laughing. Micks joy at seeing the young Ray stealing is great, and the banter between Nate (Nick Zano) and Amaya (Maisie Richardson-Sellers) is spot on, especially when Nate starts coming on to Ray’s mother.

The joke might be a little on the nose, especially with the ‘cougar’ conversation, but the sheer ridiculousness that cast brings to proceedings means that it never really bothers. One of the strengths of Legends of Tomorrow is that it can make its heroes look like complete idiots without that undermining them. Whilst it’s great to see them being heroes, they’re fuck-ups, they’re people who mess things up all the time, so laughing at them feels as natural as laughing with them.

Whilst dealing with the drama of Ray’s younger self being killed, Jax (Franz Drameh) and Mick investigate the possibility that Stein (Victor Garber) might be sending messages to the Time Bureau. Even without the bond that Jax and Stein share I found this notion absolutely ridiculous, and found it a little hard to believe that Jax could even suspect his partner of such a thing.

Luckily, this can be overlooked as it ends with a great moment when Stein believes that he’s going to miss out on the birth of his first grandchild, something that Jax and Mick refuse to let happen. ‘Borrowing’ the Waverider so that he can get there to be with his daughter (even leaving a note behind on a tree for the others), the two of them prove that they really are all a family, and that means they’ll do whatever it takes for each other.

With so many great character moments (with an added look at Zari’s new costume), great comedy (Nate kissing a Dominator Queen), and a load of 80’s movie nods (including flying their bicycles in front of the moon!), ‘Phone Home’ might not just be the funniest episode of Legends of Tomorrow, but of the whole CW DC Universe. This episode goes to showcase the kind of superhero comedy that other shows can do at times, but never to this level. A great episode that’s going to be hard to beat.


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Biff To The Future – Book Review

Originally published on Set The Tape

Anyone familiar with Back To The Future will remember the alternate timeline from the second movie, the one where Biff Tannen has been given a sports almanac from the future and has built a business and gambling empire. It’s one of the darker moments of the whole Back To The Future trilogy, one that is only explored in brief snippets through pieces of dialogue and displays in the Biff Tannen Museum.

Back To The Future: Biff To The Future explores the events of this timeline, it shows us how Biff went from being an idiot high school bully to an idiot billionaire bully. Thanks to being co-written by Bob Gale, the co-creator and co-writer of the Back To The Future films, this doesn’t feel like some writers version of events, but the actual true events of that timeline from the series creator.

The book is split into several chapters, each one exploring a different aspect of Biff’s history, of his development into the monster that we saw in the film. This structure allows the writer to skip across decades to focus on the important points in Biff’s story, to showcase the highlights that are the most important.

The first chapter actually follows the old Biff from the future, the one who traveled back in time to give his younger self the almanac. The shortest chapter in the book, it’s also one of the wackiest, as we discover that old Biff accidentally traveled back to the Jurassic Period before getting the DeLorean back to 1955. Not a great deal happens, other than a raptor stealing the book and getting promptly hit over the head with a cane by Biff, but it’s a silly little excursion that adds a little extra spice to proceedings.

From here we jump to 1955, where we get to see Biff discovering that the book actually works, and making his first win using it. This chapter gives us a good look into Biff’s home life, and the grandmother that raised him. Anyone hoping that Biff may have just been one bad apple and that his grandmother was a nice old lady are in for a rude awakening as we see that she’s even worse than Biff. With a series of escalating events getting further and further out of the young Biff’s control he ends up with his grandmother dead, killing someone, and learning that he has to be sneakier with the almanac.

This is the start of Biff’s descent into being more than just a high school bully, as he learns that there are worse people in the world than himself, that he is capable of not just murder, but covering up that murder, and most importantly, that you can get away with a lot of things with enough money. The next jump sees Biff having made millions from his gambling and trying his hand at branching out into Hollywood, starting up a film studio with a very, very shady producer/director Bernie Kessoff. Whilst Biff funds the films Bernie spends the money on himself, drawing out the process and using Biff’s stupidity against him in order to get more and more money.

By the end of this chapter Biff has cottoned on to Bernie’s ploy and manipulates into getting the man killed by mobsters after deciding that Hollywood isn’t the place for him. This chapter is actually a lot of fun, and manages to get a load of cameo appearances in, including Charlton Heston, Marilyn Monroe, and even John Wayne (who gets to knock Biff out in one punch). Thanks to the fabulous artwork it’s easy to tell who each of these characters are, especially as not all of the cameos are named.

After leaving Hollywood, the action jumps forward again as Biff returns to Hill Valley. In this chapter we see him begin to make connections in the government, build up a business empire, and take over the town. At first Biff appears to be doing good around the town, but it’s soon clear that his actions have a very ulterior motive, and that he’s willing to throw families out of their homes, burn down a school, and even murder George Mcfly.

This is possibly one of the darkest chapters in the book, not least because it shows the murder of George McFLy, an event mentioned numerous times in the second film. It shows a very cold and calculating side to Biff, one where he slowly lures George in over months, making him believe that he’s going to be meeting with an informant that can help topple Biff. It shows that Biff, whilst an idiot, is not always stupid, and is willing to use his meager intellect to very evil gains.

From here we see Lorraine McFLy finally give in to Biff and agree to marry him in order to help the remaining family that she has. The scene where she gives in to Biff is particularly sad, as we can see a woman who was so strong up to this point finally broken, completely given up with no other way to help her family. This chapter sees Biff begin to make an inroads in Washington, and to make a friendship with President Nixon. When Biff buys the Washington Post in order to screw over a resident of Hill Valley, turning the publication into the Biffington Post, he fires a pair of journalists, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, two men responsible for breaking Watergate.

With the scandal no longer coming out to the public, and Biff using his money to help influence and pay off certain politicians, he and Nixon manage to change the 22nd Amendment, allowing Nixon to run for more than two terms. As a thank you Nixon legalises gambling in Hill Valley, letting Biff build the empire that we see in the second film. The small resistance of people in town that want to take down Biff, including Pricipal Strickland and Goldie Wilson, are joined by Doc Brown, who has made a time machine out of an old refrigerator so that they can change history to stop Biff.

This is one of the most fun chapters in the book, watching these characters trying time travel for the first time in an attempt to make things better for themselves. AS to be expected, this doesn’t go well at all, and ends up with Biff in possession of the time machine (though he doesn’t know what it is) and Doc Brown committed to a mental institution.

With events now at the point where the Marty from the original timeline would normally come back, we get to see what would play out in this timeline if he didn’t. With Biff figuring out that Doc Brown has built a time machine, and wanting to use it to help his chances at running for President, he forces Doc Brown to prepare the machine to travel into the future by threatening to kill the McFLy family.

Intending to travel to the future and obtain information on the stock markets, allowing himself to be a ‘legitimate’ businessman, Biff steps into the time machine, but ends up back in 1885 and face to face with his ancestor Mad Dog Tannen, who promptly shoots and kills Biff. With Biff dead, and Lorraine inheriting his empire, the McFly family, Doc Brown, and those who had been working to stop Biff, try to rebuild their town.

Back To The Future: Biff To The Future offers a very interesting look into this alternate timeline, one that answers a lot of questions, fills in a number of gaps, and actually manages to tell a very good alternate history story. I wasn’t expecting the final chapter to include the conclusion of that Biff’s story as if the real timeline’s Marty never appeared, but it was an interesting addition that at least showed that Biff was eventually due to get what was coming to him.

The only drawback for the book is the time in which it’s been made. With an idiot businessman who hates people different from him in a position of power, reading a fictitious story of someone very much like him can kind of bring the mood down a little as you realise reality is almost as ridiculous and depressing (no points for guessing who I’m talking about).

Other than that, the book is great, with top notch writing and great art throughout, telling an intriguing and entertaining story that adds a lot of the mythology of the Back To The Future franchise.


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