True Reviews, Updates and Common Sense Opinions
Part 3 of CW’s Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover / The Flash begins with New Gotham on Earth-203 getting consumed by the anti-matter. The heroes have been unsuccessful in stopping the multiverse from being destroyed by the anti-matter.
Continue reading “The Flash: Crisis on Infinite Earths, Pt. 3 | 6 x09 (the CW)”
The first series released on the Disney+ stream, The Mandalorian, proved to be a treat for Star Wars fans. Before I was able to see the first episode for myself, I heard a lot of good things about the shows practical and visual effects.
Continue reading “The Mandalorian (2019) based on two epsiodes”
After watching the first episode of Nancy Drew on the CW, I wasn’t impressed. For me, the show started off very bland. Nancy’s afternoon quickies with the neighborhood mechanic did nothing for me, and her job at the local diner didn’t add anything to her character. Plus, During Nancy’s narration, she says that she isn’t curious anymore since her mom passed, but she is. As soon as something weird happens she jumps headfirst into detective work and brings her coworkers along with her.
Continue reading “Nancy Drew based on one episode (CW)”
This week in Central City, Ramsey Rosso finally ascended into madness while trying to cure his terminal illness, HLH. The episode began with Ramsey sneaking into Central City General (the city hospital) and stealing 10 liters of blood. He believes he can rebuild his cellular structure with the new blood and Romero’s blood and create a cure.
Continue reading “The Flash: There Will Be Blood | 6 x 04 (the CW)”
In this episode of The Flash on CW, Barry and Iris begin to process the Monitor’s message. They are not willing to accept the Flash has to die to save everyone, so Barry decides to time travel to the future and see the crisis for himself.
Continue reading “The Flash: A Flash of the Lightning | 6×02 (the CW)”
Last week I finally got around to watching Shazam! It was an entertaining movie that had its campy moments, but overall it was a solid story with pretty good character development. Especially with the main character, Bill Batson.
Click for the full review here
After I watched Shazam! I started thinking about if Billy Batson joined the ranks of Barry Allen, Oliver Queen, and all of the other DC Legends. It would be a great way to get more out of the character Shazam! were a television series.
Think this over with me.
Character Development
In my movie review, I expressed that young Billy Batson was more interesting than Shazam Billy Batson. In a TV series, Billy could evolve as a teenager as he adjusts to life with his new family. The story could pick up where it left off at the end of the movie. It may be a could idea to retcon his siblings getting powers or just making them dormant until the season finale. Concentrating on Billy’s character would be the best.
From the superhero perspective, Billy could learn the ropes of what it means to be the savior of his city. Especially since apparently, he knows Superman now. It wouldn’t be so unbelievable that Shazam would know the Flash and the other just like in the comics.
Comedy
Most of the CW shows have some form of comedic relief in them. Billy Batson as Shazam and his brother Freddy brought a lot of funny moments to the movie. It would be a waste not to put them in more situations together.
The adventures that he’d be able to go on with his brother as a superhero and as his teenage self would give episodes of entertainment.
Gimmick Suit
If Shazam is a television character, I think I would be able to get around the suit. I was critical of the suit in my review of the movie. I felt the suit looked very campy and bulky off of Zachary Levi. However, he could get away with that suit if it was a television production.
This could be a stretch, but honestly, I think that the Shazam character could benefit from having weekly episodic adventures. The Flash has a new lifespan due to his TV run on the CW. Weekly stories would allow us to get to know the other siblings better, flush out Billy Batson as a character, and build his story for a new audience.
Previously on Swamp Thing, the bad guys came out on top. The Conclave, Jason Woodrue, and Avery Sunderland abducted Holland from the swamp and moved him to a mobile lab in Marai.
Abby was left out in the cold with no idea about her status with the CDC or the whereabouts of her friend Dr. Edwards, and it looked like all hope was lost.
Now, all hope is definitely lost because everything we’ve known up to this point is a lie!
Spoilers ahead
It’s important to remember that Jason Woodrue has a wife named Caroline and she is suffering from an advanced stage of Alzheimer’s. In this episode we see Caroline get progressively worse even while taking her medicine. Because she’s getting worse, Jason is motivated to experiment on Holland to develop a miracle cure for her.
As a result of Woodrue’s desperation, Holland is abducted from the swamp, placed on a table with power damping technology, and in a medically induced coma for exploratory surgery.
“You’re not a man at all. You’re a plant that thinks its a man.” – Jason Woodrue
At some point during this surgery, he wakes up. Despite expressing that he can feel everything Woodrue proceeds taking out organs, yanking them at points to observe them.
Woodrue concludes that Holland is not the man on the table. The man on the table is a memory shell made up of the plants from the swamp. He suspects that during the explosion at Skeeter Cove, Alec Holland died. However, due to the mutagens in the water affecting the plants, his DNA mixed with the mutagens and the plants formed this body and tried to replicate the human condition, specifically Holland’s memories.
WHAT!
So Woodrue’s theory is that the Swamp Thing is not Holland after all!
“I don’t care. I’m not giving up on Alec.” – Abby Arcane
While all of this is happening, Abby asks Liz to help her find where they are keeping Holland. At the same time, Daniel Cassidy wakes up at the hospital and finds the swamp stranger (the one from the movie set) at his bedside.
The swamp stranger shows him a vision of a possible future of Liz and Abby getting shot up via the Conclave while looking for Holland.
What is the swamp stranger exactly? He just comes out of nowhere when he feels like it.
Anyway, Cassidy fights the urge to be Blue Devil and save Liz and Abby but eventually, he succumbs to either temptation or guilt and goes to help.
In real-time, Abby and Liz find out about Caroline’s condition and conveniently about the mobile lab. So they go to the lab and almost get shot up, but this time the lights go out, the Blue Devil tears all of the Conclave soldiers to shreds, and then runs away after he’s spotted by Liz and Abby.
He must have passed out because he wakes up later in the episode in human form and sees all of the carnage he has caused.
Abby and Liz make it to Holland in the lab and watch him regenerate after being cut to bits. Then he stands up and says that he has to go back to Skeeter Cove to see if Woodrue is right. Abby follows him and Liz goes to investigate the group we know as the Conclave.
Meanwhile, Avery has Maria locked up in a psych ward because she tried to have him killed. Matt Cable gets drunk in a bar and then crashes into a pole while driving.
Don’t drink and drive folks.
“This ‘thing’ is what I am, Alec Holland is …” – The Swamp Thing
Abby and Holland make it to Skeeter Cove and Holland dives into the water. He slowly rises with a rotting skeleton in his arms. The actual corpse of Alec Holland. He died in episode one and was replicated due to the mutagen in the swamp.
How bazaar!
I think this is the biggest surprise of the season. Especially when you think back to Holland and Abby having the moment in the swamp where the Swamp Thing looked like Holland due to the pheromones he released.
How will they wrap up this season?
Will Avery get away with everything or is he in trouble now that Swamp Thing has escaped? Or will he have to answer to the Conclave?
What will Abby do now that the truth about Alec’s death is out?
Can Daniel Cassidy leave Marai now since he saved Abby and Liz?
Is Maria stuck in the hospital forever?
Is Matt Cable dead from the car accident?
Will Jason give up now that Caroline’s condition is worse?
And most importantly, what will the Swamp Thing do now since he’s not a real person?
I can’t wait until the season finale!
Previous episode – Swamp Thing S01 E08: The Long Walk Home (review)
So much happened in this season of Stranger Things! It is a truly exciting episodic adventure and I am glad I watched it. However, there was so much happening that I decided to break up the review into two parts. It’ll be easier to follow that way I’m sure.
Let’s catch up on Stranger Things episodes 1 through 4 in season 3.
Everything is going somewhat well in Hawkins, Louisiana when we meet back up with Eleven (El) and the gang. Hopper is miserable because El and Mike are getting more action than him every night. Local businesses, including Joyce’s, are closing or suffering because a new mall has opened called Starcourt. The entire community is spending time there at the new mall and people are losing work too. But, overall things seem normal.
That is until a blackout in Hawkins knocked out the power for a moment and rats start gravitating toward a warehouse in town. Joyce notices and tries to get Hopper to help her investigate with her, but he’s too preoccupied with trying to date her. Eventually, he comes around and they follow a lead to find out if Hawkins Lab, which was destroyed last season, is the root of this issue.
Not too much is happening until we catch up with Billy, Max’s older brother. He’s a lifeguard this summer and has the hots for an older woman. They plan a date and Billy takes his car to pick her up, but he never makes it because he drives past the warehouse that is giving off weird vibes and attracting crazy amounts of rats at this point.
Somewhat of a shock wave knocks Billy off course and causes an accident. A shadowy figure drags Billy into the warehouse and I assure its all bad from there.
As a result of Billy’s abduction, the older lady is stood up, sort of. It’s okay though because she has a husband and children. One of those children is Nancy.
Nancy is dating Jonathon Byers. They are interning at the Hawkins post this summer, but the editors treat her like she’s incompetent. Nancy comes across a story regarding rabid rats eating chemicals around the town. The editors don’t take her seriously, so she decides to investigate on her own with Jonathan.
Let’s jump back to 1 year before these events. In a place that looks a lot like Siberia, Russian scientists tried to reopen a portal to the Upside Down. They were given a year time frame to open it and keep it open by an unnamed General who was awfully sweaty.
At first, I thought they were trying to weaponize the portal and its beings, but then I realized the General was sweaty!
Let me explain.
Next time we see Billy, he is a sweaty, nasty, violated mess. That’s when it hit me. Billy is infected by the Mind Flayer and so was the General who gave the order in the previous year!
We find out that the Mind Flayer wants to spread himself across Hawkins and the rest of the world by infecting more people. He tells Billy this much. It sends Billy on a rampage to abduct people and take them back to the Mind Flayer for infection.
We meet back up with El, Mike, Max, Lucas, Will, and Dustin. Dustin recently returned from a camp where he made a high powered satellite to talk to his girlfriend, Suzie.
When he uses it, Suzie doesn’t answer, but he overhears a secret Russian transmission.
Transmission: The week is long, silver cats feed, when blue meets yellow in the west (playing over Indiana Flyer Much)
Mike, Lucas, and Will are caught up in the boyfriend, girlfriend drama with El and Max. So Dustin takes his findings to Steve and his co-worker, Robin, at the ice cream parlor in Starcourt. They begin to decode the message and they discover it’s a message telling the people involved when and where to meet underneath Starcourt.
At the same time, Billy has abducted his lifeguard co-worker, Heather.
El ends up having a weird feeling about Heather and Billy so sure uses her powers to spy on them and sees Heather in trouble. Max and El run over to Heather’s house to find Billy is over for dinner.
Billy almost convinces El and Max to back off, but then Mike, Will, and Lucus call for a code red the next day.
Let me back up.
During that same rainstorm, Mike and Lucus are trying to figure out how to get back with their girlfriends. Mike is broken up with El because he lied to her after Hopper threatened him. And Max and Lucas are on the outs because of El and Mike.
Will just wanted to play Dungeons and Dragons but Mike and Lucas wanted to win their girls back. Will threw a tantrum and ran out in the rain. During Will’s tantrum, Billy and Heather abduct her parents and give them to the Mind Flayer. Will recognizes an all too familiar feeling and alerts his friends that that Mind Flayer is back.
Turns out, Heather’s dad, Tom, the boss of Nancy and Jonathan. The next day he turns up to work looking all sweaty, nasty, and like a violated mess. He fires Nancy and Jonathan for continuing their investigation after they were told not to mess with the rats anymore.
He’s been infected!
Nancy still feels compelled to do this story despite pretty much breaking up with Jonathan due to class issues and losing her internship. With the encouragement of her mother, she sets up to continue investigating the rats.
Remember, the rabid rats are feeding on chemicals around town. Jonathon and Nancy previously met with a little old lady, Doris Driscoll. She caught one in her basement. When they came back to check on her during the rainstorm, they found her eating the rat. That’s what ultimately got them fired.
Code red!
Back with Dustin, Steve, and Robin, they hatch a plan to get into the secret room that the Russians are using under Starcourt by using the vent system. Dustin can’t fit so they bribe a little girl named Erica to help.
Erica shimmies her way into the room and opens the door from the inside. They find cases of vials filled with green liquid. They try to leave with a sample but the room begins to move. The room is actually an elevator to an underground facility.
My guess is that it is the same facility that they are trying to open the portal to the Upside Down from.
Joyce and Hopper were attacked while visiting the Hawkins Lab by a man on a motorcycle. Hopper followed his intuition and managed to get some addresses from Larry, a real estate agent working with the Russians to acquire land and buildings in Hawkins.
Larry tells Hopper that the people he’s working with are not to be messed with. Hopper beats him up after they exchange jabs about Hopper’s past substance abuse issues and go to follow the address trail with Joyce. Larry makes a phone, most likely to the same people he just told Hopper not to mess with.
Meanwhile, Max El Mike, Will, Lucas, and Max plan to lock Billy in a sauna to confirm that he is infected.
Of course, he is and he ends up getting into a fight with El. She almost wins, but she throws him out of a window allowing him to escape.
Billy runs back to his warehouse hideaway to find Heather waiting for him. He tells her how Eleven almost killed him. Heather says it’s okay because “She can’t beat us.”
The final shot of episode four is an entire group of people that they’ve abducted and fed to the Mind Flayer. They are all sitting in wait!
Every week I tune in to the CW Network to check in on Barry Allen and friends to keep up with the episodic events going on in the DC CW Universe.
And you know what? Season five has been a little lack luster with sparkles of magic.
Spoilers ahead.
I know you’ve heard that before, at lease the lack luster part. But, it didn’t start that way. We met Cicada in a big way. Watching him kill countless meta-humans for what seemed to be sport. Then we found out it was because he and his niece were negatively affected by the Enlightenment brought on by DeVoe. Plus, he almost killed Cisco!
Cool right? Not the killing of Cisco part, just the premise.
Somewhere in the middle of the season things became a bit confusing. Team Flash started going on a big goose chase for Cicada and honestly it felt like they were chopping wood on a never-ending tree.
Even with the help of Dr. Wells number 10. They didn’t have any real leads or ways to find him. And if I’m honest, Cicada wasn’t even the real story this whole time.
It’s been Nora Allen all along! But we knew that ever since we found out she was working with Eobard Thawne.
My question is, why was that a back story? That is the story I want to see. I don’t even care about Cicada’s niece becoming new Cicada from the future.
Dr. Wells has tried to find out what Nora’s been hiding all season and he finally put all the pieces together during the most recent episode titled “Time Bomb”.
Barry, Iris and the rest of the team stood there as Wells explained all the dirt. It was so sad to watch Barry tear up.
A father’s love … am I right?
Now episode 18 of season five will air on April 16, 2019. I really, really want to see more about Nora and why she hooked up with Thawne to begin with. It’s honestly the most compelling story all season.
Sure they have to catch Cicada, but what about Nora’s redemption? How will her parents, Barry and Iris, forgive her!
I need to know!
How about you? Are you looking forward to flushing out more of Nora’s shady story? Would you be more interested in Cicada’s niece being the main focus?
Feel free to comment in the space below.