Legends of Tomorrow (2016) s07e07 – A Woman’s Place Is in the War Effort!

So, A Woman’s Place Is in the War Effort! bombs Bechdel in a really, really bad way. Like, there better be a scene cut or some really good excuse because it fails it by not giving Kimleigh Smith a name. She’s a Black woman working in an airplane factory in World War II; the Legends end up there and need to work to steal parts so Matt Ryan can rebuild his time machine, and Olivia Swann has a giant arc with Smith. Swann lost her temper at the 1940s racism and had to take over the factory, so the Legends don’t unintentionally get everyone fired, and Smith’s trying to convince her to slow down on the progress. It’s an awkward arc, feeling somewhat dated, especially since World War II movies erase Black people in general and Black women in particular. Still, they eventually get to a good point. Lots of character development for Swann, who seriously feels like she’s being groomed to take over the show.

But no name for Smith. So an amazing Bechdel fail.

The shitty racist boss at the plant is guest star Jason Gray-Stanford, who looks really familiar (I think it must be from “Monk”), and he takes a relatively long break from the episode because there’s not really time for him. In addition to being trapped in the WWII Homefront, the Legends also have to confront Raffi Barsoumian, who went from being the season villain to the second biggest Legends fan after Adam Tsekhman.

There are now eleven team members this season. Eleven. They’ve got to be reaching some kind of breaking point.

The main plot is Swann, Caity Lotz, Jes Macallan, and Lisseth Chavez at the plant. Lotz and Macallan get to work the floor because they’re blond white women. Swann and Chavez get sent to janitorial because shitty racists, but soon discover Smith and the other custodians are helpfully engineering-inclined. Amy Louise Pemberton’s around as Gray-Stanford’s newest suffering secretary, and it’s a good A-plot. Lots of suspense, lots of drama, some laughs. Including Macallan doing an “I Love Lucy” homage and what could be a “Ted Lasso” but probably isn’t. “Lucy” for sure, though.

The B-plot is Shayan Sobhian trying to teach Nick Zano how to be a good host, Persian-style, so Zano can impress Tala Ashe’s family when he moves into the totem dimension with her. They really need to do an episode in the totem; so far, I think they’ve shown a single room and implied another identical room, and neither seems good for “moving in together.” Sobhian and Zano are using Barsoumian as a hospitality learning opportunity because even though he’s ostensibly their prisoner, he’s really just an entitled house guest.

It’s a good episode. It’s way too full—even with some okay scenes, Ashe, Ryan, and Tsekhman are lost in the shuffle—and it could be more ambitious in the factory stuff, but it’s a good episode. It’s Swann’s first episode where she gets to run her own plotline, hence the feeling she’s in line for a promotion.

We also get a big cliffhanger involving the rest of the season; no spoilers, but let’s just say someone’s got a Plan. It ought to be fun. And there’s a nice bit of emotional weight to a twist, which may have repercussions later. So not a big enough swing—and a startling kind of fail—but “Legends” remains in excellent shape this season.

Hawkeye (2021) s01e02 – Hide and Seek

So, the last episode established post-Endgame Jeremy Renner and introduced Hailee Steinfeld, but this episode’s got to bring them together. It would be entirely possible—albeit improbable—for them not to have any chemistry once the Hawkeye(s) get together. Worse, what if it’s just a surrogate father thing since Steinfeld lost her dad during the Avengers’s Battle of New York and stepdad-to-be Tony Dalton is at best a broke narcissist. But Renner’s already got a family; his whole thing is about trying to reconnect with the kids (Ava Russo, Ben Sakamoto, and Cade Woodward in truly thankless roles) after playing ninja Punisher for five years and traveling the globe to thin out the criminals who survived Thanos’s snap.

Real quick aside, so I don’t forget. Apparently, Renner told wife Linda Cardellini all about it because she’s aware of the bad guys of this episode, which wouldn’t make any sense if he hadn’t told her about his one-man killing spree. It’s kind of unfair Frank Castle never got to heal through talk therapy.

The show—writer credit to Elisa Lomnitz Climent—does an excellent job establishing the rapport between Renner and Steinfeld. He’s momentarily bewildered by her but then tries to make sure she doesn’t suffer for unknowingly donning the aforementioned ninja Punisher outfit and drawing the attention of the Tracksuit Mafia. The Tracksuit Mafia’s from the comic and the show plays them less dangerous and more amusing, which is good. I couldn’t believe they were going to use them, but toning it down works.

Another layer to the Steinfeld and Renner relationship is her read on his discomfort being a world-famous superhero. He’s just trying to be a dad, sad about Scarlett Johansson dying, regretful about the ninja Punisher stuff (but really, they were all guilty, right), not trying to be a hero. Except he’s a hero no matter what. Renner does a surprisingly good job with it, especially since Hawkeye’s always been a Marvel movie tack-on. Starting with his first appearance in a nighttime rainstorm long shot in Thor, then when he was brainwashed for half the first Avengers movie. The show seems to be giving him a chance to turn it into a substantial role.

Especially since part of his quest to get the suit back involves a LARP event in Central Park.

While Renner’s playing with NerfⓇ swords, Steinfeld’s sussing out the new family situation and keeping a low profile. Stepdad-to-be Dalton is trying hard under mom Vera Farmiga’s watchful eye, and Steinfeld’s taken aback at Mom’s inability to see through him.

We also find out this episode Farmiga runs a security company; I can’t remember if that detail’s comic accurate, but since “Batwoman”’s done it in-between, it seems a little contrived. Though it does explain how Steinfeld can play private investigator, so it’s okay. As long as they address Farmiga not running a background check on Dalton at some point.

There’s an entertaining cliffhanger setup with Renner trying to outwit the Tracksuit Mafia and Steinfeld trying too hard to help him, leading into the ominous introduction of a series villain. Again, it feels very “East Coast MCU” (i.e., Netflix’s Marvel shows), possibly because the series villain’s from Daredevil.

But the show’s good. Like, it’s getting better as it goes. The fight scenes aren’t particularly great at this point, of course, but there’s time. Also the music, by Christophe Beck and Michael Paraskevas, is fantastic.

Hawkeye (2021) s01e01 – Never Meet Your Heroes

Outside wistfully hoping Edward Norton would bring art-house sensibilities to the mainstream, “Hawkeye” is the first official MCU property I’ve ever been emotionally invested in. I mean, obviously, East Coast “MCU” (the Netflix series) were a thing—and “Hawkeye” reminds of them immensely—but in the straight Disney-for-teens MCU? “Hawkeye” ’s it. Go read the Matt Fraction and David Aja comic. Their new Hawkeye, Kate Bishop, is genuinely marvelous. So I really want this show to succeed.

Now, the show is very much not the comic—Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye is a dad trying to bond with his kids after spending five years murdering gangsters before he got the chance at redemption in Avengers: Endgame not the dopey beefcake Hawkeye of the comics, and Hailee Steinfeld’s Kate Bishop is… entirely MCU in her origin. The episode starts with young Kate (an almost eerily well-cast as young Steinfeld Clara Stack) living through the Battle of New York from the first Avengers movie. Who saves her as she watches the destruction from her Manhattan high rise? Archer Renner, leading her to take up the bow. It’s kind of like that old Earth-3 Batman story where the parents don’t die, and Bruce becomes Batman because he helps people.

Anyway.

The opening titles, which are very Aja-influenced (making it very MCU they didn’t pay or even acknowledge Aja), and recount Stack’s journey from kid to archer, martial artist, and so on. They catch us up to Steinfeld in the present, a college student whose reckless behavior (she’s rich, young, and accomplished) lands her in some amusing trouble. I had been a little worried the show would emphasize Renner too much, but it’s definitely Steinfeld’s show. It’s a baton-passer. It better be.

After meeting Steinfeld, the action cuts to Renner in New York for Christmas with his kids, sometime after Endgame. There’s been enough time for the world to put together a Captain America Broadway show for Renner to cringe through, except when the Black Widow is on stage, which brings up lots of feels for Renner. While he’s not a buffoon and instead does a working-class guy stuck with celebrity (“Hawkeye” is basically Kate Bishop meets Die Hard meets Planes, Trains, and Automobiles), his kids still have to stay attuned to his moods and be his support network. Kind of inglorious because his kids are background, kind of like “guest star” Linda Cardellini as his wife. She isn’t on the trip with them but gets to make reassuring phone calls.

Renner’s part of the episode is some Endgame postscript, leaving the rising action to Steinfeld.

She’s stuck going to a charity ball with rich lady mom Vera Farmiga and her new fiancé Tony Dalton. Dalton’s a skeezy blue blood without much cash in the bank; he’s just waiting to inherit it from rich uncle Simon Callow. Callow gets to be a delight in a small part, filling Steinfeld in on what she’s missed while away at school, while Dalton and Farmiga have to play it straight and slightly mysterious. It’s the first episode, after all.

Steinfeld inserts herself into one of the mysterious situations and pretty soon has to don Renner’s Endgame Ronin costume to save the day, not realizing all the bad guys left in the world want Ronin dead. Luckily, she gets caught on camera (saving an adorable dog), so Renner and family see her on the news, contriving a reason to bring the characters together.

Steinfeld’s fantastic, Renner’s solid, the New York Christmas time thing is perfect. The “Children of the MCU”—the people growing up in this brave new world—are really working out. At least here.

“Hawkeye” isn’t exactly what I was hoping for, but everything I was hoping for it seems to be delivering.

Hitman: Ace of Killers (1997-98)

Having read Garth Ennis for so long, I can get a sense of his structure. He’s traditionally too rushed in three-issue arcs, much more comfortable with four or more. Hitman: Ace of Killers collects a six-issue arc and then two done-in-ones. The main story is a siege story, too, with the heroes getting pinned down at the end of the second issue. It’s pretty awesome plotting; like, it’s real impressive given all the character development he’s got going in a four-hour present action or whatever.

So, Nazi demon Mawzir (from the first Hitman arc—and trade) is back in Gotham looking for revenge. He’s pretty sure he’s got a foolproof plan to take out Tommy, which involves taking over one of the mob gangs and having the humans do most of the dirty work so as not to raise attention from the archangels who wouldn’t want a demon doing business on the mortal plane. Only it turns out Tommy’s still too smart for Mawzir. At least if his plan works out. The plan involves Jim Balent-era Catwoman (the politest way to describe Balent-era Catwoman is “cheesecake”) and another visit from Jason Blood and his Demon. Tommy got his start in Ennis and artist John McCrea’s Demon, which I kind of want to read after this arc, which has Ennis sending Etrigan on a delightful mission in Hell. Reminds of good old eighties DC Swamp Thing Hell, though no bugs.

But Mawzir hunting Tommy interferes with fetching, now ex-cop Tiegel getting drunk and putting the moves on Tommy. She gets so drunk she doesn’t remember he’s actually a gentleman when he wants to be—there’s a great bit comparing the demons and angels on his shoulders. When she tracks him down to confront him about what she thinks happened, she too gets stuck in the siege. So it’s Tommy, Tiegel, Natt, Catwoman, and Jason Blood trapped in a Catholic Church, which Mawzir and his human gang are shooting to shit. Mawzir can’t go into the church because holy ground and the archangels would know right away; he has to stay outside and deal with the cops.

Now, outside Tommy’s constant fat jokes about Natt and the Catwoman objectification, the wonkiest thing about the arc is how it fits in, well, Batman’s Gotham City. It’s hard to believe none of the Bat-family wouldn’t notice an hours-long firefight in the middle of the city, regardless of it happening in the Cauldron (Gotham’s Hell’s Kitchen analog). Maybe they were all on a space mission, but it’s definitely a place where having general DC Comics continuity works against the comic.

It’s also the arc where I was most expecting some kind of Preacher nod—Catwoman’s in the story because she got tricked in stealing a magical Old West rifle, capable of killing demons—but then remembered nineties DC wouldn’t force some terrible crossover between distinct artistic properties. Ah, the old days. I mean, outside Balent Catwoman, who Tommy and Natt salivate over in an unfortunate manner.

While the siege takes five issues to resolve, there are a couple big diversions—first, Etrigan’s Hell mission, then drunken “studperhero” Sixpack putting together his team of misfit meta-humans to help out Tommy and friends. Ennis gets away with a couple things with the misfits I can’t believe they let him do on the main DC label. Like, did they switch pages at the printer or something? So there’s a nice balance of humor and suspense and then a whole bunch of romance, as Tommy figures he and Tiegel need to talk out their proto-relationship problems even if they’re in imminent danger. Maybe more so.

Most of the relationship development happens in one of the done-in-ones, but there’s excellent groundwork throughout the main arc. Oodles of chemistry.

Ennis writes the heck out of demon Etrigan, both in Hell and out; I’m thinking I need to hit that Demon series at some point too. He’s got an enthusiasm to it, even though it’s very purple.

Oh, and the siege arc has a lot of Sam Peckinpah references; it’s kind of strange to see Ennis drop all sorts of (specific) pop culture references, but it was the nineties, after all.

The first done-in-one is Tommy and Tiegel’s first proper date, with Steve Pugh doing the art. Pugh brings a lot to it, especially for the constrained setting and story—there’s some banter with Tommy and Natt, then the date going sideways once Tiegel’s parents show up—but having Pugh handle the more human moments… makes it distinct. Not saying McCrea couldn’t have done them, but Pugh’s art is more gentle.

Or something.

It works, but it’s also just fine Pugh’s not back for the second done-in-one, which has Tommy and Natt hunting down a radioactive Santa Claus, hell-bent on killing as many people as he can. There’s a big “Simpsons” reference, and the whole story’s narration feels like a nod to How the Grinch Stole Christmas. It works out nicely. But it’s not as impressive as an action narrative as the main story or a character one as the date issue. It’s a Christmas special, whereas the other two stories have to make their own special.

McCrea’s back on pencils for the Christmas story, with Pugh inking. It looks good. Now, radioactive supervillain Santa attacking Gotham on Christmas Eve… just saying, Batman sort of should’ve noticed.

It’s the best Hitman collection so far. I wasn’t sold on the Tiegel and Tommy stuff but now I’m most definitely invested.

709 Meridian – 1×1 – Halloween Kills (2021)

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Doctor Who (2005) s13e04 – Village of the Angels

Most of this episode—save a brief appearance from rubber masked villain Rochenda Sandall—is quite good. Not just the best episode of the season so far (though it’s handily the best episode of the season so far), but an actual good episode.

Doctor Jodie Whittaker is solo in late sixties small village England, trying to stop the Weeping Angels from getting lost-in-time Annabel Scholey for their nefarious reasons. Sure, there’s some tedious stuff explaining why the Angels want Scholey and how it ties into Whittaker’s lost history arc, plus the rules for the Angels are a bit loose here. I mean, they have the same rules as always, but the episode seemingly forgets them from time to time to move the plot along.

But it’s a compelling episode. Whittaker and Scholey are a lot better together than Whittaker has been with her regular companions this season. Whittaker’s relationship with Mandip Gill is on its way for another hard talk because Whittaker’s still lying to her, and then John Bishop is just around. Though when Gill and Bishop team up to help the villagers search for missing ten-year-old Poppy Polivnick, it pretty much just works. Like Gill and Bishop have fine chemistry opposite one another. You wouldn’t be able to tell when they’re hanging off Whittaker.

Whittaker met Scholey in the first episode of the season when Scholey knew Whittaker (and Gill), but they didn’t know her, which ought to make everyone chill out a little because the only explanation for that disconnect is they’re going to survive this adventure for Scholey to again see Whittaker in the future. I think. It’s timey-wimey, who knows. Plus, the “Flux,” which destroyed most of the universe or whatever, didn’t affect Earth’s history. At least not since they did something, but then the rubber mask villains did something and then….

Doesn’t matter. Unraveling it distracts from the strong episode, which has Whittaker and Scholey fortifying in amusing old professor Kevin McNally’s house to survive the Angels.

Then Gill and Bishop are trying to find Polivnick, which leads to some big twists and turns and generally engaging television.

And Thaddea Graham’s a lot better this episode than last time. She’s traveling the Flux-ed universe in search of Jacob Anderson. That storyline is the easy least of the episode, but it’s not terrible. I mean, it’s a definite improvement (until the end) over before.

The writing’s better—this time Chris Chibnall has Maxine Alderton helping him in addition to the plot not being a series of tropes and pop culture steals—and it’s easily Jamie Magnus Stone’s best direction of the season.

The end’s wonky, but it’s a much better-than-lately forty-five minutes getting there.

Legends of Tomorrow (2016) s07e06 – Deus Ex Latrina

“Legends” hasn’t been renewed yet, and it’s kind of been a bubble show forever, which is why it’s always so nice when they get an early renewal. But this season now seems to be arranging things for a send-off. At least, potentially. Events are perturbing towards closure—or at least not unresolved cliffhangers—and it kind of feels like a victory lap season.

Though it might just feel that way because they do so well here.

The gang has lost their time ship, and last episode teamed up with a 1920s scientist, played by Matt Ryan (in a different role than usual), to get back to the future. Unfortunately, Ryan didn’t account for so many people in the time machine (seriously, there are now nine regular Legends), and they time-crashed off course. Where? Unclear. Maybe dinosaurs.

So while they’re trying to get settled for the night, splitting off into groups for character developing adventures, last season’s big bad, Raffi Barsoumian, has teamed up with an evil AI version of Amy Louise Pemberton (who’s now become a human member of the gang), to destroy Legends. AI Pemberton wants to save the timeline from those meddling Legends; Barsoumian’s just mad they kidnapped him and wiped his mind.

The audience found out about the AI Pemberton and Barsoumian teaming up a few episodes ago, but now we see what they’ve been doing. And it’s actually stuff we’ve already seen, like the time ship getting destroyed in the season premiere or the robot J. Edgar Hoover (Giacomo Baessato) showing up and hunting them down. It’s multiple episodes of the show proper, but it’s all in a row for AI Pemberton and Barsoumian because they’re on a time ship. One of Jes Macallan clones is on board with them, and AI Pemberton doesn’t like her, which leads to some great 2001 riffs.

Meanwhile, in the past—whether prehistoric or not is a plot point—everyone’s stressed out, including regular Macallan and Caity Lotz, who thought they were on their way to a honeymoon in Tahiti. So while Olivia Swann takes Macallan to work out her aggression gathering firewood, Lisseth Chavez takes Lotz to work out hers hunting for dinner. The Swann and Macallan stuff ends up being better than the Chavez and Lotz stuff, but there’s also more of the former. And it’s a scene where Swann really comes through.

Tala Ashe and Shayan Sobhian babysit Ryan, who’s freaking out, leading to some wonderful bonding between Ashe and Ryan. Now, these two actors played love interests in their other “Legends” parts, so there’s something of a base chemistry, but these characters are entirely different, and it leads to some more excellent work. I forgot how great Ashe is in this version of the character. She’s been doing the other one full-time for what seems like two seasons, and this episode’s a great return.

Then there’s a comic subplot for human Pemberton and Adam Tsekhman, who are delightful together, and Nick Zano building the camp while talking himself through relationship decisions.

Plus, the big reveal of where they actually are in history and how it will affect them.

It’s an excellent episode. Kind of a bridging one, kind of a catch-up one with AI Pemberton and Barsoumian’s scheming, and then also kind of a breather. The enormous cast gets a chance to chill and reset, and the episode takes the time to let them.

So even if they do wrap it up and don’t play chicken with a renewal… damn, I hope they get renewed.

Krisha (2015, Trey Edward Shults)

Krisha is an eighty-minute film with a present action of maybe twelve hours. It’s about a family’s black sheep (Krisha Fairchild) coming to Thanksgiving after some time away. There’s no big exposition dump—it isn’t until the third act the film confirms the basic information the characters have all been dealing with—and for the first half or so, Krisha gets away with it. Right until the third act, when director, writer, and editor Shults brings on the drama, Krisha seems like it may end up somewhere special.

Or at least somewhere ambitious and not predictable.

After the third act, it’s clear the rest of the film was never going to add up, which brings it down in hindsight. It was all busy work to keep the audience distracted.

Of course, since the streaming service we watched Krisha on felt the need to put a “confirm” button under a warning about particularly adult content, I was watching the film with an impending sense of dread. Some of it is because Shults employs distorted angles, a noisy non-diegetic soundtrack, and a fragmented narrative. But also because it all seems like it’s building to something extraordinary. It’s not just going to be a Thanksgiving drama about this obnoxious privileged white family; for much of the runtime, when nothing’s going on except turkey preparation, you can just hear them talking about doing their own research on vaccines or maybe complaining about critical race theory.

When we finally find out what the movie’s all about, almost an hour in, it’s doesn’t derail the film. Shults could take it someplace. Only it’s not a character study of Krisha Fairchild; it’s about how shitty she is to her family, apparently. We get a sense of the hostility from Bill Wise, who tries bonding with Fairchild over how much he hates her sister (his wife) but still stays with her, and when Fairchild’s not receptive, he lashes out with some white male truth bombs.

The third act mainly falls apart because Robyn Fairchild—presumably Krisha’s real-life sister—isn’t good. And because Shults starts playing with the aspect ratio too much, he goes from 4:3 to 2.35:1 to 4:3 for sure, and maybe there’s some 16:9 in there. It’s distracting in the third act, particularly because Drew Daniels does a terrible job lighting it.

For a literal family affair, with the occasional professional actor (Wise and Chris Doubek, both of whom aren’t as good as the non-professionals), Krisha’s impressive. Shults’s editing is outstanding. Fairchild’s performance is pretty good until she becomes the film’s villain. Turns out we weren’t supposed to empathize with her coming into this passively hostile environment filled with bland white people—who make her do the entire Thanksgiving dinner herself while the men all do macho shit—but instead empathize with the family giving her another chance.

I mean, Krisha’s a movie where a wife (Olivia Grace Applegate) complains to a husband (Alex Dobrenko) about how she’d prefer to be enthusiastic about their sex life, and he’s the good guy for telling her to shut up and put out. The whole movie can basically be summed up as the “white, cishets aren’t okay.” Also, upper-middle-class people are energy vampires, which doesn’t seem to be Shults’s intent.

Though you also see someone prod grandma Billie Fairchild into performing from off-camera. She was suffering from Alzheimer’s in real life and apparently not entirely aware she was in a movie. It tracks with the film’s interesting cognitive dissonance about personal accountability, responsibility, and consent.

But, you know, for an indie white guy movie, it’s okay. Like sixty percent impressive low budget, fifteen percent too bland, fifteen percent bad. Fairchild’s performance would be outstanding if she weren’t a caricature, but Shults uses caricature to get away with the non-professional cast. But, sure, technically, it’s successful. Shults’s direction’s okay, and that cutting’s phenomenal. If only his writing weren’t manipulative and deceptive.

Though, who knows, since the entire thing ends up hinging on Robyn Fairchild’s performance, if she were better, things might work out.

Superman & Lois (2021) s01e12 – Through the Valley of Death

This episode has several things going on, like Wolé Parks delivering (compared to before) when the story requires it, Emmanuelle Chriqui having a great mom scene (shedding any memory of her lackluster performance a couple episodes ago), one low-key but big twist, what sounds like Man of Steel music cues (but for Super-sons Jordan Elsass and Alex Garfin), and a cameo from David Ramsey to tie the show into the Arrowverse. But it’s also an exceptionally efficient resolution to last episode’s cliffhanger.

While Adam Rayner and his shitty hologram dad A.C. Peterson try to make sure Tyler Hoechlin turns evil, the good guys are all trying to figure out a way to rescue Superman. Except for Parks, who’s planning to kill him no matter what anyone says. And his arguments are starting to work on Dylan Walsh, seemingly because Ramsey is on Elizabeth Tulloch’s “find a non-lethal solution” side. Ramsey actually has a bit to do in his cameo (including name-dropping “Oliver” and making broad illusions to the other superheroes Walsh apparently isn’t calling for help), and he’s good. It’s a little weird because it’s a superhero-free universe besides Hoechlin so far, but they get past it fast, thanks to all the drama.

In the meantime, Erik Valdez is recovering from being taken over by an evil Kryptonian hell-bent on planetary decimation. But more he’s upset because everyone in Smallville is blaming him for inviting Rayner to invest in the town and turn everyone in supervillains. Chriqui and Inde Navarrette try to convince him not to overreact and macho his way through it, leading to a good juxtaposition with Tulloch, Elsass, and Garfin’s story.

Most of the episode is pretty talky—Ramsey’s not in the episode in an action capacity—but the resolution finale, which they only really needed to put off another five or ten minutes to push to next episode, is some very solid Superman action. Director Alexandra La Roche does well with it, juggling multiple opponents and even some space-fighting.

Speaking of the space-fighting, Parks also breaks down how he got to this show’s Earth from his Superman-destroyed one, and it’s unclear why it doesn’t have more narrative weight. Like, bopping between Earths accidentally is a very comic book thing to do, given the episode’s grandiosity—not in a bad way outside some recycled flashback footage for Hoechlin to imagine when he’s getting brainwashed—it seems like there’d be more to it. Maybe they’re waiting.

Especially since the episode opens with actual character development for Parks—and his obnoxious A.I. assistant (Daisy Tormé).

And the episode even avoids an emotional impact-reducing cliffhanger. I wasn’t exactly worried, but it also wouldn’t be a surprise given there are only three episodes left to the season.

Superman & Lois (2021) s01e11 – A Brief Reminiscence In-Between Cataclysmic Events

So, A Brief Reminiscence In-Between Cataclysmic Events confirms a question I didn’t realize I had—who’s the perfect director for a Superman movie? Small Soldier turned “Everwood” star turned TV director Gregory Smith. This episode’s chock full of Superman: The Movie references, most of which fail earnestly, and then some genuinely excellent Lois and Clark stuff for Elizabeth Tulloch and Tyler Hoechlin. I’m sure it wasn’t the intent of the flashback episode, but it really does show how they could’ve made a damn good “Superman” show.

Flashbacks also mean there are weird dodges to preserve some sense of continuity between “Superman and Lois” and the Arrowverse, like Jimmy Olsen getting a mention but not appearing because Mehcad Brooks? Then there’s a scene where young Adam Rayner, played by Ben Cockell (who’s impressively terrible but just doing a pissy evil British white kid, so it’s fine), asks hologram dad A.C. Peterson about other Kryptonians sent to Earth. Peterson starts his torture training immediately, skipping having to say there’s just Hoechlin, but also maybe “Supergirl” Melissa Benoist or her evil Kryptonian counterpart Odette Annable. Rayner’s Fortress of Evil Solitude is in a desert, too, just like Annable’s. Strangely, they don’t seem to be recycling the CGI models—the Fortresses are jank compared to “Supergirl”—it’s just part of the “Superman Family” show bible. A little bit of The Movie, a little bit Man of Steel, a little bit “Supergirl.”

Peterson’s also terrible, but he’s like doing a lousy Ian McDiarmid impression, so it’s kind of funny.

Rayner’s actually better as the all-out megalomaniac Kryptonian villain than I was expecting. It’s not particularly good or special, but he’s pretty dang effective.

The episode’s split into extended flashback, then resolution to last episode’s cliffhanger, then some Smallville stuff, finally another cliffhanger. A terrific cliffhanger. “Superman and Lois” probably binges well.

The flashback also reveals, unfortunately, Michele Scarabelli isn’t very good opposite Hoechlin and Tulloch. Scarabelli was good in her last flashback episode, but it was a younger version of Hoechlin. The problem’s mostly she and Hoechlin lack chemistry.

There are some good moments for Jordan Elsass and Inde Navarrette too. Not great moments, mainly because it’s rushed. The episode races through the resolution to Smallville’s brainwashed supervillains to get to the next cliffhanger; there’s some good character development for Erik Valdez, as he’s one of the recovering. Not the best acting Valdez has ever done (and needs to be), and the script—credited to Brent Fletcher—doesn’t go far enough, but it’s narratively responsible.

But, yeah, give Gregory Smith a Superman movie.

Year: 2021