Ms. Marvel (2022) s01e03 – Destined

This episode feels oddly short like they knew they needed to keep the big action finale, so they cut material from before it. It’s a good episode—much better than I’d have been expecting had I known A.C. Bradley’s name was on the writing credits (she wrote a lot of “What If,” which is a very poorly written show). But it’s uneven. The episode gets away with it thanks to director Meera Menon, who got a fabulous grounding for the big action sequence.

But does everything need to do a Jurassic Park raptors-in-the-kitchen reference now?

Anyway. The too-short episode.

The episode opens with a flashback to 1940s India and the discovery of the bangle bracelet, along with a Captain Mar-Vell nod (I figured the blue arm was a nod, I didn’t realize to who, thanks IMDb trivia). It’s an Indiana Jones-ish archeology scene with a diverse, affable cast. First, it made me worried they were going to tie in “Moon Knight,” then I realized no one was thinking hard enough on “Moon Knight” for them to do it.

In addition to the Norse Gods and the Egyptian Gods being real, we’ll find out some supernatural creatures from Muslim mythology are real too. In the comics, Ms. Marvel is an Inhuman. In the MCU, “Inhumans” was a major flop and the last gasp of the pre-Disney+ TV unit. It seemed unlikely the origin would carry; the replacement is solid. Though, again, the MCU’s going to run out of gods to literalize at some point.

Cute and apparently very good guy Rish Shah’s mom, Nimra Bucha, knows all about lead Iman Vellani’s origin. Including Vellani’s great-grandmother, played by Mehwish Hayat in the flashback. Vellani’s only got so much time to process her secret origin before Bucha asks her to magic her and her friends into their home dimension. Did they know Peter Parker was Spider-Man from somewhere across the Spider-Verse and got dumped in the Tri-State Region? Probably not. Wouldn’t be terrible, though.

Okay, so. Vellani’s best (non-Muslim) friend Matt Lintz is jealous of Shah and worried about Vellani after her first public night out as a superhero, but still very interested in the origin and the don’t-call-them-Eternals Vellani’s pals with now.

He’s going to start researching Islamic mythology and running experiments on Vellani’s power vectors or something, but he also—apropos of maybe a cut scene—makes her a Robin mask. It’s a good scene when Vellani gets the mask because she’s about to talk about superheroing with her understanding mosque sheikh Laith Nakli, but it makes as much sense in the moment as Lintz getting her a sandwich.

They never talk about the mask for the rest of the episode. It’s like something got shuffled and never fixed. Because Lintz and Vellani have big scenes together. Lintz tells her he’s going away to Cal-Tech, he tells her helping Bucha will destroy the fabric of the space-time continuum, but he doesn’t tell her how or why on the mask.

Of course, Vellani’s also very busy getting ready for brother Saagar Shaikh’s wedding, which will be the backdrop for the main plot. Important subplots include Vellani’s best friend Yasmeen Fletcher winning her mosque council campaign and dealing with racist federal agent Alysia Reiner. That plot at least lasts a few scenes; there’s another subplot about ace YouTube video producer Vellani going viral with her first night out fiascos. It goes nowhere.

It’s seriously like they had an episode, cut half of it, and tacked it on to another episode. Destined’s only got about forty minutes of actual content. So it’s short by all metrics.

So, the wedding preparation, then the wedding. There’s a big action sequence at the wedding, with the don’t-call-them-The Old Guard attacking Vellani, which has significant repercussions for Lintz and Fletcher as well. Not to mention Shaikh and Travina Springer’s wedding getting interrupted.

It’s a great tone shift. Like, the wedding preparation stuff is strong. Good material for Vellani, Fletcher, and mom Zenobia Shroff. It fudges the first act being truncated. And the wedding, with some great dance sequences and very nice, light, lovable family drama, comes out of that preparation run-up.

But the public attack and superhero fight in the reception hall? It’s a sharp turn. And very well-executed.

The resolution’s a little less complicated than it ought to be but still good—the show knows to just focus on Vellani, and it’ll get through—with an intriguing, albeit seat-of-its-pants cliffhanger.

This episode should’ve been the longest, not the shortest.

Evil (2019) s03e02 – The Demon of Memes

Usually, when “Evil” veers too far into Catholic Church propaganda, Katja Herbers remarks about them all being a bunch of pedophiles or pedophile enablers. I can’t remember if she mentioned they killed hundreds of indigenous Canadians and buried them in holes.

She’s not in the scenes she needs to be this episode to make such comments, so the episode—script credit to Davita Scarlett—does one big fake news related to the Church’s crimes and a second eyebrow-raiser. The first involves the episode’s “case.” Kids are spray painting a message on Catholic properties as part of an online prank; in reality, people are spray painting messages about the Church covering up the murders of hundreds of indigenous Canadian children.

The eyebrow-raiser is Mike Colter’s subplot, which has him joining the Vatican secret service. Appropriately suspicious Brian d’Arcy James recruits him, with the mission involving one of the series’s outstanding but forgotten big arcs. Not the one directly affecting most of the cast (the demonic fertility agency), but rather a considerably less pressing one. Colter asks about the fertility agency, but the Vatican’s not interested. Live demon babies are a-okay.

But obviously, the Vatican secret service is for laundering Nazi gold and shuffling rapists.

Anyway.

The rest of the episode checks most of the “Evil” boxes. The kids are slightly in danger: daughter Brooklyn Shuck knows a boy who’s doing the pranks; he’s got to do it. Otherwise, this demon the kids can see on Google Maps will kill him. Herbers and Aasif Mandvi investigate—Colter’s called away on secret business—and find a grad student (Jay Will) squatting. The episode flexes about unused living spaces and people experiencing homelessness, but it’ll demonize them by the end.

Shuck accidentally sees the demon on Google Maps, so she’s worried she’ll be next. The show never explains how her friend, Uly Schlesinger, who’s locked himself in his room for days, counting down the clock on the curse, has apparently been doing the required tasks for the demon. Shuck starts the list: they all occur outside your room.

That plot takes a backseat to Colter’s, which is fine; it’s not a very good mystery. And at least Colter’s plot is intriguing. Though Herbers and Mandvi do go visit returning guest star Brooke Bloom for a scene; it’s the first Herbers has seen Bloom since killing her serial killer husband, which Colter definitely knows about but thinks the visit is okay, and Mandvi suspects and maybe doesn’t think the visit is okay.

Meanwhile, Christine Lahti, Michael Emerson, and Tim Matheson are conspiring against Herbers’s husband, Patrick Brammall. He wants to kick Lahti out of his house—which, unbeknownst to Brammall, would probably put his daughters very much in immediate danger from Emerson. It’s a weird subplot because Brammall’s such a jackass you’re rooting for the bad guys to get him off the show.

It’s a very low okay episode. Herbers and Shuck don’t have enough chemistry in their mother and daughter scenes, the one jump scare’s super cheap, and the cliffhanger’s boring. But at least Colter gets something to do; hopefully, that emphasis will continue this season.

All Rise (2019) s03e02 – The Game

I’m just going to assume the first OWN episode of “All Rise” was some kind of “new network” pilot. Because this episode’s not just a lot better, it doesn’t even feel like that episode. Maybe because there’s not constant, overblown music. But also… Wilson Bethel’s got a goatee in this episode, and Simone Missick’s hair’s different; it feels like the first real episode after a pilot. And it’s in better shape, thank goodness.

The show’s leaning into humor and heart. The case is a severe one—star hockey player Zane Holtz and Instagram influencer Olivia Rose Keegan were having consensual rough sex, and then he assaulted her. There’s not a lot of opportunity for lightness, so the episode goes front-heavy with the humor beats. During the actual trial, the show relies on young assistant D.A. Ronak Gandhi for the relief. It’s not exactly comic relief, but Gandhi’s an affable character. He’s a millennial wunderkind ADA who thinks Bethel’s (professionally) incredible and surprised to discover the courtroom is one big friends group.

Keegan’s good, Holtz’s scary, but there’s a disconnect when it comes to Lindsey Gort. She’s defending Holtz against fiancé Bethel, while Samantha Marie Ware is mortified at what defense attorneys do. Gort acts like it’s nothing, humanizing her through Bethel later on. But it’s impossible to blame her—it’s the script. Credited to Gina Gold and Aurorae Khoo, it directly raises questions from Ware to Gort, then ignores them all, but with Gort doing all the avoiding.

It’s a strange oversight, especially when so much of the rest of the episode is about professional… well, development. J. Alex Brinson and Bethel talk professional talk, Brinson talks professional talk with Jessica Camacho (also romance subplot check-in but some professional talk), Missick gets to talk with other judge Patricia Rae; lots of shop talk for everyone. But Ware’s left hanging.

Camacho’s whole plot line in this episode is professional too. She’s trying to get her holistic law practice going. It’s a fairly good setup for a season arc for her. More immediately, Missick’s got a professional subplot of her own with her assistant, Ruthie Ann Miles, throwing a wrench in their friendship. So it’s a whole bunch of professional storylines.

But not Gort. It keeps the character one note. Defining her through Bethel’s even worse.

It’s mostly a good episode. Bethel shares space with Gandhi well—he’s very complementary to the guest star—but he doesn’t get anything much of his own. Missick’s got some decent moments, but the Miles subplot feels (not otherwise unsuccessfully) shoehorned in. Camacho’s got the best arc.

Lindsay Mendez also has some good moments; she’s Keegan’s victim’s rights advocate.

It’s a little breezy at times, but the show at least feels like “All Rise” again and not some weird restaged version with the same cast.

The Boys (2019) s03e05 – The Last Time to Look on This World of Lies

Silly me, when I wondered how things could get worse for everyone on “The Boys,” I didn’t realize it was going to be everyone everyone, including Antony Starr’s psychotic Superman analog. He’s just become to de facto CEO of the superhero pharmaceuticals company (sycophant Colby Minifie gets the title), and he doesn’t, you know, know anything about big business. Starr’s way out of his depth and obviously can’t admit it, which he plays beautifully. He’s actually not in the episode very much, just for some bad-to-worse scenes throughout, but it’s still an excellent episode for him.

The episode opens with a reprieve (or cop-out) for previously mortally wounded Karen Fukuhara. She’s okay now. Like, she’s in the hospital—which raises questions about how they took a superpowered individual to the ER—but she’s okay. She and Tomer Capone get to spend one great day together with him taking care of her. Of course, he’s neglected to tell her his former boss, Katia Winter, blames him for their Russian mission going wrong last episode and is demanding he kill people for her again, but he’s trying to center Fukuhara’s recovery. It’s a lovely arc for Fukuhara and Capone, and of course, their respite will not last.

Laz Alonso starts the episode mad at Karl Urban for superhero serum juicing, but once Jensen Ackles’s reawakened from a Russian lab Captain America gets to New York and starts blowing up city blocks… Alonso decides to put aside his anger. Erin Moriarty’s also recovering from last episode’s tragic twists, but she’s present enough to suggest they deal with Ackles, who everyone thinks is just a super-villain.

Starr’s too busy watching the stock price, though.

It’s a very packed episode. First, there’s relationship stuff for Moriarty and Jack Quaid, again showing why she’s one of the show’s greatest assets, then there’s Urban and Dominique McElligott bonding over the shared trauma of existence in “The Boys” universe. McElligott is another of the show’s best performances. Urban gets the heaviest lifting in their scenes, leaving her the comic relief, which is actually nice since the rest of the time, she just lives in terror of Starr.

Jessie T. Usher then finally gets his arc involving racist superhero Nick Wechsler, which manages to go incredibly wrong even after it’s already going incredibly wrong. “The Boys” isn’t wasting any time getting everyone to the bottom of the well. Except for Chace Crawford, who’s only got one scene, where wife Katy Breier is effectively puppeteering him to success. I was expecting more with them, but the episode leaves a lot of seemingly open threads unfinished. It’s got a particularly frustrating cliffhanger.

One big highlight—not sure executive producer Seth Rogen’s cameo is a highlight; it’s funny, it’s not a highlight–but one unquestionable series highlight is Paul Reiser. He plays “The Legend,” who was sort of Stan Lee in the comics, but in the show, he’s a Robert Evans-type. Reiser’s awesome; no notes.

He helps the Boys find Ackles, who’s on a revenge mission.

Ellie Monahan gets the script credit; very good script. And Nelson Cragg’s direction is outstanding.

It’s a great episode. It’ll marathon superbly. But having to wait a week for any resolution to the… four or five hard cliffhangers? Annoying.

The Orville (2017) s03e03 – Mortality Paradox

Well, here’s where it turns out “Orville: Season Three: New Horizons” is not making Penny Johnson Jerald the de facto series protagonist. Instead, Jerald’s in a scene or three but entirely superfluous to the main plot. Though the main plot is also entirely superfluous, so she didn’t miss much.

I wonder if this episode would play better if you’re unfamiliar with its sub-genre of “Star Trek” episode. It’s modeled after an original series episode, with the flare (and budget) of later series and the inevitable punchline out of “Next Generation.” Though there’s one more sci-fi franchise reference—non-“Trek,” non-Wars—and it’s arguably the cutest. Though they miss a golden opportunity for a “Simpsons” dig.

Anyway.

The episode begins with Jessica Szohr returning from leave, which will be important later. Doing routine long-range scans, the ship discovers a settlement where there shouldn’t be a settlement. Some barren rock in the ass-end of space. The Orville goes to investigate, the ship’s sensors reading signals while the visuals don’t match. Captain Seth MacFarlane, first officer Adrianne Palicki, helmsman Scott Grimes, security officer Szohr, and second officer Peter Macon head down to investigate.

Instead of a bustling civilization, they find a Class M planet with endless tree coverage, which is just as inappropriate on this particular planet. Walking through the forest, they find themselves at a twenty-first-century high school.

The planet will continue to change locations, making one appropriate for each of the crew members to have a close call with impending doom. Though it seems like Grimes gets the brunt of it. Everyone else has relatively quick brushes, while Grimes gets a double in the first setting, then has to do all the work in the second.

The episode’s also got more “we moved to Hulu late” commercial breaks than any of the previous entries and doesn’t fit the “mini-movie” or extended episode vibe of the two previous episodes this season. It’s stretched to fit its hour, not scrunched. Given the eventual reveals—which both drain the dramatic heft of the proceedings—it’s doubly pointless filler material.

There’s some good acting, at least. Grimes gets the most to do in a while, ditto Macon. MacFarlane gets a Jim Kirk moment, which is fun, though otherwise, he and Palicki are in the background.

Jon Cassar’s direction is good enough. He’s not great at segueing between physical locations; it often feels like the crew’s going through a funhouse, but with poorly executed transitions. The reveal suggests the transitions should be better. Or at least different.

And then I was going to compliment how much John Debney’s score sounded like a John Williams riff, but Joel McNeely actually did the music, and Williams riffs are his whole thing, so no wonder. Music’s solid.

The problem’s the plot and the eventual reveals. If there’s a way to do this episode well, the script (credited to Cherry Chevapravatdumrong) didn’t crack it. The reveal also requires a lot of familiarity with previous “Orville” episodes, which seems like a flex for a show advertised as “New Horizons.”

But it feels most like a script intended for an ongoing broadcast television series, not one in its final (for now) season on a streaming service.

Ms. Marvel (2022) s01e02 – Crushed

So, there was an end credits scene in the first episode of “Ms. Marvel.” It gets recapped in this one’s intro; there’s no end credit scene in this episode. Marvel/Disney+ needs some consistency, warning, or not to drag out the end credits to make the run times look longer.

The scene introduces Damage Control agents Arian Moayed and Alysia Reiner. Reiner’s a racist; Moayed knows she’s a racist and tries to manage it internally. Not much else to the characters.

We don’t find out Reiner’s a racist until this episode when it’s a lengthy scene beat. I actually wasn’t expecting “Ms. Marvel” to be so blunt about the U.S. government being racist against Brown people, especially Muslim ones. I also wasn’t expecting them to do a young Muslim woman empowerment arc either. Lead Iman Vellani’s best friend, Yasmeen Fletcher, is running for mosque council against the odds (meaning entrenched sexism).

For most of the episode, Fletcher’s second lead. Like, Crushed gets a lot done thanks to the script (credited to Kate Gritmon) and Meera Menon’s direction. The first episode did sitcom-level introductions for most of the cast, particularly Vellani’s family; this episode quickly and efficiently deepens the characters.

It’s outstanding work.

The episode starts being about Vellani and her best (guy) friend (who loves her and she doesn’t know), Matt Lintz, doing superhero training for her new powers. Vellani knows the bangle bracelet has something to do with it, but not what. Lintz’s souped-up StarkPad (though Apple exists in the MCU, at least AirPods) determines the bangle just unlocked Vellani’s pre-existing abilities. She thinks it’s got something to do with her great-grandmother, but mom Zenobia Shroff doesn’t want her asking questions about that part of family history.

Then Fletcher needs her help with the campaign. Part of her decision to run involves their mosque having a shoe thief on the women’s side and the male governing body not caring. It seems like it’d make a good first mission for “Ms. Marvel,” but it will not be her first outing, which this episode ends with. Vellani’s got a doozy of a first night out, like, it’s great stuff.

The postscript to it, which moves the plot along too fast, is a miss, but the episode’s already done so much. Including introducing a good romantic interest (Rish Shah) and doing an Adventures in Babysitting homage.

We also meet brother Saagar Shaikh’s fiancée Travina Springer; they crash a sorta date for Vellani and Shah, and it’s a great scene, then Springer’s back at family dinner. It’s a fine device to get in some exposition (Springer hearing family history relevant to the bangle) and strengths the family stuff. Dad Mohan Kapur continues to be an adorable sitcom dad.

Vellani and mom Shroff get one really nice scene, but Shroff’s secrets are now a brewing b-plot.

The hard cliffhanger’s a letdown, but the episode’s otherwise excellent, with multiple especiallys.

Evil (2019) s03e01 – The Demon of Death

The opening titles for this episode show up about halfway through the forty-five-minute episode. They’re full “movie” credits, getting all the guest stars, going through the entire crew; big stylistic flex because “Evil” knows it’s earned it, at least for this episode.

The action starts right where we left off, Katja Herbers and Mike Colter finally giving in to their sexual tension—he just needed to become a priest for them to give in—and it’s an intense scene. It’s got episode-long repercussions; it’s a long-threatened plot point, and the show delivers on it. Actually, lots of this episode is just “Evil” fulfilling promises.

For example, there’s no more delay with Herbers telling her kids Michael Emerson is a bad guy and needs to be treated as such. Of course, she doesn’t mention the reason he’s interested in Maddy Crocco is because they got her at a demonic sperm bank or something, but the kids have a good plot in this episode. The show’s obviously still doing its “this online thing is probably dangerous for your kids,” but it’s a valid one this time and has a solid conclusion.

Then Patrick Brammall’s back home, seemingly throwing a wrench in Herbers and Colter’s timing, but then he decides to pick a fight with literally demonic mother-in-law Christine Lahti. Lots of promise for that story arc coming up; a couple of Lathi’s scenes are particularly great. The character’s got much more potential when not playing rube to Emerson.

The investigation plot involves a twenty-one grams-type experiment. Scientist Ruthie Ann Miles (who’s good but barely in the episode) wants the Catholic Church to provide her with someone dying so she can measure the weight to the picogram. They give her dying, bah humbug priest Wallace Shawn. Only when they try to weigh his death… Shawn comes out alive and cured. The show doesn’t get into the science, instead focusing on a rejuvenated Shawn’s new outlook, including his friendship with monsignor Boris McGiver. It’s probably McGiver’s best acting on the show, though he’s never had anything particularly difficult before. And Shawn’s a delight.

Also regulars Andrea Martin and Kurt Fuller show up for a little scene together, which also has Martin and Herbers meeting for the first time. Again, it’s future promise stuff, with everyone thinking about Herbers and Colter only not knowing what’s really going on. Though Herbers and Colter have different perspectives as well.

Aasif Mandvi doesn’t get anything to do but support. He’s excellent as always, just wish he’d had a little something more but setting the tone for the season—they get to use curse words intentionally now, with this season their first written from scratch for streaming versus broadcast—is more important.

Written by series creators Michelle King and Robert King (he also directed), it’s one of the stronger hours of “Evil” I can remember. Partially because it doesn’t make any significant fumbles, but also because the cast does so well with the material.

The Witch: Part 2. The Other One (2022, Park Hoon-jung)

The Witch: Part 2. The Other One starts with a flashback to the very late nineties or very early aughts—someone’s still got a cassette walkman, but MP3 players do exist. Now, The Other One is a sequel, but it’s a “start from scratch” sequel, so for a while, it seems like this story will be important.

Not really. It brings Jo Min-su back in from the first movie, then establishes witches are always twins before jumping ahead to the present. So, just keeping track, we’ve met a new cast, introduced them to the old cast, then jumped ahead and abandoned them. Other One closely tracks four or five characters, with another ten in the background. Writer and director Park treats it as a gimmick, all these different people pursuing the title character, who we’ll meet incredibly slowly and intercut with other characters’ stories. It’s a busy film.

In the present, a strike team of other witch-powered people—lots of superpowers in Other One; lots—attacks a research laboratory and kills everyone, except then Shin Si-ah gets up and walks out. She’s covered in blood, and it’s snowy out; lots of good visuals. Park spends the first half of Other One putting a lot of time into the composition. Then, in the second half, which is an extended fight scene at night with a couple dozen people and lots of superspeed… it seems like composition’s all of a sudden less important. But, first half, lots of mood.

Shin gets to a road where a van of bad guys who have just kidnapped local landowner Park Eun-bin. She’s back in Korea from the United States; her father just died, and she’s there to care for little brother Sung Yoo-bin. And to ensure her evil uncle Jin Goo doesn’t sell the farm to resort developers. He’s not just vaguely evil; he’s a crime boss. The implication is Park and Sung’s dad was a crime boss too. Establishing the ground situation on the family dynamics takes Park almost the entire movie. Everyone’s got a history, lots of people know each other, but Park very gingerly reveals those details. The mood is more important than the exposition in scenes, like when Lee Jong-suk goes to talk to Jo about it. They’re suspicious of one another because they’re part of different factions in this super-secret organization, which basically created all the witches.

If they have superpowers, we don’t find out this movie. Probably next.

Jo’s going to get old friend Seo Eun-soo to hunt Shin for her, but Seo and Lee have history together, which the film spends too much time on. The Other One runs two hours and seventeen minutes, and there must be at least ten easily cuttable minutes. Unless it matters for the next movie, in which case, release an extended cut. For this movie, The Other One’s got considerable excess.

Seo’s some kind of government agent who hunts witches. She’s got a literal man-bun bro sidekick Justin John Harvey. They speak in English to one another, with Harvey complaining about Seo swearing at them in Korean. They have a lot of scenes together and no chemistry. Seo’s English language acting is presumably not-native language acting, so she gets some slack. Harvey’s just an amateur. Their scenes are sometimes amusing, but most times, they’re just trying way too hard and never finding a moment.

Until they start having action scenes, then it turns out they’ve both got superpowers. There are seven people with superpowers fighting in the final sequence. It’s basically an X-Men movie at that point.

Okay, so Shin saves Park from Jin Goo’s thugs, and Park takes her home to brother Sung. Jin Goo’s going to terrorize the household the rest of the movie, escalating in violence and intimidation, with Shin having to protect her new friends. Meanwhile, everyone else is looking for Shin, too, all headed out to the farm.

Where there’s a lengthy fight sequence, complete with rocket launchers and flying and knives and all sorts of things. It feels very much like director Park’s trying to make up for not having enough story, so at least there’s whiz-bang gore action. The Other One never feels much like a horror movie, just a gory action one with lots of standing blood. The long fight takes place at night, with Park rushing through it. When you’ve got a dozen people fighting at once, you can be fast while still being slow.

The acting’s all fine. Seo’s the biggest disappointment (you keep waiting for her to be better when not speaking English, but, first, she’s usually speaking English with Harvey, and, second, she’s not really any better with Korean dialogue). Jin Goo’s good as the villain you didn’t think would be important but ends up driving the plot.

Shin, Park, and Sung are all good, but they don’t really have much to do. After the first act, Park and Sung are entirely supporting Shin or one of her pursuers. They get no time for themselves. Sung eventually gets more because he’s around while Park’s out picking up red herring.

Most of the third act is set up for the next movie, which is unfortunate. Just when Shin finally gets some agency, she loses it to franchise building, which is too bad. It’s the worst thing about the movie, which has been teasing post-Other One plot lines throughout, but always additively. Sometimes too much additively, but never at the expense of Shin.

The end’s at her expense. And the finish—with the uninspired but elaborate nighttime action—doesn’t need any more disappointments. The Other One ends mid-stumble.

It’s fine and not the same old thing for a sequel, but it’s also long, dense, and sacrifices performances for world-building.

That said, I’m definitely onboard for another one. Can’t wait.

Ms. Marvel (2022) s01e01 – Generation Why

“Ms. Marvel” gets off to a reassuringly confident start. The only obvious complaints are entirely superficial—don’t promise The Weeknd’s Blinding Lights as a recurring theme song and then not follow through. Secondly, Disney+ needs to more accurately report the run time without credits. I was expecting something like an hour-long first episode. Instead, it’s an extended half-hour, approximately forty-two minutes of action.

The episode opens setting up the show as a Captain Marvel spin-off. Lead Iman Vellani is an Avengers fanatic who edits great, hand-illustrated videos for YouTube (or whatever MCU YouTube would be). Anonymously, of course. Best friend Matt Lintz knows she does it, but her family has no idea. It’ll be interesting to see if there’s any juxtaposing of her exceptional video talent—I mean, she’s sixteen but cuts video like she’s a multi-million dollar streaming show—with her superheroing. Her family is primed to disapprove of both.

Vellani’s a modern MCU teenager living with Pakistani Muslim parents who don’t want to let her live her life. The show does a pretty good job with the home life. Brother Saagar Shaikh gets to show a bunch of depth, there’s clearly something to mom Zenobia Shroff (remains to be seen if it’s just performance subtext or if the show will explore it), and dad Mohan Kapur’s a lovable, aloof sitcom dad. The home stuff feels very sitcom. Good sitcom, thoughtful sitcom, but sitcom. Vellani’s the rambunctious one, though only because she’s a girl.

White guy Lintz has an entirely different understanding of her home life—the first half of the episode is him trying to convince Vellani to ask mom Shroff to drive them to the Avengerscon Convention because since Shroff’s so nice to him, she’s got to be cool all time. It’s very nice detail; again, not sure it’ll really matter. Because this episode’s very first act of a Disney+ Marvel limited series. We meet the characters, get the superpowers, introduce a couple potential subplots, and it’s off to the races.

But, for now—one episode in—there’s nothing wrong with any of the setup. Lintz mooning over a completely unaware Vellani’s a nice touch (I read the comic for a while, but I don’t remember enough of it, and not a moony best friend), and Shroff’s got multiple finely layered moments in the episode. She’s projecting her insecurities on Vellani. It’s good character work, and Shroff’s excellent.

The whole show, obviously, is Vellani. She’s doing a Marvel movie version of a Disney Channel teen show, which “Ms. Marvel” does through visualized imagined sequences. So, for example, when Vellani draws out a plan for Lintz, there’s a montage. Or when they’re texting, responses and emoji become part of the urban landscape. Or, when they’re biking, their conversation plays out on the graffiti they pass. It’ll be interesting to see if they keep going with the device. Seems like they can either do it for the “pilot,” then maybe towards the end a couple times, or they’re going to have to keep it going and not stop.

Though Vellani’s also got a different perception of reality once she gets her powers, so that device might function similarly going forward. The show seems to have a handle on everything; no reason for concern, just moments to enjoy.

Vellani’s outstanding. With Tom Holland’s Spider-Man off swinging through the land of limited mentions and potential studio squabbling, Vellani’s Ms. Marvel is the obvious heir apparent. The interesting thing about Marvel—comics, movies, and TV—is how the “universe” needs an invested, involved, detached participant observer, usually in the form of an outcast teenager.

I only hope Marvel uses Vellani so well when she gets promoted to the Captain Marvel sequel next summer.

We shall see. But for now, “Ms. Marvel”’s capably kicking ass on its own.

All Rise (2019) s03e01 – Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’

"All Rise" isn't a guilty pleasure so much as I don't want to miss seeing leads Simone Missick and Wilson Bethel act. The show's frequently got ups and downs, but sincere performances go a long way. The show double-weathered the COVID-19 lockdown, first with an adjusted first season finale, then a second season made during COVID-19 about working during COVID-19. CBS ingloriously canceled the show at the end of the second season—despite the show being about racism and sexism, institutionalized and otherwise, show creator Greg Spottiswood was a sexist, racist piece of shit white guy who made his intentionally diverse staff miserable. CBS owed them and failed.

So Oprah's OWN picked it up, and now, with a couple or three significant changes, "All Rise" is back.

The show's first big change, which it hammers in for the opening five or six minutes, is Missick's recast husband. Used to be Todd Williams, who I rarely liked; now it's Christian Keyes, who's around a lot but doesn't make much impression. He's just a super-supportive husband. It's not even clear he's got a job anymore.

The second big change is the music. Adrian Younge does the music, and there's always music. Unfortunately, no matter the scene, it seems like Younge's filling the background. It's so never godawful, but it's eventually tedious. It distracts from the dialogue at times, which isn't great.

The third big change is the slapstick. There's now some slapstick in "All Rise." Bewildering rom-com-esque slapstick. While I know Missick was pregnant for a lot of season two (another reason they deserved another season), showing off she can do pratfalls or whatever… weird decision.

Especially since the rest of the episode's pretty serious. "All Rise" maintains a genial tone over all else, even when Anne Heche shows up for a minute. She's a low-key white supremacist, high-key fascist who's out to ruin Missick for being, well, a Black woman, actually. It seems like Heche will be season villain, though Missick's already got a new antagonist in Roger Guenveur Smith. Smith (Smiley from Do the Right Thing, and some other Spike Lee movies) is the super-conservative (Black) new supervising judge because Marg Helgenberger's not doing an OWN series where she's third string.

So far, Smith's not a great addition.

They've also lost Reggie Lee (oh, and seemingly Audrey Corsa). Lee played Bethel's supervisor. Bethel doesn't have any cases this episode; instead, he's running the hiring committee for Lee's replacement as punishment for not taking the job. It's far from a good subplot, especially since other parts of the episode are just season premiere delaying devices. Helgenberger takes most of the episode to reveal her departure, everyone's waiting to see if Jessica Camacho's really coming back, and so on.

Samantha Marie Ware's back, working for Lindsey Gort and trying to make Gort and Ryan Michelle Bathe (who Zoom cameos) pay her for her labor. Of course, Ware doesn't understand part of being a lawyer is suffering, so someday you can make someone else suffer. Strange flex. But that subplot is more prominent than anything Bethel's got.

The trial involves J. Alex Brinson—now a public defender—representing a foster kid (Taj Speights) who doesn't want his siblings removed from their first good foster situation, so he's been lying. Complicating it—very, very temporarily—is Lindsay Mendez now playing victims' rights advocate; it's barely a subplot and goes nowhere in the episode because it'd be too difficult.

Hopefully, it's just season premiere, new network jitters, and "All Rise" can find some firmer footing. It's off to a rough start, even taking extremely qualified expectations into account.