Tag: Dominique McElligott

The Boys (2019) s03e08 – The Instant White-Hot Wild

So, before getting started with the episode itself, I just want to say it’s a very good episode, with excellent direction from Sarah Boyd, a great script (credited to David Reed and Logan Ritchey), and fine performances from most of the cast.

There aren’t any bad performances. Well, maybe Cameron Crovetti as Antony Starr’s superpowered son, but we won’t know until next season if he’s hitting his limit or if it’s part of the role.

But the end of the episode, setting up season four, goes on forever. It goes on so long, it becomes clear lots of season three was just very slowly moving the pieces in position for next season. Or, worse, the action and the arcs were all for nothing. With some of the character development, it’s too soon to tell; they’re pushing off having to address it until next time.

The episode leaves many unanswered questions, even about the ground situation after the big blowout. The episode only runs an hour but could use at least another five minutes to make the epilogue not feel so tacked on. It sets up each epilogue beat as an ending—even when they’re clearly not—then drums on and on. The longer it goes, the more it cuts into the show’s effectiveness.

Most of the season’s stakes get wiped out or reverted this episode to one degree or another. The characters have more history between them now, but their pieces are in more or less the exact same spots (with some exceptions).

Things kick off with Karl Urban ditching Jack Quaid at a gas station so Quaid won’t get killed when Urban and Jensen Ackles go to take on Starr. They’re planning on directly attacking the skyscraper where the superheroes hang out, which will have massive civilian casualties.

Quaid rejoins the Boys, who’ve teamed up with Erin Moriarty and an escaped Dominique McElligott to stop Urban and Ackles. Except since Ackles is Starr’s biological father, all sorts of loyalties are getting confused and questioned, and everyone’s got additional hurdles before reaching the objective.

Eventually, there’s a big superhero fight, lots of wanton destruction, lots of lasers, lots of fisticuffs. It’s a reasonably good fight sequence, though the editors let it run long between checking on the various fronts. Sometimes it’s for emphasis; sometimes, it just runs long. It’d be fine if the big finale weren’t so lackluster.

So maybe the episode needs another five minutes during the first and second acts, then another five during the epilogue. Given where it takes certain characters, it’s rushed.

Lots of good acting from Urban, Starr, Ackles, Quaid, Moriarty, McElligott, and Laz Alonso. The episode gives Tomer Capone and Karen Fukuhara very little compared to how much they’ve been getting lately, but it’s okay.

Jessie T. Usher and Chace Crawford get their arcs pushed until next season (presumably, they could run them as C plots forever, I suppose). Though it certainly seems like they’re setting up season four to be the finish, but since everyone spent season three acting like it was going to all resolve—which makes sense for the characters anyway—it’s too soon to tell.

But other than the visuals of the big fight literal finish, some of the editing, and the epilogue ad nauseam, it’s an excellent episode.

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 Boys (2019) s03e04 – Glorious Five Year Plan

Following the conventional (Dan O’Bannon) wisdom about second acts ending with things in the worst shape for the heroes… it’s hard to imagine how “The Boys” will further ratchet the situations before the season finale. Everything has gone wrong across every storyline, gloriously so. No pun intended.

There are two main plots, two subplots. Or like, one and a half subplots because one of them is the hard cliffhanger. The episode’s also got an incredibly dangerous soft cliffhanger, but only one life or death one.

The Boys’ plot in this episode is a Russian field trip. They’re looking for the gun the Russkies used to kill Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles) back in the eighties, intending to turn it on Antony Starr, which ties in with Erin Moriarty and Starr’s superhero plot. “The Boys” is incredibly precisely constructed this episode; Meredith Glynn gets the script credit, her first “Boys” as writer (she’s an executive producer this season). It’s a really good script; some of the supporting cast gets short scenes, but they’re good short scenes, and they build.

Now, Jack Quaid knows Karl Urban is juicing with the superhero serum. His morning begins with Starr humiliating him—Starr’s just decided he’s dating Moriarty to raise his points–and, when they get to Russia, the anti-Homelander Russian state media is running the story making fun of Quaid for getting super-cucked. Seething anger builds in Quaid, leading to big decisions.

While Quaid’s still good, he’s not great with the anger stuff. Not sure if it’s a limitation of the script, Julian Holmes’s directing (which is otherwise good), or just Quaid not being able to do it, but when he’s got to be angry, he’s throwing a tantrum. There’s a “cute” quality. Too much Meg Ryan, perhaps. Though my good lady wife pointed out Quaid got his dad’s Innerspace butt.

Anyway.

The subplot to the Boys is Tomer Capone and Karen Fukuhara getting increasingly sick of Urban, to the point even Laz Alonso’s concerned about morale. Fukuhara’s excellent this episode. Capone’s good too (thank goodness, last episode’s stumbling was momentary), but Fukuhara’s great. She’s got to assassinate some Russians in trade for superhero-killing gun intel.

Meanwhile, Moriarty and Dominique McElligott (who’s not in this season anywhere near enough) are putting together their rebel strike force to take on Starr once Urban, and Quaid bring back the state-of-the-art bang bang. Moriarty enlists ex-boyfriend Miles Gaston Villanueva in what ends up being an excellent subplot for both of them. So much of “The Boys” hinges on the casting and Moriarty’s in that essential group.

The superhero plot is more behind-the-scenes drama than epical plot; Jessie T. Usher is getting into it with returning team member Chace Crawford, whose evil Karen wife (Katy Breier) knows how to get into Starr’s good graces at Usher’s expense. Then there’s some more for Colby Minifie to do as the team’s executive liaison.

The superhero subplot involves superhero company CEO Giancarlo Esposito and his secretly adopted, secretly superpowered government official, mole Claudia Doumit trying to run damage control on Starr. It’s another excellent subplot, with series-best acting from Doumit and season-best from Esposito.

Then, of course, the episode also gives Urban and Starr a bunch to do. No wasting the transfixing scenery incinerators here. They both get excellent spotlights, multiple ones for Starr.

It’s an outstanding episode. I’m looking forward to seeing how things get worse because of the incredible creative skill involved, but I’m also dreading them because of the taxing emotional investment. “The Boys” is—even more than witty, gross, hilarious, icky—heavy. It’s always very, very heavy.

Gloriously so.

The Boys (2019) s03e01 – Payback

“The Boys” get back at it a year after last season. Much of this episode is setting that new ground situation. Jack Quaid is working for Claudia Doumit at the Department of Meta-Human affairs or whatever, unaware she’s an evil super-powered lady; Quaid’s happily dating Erin Moriarty. She brings him along to her superhero society functions, leading to very award interactions for Quaid and his previous superhero nemeses like Antony Starr and Jessie T. Usher.

Meanwhile, Karl Urban, Tomer Capone, and Karen Fukuhara are all now working for Quaid, The Boys becoming a government surveillance team. It’s working out okay, with Urban keeping himself in check so as not to jeopardize his relationship with his dead wife’s super-kid (as a result of Starr raping her). In addition, Laila Robins has a quick appearance, establishing she’s babysitting the super-kid, hidden away from Starr.

Laz Alonso has retired from superhero hunting; it takes a while for the episode to get to him; I was bummed he’d left the show, but no, it’s just another seventy-minute streaming episode, and there’s lots and lots of time.

On the superhero front, Starr’s still mad he didn’t get to take over the world with Nazi girlfriend Aya Cash, and his damage control media campaign still hasn’t gotten his numbers back up. Moriarty’s got the best image, making superhero pharmaceutical company CEO Giancarlo Esposito much happier with her than Starr.

Usher and Chance Crawford both get check-in scenes, sucking up to Starr, mostly. Dominique McElligott has almost nothing—she’s at the movie premiere at the beginning, then disappears for a while, only to come back in a significant plot development for the season. But as far as the supes go, it’s Starr’s episode, and he’s just as mesmerizingly evil as ever.

The episode opens with a cute uncredited cameo but turns the dial up to eleven in intensity and icky. I expected them to go balls to the wall the whole episode, but they tone it down pretty quickly as they get into the character stuff. Quaid’s got jealousy problems with Moriarty at home (she’s working with an ex, who’s a supe), and then at work, there’s something going on with Doumit, but he’s not sure what.

The narrative sticks to Quaid and Starr for most of the episode, then shifts to Urban for the last act, establishing he’s still the man, even if he doesn’t have as much to do this episode. Big things will be happening; we just haven’t gotten to them yet. Lots of promises for the season to come.

It’s an outstanding episode. “Boys” doesn’t rest on its laurels or give itself time for a self-congratulatory victory lap outside the opening sequence. Once it’s back at it, it never slows down.

Esposito’s particularly good this episode, too; he’s supporting the other plot lines but with a whole bunch of personality.

I wasn’t worried about “The Boys,” but I didn’t expect them to get season three going with such a strong start. Craig Rosenberg’s got the script credit, it’s real good, and Philip Sgriccia’s direction is solid. In addition, the production design for this episode (Arvinder Greywal and Jeffrey Mossa) is superb.

I can’t wait to see what they’re doing next; besides some great gory gross-outs, those are inevitable.

Moon (2009, Duncan Jones)

Moon is quite good.

Moon’s not the most impossible film to talk about without spoiling… but some of its goodness is wrapped up in its plot developments. The viewer should get to enjoy Moon without knowing about them in advance.

I have to be very careful in terms of those developments. I’ll try to avoid talking about all of them.

While the film’s good, Sam Rockwell movies sometimes get to be about marveling at his acting skills. The film isn’t necessarily superior; his performance is startling. He’s always fresh, never resembling anything anyone has ever done before.

Jones does an excellent job directing the film, which isn’t easy since he’s awakening the quality sci-fi genre from its dormant state. His influences are visible—a clear one is Alien, but I won’t spoil it—but he ranges from 2001 to Outland. Moon feels like a return to that late sixties through early eighties sci-fi genre picture. Even the film’s unfortunately traditional conclusion makes it fit.

At a certain point, Jones loses track of the film’s successes. It’s too bad; at times, Moon is singular (again, I can’t say too much without spoiling).

The hipster music—from Clint Mansell—fails. Though I suppose a lot of Moon is, depending on how much you want to read into it, hipster. But there’s a solid core to the picture.

While it is a promising debut from Jones, Moon’s mostly just another great Rockwell performance.

It’s too bad it’s not a great film.

2/4★★

CREDITS

Directed by Duncan Jones; screenplay by Nathan Parker, based on a story by Jones; director of photography, Gary Shaw; edited by Nicolas Gaster; music by Clint Mansell; production designer, Tony Noble; produced by Stuart Fenegan and Trudie Styler; released by Sony Pictures Classics.

Starring Sam Rockwell (Sam Bell), Kevin Spacey (GERTY), Dominique McElligott (Tess Bell), Kaya Scodelario (Eve Bell), Benedict Wong (Thompson) and Matt Berry (Overmeyers).

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