Viewer Log: Luke Cage ep 13

Let’s take a moment of silence for the deaths of the legendary mother and daughter actresses Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher. These women were legends of the silver screen, and will be hugely missed… Since I know Carrie Fisher’s work best, I’ll end this with the most appropriate line that I can think of. May the force be with you, always. Now, back on task.

Are you ready for a super powered smack down? Cause I’m ready for a super powered smack down. We have the superpowered Luke Cage vs. the technologically empowered Diamondback. Titans will fight, worlds will shake, and empires will fall. FYI I’m going to spoil the ending this time around. Why? Because I feel like it. Just skip the paragraph that starts with “At the police station” if you don’t want to know it. Let’s get to it.

Why must brother's fight?

We open to Willis Stryker aka Diamondback showing off his brand new battlesuit. It’s another Hammer Tech weapon that will hopefully give him an edge over his super powered brother. Side note, why the heck did Hammer Tech weapons suddenly become a good thing? Don’t get me wrong, obviously, Justin Hammer had something akin to an effective business model. He was a primary contractor to the US military, and built more than a few fancy machines. But, as shown in Iron-Man 2, Hammer tech is notoriously glitchy. Remember the Iron-Man style prototype that broke the pilot’s spine, or the missile ‘the Ex-Wife’ that didn’t actually go off? But, suddenly Hammer’s team could make an actual effective battlesuit? Or, more shockingly, a battlesuit that is specifically designed to combat a hero’s superpowers? Are you saying that Hammer himself was the worst part of Hammer Industries? Or something? Who knows? Back on task.

Luke and Willis throw down, further wrecking the Barbershop. After smashing all the stuff that wasn’t destroyed by the initial grenade toss, they move the fight into the street. Then it turns into a superpowered equivalent of a drunken brawl. Complete with a crowd of onlookers catcalling and encouraging our hero. Luke does try to reach out to his brother and reason with him, but Willis is far too interested in beating his face in. After a few more superpowered punches, a few more arguments, a couple of “Mama” jokes, and a few more catcalls from the crowd, Luke figures out the suit’s weakness. They don’t explain it too well, but it seems clear that the suit is designed to absorb kinetic energy. Basically, the more Luke strikes Willis, the more the suit powers up and the more Willis can throw back at Luke. So, Luke does the obvious thing and let Willis beat him up. Once the suit’s battery is drained, he’s able to defeat Diamondback and see him arrested. High Fives all around. Luke explains that he “stopped feeding” his brother hate. Is it a cheesy line? Yes, but then again, so is Sweet Christmas and they make both of those work.

Don't worry, he'll be back.

At the police station, Luke turns himself in and offers to lay the truth out for them. And also put into context the police dashcamera footage of Luke smacking the cops around. But, not everything works out. Mariah is able to wriggle out of being arrested. How? She blames Diamondback. She claimed that the crime boss murdered Cornell “Cottonmouth” Stokes, and then demanded she lie about it. Misty knows that this is obviously BS, as the evidence she gathered makes it clear that Cornell was smacked around by several oversize blunt instruments, including a mic stand. And what’s missing from the Harlem Paradise’s inventory list? Yep. Unfortunately, this is somewhat circumstantial evidence, as mic stands are notorious for vanishing from clubs. And, the key witness, the Waitress, was murdered. She was tricked into leaving the protective custody of Claire’s mom’s house. Shades stole Misty’s phone, texted Waitress, and then shot her to keep her quiet. Also, two agents from Georgia arrive to arrest Luke. They found out that Luke Cage = Carl Lucas, and that he owes Georgia time served. He’s driven off, as Harlem’s Paradise is reopened, Bobby Fish finds Luke’s file that had been lost at the Barber Shop, and the Doc visits Willis’ prison hospital bed. So, some bad things, some good things, and a promise of evil’s return. That’s a pretty good way to end this season.

Overall, I liked Luke Cage. It has a nice atmosphere, great music, decent TV effects, and a lot of talented actors in it. I’d still have preferred that they saved Diamondback for season two and given Cottonmouth a proper send off, but it’s not the WORST villain transition that I’ve ever seen. I also liked the homages to the classic Luke Cage comics. Like Luke dressing in his custom costume from the 70s when he first gets his powers, same with Diamondback’s battlesuit, and reference to his original codename of Power Man. It was also nice to see a Marvel property that was largely cast by African American/Black actors. It’s taken the Marvel Movies over ten years to even put such a movie, Black Panther, on the schedule. Diversity is nice, isn’t it? It also had a lot of nice nods to Harlem, it’s history, cultural importance, and African American contributions to history in general. Luke has a lot of decent speeches, and I still love Mike Colter’s portrayal of the invincible, superstrong black hero. And, his facing off against Cottonmouth and later Diamondback is a much more even fight then Jessica Jones vs Kilgrave. Just saying. I’m looking forward to season two, and also Luke’s return in The Defenders later on this year. Have a Happy New Year, everyone.

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Viewer Log: Luke Cage ep 12

So, last time, Diamondback goes on the run, Shades is arrested, and Luke surrenders to the police. For a moment, thing’s look like they’re about to wrap up. But, we still have another episode after this one, so it’s about to hit the fan again. While they’re covering Luke in completely useless chains, Misty walks over and they chat for a minute. Now, unless you’re an idiot, (cough) TV cops (cough), you can tell that they’re speaking in code. It basically can be summed up as Misty encouraging Luke to bust out before being taken to the police station. Which he does, because, again, chains are useless. He gives the majority of cops the slip, except for the overweight veteran cop that had been part of his detail. Said cop, realizing that Luke is ultimately a force for good, and encourages Luke to run and stop the villainous Diamondback.

Brothers are about to collide. 

With the bad guys, Diamondback is prepping for his Cain moment. He makes his new #2 Zip prep for this, which includes getting Shades’ bail paid. When Zip implies that it’s stupid to waste time on Diamondback’s previous #2, ol’ Willis chokes out the young man to remind him of his place. After sending Zip off, he opens a case and marvels at his “Sin of Wrath” that he’s about to unleash. With the other bad guys, Domingo and his crew decide they have enough, and plan to raid Diamondback’s warehouse and take over as Harlem’s new big big bad. With the other other bad guy, the cops prep to interrogate Shades. When Inspector Pricilla, Misty’s boss, actually talks with him, Shades’ new favorite word is Lawyer. He’s a tough egg to crack. With the other other other bad guy, Mariah, she freaks out pretty hard to see Harlem’s Paradise in shambles. She views it as Mama Mabel’s, and also Cornell “Cottonmouth” Stokes, legacy. Her chief of security points out that the building is just that, a building. He encourages her to remake Harlem’s Paradise and make it her own legacy.

With Luke, he’s on the run but still stepping in to help folks. He stops a convenience store robbery, saving the owner and, for some reason, Method Man. From the Wu-Tang clan. No, there is no real explanation of why he’s there. Method Man and Luke swap hoodies, and the hero heads out. With Misty, the Waitress reveals what actually happened at Harlem’s Paradise on the night of Cottonmouth’s death. Misty uses her “Misty Vision” to visualize what actually happened, and then puts Waitress into her protective custody. Method Man goes on the radio, praising Luke as a hero, and reveals that a good chunk of Harlem’s populace are wearing “Holie” Hoodies to show solidarity with the hero with unbreakable skin.

At the Barber Shop, Bobby Fish is playing solo chess when the cops show up, looking for Luke. Bobby, of course, insists that Luke isn’t there and shoos them out. Just in time for Luke to sneak in the backway. The two spend a few minutes figuring out their next move. Their plan? Grab a known local lowlife, throw him in a dumpster and squeeze the information out of them. It’s effective. Meanwhile, Shades is sprung by Zip and taken to an abandoned building. Zip plans to murder Shades on Diamondback’s order, but Shades’ isn’t having it. He murders the guards, and then finally Zip, after asking the ghost of Zip’s father for forgiveness. He steals back his shades and escapes.

Domingo and co attack Diamondback’s warehouse. They have a major shootout, but Diamondback is able to get to his case and throws on his secret weapon. Shades goes to Mariah, offers her the lamp that she used to murder Cottonmouth as a peace offering. They plan the obvious strategy, to throw Luke at Diamondback, and to offer Luke his Seagate file to incentivize him.

Bet Luke is really looking forward to having a normal day, again.

Luke finds Diamondback’s warehouse, but finds a ton of dead bodies instead of his half-brother. He finds a barely living Domingo, who uses his vague dying words to let Luke know Diamondback has a personal weapon of mass destruction. Luke also finds a bomb that Diamondback left to destroy the evidence. He escapes the blasts, and returns to the Barbershop to rethink things. Then all sorts of things happen at one. Mariah and Shades’ arrive with their peace offering/bribes, a grenade is tossed through the door, and then Diamondback comes in wearing a brand new powersuit. The end is nigh.

Here’s the penultimate episode of season one. They seem to be doing their best to tie off a few loose ends. Zip’s little mini-arc about being a thug trying to move up to #1 thug, ends with a bang. Pretty much the only way it could end, really. Mariah and Shades working together is something that they’ve been foreshadowing for a while. Given that Shades’ is pretty much the ultimate opportunist, this was about as expectant as things could get. I’m a little surprised Mariah could work with the guy that brutally smacked around her cousin’s corpse, but then, she has been shown to be a little callous. I do find it interesting that they were so veiled about Diamondback’s battlesuit, when that was pretty much the only way Willis could throw down with his bro in a relatively even footing. The Judas Bullets were too much of an edge for Diamondback, and a bareknuckle brawl would be too much in Luke’s favor. SO, battlesuit. This fight should be interesting. 

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Viewer Log: Luke Cage ep 11

Once again, we open right where we left off. Guns firing, people running and screaming, Luke still being bulletproof. Not a great situation, not going to lie. He’s able to keep her more or less covered by his large frame, and when an opportunity presented itself, he ran for the kitchen. Once inside, he barricades the door with as much equipment as possible. Diamondback is deterred, but not stopped.

Shades, trying to be the voice of reason, continually insists that he and Diamondback cut their losses and make a break for it before the riot cops get there. But, Diamondback will not have any of that. His obsession with destroying his half-brother seems to be driving him batty. Shocking, I know. Luke’s able to give Misty a little emergency first aid, and let her know about most of the crazy details in this crazy situation. Realizing that they only have a few minutes before It hits the fan again, he reveals a secret trap door and storage room. Aren’t prohibition era restaurants convenient? They get down there just before Diamondback launches an RPG at the door. Misty puts it best, “your family is messed up!”

Luke has not time for your silly doors.

Diamondback obviously doesn’t take Luke’s disappearing act well, and starts concocting a new scheme. Shades seems to notice what might have happened, he stares pretty intently at the section of floor where the door is hidden, but doesn’t say anything at the moment. Underground, Luke does his best to makes sure Misty doesn’t die of blood loss. Kind of an uphill battle at this point. They also do their best to make amends for the last few… I’m not sure, days… maybe weeks, it’s hard to tell in shows like this, of hostility that has existed between them. It’s one of those “I was wrong sorry,” “No I was wrong, I’m sorry,” moment.

Meanwhile, Claire is held with several hostages. One of them being the waitress… you know, the one that was coerced into lying about Luke killing Cottonmouth. She screwed up her leg during the craziness. With only a little persuasion on Claire’s part, she’s able to convince the guards to let her treat the Waitress. After learning that Claire arrived with Luke, the Waitress admits that she lied because Mariah coerced her, and let’s Claire know about the hidden storeroom. Claire gets the Waitress to fake a seizure. Why? So Claire can have an excuse to get to the basement, after disabling an inept guard, and meet up with Luke and Misty.

With the baddies, Diamondback is doing his best to control the situation. He uses one of his hostages, Councilmen Boone, to lie and say Luke’s behind everything, and that Luke wants a helicopter to escape. He releases half the hostages, as a sign of good faith. After the charade ends, Diamondback let’s Boone know a little about his background. Willis Stryker, aka Diamondback, was the older of Reverend James Lucas’ two sons. Born out of wedlock with his secretary Dana Stryker. Diamondback clearly has… mixed feelings about his family. He hates Luke, for being the younger son that still got to get their father’s name. Ever read King Lear? Pretty much the same reason Edmund hates Edgar. “I’m not the ‘real’ son, so daddy never loved me, so I hate the ‘real’ son” reason. Never seems to think to hate his Dad, for whatever reason. Anyway, Willis Stryker and Carl Lucas grew up best friends, and that only seemed to add to Diamondback’s current hatred. Everybody in town knew the familial connection, but no one felt it important to tell the two boys.

Outside, the cops are starting to note the holes in the narrative that they’re being given. The big one, Luke Cage doesn’t use guns. Because a guy with super strength doesn’t need a gun to mess people up. Sound reasoning. But, things are a little too crazy right now for the more level headed cops to do anything about it.

If Mike Colter only does one thing exceptionally well, it's the
"I am so tired of being shot at," face.

Having finally run out of patience, Diamondback goes over the PA and gives Luke an ultimatum, turn himself and Misty over or he’ll start killing a hostage every ten minutes. Not good. And, outside, Mariah gets the approval she needs to outfit the cops with the Judas 2.0 bullets. Also, not good. While waiting for Luke, Diamondback revealed the catalyst that led to this situation. Back in the day, Carl Lucas and Willis Stryker were just two dumb kids that made the dumb decision to steal a car. They get caught, and sentenced. Carl, being the good boy son of the preacher, got an alternative punishment and was required to join the Marines. Willis, being the “fatherless” punk, got sent to juvenal hall. He killed another inmate, in self-defense, and was sent to actual prison. While he was away, his mother died of cancer. All she left him? One of James Lucas’ heavily cited bibles. Kind of messed up, no? Obviously, he felt that he got kind of a raw deal, considering that both of them shared a father, and swore everlasting vengeance against Carl Lucas. Diamondback the puts on his strength enhancing glove, and crushes Boone’s ribs. They then dump the body outside. Messed up.

Luke cuts the power before confronting his half-brother, which is fortunate since at that exact moment Shades chose to check out the trapdoor. The whole sunglasses in doors thing seems kind a stupid now, huh, Shades? Misty and Claire are able to overpower the jerk and handcuff him to the wall. Luke then disables the thugs and frees most of the hostages, all except the waitress. How unfortunate. Willis gives his little brother another ultimatum, stand and let the waitress die, or try and save her and get shot by another Judas. Luke, being the hero type, opts to save the girl. Thankfully, Willis’ aim is awful and he misses the last shot. No more 1.0 Judas bullets to worry about. Hooray. Diamondback and Zip escape out a back exit, and Luke and Shades are taken into custody. Hooray?

I think that this episode’s only real major miss step was that it decided to tell us the events that led to Willis Stryker becoming Diamondback and Carl Lucas into Luke Cage rather than show it. Yes, I know Netflix Marvel shows, and heck superhero shows in general, seem to be rather flashback heavy but this is a situation that would have been more useful to see rather than be told. The setup is good, two unknown half-brothers stealing a car, and end up getting caught. In part because they were engaged in the age-old debate, who is better, Prince or Michael Jackson. We could have seen them during the better times, see the rift that begins to form while the trial begins, and then ultimately Stryker shifting into Diamondback by the time he’s released from jail. Pretty awesome sounding, right? But, no, instead we’re given the Cliffs Notes version as narrated by Diamondback. Whom, if you haven’t figured it out by now, falls under the category of Unreliable Narrator. Because, you know, he’s the bad guy. The time that could have been devoted to that instead is used to pad the episode. At least that’s what it feels like to me. Not a bad episode, but not as good as it could have been for me. 

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Viewer Log: Luke Cage ep 10

While my job is a major, major, major, major pain in my backside, I did enjoy having an additional day off follow Christmas. First time I’ve actually gotten to enjoy a second day off because of a federal holiday falling on a weekend, but, it is nice. It did allow me to finally catch up with dear Mr. Cage. Let’s get to it.

Netflix, let's recreate this moment
sometime, shall we?

Where did we last leave Luke? Oh right, he was having a heart attack following an attempt to remove the Judas bullet shrapnel in his body. Wow, you folks must hate me for just leaving this hanging for weeks. Claire and the Doc are obviously freaking out as they try to find a way to get Luke’s heart starting again. For some reason, during this highly dangerous medical procedure, the Doc didn’t think to have a DEFIBRILLATOR handy. Claire, thinking fast, drops an electronic device into the chemical soup to restart Luke’s heart. Not the safest of methods, but hey, unusual circumstances require unusual solutions. They find a way to keep the chemical soup from melting Luke’s skin, and Claire then realizes what they need to do to make the reaction work. Boil the ever-loving heck out of it. Doc is initially against it, but relents when Claire points out that the extreme heat that the deceased officer Rackham put Luke through in his assassination attempt was the only thing he hadn’t tried to replicate. They set the temp from hot to Seventh Circle of Hell. Once they get Luke hot enough, Claire works fast to get the shrapnel from Luke’s shoulder. Chitari metal out, Luke starts healing quickly.

Back in Harlem, Misty is still investigating the various “Luke Cage incidence.” She’s got more than a few shots of Willis Stryker, but not anything with a perfect clear picture. Stryker, meanwhile, shows Mariah what his master plan is. In a word, mass production. He and his goons have figured out how to re-blend the Chitari metal in the bullets. They’re less powerful then the Gen 1 bullet’s that Stryker used previously, but, they’re still strong enough to break Luke’s skin if enough shots were fired at him. Mariah argues that Stryker is losing focus, but good ol’ Diamondback counters by saying “He is my focus. Always.” In order to increase demand for his Judas 2.0, Stryker puts on a show. He dresses in a hoodie, puts on some sort of strength enhancing glove, and takes out an older beloved cop. All while shouting “I’m Luke Cage.” God, people are *blanking* stupid if they fall for that. Which they do.

The cops hit the street hard, trying to flush out Luke. Obviously, they turn up just about nothing. They even interrogate the kid that Luke saved when Pop’s Barbershop got shot up. The interviewing officer, who’d been trained by the murdered cop, kind of flips out and smacks the kid around. Why would you let someone so obviously emotionally compromised conduct the interview?

Back with the heroes. Luke is recovering rapidly, within a few hours there won’t even be a scar. After the Doc makes it very clear that he’s planning on replicating the experiment, Luke and Claire decide to look through Riva’s files. When the Doc steps out, they boot up the drive. They quickly look through Riva’s note, and to Luke’s horror, that Riva not only knew everything about what was going on but she personally suggested that they use Luke in the experiment. You know that scene in Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom, where the evil priest puts his hands on someone’s chest, chants Ka-Li-Ma and the rips out his heart? Yeah, that’s probably what Luke feels like right now. The Doc returns just as they finish the video, and tries to put it into context. This does little to calm Luke, who flips out and smashes the makeshift laboratory before storming out.

From an older episode, but seriously, I wonder how many
hole-less shirts Luke has?

Back in Harlem, Misty finally gets enough of a look at Willis Stryker aka Diamondback to make an id. She also figures out that Carl Lucas IS Luke Cage. This isn’t enough to convince her inspector to shift focus from Luke to Stryker, but it's enough to get Misty to start digging deeper. Love this woman’s tenacity. She goes to and starts interrogating Domingo. Domingo is tight lipped, but reveals that Harlem’s Paradise is under new management.

Luke and Claire bond a little on the shores overlooking Seagate. Luke admits that Riva’s betrayal has shaken him pretty bad, but it won’t stop him. Good on ya, mate. They then travel back to Luke’s home, a church. Said church had been built by his Grandfather, and it iswhere his father used to preach. Inside, it's pretty dilapidated but is still enough to make Luke have some flashbacks to his childhood. Little scenes that, when played in context, made it clear to him that his father was having an affair with Willis’ mother. Got to admit, finding out your father was having an affair with and is the father of your friend turned enemy is probably a bitter pill to swallow. They make their way back to Harlem. Back at the farm-lab, Doctor I-Have-No-Idea-What-His-Name-Is is able to recover his hard drive, and the data. Something wicked this way comes.

In Harlem, Mariah is doing everything she can to follow advice given to her by Diamondback, spin it so it’s all about her. She organizes a rally at Harlem’s Paradise, it’s one part Anti-Luke Rally, and one part Pro-Judas arming the cops Rally. Misty, Luke and Claire all arrive at about the same time. Misty spots Stryker and goes after him, and Luke spots Misty and goes after her. Stryker gets the drop on Misty and shoots her twice, but Luke rushes in and saves her. Everything starts happening at once, shots fired, people screaming, and Luke and Misty get pinned down behind a bar. Not a great situation to be in, not going to lie.

This episode is… good. I enjoyed it, as it began to explain the new background between Luke Cage and Diamondback. Yeah, in the comics, there is no familial connection between these two. This Cain/Abel style story has been done before, but it’s still done really well. I still think that, honestly, they should have saved Diamondback for next season, so we could have several more episodes of character development for both Cottonmouth and Diamondback. Why? Because it makes the question of “Why all this hate,” all the more important. At least for me. I think that the moment with the Doc is also important. Why? Because foreshadowing is important in a serial story. That’s something that I think the Marvel films have actually been doing rather poorly at. Each story is self-contained, by in large, and while the after-credit scenes set up the next story, there’s very little connection. Good stories are focused, but do take a moment or two to show what will come next. It’s what the Sam Raimi Spider-Man movies did really well… well that least with Harry Osborne’s story arch. But that’s a story for another time. This is a setup story, plain and simple, but what it sets up is pretty darn awesome. Just wait and see. 

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Super TV: Green Lantern: The Animated Series

So, a little about my professional life. For those who don’t know, I work for the US Post Office. Due to the Christmas package demand, and at least one coworker that I’m 70% sure is intentionally skipping work, I’m averaging 11 hour days in the last week. And it’s only going to get worse. So, I might not have time to write too many posts this month, at least not until after the 25. But, I will try to get one or two of these buggers out before then. Also, given this limited time table, I haven’t had a chance to finish Luke Cage. My fault for not binging it earlier. Silly me. But, since I do want to write about something, I’ll shift my focus onto a show that I know didn’t get the credit it deserved, Green Lantern: The Animated Series. Let’s get to it.

It also had a really good opening soundtrack.

Green Lantern opens to a Green Lantern, just not Hal Jordan. This Lantern, M’Ten, is patrolling his sector of space when he detects a distress beacon. M’Ten responds, finding a small spaceship floating adrift. He encases the ship in a green energy bubble and prepares to free the pilot. Imagine his surprise when the pilot bursts forth from the ship, engulfed in red energy, and attacks. M’Ten is able to hold this Red Lantern, Razer, at bay… until his comrade Zilius Zox steps in. The two RL’s overpower M’Ten, killing him. Razer points out the futility of these sneak attacks of theirs, as the Green Lantern’s ring will just find a replacement, while Zilius rather gleefully points out that that just means that they’ll get to kill the new GL too. Who knew a guy that looks like a demented beach ball would be the glass half full type?

We then jump forward in time 18 months, and across the galaxy to Coast City, California, planet Earth. Test Pilot, and secret Green Lantern, Hal Jordan is testing a new prototype plane when an earthquake hits. Said quake causes a bridge to collapse, putting an oncoming train in danger. Hal sets the fighter jet onto auto pilot, and transforms into his GL form as he ejects from the plane. Do you think working as a test pilot becomes less fun when you can fly without a plane?  He flies in, creates a green energy construct of a bridge, and saves the train. Hooray! But, while Hal is out of the jet, it crashes into the side of a mountain. Billion-dollar jet, up in smoke. Less hooray. An hour later, Hal returns to his boss, Carol Ferris, frantically trying to set up a search and rescue party for him. Hal lies, claiming that the quake caused the plane to freeze up, and that he had to hoof it back to Ferris Air on foot. Bet he actually spent that hour at Caribou Coffee, or something. She’s relieved to see him alive, but she’s not too happy he crashed the jet. Shocking, I know. He suggests that they discuss things over dinner, she initially refuses but then relents, just as Hal’s GL Ring starts going off. His other bosses want a word, which is rarely good. Hal makes up a story about salvaging the black box from the downed jet, transforms again, and flies to the GL home world of Oa.

Once there, he greets his former GL Drill Sargent Kilowog and another GL, Salaak, who’s in charge of Audio-Visual displays, before being pulled into a tribunal. He’s in trouble because an alien diplomat claims that Hal punched him in the face. To which Hal responds, “I punched him in the stomach. I headbutted him in the face.” At least Hal is honest. One Guardian of the Universe, Appa Ali Apsa, clearly wants to see Hal punished. Hal explains that the diplomat was using his diplomatic immunity to run a slave ring, which another Guardian, Ganthet, points out has been substantiated by the local authorities. Hal’s trial is interrupted by M’Ten’s ring’s arrival. Salaak identifies it’s former wielder, which shocks Hal and Kilowog, as neither recognize the name. This is more notable for Kilowag, who’s in charge of basic training for all Green Lantern recruits. So, it’s simply not possible for a GL to exist that Kilowog hasn’t trained. Which is true, in normal Green Lantern space.

The main cast. From left to right: Kilowog, Hal Jordan, Aya,
and Razor. It's a good group.

The Guardians have Salaak pull up a map of the universe. They deliver some exposition about the GL Corps. The Guardians have the known universe sliced up into about 3600 sections of space, there is at least one GL per sector, and they protect peace and harmony using the Green Light of Will. Hal sums it up best, “This part we know.” Now we get to the new, and more interesting, stuff. M’Ten was what is known as a Frontier Green Lantern. The Frontier is made up of the sectors of space on the outer most edges of GL territory. Communications with the Frontier Lanterns is sporadic, at best, and it wouldn’t matter if it wasn’t. Frontier space is so far from the homeworld of Oa, that even flying at top speed, it would take a normal GL 18 months to reach it. Kind of hard to send back up when it takes nearly 2 years to get there. The Guardians also explain that, again due to distance, that the Frontier Lanterns only receive “limited” training from their power rings. While not directly stated, its heavily implied that this is the reason why Frontier Lanterns are getting hit, and so hard. Training via semi-magic ring not = to actual training from experienced individuals. M’Ten is just the most recent known fatality, dozens have been killed in the last few years, with their power rings either searching for new GL candidates or in route back to Oa. The Guardians are keeping the killings under wraps until they are sure what is going on. That’s the Guardians of the Universe for you, slow as molasses. In the arctic. Also, Appa Alli Apsa is of the, “I won’t believe there’s a problem until it is literally staring me in the face,” mind set, and seems to hold a lot of sway over his Guardian brethren.

Except one. Ganthet seems to side with Hal’s more “act now, think later,” mindset. Ganthet, seeing things are going to quickly devolve into a pointless shouting match, suggests that they all “take a coffee break.” While on said coffee break, Ganthet takes Hal and Kilowog on a quick tour of Oa’s more private sections, namely the hanger that houses the Guardian’s latest invention, The Interceptor. The Interceptor is rumored to be the fastest ship ever developed. It can travel through warp space, and needs an AI to calculate how to safely travel at such high speeds. It could, in theory, reach the Lantern Frontier in a few minutes. How convenient. Now, obviously, the other Guardians wouldn’t allow their new vessel out just yet, but, we also know that Hal isn’t known for his patience, either.

Later that night, Hal and Kilowog break into The Interceptor. Hal had planned on going alone, but Kilowog had guessed his former student's plan and assumed correctly that Hal would forget to bring spare GL batteries. Hal and Kilowog are introduced to the ships AI. Hal names her Aya, and, the after the introductions, convinces her to try a new game. It’s called… Joyride. They blast off, and just barely escape the Green Lantern’s security force. They warp across the universe, and interrupt a Red Lantern attack in progress. The RL’s are incredibly powerful, and actually start to overpower Hal and Kilowog. Hal is able to blast them after tapping into The Interceptor’s power core. It’s fueled by the Green Energy from the Central Power Battery on Oa. It gives Hal a minor boost. They save the Frontier Lantern, named Shyir Rev, and plan their next move.

Red v. Green? It's a Christmas themed battle!

The RL’s also return to their mothership, the flying asteroid Ysmault and their master, Atrocitus. Some arguing ensues, Zilias blaming Razor for the flub up, and Razor claiming their mission failed because Hal and Kilowog are much better GL’s then the locals. Atrocitus doesn't care for the bickering and threatens to kill them both if they fail again. Thankfully for the baddies, another chance emerges quickly. Razor is able to use a drone to track The Interceptor and then attack the GL’s. Said attack doesn’t do much, other than break the ships “Warp Coil” and plant a tracking device. The Warp Coil is what lets them travel at hyperspeed, thus stranding them in The Frontier. So not an ideal end to this mission. Rev takes them to his homeworld to repair the ship. Hal and Kilowog are able to have a moment of levity with Rev and his family. All the aliens have a good laugh at the silliness of Hal's secret ID hang up. Kilowog explains it best, "That thing on his face is called a mask. He wears it just in case some human sneaks aboard The Interceptor, while we're in space mind you, and goes 'oh my gosh, the Green Lantern from my planet is Hal Jordon. I'm telling everybody!" Keep in mind, being a GL in most of the universe is one of the highest honors a being can receive. Why keep that a secreet, am I right? Unfortunately, the moment of peace is rudely interrupted by the arrival of the Red Lantern's warship.

Atrocitus, being something of a Dangerous Irate Cruel Killer, drops a giant bomb onto the planet, and gives the inhabitants an hour to hand over Hal, Kilowog, and Rev. The team breaks into two, Hal takes on Atrocitus, and Kilowog and Rev try to stop the bomb.  Neither side is particularly effective. Atrocitus, with minor help from Zilias, overpowers and beat the snot out of Hal. Kilowog and Rev are able to reach the bomb's core, but Razor distracts them for too long to disarm it. Rev is able to form a construct, stopping the bomb from going off. Unfortunately, it's like holding a grenade without the pin. It won't well. Rev elects to keep the bomb from going off long enough for Kilowog to evacuate the planet. Razor returns and looks like he’s going to finish off Rev, but the FGL convinces the young RL that wholesale slaughter isn’t a cause worth fighting for. Razor flies off, leaving Rev to his fate.

Hal and Razor meet in the wreckage of the planet. They do battle, but it becomes clear that Razor isn't giving it his all. Hal quickly realizes that, in actuality, Razor is looking to be executed for his crimes. Hal, while furious at Rev’s death and the planet’s destruction, instead yanks off Razor’s ring, stripping him of his powers, and encases him in a GL bubble. Kilowag and Hal transport Rev’s people to another planet, watch Rev’s ring fly out to find a new host, and wonder as to what they’re going to do next. Stranded in the far reaches of space, all aide almost two years away, with one Prisoner of War and no means of holding him long term. Not a great end to their "quick" mission to the Green Lantern Frontier.

Green Lantern: The Animated Series is an excellent dip into the Green Lantern mythos. Hal is a hoot, being at times noble, and other times a cocky arrogant jerk. They also cover the fact that he seems to be compelled to flirt with anything that even remotely appears to be a humanoid female. Not going to lie, was a little surprised to see that. He gets into a lot of trouble with his “act firsts, think later,” mindset but it always seems to work out in the end. He’s the sort to give anyone a second chance, if there willing to work for it, like Razor does. Kilowog is also a lot of fun, he’s the straight-laced drill sergeant that mellows out a bit as the series goes on. I’m also surprised that his rather depressing backstory was left in as well. Kilowog is from a planet called Bolovax Vik, while he was away on a mission, the planet was obliterated. Billions of Bolovaxians were killed including Kilowog’s mate and children. This is a fate worse than death for a Bolovaxian, as they were a highly communal race. So yeah, he’s lonely, heartbroken, and is hellbent on stopping world ending disasters like the one that befell his world. He and Hal buttheads on tactics a number of occasions, but it’s clear that both characters respect the heck out of each other. He’s openly hostile to Razor, at first, but they later develop a respect for one another.

He's only slightly less red then he is angry.

Now let’s move on to the original characters for this series. Razor the Red Lantern is the Vegeta of this series. What do you mean that you don’t get that reference? Oh right, not everyone watches anime… Okay, quick digression. The long running series Dragonball has a habit of making major antagonist into heroes after their initial introduction. One of the best examples is Vegeta, originally introduced as psychotic mass murder that obliterated planets for fun, later became a begrudging but indispensable hero. Well… anti-hero. Razor follows a similar arc. He’s introduced as a vengeful young man, hellbent on revenge. GL Shyir Rev convinces him that fighting without a cause is just dangerous, and, later, interactions with Saint Walker the Blue Lantern convinces him that his rage is destructive more to himself than anyone else. He’s actually a character that actively tries to better himself as the series progresses, which is rare for cartoons, just saying. He also forms an… odd romance with our next character, Aya.

Aya is introduce as the AI of The Interceptor. She’s a very curious creature, constantly seeking out information that will help her better understand organic lifeforms and what it means to be a Green Lantern. Yeah, despite being a machine and not being chosen by a Green Lantern Ring, Aya considers herself to be a full-fledged member of the corps. In order to better fulfill the GL duties, she quick assembles a body for herself, using the Green Energy of Will to form the ‘softer’ bits like her face and hands. She pretty much drags Razor into being a hero. She puts it best, “it doesn’t matter what you want,” when Razor admits to wanting to be held prisoner so he could see visions of his late wife. She follows an interesting arc. Not going to spoil it, other than saying she is much more than a pretty face.

The villains are also pretty cool. For the first half of its only season, they did battle with the Red Lanterns, specifically the evil Atrocitus. The lord of rage has a powerful voice, a commanding presence, and more rage then a barrel of monkeys. What? A bunch of simians stuffed into a tight space, I’d be angry too. He’s also got a number of great quotes. “I am wrath. I am hate. I am righteous vengeance.” “When I saw that you only needed a nudge to become a truly hateful creature, I sealed your fate.” “When last we met, human, I had just concurred Oa. Now you find me… better rested.” Just to name the top three. He’s simplified from his comic incarnation, downplaying the tragedy in his character and playing up the sadistic and cruel side. He regularly beats on his minions, namely Zilius Zox. The evil beach ball is something of a punching bag. The Reds are slightly toned down from their comic incarnation. No mention of Red’s being mindless beasts, or their parasitic rings replacing their hearts and their blood with red energy. In fact, the only major downside of the RL’s ring in this universe is that it looks like it’s INCREDIBLY painful to remove the ring.   

All fall before the Anti-Monitor

Part two introduces a much, much more powerful foe. The Anti-Monitor. This sun consuming destroyer was banished to another dimension before the series start, where he devours every star. Upon his return, he reactivates the original servants of the GL corps, the Manhunters. These insane machines were originally trustworthy guardians of order, but later concluded that emotions were the root of all evil. And thus those who possess them must be destroyed. They slaughtered the home sector of Atrocitus, Zilius, Razor and the other RLs. So, yeah, not a great combination. Together the machines devastate the GL corps and consume more stars. Why? To fuel a trip back to the very beginning of time. In the DC canon, this is like the single greatest taboo that a cosmic being could break. Hal and co do their best against him, but lose a few friends along the way.

Overall, this was a great show that was unfortunately cancelled too soon. It introduced many a Green Lantern, from the bigs like Hal, Kilowag, Tomar Rey, and Mogo, to the smalls, like Ch’p the Space Squirrel and Salaak. They also introduce a majority of the other Lantern Corps, like the Red Lanterns, the Blue Lanterns, the Star Sapphires, and the Orange Lantern. Heck given that they also introduce Sinestro, and the yellow element that would later fuel his evil Sinestro Corps, they’d have only needed another season or so to do a Blackest Night adaptation. How awesome would that have been? Sure, they’d have had to tone down the violence and the zombies, but it still could have been awesome. And, despite being cut off early, it does end on a high note. I wish the story could have continued, but the ending is still fitting. I recommend this for anyone that likes the Green Lantern Corps, or is curious about this part of the DC Universe. Next time… I have a few ideas, we’ll see what gets finished firsts. 

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Viewer Log: Luke Cage ep 9

When we last left Luke, he was informed that a childhood friend turned enemy is actually his brother, and was then shot for the second time by said brother… I feel like I should say, Scott, Matthew, my brothers, I am so very glad that neither of you is likely to shoot me. At least… I think. Back on task. Luke escaped the deranged Willis aka Diamondback by falling into the back of a garbage truck.

While Luke does his best to avoid getting tetanus, Shades reopens Harlem’s Paradise. He’s riding high after taking Cottonmouth’s club, which doesn’t last when Diamondback stops by. Willis isn’t happy that he lost Luke, and that their goons couldn’t pick up the trail. He murders one of the lesser goons in frustration. And then chastises Shades, for thinking he could just waltz in and take Cottonmouth’s spot. Apparently, Willis doesn’t want his new top henchman thinking that killing his former top henchmen will go unnoticed. Zip distracts Diamondback with an update on Luke, probably saving Shades’ life.

Yeah, Luke vs Drill, Luke wins.
Even when he doesn't want to.

Luke escapes the dump truck, gets a change of clothes and limps away. A news segment reveals that the cops are looking for him.  So not a great continuation to a sucky day.

We then get a very interesting scene with Mariah and Cottonmouth’s corpse. She kisses the top of his shroud and gives us a little more of their background. Apparently, Cornell’s father was a druggy that OD and his mother ran off a short time later. They’ve been rather vague about the age difference between Mariah and Cornell, but she was old enough to remember baby Cornell being dropped off, and that she was his primary caregiver. Growing up, she called him Mo. Cornell assumed that this was a weird shortening of Cottonmouth. So obviously wasn’t a huge fan of that one. In actuality, she was shortening it from Moses. As he was her abandoned little prince. Which is pretty darn sweet. She admits that she did everything to protect Cornell, but in the end, she couldn’t save him from their family’s bad business. How sad. Shades arrives, breaking her silent reflection, and tries to convince Mariah to help him transition into being the new local crime boss.

Luke’s luck lapses, and a couple of curious cops corner him. They try to bring him in, but unfortunately for them, Luke is still about 90% bulletproof, so it doesn’t really end well for them. Why would you ever try to take on a man with documented super strength with just two people? That plan was doomed to fail from the start.

Mariah goes to Domingo and sets up a meeting with Harlem’s top crime bosses. Luke meets up with Claire. They agree that his only option right now is to get out of town. Claire had been researching Seagate Prison, and learned that the head doctor at the private prison was still alive. The dynamic duo tracks him down and makes him a deal. In exchange for Riva’s, Luke’s dearly departed wife’s, hard drive, the Doc uses his knowledge of Luke’s anatomy to fix the bullet holes.

It's hard to see these two together, knowing how
it'll all end.

Back with the bad guys, Mariah and Shades try to re-solidify their powerbase. Well, re-solidify Shades’ powerbase, Mariah is clearly trying to get out of the crime game. Unfortunately for them, Diamondback got wind of the powwow, and intervenes. The slippery serpent murders most of the assembled crime bosses, aside from Domingo, Mariah and Shades. He makes it clear he’s taking more or less direct control of Harlem, and these three will continue to work for him. Regardless of how they feel on the matter. Can’t argue with that logic… and live.

The Doc preps Luke for the procedure. While the flashdrive filled in a number of blanks in the Doc’s research, and that he has all the chemicals and tech needed to recreate the procedure, he doesn’t know how hot the solution needs to get to effect Luke. So, there’s going to be a fair amount of guess and check here. Also, if you’re wondering why the Doc’s home lab has all the equipment he needs… he stole it when his Seagate research was shut down. Pretty simple explanation. They try once, and fail, and then try again, and Luke’s heart stops. So… not a great day all around.

I think that this episode’s best scene was Mariah with Cottonmouth’s body. In only a handful of minutes we get all of the important notes of their history, and how much his death must be having on her. He was arguably the most important person in her life, and she ended it. Anger; uncontrollable, savage, and cruel, ended her the life that she held most precious. How very sad. With Luke’s story, it’s your typical “hero lost his powers and needs to reclaim them.” But with bullet holes. Said bullet holes do make fixing Luke and getting him back to 100% a little more pressing then mopey Peter Parker having to get them back in Spider-Man 2. Oh no, Mary Jane was kidnapped, again. Not the same as “I’m literally bleeding to death and my body makes it impossible for conventional medicine to help me,” now is it? So yeah, a pretty standard hero powers-lost story with a short but above average scene in it. Next time, either more Luke Cage or we’ll pause and try something a little different. We’ll see.

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Viewer Log: Luke Cage ep 8

So, where did we last leave Luke? Oh, right, he’d just been shot with the Judas bullet. These bullets are made from metal taken from the Chitari Invasion a few years back. Alien metals don’t follow the same rules as Earth metals, apparently. As such, they’re able to pierce Luke’s nearly impervious skin. And what’s worse, after breaking the skin, they burrow deeper and then explode. So, Luke is not only suffering from a pretty serious GSW but also a pretty serious case of internal bleeding. Not a great place for Mr. Cage to be, now is it? Let’s get to it.

First Cottonmouth, then Diamondback,
Luke may be up against the whole
Serpent Society next. Yes, that is a thing.

Luke and Claire are able to put some distance between themselves and the shooter, Diamondback, as the new adversary reloads. Claire is able to get an “off the books” ambulance and tries to rush Luke to a hospital. Luke isn’t a fan of the hospital idea, being that he’s a fugitive, and argues against it. While these two quarrel, Diamondback catches up to them and blows the ambulance away. Diamondback taunts the injured Cage as our hero is forced to limp away.

With the baddies, Mariah is still reeling from man-slaughtering her cousin. Shades does his best to walk her through how the investigation is going to go. Prepping her for the questions that will be asked, and how to set up the timeline of events to not incriminate herself, to start. At the same time, Misty arrives at the scene and starts visualizing the course of events. She gets a good amount of the details right, but also a few wrong, thanks to Shade’s altering of facts. We see some of what he did to make Cottonmouth’s death look like a beating from a superstrong man. He also creates a few ‘witnesses’ and has his goons plant evidence in Luke’s apartment.

Back with the good guys, Claire and Luke make it to a closed women’s clinic. They break in and Claire uses her medical skills to try to get the bullet out. Unfortunately, Luke’s nigh-unbreakable skin and sturdier then average muscles and organs makes it impossible for her to get any sort of instruments into him to pull the bullet out. Every attempt she makes just pushes it in deeper. Way to suddenly be more of a hindrance then a help for once, Superpowers.

Misty is continued to be given bad information, from the false witnesses and Cottonmouth’s former lawyer. I have no idea what his name is, so I’ll be calling him Mr. B. The B stands for Business, Bad Business. Mr. B helps keep Misty too off balance to get the info she needs from the witness. Despite this, she does notice a lot of inconsistencies. Chiefly, the waitress that is claiming to be Cottonmouth’s lover was originally too scared/intimidated to go into Cottonmouth’s private booth alone. Misty had witnessed this herself in the first episode, when the waitress asked Luke to escort her up when Cottonmouth ordered champagne. Misty wants to grill Mariah about the story, but her new chief is insistent that the follow Cage instead. What is with authority figures always assuming the obvious good guy vigilantes will change tactics and start murdering people? Instead of obvious bad people killing other obvious bad people?

At the clinic, Claire uses an ultrasound machine to determine where the bullet is and how far the fragments have gotten into Luke’s abdomen. It’s not looking good.  As time keeps passing, the fragments burrow deeper, causing more damage and becoming even more difficult to effectively remove. At around this same time, Misty call’s Luke’s phone and tries to get him to turn himself in. He’s obviously incapable and unwilling to do so, and hangs up. Unfortunately, for Luke, Misty had begun a trace on him and has gotten a general idea of his location. She heads out.

Why must brother's fight?

Shades, meanwhile, is consolidating his forces. While Zip and his crew try to make a clean break from Harlem’s Paradise and Cottonmouth’s former associates, Shades is insistent that they stay. He’s taking over, and they’ll work for him or die. Hard to argue with that logic. Which, for me, begs the question of how much of Cottonmouth's fall from grace and death were products of circumstance and how much was indirect manipulation on Shades' part. Something to think about moving forward, if nothing else.

Misty catches up with Luke and Claire at the clinic, mere minutes ahead of Diamondback. He fires a few Judas rounds into the clinic walls, trying to finish off Luke. When that doesn’t work, he breaks into the clinic to fight. He and Luke throw down, but the slippery serpent strikes our hero’s severe sores to get the upper hand. Luke freezes up when he sees Diamondback’s face. If Diamondback’s obvious personal hatred wasn’t enough, then the freezing up makes it pretty obvious that they know each other. Diamondback knocks Luke down again and makes a break for it. Misty chases after him, but gets caught. Diamondback takes out Misty, knocking her unconscious, and leads Luke on a chase through Harlem. They meet up at a movie theater. It’s revealed that Diamondback is Willis Styker, a former friend from when Luke Cage was still Carl Lucas. He is passionate, downright biblical in his lust for vengeance against Luke Cage.  He also reveals that he was the one behind Luke’s imprisonment and most of the troubles he had a Seagate. Pretty much everything except the murder of Riva, which is still squarely on the shoulders of Kilgrave and a mind controlled Jessica Jones. They throw down some more. Luke, while injured, proves stronger and sends Diamondback flying.

Claire is taken into police custody and interrogated by Misty. Both are steadfast in their beliefs, Claire in that Luke is a force for good, and Misty in that a vigilante needs to be stopped before anyone gets hurt. They butt heads until Claire is allowed to leave.

Big things, small packages.

With the bad guys, its revealed that Mariah paid off the waitress to make her lie about Luke. Knowing that this girl will most likely have a crisis of consciousness and reveal her lies, she makes plans to execute the waitress if that occurs. She’s visibly chilled when she realizes that this is exactly what her dear Mama Mabel would do.

Luke catches up with Diamondback. Luke, tired, hurt emotionally and physically, and bleeding out, tries to apologize for whatever he did to hurt Stryker. He claims that Stryker was like a brother to him. Diamondback callously throws back “[Negro] I am your brother,” and shoots him with another Judas. Luke pitches backward and into a garbage truck. Can a superhuman get Tetanus?

This is an interesting introduction to our new antagonist. Diamondback is much more… upfront in his motivations then Cottonmouth was. And, while I think I prefer Cottonmouth’s evil class to Diamondback’s evil bluntness, they do give him plenty to say. Lot of memorable quotes from this guy. “I gave you wings. I sent you to hell, and you came back with superpowers. Ain’t that a bitch?” is one of my favorites. Seeing the unstoppable Power Man being put through the ringer with two bullet wounds was also an interesting change. One of the best ways to get character development done quickly with these kind of guys is to strip them of their powers, after all. And, while once again Misty’s plot line isn’t as interesting, it is intriguing to see her get pushed against the wall by the very rules of law she wants to protect. Another simple but effective means of character development, put their beliefs to the test. So yeah, solid episode. I do find it interesting that, while the Judas Bullets cost was apparently enough to make wealthy criminals like Cottonmouth pause, Diamondback uses them like you could buy them from any street vender. Either Diamondback is an even more wealthy arms dealer then was implied, or he is at the level of hatred for Luke that killing him is worth any price. Next time, part 9. 

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Review: Doctor Strange

The Sorcerer Supreme has made his way onto the big screen and it is a heck of an entrance. The film is visually stunning, funny, and just plain awesome. One note before we get started, there is a difference between sorcerers, wizards, warlocks, magicians, and mages, but I will be using the terms interchangeably. Why? Because they are all fun words to say. And writing sorcerer over and over again is just boring. I got to try and keep things linguistically lively, or I’ll go insane. Well… more insane. Let’s get to it, shall we?

Very, very, very trippy visuals.

The movie opens in Nepal, in the sacred site of sorcerers, Kamar-Taj in the dead of night. A group of people in cloaks march into an ancient looking library. Given the residence of this location, this probably isn’t too out of the ordinary. The group almost immediately attack the librarian, summoning energy whips to hold him in place, and the group’s leader, Kaecilius, decapitates him. That’s probably not normal. The evil wizards steal a few pages out of an old grimoire and make a run for it. Another hooded figure arrives, the current Sorcerer Supreme, the Ancient One. She, yes I’ll get to the gender-ethnicity change later, chases down her former pupils after they try to escape to New York. Using crazy time bending magic, she stops several of them, but Kaecilius and a few followers escape through a portal in space/time. Frustrated by this, the Ancient One wanders off into a crowd.

We then jump to our protagonist, Dr. Stephen Strange. He’s an incredibly gifted but arrogant neurosurgeon. In his first few minutes of screen time he performs two surgeries, one of which was removing a bullet from a guy’s brain. He also does his best to humiliate a fellow surgeon, who pronounced bullet-in-brain guy dead prematurely. Stephen attempts to rekindle things with his ex, Christine Palmer. It doesn’t go super well. Stephen then goes stag to a surgeon’s lecture, which turns out to be a very bad idea. While driving to the lecture, Stephen gets a call from his assistance. The assistant pitches several cases for him to try out, one of which is a veiled reference to Rhodey, but finally trips Stephen’s trigger with a case of a gal with an electrical implant who was struck by lightning. Stephen, looks at the chart while driving, which causes him to get into a horrible car accident. Like, top 10 worst crashes I’ve ever seen in a movie bad. He awakens a few days later, his body blackened and bruise, and his hands horribly mangled. In case you didn’t know, steady, non-jacked up hands are kind of important in brain surgery. Stephen spends nearly every penny that he has with experimental surgeries to get his hands back to normal. None of which work. Christine tries to convince Stephen to let go and move on, but Stephen won’t listen.

While in physical therapy, Stephen is told of a guy named Jonathon Pangborn. Pangborn was in an accident that left him a paraplegic, but somehow recovered despite the extreme nerve damage he suffered. Pangborn told Stephen about Kamar-Taj. Stephen, desperate and out of options, spends the last of his funds on a one-way ticket to Nepal. Once there, he spends days searching for Kamar-Taj but everyone he speaks to just gives him weird looks. Probably should have brought the Nepali Bhasa phrase book, just saying. After being mugged by some locals, Stephen is saved by Mordo, a student of the Ancient One. He saves Stephen, and brings him to the Ancient One. Stephen mouth offs to both Mordo and then the Ancient One. She doesn’t take kindly to the mouthing off, and shows off some of her power. She forces Stephen into the Astral Plane, and then sends him flying across the multiverse. He gets a peak at creation, and the face of Dormammu, bringer of darkness and death. And, after showing him all the wonders of the multiverse, kicks him out. Why? Because he reminds her of Kaecilius. It’s the arrogance. But, Mordo pleads Stephen’s case, and Stephen’s five hours of hammering on the door, convinces her to relent.   

Hobo Strange in Nepal.

Stephen is trained in the practical application of magic by the Ancient One and Mordo, and in mystic theory by the new librarian, Wong. Stephen proves to be a prodigy at magic, quickly mastering powers in a matter of weeks. In his studies, Stephen learns that Earth is protected from sinister sorcerous schemes by a supremely superb shield. Said shield is skillfully synthesized by the special sanctums found in special cities, specifically New York, London and Hong Kong. Side note, Alliteration like a BOSS. Around the same time, Kaecilius and his cohorts use the pages they stole to contact Dormammu, forming a bond with their new master. Stephen continues his education, even going so far as to “borrow” the ancient Eye of Agamotto and using it’s time bending powers to have a look at the pages that Kaecilius stole. Mordo and Wong stop him from experimenting too much, as bending time is one of the biggest magical no-no’s.

While they’re giving Stephen the lecture about time bending, Kaecilius and his minions attack the Sanctum in London, destroying it. The three Sanctums are connected to Kamar-Taj via transdimensional doorways, so when Kaecilius and co attacked London, it sent a shockwave through the portal into Kamar-Taj. Said shockwave blasts Stephen out of Kamar-Taj into the New York Sanctum. How convenient. Kaecilius and his minions then attack the New York Sanctum. Again, convenient. Stephen is able to hold them off, partially thanks to his new best friend, the Cloak of Levitation. I’m going to call him Cloakie. Stephen and Cloakie keep the baddies at bay, and even captures Kaecilius in a weird trap. Kaecilius tries to get Stephen to turn on the Ancient One, claiming that she uses magic for her own benefit. While Kaecilius distracts Stephen, one of the zealots stabs him in the back. While bleeding profusely, Stephen is able to make a portal to escape, taking him to the hospital that Christine worked at. Cloakie stays behind to beat the heck out of an evil warlock. Christine, while freaked out, does her best to patch him up, while Stephen and the evil magician fight on the astral plane. Stephen overpowers the warlock, obliterating his SOUL. That’s dark, Stephen, real dark. He does his best to explain the situation to Christine after she patches him up. The astral projection, soul fighting, Cloakie, and open rip in space/time help sell the story. He departs through the portal.

On the other side, he meets Mordo and the Ancient One. She tries to promote Stephen to the rank of master and put him in charge of New York’s Sanctum, but he’s had just about enough today. He confronts her about Kaecilius’s claims that she’s abusing her powers. Specifically, that she is drawing power from the Dark Dimension to make herself immortal. She storms off, and Mordo angrily berates Stephen for not trusting in the Ancient One. Mordo thinks that Stephen isn’t brave enough to fight to kill, and Stephen claims that Mordo is too ready to fight and kill for the Ancient One. Their disagreement is interrupted by another attack by Kaecilius and co. Mordo runs in to fight, while Stephen instead tries to trap. Mages can take others into the “Mirror Dimension,” a world tied to but separate from the real one. Which was really, really stupid, as the power boost Kaecilius is getting from Dormammu makes the MORE powerful in the Mirror Dimension. They are chased across a crazy bendy New York, in an amazingly done chase sequence, just barely escaping their pursuers. The Ancient One steps in to save their butts, revealing that she is, in fact, drawing power from the Dark Dimension. She fights off most of Kaecilius’s men, but is mortally wounded in the battle.

A sorcerer beset by his own demons.

Stephen takes the old sorceress to Christine. She does her best, but the Ancient One has only moments. The Ancient One astral projects, and Stephen follows. The Ancient One asks Stephen for forgiveness, and tries to encourage him to do the whole save the world thing. Stephen is hesitant, but agrees. He grabs Cloakie, Mordo and the two travel to the Hong Kong Sanctum to stop the end of days.

The Good first. This movie is visually stunning. From the magically summoned weapons, to the Stephen’s mangled hands, to the Mirror Dimension, to the crazy matter bending, to Dormammu’s oversized head, all of the effects are amazing. Benedict Cumberbatch is amazing as Stephen Strange. He’s his usual jerky but charming self, I could totally believe him as the super doctor that was struck down by his own hubris. Chiwetel Ejiofor is great as Karl Mordo. He’s a very ridged man, steadfast in his belief in the Ancient One and in the power of magic. Which, is what eventually leads him to his fall from grace. Yeah, spoiler alert, but Mordo becomes a baddy. Goes by Baron Mordo, and is a raging psychopath in the comics. Weird to see a version that I like. Both Cumberbatch and Ejiofor have great speeches in this. Powerful, and moving. Benedict Wong play Wong, the head librarian at Kamar-Taj, trainer of Stephen Strange and overall badass. I was actually a little surprised to see him in this, since in the comics he’s Stephen’s… man-servant. Uh… he was originally written 60s. That is literally the only excuse I can make. This Wong is a bit of a curmudgeon, but still fun to watch.

   

A very different look, but not a bad one by any stretch of the
imagination.

Let’s talk about Tilda Swinton. I’m not going to get into a long rant about changing the Ancient One’s race and gender, whether it was good, bad, racist, sexist or white washing. That is for people more intelligent, more informed, or more interested in the subject. I will say, Tilda Swinton is great in this role. She’s incredibly wise, controlled, with a very commanding presence, which are three major requirements for the Ancient One. I loved just about every scene she was in, particularly when she was battling Kaecilius, when they were bending all of New York to fight. Awesome.

Now, onto the bad. Kaecilius isn’t the best villain. They try to give him a tragic backstory and reasoning for his evilness, but he just feels really one dimensional. Just because you go with the "dead loved ones" backstory doesn't turn a Jafar (Aladdin) into an Iago (Othello). You need to work to make a character complex, there is no shorthand for it.I also find it incredibly hard to believe that any rational human being would take the word of a literal demon that lives in the Dark Dimension at face value. That’s just stupid. And, while we’re told that Stephen is arrogant on a number of occasions, there is really only one or two instances that I can think of where he was shown to be that. It’s characterization via words, not actions, which isn’t the best idea. The movie also hits most of the cliché’s pretty hard. Student A turns on Master. Student B arrives, is pretty similar to Student A. Master refuses to train Student B because of similarities Student A, but relents. Intense training that would probably kill him, but works because reasons. Basic, straightforward, and generic.

Overall, I’ll give it an A-. It’s great. Really great. I’d say that it and Captain America: Civil War tie for second place in the best Superhero movie of 2016. Great effects, great cast, great movie. There are a few weaker elements to it, but doesn’t really drag it down too much. I say see it if you love the Marvel movies, or just want to see what all the fuss is about. You will not be disappointed. Next time, back to Luke Cage. He’s on the run, with a hole in his stomach and a whole new snake chasing him. 

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Strange_(film)#/media/File:Benedict_Cumberbatch_on_the_set_of_Doctor_Strange.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baron_Mordo#/media/File:Chiwetel_Ejiofor_as_Karl_Mordo.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_One#/media/File:Tilda_Swinton_as_the_Ancient_One.jpg

Viewer Log: Luke Cage ep 7

Ready for a villain flashback? It doesn’t matter if you are, that’s what we’re getting. Don’t worry, these are still pretty good. But, these had better be the last flashbacks for a while. Flashbacks are like explosions, used well, they’re awesome, overused and this turns into a Michael Bay film. And nobody wants that that. Well, nobody that matters. Let’s get to it, shall we?

Fit him with some adamantium fangs, and we've got
ourselves a supervillain.

If Luke Cage thought that things would calm down the second that he had Cottonmouth arrested, he was very sadly mistaken. The next day he had to scare off Cottonmouth’s #2 Zip while trying to sell the Hammer Tech guns. Zip is under the impression that while his boss is down, he’s far from out. And sadly, he’s pretty much spot on.

At the police station, Cottonmouth is represented by the same lawyer that works for Wilson Fisk. I wonder if this guy specifically sells his services to rich criminals? Probably, but we’ll wait to say it definitely until Iron Fist’s show. If this lawyer reps Danny’s baddy, then yes, yes he does. Using his evil lawyer powers, he gets Cottonmouth released. Claiming that the evidence was too circumstantial or some such nonsense. This, unfortunately, works, and Luke is forced to fume as Cottonmouth struts out of the precinct. At Harlem’s Paradise, Cottonmouth acts like he’s walking on air. Imagine how angry he gets when Shades still refuses to get him the Judas bullets. He claims that there’s too much heat on Cottonmouth right now, and he’ll recommend Diamondback get him the Judas bullets after things have calmed down. In response, Cottonmouth demands a meeting with Diamondback, to which Shades agrees to set up. A day or so later, Cottonmouth calls Luke for a parley. Luke, still fuming, does agree.

Meanwhile, Mariah is having career problems. Obviously, Cottonmouth’s recent troubles have reflected poorly on her. A Colleague arrives at her home and basically tells her to step down from her position on the city council and he’ll make sure things transition easy for her. She, obviously refuses. Just before the parley, Cottonmouth plays the piano and reminisces about his childhood. He grew up with Mariah, raised by their Grandmother “Mama” Mabel, and their paternal Great-Uncle Peter. In their youth, a teenage Cornell Stokes dreams of being a musician. This dream is fostered by his Uncle Peter, but stifled by Mama Mabel. She’s got a criminal empire to run, she doesn’t have time for musical aspirations. She forces Cornell to help Peter dispose of a goon that violated their rules. Apparently, Mama Mabel deals in a LOT of criminal enterprises, but she never ever condoned selling drugs in her territory. Even crooks have principles, I guess. Cottonmouth’s flashback ends when Luke walks in. Luke remarks that “Even though I hate your #$%, I’ve got to admit you’ve got talent,” as he heard the ending of Cottonmouth’s piano playing. Once the parley commences, Cottonmouth gives Luke an ultimatum. Luke starts working for Cottonmouth, doing when he says, when he says it, or he’ll reveal that Luke Cage = Carl Lucas. He lets Luke leave to think things over.

Luke tries to run, to protect himself from Cottonmouth’s retaliation, but Claire convinces him to stay and fight the good fight. Cottonmouth and Shades meet up. Shades is rather upset that Cottonmouth revealed he knew Luke’s secret. Apparently, Diamondback wanted to keep this a secret for a little while longer. We get another flashback to Cottonmouth’s childhood. Mama Mabel is quite upset her grandson missed an appointment to protect one of her other goons. Her anger is somewhat abated, or perhaps redirected, when Cornel reveals he and Uncle Peter were at a music audition for him, and then Spanish Harlem. Mama Mable is quite displeased to learn her Brother-in-law is dealing with their biggest rivals, but thanks Cornell for being honest.

Finding beauty in broken places.

Luke, starts targeting Cottonmouth’s allies, since he can’t attack him directly. For now. He tracks down Domingo, and shows his displeasure at their illegal dealings. The police start looking into Luke, at their new polices chief’s insistence. A forensic guy notices that Luke’s too clean, as in, other than a driver’s license and social security number, he doesn’t exist. No email, no social networking page. It’s just too weird to be normal. Back with Mariah, she officially loses her spot on the City Council. There’s a pretty great scene of how she reacts to it, she’s visibly shaken by losing everything.

Another flashback, with Mama Mabel and Peter. We learn that they have some pretty weird history. They used to “date” before Mabel moved on to Peter’s brother. So weird. She confronts Peter about the Puerto Ricans and Spanish Harlem. He admits he was working with them, trying to set up a deal to expand outside of Harlem. Mabel isn’t interested, claiming “Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered.” Mabel forces Cornell to be the one to take him outback and shoot him. It’s also revealed that Peter was abusing Mariah. So yeah, Mama Mabel’s house was a pretty messed up place.

Mariah meets with Cottonmouth at Harlem’s Paradise. She begs him to drop the Luke Cage vendetta once and for all. This causes things to boil over. Cottonmouth explodes, releasing I’m assuming decades of repressed anger at Mariah, who got to liver her dream while he was forced to be Mama Mabel’s successor. He does the absolute worse thing imaginable and claims that Mariah “wanted” Uncle Peter’s abuse. She snaps, defenestrates Cottonmouth, and then beats him with a mike stand. All the while screaming “I never wanted it!”

Is your Grandma so intimidating that she can make you
                 kill a man?

Shades walks in, and praises Mariah for killing her cousin. Apparently, he’d been planning for this, and is now going to sets it up to look like Luke Cage was the murderer. Given what we later learn about Mariah’s relationship with her cousin, this isn’t the best thing to hear.

Luke drops off the Hammer Tech guns with Misty, where they argue the ethics of vigilantism. A short time later, Misty gets called about Cottonmouth’s death.  At the same time, Luke and Claire go on an evening walk and bond. Luke reveals that his father is still alive, but doesn’t know Luke is alive. Before we can delve deeper into this, a mysterious gunman hits Luke with a Judas bullet. He starts bleeding, and the bullet explodes.

This was a very strange episode to process. While I knew that Cottonmouth would be dealt with, I assumed that it’d be at the season finale. Cottonmouth has been almost another main character throughout Luke Cage’s run, so seeing him axed off in episode 7 is pretty nuts. I assume that this is to make room for Diamondback, but again, I thought we weren’t going to see him officially until season 2. At least he starts out with a bang. Yes, Diamondback is the shooter. The background with Mariah and Cottonmouth’s past is very interesting, I am one of those guys that is always interested in seeing how villains are shaped, so seeing how the despicable duo got their start is interesting. Physically, emotionally, and mentally abusive paternal figures usually lead to pretty awful people too. It’s a very chicken/egg situation. That being said, I think that they went a little overboard with Mariah’s freak out. Granted, I have never (to my knowledge) had a long conversation with an abuse victim about said abuse. That being said, I do know that the phrase “you wanted it,” should never never never never never come out of one’s mouth during that conversation. But, since they seemed to be going with a crime of passion explanation, they let the rage go on a little too long. I could see someone flipping out and pushing someone out a window. I could see someone flipping out and beating someone to death. I can’t see someone flipping out, pushing someone out a window and then beating them to, while still being on the initial rage buzz. Just saying. So, in summation, an interesting episode, Cottonmouth’s departure was abrupt and early, but good insight into the baddies. Next time, we’re taking a quick break from Luke Cage and having a look at Dr. Strange. It’s gonna be cool!

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