Viewer Log: Iron Fist ep 5

It’s really just occurred to me that while we’re a fair way through Iron Fist and yet we’ve had very little in terms of plot development. The first three episodes were all about Danny getting back as head of Rand Enterprises, and hints that the Hand are somehow involved. The whole ‘getting the company back’ story was concluded last time, for now at least. So yeah, it’s overall not much to go on. It’s high time we move the plot along, shall we?

We open to three women walking with those rolling carryon bags. Each of the bags has a serpentine dragon on the tag, very reminiscent of the Shao-Lo dragon on Danny’s chest. Very interesting. They break apart and we see them meeting with various folks. What are these gal pitching? Heroin. Really, really good heroin. Hm… good isn’t the right word, we’ll say effective. This stuff is potent, chemically designed so that users don’t build up a tolerance, and is designed to be absorbed through the skin. One junky tests it out, gets high in seconds, and claims it’s like the first time he shot up. Oh, that does not bode well at all.

Yeah, probably shouldn't have left this guy with
Super-Heroin.

At Rand Enterprises, Danny is having a consultation with a Rand chemist. She examined a sample of the heroin that Danny got his hands on. Did I forget to mention that? Oh, yeah, I did, sorry. The Triad left him a sample at the end of the last episode. She explains that, somehow, the drug is composed of 100% legal compounds and is also 100% synthetic. Not sure if something like that is possible, but hey, disbelief is suspended.

Joy, meanwhile, is dealing with a new potential lawsuit. Rand Enterprises may be facing a class action lawsuit. A group of citizens are claiming that the RE chemical plant on Staten Island has caused cancer in some of them. Joy is very firm that RE’s plant didn’t cause the problem. And even if the chemicals are dangerous, RE has followed the law to the letter. So, the group has no legal grounds to sue. That’s their story and she’s sticking to it.

Danny shows Ward the Heroin. He explains that, according to the info he’s received, that this is what the Hand is shipping at the Pier RE recently purchased. He’s particularly disturbed by the serpentine dragon symbol, as it is Shao-Lo, the dragon that gave him his Iron Fist powers. Ward is instantly dismissive. He basically tells Danny to buzz off and let him work. Danny leaves in a huff, leaving the heroin behind. As soon as he’s alone, Ward pops a few pills. Did they establish that Ward had a drug problem? I don’t think so. Either way, Danny goes to his assistant, Megan, and gets info about the next shipment to the pier.

After getting the shipment info he needs, Danny is ambushed by one of the women from the lawsuit meeting earlier. She shows him a picture of her son, tells him the boy has cancer, and begs him to do something. She claims that Rand’s company is behind it. Danny apologizes and promises to do something. Her lawyer, meanwhile, recorded the whole thing. That’s no good.

Damn, Claire Temple is everywhere. She'll be popping
up in Spider-Man: Homecoming next.

We then cut to Colleen training a student. Who is the student? Claire Temple. What are the odds? She’s the former nurse that has had dealings with Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and (might be?) dating Luke Cage. Danny arrives a few minutes later, bringing “take out” with him. From a fancy restaurant. Like a place that doesn’t actually do take out, unless you’re a multi-billionaire. He, Colleen, and Claire have a nice dinner together. Kind of weird.

The Meachums are having a problem. The lawyer had sent Joy the video of Danny and his client. They’re both rather steamed as Danny, unwittingly, admitted that Rand is at fault, and thus the group now has something to base their lawsuit on. Joy thinks they should settle, Ward isn’t so sure. He wants to assemble the board and figure this out. Once he’s alone, Harold texts him saying “Do what Joy says.” Ward examines the heroin again, pops a few pills and looks rather glum.

Over dinner, Danny talks a little more about his time at K’un L’un. After they’ve finished small talk, Claire takes the hint and bails. Once they’re alone, Danny gets Colleen to agree to help him investigate the pier. In exchange for a month off rent. He just bought her building, FYI. Danny and Ward look over the pier. After some searching, they find a truck with a bunch of boxes in the back. Danny sneaks in to investigate, but gets taken along when the baddies shut the container up and drive off. Colleen steals a van and follows. Inside, Danny finds…an apartment? Two men are inside. One is called Radovan, the Chemist. The other is a nameless goon. Danny fights the goon, Radovan is stabbed during the fight, and the two escape. Danny and Colleen take Radovan to Claire, who patches him up. They learn that the hand is involved, and that Radovan’s daughter is being held hostage to keep him compliant. Danny, and Colleen, vow to help.

Meanwhile, Rand Enterprises is in trouble. Despite his father’s warning, Ward convinces the board to not settle. This leads to a media firestorm as the other side releases the video, like they threatened. Ward ignores his father’s calls, and gets high out of his mind. Joy finds him and tries to get him back in his right mind.

Ward is high as a kite
And Joy looks so totally done.

In the closing moments, Madam Gao investigates the truck. If you don’t remember the name, she was one of the Kingpin’s associates back in season one of Daredevil, is Harold’s handler, and is implied to be one of the higher ups of the Hand. She’s furious to learn that the Iron Fist is in town, and executes Radovan’s body guard.

While watching this, I can’t help but wonder how the show would have fared if Danny hadn’t gotten RE back right away. We would have seen Danny struggling to get back his family companies, while at the same time fighting to live up to his duties as the Iron Fist. Instead, we see Danny buying his way out of problems, and getting his company in trouble. I think part of Danny’s problem as a character, at least in this show, is that he’s just a little too bland. Wealthy characters like Bruce Wayne and Tony Stark are eccentric philanthropist. They literally throw money around and look like they’re having a blast while doing it. Danny, meanwhile is a soft-spoken man whom just feels like he’s just figured out what money is. It’s just not interesting to watch. And, again, the show is just now getting into the overarching plot of the season, five episodes in. So overall, passable, but for me the cracks in the show are starting to become apparent.

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Viewer Log: Iron Fist ep 4

Okay so where did we last leave Danny Rand? Hm… oh right, he was being defenestrated from the top of Harold Meachum’s secret apartment. And I posted this… back in March. Huh, if anyone was really looking forward to me getting to episode 4, I’m… sorry? Sorry if I’m doing Iron Fist a disservice, but somehow, I’m getting that fans of this show are… few, to say the least. Let’s get to it, shall we?

Okay, what sort of face is Harold making?
Smiling kindly? Evilly? Smugly?

Moments after being pushed out a window, Danny is able to catch himself on a light fixture sticking from the building. He slips off a moment later, but temporarily stopping does slow his momentum down so he doesn’t break anything. Hooray. He wakes up in the apartment, where we learn that Ward was the one that shoved him out the window, and he learns that Harold is alive. They have a small bonding moment, and then Harold explains how he is still alive. His miraculous recovery is due to the Hand. They used whatever secret Ninja techniques at their disposal to kill Harold, and then raise him from the dead. Three days later. Uh, Iron Fist writers… that was a little too on the nose. He’d been imprisoned ever since and been forced to do the Hand’s bidding. He convinces Danny to help him, however he can. As a reward, Harold has Ward drop all litigation again Danny, and announce to the press that Danny Rand is back. Hooray. As they’re leaving, Ward warns Danny not to trust Harold too much, as the Meachum patriarch has only ever cared about one thing. Himself. Less Hooray.

Danny is presented at the Press Conference, and even gives an eloquent speech about where he’s been, and how he’s going to help Rand Enterprises be the best it can be. One reporter questions him about his time at the psych ward, to which Danny gives another well thought out explanation as to why he’d stay at a mental hospital before Ward ends the conference. None of the reporters wanted to hear about Danny’s life at a monastery? That’s way more unusual then a billionaire spending time at any kind of hospital, just saying.

Real subtle blocking.

After the meeting, Danny meets up with Jeri Hogarth, whom explains somethings to him as he signs the final paper work to get him control of RE. Namely, that while he doesn’t technically have a job at RE, as the majority shareholder, he pretty much has the final say on everything. He then goes to a board meeting where Ward is explaining a drug that Rand has developed to combat some made up disease. While Danny is happy to hear that, he’s disgusted to hear that the five-dollar pill that they produce is going to be sold at fifty dollars a pill. Everyone explains that this is how the business is done, that nearly all the proceeds will be reinvested in R and D, and the company will only make a small profit on this. But Danny says No, and they sell it at Cost. Not 100% up to date on my legal lingo, but I assume that means that they’ll sell the pill at the price it takes to make it. Five dollars out, five dollars in. Danny then leaves with Joy.

Later on, Ward gets a call Harold. He’s advised to take care of the reporter that was asking questions about Danny’s psych ward visit, to make up for buggering the pill price earlier. Apparently, papa Meachum wasn’t happy about selling at cost, either. Danny and Joy discuss marketing stuff, why selling things for a profit is good, and some of Danny’s past as he trained to be the Iron Fist. All the while looking into why Ward had been so interested in buying that Pier in a previous episode. Their discussion is interrupted by Joy nearly being kidnapped by a bunch of thugs. Danny goes to stop them. The thugs pull out hatchets. Did I just change the show to Kung Fu Hustle? Or is Danny actually fighting the Ax Gang? No matter, Danny beats the spit out of them, and gets Joy to safety.

They meet up with Colleen Wing. She’s been fighting in cage matches of late, just in case you’re wondering what she’s been up to. Danny asks if she knows about the Golden Sands, the name of the group that attacked them. She admits that they are a Triad. If the term is new to you, it’s the Chinese, and I believe to a lesser extent Japanese, form of organized crime. A Chinese Mafia, if you will. Danny goes to one of the Golden Sands legit business fronts, a restaurant and tells their boss to back off. Said boss admits that they just wanted to talk about, meaning force, Joy to make a deal with them regarding the Pier that RE had recently purchased. When Danny admits the Hand forced RE to buy it, they instantly back off, metaphorical tails between their legs. Weird. Danny meets up with Joy and Colleen, and he and Joy head out.

Hm... for some reason seeing Danny with these
two women seem rather awkward. Can't put my finger on why.

Meanwhile, Ward meets with the reporter from earlier. He pretty much lays out everything about Danny’s behavior at Rand, obviously embellishing in places, and makes particular note of the drug price fiasco. She leaves a few minutes later, excited about her big scoop. Imagine Ward’s anger the next day when it is clear in the article headline that she decided to sing the praises of Danny selling a lifesaving drug at cost. And, at his place, Harold is picked up by the Hand. His reward for getting them the pier was a chance to see Joy for a few minutes. When he sees she’s been hit, he asks one more favor, which the Hand allows. Namely, killing the Triad member that hit Joy. Dark but intense fatherly love there.

Overall, this is a decent enough episode. Fair amount of actions, with scenes that push the plot forward, and all that. But that’s kind of part of the problem, actually. By this point, all three of the other series in the Marvel/Netflix family have had at least one excellent episode or episodes that kept the energy going. At this point, I’m just chugging along because it’s a Marvel series. It’s decent enough, but it’s just that, decent. Which is sad. And I was not a fan of the meeting scene. I understand that they’re trying to build him up as a white knight, or whatever, but yeah, if you want a business to do work, they need to turn a profit. I have no business experience, and even I can appreciate that literally giving away a product might seem fine on paper but it’s impossible to make it work logistically. It’s the same problem that I kind of had with Ant-Man, trying to make the hero too much of an outlandish goodie good hurts them as a character. The reason Marvel’s character work so well s because at their core they’re humans in an abnormal setting. Iron Fist has his flaws, like any other character, but over exaggerating his ‘White Knight’ qualities just make him less interesting as a character. Just saying. Also, Colleen’s story feels really tacked on. Granted, her cage match is cool, but it really doesn’t connect to anything in Danny’s story. Just saying. And that’s all I have to say about that.

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Review: Wonder Woman

             Before I get started, let’s have a moment of silence for the late, great Adam West. He was a Batman unlike any other. … Alright, moving on.

Diana blocks all the bullets.

Sorry it’s been so long. It’s unprofessional, I know, but my real life has been rather busy. And, furthermore, I had a devil of a time getting to see this movie. I went out to see Wonder Woman three times before I was actually able to see it. First, the theater I went to had only one convenient showing, but since it was on their ‘Ultra Screen’ or whatever, they were charging nearly $20 a ticket. Too rich for my blood. Second time, went to a theater farther away, that I knew would be cheaper, but since it was $5 movie Tuesday, all the shows were basically sold out. So, finally, after nearly two weeks of attempts I finally got to see it, and it was very much worth it. Let’s get to it.

We open to Diana Prince, in modern day Paris at her day job as a museum curator. She receives a metal brief case from our favorite DC billionaire, Bruce Wayne. She opens it, and is very pleasantly surprised. Via a Note, Bruce explains that he’d spent some time since the Doomsday incident tracking down the original WWI era photo of Diana and her team. Said picture make Diana think about her entire life story. I’ve heard of crazier framing devices.

Diana was born on the Island of Themyscira, the only child to be found on the island. She was the biological daughter of Queen Hippolyta, but is essentially the child of the island. Despite her mother’s insistence that Diana stay away from weapons or the art of war, she clearly is drawn to battle like a fish to water. In an attempt to dissuade her from the path of a warrior, Hippolyta explains the Amazon’s backstory. In this universe, Zeus made humans and for a time, things were good. But Ares, Zeus’ jealous son, corrupted them and caused the humans to start fighting amongst themselves. Zeus created the Amazons to protect humankind, and help end the chaos. Ares slew his fellow gods, and mortally wounded his father before being struck down. Using the last of his strength, Zeus created the isle of Themyscira, transported the Amazon’s there, created a protective field around it, and breathed life into Diana. Hippolyta had shaped the girl from clay, FYI. He also left the amazons with a weapon to kill Ares, should he return. That’s a lot of stuff for someone to do with the ‘last of their strength,’ but this is Zeus we’re talking about here, so yeah.

Diana is trained to fight by her aunt, General Antiope, first in secret, then much more openly once Hippolyta discovered her sister’s actions. Flashforward a non-disclosed amount of time, and Diana is a nearly peerless warrior, able to fight multiple opponents, and just all around awesome. She accidentally injures Antiope in a training exercise, by making some sort of energy barrier/shockwave, and goes off to brood. Which is good, since she stood in just the right spot to see a plane pass through the barrier around their island, and hit the water. She dives in, and saves the pilot, Steve Trevor.

These two want to destroy the world.
Or something. Their motivations are a little vague.

Minutes later, Themyscira is invaded by the German soldiers pursuing him. An all out brawl ensues, between the German forces and the Amazons. The warrior women prove victorious, but Antiope is slain in the crossfire. Trevor is taken in for questioning. Under the influence of the ‘Lasso of Hestia’ aka the Lasso of Truth, Trevor explains what happened. He is an American soldier, assigned to British Intelligence as a spy. He infiltrated a German weapons facility in the Ottoman Empire, and discovered that Dr. Isabel Maru, aka Dr. Poison, had been developing weapons of mass destruction. Specifically, a kind of mustard gas that eats through gas masks. Considering standard mustard gas is a thing of pure evil, you can understand why this is bad. She’s working under orders of General Erich Ludenorff, whom somehow believes that the Germans can still win the war, despite lack of soldiers, food, and other resources. Seizing an opportunity, Trevor stole Maru’s notes and made a break for it. Unfortunately, the German forces followed. Diana, believing that this is all the work of Ares, wants to help stop him. Hippolyta isn’t convinced, though, and forbids it.

Diana, not one to be deterred, steals the Lasso, some armor, and the Godkiller sword. She and Trevor are caught attempting to leave, but Hippolyta relents. She banishes her daughter, but wishes her well on her quest. She also gives Diana the headband/tiara that her aunt Antiope wore. Hippolyta advises her daughter to be worthy of said tiara.

Sometime later, they arrive in London, and after a snafu with some German spies, and getting Diana some inconspicuous clothing, arrive at the Supreme War Council. After some political hoop jumping, and some failed codebreaking on behalf of British Intelligence, Diana is able to translate Maru’s notes. They’re planning to release the super mustard gas at the war front. Trevor and Diana want to stop the plan, but are forbidden to do so by Trevor’s superiors. He decides to say, ‘screw it,’ and assembles a team with Diana. They recruit spy Sameer, a marksman named Charlie, and a smuggler known as the Chief to help them. They are able to do this thanks to secret funding by a member of the War Council, Sir Patrick Morgan. He’s trying to negotiate an armistice with the Germans, but knows super mustard gas is something that probably shouldn’t be allowed to exist.

Diana and Trevor enjoying a horse rider.
Before taking on machine guns,

The group travels to Belgium, where they believe the Germans will release the gas. Trevor and co want to press on, but they are somewhat delayed by the front line. Trench warfare has a habit of disrupting travel plans, what with the deep trenches and machine guns everywhere. The men folk want to walk around, but Diana is moved by the pleas of the locals and tries the direct approach. She unveils her red and blue uniform, draws her sword and shield and charges. She almost singlehandedly takes down the entire German force, and frees the small town of Veld. The guys help, a little. The team celebrates victory, taking that famous photo, and bond a little.

 The team learn of a gala at the nearby German High Command. There, they assume Ludendorff is going to show off the super gas. Trevor infiltrates the party, in an attempt to find and destroy the gas. Diana, though, believes that Ludendorff is Ares in human form and that killing him with stop the war. She seems to be under the impression that Ares has the entirety of the Central Powers forces under some kind of mind control. Diana is... about as naive as you'd expect someone who spent her entire life on an island. She attempts to kill Ludendorff, but is stopped by Trevor. He feared such an… open attack will just make the war worse. Ludendorff, having not been un-alived as Deadpool would put it, launches his gas on Veld, killing them all. Diana rushes to the city to try and do something, but she’s far too late. After chastising Trevor for stopping her, she goes after Ludendorff, to end things.

Good first, which is most of the film. Gal Gadot was one of the best parts of Batman v. Superman, and she absolutely shines in her solo movie. She’s confident but a little naïve, strong but kind, and just a delight from start to finish. Side note, if a video exists, I’d love to see the reaction that the young actresses Lilly Aspel and Emily Carey had to when the learned they’d get to play two young Diana Prince’s. It’s probably hilarious. Chris Pine is awesome as Steven Trevor. He’s his usual confident awesome self, but is clearly conflicted about all he’s done, seen and will continue to have to do in the Great War. True to many a soldier’s experience back then, or so I’ve read. Danny Huston, whom I’ve had mixed feelings about since X-Men Origins: Wolverine, is decent as the clearly insane General Ludendorff. Not the best villain I’ve ever seen, but better than his William Stryker. The score is amazing, whomever wrote Wonder Woman’s theme music should get a substantial raise. The action scenes, particularly the Amazons vs. The Germans, and Diana storming No Man’s Land, are just amazing. They make excellent use of Zack Snyder style slow-mo. I also really enjoy that, for most of the movie, there is definitely this feeling that Diana isn’t really fighting Ares. She’s fighting War itself, the seeming human need to cause harm to one another. It’s really well done.

Diana Prince, always prepared.

The bad is super minimal, and mostly nitpicking. I’ll start with the biggest problem first, the side characters. They aren’t bad, far from it, they’re woefully underutilized. We have Said Taghmaoui as Sameer ‘Sammy’ the spy. He wanted to be an actor but was forced into the life of a soldier due in part to his ethnicity. Ewen Bremner is Charlie, an expert Scottish marksman whom suffers from PTSD. And Eugene Brave Rock, as Chief, a Native American smuggler who is trading to both sides. He left America as his people haven’t fared super well over there due to the American Government. And that’s all we’re ever told about them. Sammy’s dreams of acting, and Charlie’s PTSD seem important, but they’re almost forgotten as soon as they’re revealed. Then there’s Lucy Davis as Etta Candy, Trevor’s secretary. She really wasn’t in enough to be mentioned in the review, but she is hysterical. I laughed particularly hard while they were trying to get Diana some ‘London appropriate’ clothing. One of the best lines of the movie, Trevor puts a pair of glasses on Diana to make her ‘less conspicuous,’ her quip, “yeah put spectacles on her, like that’ll make her less of the most attractive woman you’ve ever seen.” She’s funny and unfortunately, we’ll never see her or the rest of Diana’s team again. Which is the same kind problem that Steve Rogers had in Captain America. The being set nearly a hundred years in the past make it kind of impossible for the old characters to pop up again. There is also this completely unnecessary point of Dr. Poison creating a super stimulant gas for Luddenorff. Something that he inhales and gives him temporary super strength. Why? So, he can have a quick fist fight with Diana. Only reason. It was an unnecessary minor plot point for an unnecessary minor fight. All I’m saying. And finally, certain twists could be seen from space. Specifically, what the Godkiller, the weapon to kill Ares, actually is, and whom Ares human form is. Pretty much the second these plot points come up, you’ll know who’s who.

Overall, A-. This is an amazing movie that I recommend to everybody. Diana does an excellent job on her first solo outing, and truly earns the title of Wonder Woman. If you haven’t seen it yet, go see it. My nitpicks are just that, nitpicks. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and can’t wait to see more of WW in the DCU. If she is a sign of things to come, then it looks like said DCU has finally found it’s grove. Have a good night everybody.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/ed/Wonder_Woman_%282017_film%29.jpg
https://twitter.com/TheMarySue/status/873301179266211842
http://wonder-woman.wikia.com/wiki/File:Ww2017-may19-03.jpg


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Viewer Log: My Hero Academia ep 13

So, let’s review. The efforts of Izuku, the other students, and Mr. Aizawa have disabled the vast majority of the invading villains. And, All Might has defeated the monster that had, supposedly, been tailor made to kill him. So, it’s down to just down to Shigaraki and his lieutenant, the shadow monster Kurogiri. Now, if only these two were pushovers. Let’s get to it, shall we?

Kaminari is about to get... Thunderstruck!
Sorry, I had to.

Shigaraki freaks out about losing his ace in the hole. He starts scratching his skin again. This time he’s scratching so hard that he’s drawing blood. He mutters to himself about how All Might isn’t ‘any weaker’ and that he ‘cheated’ to beat Noumu. Sounds like a very spoiled child, doesn’t he? All Might, while still standing, is getting close to his limit and needs to end this as quickly as possible. Thankfully, while the bad guys are aware of All Might’s weakening condition, they seem to be unaware of the signs of his weakness. Namely, they don’t know that his body starts smoking when he’s about to weakened state. Actually, better yet, they’re unaware that he has a weakened state at all. Hooray for villains lack of knowledge.

We then quickly jump back to Kaminari, Jiro, and Yaoyorozu. They are basking in the glow of their victory, not realizing there’s one more villain until it is too late. This guy, I don’t think he’s named so I’ll refer to him a Thunder Skull, nabs Kaminari, who’s still mentally shorted out from his electric attack. He was immune to Kaminari’s original pulse, as he too has electrical powers. Thunder Skull warns them to stay put, or he’ll crush Kaminari’s skull. Jiro tries to keep him distracted by keeping him talking. At the same time, she uses her extendable earlobes to loop behind her back and make for her headphone jack in her boots. The idea being that, since she can attack without any other physical tells in this regard, she could catch her opponent completely off guard and saving Kaminari. Thunder Skull, though, realizes what she’s doing. Somebody has seen, like, any superhero movie. He threatens to kill Kaminari if Jiro doesn’t stop moving. Well… he admits he’s going to kill SOMEBODY, regardless. They disobeyed him, so somebody has to die horribly. But, since he’s such a nice guy, he gives them a choice. He can either kill Kaminari and spare them, or they can willingly die via electrocution to save Kaminari. Not good. He goads them with a “What’s it going to be, Girlies?” A sexist supervillain? Who’d have guessed?

Shigaraki is getting close to giving up. No ace, no troops, no time, it all leads Shigaraki to believe it’s time to forfeit. This would be awesome for All Might. Again, his hero time is just about up. He tries to goad Shigaraki into acting, either to fall back or make some kind of mistake. The other boys, believing things have just about been wrapped up, want to fall back and rejoin the rest of the class. Izuku, though, notes that All Might is steaming, a sign that he’s about to revert into his normal form. He remains rooted to the spot. Shigaraki almost calls it, but Kurogiri intervenes. He notes that All Might is obviously at his limit, their minions are recovering, and this may be their last chance to kill All Might. Noting that the baddies are recovering, Todoroki, Bakugo and Kirishima decide to keep the lesser thugs out of All Might’s hair. Good choice, boys.

So is this the third or fourth time that Izuku's life has flashed
before his eyes this year?

Kurogiri and Shigaraki rush All Might together. Izuku, once again acting without thinking, rushes the two of them. He uses OFA to super jump, shattering both legs. He, in flight, locks his sights onto Kurogiri’s collar. He hopes to smash it, which would not only save All Might, but hopefully leave the villains trapped in the USJ. Unfortunately, both baddies seemed to have been expecting this. Kurogiri opens a warp gate between himself and Izuku, and between himself and Shigaraki. Shigaraki sticks his hand though, intent to disintegrate Izuku’s face. They laugh maniacally as Izuku is inches from being disintegrated. But, thankfully, the cavalry arrives. A sharpshooting hero, Snipe, shoots Shigaraki through his wrist forcing him to drop his hand. He then also makes an impossible shot across the compound, striking Thunder Skull and forcing him to drop Kaminari.

The hero teachers show off their powers, Present Mic disabling the recovering villains with a supersonic attack, and another hero, Ectoplasm, creates multiple clones of himself to nab them. Shigaraki, knowing for sure this time that the jig is up, tries to make a run for it. Snipe, sensing this, shoots him through both legs and his uninjured arm. Kurogiri tries to warp them away, but a now conscious Thirteen tries to suck them up with his Blackhole Quirk. But they get away.

As things start calming down, Izuku angrily berates himself for not being helpful again. All Might, instead, thanks Izuku for what he did. While he didn’t stop either villain, his attempt at an attack bought those few precious seconds for the other heroes to arrive. He puts it best, “Young Midoriya, you saved me once again. Mr. Nezu sends teachers in to recover the students. Kirishima goes to get Izuku. He’s a very kind kid, as All Might himself notes, but comes a little too close to learning about All Might’s weakened state. All Might’s secret is saved by another hero, Cementoss, who makes a barrier between them with his concrete manipulating power and telling Kirishima to regroup with the others.

Iida brought the big guns... and the Weasel priciple.

Shigaraki and Kurogiri reform in the villain bar. Not the best outing for these two, since Shigaraki has multiple gunshot wounds, they lost all of the minions they brought, and Noumu, and they didn’t even kill All Might. Shigaraki angrily blames his teacher, whom is watching this event unfold via a web cam. His teacher, though is just largely annoyed. Whatever they need to do to make Noumu obviously eats up a lot of time and resources, so making one like the one they’d lost will take lots of time. But, he’s confident that next time, Shigaraki will take out All Might. Shigaraki makes a mental note of ‘that kid,’ the one that is, mysteriously nearly as fast and strong as All Might himself. I smell a rivalry a brewing.

At the school, things have worked out impossibly well. As it stands, the only injuries of note were to All Might, Aizawa, Thirteen and Izuku. And, while Thirteen and Aizawa are pretty messed up, they should pull through. Thank god that they have a superhuman healer on their side. Mr. Nezu is greatly disturbed by all of these events that have transpired, and resolves to increase security around the school. The police arrive, and immediately apprehend Noumu. Without Shigaraki giving him orders, the creature is compliant, for now anyway.

In the infirmary, Izuku and All Might are recovering nicely. They’re visited by a detective, Naomasa Tsukauchi, who wants to appraise them of recent events. Izuku is initially freaked out by the officer’s arrival, but All Might lets Izuku know that Tsukauchi is a personal friend and is aware of his weakened form. They’re both relieved to know that everyone will pull through. All Might praises his students for their skills, and says “mark my words, they’ll become great heroes.” Even Mineta… I guess. Izuku feels a little bad that, once again, he really didn’t do all that much to protect All Might. But, the hero points out that, Izuku’s reckless charge did buy him the crucial four to five seconds for the other teachers to arrive and save them. He thanks Izuku for once again saving his life.

Stain is coming, and I couldn't be more excited.

Season one ends with a shot of the campus, and then a clip show of all the best moments of the season as the credits roll. In a post credit’s scene, we see Izuku meeting up with his friends and then head home. Future Izuku, who’s narrating again, muses that “We had no way of knowing that the League of Villains Attack on the USJ was just the beginning.” We truly end on a truly ominous sight, a new villain that will menace our heroes, Stain.

Overall, this was a good ending. Sure, the main threat to everyone was ended as soon as Noumu went reverse skydiving, but Shigaraki and Kurogiri still presented a threat to All Might and the students. Seeing All Might be so completely powerless, and then Izuku once again flying headlong into danger to protect him, were two intense moments. I’ll admit that finding out that no one died during all of this insanity, even Aizawa who literally had his face smashed in, is a little ludicrous. But, come on, this is a shonen anime/manga. Rarely do major characters actually die, unless we’re significantly closer to the end. While this is the start of Izuku’s journey as a hero, it is also the start of a whole heck of a lot of trouble for his world. The big bad escaped. They’ll regroup, reequip, and return with a vengeance. And, if the creepy image of Stain isn’t enough of a hint, I can assure you the next major villain is a force to be reckoned with. My Hero Academia is a fun ride, but I am looking forward to working on something else soon. Have a great night.

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Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero