South Park "The Pandemic Special" Review

 

In times of crisis there are so few people that you can count on to keep us entertained and well one of those people if the team behind South Park. I full on admit when this pandemic really started I knew that at somepoint the team behind South Park would be taking a shot at it and well I was freaking right and I have to say that this is the episode that we need right now and so here is my review of "The Pandemic Special" enjoy the review everyone.

The plot behind the special is that the town of South Park is getting used to a new normal whatever form it takes but not all people espically Eric Cartman are happy about it even more so when it means going to back to school. I will admit the plot of the episode is perhaps it's weakest aspect since it's pretty thinly drawn which is a shame because South Park doing an episode about the current pandemic the story just writes itself but the story just isn't that good in my opinion.

Now here I would normally list who is in the episode however since the cast for this episode and this show is pretty well known i'm honestly just not going to. I will say tho that all of the people that you expect to be in this episode and by that I mean the series regular cast are indeed in this episode and they are all playing there regular characters which is honestly to be expected but since I can't find a complete cast list and like I said the cast for this show is pretty well known anyway I thought that it was something worth saying anyways.

For once I cannot think of single bad performer for this show because all of the actors in the episode do such a good job playing there characters. To me what helps the actors in this episode is that there taking on something that's happening right now and so they can draw from there own experiences and any issues that they might have experienced during these difficult and let's face weird and bizarre times and so that makes the acting to me feel more real if that makes any kind of sense.

Doing the animation for this special episode is I assume South Park Studios since that's the only company I can find related to the animation but I could be wrong. I have to say that the animation in this special was a lot better then what I thought it would be I honestly feel that the animation in this special is something that would be right at home in a South Park movie because it's that good and is a huge upgrade from what we get in the show in my opinion.

Part of what makes me feel like this animation would suit being in a new South Park movie is the opening shot of Cartman's house. It's huge 3D CGI shot and you see the camera slowly move towards the house and in through the window to Cartman's bedroom this is honestly something that you wouldn't see in an average episode of the show and while I can see why since the average episode is produced on a schedule of six to seven days the fact that such a shot is included here to me shows what the team can do if they really wanted to.

Now while the main focus of the episode is indeed the pandemic and how that effects different people in different ways. The episode also very briefly touches on another social issue which i'm not going to say what it is just because I don't want any arguments to break out but when the scene that starts it came on I knew that it was going to cause quite a stir and while i haven't looked to see if i'm right I feel that the way the makers of this special chose to handle it works well for this special and I ask that if you do know what scene i'm on about I ask that you do not come at or anyone else who doesn't agree with you and your opinion we're here to have fun and talk about South Park and nothing else.

This episode makes fun of alot of people from every corner that the current pandemic has been looked at. Which yeah I feel is a good thing because sometimes we do need to laugh at ourselves and the situation that we are currently in which is honestly the thing that we need the most right now because if we can't learn to laugh at our selves and those around is in this current climate then who can we have a laugh at.

Just going back to what I was talking about before with the episode taking shots at everyone one of I think key groups people that this episode takes shots at is the people who same you for not wearing a mask. This was honestly a brave move on the part of the people who make the show because they risk upsetting a possibly huge part of there audience but at the same time it wouldn't be South Park if they didn't go out and offend people and the fact that they do it in a way that not only works within the story but is also pretty funny when you think about is for me at least a plus for this special and is something that I hope people laugh at in the future or are currently laughing at right now.

On to a much more lighter note this episode is the show / franchises first hour long special with the special clocking in at around forty seven and a half minuets. While I do feel that for the time being this kind of format would work for the show I do feel that this story would have been better told in weekly episodes hell they could have made an entire season's worth of episodes just based around the pandemic alone as well as how it effects different characters in different ways but having it be this long special does also mean that we get one of the best scenes in the special in my opinion.

To me one of if not the best scene in the entire special comes right after that amazing looking 3D CGI shot. Since they give Eric Cartman a song and it's just as ridiculous and over the top as you not only think it would be but as you'd want it to be the song is called "Social Distancing" and it's just an a amazing song that honestly had me laughing and is honestly a good way to start the special proper since lie I said we all need a good laugh and it makes sense for this character to be happy about not being able to talk to people and not having to go to school.

Now then since this is a comedy that does mean that I have to talk about the jokes that are in this special. I honestly feel that this episode is one of the best episodes that South Park has produced in a long while because it is just so freaking funny I cannot count the amount of times that I laughed not only hard but out loud during this special which for me is a very rare thing to happen and so the fact that it happened here tells you how good I thought the jokes were in this special.

Overall this was a really good and a really funny episode in my opinion and it's also one that like i've said several times now that we need right now. Yes this episode isn't perfect but for a show that's been going on for this long and has been very consistent with it's episode quality I think we can forgive them for putting out an episode that's not that good as such this episode gets a near perfect score of an 8.5 out of 10 from me.

All of the images that I used in this review were gathered Google Images and the official South Park fandom wiki page. Since the overall majority of the images that I used for this review came from the official South Park fandom wiki page I have no choice but to recommend that you use the official South Park fandom wiki page for images from this episode or the show or the franchise as a whole and if you found the episode please do not attack those who didn't and the same goes for those that didn't find the episode offensive like I said we are here to just about South Park and have some fun while doing so so be nice to each other and stay stay healthy and stay safe.

 

 

Powerless "Wayne Or Lose" Review

 

Comic book fans whenever we see a show that features super heroes nine times out of ten it's a drama or an animated comedy. However what you may not know or simply forgot is that there was a show that was set in a comic book world but was a straight up comedy and well after seeing the first for the first time since it first aired in 2017 I can see why this show lasted only twelve episodes and so here is my review pf the first episode of "Powerless" with the episode being called "Wayne Or Lose" enjoy the review everyone.

The plot of the episode is Emily Locke is hired as the new R&D director at Wayne Security but finds that her team is unmotivated and to make things worse Bruce Wayne might pull the plug on Wayne Security and fire everyone who works there unless the team and Emily can think of an idea that will save the company and thus there jobs. For a pilot episode this story was weak as all hell with the story not playing not even playing that big of a role in the episode and at times not even being present and when the story is brought it's usually when there's some form of joke going on and and so you can't really focus on the story since there trying and failing in my opinion to tell a decent joke and trust me we'll get to the jokes later on in this review.

Starring in the episode is Vanessa Hudgens as Emily Locke , Danny Pudi as Teddy and Christina Kirk as Jackie. Also starring in the episode is Ron Funches as Ron , Alan Tudyk as Van Wayne , Jennie Pierson as Wendy , Marc McClure as Emily Locke's father , Bill A. Jones as Marv Wolfman , Martin Garcia as Man , Josh Breeding as Steve , Kimani Ray Smith as Jack O'Lantern and Atlin Mitchell as Crimson Fox.

The acting in the episode was better then the story and alot of things in this episode but that's not really a high bar to reach. Don't get me wrong the acting in this episode is fine but it's clear to anyone who has seen this show or seen these actors in other things that the actors in this episode know that they are in something bad and just don't care and while like I said they are turning in good performances the script doesn't help them out at all and is honestly one of the worst scripts i've seen for a comic book show in a really long time.

You guys want to know what makes this a comic book show it's not the fact that there are superheroes and supervillains it's the fact that as it states in the shows poster this show is set in the DC Comics Universe. So when people talk about how DC produces good TV shows you could bring up this show as a an example of how they can also make bad TV shows and there would be nothing that people could say that would go against that at all.

They really do hit you over the head with the fact that this is set in the DC Comics Universe because there are a ton references in this episode. Which while it is indeed fun to see characters mention characters like Batman and Superman (who yes get name dropped in this episode) it can also be quite tiring and it makes those references feel like nothing more then fan service because of the fact that they adds freaking nothing to the overall episode or the episodes overall story.

I wouldn't blame you if you forgot all about this show because until a few days ago I forgot that this show even existed. Just to give you an idea how bad this show was it was given an order of twelve episodes and out of those twelve episodes only nine aired on NBC with the final three episodes released on TVNZ OnDemand which as far as I can tell is a New Zealand online streaming service so technically the final three episodes never even aired in America where the show was produced and made.

One of the more notable things about this show is the fact that it's showrunner left the show in August 2016 and was replaced by Justin Halpern and Patrick Schumacker. The duo I assume had the task of retooling the entire show which by this point was already fully cast and was months away from airing it's first episode and so to say that the production of this show was both troubled and rushed as hell would be a huge understatement.

You know how I know that this show was retooled because so little of what was in the original trailer actually happens in the episode. Hell even the above poster shows where the shows characters originally worked so it's clear as day that the show was retooled before it made it to air and that what scenes were already filmed where inserted into the pilot episode in an attempt to make the show somehow work.

To this episodes credit it is only twenty two minuets long and so it does go by really freaking quickly which in this case is a good thing. I say that it's a good thing because this is a really bad pilot and so to see that it not only isn't on for that long but that it actually flies by when it's on is a great thing because it means that the pain behind watching this bad show won't last for long and we can go back to forgetting all about this show pretty quickly.

Honestly guys and girls if the word comedy wasn't featured on the poster for this show you would have no idea that this was meant to be funny. Simply because so few of the jokes are actually funny and the ones that are funny at best will get a small chuckle out of people and not make them laugh out loud but for this show jokes that get just a small chuckle out of you is honestly a good thing that's how bad the jokes are in this episode.

Overall if you guys think Teen Titans Go! or the Batwoman TV show is bad then I beg you check out this show because then you'll see what bad truly is. Yes there are a few redeeming factors but those factors aren't enough to make the show good nor this episode even close to being enjoyable but it is fun to watch just how bad the show is and the fact that they even tried a comedy set in the DC Comics Universe is admirable and given that if the jokes were funny a comedy set in the DC Comics Universe could actually work as it is tho the show gets a 3.5 out of 10 from me.

All of the images that I used in this review were gathered from the official Powerless fandom wiki page and Google Images. Since I know that no one is going to care about where is best to get high quality images from either this show or this episode i'll just say that even tho I found the official Powerless fandom wiki page to have very high definition and high quality images just use whichever website you want for images from either this show of this episode that is if you remember about this show five minuets after reading this review that is.

Gotham TV Series "Pilot" Review

 

Batman fans there have been many animated shows and films based on the character but there have been so few live action shows based on Batman. While that may be changing in the coming years with a cop show based in the world of the upcoming Matt Reeves film "The Batman" let us not forget that there already was a cop show based in the world of Batman just a few years ago and so here is my review of the pilot episode of Gotham with the episode being simply called "Pilot" enjoy the review everyone.

The plot of the episode after Thomas and Martha Wayne are killed infront of their son Bruce Wayne it's up to young detective James Gordon and his partner Harvey Bullock to solve the case. In my opinion while the whole angle who the Thomas and Martha Wayne being shot has been seen so many times i've lost count showing it from the police's point of view offers a new perspective on things and because of that the story for the episode I feel works very well or at least in my opinion it does anyways but that's just me.

Starring in the episode is Ben McKenzie as James Gordon , Donal Logue as Harvey Bullock and David Mazouz as Bruce Wayne. Also starring in the episode is Zabryna Guevara as Sarah Essen , Sean Pertwee as Alfred Pennyworth , Robin Lord Taylor as Oswald Cobblepot , Erin Richards as Barbara Kean , Camren Bicondova as Selina Kyle , Cory Michael Smith as Edward Nygma and Jada Pinkett Smith as Fish Mooney.

In terms of what I thought about the acting in the episode it was honestly a lot better then what I thought it was going to be and bare in mind I saw this episode when it first aired in 2014. I honestly feel that alot of the actors in this episode were the best choices to play these versions of these iconic characters and the actors do a really good job in this episode which to me is a good thing because if the acting in the premier episode is good then chances are the acting in the rest of the show will good as well.

Now I touched on this before but this opening episode tells the same story that we've seen told in dozens on Batman media that being the deaths of Thomas and Martha Wayne. However to this episodes credit it does somethings new with the concept like adding Selina Kyle aka Catwoman to the scene which now gives her and Bruce a connection and by telling the story from the point of view of the police which is something that I don't think we've seen before but at the same time it's still the same scene that we've seen hundreds of times told in the exact same way and so it looses all impact because you know how it's going to play out.

I honestly feel that making a Batman show without actually featuring the Batman character is honestly a brave move to make. Since it's something that has never been done before be it in animation or live action and I can kind of see why it's never been done since having a Batman show without Batman in it would be very hard to market to people since let's face it know one is going to know who any one in the Gotham City Police Department is and so making a show based around them doesn't make that much sense but the makers of this show did it and they made it work.

Now I have very mixed feelings about the the fact that this episode and the show as a whole features younger versions of classic Batman villains. Simply the show is a prequel and with those characters being used it now means that we know that there going to make it out of the show alive and well because we know that those characters go on to become villains for Batman to face and so all suspense revolving around those characters is lost.

I honestly feel that the show could have got around this simply by not including those characters and creating new characters. However if they really wanted to use the classic Batman villains then they should have been saved for the final season since then it would feel like we are getting closer and closer to the Batman that we all know and love but by featuring them here while it does give us more of a chance to get to know and fall in love with these characters it also means that we know that those characters are going to make it out alive and like I said all suspense is then lost when it comes to those characters.

This episode is fifty minuets long which for any cop show is two long a running time in my opinion simply because nothing interesting happens. The same is true here nothing of interesting happens in the episode which can make the episode hard to sit through because there are times where the episode is honestly pretty boring to watch and because of that I found myself going on the internet while the episode was playing.

In terms of it being a cop show i'd say this is one of the more better ones simply because the characters in it are interesting and the script for this episode is so good. However as an actual mystery the episode fails hard simply because it doesn't do anything that a good mystery should do and so you the viewer really aren't given a chance to work out who killed Thomas and Martha Wayne and solving the mystery is half the fun of a cop show.

Now then since this is technically also an action show and there is some action in this episode that does mean that we have to talk about the action that's in this episode. Which I do feel that given that this is was show made for Fox the action pretty decent im not going to say that its was great because it wasn't but for a show on Fox the action was passable altho some scenes weren't as violent as they perhaps could and more importantly should have been in my opinion.

Overall this was a really good episode and I can see why alot of people watched this show however the show didn't hold my attention for very long infact I stopped watching just before the ed of the first season. The same is true for this episode it just didn't hold my attention and alot of the reason why comes from the fact that there's nothing that interesting happening in this episode and from the fact that this is a prequel with alot of the same characters who appear in other Batman media as such this episode gets a 7.5 out of 10 from me.

All and I do mean all of the images that I used in this review were gathered from the official Gotham TV series fandom wiki page and nowhere else. Since I only went to the official Gotham TV series fandom wiki page for the images that I used in this review I have no choice but to recommend that you use that website for images from either this show or this episode because not only is there a huger verity of images but at least from the one's that i've seen they are all very high quality and high definition which for me at least is a huge plus. 

 

 

Legion "Chapter 1" Review

 

Marvel fans i've reviewed alot of the shows and films that the company has released and well it's safe to say that i've found the strangest one yet. Honestly I have no words to describe this pilot episode because of how weird and strange it is honestly watching this debut episode is like going on a drug trip it's that weird and odd and as far as I can tell this is set in the world of the X-Men but which continuity tho I truly cannot say as the main film continuity for the X-Men franchise is screwed up already and every TV show based on the characters live action or animated is set within it's own continuity and so here is my review of the first episode of Legion called "Chapter 1" enjoy.

Now I honestly wish that I could tell you what the plot for this episode is however I really can't work out what the plot of the episode is. Since it's that weird and strange i'm sure that there's a plot present in this episode but the only way you'd be able to work out what it was was if you yourself was on some kind of drug and even tho I saw this episode when it first aired i'm still to this very day confused as hell to what I just saw.

Starring in the episode is Dan Stevens as David Haller , Rachel Keller as Sydney Barrett and Aubrey Plaza as Lenny Busker. Also starring in the episode is Jeremie Harris as Ptonomy Wallace , Amber Midthunder as Kerry Loudermilk , Katie Aselton as Amy Haller , Jean Smart as Melanie Bird , David Ferry as Dr. Dennis Kissinger , Ellie Araiza as Philly , Matt Hamilton as Ben , Brad Mann as Rudy , Hamish Linklater as Clark Debussy and David Selby as Brubaker.

The acting in the episode I thought to be rather freaking fantastic with all of the actors no matter how big their roles was in this episode giving a truly great performance. To me what helps the acting in this episode is the fact that the script by show creator and director of this episode Noah Hawley is so freaking good as such all the actors have to do is read the lines as they are written and they'd have a solid performance that's how good this script is in my opinion.

For those of you that don't know which i'm assuming is alot of you this show is based on the Marvel Comics character also called Legion. The character was created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Bill Sienkiewicz I honestly have no idea who this character is but glancing at the characters Wikipedia page I can tell you that he is the son of Professor X and that as a character he really hasn't been around for that long having first started appearing in comics in New Mutants Issue 25 from March 1985 as such he is a fairly new character at least in terms of comic books and I think that it was brave of FX to take a chance on a little known and like I said fairly new comic book character.

I say they were brave because it would have been super easy for them to pick one of the older X-Men characters and base a show around them. However going the opposite route means that they could change whatever they wanted to fit the show and the world that the show is set in now I have no idea if they did that or not since i've honestly never read any of the comics that this character has appeared in but I honestly wouldn't blame them if they did since the characters backstory and lore isn't set in stone like most comic book characters backstory and lore is as such they are more free to change the characters backstory and lore.

I honestly really did like the character of Lenny who as mentioned before was played by the stunning as all hell Aubrey Plaza. I;m honestly shocked that they killed this character of in the first episode mostly because Aubrey Plaza was the only big name in the shows cast and so keeping her character alive would have made sense but at the same time I think people would have expected her character to be alive and well and so killing her off says that if she can die then maybe these others characters can die as well.

To me Lenny was one of the more likeable characters in this episode mostly because you actually understood what was going in her scenes but also because she got alot of the best lines of the episode. Which to me made her character more entertaining to watch just because you knew that whatever she was going to say was going to be pure comedy gold and you can tell that Noah Hawley had a good time writing her because she's in alot of the episode.

I've said this several times in this review and i'm going to say it again but this episode is weird as all hell. Which if that was the point like your meant to feel like David like your insane then well freaking done but if that wasn't the case then I have to wonder what the point even was in making the episode like it is as well as what made you think that this was the right way to go with the your debut episode since it's going to and i'm assuming it did leave alot of people confused as all freaking heck or at least I think so anyways.

This episode is one hour and seven minuets which I feel for an episode that is really hard to follow having that long a running time really doesn't help things at all. I say this because there are huge portions of the episode that are just boring to watch and as such I found my self going on the internet while the episode was playing which for anything regardless of if it's TV show or film is never a good thing whatsoever.

Like I said this is meant to be set in the same world as the X-Men and yet there's no actual X-Men present either in this show and I believe in the series. I honestly feel that this is a huge mistake since alot of people who would be interested in this show are fans of the X-Men and so having one of the X-Men character regardless of if they appeared in any of the films or not I feel would have helped attract more people to the show.

Overall this was a really good episode or at least the parts that I could actually make out were really good. However the episode is very freaking confusing and so it's freaking hard to work out what the plot actually was (hence what I just said in the above sentence) which even tho it very well might have been what the makers of the show were going for it still makes the episode hard to follow as such this episode gets a 7 out of 10 from me.

All and I do mean all of the of the images that I used in this review were gathered from the official Legion TV series fandom wiki page. Since I only went to one website for the images that I used in this review I have no choice but to recommend that you use the Legion TV series fandom wiki page just because the images there I found to be really freaking high quality which for me and I assume others is a huge plus when putting together either a review or any post.

 

Happy Halloween, Scooby-Doo Review

 

Scooby-Doo fans usually we only get one Scooby-Doo movie a year however this year we luckily got two Scooby-Doo movies. This is one that I was honestly expecting to be released digitally in at least a few weeks and so you can imagine my surprise when I saw that it was online well now and well since I have a tradition of reviewing each new Scooby-Doo movie the first chance that I get I now present to you my review of "Happy Halloween, Scooby-Doo" enjoy.

The plot of the movie is after wrapping up another mystery The Mystery Inc gang along with Elvira Mistress Of The Dark find themselves being chased by giant Pumpkins and so they have to find out who did it before the pumpkins eat them. I'll full on admit the story was alot more fun then what I thought that it was going to be since I honestly thought that the story would be rather simple and dull but no this was actually really fun.

Of course we have our regular Scooby-Doo voice cast that being Frank Welker as Scooby-Doo and Fred Jones , Matthew Lillard as Shaggy Rogers , Grey Griffin as Daphne Blake and Kate Micucci and Velma Dinkley. Joining the cast for this film is Cassandra Peterson as Elvira , Bill Nye as Himself Dwight Schultz as Jonathon Crane / Scarecrow , David Herman as The Sheriff and Fred Tatasciore as The Head Jack O Lantern.

The voice acting from everyone I thought was really good and after having an animated Scooby-Doo film without the main cast it was good to hear there voices again. I honestly feel that the regular cast were great in this film just because the script for the film is one of the better Scooby-Doo direct to DVD film scripts and because of that the regular and the guest cast could turn in really fun performances and to me that's a great thing.

The animation for this film was handled by Digital Emation who have worked on alot of Scooby-Doo films and TV shows. Just like with the story I wasn't expecting the animation in this film to be that good but no I was actually pretty blown away by how good the animation was to me this film with this animation deserved a big screen release that's how good the animation was in my opinion but I will admit some of the characters thickly drawn lines were a tad bit distracting in my opinion.

Just going back to when the trailer for the film was first released I had no idea that freaking Elvira Mistress Of The Dark would be making another appearance in this franchise let alone be a main character. As a horror fan I loved that they included her just because having more Elvira is always a good thing in any film but I wish that they would have had her share a scene with Bill Nye just because those two are huge eighties and nineties icons and so it would have been pretty cool to see them share a scene together in this film.

I think that pretty much everyone who saw the trailer had some sort of idea that this film would be fun as hell and well fun is the best to describe this film. Since it is really fun I honestly cannot remember the last time that I had fun while watching a direct to DVD Scooby-Doo not like the others are bad but not all of them are fun which is a shame because that is what makes this film a joy to watch because there are alot of moments in this film that are just fun.

I'm not going to spoil anything since I do feel that this film is worth watching but there is a scene very early on that I didn't expect. To me this scene was quite shocking because of the characters that it involves because we've seen these characters before and not once have we seen one of them act like how they do in this one scene which to me was honestly rather refreshing and it totally makes sense in the context of the film.

Perhaps the best kept secret about the last three films is that they actually form a trilogy which I don't mind spoiling since it doesn't spoil anything regarding the plot. I'm honestly shocked that they chose to make a trilogy of films and not really tell people or give people clues but that's honestly a good thing since it now gives people a chance to go back and re-watch the other two films just incase they missed out on any clues in the other films.

Perhaps the weakest aspect of this film is it's mystery which for a Scooby-Doo piece of media should never be the case. To me the mystery in this film was so hastily put together that they didn't bother to give you any clues which is something that you should always do regardless of if you in the Scooby-Doo franchise or not and that to me lade the mystery less fun to work out because the reveal of who it is comes out of nowhere.

This film is an hour and sixteen minuets long and I have to say that the time just flew by before I even knew it there was twenty minuets of the film left and it felt like I had just pressed play on the film. I honestly feel that this running time was perfect for this film just because it allowed the film to be fun and to have those creative and really funny moments which is something that you wouldn't get in the film was longer then say an hour a half and yes I loved the comedy in this film as well since I found my self laughing alot during the film.

Overall yeah this is a really good and fun movie and it's one that I would highly recommend anyone to watch even if it's just to kill some time. Yes there are some bad things in this film as i've covered in this film but that doesn't stop the film from being enjoyable and being fun to watch and so this film gets a 7.5 out of 10 from me. All of the images that I used in this review were gathered from either the official Scooby-Doo fandom wiki page or from Google Images and I honestly have to say use whichever website you want to use for images from this film but I would say that Google Images does have more images from the film tho even tho they won't always be high quality images and I have to say that I don't recommend using the method that I use to watch the film your much better of waiting until October 6th to watch the film nor do I condone the way that I watched the film either.

  

 

 

The Gifted "eXposed" Review

 

Marvel fans there have been a ton of animated shows based on the X-Men and there has been at least one live action show which is very , very , very loosely based on the X-Men. However there hasn't been a live action show that's based on the X-Men which is a shame because given the advancements in CGI a how based on the X-Men could actually be done but alas one has yet to be made and so here is my review of the pilot episode to the 2017 series "The Gifted" with the episode being called "eXposed" enjoy the review.

The plot of the episode is after their kid expose themselves as mutants the Struckers have to go on the run from an agency that wants there kids with the family now being forced to join the mutant underground a group of people who want to see mutants treated as equals. I honestly feel that the plot to this episode was honestly a lot better then it really had any right to be since this is still a comic book show and so people wouldn't have blamed those involved with the making of the show if the story wasn't up to scratch but no the plot was honestly really engaging as well as being really well written and well told.

Starring in the episode is Stephen Moyer as Reed Strucker , Amy Acker as Caitlin Strucker and Sean Teale as Eclipse/Marcos Diaz. Also starring in the episode is Natalie Alyn Lind as Lauren Strucker , Percy Hynes White as Andy Strucker , Coby Bell as Jace Turner , Jamie Chung as Blink/Clarice Fong aka Clarice Ferguson , Blair Redford as Thunderbird/John Proudstar and Emma Dumont as Polaris/Lorna Dane.

The acting just like the story is honestly really freaking good which is something that I honestly wasn't expecting. I say that because alot of the actors that are in this episode aren't really known unless you've seen them in other things as such I really had no idea what kind of a performance to expect from any of these actors and so I was pleasantly surprised when I saw that the acting in the episode was actually good.

Doing the CGI for this episode and the rest of the series is CoSA VFX and Spin VFX two companies i've never heard of of which judging by what ii'm about to say is a damn shame. The CGI in this episode is shockingly alot better then what I thought it was going to be mostly because CGI in TV shows is very rarely that good but nope the CGI in this episode is honestly close to being movie quality it's that good.

Even tho this is based on the X-Men comic book it's not actually set in the world of the X-Men movies nor is it set in the same world as Legion or Logan. This show is set in it's world but given that both this show and Logan are set in a world where the X-Men no longer exist I can't help but wonder if the original plan for the show was to have it be set in the same world as Logan but due to some unknown reasons they went the over way and decided to create a new world based around this show and it's characters.

One of the things that I didn't like about the episode is that they don't really make it clear what Andy's power is. Since a few times in the episode we him being able to bend metal and then also blow up a vending machine and so it's not really made clear what his power is which I get because its the first episode and you don't want to give away all your secrets in the first episode but you have to give us something to work with instead of nothing.

Now for me the running time of any episode even more so the premier episode is a very big deal since you need to have the amount of story needed to fill that time frame and while this story does have a good amount of story it also has alot to fill a second episode. I don't get why this opening story wasn't a two part episode since there's more then enough story there to fill up both episodes as such we get slightly rushed plot points which don't have the same impact that they would have had if this was a two part story or at east I think so anyways. 

Even tho this is a superhero show I personally see it more as a family drama which I honestly feel a great twist on the X-Men mythology. While the drama isn't layed on in this episode which is understandable it does start to become a bigger part of the show and I like the fact that the heart of the show isn't two teams fighting over what's right and wrong it's a family just trying to survive and stay together which is honestly something I don't think we've seen in any Marvel show live action or animated but I could be wrong.

Now even tho I just said this is more of a family drama then a superhero show it does still have some action in the episode which means that we have to talk about the action that's in the episode. Which to me is another let down just because we don't really get to see that much of people's powers in action which is honestly what alot of people would have tuned into this show to see but when we do get to see people's powers during an action scene it's honestly really freaking cool to see well in my opinion it is anyways.

Overall this was a really good episode and i'm shocked that the show only lasted two seasons since the show itself was really freaking good as well. I'm not going to lie and say that this episode or this show for that matter is perfect because i'd be lying on both accounts since this episode does have alot of problems all of which i've covered in this very review as such this episode gets an 8 out of 10 from this comic book fan.

All and I do mean all of the images that I used in this review was gathered from the official The Gifted fandom wiki page. Since I only went to one site for the images that I ended up using in this review I have no choice but to recommend that you use the official The Gifted fandom wiki page if you want really high quality images from either this episode or the show as a whole and trust me when I say there's a lot of high definition images for you to chose from if you choose to use the official The Gifted fandom wiki page.

 

  

Agent Carter TV Series "Now Is Not The End" Review

 

Marvel fans out all of the live action shows that Marvel have produced there is always one that alot of people forgot about which is a shame because out of all the live action shows that are set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe this is one of the better ones. Hell until yesterday I myself forgot all about this show which is a shame because i've just re-watched the first episode and it's so good here is my review of the first episode of the Agent Carter TV show called " Now Is Not The End" enjoy the review everyone.

The plot of the episode is a formular that Howard Stark was working on has been stolen and he tasks friend and secret agent Peggy Carter to find it before he's arrested and before something life devastating happens because of it being used. The story in my opinion was alot better then it really had any right to be since with this being a TV show set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe no one would have blamed them if the story wasn't that good but nope the story in this episode was shockingly good and was honestly really well told in my opinion.

Reprising their roles from Captain America: The First Avenger is Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter and Dominic Cooper as Howard Stark. Joining them are James D'Arcy as Edwin Jarvis , Chad Michael Murray as Jack Thompson , Enver Gjokaj as Daniel Sousa , Shea Whigham as Roger Dooley , Lyndsy Fonseca as Angie Martinelli , Kyle Bornheimer as Agent Ray Krzeminski , Alexander Carroll as Agent Yauch , James Frain as Leet Brannis , James Hebert as Sasha Demidov and Ashley Hinshaw as Colleen O'Brien.

The acting just like the story is alot better then it really had any right but not by much since some of the actors don't do a good job in this episode. Of course both Hayley Atwell and Dominic Cooper do a really good job since there characters have already been established and so they already know how best to play certain scenes but the new actors while alot of them do a really good job there's a fair few that bring the quality of the acting down just because they don't know how seriously to treat the material that there being given which is a shame because like I said the acting in the episode is alot better then it really has any right to be.

Doing the CGI for this is Base FX , DNegTV , Double Negative (DNEG) and I wish I was making this up but Industrial Light & Magic. Yeah i'm honestly as surprised as you guys are because I had no idea that Industrial Light & Magic worked on this episode but that does explain why the CGI in this episode is honestly really good and even tho there's not alot of CGI in this episode in fact I only counted one or two CGI shots in the whole episode it's still a great thing that the makers of this show chose to make that effects in those shot really good.

This TV show is actually prequel to the Marvel One Shot film also called Agent Carter when ends with Peggy and Howard forming what would become SHIELD. Which honestly makes this series redundant since you already know that both Peggy and Howard are going to make it out alive and well and so any tension that might have been there is now gone because of the fact they show u alive and well in a short film that was made and released before this series was made and released.

Honestly I do feel that out of all the live action Marvel shows that aired on network TV this is one of the better ones. Since as this episode shows it takes on a different genre and does it really well it would have been super easy to make Agent Carter another superhero based show but no they went the other route and made it more of a spy show which honestly works because spy work is honestly something that is dangerous and exciting all on it's own and the fact that this episode showcased that really well is in my opinion what helps this show standout.

Now that I have your attention with a picture of Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter looking hot as all hell in that dress. I want to talk about how well written the character is since for me it would have been super easy to use this character to force an agenda down our throats but they don't do that instead they go the opposite route and write her really well and they do that by showing her grieving over the supposed death of Steve Rogers and the fact that she strongly believes that she gets people killed all of this makes her a really complex character and honestly characters like the film version of Captain Marvel or Rey from the Star Wars sequel trilogy can learn a thing or two from this show because the treated her as an actual character.

Staying with the character of Peggy Carter who as mentioned is played by the stunning Hayley Atwell I honestly liked the fact that they showed her dealing with sexism at work. Simply because that's something that alot of women in the early to mid 1940's would have had to deal with it and while it would have been super easy to pretend that it didn't happen i'm glad that the makers of this show took the chance and say yes this did happen and the fact that it's still the same in the next episode and isn't resolved at all to me makes the episode and this show feel more real in my opinion.

There is a bad thing tho when it comes to the writing and that's the fact that the male characters aren't written as well as Peggy Carter is. Take for example any of the male colleagues that Peggy works with who are all written very one dimensionally in that they are there to act sexist around Peggy and nothing more which doesn't make them interesting characters it makes them boring to watch and the same could be said for Edwin Jarvis who is played by James D'Arcy who at least in this episode isn't given a personality but given that he's a main character that is something that gets added as this first season progresses.

Since this is technically an action show that means that I have to talk about the action that's in this episode. Which again is another let down for me not because there's not much action because there's plenty of it but rather you can hardly tell what's going on have of the time since either the editing is so fast that you can't make out what's happening or the screen is so dark that you can't see anything that's on the screen which for me at least is a bad thing.

Overall this was honestly a really good episode and I really cannot recommend this show to enough people because it is that good and yes I did see the show when it first being broadcast. As I covered in this review there are some bad things that are in this episode and it's those bad things that keep this episode from being perfect since they are things that could have been fixed but the makers of the show chose not to fix as such this episode gets an 8 out of 10 from this comic book fan.

All of the images that I used in this review were gathered from the official Marvel Cinematic Universe fandom wiki page and nowhere else. Since I only went one place to get the images that I used in this review I have no choice but to recommend that you use the official Marvel Cinematic Universe fandom wiki page for images from any Marvel Cinematic Universe film or TV show or even images from this show or episode.