Weekly Streaming Recap: Week of October 21st, 2022

She-Hulk: Attorney At Law Episode 8 and Finale (Disney+): The final two episodes of She-Hulk managed to be the best two of the series. The arrival of Daredevil in a weird way allows for Jennifer to develop as a character, while the post-modern approach of the finale feels in line with iconic runs of the 1980s. The finale lampoons the ridiculous nature of Marvel Studios third acts and allows for Jen to finish her arc in a way that feels the most organic and gives her the most autonomy. The comedy in the last two episodes are top notch and work extremely well, it’s just a shame that the strongest two episodes come at the end of the show and not earlier on, That said, there is a certain trend with Marvel Studios shows on Disney+ where the shows are either the last episode or the second to last episode, between Moon Knight’s episode delving into Marc’s backstory in the penultimate episode or Loki facing off against He Who Remains/Kang and breaking open the multiverse in the finale.

The Rings of Power Episode 7 and Finale (Amazon Prime): Even though he’s never named, it’s almost a certainty that The Stranger is Gandalf going into next season. The biggest issue with the show was that it is mostly set up for the real conflict in season two and just laying out who the characters are and where they are going into a war against Sauron, making this a very expensive and longwinded pilot episode that lasts an entire season. The trip was interesting to watch at least and did not drag.

Andor Episodes 5-7 (Disney+): There are two major things to address with this little pod of episodes. First, the idea that the Rebel Alliance never had the cleanliness of the Empire is addressed in an interesting and meaningful way. The Rebels always had the appearance that their equipment was held together with duct tape and bubblegum, and the fact that the Empire controls all the technology with the capability to track it creates the need to use old, decrepit, machinery to not be tracked.

The other large, blue, extragalactic elephant in the room is that the most recent episode adds fuel to the speculation fires of Thrawn’s appearance in the show. The introduction of Admiral Yularen is a big hint to that, considering the two worked together in Zahn’s book Thrawn that served as an origin story for his time in the Empire. Their mission in that book was to track down Nighthawk who was selling Imperial secrets out and the next time he is used after that trilogy is in Star Wars Rebels where he is still trumpeting the TIE Defender program instead of the Death Star for long term galactic stability (he was right by the way considering a TIE Fighter variant with shields and a hyperdrive is way more useful than a space station that can blow up a planet) and also tracking down the Rebel Cell around Lothal. It is a logical step for him to be sent to handle the issues that Andor is causing.

Pennyworth: The Origin of Batman’s Butler Episodes 1-5 (HBOMax): The biggest recurring issue with this show is that there are three characters who the audience knows what happens to them, especially with the arrival of the new subtitle on the show. As a prequel to Gotham, the viewer is aware of the fact that Alfred is going to live through this to help Bruce through his trauma and we know Thomas and Martha die in crime alley in the pilot of Gotham. Therefore, when the show continually puts them in mortal peril, it has zero stakes because they cannot die in the situation. This is an inherent problem with prequels, however the easiest way to get around it is to not use death or murder accusations as the vehicle to put them in peril, it’s just a shame the show doesn’t take these chances.

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Doctor Who Flux (HBOMax): The 13th season of Doctor Who (yes, 13th of the revival, it’s headed into its 60th year overall) came out earlier this year and is now streaming on HBOMax. This Sunday marks the final adventure for Jodie Whittaker before she regenerates in the Centenary Special with Ncuti Gatwa taking over in the titular role and Russell T. Davies returning to the showrunner’s chair. The 13th season is a little uneven and feels a bit like the CW’s attempt at Crisis on Infinite Earths
a few years back, however it is still plenty entertaining. That said, can they just retire the Weeping Angels as monsters already? They worked the first time because The Doctor was isolated from who the Angels were hunting but a monster who’s entire schtick is playing “red light, green light” to send them back in time is not a huge risk when the protagonist lives in a time machine.