Weekly Entertainment Recap: Week of July 10th, 2023

iCarly Season 3 Episodes 6 and 7 (Paramount+): These two episodes may be a new low for the show, which is saying something because it’s been serviceable at best up until this point. The high school reunion episode is just nonsensical and feels like it was a rejected plotline from the original show that was airing on terrestrial television in the late 2000s. This week’s episode feels more like something that could have had emotional resonance, but it chickens out and continues to lean back into the traditional storytelling of a family-friendly sitcom. The crux of the conflict in the episode is Freddy’s mother’s obsession with her son (to an unhealthy degree) and how it relates to Carly’s flagrant narcissism. When the resolution of this conflict comes to a head, it does not end with Carly showing some emotional maturity as she should considering she’s almost 30 at this point, it’s just that she faced her fears by climbing into the wall to talk to Freddy’s mother. It should have been Carly explaining to her that her relationship with Freddie is not like the other relationships she’s had and it’s something deeper, but that’s too much for the type of show this is. This is a show that is “mature” in the most superficial terms, namely they infrequently curse but don’t use that leeway to do deeper character work which has been done in sitcoms before.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 Episodes 3 and 4 (Paramount+): Both episodes lean into the philosophical questions that made Star Trek
great in its original run, however episode four does a better job of integrating it and leaving it more open for interpretation. Episode three is the classic “would you kill a dictator as a child” as La’an is given the opportunity to go back in time and kill Khan before the Eugenics Wars, the problem is the question is caveated to death to the point that when she gets to the end to make the actual choice, it’s not really a choice. The Kirk she is teamed up with is from an alternate reality where Khan was killed and the Eugenics Wars never happened and everything is so much worse that she’s stuck making the decision to let history play out. The question of the fourth episode works a little better because it is about the fundamental sense of self and what aspects of someone’s personality are considered fundamental to who they are.

Secret Invasion Episodes 2 and 3 (Disney+): In the comics, Super Skrull’s powers are based on the Fantastic Four. Up until this point, the Marvel Cinematic Universe does not have a Fantastic Four movie because the rights were tied up at Fox (though a movie is slated for May of 2025). Changing the origin of these powers to be Extremis from Iron Man 3, that frost giant creature from Thor: The Dark World, Cull Obsidian from Avengers: Infinity War, and Groot (in this case presumably also from Avengers: Infinity War) is making the best of the situation and it will remain to be seen how this works in practice. If the threat does involve multiple Super Skrulls, Fury may have to call in some backup because each of these threats (and Groot) are not the easiest to take down by some of the most powerful Avengers, let alone Nick Fury and Talos.

My Adventures With Superman Season 1 Episodes 1 and 2
(Adult Swim/MAX): This is the Superman show that people have been waiting for as it shows that Superman can exist as the big blue boy scout and not have it feel weird. The relationship between him and both Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane is fantastic and their dynamic is fun to watch. Introducing a young iteration of Slade Wilson is a great villain for the origins of Superman as a character is a strong choice as well because it lets the show play around with other things as they grow the world out from there, plus Slade’s biggest nemesis is probably not even born yet at this point.

This Week In Theaters:

Mission: Impossible-Dead Reckoning Part I: Tom Cruise comes back to theaters in the latest Mission: Impossible film. Much like Mission: Impossible-Fallout, the action looks pretty solid and has a good amount of interesting action set pieces, including one where Cruise drives a motorcycle off a cliff. Haley Atwell, Pom Klementieff, Vanessa Kirby, Simon Pegg, and Rebecca Ferguson also star.

Last Week At The Box Office:

Insidious: The Red Door: $32.7 Million

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny: $26.5 Million

Sound of Freedom: $18.2 Million

Elemental: $9.6 Million

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse: $8.0 Million