Ms. Marvel Marvel Cinematic Universe #28.1 MCU Phase 4 #5.1 MCU TV #7

Ms. Marvel is not particularly earth-shattering. It doesn’t deal with the end of the world and only barely with the greater MCU (although there is a decent bit of ‘how the world changes with superheroes in it, like Ant-Man’s podcast and Avengercon).

What it is though? A awful lot of fun. Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan is just an absolute delight and really looks like she had a great time in the role. The whole supporting cast is great as well, especially Kamala’s family and friends Bruno and Nakia.

Kamala Khan: [whispers] I’m a super hero.

[She runs off gleefully]

I really enjoyed this. Especially when it leaned into the Muslim + Pakistani culture and the family dynamics of the whole thing.

Sheikh Abdullah: I don’t need anyone on my side. I’m not even concerned if God is on my side as long as I am on His side. God is always right.

Agent Deever: I don’t have time for Quranic quotes. Excuse me.

Sheikh Abdullah: Actually, that was Abraham Lincoln.

The big fights and greater threats were kind of cheesey and didn’t mesh as well (especially the big showpiece in the final episode), but the down to earth human parts of being a teenager superhero? Awesome.

It’s so hard to rank these any more, since there’s just so much to love in the MCU. I think Ms. Marvel ends up pretty squarely in the middle of the pack… but I’d still say it’s worth a watch. Onward.

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Locke & Key: Season 2 Locke & Key (TV) #2.1

Daaang things escalated. We’ve got more history, more direct interactions with the demons (and slight humanization to them, which is an interesting choice), and more character building with both the family and those around it. Man, I just want to give them all a big hug.

I so very look forward to Season 3! (see the end)

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Altered Carbon: Season 2 Altered Carbon #2

So… that’s a huge bummer. They swapped out most of the cast, kept one that… is a weird choice, and mostly changed the entire style of the show. It’s a fascinating choice and I wanted to like it… but I just couldn’t. Made it two episodes in. So it goes.

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Moon Knight Marvel Cinematic Universe #27.1 MCU Phase 4 #4.1 MCU TV #6

That … was truly bizarre. A main character with dissociative identity disorder where their powers deal with but are not caused by their disorder is fascinating (and truly weird to be watching at the same time as Altered Carbon: Season 1…), the Egyptian background and characters are great, and there’s are some pretty awesome scenes, fight and otherwise.

Castingwise, Oscar Isaac is awesome. I’m amazed at how he brings both Marc and Steven to life. Ethan Hawke is a great maybe-baddie-but-maybe-just-a-different-point-of-view. And May Calamawy as Layla El-Faouly is a real stand out in just about everyway. I hope that we get to see more of them in the greater MCU, although I have no idea how that’s going to work.

Speaking of which, this was so different from other MCU properties. It’s got Egyptian gods and powers more or less walking around, which fits, but I do really wander how/if we’d see them or their avatars square off against normal MCU level heroes. Tonally, it’s rather different too. There’s still an end of the world threat, but a lot of it’s dealing with the internal struggles of Steven/Marc.

Overall, it’s probably my favorite of the MCU TV shows so far… I’ll have to rewatch it and see if it holds up. It’s really quite good.

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Altered Carbon: Season 1 Altered Carbon #1

That is a spectacular show. In a nutshell, it takes a cyberpunk future world where the technology exists to separate the ‘mind’/stack/DHF of a person from their body/sleeve. Really, it’s primarily a tool for the wealthy to accumulate even more wealth and a number of the characters mention that we aren’t meant to live forever… And that actually made me think. It’s been something I’ve always thought would be neat: to be able to repair or move into another body if this is damaged, to send me mind to other worlds, etc. But how in the world would people react to that sort of power and change?

At the very least, let’s hope it’s better than what we see in Altered Carbon. Hoo boy.

Plotwise, it’s part detective show that segues into murder/revenge/revolution plots with more than a dash of questions around identity in a world where bodies are quite literally and easily (if not cheaply) replaceable.

There’s a lot of rather graphic violence and nudity, but for the most part it makes sense within the context of the show. Certainly not one for the kids though.

The casting, I loved. Joel Kinnaman as Takeshi Kovacs nails the ‘Envoy brought back’, Dichen Lachman as Reileen Kawahara is a wonderful example of long lives corrupting people . My surprise favorite? Chris Conner as ‘Poe’–the AI running an Edgar Allen Poe themed hotel that hasn’t seen a guest in years/decades. He’s such a surprisingly wonderful character.

That’s quite a spectacular show. Well worth the watch. Now the confusing it… apparently almost the entire cast was replaced for S2? It’s something that the concept of the show certainly allows, but I don’t know how in the world they’re going to pull that one off. I guess we’ll see!

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Locke & Key: Season 1 Locke & Key (TV) #1

I really enjoyed the Locke & Key graphic novels, so of course I had to give the TV show a try. Turns out: also really good. While they changed a few things with the details of how the keys worked that are probably more efficient to do in TV (not opening the tops of people’s heads for instance), it’s still got the same wonderfully creepy dark magical vibe. I do love the actors–Bode in particular does his part very well, as do his siblings.

Man that’s a crazy show. Well worth the show (warning, it is dark, although not overly graphic). On to season 2!

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Schitt's Creek: Season 6 Schitt's Creek #6

And so it ends. As expected, David and Patrick’s wedding is a big storyline (and man David is neurotic when stressed), but we also have Alexis continuing to grow in relationships and work (which is such an amazing growth from Season 1), the whole hotel starting to grow (rapidly) and Moira doing Moira things.

Overall, it’s a good way to end the show. We have some ending up moving back to the lives they once had, hopefully a little more self aware (I doubt so in Moira’s case…) from their time in Schitt’s Creek.

Not a show I normally would have chosen, but I’m glad to have watched it. Onward!

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Schitt's Creek: Season 5 Schitt's Creek #5

Moira gets a chance to do what she loves–and is as Moira about it the entire season as possible. So much David and Patrick, which is great. Alexis is really growing, which is awesome–she has a ways to go yet though. Also Stevie gets a few moments to shine, she’s really the surprise soul of this series in a lot of ways.

Only one more season!

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The Umbrella Academy: Season 2 The Umbrella Academy (TV) #2

Well that was quite a continuation. Out of one apocalypse and right into another. This time in the 1960s!

It’s a neat concept and gives the characters a bit more time to grow–while at the same time the viewers know there’s quite the timeline. And with time travel… you can kill people off and still have to deal with them.

Also instead of Hazel and Cha-Chat, you have three Swedish brothers (less amusing, far more terrifying).

I quite enjoyed it. And there’s still plenty of room left for Season 3. A quick search shows February 2022… I’m going to go with a probably not on that. But still soon!

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Schitt's Creek: Season 4 Schitt's Creek #4

Death and pregnancy; the Rose children growing up, Johnny finally has something to do, and Moira is… Moira. Oy–ra.

I’m a bit amused that we got the pregnancy storyline without Jocelyn's actress even being pregnant IRL; I feel like that's the more common reason to work in something like this. It works though!

A fun season. Onward we barrel towards the end.

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