DCU Blog - January 2023 Edition: DCU Chapter One Slate Announced And So Much More

James Gunn really did decide to wait until the last month to reveal part of his DCU Slate and boy, did he deliver in a six minute video to social media and press.

Chapter One titled, Gods And Monsters gave us quite a bit to mull over as well. Breaking it down, here we go ....

First of all of, Batman and Superman fans are getting fed yet again. The Batman - Part II will be released on October 3rd 2025 and will be part of DC's Elseworlds while The Brave And The Bold (older Batman with Damien Wayne as Robin) will be part of James Gunn and Peter Safran's DCU.

James Gunn has confirmed that Superman: Legacy will release on July 11th 2025 as well as Supergirl: Woman Of Tomorrow. It has yet to be confirmed if Sasha Calle will reprise her role for the movie.

Also getting movies are The Authority and Swamp Thing with release dates to be confirmed for both projects.

The Flash will reboot the universe but actors such as Ezra Miller, Gal Gadot, Jason Momoa and Zachary Levi may still factor into this new universe. Speaking of Wonder Woman though.

HBO Max will be going all in on several shows. Paradise Lost: Wonder Woman will be a prequel series set on Themyscira in the vein of Game Of Thrones.

Lanterns will be a True Detective style space cop series focusing mainly on Hal Jordan and John Stewart with other Lanterns set to appear. Booster Gold will also be getting a series.

Viola Davis Waller series will also use characters from Peacemaker as the show was confirmed to be going ahead.

An animated series titled, Creature Commandos, written by James Gunn will also go ahead too with some of the characters eventually making it into live action projects.

Talent who will be working with James Gunn and Peter Safran include Christina Hodson, Jeremy Slater, Drew Goddard, Cristal Henry and Tom King to name a few.

Gunn and Safran also had a meeting with former Batgirl directors Adi' El Arbi and Bilall Fallah for a potential DC project.

Meanwhile in expected news, both Titans and Doom Patrol will end with their remaining episodes due to be released on HBO Max in the new few months.

Superman And Lois has at least one or two seasons left. Michael Culditz has been cast as Lex Luthor for the upcoming third season, airing March 14th on the CW.

Stephen Amell, Keiynan Lonsdale, David Ramsey and Sendhil Ramamurthy will be reprising their respective roles in the final season of The Flash, starting February 8th on the CW.

Sunny Mabel and Ethan Embry have been cast as the parents of Stephanie Brown for the Gotham Knights show, airing March 14th on the CW.

The Penguin series begins production in February in New York and will set up The Batman - Part II while Marsha Stephanie Blake has been cast in an undisclosed role.

Harley Quinn: A Very Problematic Valentine's Day Special will premiere on HBO Max from February 9th.

Wow, that was a doozy to get through. What a way to kick off the first month of 2023. Looks like DC has one hell of a future ahead of it.

My Review of Pulp Fiction (1994)

 

Written by Quentin Tarantino And Roger Avery

Directed by Quentin Tarantino 

Jules: "Besides I've already been through too shit this morning over this case to hand it to your dumb ass."

There are a lot of quotes I could've used to open this review and many of them were very lengthy, which is par for the course when it comes to any movie made by Quentin Tarantino, good or bad. Stating the bleeding obvious, this particular movie would fall into the category of one of his best movies to date though.

Broken into four connecting stories, this film opened with a couple at a diner. Pumpkin (Tim Roth) and Yolanda (Amanda Plummer) find themselves deciding to rob the place. Unfortunately for them they chose the wrong diner to rob and the wrong guy to antagonise to boot. While Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) was almost willing to help them in their goal, he wouldn't hand over a certain case. Then his partner, Vincent Vega (John Travolta) stepped into the fray and let's just say that things didn't end well for Pumpkin and Yolanda.

Of course, Pumpkin and Yolanda's story while opening and effectively ending the movie wasn't even the most violent part of it. For the most part, it was the scenes involving both Vincent and Jules, the hitmen of the piece that had a lot of violent scenes in them. We get to see these two very different men working together, with Jules going through something of an epiphany towards the final act while Vincent has his own adventures.

Together the two of them did take out a group while retrieving a suitcase for their mob boss Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames) when they weren't in need of a cleaner Winston Wolff (Harvey Kietel) to take care of one of their bigger messes. Both Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta have an excellent rapport with one another and make for an excellent team but of course, there's another actor with whom Travolta also had his best on screen chemistry with.

I'm of course talking about Uma Thurman who gave an amazing performance as Marsellus's wife, Mia. The chemistry between Thurman and Travolta was off the charts, especially in their diner scene together as both Mia and Vincent enjoyed sizing the other up for their own amusement. A little incident with the wrong drugs of course nearly took their rapport down a dark path and Vincent didn't need to be on Mia's husband's bad side, considering how he dealt with those who wronged him.

That led to Bruce Willis's boxer, Butch Coolidge who conned Marsellus out of money, inadvertently killed his competition and wasn't best pleased with his girlfriend, Fabienne (Maria de Medeiros) misplacing his father's watch. However that was the least of Butch's problems when both him and Marsellus wind up getting taken captive by the depraved Maynard (Duane Whitaker) and Zed (Peter Greene) in without a doubt the most gruesome scene resulting in the most deserving of just desserts for measure. 

Yup, for a movie that could've easily taken any of these plots and had them stand on their own, the way all of them converge on each other worked rather brilliantly here. The performances from the mains, in particular Travolta, Jackson, Thurman and Willis are sublime but no one slouches here. Some of the language might be a bit shocking for this age but it's fine within the context of the movie itself.

- Tarantino played the role of Jimmie while Eric Stoltz played the drug dealer, Lance who helped Vincent revive Mia. We also learned that Mia was in a pilot that never made to air.

- Other talented actors who appeared in smaller roles in this ,movie included Rosanna Arquette, Bronagh Gallagher, Steve Buschemi and Christopher Walken.

- Standout music: Jungle Boogie by Kool And The Gang, Son Of A Preacher Man by Dusty Springfield and Let's Stay Together by Al Green.

- Chronology: The film came out in 1994, so I'm assuming it's around that time for it to.

Pulp Fiction without a doubt has to be the movie that's a gold standard for Quentin Tarantino, highlighting his strengths as a writer and director. It's a gripping yarn from start to finish with plenty of memorable moments and shocking sequences and a lot of quotable scenes. 

Rating: 9 out of 10

My Review of The Banshees Of Inisherin (2022)

 

Written And Directed by Martin McDonagh

Padraic (to Colm): "Some things there's no moving on from and I think that's a good thing."

If you've ever lost a friend or found yourself almost excommunicated from a friendship circle, then this might be the movie for you. They say a man is an island but try being a man on an island surrounded by other dull men. That seemed to be something of a point to this movie.

Nice but admittedly dull Padraic Suilleabhain (Colin Farrell) found himself in the position where life long friend, Colm Doherty (Brendan Gleeson) no longer wanted to spend time with him on the count of Padraic being dull. A simple premise that took rather dark turn as the movie progressed, given Padraic's determination to save his friendship with Colm.

Colm's reasons for not wanting to spend more time with Padraic don't entirely portray him in the most positive light but Padraic's lack of boundaries when told that Colm didn't want to be his friend didn't exactly do him any favours either. It even got to the point where Colm not only threatened to cut his own fingers if Padriac kept pestering him, but Colm ended up delivering on that promise with some rather alarming consequences for Jenny the Donkey, who was my favourite character in this movie.

Both Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson give some career defining performances here with both Padraic and Colm's falling out impacting nearly everyone around them. It's implied throughout the movie that Colm suffers from depression, yet it's not the reason why he doesn't want to be Padraic's friend any more. Sill though, given Colm liked writing music, cutting off his own fingers to emphasise a point wasn't the best way to get it across.

Naturally the death of Jenny the Donkey spurred Padraic into revenge and he certainly took in quite an extreme fashion. Fortunately by not killing Colm's dog but by burning his house to the ground instead. In the end, it didn't really resolve anything and it's safe to say that things didn't entirely improve with either Padraic or Colm.  I guess there's some things in life you don't move on from.

Of course, while both Padraic and Colm are the centre of this film, there are two other characters who are also given some wonderful moments to shine. The first being Padraic's sister, Siobhan (Kerry Condon), who while sympathetic for her brother's plight was also smart enough to get off the titular island and make a life for herself elsewhere. 

The second character then would be more emotionally immature but likable Dominic (Barry Keoghan) who suffered abuse from his Garda father, Peadar (Gary Lydon) while also having some brilliant scenes with both Padraic and Siobhan as well as a genuinely tragic outcome towards the end. Keoghan along with Condon also delivered a truly memorable performance here.

- There was a Banshee in the form of the old woman, Mrs McCormick (Sheila Flitton) who predicted the two deaths in this film.

- Irish viewers will recognise comedy duo, the D'Unbelievables who had minor roles here.

- Standout music: Some nice score music from Carter Burwell as well as Brendan Gleeson's performance of the movie's title. 

- Chronology: April 1923, taking in parts of the Irish Civil War.

The Banshees Of Inisherin is a gloomy but interesting look at two very different men and their dissolving friendship. It's a brilliant film, filled with great character moments and wonderful performances from all four main players. Not to mention a very bittersweet ending. 

Rating: 9 out of 10

My Review of Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)

 

Written And Directed by Dan Kwan And Daniel Schienrt

Evelyn (to Joy): "Of all the places I could be, I just want to be here with you."

First of all, you don't have to be Marvel or DC to play around with the Multiverse and neither do you need a ridiculously high budget either as this smaller affair managed to prove in spades. Yes, with the Oscars nods this week, this review was overdue.

The premise for this ambitious adventure felt straightforward enough. You have a middle aged Chinese immigrant, Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh) barely getting through life, struggling to run a failing laundromat with her well meaning but meek husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan) as well as dealing her disapproving father, Gong Gong (James Hong) and stubborn daughter, Joy (Stephanie Hsu). Basically, Evelyn's life is a bit of a car crash.

Not to mention the fact that Evelyn and Waymond are being audited by the IRS and the auditor in question, Deirdre (Jamie Lee Curtis) seems more determined to focus on Evelyn's many shortcomings than anything else. Then to really send Evelyn over the edge, an alternative version of her husband kept popping up as Evelyn soon came to grips with the idea of a Multiverse and that every bad decision she's ever made has had it's own consequences and spawned different realities.

Watching Evelyn comes to grips with the Multiverse concept as well as seeing some truly bonkers versions of reality made this film a lot of fun. For instance, the idea of Evelyn living in a world where everyone had hot dogs for fingers was by far one of the strangest ideas in this movie. Other versions had Evelyn living different types of lives and having a variety of skills that out Evelyn had to access at different points in order to deal with the main problem of the movie.

The main problem being Jobu Tupaki, who had been reveled to be a version that could access every version of Joy and throughout the movie, you had both mother and daughter both combating and ultimately having to understand one another. There's a nice subplot with Evelyn having difficulties accepting Joy's girlfriend, Becky (Tallie Medel) but the conflicts between Joy and Evelyn ran deeper than that and the ultimately resolution between the two was far more rewarding too.

All the fractured relationships that Evelyn has in this movie - Waymond, Gong Gong and Deirdre are beautifully explored, take several interesting turns and are all resolved just as effectively as the main dynamic with Joy. Even a brief rivalry that Evelyn had with a raccoon dependent chef named Chad (Harry Shum Jr) was given a beautiful conclusion.

There's so much in this movie worthy of gushing over and the best part that for a movie that might feel small in parts, it's bigger in others. It's gorgeously ambitious with some beautiful action sequences, costumes and FX but excelled with all the fantastic character moments. There isn't a single performance that lets the side down and every character was compelling in their own way.  Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan and Stephanie Hsu deserve all the awards here.

- The movie was split into three parts, hence the title of the movie and we had Evelyn speaking English, Cantonese and Mandarin. Not to mention subtitles for the rock versions of Evelyn and Joy.

- I have to give a shout out to Jenny Slate's dog mother character but I do not approve of using a dog during a highly coordinated fight scenes. 

- I'm pretty certain one sequence in this movie had clips of some of Michelle Yeoh's past movies when we dipped into her movie star reality.

- Chronology: Chinese New Year played a big part in this movie with the party at the laundromat.

Everything Everywhere All At Once had everything, including a potential reality destroying bagel and delivered one of the best movies from last year. I should've seen this one a lot sooner than I did but now that I have seen it, the hype for it was more than justified. An absolutely gripping, mind bending movie from start to finish with everything coming together wonderfully. I loved this one.

Rating: 9 out of 10

My Review of M3gan (2023)

 

Written by Akela Cooper And James Wan

Directed by Gerard Johnstone

M3gan (to Cady): "I know, it's insane, right?"

Well, it's January and already the horror for 2023 got off to a rather campy start with this impossible to ignore film. Seriously, you'd almost have an easier time ignoring a certain James Cameron sequel than this overnight sensation. One movie in and it looks like our titular character might be here to stay. So what is this one all about?

This movie started off with a young girl named Cady (Violet McGraw) losing her parents in a tragic road accident and being sent to live with her aunt Gemma (Allison Williams). Gemma's not really a maternal type and was more fixated on creating a new toy instead of adding improvements to the one that her boss, David (Ronny Chieng) insisted on. Think knock off Furbies as the thing that David would've preferred Gemma had put her energy into.

The toy instead that Gemma was more interested in getting off the ground was Model 3 Generative Android or M3gan (Amie Donald/Jenna Davis) for short. Also while the initial tests with her co-workers Tess (Jen Van Eps) and Cole (Brian Jordan Alvarez) weren't exactly promising, it was Cady's influence that ultimately brought M3gan to life and along with that, a lot of problems to boot.

Of course things with M3gan start off well for both Gemma and Cady. For the latter, to meant avoiding emotional responsibility for her niece to begin with as well as a potential career boost but for Cady, her connection to M3gan was a means of avoiding her own grief for her parents loss and having a true friend. However because this wasn't a particular long film, it also didn't take both Gemma and Cady too long to realise that there were certain drawbacks with depending on M3gan.

The notable one being that like any other inanimate object that comes to life and especially in this genre, M3gan had something of a homicidal streak to her. Not soon after bonding with Cady, M3gan took her programming that one step further and began to kill for Cady too. This meant a class bully, nosy neighbour and the latter's dog all became victims of M3gan. I really do hate when horror movies kill animals by the way.

As for Cady and Gemma, their complicated living relationship got really examined through the machinations of M3gan and both of them realised just how much of a danger that the latter well and truly posed to them. Of course it did a lot of crazy stuff to happen around them before they both got on the same page about M3gan.

Fortunately between the two of them finally connecting with one another and the use of another family member, Bruce, M3gan's reign of terror came to something of a temporary pause. This movie belonging to the genre that it belonged to though. Well, let's just say this wont be the last we see of M3gan. It's gonna take a lot more than Gemma and Cady to keep her down.

- There are only five kills by M3gan in this movie. The remaining two included David and his put down assistant Kurt (Stephane Garneu-Monte).

- Originally this film was meant to be R-Rated but they realise it could work as a PG-13 horror and it does.

- Standout music: M3gan singing the David Guetta/Sia hit Titanium of course. Toy Soldiers also got used rather well here too.

- Chronology: It's set in the first half of 2022 in Washington. A sequel titled M3gan 2.0 will be released from January 17th 2025.

M3gan has somewhat set a very strong bar for this year's horror entries. It took a well known trope, added a technological flavour to it as well as exploring a fractured family dynamic and the obvious dangers of allowing technology to parent children. Oh and some rather inventive and the type of dancing that's been meme'd to death. Overall, a very enjoyable movie

Rating: 8 out of 10

My Review of The Menu (2022)

 

Written by Seth Reiss And Will Tracy

Directed by Mark Mylod

Margot (to Slowik): "You're a chef. Your single purpose on this Earth is to serve people food that they might actually like, and you have failed. You've failed. And you've bored me. And the worst part is I'm still fucking hungry."

And for something completely different but devilishly appetising, might I suggest this rather tense course? Let's just say, it's a movie you'd want to savour and with that, I will try to refrain from any more terrible food puns but I'm not promising anything here.

Picture it: an island where a slew of guests find themselves dining at Hawthornes where the head chef, Slowik (Ralph Fiennes) selected them all personally to dine on a seven course meal, along with palette cleanser and rather out there means of entertainment. Sounds like an offer, you'd almost be insane to refuse. However as it transpired, every single diner, with the exception of one probably wished they had just done that instead.

The exception to the re being of course an escort named Margot/Erin (Anya Taylor-Joy) who had not been on Slowik's 'list' but found herself caught up in his fiendish dinner plans nonetheless when she wasn't being practically bored to death by her foodie know it all client, Tyler (Nicholas Hoult). Let's just say that Tyler's the kind of person who would take the fun out of fine dining and that's being generous about that guy, even if his last scene was bittersweet.

The back and forth between Margot and Slowik was what made this movie for me. Ralph Fiennes and Anya Taylor-Joy play off each other so well, both feeding a rivalry and odd kinship towards one another. It was definitely the latter part that sent Slowik's right hand woman, Elsa (Hong Chau) into something of a rage as Margot fond a way to gain the upper hand against Slowik and ultimately seal her own fate, compared to the rest of her doomed companions. Who knew a cheeseburger could be an actual life saver? 

But why was Slowik so hell bent on killing the people he selected? Tyler's attempts of being a food expert definitely seemed to rub him up the wrong way but then there were three business men Bryce (Rob Yang), Sore (Arturo Castro), and Dave (Mark St Cyr) whose boss that Slowik made one hell of an example as well as an older couple Richard (Reed Birney) and Anne (Judith Light) who couldn't tell the difference between a cod and a halibut, despite being one of his more frequent of customers.

Of course, let's not forget the Movie Star (John Leguizamo) and his unfortunate assistant Felicity (Aimee Carrero) and of course, food critic Lillian (Janet McTeer) and her assistant, Ted (Paul Adelstein). Not to mention the relationship with his mother, Linda (Rebecca Koon) and the effect he had on his own staff, particularly the likes of Jeremy (Adam Aalderks) and Katherine (Christina Brucato) in some genuinely shocking and disturbing scenes.

As an antagonist, Slowik was a compelling character to watch. A man whose passion for the thing he loved more than anything had been somewhat drained from him while Margot proved to be the ultimate foil for him. As for the final course, I would highly not recommend it but it certainly made for an explosive ending to this sumptuous experience.

- Margot had previously been hired by Richard for a daughter experience with Anne confronting her in a rather subdued manner on the issue.

- I like to take food pics as much as the next person, but even I found Tyler doing it to be extremely annoying. Still though the fall from grace he experienced was rather extreme.

- Twelve dining guests, twelve apostles and for eleven of them, it really was the last supper. Very fitting that.

- Chronology: Set in a post COVID world, given some of the dialogue here.

The Menu turned out to be one hell of a chaotic feast. I knew from the trailer, it was going to offer something a bit different and it definitely did that in spades. Absolutely brilliant performances, a very sophisticated script and tense directing definitely left me more than satisfied. Saying that, I'm no rush to have any S'mores though.

Rating: 9 out of 10

My Review of Titanic (1997)

 

Written And Directed by James Cameron

Rose: "It's been eighty four years."

Apologies in advance, I meant to review this one last month for it's 25th anniversary but things got in the way. However with a certain sequel from director James Cameron currently eating up the box office and this movie in question getting a cinematic re-release next month, it was time to give this one another watch.

You all know the story of the real life tragedy surrounding the Titanic and with James Cameron, there's his take on the events, coupled with a compelling fictional love story with our main protagonists - upper class society debutante Rose Dewitt Bukater (Kate Winslet) and handsome steerage rogue/artist, Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio), and boy, is it one hell of a love story.

Told through the eyes of a much older Rose (Gloria Stuart), the story sees her younger self trapped in an engagement with tycoon Cal Hockley (Billy Zane) at the behest of her meddlesome mother, Ruth (Frances Fisher), Rose found herself in so much despair that she attempted to take her own life, until a chance intervention from Jack changed everything. From there on in, this movie depicts the connection between Rose and Jack and it's hard not to root for the pair.

Both Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet give some of their most career defining performances and while the pair would reunite for another project many years later, they're undeniably at their best here. Rose and Jack have one of the most iconic of love stories as they go through their differences and similarities and find themselves drawn to one another. Not even Cal, Ruth or the former's lackey Lovejoy (David Warner) can get in their way.

However for the second half of the movie, the events of Titanic itself take precedent with both Jack and Rose fighting to survive and reunite with one another. Of course when the ship does eventually sink, the love story itself came to a rather tragic end with only Rose surviving to tell the tale to both her granddaughter, Lizzy (Suzy Amis) as well as explorers, Brock (Bill Paxton) and Lewis (Lewis Abernathy), the latter providing a little comic relief.

The moving between the present day Rose telling the story and the story worked as a device as well as the subplot of Brock's quest for a certain blue diamond that Cal had given Rose as an engagement gift and that the latter had worn while posing nude for a drawing with Jack. The diamond in question was the thing that Brock wouldn't get answers for but some secrets probably are best left in the ocean.

As for the final scene where the older Rose got all the closure she needed, it's one of those scenes that never failed to bring a tear. It's a beautiful way to end this incredible film. Seriously, you'd have to be entirely devoid of any romantic bone not to be gripped by the central love story in this whole movie.

- One of my favourite performances in this movie also came from Kathy Bates as Molly Brown. I especially loved her scenes with Jack.

- The party down in steerage with Jack and Rose was another highlight in this movie. I also loved both Fabrizio (Danny Nucci) and Tommy (Jason Barry) as characters.

- Standout music: Of course it's My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion as well as the score music by James Horner for the movie.

- Chronology: April 1912 during the events of this movie along with 1996 during the present day.

Without a doubt, Titanic is one of the best movies of all time. While there might be some creative liberties taken with certain historical moments, it's a gorgeously produced film with a compelling love story, fantastic lead performances, beautiful music, impressive action sequences and so. There's a reason why this movie has become a classic. 

Rating: 10 out of 10

Doctor Who - Series 14 Filming, Returning Character And More

Okay, it's been two weeks since I last did a Doctor Who blog and if anything else gets leaked this week, expect this blog to get something of an edit.

Anyways, Series 14 has resumed filming and with it, some casting details have emerged.

First of all, on the returning front, it wasn't that long ago that Jemma Redgrave returned to the series in the final two episodes of Series 13 as well as The Power Of The Doctor back in October. Today, the BBC confirmed that Redgrave will reprise her role as Kate Stewart in the upcoming series with the actress spotted filming scenes with Millie Gibson's Ruby Sunday. 

As to why Kate Stewart and presumably UNIT are back has yet to be revealed but it's nice to see the character who debuted over a decade ago in the seventh series episode, The Power Of Three will also factor into the current era as well.

At this rate, Kate Stewart will have had as many onscreen interactions with the Doctor as her father did back in the day. That's pretty cool, isn't it?

As for new characters, Welsh actor Aneurin Barnard (recently seen in Netflix's 1899) will also appear in the current block as the mysterious Roger ap Gwilliam. The character, going by filming pics from last week seems to be a politician and may also be a recurring character and he's not the only one too. Ruth Madeley who will play Shirley Anne Bingham recently confirmed that her character will be recurring in this current era as well.

As for Russell T. Davies, he mentioned in DWM that the second episode of Series 14 will contain the words 'Liverpool' and 'non-diegetic' and will also start one of the most important shot in the show's history. Prior to Ncuti Gatwa's casting, Davies also mentioned seeing actors under 30 for the role of the Doctor as well women and non binary actors.

As for the episode currently being filmed, a slug like monster has been spotted on set during the week while Mark Tonderei who directed both The Ghost Monument and Rosa will also be directing for this series.

Series 14 continues to currently film and will air on both BBC1 and stream on Disney+ from November 2023.

My Review of Doom Patrol's 4x06: "Hope Patrol"

 

Written by Ezra Claytan Daniels

Directed by Chrostopher Manley

Wally: "Cliff Steele, I'm Wally Sage and you're the final piece."

Longevity really was the key and with Rita and Jane having lost theirs in previous episodes and Larry surrendering his for Keeg in this episode, Cliff really was the last one standing here with the old longevity. Will Wally succeed in taking it? We're gonna have to wait a while to find out.

Everything really did come together in this mid season finale. Rita and Laura went from being babies back to their normal selves and then went on their investigation in order to find out more about Immortus. This meant sneaking into the Ant Farm, where Laura had to confront some old ghosts. On the plus side she had Rita to help her through it. A minus however would be the return of Wally Sage, who quite possibly is Immortus.

I have to admit that I barely remembered Wally so it we a good thing that the episode had some clips to remind me of the character. Wally's an ideas man and Orqwith is a world where ideas could absolutely be brought to life.  This was something that both Victor and Derek tried to use to their advantage by bringing Mr Invincible to live and it almost worked.

However with Wally being in charge of the world, he was able to take out Mr Invincible and use his Scissors Men in order to keep Victor, Derek, Cliff and Jane in place during a failed attempt to rescue Larry in this episode. This of course not being the first time with Larry needing to be saved. Good thing Larry has people willing to save him.

Rama was willing to save Larry at the start of the episode, in spite of being fully convinced that Immortus would help stabilise him. Larry did however manage to get Rama to believe that he would help him but where did Rama go during the second time Larry was captured? Does Immortus have Rama locked up somewhere else too? 

As for the rest of the episode, Willoughby came back to state the obvious to Cliff and Jane about Immortus while it appeared that Bunbury didn't survive either. Then there was the cliff hanger with the defrosted zombie butt as well as Rita and Laura also having to flee the Ant Farm. It's a good thing we do have six episodes to go.

- Cliff noticed the sexual tension between Larry and Rama. Rama definitely seems to be interested in Larry in a romantic sense.

- Speaking of sexual tension, there was plenty with both Jane and Shelley Byron as well during their brief scene in the latter's world.

- The remaining six episodes will be streamed on HBO Max later in 2023.

- Chronology: From where the previous episode left off.

Hope Patrol made for a strong mid season finale with Immortus definitely beginning to rise and our gang of misfits absolutely screwed for good measure. These last six episodes in my opinion cannot come soon enough.

Rating: 8 out of 10

My Review of Welcome To Chippendales: "Switzerland"

 

Written by Rajiv Joseph And Robert Siegel

Directed by Richard Shepard

Steve (to Ray): "Without me, there is no Chippendales."

These last few episodes really hammered home the downfall of Steve Banerjee and with this finale, the remaining part of his end came at the hand of someone whom Steve had placed too much trust in. Yup, it was Ray who brought about the end for Steve Banerjee.

With a large portion of the episode set in Switzerland (hence the title), there was a hell of a cat and mouse game between Steve and Ray. The former had become increasingly paranoid following his role in Nick's death and the latter was desperate to extract a confession from his employer in order to spare himself jail time.

For a moment it seemed like Steve was more annoyed with Ray's failed attempt to take out three dancers ripping off Steve at the London Chippendales before realising that he was being recorded. There was genuinely great acting from both Kumail Nanjiani and Robin de Jesus in those scenes as both ken had their respective worlds fall apart, but more specifically, Steve realised that he couldn't get away from his crimes any more.

The jail scene between Steve and a ghostly appearance from Nick though was a nice way of giving us one more scene with the latter character. Nick poked and prodded away all of Steve's insecurities and excuses before Steve in his own desperate  attempt to spare Irene being penniless ended up taking his own life before he could be charged. 

It was a tragic end to a story mired in so much jealousy, insecurity and corruption. While I don't think the series needed eight episodes (a lot of these type of miniseries biopics could tell these stories with six episodes and cut a lot of filler), the story of Steve Banerjee and his rise and fall with Chippendales did make for some interesting content.

- The afterlife ending with Steve back in the club with Irene and Nick (I don't think I saw Denise or Ray there) was a bit of a cheesy last scene.

- I can't tell if Ray had a crush on Steve because the level of devotion he had towards the latter, in spite of giving him up to the FBI was something else.

- Standout music: More, More, More as it played out during the closing credits.

- Chronology: Around 1992 with scenes in London, Lucerne and Los Angeles. 

Switzerland capped off this limited series in a reasonably good manner and while UK and Irish viewers can enjoy the series from January 11th on Disney+, it's over for me. Overall, while it could've told the story in less episodes and felt a little less showy compared to some of these other type of limited series, I did enjoy this a lot.

Rating: 7 out of 10

2022: Year In Review

Final blog of the year and fittingly enough, it's one where I run down some of the shows that piqued my interest. 

Without further ado, here goes. It's not in a specific order and yes, there are some shows that didn't make my list because I didn't like them or watch them, lol.

House Of The Dragon (HBO): Easily my favourite show of the year. This prequel series breathed some old life into George RR Martin's ongoing Fire & Ice saga.

American Horror Story: NYC (FX): This season might have shamelessly ripped off Cruising with a side order of Angels In America but it also delivered one of the best seasons in it's eleven year run.

The White Lotus (HBO): Moving from Hawaii to Sicily certainly proved this series wasn't a flash in a pan with this season proving to be even better than the first one. 

Stranger Things (Netflix): The fourth season saw the gang going up against Vecna and delivered their best season yet. 

Interview With The Vampire (AMC): A beautiful retelling of the classic book/movie, which managed to up the gay content and then some. 

Pam & Tommy (Hulu): Lily James and Sebastian Stan both  delivered with their performances as the consequences of a sex tape played out for the world.

Doctor Who (BBC1): Specifically The Power Of The Doctor. An excellent bit of fanservice to end Jodie Whittaker's era while providing a nice lead in the 60th anniversary specials for 2023.

The Boys (Amazon): The Twitter memes might be exhausted at this point but this show delivered a hell of a third season, especially with Soldier Boy and the Herogasm episode. 

Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story (Netflix): Evan Peters. That's all I'm saying. Give the man his Emmy already. 

Chucky (SyFy): A bunch of killer dolls, a Catholic school, a murder mystery, a meeting of survivors both past and present and a very bloody Christmas finale made this second season a must see.

Only Murders In The Building (Hulu): Our intrepid trio of podcasters back for a second season solving the murder of their landlady with Paul Rudd providing a hook for the third season.

Wednesday (Netflix): Another gothic treat from Netflix with Jenna Ortega providing a new spin on the deadly but cynical teenager.

The Sandman (Netflix): This gorgeously gothic fantasy series might have taken a long time to make it to live action but the wait was definitely worth it.

Doom Patrol (HBO Max): Immortus might be taking their time to rise but this season has hit it's stride with the groups dynamic and a potential romance between Negative Man and Mister 104.

Legends Of Tomorrow (CW): Alas, the show ended on a cliffhanger never to be resolved but those last few episodes were nothing short of enjoyable, especially for Gwyn Davies.

Superman & Lois (CW): Not quite as impressive as the first season but the use of Bizarro world was a highlight throughout the season.

Peacemaker (HBO Max): I wasn't expecting a show with one of the most annoying characters from The Suicide Squad to be so good but both John Cena and James Gunn really delivered with this one.

Titans (HBO Max): This show has always been a mixed bag but this season has surprisingly stepped things up with the Brother Blood and Mother Mayhem storyline.

Big Boys (Channel 4): This lovely coming of age series focusing on the friendship of a gay man and his straight best friend provided plenty of laughs and some rather heartfelt moments.

Derry Girls (Channel 4): The third series of this Northern Irish show ended with the Agreement and in between that saw our leading girls grow up as they headed into the big world. Oh and Liam Neeson too.

Neighbours (Channel 5): The only soap highlight with a jam packed final episode, only for Amazon to pick up the show a few months later.

Wreck (BBC3): A nautical horror slasher on a cruise liner and several LGBT leads. BBC3 really justified their terrestrial return with this one.

Welcome To Chippendales (Hulu): Although yet to finish up, this series focusing on the rise and fall of the Chippendales creator has been an interesting one nonetheless. 

Ms. Marvel (Disney+): 2022 wasn't a great year for the MCU on streaming but this show was probably the best of a mixed bunch.

Some honourable mentions also would be Bridgerton, Love Victor, Harley Quinn, Werewolf By Night, The Gilded Age and The Watcher.

Yes, there are some omissions from the list but this year had a lot of shows to watch and by the looks of it, so will next year. 

DCEU Blog - DC Studios Logo Revealed Along With Superman's Fate And So Much More

Well, this has certainly been an eventful year for DC and this last month alone really ramped up the chaos even more. What a way to end 2022 for DC.

Let's kick off things lightly with the reveal of the DC Studios logo. Notice the characters on it. Needless to say, they're going to be the main focus moving forward with DC.

Speaking of the Trinity, let's break some stuff down for a bit. For now, both James Gunn and Matt Reeves have confirmed The Batman will remain in it's own universe. Assuming this remains true, then they're going to have two live action versions of the Dark Knight on the big screen.

Patty Jenkins third Wonder Woman movie will not go ahead but the Amazonian remains a priority for DC and Gal Gadot's fate has to be confirmed beyond her cameo appearances in both Shazam! Fury Of The Gods and The Flash.

As for Superman, it appears that James Gunn has written a script for the next movie, focusing on a younger version of the character and while it won't be an origin story, it does mean one thing.

Henry Cavill is officially out as Superman after filming cameos for both Black Adam and The Flash, with rumours that his scenes from the latter have been removed.  

The Flash meanwhile will now get released on June 16th, moving up a week from it's previous release date.

Blue Beetle had a nice poster released at CCXP as well as a tagline talking about the movie being the beginning of things. 

Black Adam managed 1.2 million during it's first weekend on HBO Max but Dwayne Johnson has confirmed that he will not be coming back as part of James Gunn's future DC plans.

Joker: Folie A Deux began filming this month but fans of Lady Gaga will have to wait until next year for her to start working on the sequel.

Both Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton's Batman scenes have been removed from Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom. Yup, they're both gone for good after The Flash movie.

James Gunn has admitted that he will be revealing some upcoming projects next month while Zachary Levi publicly appealed to fans to trust both James Gunn and Peter Safran in an Instagram live last week.

The script for The Batman is now officially available online to read. Here's hoping we get some sequel news next year.

Nicole Maines will reprise her role as Nia Nal/Dreamer in the ninth season of The Flash, due to air on the CW from February 8th 2023.

The CW will also air upcoming seasons of both Superman And Lois and Gotham Knights from March 14th 2023.

The fourth season of Harley Quinn will stream on HBO Max in 2023 with a Valentine's Day special due for release in February.

Both The Penguin and the second season of Peacemaker will film in 2023 for HBO Max while James Gunn has confirmed that the Green Lantern series will still go ahead. 

Well, this month was a chaotic ending to what has been a very chaotic year for DC in general. Imagine what 2023 will be like when James Gunn's vision for the DCU will be unveiled? Expect a lot of fireworks. 

My Review of Doom Patrol's 4x05: "Youth Patrol"

 

Written by Shoshana Sachi

Directed by Christopher Manley

Willoughby (to the gang): "There are no depths to your collective stupidity, are there?"

The last episode of 2022 but actually not the last episode of the first half of this season and things certainly took an interesting few turns here. After the previous episode's detour with Dorothy and Casey, this one was more focused on the gang royally fucking up yet again.

Okay, so Immortus is basically looking for something that Niles had put into most of the Doom Patrol, which was why they were ageing slowly and hence the little trinkets he's been getting others to collect at his behest. Niles also had an experimental deageing spell of sorts that Rita accidentally used due to Cliff's interrupting her and shenanigans ensued. Oh and Willoughby came to the manor to warn everyone about Immortus and comment on the gang being fuck ups for food measures.

Excluding Larry who had his own storyline going, everyone including Willoughby got turned into a teenager and as teenagers, it did not take long to separate from each other, fight and go party with other teens at a swimming pool of all locations. Willoughby, Cliff, Jane and Victor really embraced their younger selves with predictably mixed results.

However while some fun was had, Willoughby's attempts to reverse the spell by finding a woman named April were derailed and only Willoughby got changed back due to Bunbury needing him with the Knights of Templar. Jane on the other hand got turned into a baby, Cliff got too lost in being a party animal and kid Victor ended up trying to reconnect with Derek. 

As for Rita and Laura, well being turned into teenagers gave both characters a chance to work through their own issues. For those hoping that Laura's attempts of turning over a new leaf was genuine, well this episode gave you what you wanted and them some. Michelle Gomez delivered her best performance of the season so far as Laura's breakdown with Rita was heartfelt, sincere and touching in one go.

However the highlight of the episode for me was actually Larry's storyline with Rama aka Mister 104. Both men learned far more about one another than expected and there's definitely a romantic connection burgeoning with the two of them. It also seems that Larry offering to help Rama was the thing to get Keeg to reconnect with him too. Then things ended with the both of them being sucked into a portal, so that can't be good, right?

- Rama can turn his skin into lead, making him able to touch Larry and can also augment the air around him. 

- Jane was about to do some self love before she got pulled into the underground. She also had a great scene with Kay later in the episode.

- The episode had fun referencing teen shows such as Euphoria, Freaks And Geeks and Riverdale.

- Chronology: Not long from where the third episode had left off.

Youth Patrol had fun with it's premise and really took things up a notch too. The episode really had so many highlights - the effect of the main premise but it's really the scenes between Rita and Laura as well as Larry and Rama that were my favourite moments this week.

Rating: 9 out of 10

My Review of Welcome To Chippendales: "Paper Is Paper"

 

Written by Jenni Konner

Directed by Richard Shepard

Steve (to FBI Agent): "I have everything and regret nothing."

Except in this episode, Steve, you ended up losing your club, more money and your family in one fell swoop and due to your more serious actions, your freedom. Yup, we've gotten to that point of this messy saga.

I had a feeling the penultimate episode would be the one where Nick would be killed off and of course, it happened when everything was going Nick's way. Nick had been successful in preventing Steve from launching a counter Chippendales tour, business was better than ever and while he did somewhat piss off Denise, Nick was about to take his relationship with Bradford to the next level.

Unfortunately for Nick, Steve's burning jealousy of him had gone too far and the latter ended up hiring a gun for hire in order to kill Nick with Bradford being the one to find Nick's dead. It also took Denise not time to openly accuse Steve of being the one who had Nick killed and of course, Irene also quickly realised that Steve had blood on his hands.

In the previous episode, Irene was actively encouraging Steve's worse impulses but here with the reality of the business going under, she was back to pointing out that Steve made terrible decisions. Her response to remove herself and her child away from Steve when she knew what he had done was one of her better moments in the episode.

As for Steve, he's already attracted the FBI's attention and they were pretty clear to him that they believed he was involved in Nick's death. Steve even knew himself the walls were closing in on him and keeping the gun used in Nick's murder wasn't his best idea either.

- I loved the cheesy opening sequence highlight the success and excess that Nick, Bradford and Denise were experiencing. 

- There was a good unicorn on Nick's table. I noticed it before he was killed off screen.

- Standout music: Nice use of Footloose at the start of the episode.

- Chronology: August 1987, given the main plot of the episode.

Paper Is Paper with an added ten to fifteen minutes probably would've served as the finale but there's one more episode to go in order to wrap up the series. It's a strong episode though with all four main cast members giving it their all.

Rating: 7 out of 10

My Review of Doom Patrol's 4x04: "Casey Patrol"

 

Written by Tom Farrell

Directed by Kristin Windell

Dorothy (to Casey): "I could do with a change of scenery. Need any help?"

Speaking of a scenery change, this episode went for it's biggest one by scrapping the entire main cast and taking the audience back to Danny the Street. Did you miss them? I did, so this little detour along with the returns of both Dorothy Spinner and Maura Lee Karupt was surprisingly welcomed.

Last time we saw Dorothy, she had made friends with the Dead Boy Detectives. Since then those roles have been recast and one of them ended up on Heartstopper but here, Dorothy has made her way back in Danny's world and has been struggling to connect with people. Even Maura Lee has had difficulties snapping Dorothy out of her funk and she certainly did her best with Dorothy.

One thing that has offered Dorothy solace though was the adventures of Space Case, aka Casey Brinke (Madeline Zima) and the latter's battles with her purple skinned father, Torminox (Tyler Mane). However for Dorothy her comfort soon became more trouble than expected when both Casey and her father along with his own army came into existence and even Danny the Street wasn't able to protect everyone.

Having Dorothy and Maura Lee teaming up with Space Case/Casey and getting her up to speed on the real world and things such as death being permanent was great to see. These three characters made for a delightful team and Torminox made for a good guest baddie as well, willing to take out his own daughter in order to get Dorothy's necklace.

The necklace being something that Dorothy had lied about in how she acquired it and also in the closure it supposed'y gave her and Niles. In the end, Torminox got the necklace and it somewhat less surprising news, it appeared that Torminox was working with Dr Janus and the Author as part of Immortus's overall scheme. In his own way, Torminox really does love his daughter after all.

As for Dorothy, the events of this episode made her realise she needed a change of scenery and both her and Casey decided to leave Danny the Street to head back to Cloverton. Because the show doesn't reveal a lot in terms of marketing, I'm assuming that both Dorothy and Casey will be sticking around for the most of the season to help the Doom Patrol with Immortus.

- In spite of none of the main characters appearing in this episode, all the actors were still credited nonetheless.

- Despite so many DC projects getting scrapped this year, we're still apparently getting the Dead Boy Detectives series for HBO Max. 

- That's two necklaces that Immortus has collected for whatever their overall scheme will be. 

- Chronology: A few months since Dorothy's last appearance on the show. 

Casey Patrol easily became the best episode of this season so far with a fantastic turn of events here. Much as I love the main cast, I really didn't miss them for this one episode and the episode continued to push the Immortus storyline ahead. Excellent stuff all round.

Rating: 9 out of 10 

Doctor Who - 15th Doctor Costume Reveal, Christmas Day Trailer (Spoilers)

When I said now is a good time to be a Doctor Who fan, I really do mean it. If we're getting spoiled now, then 2023 is going to be quite the year for the show.

First of all, last week finally gave us a look of Ncuti Gatwa's 15th Doctor in costume with some nice promo pictures and a social media video where both Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson showed off their looks in style. 

Filming for the festive special next year began early this month. The episode written by Russell T. Davies and directed by Dylan Holmes Williams will debut both Gatwa and Gibson as the 15th Doctor and Ruby Sunday, though specific details about the episode itself will likely be revealed in due course. However before both of them make their festive debut, we have three specials prior to their arrival.

On Christmas Day 2022 and in the most advanced bit of marketing from the BBC in the longest time ever, we got a trailer for the three specials making up the 60th anniversary celebrations and it was the perfect nostalgia hit while hinting at some very new ad exciting stuff to come for the series. 

David Tennant will of course being playing the 14th Doctor with Catherine Tate reprising her role as Donna Temple-Noble along with the late Bernard Cribbins as Wilfred Mott, Jacqueline King as Sylvia Noble and Karl Collins as Shaun Temple-Noble. These specials will also see the debut of Yasmin Finney as Rose Temple-Noble.

The three specials, all written by Russell T. Davies and directed by Rachel Talalay, Tom Kingsley and Chanya Button are definitely going to be offering a lot of interesting surprises for viewers. Along with a new Doctor in a former body, the returning of a former companion and her extended family since their previous appearance in 2010, we also have Ruth Madeley playing a new character named Shirley Anne Bingham, whom I'm suspecting might be a recurring character in Russell T. Davies second run. Madeley also plays a Sixth Doctor companion named Hebe for the Big Finish audios.

In terms of potential threats though, there's Neil Patrick Harris's yet to be revealed character (I still think he's a version of the Celestial Toymaker), while the trailer itself revealed both Beep the Meep (who has scenes with Rose) and the Wrarth Warriors. Could there be more villains yet to be revealed? I'm not sure but either way, these three have massive potential against the 14th Doctor, Donna and the latter's extended family.

Doctor Who has had a bit of a divisive time in recent years but the marketing since Russell T. Davies has taken over certainly has injected a lot of enthusiasm for the upcoming specials, along with the steady flow of information we've been getting these last few months. 2023 is going to be a big comeback for the series.

The 60th Anniversary specials for Doctor Who will debut on BBC1 and Disney+ from November 2023. Filming for Series 14 will commence next year for a 2024 debut.

My Review of In From The Side (2022)

 

Written by Matt Carter And Alan Silver

Directed by Matt Carter

Mark: "You think I like having to hide this from everyone we know while you parade around with him?"

Warren: "It's not the same."

Mark: "Like what is it you want from me?"

Touted as the a first gay rugby movie, this certainly had something to live up to  as a film and fortunately I can say, it definitely did that and then some. Premise would seem simple - one rugby lad, in the case Mark (Alexander Lincoln) found himself getting involved with rival team member, Warren (Alexander King). Not too complex, except for the fact that not only are the pair on rival teams so to speak, but both of them have their own partners.

For Mark that seems to be a rather distant relationship with his more affluent partner, Richard (Alex Hammond) with the latter being openly dismissive of Mark's rugby life while Warren's relationship with fellow team member John (Peter McPherson) seems to be one of obligation than any real love attached to it. Both of these are hard to root for, which somewhat makes the connection that Mark and Warren seem believable enough.

However their relationship itself while genuinely gripping with to watch with some strong chemistry between Alexander Lincoln and Alexander King does have it's own problems. One being that it's a relationship born out of deceit that even Mark's own mother, Alice (Mary Lincoln) while lamenting about her own union with Mark's father, Leonard (Nigel Fairs). It's something that clearly stuck with Mark as the consequences of his affair with Warren come out during a New Year's Eve party.

Those consequences being the breakdown of his own relationship with Richard, which I didn't really are as a bad thing in itself as his teammates initially being somewhat disappointed in him but there was his relationship with Warren too. Ultimately, while an interesting relationship between the pair, it became something of a doomed love affair nonetheless.

With our lead male not ending up with either Richard or Warren, you could think this was a film with a bleak ending but in reality, it was one with a surprisingly mature one. Mark made a reckless choice to have affair, it had consequences but there was a sense of him learning from his mistakes and maybe not repeating his own parents pattern. That in itself could be seen as a good thing.

Then there's the actual rugby itself. We saw both the Stags and A Team play off each other and then former against another major team in which they emerged as the victors. We got plenty of training sequences, lads nights out after the match, talks about the need for more inclusiveness in sports and some focus on some of Mark's fellow team mates.

The team mates in question being the likes of Pinky (Pearse Egan), Henry (Will Hearle), Gareth (Carl Loughlin), Jimmy (Christopher Sherwood) and coach Stuart (Chris Garner). All of them were written well as supporting characters with both Pinky and Henry standing out the most out of all of them. As someone who doesn't have the biggest interest in rugby, this movie did a great job fleshing out the game along with the characters and central romance.

- As well as co-writing, directing and providing music for the soundtrack, Matt Carter also is a rugby coach himself and had played the sport foe years. 

- We got some nice Christmas scenes away from London with Mark and Warren in which the latter proved not be great at skiing.

- Standout music: Matt Carter's By Your Side and Christmas Time With You with Tashara.

- Chronology: Despite this film being released in 2022, it was actually filmed in early 2019, prior to lead actor Alexander Lincoln joining ITV soap, Emmerdale.

In From The Side is a triumph of a movie, telling a very compelling if doomed love story with the two leads. Both Alexander Lincoln and Alexander King are excellent to watch as Mark and Warren. There's plenty of drama, male nudity/sex scenes, general camaraderie and team spirit, humour and so much more. One of the best movies I've seen this year.

Rating: 9 out of 10

My Review of Welcome To Chippendales: "February 31st"

 

Written by Annie Julia Wyman

Directed by Nisha Ganatra

Steve: "I'm not the failure, you're the failure."

After this episode, nope, Steve, you definitely are the failure. Your attempts to make more money pretty much plunged your club into declaring bankruptcy and losing out in more money from your very creation doing world tours. In other words, you got played and badly played yourself here.

The episode started with Steve being somewhat childish and going out to New York in order to humiliate Nick and remind everyone he created Chippendales. Then Bradford got the idea for the Chippendales tour and Nick used it as a perfect means to partially help Steve but mostly to get even with the latter for embarrassing him so much.

Steve should've realised that signing a napkin contract without getting a lawyer to read over it was a very bad idea along with his attempts to evade responsibility over the VIP cards debacle. Then there was the calendars themselves. Going from 300,000 to 500,000 without checking the print was a spectacular blunder for Steve and the thing that forced his hand into declaring bankruptcy.

In the midst of all this, Steve had that gut wrenching call with his mother where she basically declared him to be a failure while both Irene and Ray enabled some of his recklessness in the episode too. It was more surprising from Irene as she spent some of the episode annoyed with his deceit, only to have that heel turn where she encouraged more shady behaviour from him. 

As for Nick he might have gotten the last laugh with Steve but given what this show is depicting, that level of deception on his part will not end well for him. If Steve was getting bad advice from Ray and Irene, then so was Nick with Bradford. Not in terms of profit, but more in terms of what will transpire as we head into the final two episodes of this series.

- Nick was schmoozing an agent of a famous client when Steve barged into his space. Steve also seemingly met Valerie Bertenelli. 

- Denise mentioned having a brother who she found as annoying as Nick does with Steve. She also seems to have warmed up to Bradford since the previous episode.

- The title came from all the months on the calendars having thirty one days, thus tipping Steve over the edge.

- Chronology: A couple of weeks since the events of the previous episode.

February 31st definitely had a lot of blunders for Steve but it was a great episode in depicting how this guy has gotten himself into so much of a mess, due to his own recklessness and listening to the wrong people. Just two more to go now.

Rating: 7 out of 10

My Review of Doom Patrol's 4x03: "Nostalgia Patrol"

 

Written by Tanya Steele

Directed by Kristin Windell

Laura (to the gang): "I think Rita is in the movie."

Talk about a double meaning there. Not only did we get a nice look at three of Rita Farr's movies but most our main characters even got to star in them and all because a certain emotional vampire needed Rita's emotional juice for the Immortus plot. Nice to see the latter bit wasn't forgotten about at all.

Rita started the episode watching a movie and commenting on the lead actress's lack of emoting, only for a flyer about a retrospective of her own movies got her in a rather emotional mood. To be fair, it looked like a trap even before Rita stepped into the empty venue and low and behold, it turned out to be a trap.

Having Rita being transported in her movies - Secret Rendezvous, The Haunting Of White Manor and Spartacus 4052 was a pretty clever twist and April Bowlby delivered a brilliant performance throughout the episode. Rita had felt abandoned by her friends but most of them spent this episode trying to help her. Even Laura in her own way was trying to make amends for her own past misdeeds towards Rita.

The best part of the episode might have resulted in giving the mysterious Dr Janus (Timeca Seretti) and Mister 104 (Sendhil Ramamurthy) exactly what they wanted and putting Rita in a coma but seeing Rita and the gang really step up for one another too. Now it's just up to them as well as Victor and Laura to get Rita out of her coma by next episode.

Speaking of the gang, as per usual they had their own shit to deal with. Larry had gotten increasingly frustrated with Keeg not talking to him while Cliff had been annoyed about feeling the wrong things. Then there was Jane's encounter with a jigsaw piece of Shelly and Laura reconsidering being the team after the way things panned out this week during her trust building exercise.

As for Victor, he had an awkward reunion with Deric and two of his former school friends but things seemed to smooth between everyone during a game of laser tag. It was a nice subplot for the episode, even though it kept Victor out of the main action until the last scene.

- Anyone else got a tiny bit of a flirty vibe between Larry and Mister 104? I wasn't a fan of the latter as Bloodwork in The Flash but he was a lot more interesting here.

- Jane and Cliff bonding over Top Gun was rather sweet along with Jane exploring the creepy kid horror trope to Cliff. 

- Did Keeg end up bonding with Mister 104? Why did he do that?

- Chronology: From where the previous episode more or less left off.

 

Nostalgia Patrol had some great fun with the movie throwback to Rita's career, a strong secondary story with Victor while also introducing new players like Dr Janus and Mister 104 and continuing on with the Immortus plot. This was a great episode.

Rating: 8 out of 10