TV Review: Doom Patrol Season Three - Forever Weird

 

Going into the third season of Doom Patrol, I was initially worried I wouldn't have enough to write about when it came to the show's season by season formula. Obviously the main characters would be dealing with their personal issues while fighting off a wonderfully bizarre cadre of villains. But said formula can become monotonous if nothing new is present. While these elements are retained, season three has a creative spark that assuaged my fears and in my opinion, brings back the magic of Doom Patrol's first season.

While our heroes continue to deal with their personal problems, the show is able to further peel back their layers and introduce new elements to their stories that continue to be engaging. As a result, the season finale is able to illustrate how much each character has truly grown compared to the first episode. In fact, I could have seen that episode acting as a series finale if it weren't for the fact that we are getting a fourth season; it'll be interesting to see where the characters go next considering the positions they're in when we leave them.

When it comes to the villains introduced this season, there is a lot more of the "What the fuck?" magic that was more prominent in the first season compared to the second. But the best in this aspect of the show are the characters who aren't necessarily villains, but still antagonists.
Michelle Gomez enters the show as this season's "big bad" Laura De Mille/Madame Rouge, where she is able to bring the same enjoyable chaotic energy she did over in "Doctor Who" as Missy. And much like Missy during the tenth season, there's a bit of a wild card in Rouge's character where she plays both sides and you're not sure about her intentions. In any case, Rouge is able to fill the hole left by Alan Tudyk's Mr. Nobody from season one.
We're also introduced to the Sisterhood of Dada, who could be seen as the Brotherhood of Mutants to the Doom Patrol's X-Men. Instead of the domination/co-existence rivalry of those groups though, the Sisterhood act as the antithesis to the Doom Patrol in that instead of hiding away from normal people, they want those would persecute metahumans to take a good hard look at their lives and hopefully become better in the process. To this end, they bring forth the Eternal Flagellation, which I found reminiscent to the Ragnarok Connection from "Code Geass", but much weirder and strangely more coherent.

Much like how "Doom Patrol" came about from "Titans", this season also sets up another DC show in development for HBO Max with the Dead Boy Detectives. Teen ghosts from different eras, Edwin Paine and Charles Rowland, and their medium Crystal Palace are introduced in the third episode of the season as they travel with Larry to the afterlife to bring back the other Doom Patrol members killed in the prior episode. The episode does a good job at explaining each character's backstory and their relationships, acting somewhat as a backdoor pilot that establishes the premise of their adventures. The downside though is that each character is set to be recast for their coming series, which is a shame because I thought each actor (Ty Tennant, Sebastian Croft, and Madalyn Horcher) did quite well in their roles. When the show finally materializes, hopefully the new Dead Boy Detectives will be able to win me over.

Overall, season three of Doom Patrol is a return to form with the kind of characters and weirdness people have come to love about what I consider the best show to originate from the DC Universe service.

Movie Review: Eternals - Marvel's Oscar Bait

 

For years, some people have been wondering what Marvel Studios' first major misfire would be. There were doubters on Guardians, Ant-Man, and to a more sexist degree, Captain Marvel, but each film found great success. With Eternals though, the honeymoon phase may finally be over given the overall critical reception. For me personally, the film is a bit of a mixed bag.

Eternals does have a lot of what people love about Marvel films. There's the trademark humor and some very entertaining action scenes. The visuals of the film are quite spectacular, which are well worth seeing on the big screen to properly absorb the scope the film is going for.
I enjoyed all the acting overall and while there are some moments where a performance felt a little off, it didn't really bother me because I attribute it to the characters being aliens living among humans; you could see it as some of the characters being able to acclimate better to Earth life than others. While I was initially worried having ten main protagonists would make me lose track of things, it was surprisingly easy to follow. The film does a good job of introducing each character and making them unique in personality, skill set, and assimilation with humanity. And like a few other superteams I've talked about before, I also enjoy the sense of family among them and the relationships they have with each other. If I had to pick my top three characters, it would be Angelina Jolie as Thena, Kumail Nanjiani as Kingo, and Brian Tyree Henry as Phastos.

So where does the film falter? Well for one, there are quite a few exposition dumps, which I did honestly half-expect. There are also some plot decisions that I thought were questionable and I think they kind of wasted a cool looking villain in Bill Skarsgard's Kro. But I think the main thing that's making me lean so negative is that by the time we reach the film's climax, I honestly didn't feel the same level of excitement as the other MCU films by that point; I think that might be due to a combination of not being totally invested in all the characters as I should have (despite my enjoyment of them) and a low level of tension with the threat being stopped because what would have happened if it weren't was obviously not going to.

I also felt the film may have been overhyped in some regard. While we learn some things about the greater cosmic side of the MCU, I wouldn't exactly consider them game changing. There's also the fact that despite the film being described as standalone, the way things end before the credits even start show the story clearly isn't over. And I'm not talking about just teasing things for a sequel, this film leaves us on an incomplete note with multiple hanging questions; the most I took away is that there may be a connection to Shang-Chi's mid-credits scene. Each MCU film (even Infinity War) can be watched on its own to a clear conclusion; we don't get that with Eternals.

Reviewing this reminds me a lot of when "Rise of Skywalker" came out a couple years ago. Sometimes it's hard to review things as both a critic and a fan, especially when I find myself more on the critics' side of things (despite not being a professional). I'm happy that there are fans getting something out of the film, and so did I to some degree, but I have to be honest in my opinion. That being said, Eternals is a different kind of Marvel film that still delivers some entertainment, but doesn't quite reach the ambitious levels they were aiming for.