
Review: Twende – Season 1
By Dustin Cabeal
To review Twende is to first admit that I did not watch Twende on the streaming service Showmax which produced the thirteen episodes that make up the first season. I have however become obsessed with Showmax’s programming and originals and hope that they soon find themselves stream outside of the forty-four African countries they currently stream in. This is all just a way for me to say the internet is a wonderful place in which you can find things from other countries and watch them, but I have no way of legal way of recommending Twende to you and there in lies the rub. Because I desperately want more of this show, my children want more of this show.
I will save you the marketing breakdown, a simple search of the show’s name will bring that up over and over and out of some form of giving back I will link to the show’s page here. Twende is the character’s name, his best friend and navigation bird’s name is Nuru, and they drive a motorbike taxi, but in reality, it breaks from that instantly. That is one of the best things about the show, while this is the first season, it is so polished and familiar that it comes across like a third or fourth.
The first episode barely establishes what the characters do as one of the drivers for the company is preparing for a stunt jump and our main character Twende must step in for them because their allergies are too much. No one is picked up by taxi… both company’s drivers are training for the stunt, and this is never annoying or disappointing.

Review: Strange Planet – S1E01 – The Flying Machine
By Dustin Cabeal
If you've been on any kind of social media or meme factory, then you've likely seen Nathan Pyle's relatable webcomic featuring blue Allenesque beings that overly explain and yet simplify all the same things we humans do.
The first episode's title and storyline highlight this contradiction: "The Flying Machine." Of course, it's an airplane, but that is Pyle's brilliance – he takes something like alcohol and refers to it as a "Mild Poison." He's factually correct, but does anyone want to call it that while consuming it? No, but it's hilarious in this setting. And I don't really know what to call that overly complicated explanation that's somehow more direct and simplified than the word itself. I'm sure there's a simpler term for it, but I'm going to have to stick with the longer explanation that my rambling self has created.

The Place That's Farthest From: 'Andor' and the Star Wars Legacy
The key component to longevity and the near-universal appeal of the Star Wars franchise has always been its simplicity. A student of international artistic influence, George Lucas distilled richer, headier works down to a pastiche of oblique references and mythological constants and a critical focusing by undersung contributors Brian De Palma and Marcia Lucas resulted in a tight, perfectly-accessible adventure film that seismically redefined how popular media was packaged and presented. Beyond simply being a defining achievement in special effects, the polished gleam of binary morality at its core stood in as a radical contrast to the storytelling environment of the 1970s with its grim post-Vietnam ambiguity and despair. 'Star Wars' was the Happy Meal waiting to happen. Its hero plucky and apolitical, motivated by primal narrative impulses of thirst for adventure and romance beyond his station, his opposition unsubtlely dressed by John Mollo by way of Hugo Boss in Gestapo uniforms, pop narrative shorthand later reused by Lucas and Spielberg in their Indiana Jones films. Only a few decades removed from the very real Third Reich, Lucas needed little world building to immediately communicate the partisan lines the audience would be asked to sympathize on. Some distant conception of a Galactic Senate is mentioned to be finally dismantled. An instantaneous Holocaust is bloodlessly committed.

Review: Dimension 404 E.03 – “Chronos”
By Dustin Cabeal
After two fairly disappointing episodes of Dimension 404, I didn’t have the highest expectations for the third episode. It instantly played on my 80s nostalgia though with a cartoon about time travel and warmness to the screen that screamed 80s. As much as I like Rocket Jump, the biggest downfall of the first two episodes was the fact that it still looked like an internet video rather than TV. That isn’t technical in the least bit, but it’s one of those things that if you were to put them in front of someone that watches TV with any sort of regularity and then showed them the first two episodes of Dimension 404, well, it would look amateurish

Review: Dimension 404 E.02 – “Cinethrax”
By Dustin Cabeal
It is hard not to compare something like Dimension 404 to the things it's clearly inspired from, especially when the opening is a narrated monologue from Mark Hamill that rings so many Twilight Zone bells, it’s hard to ignore.

Review: Dimension 404 E.01 – “Match Makers”
By Dustin Cabeal
Upon seeing the initial trailer for Rocket Jump’s newest Hulu exclusive series Dimension 404, it looked like a serious take on sci-fi in the vein of The Outer Limits and The Twilight Zone. The two heavy classics that no one seems able to repeat the success of, but here was Rocket Jump with what looked like their first serious foray into the genre.

Review: Iron Fist E.02 – “Shadow Hawk Takes Flight”
By Dustin Cabeal
Dental records? Anyone, anyone… dental records? I mean we’re basing this in the modern era, and you’re telling me that no one’s first thought is to see if the rich kid has dental records still? Fuck me this show is stupid. It’s not just the dental records, but the fact that it’s now wasted two episodes establishing if Danny is really Danny.

Review: Iron Fist E.01 – “Snow Gives Way”
By Dustin Cabeal
First and foremost, and I hate even to have to say this in a review, but given the site's reputation for disliking all things Marvel and given the critical reception that I’ve seen online for Iron Fist I will say this: I do not give a hot shit about anyone else’s review. I haven’t read anyone else’s review; I haven’t even read a tweet expressing an opinion about Marvel and Netflix’s newest entry into their weird subdivision of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I feel that I have to say that before starting with this review because the easier answer to everything I’m about to say is, “Oh, he’s just jumping on the bandwagon.” Let’s be clear about one thing, the first episode of Iron Fist is one of the poorest pilots I have seen in the past three years, and I don’t care what any other critic says.

Review: Powerless E.01 – “Wayne or Lose”
By Dustin Cabeal
Being that this is a comic book site, there’s an expectation that we cover things like comic book TV shows. For the most part we’ve given up on this because how many times can you say “The Flash is boring because all Barry wants to do is bang Iris, and that gets in the way of storytelling!” or “Shield lost its relevancy after Captain America: The Winter Soldier and the Inhumans suck.” It’s been a while since a new comic book TV show premiered. Maybe I missed one, but I doubt it, and so here we are watching and reviewing a comic book related TV shows under some guise of duty because “comic books.”

Review: Sherlock S.4, E.2 – “The Lying Detective”
By Dustin Cabeal
This is the episode to beat this season. I don’t know if the show will or can, but this is the episode to beat. It happens every series of Sherlock; there’s always that one episode that’s just better than the rest. This episode is brilliant.

Review: Sherlock S.4, E.1 – “The Six Thatchers”
By Dustin Cabeal
It’s a new year and finally the return of the beloved Sherlock. The show has been away so long that it opened with a history lesson which wasn’t as helpful as the producers probably intended it to be. There’s speculation that this is the last season of the BBC’s Sherlock and you can’t blame them. The show has become insanely popular and launched Benedict Cumberbatch’s career and made Martin Freeman a very busy man. Weirdly enough there’s a chance both actors could meet again in the Marvel Cinematic Universe which I’m sure will be a joke and make fans shit their damn pants. We’re not here for that, though.

Review: Luke Cage E.04 – “Step in the Arena”
By Patrick Larose
Luke Cage’s history of a comic book character was born from the popularization of the Blaxploitation film genre during the 1970s. A bunch of white dudes caught on by how popular these action movies made by black people and starring black people were getting that they saw a new market to, well, exploit.

Review: Luke Cage E.03 - "Who's Gonna Take the Weight"
By Patrick Larose
If the first two episodes of Luke Cage were like watching superhero Shakespeare, then "Who’s Gonna Take the Weight” is all about becoming an emotional catharsis to answer our pent-up frustration with tragedy. When people talk about Shakespeare or when they call something Shakespearean, they’re usually talking about dudes in puffy shirts, star-crossed characters, and big speeches. You won't catch me doing that, though. I'd offer up , rather, that at the core of every Shakespeare play are characters who are driven by complex needs and forced to navigate their complex social and political hierarchies. They’re a realm of emotional politicking and that description is what the first two episodes of Luke Cage felt like.
Review: Luke Cage E.02 - "Code of the Streets"
By Laramie Martinez
Like its predecessor, episode two of Luke Cage moves at a slower pace. The simmering tensions between characters come to a head by the end of it. In a lot of ways, this episode coupled with episode one serve as the origin of Luke Cage as a hero. And while dramatic, the big bang at the end of this episode isn't the most surprising thing about the series' second showing. No, the most surprising thing turns out to be a little piece of character insight in the form of what I call the, "Pull the trigger" speech. To find out what that is and what I think of the show after the first two episodes check out my review below.
Review: Luke Cage E.01 - "Moment of Truth"
By Laramie Martinez
Last Friday I sat down with my girlfriend to watch Luke Cage, Netflix’s most recent series in the quadfecta that is The Defenders. Now, I wasn’t the biggest Luke Cage fan going into this series. Don’t get me wrong; I was excited, but that excitement came from watching the others series Netflix has put out. I liked Daredevil, and Jessica Jones was even better, so my enthusiasm was coming from a place of wanting to see another great TV show rather than excitement about seeing a character I loved on TV. Now I wasn’t completely ignorant; I had read a few Heroes for Hire, and I was impressed when he showed up in a crossover or two. He was more like a historical figure for me, the Jack Johnson of comics. Historical and important, but not really fleshed out.
Review: Brooklyn Nine-Nine S4 E.01 “Coral Palms – Part-1”
By Dustin Cabeal
I only have one friend that watches this show which is a damn shame. It is one of the funniest shows on TV and the only other comedy besides Modern Family that makes me laugh like a raving idiot. To put it plainly, I loved this episode. I also worry about its writing constantly. To explain that I will tell you that this episode picks up six months after the end of last season which is something they’ve done each season. I appreciate that because it gives a real sense of time passing. People can look different due to other roles they’re working in the “Biz,” and it’s fine because time in their world has passed.
Review: The Good Place – E.01 “Pilot/Flying.”
By Dustin Cabeal
Why a TV review? Because there’s a section for it and I always wanted to have more than just comics reviewed on the site. That and with all the new shows out I get curious and like to check them out. The Good Place stayed with me, but not for the right reasons. The premise is easy to sum, but the show actually takes seven minutes or so to get you to the answer. The afterlife isn’t what you thought it was and there only exists a “Good Place” and a “Bad Place.” Kristen Bell… sorry, Kristen Bell’s character Eleanor is a bad person that has been mistakenly put into the “Good Place.” For whatever reason, she reveals this to her soul mate, and he faces the dilemma of helping her become a good person or narcing her out. Pretty simple. Things go crazy when all the crap Eleanor talks on day one, suddenly come to life on day two. Now the clock is really ticking for her to be a good person.
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