A place for Marvel/Star Wars Disney+ shows.

The animation seemed to be even better in the new, third episode of X-Men '97 than it'd been in the first two. I have to hand it to South Korea's Studio Mir. The story was also exciting with many shining moments, though many critics, quite rightly, are complaining about how rushed it felt.

( Spoilers behind the cut )

I'm really digging the intro. Something about the unobtrusive way miniature Rogue and Storm creep into the image like ants is pleasantly creepy, sort of reminding me of the little elderly couple in Mulholland Drive or tiny stop motion creatures in a Tool video.

X-Men'97 is available on Disney+.

I finished the last three episodes of Echo last night. The show went from so-so to stinking awful pretty fast. And it's all the same problems. In particular, I felt the presence of committee writing. It really felt like a car going down a road with five or six people all trying to take the wheel.

( Spoilery review behind the cut )

Echo is available on Disney+.

I watched the last episode of season 2 of The Punisher and, with that, I've now watched every episode of all the Marvel Netflix series. Punisher turned out to be one of the strongest series, though season two was vastly inferior to the first season in terms of writing and budget.

The second to last episode, "Collision Course", which aired on January 18, 2019, was written by Dario Scardapane (who'd written three other episodes). Scardapane was recently announced as the replacement showrunner for the upcoming Daredevil: Born Again after Kevin Feige discovered the episodes that had been shot were too terrible. So people were fired and Scardapane was resurrected from the glory days of Marvel Television and put in a more traditional television role.



So I was watching "Collision Course" with extra scrutiny and I'm happy to say I think it was competently written. There were several episodes in season two that depended on people doing stupid things out of character in order for the plot to move forward but "Collision Course" wasn't one of them. I think it's entirely possible Scardapane will be a good showrunner.

The Punisher did turn out to be good, cathartic fun in between some nice character moments. I'm a little amused by the controversy around the character. I read about how U.S. armed forces and police have adopted the Punisher's skull symbol and the people at Marvel have chosen to be horrified by each and every one of them. Which is their right, even if one U.S. military sniper was honoured with a statue emblazoned with the Punisher symbol on his chest plate.



What has Marvel done in response to the widespread use of their symbol? They changed the Punisher's symbol to one resembling a Japanese Oni in 2022. Of all the empty gestures.

I enjoyed the series that aired on Netflix (and is now on Disney+--how the world has changed). It's fun fantasising about a world where you can take out your grief and rage on purely evil people. But such diversions also remind me that real life isn't like that. If Marvel writers really wanted to teach people a lesson about the Punisher, they should've tried to write more complex stories, stories where the Punisher killed people whose guilt really was more subjective. Maybe they have done that, I haven't read much of the Punisher comics, but the TV series certainly didn't do it.

Considering the upcoming Daredevil show was shaping up to be partly about cops inspired by the Punisher, maybe that was going to be the thing that did it. On the face of it, that sounds the wrong way to go about it. You don't persuade people by making strawman caricatures of them. The Amazon Prime series, The Boys, is based on a parody of The Punisher written by Garth Ennis, a former writer of Punisher comics. I don't know about the comic but, ironically, the Prime series presents an even more morally simplistic, polarised world, though it's far less enjoyable, at least for me. It is popular, though.

Anyway, now that I've seen all the Marvel Netflix shows, I may as well rank them. Instead of whole series, I think I'll go by season. That should make it a little more interesting.

1. Daredevil season one
2. Daredevil season three
3. Jessica Jones season one
4. Daredevil season two
5. Luke Cage season one
6. The Punisher season one
7. Luke Cage season two
8. The Punisher season two
9. Jessica Jones season three
10. Jessica Jones season two
11. The Defenders
12. Iron Fist season two
13. Iron Fist season one

This season of Loki is just plain good. Episode three aired last night and it was as fun as the first two. It has dark moments and real character conflict but mostly it's pure candy. It has no heavy handed political messaging, no awkward, corporate mandated, representation zombies. It's just the thrill of a chase through time.

( Spoilers behind the cut )

Loki is available on Disney+. Do watch it. I know you've been burnt, we all have, but trust me, the magic is back.

Just when I'd about given up on Punisher, it got good again. The season two episode "One Bad Day" finally turned it around after three episodes that felt like cheap USA Network productions.

( Spoilers for Punisher season 2 behind the cut )

I wonder if the Punisher's still coming back on the new season of Daredevil now that it's getting a revamp. Supposedly the series, which had been halfway through filming when Kevin Feige decided to junk nearly the whole thing and hire a new writing staff, had to do with cops imitating the Punisher. On the one hand, I like the boldness of incorporating such a touchy real world issue, but on the other, I have no faith in a Disney+ series handling it intelligently at this point. But then, if someone like Henry Gilroy were headwriter, I could see it being interesting.

The Punisher is available on Disney+.

The last mile is the hardest mile, they say. After watching through three seasons of Daredevil, three of Jessica Jones, two of Luke Cage and Iron Fist, and the Defenders miniseries, my greatest challenge seems to be Punisher season 2. And that's surprising because I actually really liked season 1. I'd say season one of Punisher is among the very best of Marvel television. But season two is like . . . the whole staff was lobotomised and their brains replaced with hamsters.

( Mild spoilers for seasons 1 and 2 behind the cut )

I will get through this. I will finish the Marvel Netflix shows. I've come this far. I will succeed.

The Punisher is available on Disney+.