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alchemicinkThis week: a Zeztz tragedy; one last case for Eliza and Inspector Blake; spring break shenanigans for Academy cadets; and... Diego Luna!
My friend and I are watching Andor for the first time, so I figured I'd throw that in these weekly reviews too. It's been a while since I visited the Star Wars universe.
Title quote comes from Starfleet Academy this week.
Spoilers, as always, below:
Kamen Rider Zeztz (episode 22)
The devastation continues this week with Nox taking out the two agents that were sent after him. Perhaps things could have turned out differently if Baku had joined them, but he's still conflicted and confused about what to do and who to trust.
This is an interesting idea actually, considering the secret agent theme. Secret agents, in any media, are supposed to work in the shadows with concealed information only a few people know. But Baku is working without being privy to any of that information. Zero had information about CODE he was going to share before Nox took him out. Nox had information about CODE that he never bothers to share with Baku (or the audience) to explain his position. 5 and 6 both seem to know plenty of things about CODE that they don't offer to Baku, the rookie. And, hell, 3 isn't even around to be evasive about questions either!
Things could have been different in this episode if Baku had more information to work with. But instead, he's a victim here too.
I really enjoy this kind of look at secret agents, but I must admit that I'm ready for some reveals. The mystery has been entertaining, but you can't leave the audience in the dark for too long or we start to lose interest because we don't understand anyone's motivations. I hope we'll have some answers soon.
On a sidenote, in regards to the deaths in this episode, I saw an interesting theory from a Japanese viewer on Twitter:
Someone said Nox still has the recovery capsem in his possession. I don't remember if that's true, but if it is, that would be a good way to bring 5 and 6 back later, and absolve Nox of his murderous crime 👀 It could be a longshot tho.
Miss Scarlet (season 6, episode 6) (final episode!)
After all my complaints this season, we wrapped up on a good note! I actually enjoyed this episode. It's clear that it was written as a series finale if they don't get renewed, which meant that it tied up loose ends and had a satisfying conclusion. Regardless of what happens to the show, this was a nice place to end it. (I still want a renewal tho)
The Governess from the previous season finale appears again to give Eliza and Inspector Blake a secret case to work together. They bring in Clarence, Moses, and Det. Willows to help out. And so the episode included a lot of nice investigative work that I've missed throughout this season. (Sidenote: Clarence and Moses continue to be really funny together)
The catch, of course, is that Eliza and Alexander won't be able to work together afterwards thanks to upcoming changes at Scotland Yard about romantic relationships in the workplace. That tension gave the two a chance to reflect more on their relationship and partnership. Though I am glad that, in the end, Alexander worked it out so that Eliza won't lose any business.
I would say it feels like the show is winding down by now. We've thoroughly explored over the years Eliza's hardships from being a woman in this line of business. And she's even got a stable romance now. But the final scene is her getting ready to interview new hires at her detective business -- all women! -- and now I can't help but want to see another season to explore how she'd mentor other ladies in this kind of role.
All in all, a weird season. But ending on a positive note erased all the previous ill will I had 😂
Starfleet Academy (episode 7)
It's the obligatory spring break episode! I do appreciate this show's commitment to being a good old-fashioned college AU in the Star Trek universe 😂
I was a little disappointed that we've skipped ahead about a month since the previous episode, so we don't get to see the immediate fallout from the last episode, but I appreciate that it's still referenced and it's still affecting the characters. Caleb spends much of this episode trying to write a letter to Tarima, and that was my favorite subplot of the episode because it had a lot of emotional weight. (And I say this as someone who is very *shrug emoji* about their romance).
Another subplot was Genesis attempting to change her application form... to cover up that she'd already changed the application contents once before. I thought it was an interesting look at the weight of expectations on her shoulders, and it helped flesh out her character more. And she's probably the character which needed the most expansion at this point. Though I still feel like I don't know her as well as the other main characters yet.
And then the other subplot was also about the weight of expectations, but this time it's with Darem and his sooner-than-expected marriage to his childhood friend who also happens to be royalty about to inherit the throne. It was nice to get some more interactions between Darem and Jay-Den, but this whole subplot felt undercooked to me.
Overall, not the strongest episode of the season, but it does focus more on character than action. Also, Jay-Den looked nice in his dress.
Andor (season 1, episode 1)
Something you should know about me: I love Diego Luna.
So I'm very thrilled to finally be watching this series. But let me say, it's my love of Diego Luna that got me through this first episode. Things just moved so slowly here that it certainly wasn't holding my attention right away. It's a lot of table-setting and character-dressing going on as Cassian spends his time covering his tracks after he kills two guys.
I was most interested, actually, in the flashbacks. Partially because it was a different, more colorful vibe than Cassian's present day story, and partially because no one spoke English and it was all untranslated. I appreciated that. It made me more interested in figuring out what was going on and what will happen as we get more glimpses of that moving forward.
I do think the plot will pick up soon, but I do wish the first episode had been just a bit more attention-grabbing. (Maybe tokusatsu has ruined me 😂)
My friend and I are watching Andor for the first time, so I figured I'd throw that in these weekly reviews too. It's been a while since I visited the Star Wars universe.
Title quote comes from Starfleet Academy this week.
Spoilers, as always, below:
Kamen Rider Zeztz (episode 22)
The devastation continues this week with Nox taking out the two agents that were sent after him. Perhaps things could have turned out differently if Baku had joined them, but he's still conflicted and confused about what to do and who to trust.
This is an interesting idea actually, considering the secret agent theme. Secret agents, in any media, are supposed to work in the shadows with concealed information only a few people know. But Baku is working without being privy to any of that information. Zero had information about CODE he was going to share before Nox took him out. Nox had information about CODE that he never bothers to share with Baku (or the audience) to explain his position. 5 and 6 both seem to know plenty of things about CODE that they don't offer to Baku, the rookie. And, hell, 3 isn't even around to be evasive about questions either!
Things could have been different in this episode if Baku had more information to work with. But instead, he's a victim here too.
I really enjoy this kind of look at secret agents, but I must admit that I'm ready for some reveals. The mystery has been entertaining, but you can't leave the audience in the dark for too long or we start to lose interest because we don't understand anyone's motivations. I hope we'll have some answers soon.
On a sidenote, in regards to the deaths in this episode, I saw an interesting theory from a Japanese viewer on Twitter:
extra spoilery speculation
Someone said Nox still has the recovery capsem in his possession. I don't remember if that's true, but if it is, that would be a good way to bring 5 and 6 back later, and absolve Nox of his murderous crime 👀 It could be a longshot tho.
Miss Scarlet (season 6, episode 6) (final episode!)
After all my complaints this season, we wrapped up on a good note! I actually enjoyed this episode. It's clear that it was written as a series finale if they don't get renewed, which meant that it tied up loose ends and had a satisfying conclusion. Regardless of what happens to the show, this was a nice place to end it. (I still want a renewal tho)
The Governess from the previous season finale appears again to give Eliza and Inspector Blake a secret case to work together. They bring in Clarence, Moses, and Det. Willows to help out. And so the episode included a lot of nice investigative work that I've missed throughout this season. (Sidenote: Clarence and Moses continue to be really funny together)
The catch, of course, is that Eliza and Alexander won't be able to work together afterwards thanks to upcoming changes at Scotland Yard about romantic relationships in the workplace. That tension gave the two a chance to reflect more on their relationship and partnership. Though I am glad that, in the end, Alexander worked it out so that Eliza won't lose any business.
I would say it feels like the show is winding down by now. We've thoroughly explored over the years Eliza's hardships from being a woman in this line of business. And she's even got a stable romance now. But the final scene is her getting ready to interview new hires at her detective business -- all women! -- and now I can't help but want to see another season to explore how she'd mentor other ladies in this kind of role.
All in all, a weird season. But ending on a positive note erased all the previous ill will I had 😂
Starfleet Academy (episode 7)
It's the obligatory spring break episode! I do appreciate this show's commitment to being a good old-fashioned college AU in the Star Trek universe 😂
I was a little disappointed that we've skipped ahead about a month since the previous episode, so we don't get to see the immediate fallout from the last episode, but I appreciate that it's still referenced and it's still affecting the characters. Caleb spends much of this episode trying to write a letter to Tarima, and that was my favorite subplot of the episode because it had a lot of emotional weight. (And I say this as someone who is very *shrug emoji* about their romance).
Another subplot was Genesis attempting to change her application form... to cover up that she'd already changed the application contents once before. I thought it was an interesting look at the weight of expectations on her shoulders, and it helped flesh out her character more. And she's probably the character which needed the most expansion at this point. Though I still feel like I don't know her as well as the other main characters yet.
And then the other subplot was also about the weight of expectations, but this time it's with Darem and his sooner-than-expected marriage to his childhood friend who also happens to be royalty about to inherit the throne. It was nice to get some more interactions between Darem and Jay-Den, but this whole subplot felt undercooked to me.
Overall, not the strongest episode of the season, but it does focus more on character than action. Also, Jay-Den looked nice in his dress.
Andor (season 1, episode 1)
Something you should know about me: I love Diego Luna.
So I'm very thrilled to finally be watching this series. But let me say, it's my love of Diego Luna that got me through this first episode. Things just moved so slowly here that it certainly wasn't holding my attention right away. It's a lot of table-setting and character-dressing going on as Cassian spends his time covering his tracks after he kills two guys.
I was most interested, actually, in the flashbacks. Partially because it was a different, more colorful vibe than Cassian's present day story, and partially because no one spoke English and it was all untranslated. I appreciated that. It made me more interested in figuring out what was going on and what will happen as we get more glimpses of that moving forward.
I do think the plot will pick up soon, but I do wish the first episode had been just a bit more attention-grabbing. (Maybe tokusatsu has ruined me 😂)
