With all due respect to James Gunn’s ‘The Suicide Squad‘, I’ve always believed that Peacemaker was a better character outside the Squad. Having said that, ‘Peacemaker’ takes off directly after ‘The Suicide Squad’ film, and it has kept me laughing right from the opening credits. WARNING: This review has SPOILERS from the first three episodes. So if you haven’t seen those yet, you might as well take Eagly out for a ride.
Christopher Smith aka Peacmaker Recovering in the Hospital
It helps that you recall your ‘The Suicide Squad‘ movie knowledge. As shown in the movie, Christopher Smith aka Peacemaker miraculously survives his duel with Bloodsport, and is recuperating in a hospital. This leads to his new life. Chris believes he is done with Waller and the Squad. Later, he finds out that he is done with the Squad, but not done with Waller. Turns out he is tapped by Waller’s lackeys on a new mission called Project Butterfly of which he has no clue. Though, if you’ve seen ‘The Suicide Squad’ then these project names are fairly obvious and self explanatory.
Peacemaker in Full Costume
With that brief intro of the series plot (so far), here’s now where I get to say that this series IS NOT FOR CHILDREN. And, that’s a welcome sight. Just like a lot of DC properties, ‘Peacemaker’ is a story about superheroes, and not a superhero story. As such, this allows James Gunn and company a lot of leeway to tell the story he wants. There are a lot of superhero stories for children out there. This is not one of them. To force it down everybody’s throats that it should follow a particular formula would be pointless, and absurd. So, if you want a campy-funny family friendly series to watch, I suggest you search elsewhere, and let those who appreciate this kind of seminal storytelling enjoy it for what ‘Peacemaker’ is: a series about the crazy life of a crazy superhero.
Peacemaker talking with His Team
With the freedom of storytelling, we have one of the weirdest and funniest opening credits I have ever seen. Yes, it’s very whimsical. And yet, this just reflects on the personality of the main character, and the ‘Peacemaker’ series. If you’re familiar with your comic book references, then you know that James Gunn is really playing on Christopher Smith’s insane mind. Peacemaker is crazy. You can see that in the series in loads. The opening credits sets the expectations on how quirky the series is, and will be.
Vigilante with Peacemaker Unmasked
One of the great strengths of the series is the supporting cast. To name a few, we have comic book characters Vigilante, Emila Harcourt, and John Economos. I’m a longtime DC Fan, and Titans fan so I’m very familiar with the Vigilante. There are some liberties taken to his interpretation here, but, just like in the comics, he is as crazy as Peacemaker when it comes to serving justice. Then there’s Emila Harcourt, and John Economos. As I shared in my review of ‘The Suicide Squad’, James Gunn digs deep into comic book lore, particularly Suicide Squad lore. These two are carry-overs from the movie, and are supproting characters found in earlier Suicide Squad runs. More proof that James Gunn is a geek, and uses his knowledge well.
Peacemaker with the Full Main Cast
With the first three episodes, you are provided a visual feast of humor, sex, action, and violence that only HBO Max has to offer; and that’s a good thing. It’s also not in small part that the storytelling has enough pace, and intrigue to keep you wanting more.
So, if you’re up for a series about a crazy superhero, give ‘Peacemaker’ a try. ‘Peacemaker’ is now streaming on HBO Max.
Season one of ‘Cobra Kai‘ will be remembered as an excellent return to the ‘Karate Kid’ franchise. Season two might have the greatest cliffhanger. Season three expanded on the story, and provided what’s yet to come. Add those together, and you have all the elements of Cobra Kai’s season four which is in my opinion the best season yet.
Cobra Kai and Miyagi-Do in Training
Going back in, you have to remember that this is a ‘Cobra Kai’ series, not a ‘Karate Kid’ series. That in itself should temper your expectations about where the story is headed. When you put in that mindset, you will not be surprised with the storytelling direction this series goes towards. That is not to say that the plot is predictable. On the contrary, the focus on ‘Cobra Kai’ allows this series to have a life of its own taking elements of the past, and carrying them over into the future.
TheReturn of Terry Silver
Indeed, one of the many strengths of ‘Cobra Kai’ is that it doesn’t fall into the trap of rebooting an already existing franchise. This has been the fault of many creators who wish to use nostalgia as a selling point to fairly recent series, and even movies. ‘Cobra Kai’ does none of that, and instead draws in seasoned fans together with newer ones which allows the series to spread wide its Eagle Fang wings. This reminds me of another Netlfix series that follows an almost similar formula. In any case, season four has shown that there is still more story to tell without spreading the plot thin.
Johhny Lawrence and Miguel in a Light Moment
One of the many strengths that ‘Cobra Kai’ provides at its onset was the focus on generational relationships between characters, starting with that off with Johnny Lawrence and Miguel Diaz. From there, the series has expanded to many inter-generataional relationships that highlight a reverence for the past without limiting the future. This rich mix of the compromised present between generations goes to the root of what the series offers: a balance of both cultures for a much better direction.
Sensei Kreese
‘Cobra Kai’ has also provided a rich bevy of antagonists both old, and new that keeps the tension going from episode to episode. Though, season foun underpins a another important story element of ‘Cobra Kai’. The enemy is not one person or group of individuals. The real enemy is the ideals that ‘Cobra Kai’ set from its inception. Something that even sensei Kreese is beginning to realize. As such, ‘Cobra Kai’ will never end until these ideals of ‘no mercy’, and ‘strike first’ are burried in the foundation from which it was found.
Robby Keene and Tory Nichols
This leads to another dilemma that season four answers. Are all the teachings of ‘Cobra Kai’ truly evil? From the story set so far, the answer is a resounding ‘NO!’. Even from the most evil of origins, there is still some good that can be taken from it. However, the series moves to destroy these bad apples, and their tree while keeping the good ones to create something newer and far better. This evolution of beliefs will be the lynchpin that will hopefully unite Miyagi-Do, and Eagle Fang. The latter takes some of its templates from ‘Cobra Kai’, but without the destructive mindset.
Image for Cobra Kai Season 4
If you haven’t watched ‘Cobra Kai’ yet, now’s the time to start binge-watching. As a series, season four set the bar even higher, and this is well within the limits of ‘Cobra Kai’. This series shows the way on how to take a nostalgic franchise into the present audience in karate style. ‘Cobra Kai’ is now streaming on Netflix.
Though the second part of season four will be coming this spring, there is a lot to talk about with the first thirteen episodes of ‘Young Justice: Phantoms’. Considering it’s been two years since ‘Young Justice: Outsiders’, fans (new and seasoned) have a lot to talk about, and rejoice in season four. And, ‘Phantoms’ is a very apt description so far as we will see with this recap review. Needless to say, this post has SPOILERS so proceed at your own risk. Thank you.
Superboy and Miss Marttian about to leave for Mars
Season four starts off with a revelation that M’gann and Conner are finally getting married. This is a great start to the story as the team’s first couple finally prep to tie the knot. Though the happy beginning just forebodes a series of problematic events as the season continues. It’s nice to see our group celebrate a little down time before the literal sh@t hits the fan. One of these problematic events is the discrimination shown once the couple reaches Mars, which is yet another socio-cultural reality tackled by this series. This leads to our first set of ‘phantoms’ from the future.
Chamelon Boy, Phantom Girl, and Saturn Girl of the Legion of Super-Heroes
The end of season three hinted on the addition of the Legion of Super-Heroes to the series, and we get to see three members of this DC super team in the early story arc. Here we have Chamelion Boy, Phamtom Girl, and Saturn Girl shadowing M’gann and Conner along with Gar for an as of yet unknown reason. Though if you know your comic book references, they are probably there to protect Superboy aka Conner since he is the reason for the Legion forming. I can only assume that’s the rout the writers are taking since the series is Young Justice-centric and not Superman-centric.
Later we find out that Conner seemingly dies at the hands of kryptonite bomb planted by an unknown assailant. My money is that the phantom killer from the future is the Mordru (or connected to him) which links to the Lords of Chaos (more on that later). You can imagine the effect of Conner’s death is to poor M’gann (they weren’t even married yet), but Conner’s death seems to have hit hard on Gar as well. This leads to our next phantom which resonated throughout the entire series so far.
Superboy aka Conner Kent
With the death of Conner, Young Justice highlights the effects of depression through the eyes of Garfield Logan aka Beast Boy. Granted M’gann aka Miss Martian was gravely affected by Conner’s death, it is through Gar’s eyes that we get to see just how depression hits: no rhym or reason. It’s an important plot point of ‘Phantoms’, and you have to remember that Gar is one of the youngest members of the team. As such, we see varying degrees and manifestations of depression in Gar. Here’s hoping he snaps out of it somehow for his own good, and the good of the team.
Beast Boy, Superboy, and Miss Martian on Mars
Moving on to the present, the phantoms of the past rears their ugly heads through the eys of Cassandra Cain aka Orphan. I’m a huge Cassandra Cain comic book fan whether as Orphan or Batgirl, and I’m happy for her to have a story arc of her own in season four. This also connects with the history of both Artemis aka Tigress and Chessire, the sisters on opposite ends of the hero spectrum. Here, we see an opportunity for redemption for both Cassandra Cain, and Chessire in spite of their assassin pasts. The message here is resounding: you can move away from your dark past if you give yourself a chance. As to how this rehabilation of these two characters pan out, we’ll have to wait and see in the next episodes. Also, I’m happy that they had Barbara Gordon portrayed as Oracle. In my opinion, Oracle is one of the best modern characters in recent history in spite of, and because of her disability.
Lady Shiva with Cassandra Cain
Finally, we have the phantoms of the present with Zatanna taking center stage. If I’m happy with the Cassandra Cain story arc, I’m jubilant with the Zatanna story arc. She is one of my favorite comic book characters along with Raven, and Death of the Endless. This is the magic story arc with the Lords of Chaos as the time antagonists. Here we find out that Vandal Savage has an existing agreement with Klarion that now is put to the test. The presence of the Lords of Chaos just strenghtens my belief that Mordru is somehow the big baddie who will be revealed by season’s end.
Zatanna
In any case, the conflict between Klarion and The Child who are both agents of chaos draws in everybody. In the crossfire, we discover that Zatanna is training new magic weilders which include (Tracy) Thirteen, Kahlid Nassour, and Mary Bromfield (Marvel). With the resolution of Zatanna’s story arc, the balance of chaos and order is restored, and we find out that Zatanna has her reasons for having students. The decision was based on helping her fatther Zatara by providing alternate hosts for the Helmet of Faith. This includes herself, and her students minus Mary who was deemed unstable by Zatanna for the task.
The Child with Her Familiar
With that, the group’s run-in with chaos ends on a happy note. However, there are still some outstanding story hooks that remain unresovled. For one, Gar is still in depression, and we have yet to see him snap out of it. I expect that to be a huge part of the story for season four moving forward. Also, Zatanna had a vision of Conner’s soul at unrest. From episode thirteen, it appears that Conner is actually trapped in the Phantom Zone. Maybe he was placed there to protect him from the kryptonite bomb? That would explain why there is no body. With that, we end the first half of season four.
Young Justice Membes
Additionally, I would just like to mention one other story element incorporated from Young Justice: Outsiders. During the end credits of season three, we see Wolf as the star of the end credits. In ‘Phantoms’, the creators took this up a notch by providing short clips that enhance the story elements for the series. I find this to be a welcome addition to Young Justice. In effect, the end credits aren’t wasted on just credits, and these addtional story elements provide more layers to this beautiful series.
Young Justice cover Photo
So, what’s there to expect with the second half of season four? well, we don’t have stories that center on Aqualad aka Aquaman, Nightwing, and Rocket so I expect future episodes to center on them. If we are to believe the title image of season four, that should be the case. Then, there is the overarching story of depression through the eyes of Beast Boy, and , to a certain extent, Miss Martian. I suspect that how they overcome depression will be a salient point of the second half of the season. Next, we have the Legion, and the mysterious ‘killer’ of Superboy aka Conner. Let’s see if Mordru actually shows up. Finally, I’m hoping for the return of Wally West (Yeah!). Maybe he becomes the key to saving Conner from the Phantom Zone.
If you aren’t watching Young Justice yet, you should. This is one of the best comic book adaptations out there. Young Justice: Phantoms is streaming on HBO Max.
Obskura And Then Some 