The Adventures of Captain Marvel: Captain Marvel's Secret

"Shazam!"

And so it ends, wth a bang. This has been a splendid serial, retaining not only just excitement but plot progression (or at least the illusion of such!" throughout. But this is the final episode, and stuff can actually happen.

So we finally- after a teaser scene with his face in shadow, and a typical cliffhanger resolution- discover that the Scorpion is Bentey: it would be an interesting exercise to rewatch them all with that knowledge, although I'm not going to do it. We also discover- inevitably- that Tal Chotal is just what he seems to be- an obvious red herring, and secretly a decent chap. There's still a scattering of vague racism everwhere- Thailand is still just like Afghanistan, apparently, and I raised an eyebrow at Captain Marvel's assertion that Bentley would be extradited to face justice in the USA when he should surely be tried for the murders he's committed in, er, Thaighanistan first- but hey, it's 1941.

The ending is surprisingly final, as Billy is thoroughly outed as Captain Marvel in dramatic circumstances, and once the Scorpion is finally defeated the powers are seemingly gone forever. But it makes for a good, self-contained story.

This final episode may be brief, and somewhat crowded. But it's a thoroughly enjoyable end to a superb serial, one which has restored my faith in the material just when I needed it. Superb stuff.