Big Hero 6 (2014)

 "That is both disgusting and awesome..."

A somewhat unusual Marvel film here, but an inevitable consequence of said comics giant being swallowed by the greedy jaws of Disney. Awesome Stan Lee cameo aside, the obscure Marvel origins are minimised in order to make a Disney kids' film, and the result works well.

Hence there's no Silver Samurai and no Sunfire. The setting is not Japan but the amusingly named "San Francokyo". But it's all very Disney with the plot, characters and humour having all the kid-friendly charm we might expect. So Hiro inevitably becomes the, er, hero while Baymax becomes the kind of cute robot we might also expect from Disney. I don't know the source material myself (I Googled it; 1998 is well after my comics-reading days) but it adapts amazingly well to the modern house style of a Disney kids' film.

There are some awesome ideas, like the Microbots (wasn't there something like these in the Bob Budiansky Transformers comics in the '80s?), Alan Tudyk as the (spoilers) red herring and all the cool robotics. But it's a heartwarming tale of a boy coming to terms with grief at its, er, heart while at the same time, with the character of Professor Callaghan, showing us the terrible things that grief can make us do. Plus, of course, Hiro gets five, yes five, comedy superhero sidekicks (because that's what they are) with powers.

It's definitely a Disney kids' film which will appeal mainly to kids (not Little Miss Llamastrangler, sadly; it is apparently lacking in princesses), but is a charmingly different little superhero film.

The Gifted: Season 1, Episode 12 and 13- eXtraction and X-Roads

“I’m the only person in this family who’s actually proud to be a Von Strucker!”

...

“The X-Men made a mistake. This is who I am”

The finale was broadcast, for some reason, as a feature length double bill, so I’m treating it as such. And... well, it had a few surprises, but... meh. I’ll probably end up seeing the next season before too long but only because Mrs Llamastrangler is happy to watch it with me. It’s lucky to have that reprieve, because a promising start has been wasted in becoming a predictable, plodding, repetitive programme in which the characters never seem to actually drive the narrative.

The penultimate episode focuses on the Mutant Underground trying to kidnap Campbell at some anti-Mutant event in North Carolina while Reed and co try to find his mother, Cagney from Cagney & Lacey, to keep her safe from bad old Sentinel Services. But not much happens other than the usual angst- Andy is increasingly wondering whether his ancestors had the right idea, putting him at odds with the rest of the family, while Lorna and Marcos continue to clash over ethics as Lorna gets constantly reminded of who her father is. It’s all somewhat tedious aside from an in-joke about Sentinel Services originally intending to use robots but not doing so for, presumably, budgetary reasons.

We also have hints that John and Clarice are going to get together as at first he berates her over her Brotherhood ("of Evil Mutants") past, and then apologises later and gets a snog. I bet they will. We end with the attack on the conference going all wrong.

The final "episode" concerns the siege of Mutant Underground's HQ by Sentinel Services and later the Hounds while Polaris nips off to assassinate Campbell and his nasty senator friend and, praise be, the reset button remains unpressed. Stuff actually happens. The Struckers all save the day, evacuating everyone; Marcos, with Blink and John, fails to stop Lorna from dramatically turning a plane full of people into a fireball; Jace quits. All this and a face with "J. Kirby" written on it. And then we get the dramatic finale in which Lorna and the Frosts turn up and convince half the mutants to join them... including Andy.

It's an effective finale, yes. But it feels as if the series has been treading water for episodes upon episodes and only because it's the finale are things actually allowed to happen. That isn't in the grand Chris Claremont X-Men tradition; nor is it good episodic television. Please do better next season. A writer's room can be a creative thung but this very much feels written by committee.

The Gifted- Season 1, Episode 11: 3 x 1

“They got the job done."

"Is that all that matters?"

Sigh. After an episode that seemed to change the status quo it's back to an episode of the same arguments and the same running around that we've seen all season. Can something happen please?

I mean, it's good to have the Hellfire Club around, although it's unclear what they exist for in this continuity, and the Frost sisters aren't cool, although apparently they aren't Emma but the Cuckoo Sisters, from well after my time in the comics. It's also great to have the heavy hint that Polaris is Magneto's daughter. But, I mean, really? Do we need the Struckers to have another family argument about what to do until daddy knows best and they all try to flee to Mexico, only to have plot convenience force them back to the Mutant Underground? Do we need the exciting revelation that is the Cuckoo Sisters to be wasted as a pretext for the Mutant Underground to have yet another bloody debate and do sod all? Do we need Campbell's big evil plan to turn out to just be mutants combining their powers?

It's beginning to feel, after a promising few episodes, that nobody here has any real agency except the Cuckoo Sisters, who we've only just bloody met. The parallel funeral sequences achieve little to highlight what flat and shallow ciphers both Polaris and, especially, Jace have become. Does Jace have moral doubts or doesn't he? There's no bloody consistency from episode to episode.

This series looked promising but I have m doubts about whether it's really going anywhere. I'll give it until the end of the season and see.

The Gifted- Season 1, Episode 10: eXploited

"Hey, when you gotta go, you gotta go...”

This episode always threatened to be a downbeat one, and unavoidably it is, but we also get a big pleasing twist at the end which seems to offer the chance to divert this first season from its unrelentingly downbeat tone. We begin, though, to a curious flashback- there's a senator, electioneering in ways which are deeply unpleasant in terms of chauvinistic nationalism before he even gets on to his anti_mutant racism. A character for next season?

In the here and now, though, Andy, Lauren, Dream and Blink are captured and collared, and things appear very bleak indeed. And there appears to be nothing but aimless argument at the Mutant Underground, something for Esme, the cuckoo in their nest, to exploit. There's a startling interrogation scene between Jace and Dreamer, though, in which he tells her what she did to him by making him mourn his daughter all over again- and in which he bitterly tells her that he wants not apologies, but vengeance; a nice touch, as this is followed up on.

Campbell, though, is back from hospital, cured, if scarred, and manages to persuade Jace to release all four mutants to him for his nefarious, cruel and extra-legal purposes. We see his cruelty as he forces the Strucker teens to perform their joint power under controlled conditions through torture, during the process of which he murders Sonya in cold blood.

We also see Esme turning the adult Struckers and their mutant allies in different directions, manipulating them and, perhaps not entirely credibly, persuading Reed and Caitlin to try and appeal to Jace's decency; as far as I'm concerned, personal tragedies be damned, he has none. He simply isn't an ambiguous character; he's a shit. Nevertheless, the two of them drive into his neighbourhood, full of flags on people's lawns (does no one in America find this kind of aggressive nationalism creepy?) to the home which Jace shares with Mrs Jace- and attempt to reason with them by gunpoint. Jace, of course, is unmoved, but Mrs Jace is naturally appalled at what her husband has been doing, and that simple question "What are you doing in our little girl's name?" seems to have an effect.

Indeed, when we next see Jace, he's seizing back his prisoners from Campbell and promising to investigate Sonya's suspicious death. But chaos ensues as Thunderbird and the mutants strike, and it becomes clear that Esme has an agenda of her own. Who is she...?

An uneven episode; this season was good at the beginning as it slowly built its world and characters but soon fell into a pattern, and now we may be seeing an escape from this bleak pattern. But there's still plenty of bleakness here and I'm not sure where the ending to this season is going.

The Gifted- Season 1, Episode 9: outfoXed

"Noooooo!"

After a revelatory episode last time we get a decisive one this time. There are only so many times the Mutant Underground can undertake missions without someone getting caught. And this time it’s Blink, Dreamer and the Strucker twins...

We begin with the family discussing the revelations, though. Caitlin is quite resolved to tell the twins about everything, including Andreas and Andrea- and the twins soon find from experimentation that things can get out of control when they hold hands. There’s an interesting dynamic between them, though; on the surface it’s Lauren who is more fearful of this awesome power while Andy is almost eager, but things are more nuanced than that, a nice touch. They get a nice scene in which they muse over whether or not they are doomed to be bad.

At Sentinel Services Campbell is badly burned and refusing medical help, while Jace continues to pursue extra-judicial means in his increasingly disturbing obsession. The mutants know of what Trask are up to from last week, of course, and so we get the routine mission. We also get the routine need to involve Lauren and Andy, and the routine agonised acquiescence from their parents. But it’s genuinely shocking to see that, this time, not only Blink and Dreamer but also Lauren and Andy are captured and at the mercy of Trask and the Hound programme, those horrible collars round their necks. It’s a shocking ending, and a necessary one to pull the series out of its repetitiveness. Things Wouk otherwise have threatened to get rather dull. As it is, the series is still just about interesting me in spite of its unleavened seriousness.

One thing is genuinely superb, though- Amy Acker’s astonishing performance of grief as Caitlin’s children are captured.

The Gifted- Season 1, Episode 8: threat of eXtinction

"I failed! It came back!"

This is, quite clearly, a pivotal episode in which we comics fans have our suspicions confirmed about the decision to use the family name “Strucker”. In fact, we start with a 1952 flashback featuring Andreas and Andrea von Strucker, indeed Fenris, in their full terrifying glory, or at least dialogue about it, which is much kinder on the budget. These mutants are not traditionally X-Men characters, of course, but I like that. And the sense of secrets being uncovered fills the episode.

The other subplot is that the Mutant Underground is dealing with many refugees, one of whom turns out to be a helplessly brainwashed “Hound” spy, although not one without pathos in the manner of her eventual death.

While this keeps the others occupied, John accompanies Reed on a visit to his estranged dad, Otto, who used to work for Trask. What they discover is a real bombshell. Otto is the son of Andreas, is himself a closeted but powerful mutant, and his work with Trask was to eliminate the x-gene and “cure” Reed, his mutant son- what Reed remembers as a serious childhood illness was in fact his powers being erased. Otto could never look his son in the eye after nearly killing him like that, but insists that “everything I did in life was for you!” And he then goes to prove it by sacrificing himself so Reed and John can escape as Sentinel Services come looking.

The bigger revelation, though, is that Lauren and Andy have the same powers as their feared great grandfather add great aunt- what does this mean for them...? This is gripping, fascinating, arc-defining stuff.

In other news, Polaris and Marcos make up and Clarice is subtly integrated into the team, but this extraordinary episode is all about the revelations.

The Gifted- Season 1, Episode 7: eXtreme measures

"All he ever believed in was Magnet Girl..."

A lot of different threads are unfolding- it must be mid-season- in an episode that luxuriates in the fact that we finally know the score ad things can unfold. So we see, in flashback, as Marcos is recruited by John and Lorna, with whom there is a spark from the start. We also see Lorna's disgusted reaction as John is forced to do an underworld ob for his dodgy ex, Carmen. He remains a prisoner of his past.

The same is true of Wes, to whom, following last episode, Lauren is taking a shine. It turns out he has a history of petty theft, but after a bit of a kerfuffle, and some father/daughter awkwardness, he is allowed to overcome them. He and Lauren are still parted for other reasons, though.

John heads off in pursuit of Clarice to find out that she, too, is a prisoner of her past, trying to trace what happened to the foster carers who used to look after her and other mutant children. When John helps her to discover the awful truth- all the people she loved were murdered by Sentinel Services- she finally has a reason to join the Mutant Underground.

Yet most tragically a prisoner of his past is Jace, mourning his daughter again, as he does a deal with the sinister Dr Campbell in agreeing to be more "aggressive" in the use of apparently brainwashed Mutant "assets" called "Hounds". When a lady comes from the Department of Justice to shut this down as being quite illegal and appalling for a free society she is assaulted by a shockingly racist rant from Jace, reminding us that, whatever his personal tragedies, he's a colossal twat. And then said lady suffers a highly convenient stroke...

Meanwhile, the Mutants finally finish reading all the stuff they nicked last week, where they read of Trask Industries (we who know our old comic books recognise that name!) and a family connection for Reed...

The Gifted- Season 1,Episode 6: got your siX

" Nothing says father-son bonding like breaking into a federal building."

Six episodes in and the subplots are all interacting nicely. We also seem to have got to know all the main characters now and things are moving noticeably faster. Revealingly, there’s a longer “previously on”.

We begin with a flashback, though, to four years ago, as John experiences anti-Mutant racism in the wake of 7/15. Interestingly, too, we’re told he was chosen to lead the Mutant Underground by the X-Men, and that the X-Men are expecting a war. This is interesting wider world building, and only the second and third mentions of the X-Men.

We also learn that other Mutants beside Pulse may be working with Sentinel Services, an escalation, and John in turn decides to up the ante with a raid on a mysterious facility at Baton Rouge. Much of the episode revolves around this but a lot of character development happens. In particular, Clarice confronts John on his acceptance after the fact of what Dreamer did to her- and leaves. I’m not sure whether, next time, she will be friend or foe.

Then there’s Jace again, back at work after mourning his child a second time and cutting legal corners in a disturbing pursuit of revenge. He’s now willing to accept the help of Doctor Campbell who, in true TV drama cliche style, he turned down in a previous episode- and Campbell shows a particular interest in “the Strucker children”.

We also have both Andy and Lauren going on missions and developing their powers, both with the reluctant consent of their parents, who are both doing well under the circumstances but struggling to adjust to the harsh new reality. We’re also introduced to Wes, with his power for illusions, who connects with Lauren and proves his usefulness at the dramatic episode ending. But we end with Marco’s being summoned by Carmen to do nefarious things...

A good episode, and one with many moving parts. The Gifted may not be the stuff of greatness, at least not yet, but it’s the stuff of very good indeed.

The Gifted- Season 1, Episode 5: boXed in

“This is the best terrible meal that I’ve ever had!”

This is just as gripping as the last episode as The Gifted slowly burrows its way into my brain. The mutants and the Struckers are all free and all together- although not without tension as Reed’s last actions are revealed- and chief baddie Jace is pulling out all the stops to find their HQ, rounding up all sympathisers.

Except our view of Jace as a straightforward black hat is now challenged by the revelation that he lost his only daughter in a 9/11 analogue event that, in a nice bit of world-building, seems to have been the cause of all these repressive policies. He’s given a motive and, in a subtle touch, a multi-racial family to challenge our seeing him as a straightforward racist.

The Mutant Underground is under real pressure and in real danger of their base being found and, lovely though it is seeing Lorna and Marcos together again and taking some time to be excited about their baby despite everything. But Reed makes sure that his operational knowledge is of use and, at no small risk to himself, puts Sentinel Services off the scent. Meanwhile Caitlin again shows her use as a nurse, although not without considerable help from Lauren’s powers. But the Struckers are together, and all agreed for now to stay and help. This feels like the end of the origin story bit so the main stuff can begin, but it’s all very well plotted out. And all the characters are becoming subtly more and more developed. The confrontation between Blink and Dreamer, who violated her memories, is powerful.

More powerful of all, though, is the ending- Dreamer has messed with Jace’s memories, he’s forgotten his daughter is dead, and must mourn her all over again, the worst torture imaginable and one that makes it impossible for us kid to sympathise with the antagonist. Superb stuff.

The Gifted- Season 1, Episode 4: eXit strategy

"Call me Polaris. You're sending me to Hell; I think it's the least you can do."

So this introductory arc is over as this episode sees the springing and ultimate freedom of both Reed and Lorna as they are transferred to what we’re told is a helkush ultra-secure prison for mutants; I’m sure we will be seeing this place later but for now the good guys have won. For now. Now they can spend some time interacting with each other, the Mutant Underground and the Struckers together.

We get an interesting and charged chat between aliens and Reds while they’re in separate cells, reminding us that he has done reprehensible things and ruined a lot of lives, coming to an epiphany only when his own children were affected. This reminds us to pause before considering him a hero since his conversion. He has a lot to atone for; families torn apart and children separated from their parents forever, for no reason. His actions are as evil as those of Trump.

Last episode was about moral compromises; this time Marcos gets his turn as he finds out what is needed for the rescue by visiting his ex, Carmen, who proves to be the head of a drugs smuggling gang- and agrees to do morally dodgy stuff for her. Yet another character, in a world full of terrible moral dilemmas as happens under tyranny, dips his hands in the blood. Caitlin also learns that she has to let her children take some risks, and to be fair she is pretty badass herself.

We also have troubling scenes of Clarice dealing with the emotional after effects of her newly planted false intimate memories with John, but most of the episode consists of the rescue, with plenty of rather gripping action- not least due to the presence, on the Sentinel side, of Pulse, whose powers can among other things disrupt mutant powers. It’s an exciting and entertaining episode, but the end of an arc. So what next...?

The Gifted- Season 1, Episode 3: eXodus

“And you can shove that deal up your ass!”

I know it’s been a while since I blogged the first two episodes of this season; suffice to say this is me finishing it, and see the Marvel index for the previous two blog posts.

Anyway, where were we? We have the Struckers, a family thrown out of complacency by the revelation that their children are mutants in an America that’s very Days of Future Past, except with much cheaper Sentinels and obvious contemporary resonances in Trump’s land of the not-so-free- much of the harshness of the US law and justice system is from real life, and it’s not hard to see the allegories  in a real world America where the tiny children of othered immigrants are inhumanly ripped from their parents. The mutant underground is even likened to the Underground Railroad of slavery days by dialogue.

There are Marvel resonances- I know Polaris and Thunderbird from the comics but none of the other mutants, and the Strucker name is of course quite resonant, significantly or not- but for now we have the mutant underground, desperate and reactive, and the X-Men seem to exist but are nowhere to be seen. Other mutants include Eclipse, Dreamer and the powerful butcrecently awakened Clarice, who can make portals. Interestingly, we are told that mutant abilities first assert themselves during adolescence when the person is highly upset, and it takes a while to control them.

This episode is about the trade-offs and compromises of living under tyranny, resonant of a Milan Kundera novel; Lorna refuses to compromise, not betraying her friends at the cost of harsher treatment for herself. Her bid to escape, using her powers to destroy the door in spite of the extreme pain, is tragic, especially as an early flashback shows her to be rather lovely. Reed at first agrees to betray his family but changes his mind when he sees the moral consequences. Caitlin learns a harsh lesson that she cannot use the law in her favour, as even her own brother refuses to give any real help in order to protect his own immediate family.

But Dreamer makes a big moral compromise, controlling Clarice’s mind by implanting a false memory so she can produce a portal and save the day, the only compromised decision all episode. I’m sure there will be consequences.

This is all good so far, if dark, although leavening all this darkness with the odd bit of humour would be good.

The Gifted- Season 1, Episode 2: rX

"Mr Strucker, you were prosecuting this woman three days ago. Now... what, she's a brave freedom fighter?"

Things hot up as Caitlin and Marcos spend much of the episode trying to get a way of treating Clarice, who is unconscious and spouting dangerous portals everywhere. John Proudstar is not dead yet. Lauren learns to use her powers usefully; I suspect that both she and Andy will turn out to be powerful.

Yet what lingers is the truly awful prejudice, which this episode shows us in more detail. The doctor reports Marcos to the police at hospital out of pure stereotyping. The opening flashback makes it clear that even accidental damage caused by mutant powers is brutally punished. Marcos’ parents disowned him at thirteen when his powers manifested themselves. But worst of all is the hardship and naked racism Lorna faces in jail in spite of her bravery, beaten up, her pregnant belly targeted, and when her natural response is to use her powers in spite of the “flea collar”, it is she who is punished by being put into the hole. No wonder the other Mutant prisoner tries not to draw attention.

Another angle is the legal pressure put on Reed- the ridiculous decision to charge him with terrorism for associating with the Mutant Underground, the harassment of his mother, the sheer psychological cruelty. But Reed knows the drill and manages to negotiate freedom for his family. There’s a catch, though; he must betray the Mutant Underground.

This is an extraordinary episode, dramatising both the pressures and the moral difficulties of living under real totalitarian terror. More please.

The Gifted- Season 1, Episode 1: eXposed

"Mutie, Andy? Racist much?"

Yeah, I know; starting a new series. But it’s Marvel, and I just have to!

“Things change when it’s your own kids!”

This is theoretically the X-Men “Cinematic Universe”- Bryan Singer is even directing- butvthe X-Men and Magneto’s Brotherhood are both missing in a world which is getting, at least in the USA, incrementally less comfortable for Mutants. There’s a Mutant Underground, including a bloke called Marcos plus familiar characters Lorna Dane and Thunderbird (going to die soon...?), and Mutants, it seems, have very few civil rights. We are, in a classic trope used in the X-Men film as well as many other places, by a newcomer- Clarice- whom they have come to rescue.

It all goes wrong and Lorna (who is pregnant!) is captured and interrogated by the intimidating Reed Strucker (Baron Wolfgang Von Richards- all sorts of Marvel references there. At first he’s seemingly going to be a baddie but he’s certainly a major character as he’s played by Stephen Moyer. But then we meet the rest of the family- kids Lauren and Andy and mother Kate (Amy Acker, no less). Set-up complete, we can now start the excitement as both kids, whose father has up till now hunted Mutants (what exactly did he do?) are exposed as Mutants in the most public and damaging way possible, forcing the family to go on the run, leaving Reed seemingly captured at the end.

We spend the rest of the episode in suspense as the fleeing family tried to conect with the Mutant Underground, pursued by the interestingly named “Sentinel Services”, who have robot spiders rather than big metal men. It’s too soon to tell where this is going but it’s certtainly exciting and I’ll keep on watching. And I liked the Stan Lee cameo.