What If... the Watcher Disappeared?

 "It's definitely a risk."

"But it's to save a friend, and that's worth taking."

So it's nearly all over.

I know I'm always saying this for the episode of any serial (for this season is just that, albeit loosely for most of its run) that comes before the finale, but this episode functions as baasically set-up. What impresses here is how entertainingly the episode does its job of basically exposition and setting up of a cast of heroes to take us through the finale.

The Watcher has been arrrsted and tried by his own people for the crime of, you know, getting of his arse and doing something on occasion. And so, in a brilliant touch, the usual opening monologue is from not the Watcher but his erstwhile boss... and not just the delivery but the wording is more suercilious than we're used to.From the off, we don't like this bloke.

And then we're introduced to our team of desperate heroes who will hopefully save the day... and they all happen to be female, which will annoy all the far right culture warriors. We have the continuing story across realities of Captain Carter; the returning Kahhori; the now grown-up daughter of Darcy and Howard the Duck; and Storm, brilliantly shown as goddess of thunder (isn't this homaging an old limited series from the late '80s with the X-Men visiting Asgard?), yet again gradually pushing the mutants into the MCU.

There characters are introduced with skill, getting us to know and like them. And then there's the concept of Ultron, centuries after destroying all life in his universe, realidsing the enormity of what he did... and there can be "no redemption" for him. Wow.

Sometimes a set-up episode, which has to do so much, can be even more impressive than the actual finale. We'll soon see thether or not that's the case here.

What If... the Emergence Destroyed the Earth?

 "He has broken his oath. Again..."

Interesting episode, this. For a start, the baddie (derspite the lack of Jake Gyllenhaal) is Mysterio, our first Spider-Man villain to appear in any non-Sony related MCU thing. Also interesting is that, although the main character is Riri "Ironheart" Williams, a character from well after my time in the comics whom I don't know well, we're leaning heavily into concepts from Shang-Chi and The Eternals. This season does that a lot, which is interesting.It woukd be rather nice if those films woukld turn out to actually lead to something.

The main conceit is that the Dreaming Celestial has destroyed the Earth early, it's split into little inhanbited fragments that somehow survive, and Mysterio has taken over the Earth using illusions, his control of Stark Industries, and the while version of the Vision. Much as I love Valkyrie, Wong and Ying Nan (yes, that obscure)... yeah, the villains here are B listers. The plot is ok, based around Riri's stubborn determination, but despite a sound if bonkers central premise this is pretty average.

That predictable ending, though... yes, I know it's a cliche from the comics that the Watcher does nothing but interfere. But they're really leaning into it here.The final season, then, surely?

The Tuxedo (2002)

 "The name's Tong, James Tong."

So I know I'm not blogging much this past fortnight while I'm in full on dad mode and focussing fully on Little Miss Llamastrangler- back to normal sort of schedule from Monday or thereabouts. But last night I happened to see this Jackie Chan film, pleasingly undemanding to my mind which this week is perhaps less prone to being a pretentious git than usual.

This is basically a comedy-cum-action thing where Jackie Chan does his comedy thing of playing an ostensibly hapless protagonist but having a pretext- in this case, basically a magic tuxedo that confers awrsome martial arts abilities on its subject by means of fancy CGI nanobots- and there's basically an action story riffing loosely off James Bond tropes, with a bit of sparks with Jennifer Love Hewitt's Del Blaine which inevitably ends in them getting together.

In short, this is a by-the-book action film of its time, entertaining enough with its CGI insects and James Brown cameo. I enjoyed it... but, well, as action films of the period go, it's fairly anonymous. Interestring, though, to see Chan for the first time in his later, Hollywood iteration.

But what's more interesting, perhaps, is that this film was made just two decades ago... and these sorts of generic, original action films marketed via a star rather than being a sequel or using existing IP are sort of, well, dead.

Sex Education: Season 3, Episode 1

 “Sir, I need to take the goat out for a wee..."

So it's back, beginning with a rather well-shot sex-themed montage of all the characters we know up to all sorts of mainly sexual hi-jinks, although the highlight is without a doubt "The Colin Hendricks Experience".

And a lot has been happening. Eric and Adam have been rather sweetly seeing each other as a couple. Jean is now very pregnant indeed. Otis has been having secret sex with... Ruby. Yes, Ruby. And there's a new headmistress in town, one who seems quite cool on te surface but shows hints of evil peeking through. Mr Goff, increasingly desperate, is living with his rich wanker of a brother, played by him off of Harry Potter with less hair.

This episode is cleverly metatextual, based on a fraudulant new sex advisor whose silliness is brought to an end by Otis, leading to the demolition of the old toilet block, symbolically destroying the original format of the series. And there are some nice charactermoments all round. Yet it never really seems to catch fire.

Still episode one.Plenty of stuff to happen before the arcs get moving.