Captain America: Episodes 8 and 9

 

Episode 7: Cremation in the Clouds

"I wonder what's keeping the DA..."

Sigh. This is a perfectly decent movie serial, it really is, but movie serials are just one damn set piece after another. This serial is fine, but if, like myself, you only watch the genre because of superhero completism or some such reason, they start to try the patience by the halfway point, especially as we start with a cliffhanger resolution that is yet another blatant re-editing cheat. And that within a serial that is only sort of about Captain America.

Lionel Atwill is good, it's amusing to see Grant Gardner walk yet again into the Scarab's lair unwittingly, and the stuff with the blowpipe is a rather fun way of seeminly engineering a sdden absence of Henley from the plot.

Whats this? A cliffhanger of Gail piloting a plane with a time bomb on it? How very original...

 

Episode 9: Triple Tragedy

"Don't start anything unless you absolutely have to..."

This cliffhanger is the most blatantly dishonest piece of re-editing since... last episode. Yes, this time we splice in some footage of Gail jumping out with a parachute. This kind of cliffhanger cheating really is becoming a hallmark of this serial. 

This is the point where the serial really starts to bcome repetitive, and the lack of actual plot progression starts to feel really annoying. Yes, I like how Grant trusts Gail as a woman to be badass even though it's 1944, and badass she certainly is, but this episode ends yet again with another bloody building blowing up.

Another six to go...

 

Captain America: Episodes 6 and 7

 

 Episode 6: Vault of Vengeance

"Now the homicidal maniac will plan a counter-attack!"

There's actually a rather good cliffhanger resolution, for once, as this episode's peril monkey Gail is saved from the guillotine by a realistiv distraction before Captain America arrives to fight the baddies- ultimately stopping the blade from touching her by mere inches. 

We then move to the baddies pretty much suspecting the D.A. of being Cap, as a surprising series of cat and mouse games ad tricks commences between Cap and the Scarab. It's all rather good fun. And the cliffhanger involves Cap with a rifle(!), and an impressive-looking mine shaft.

 

Episode 7: Wholesale Destruction

"It'll blow sky high!"

The intrigue grows, as last episode's extortion victim is afraid of his life, as the Scarab is rather miffed that the $100,000 he extorted has been rendered useless by Grant's cleverness. Meanwhile, Grant does some clever and plot-convenient sleuthing in a place what repairs vans.

We end up with a rather ominous cliffhanger as the building with Cap in it is blown up with "Nitrogas", with some rather impressive and explosive effects. This is still just a load of random set pieces, but I'm enjoying it.