CletusMusashi

I didn't want to start right out saying that Rob deserved to come back and Amber didn't, because it sounds sexist as hell, but based on the level of play we just saw from both of them... yeah, I'm gonna say it now. Plus, Rob has won the game without Amber's help, but Amber has not won the game without Rob's, so if it's either/or I do lean toward just Rob. That said, however, Rob has been on the show so many times now that if they'd wanted to just leave him and give Amber another chance, fine. I mean, she did win once. I don't dislike her or even think that she only rode Rob's coat-tails. And without the giant target on her back, she might be able to play a better game than we just saw. Mainly, they should not both have been cast. Whichever one gets "voted out" is still able to keep helping the other one from Monkeyshines Island, and it's an absolute no-brainer that they will, because they and they alone have a built-in immunity to the "no prize-sharing" rule. I did chuckle at her pre-game comment about wanting to beat Rob again, but, even if she had, it would be just like last time she beat him. If they're both living in the same house, raising the same family, then he is still going to benefit from a big chunk of that two million. It's not fair to the other players to have a rule that big that only applies to most, not all, people. And that is why I would like to see her actually out of the entire game as soon as possible. I have no need for a whole 'nother subplot devoted to one more person helping Rob win. At least Jeremy earned a guardian angel through actual social skills. Even if Amber and Rob secretly hate each other and are planning a divorce as soon as this game is over (unlikely, to say the least,) it is still in the direct financial interest of whichever one is in exile to maximize the other one's chances of victory. Between the marriage loophole and the crappy island twist that nobody even likes, Amber's presence is not a good thing for this season. Even people had understood the writing on the wall and voted out Rob, then Amber would automatically have a guardian angel instead of being one. I could go on forever, but it'd really just be me saying the same thing over and over.

Oh, it certainly is. And the funniest part is that I heard a few people getting very angry about it. Because they had no idea what the punchline was and felt cheated. Because they were not among the fifteen people in the world who have watched this cartoon.

The solo Ivy stuff was up to par. Hell, even the Frank stuff has gotten steadily better. Harley minus Truly Great Characters To Interact With? Not nearly as great as Harley with TGCTIW. And the henchmen were barely in it! So, overall, a subpar episode of a wonderful show. Even just rating it as popcorn, it's at least three and a half stars. As far as world-building goes, it rates better. They are doubling down on Harley being a great gymnast before she even thought of being a shrink. As well as on her not exactly being a stranger to crime and violence before meeting Mr. J. Props to her inner shrink for blaming some of her terrible relationship judgement skills on her mother. Although I kind of fell that the Big Family Confrontation episode with her father should have involved Clayface turning into a snake. Or at least a shitload of Ivy-vines. Apparently she's put some work into suppressing the Brooklyn accent. As Dr. Quinzel, she'd lost it completely. As crazy-wild Harley, she slacks off on that and lets a little bit slip back in. I honestly never expected the writers to put that much thought into it, but good for them! I can't be the only one getting the vibe that her brother committed suicide. A flashback or two to their relationship would be quite welcome. Odds are they have it planned, but unfortunately this show has "one season wonder" written all over it, so I fear that not every thing they have planned will actually occur. I would also very much like to see more details about the henchman's day at the amusement park.

Now I want to see Mouse impersonate Kara. And lose his glasses. And get mistaken for Supergirl. And then go back to Square One because he figures it must be because he screwed up his Kara disguise.

I just assumed it was a magic cupcake. Bruce probably kept it as a trophy after defeating some villain known as Cupcake Conjurer. Or maybe The Pastry Poobah.

Despite the silliness of this show and the abundant "don't think about it too much" throwaway jokes, the plot is getting thicker. And the stakes are getting higher. We've seen the H-crew bond with each other in lots of small steps, as well as in big steps, and it's not only still happening (for example, Ivy rushing to visit King Shark when he was injured,) but it's also already happened, (for example, Doctor Psycho not selling the shark fin.) The only one who still tends to feel like he has a different writer than everybody else is Sy Borgman, who was notably absent this week. I suspect that when Harley has to go against real, serious, organized supervillains who are endangering Ivy, Sy will come in useful. Shit, he might even give Kiteman an upgrade... although it's hard to imagine any device more powerful than a kite... As for the small things... I knew that Joker was going to screw her over, but I didn't how, when or why until the Batplane showed up. I like that this Joker actually puts enough work into charming her that it's not just "She believes whatever the Joker says because she's a dumb bimbo, lather, rinse, repeat." Yes, their traditional dynamic was still maintained, but she was fighting against it enough that he had to actually work for it. And trolling Bane with the "Bang" thing actually is kind of funny. I knew the henchmen were going to get shafted, but I expected something more like the Sidekicks Lounge on the old Tick cartoon, or the Familiar's Room on "What We Do In The Shadows." What the LoD actually did with them was damn near the only thing the LoD has done that makes sense! I wonder if Frank's pot guy might still prove useful. I mean, all Ivy might need to get out of prison is somebody with a few seeds in his pocket... So would Ivy-powered marijuana plants act like normal tentacle-vines? Or would they just blow out their vapors and make the adversaries extremely confused?

I saw "Jojo Rabbit" yesterday. It's good, but it wasn't what I was expecting at all. It's been promoted as sort of a Mel Brooks-esque zany Hitler comedy, but the comedic surface of the film not only doesn't run very deep but it often fades away almost entirely. It's a very nuanced character drama, and while it does have some things to say about propaganda it's actually more of an anti-war film than an anti-propaganda film. If you go into expecting it to simply be strange and thought-provoking rather than non-stop hilarious then it's a good movie. Me, I spent about twenty minutes of the earlyish part getting my brain to adjust. It's a very slow-burner of a plot, but it does keep getting there, and I found myself realizing all day long afterwards various subtle things about secondary characters. And not only are there a few twists that I did not see coming, but there are also some things that I sort of took for granted would happen, but didn't. Because it's a movie about what regular people can do, not what similar characters in a superficially similar Hollywood version would do. It certainly isn't going to be a huge money maker. There were six people in the theater including me. But, to be honest, I think Taika mostly made the movie because he wanted an excuse to dress up as Dorky Hitler.

The side plot about Sy's sister was the weak point of the ep. Not very funny, nor very related to the rest of the plot. However, the Aquaman stuff was perfect. Clayface as Aquaman, then actual Aquaman being just as cheesey as Clayface's version, then Ivy doing the "kelp" pun because apparently being around Aquaman makes everybody ridiculous... all of that was great! Still refusing to think too hard about how the LoD exists so openly.

Harley probably has no qualms about killing people who are "in the business" from either side. That means heroes, sidekicks, security guards, rival villains/henchmen, cops, white collar crime bigwigs, and so forth. And I don't think she cares much if a place she blows up ends up starting a fire that burns down a hospital later, because that's peripheral enough that she can just ignore it. And bear in mind, QoF killing innocents was still not a deal breaker as far as Harley wanting to remain friends with her. It just wasn't Harley's style, which means it was taking away from the fun. And while Harley's jobs may have material goals, she is still very largely into it just to have fun. Plus, her motif is comedy. And, in comedy, punching down tends not to be quite as funny as punching up. Hence, some targets not really being worthy of a massacre.

King Shark is wonderful. This show has the absolute best version of... most of its characters! And the writers know these people inside and out. Often I'll realize something about a character, such as Ivy's tendency to protesteth too much about her asociality, weeks before it's revealed as canon. There's pretty good depth for something that makes me laugh off so often.

I love this group so much. I don't have any idea how, like, The Joker, manages to get henchmen, but if I lives in this cartoon I would gladly join Team HQ just so I could hang out with them. Even with my favorite, Poison Ivy, off doing her own story, the others still manage to maintain a great dynamic with each other. So do you think Kite Man wears and opens that thing during sex? Oh, who am I kidding? Of course he does. I'm sure he makes puns while he does it, too.

I love that Clayface's hand can grow whatever body parts it needs to, but his own tendency to overthink every single role means that, until the original part comes home, he feels obligated to only morph into amputees, regardless of the fact that he obviously has extra magically-disappearing body mass to spare... Also love that King Shark is apparently considered perfectly appropriate to drop into the normal prison population! Does the introduction of King Tut's tomb mean we're going to get Professor William McElroy? Or an actual re-animated mummy king? Or neither? Sometimes I see things that I assume are never going to be plot points, such as the "Suicide Squad" shirts. But sometimes other things from that exact category come back to visit again, such as Dr. Psycho's tech-obsessed son. So... I honestly have no idea what to expect any more.

Holy crap. I didn't even realize that was her, yet I loved the character just fine anyway.

I expected this series to be funny. I am happy that it has proven to be every bit as funny as I had hoped, but I did expect it to be funny. What surprises me is how well thought out the characters are. Usually there's a bit of early fumbling, especially in pilot episodes, but I feel like every episode we've seen was written with the entire season in mind. This was the episode that truly differentiates "Harley Quinn" Harley from "Batman Animated" Harley or "Suicide Squad" Harley. She isn't a wonderful person who was turned evil by The Joker. She's smart, driven, and talented, but also emotionally damaged and not without a mean streak of her own. The reason this Harley didn't suddenly develop a completely different accent when she became a villain is that, in her case, the villain isn't a replacement for her old personality. It's simply her old personality saying "Fuck it, I'm gonna just start randomly doing whatever seems fun." They aren't just sticking characters on the show and saying "We'll figure them out as we go along." I feel like, from everybody's first appearance, the writers had already reached consensus on what made that character tick. Even Sy Borgman, who at first seemed like sort of a waste of Jason Alexander (one of my big dream castings is to see him as The Ventriloquist. Maybe it'll still happen. I mean, Tudyk is voicing at least three villains!) is now a welcome part of the show. Welcome to the team of "worst bad guys," Old Cranky Guy Who Bitches About Everything. It annoys me to no end that, even when surrounded by people who will race to the theater to see every single big budget superhero movie no matter mediocre or worse it is, I can not get anybody whatsoever to watch this show. Even with the pilot available for free on Youtube, everybody just sort of smiles and nods at me like I'm the nerd and then goes back to waiting for fucking "Justice league 2."

I would assume Dick Grayson existed, since that's pretty much the whole origin of Robin. If Damien were the first sidekick, he'd be Batboy or something. Now Tim and Jason, I'm not so sure. Some of it depends on how realistically paced the timeline is. If it's the kind of comic book universe where kids keep growing up but adult characters stay the same age year after year, then I suppose there's time for everybody to have existed. Speaking of age, Harley first appeared in 1992. So guessing her to be about thirty does fit for somebody who's had time to become a practicing shrink but is still young, attractive, and able to do gymnastics, but it also may well have been a meta joke about his character being newer than hers. On this show, I sort of assume it to be both. Some of the jokes have so many layers that I don't put anything past these writers.

Any time you put any version of those two characters in a room together, that's gonna be a big thing people are watching for. And the (smart-ass trope-conscious comedy) writers know that. So my take on it is that they're doing stuff like that just to screw with our expectations.

Share any jokes you've heard about Harley, Ivy, Batman, or any other colorful characters of Gotham. Why doesn't Calendar Man eat figs? Because he prefers dates. What did Harvey Dent wear to the ballet? A tutu. Why does Killer Croc take Viagra? He has a reptile dysfunction. You get the schtick. Good jokes, bad jokes, if they're on topic the place for them is here.

Not exactly the kind of King Shark I was expecting, but you know what? It's pretty much impossible for any version of King Shark not to be funny.

No, they're making this change because he started groping production.

Yes, Jeff. The doo rag is what we've all been talking about. That's why Jack was removed from the show, right?

I somehow always found it weirder that it was.

Okay, fuck it. I'm ready for more news updates.

Distract him. "Hey Dean, you're mom's a slut!"

Maybe they can have a twist next year where, instead of getting to an island to talk to Rob or Sandra, they send you to Noura.

God damn it, there's a chicken right next to Dean telling him where the "Get fire for free" advantage is hidden.