Jump to content

Type keyword(s) to search

johntfs

Member
  • Posts

    3.4k
  • Joined

Posts posted by johntfs

  1. 26 minutes ago, Llywela said:

    Kamala needs to up her excuse-making game by leaning into half-truths a bit more. When her family confronted her at the end there, clamming up and refusing to say anything could only make things worse for her, when it would have been so easy to tell at least a partial truth by way of explanation. "There was a scary dangerous gang attacking people in the hotel. I got separated from you all and they chased me. I had to run and hide from them. I saw them hurting people. I was so scared and I didn't know what to do. I didn't know how to get away from them." A statement like that, and both parents would have been bang on side, offering comfort instead of disappointment - add a few tears, and she might even evade dangerous follow-up questions.

    I've yet to see the full episode, but honestly, I'm glad that Kamala isn't the usual deceptive child-hero sociopath.  I like that lying to her friends and family is hard and painful for her so she's bad at it.

    • Applause 1
    • Love 5
  2. 2 hours ago, Racj82 said:

    Because this a series. There is no need to constantly tease things for something going week to week.  They always tease for the finale to build up anticipation and after the finale since that is standard for the universe. They don't tease for the other episodes. They've been doing this for over a year now.

    That said, they did have a small after credits scene in the first episode.

    Also, Pakistani-Muslim weddings are awesome and we as a world need to see more of them to bring joy into our cold, dead hearts.

    • Like 4
    • Love 5
  3. 20 hours ago, paigow said:

    How did Reva beat Leia to the pilot without being seen? There was a shorter path but Leia was sent on the scenic route?

    The "scenic route" was a hidden tunnel.  Reva probably figured that anyone going through the tunnel would be heading for the port area and got there first.

    • Love 5
  4. 2 hours ago, Bill1978 said:

    As a reader of Matthew Reilly books, especially his Jack West series that starts with a National Treasure/Da Vinci Code look at the Seven Ancient Wonders, the reveal in Moon Knight fit perfectly with that book. I guess you could say Matthew Reilly had primed me for this reveal and for me to sit their going 'Eh, makes sense' Haha

    If there is a bright center of the historical accuracy universe, Matthew Reilly lives in the point furthest from.  This is the same guy who had the "signature weapon" of the Special Air Service be "liquid nitrogen grenades."

    • Love 1
  5. On 5/12/2022 at 5:02 PM, Morrigan2575 said:

    I don't think it would matter. It comes back to Wong's question to Wanda about why take America's power when she could have just asked America to take her to another Dimension where her kids were. Same with what she planned for the Wanda in that reality.

    I think at that point the Darkhold had corrupted her so fully it didn't matter.

    Now I have another question.  Was 800 (don't remember the number) Universe Wanda and her kids living in Westview? I saw that comment on Twitter and it didn't even occur to me that Wanda Variant had done the same as 616 Wanda.

    We're not specifically told but probably not.  Presumably in that universe and a bunch of other ones, Ultron decided to give his Vision a functional penis and testicles.  Or Vision got turned into a "real boy." 

  6. Am I an asshole for wondering why Strange never asked Wanda, "I know you want your children, but do they have to be versions of those specific children?  I mean, figure there's a whole bunch of cute kids right here on this world that would really like to get adopted by a loving super-witch goddess mom."

    • Love 2
  7. On 5/8/2022 at 8:51 PM, Proclone said:

    I just got back from seeing this and I kind of disappointed. In a vacuum, I'd probably like it. I know other people weren't really a fan, but I didn't mind Dr. Strange as a horror movie.  I actually like that several Marvel movies are other genres as well as being superhero movies.  And overall I felt like the performances were strong.

    What I really didn't like about it, was what they did to Wanda.  It seems like the film ignores pretty much all her character growth...Especially in light of the events of WandaVision.  In the series, she learned how much she was letting her grief hurt those around her and she seemed to make some level of peace in letting Vision, Billy and Tommy go.  This movie just ignores all that (despite referencing the events of the show), and makes her willing to murder to get to the boys back. I also thought it was strange (no pun intended) that Vision wasn't really mentioned in all this.  There has to be a universe with Billy, Tommy and Vision all together, right? I mean the obvious answer is they couldn't get or didn't want to use Paul Bettany for some reason, but his absence on screen and more importantly as a lack of motive for Wanda seemed to make little sense, since she enslaved a town over her grief for him. 

    The character of Wanda that we've been presented to over all these movies, does not strike me as someone who's willing to murder in cold blood, especially not murder a teenage girl who has powers she can't control and who Wanda might see herself in, for purely selfish reasons. It was even a plot point in WandaVision that she wasn't really aware of all the pain she was causing.  And she did let the townspeople go when she realized it. Hell, Strange himself, points this out in the movie.

    It's kind of character assignation to make her the straight up villain, even if they did keep her sympathetic. And frankly it's just poor writing. Character arcs should arc, having characters constantly revert or backslide and forget all the lessons they've learned, isn't particularly satisfying. And the funny thing is, they could have kept Wanda as the villain without it.  The easiest way was to continue from the after credits of WandaVision.  They show Wanda hear the boys cry for help.  I can't see Wanda murdering a girl simply to make herself feel better, but to protect her children, yeah I can see Wanda doing what she did in the film.  Just make it explicit that she trying to find the Billy and Tommy that were crying out for her, that she thinks are serious danger.  That makes her way more sympathetic.  She's not a villain who willing to sacrifice people for her own gain, she's a misguided mother out to protect her kids.

    They also simply could have made this a Wanda from another universe. One that experienced Billy and Tommy but didn't learn the lessons of Westview.  Perhaps this one didn't even have a Vision or something else happened to him (perhaps he's hiding the children from her) and that's why she's not gung-ho about being with him too. Simply have America accidently bring this other Wanda into our universe. 

    I don't follow entertainment news enough to know if this was the end of Olsen's contract with Marvel.  If it was, I'm very disappointed with how they chose to end the character. Even if it's not her last appearance as Wanda or the Scarlett Witch, I'm disappointed in what they chose to do with the character and how they chose to ignore her emotional growth.

    At the very end of WandaVision we see Wanda, in astral form, studying the Darkhold when she hears her children calling to her for help.  So we know (or should know) that at that point the evil book is screwing with her mind and tempting her. 

    The horrible truth is that Wanda did learn the lessons of Westview.  It's why she was studying the Darkhold in the first place.  She wanted to get full, conscious control of her power so something like Westview wouldn't happen again.

    We've talked about "What If?"  Here's one.  "What If Thanos obtained all six Infinity Stones and used them to become a superhero?"  What "supervillain" could be any kind of challenge to "Super-Thanos?" 

    That's the situation we have with Scarlet Witch.  As of the start of the movie there's no power that can really compete with or challenge her.  We see what happens to those who try ("What mouth?")  In the end the only person who can stop the Scarlet Witch is herself.

    But even if the Scarlet Witch is truly dead, Wanda, at least a Wanda, lives on.  And there's plenty of story space to explore for that character. 

    • Love 3
  8. 5 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

    Marvel announced that Layla's superhero name is the Scarlet Scarab.

    moon-knight-episode-6-superhero-layla-sc

    Well, figure if she has a supehero name Layla's time as an avatar of Taweret seems less temporary and more indefinite unless/until somebody changes their mind.

  9. 1 hour ago, thuganomics85 said:

    Did not predict the brief team-up with Layla and Tawaret and it was all kinds of awesome!  Tawaret would totally make sure her temporary avatar has the most awesome suit a god could create!  Although, if he ever finds out about it, you just know Sam is going to grumble about it being a ripoff of his (and then Bucky will naturally be like "Yeah, but hers is cooler!" and cause another fight between them!)  Hope this isn't the last time Layla gets to get her heroing on.

    Brief?  Temporary?  Unless you saw something that I did not, as far as I could tell Layla will likely be on Team Taweret going forward.  Layla didn't want to be Khonshu's avatar because Khonshu is an arrogant, domineering asshole of a god.  Taweret is kind of the opposite of that.

    • Love 5
  10. 54 minutes ago, AnimeMania said:

    I am not sure why Steven didn't give Layla the Ammit statue when he told her to run from Harrow.

    How did Layla manage to kill the only Harrow lackey that didn't have a gun and she still hadn't managed to procure a gun by the time she reached Cairo.

    Very good action scenes, too bad they didn't spread them out evenly throughout all of the episodes. I am not sure why serving a Hippo god would give you the power to fly, it seems like it would give you super strength and the ability to swim or float really well in water (and to eat a lot).

    The best scenes were the ones they didn't show, I feel the story would have greatly improved if they would have shown what Jake Lockley could do, rather than just implied it. The show could have used more action of the superhero variety.

    So the rest of the show could happen and/or he knew that if Harrow didn't find the statue on him, he'd go after Layla and kill her too.  Marc cared more about Layla than about stopping Ammit/Harrow.

    She was already pushing things by sneaking on the trucks with the other cultists and Harrow.  Trying to get a gun would probably have gotten her found out and killed.

    Screw it, Taweret's a god.  If she wants to grant her avatar the ability to fly that's fine by me.  Whatever Adorable Hippo Goddess wants, Adorable Hippo Goddess should get.

    Figure two main things.  First Jake seems to be considerably more vicious/violent than even Marc so figure Moon Knight Jake is likely killing those cultists is some ugly, horribly violent ways unsuitable for a PG-13 Disney+ show.  Second I thought it was kind of bold to just do one more "Jake kills everybody" cut to beat Harrow.

    Finally, the second and third episodes, which were the ones with the most superhero action were honestly the least interesting to me.  The show really took off in the final three plus the first one with Steven trying to figure out WTF was going on.

    • Love 16
  11. 27 minutes ago, Wynterwolf said:

    Exactly. Plus there was no intention here of making her "more interesting", this was just a short-hand narrative device to minimize & sidestep the inconvenient canon fact that the character is Jewish and that his faith was an integral part of his canon story in the comics.

     

    Except his DID predates him meeting Khonshu by decades so one has nothing to do with the other. His DID complicates his life in general, which includes his affiliation with Khonshu, but they are being presented here as completely separate things. All of the alters are real people, and all of them have their own experiences, that the other alters may or may not be aware of. But everything that's happened to them is real (in the context of a super hero show). This episode with it's depiction of the asylum is within the system's mind & the limbo between death and life that Tawaret inhabits, so isn't real in a physical sense, but that's separate from what the system has experienced in the 'real world'. 

    Yes, the show cleverly side-stepped Marc being Jewish by making sure to show him wearing a yarmulke outside his own home during his mother's funeral reception.  The story line with Marc's mother wasn't about disrespecting Judaism, it was about respecting DID in addition to, yes, simplifying and focusing the narrative.  DID is highly unlikely to be triggered by some one-time event (like getting beaten by anti-Semites).  It's much more likely to arise out of an ongoing intolerable situation like physical, emotional and psychological abuse and neglect at the hands of his mother. 

    You want to use the anti-Semite thing?  Okay.  Who are they?  Why did they go after Marc in particular?  What was it about that attack that caused Marc's DID?  What happened to the anti-Semites?  Are they still around?  You can let something like that play out over the years and decades of a comic book's run, but the Moon Knight show has six episodes and unless you want to refocus the plot of the show on Marc fighting Neo-Nazis that broke his mind, there's probably not enough room to cram all that stuff in there.

    The abuse story line is cleaner and frankly smarter because it focuses the story directly onto the three people who were broken by Marc's brother's death: his mother who was consumed by grief and blame, Marc who is drowning in grief and guilt while being the target of his mother's toxic emotions and his father, who was apparently paralyzed by his love for his wife and remaing son to the point that he never got help for the former and never intervened to protect the latter.  The story gives the audience a visceral, immediately understandable reason for Marc's DID: he created another (or two or more) persona(s) because he could not trust the two people closest to him, his parents, to nurture and protect him.

    • Like 1
    • Useful 1
    • Love 8
  12. On 4/29/2022 at 5:06 AM, Spartan Girl said:

    *sigh* Yup. And it’s also another example of the MCU’s misogyny in changing canon to make female characters the villains. Kate’s mom being a crime boss instead of her dad, turning Sharon Carter into the Power Broker, and now retconning Marc’s mom into an abuser. Ugh.

    Would you rather women be heroes, victims and supporting ornaments only to male characters?  Looking back over the MCU most of the "bad guys" have, in fact, been guys.  Villainous part are generally considered to be the "fun" meatier roles.  Should women be denied those roles in service to some false "female empowerment" narrative?

  13. Just rewatched that part on Amazon and that sawback was supposed to be done by the end of Round 2.  Meanwhile, throughout Round 1 the judges kept commenting that machetes needed to be thin and light, presumably because anyone using them aside from Jason Vorhees will be using them four hours on end to cut through stuff.

    • Useful 1
  14. 4 hours ago, Zonk said:

    Did they explain why Anubis isn't doing his job and Taweret is temping as guardian of the afterlife, with a bunch of cue cards, because that is usually not her job? Is he also stoned?

    Really interesting episode. Much, much better than first few.

    Also the actor playing young Marc was really really good. It's refreshing to see that there are still good child actors around. Young Picard, we saw an episode or two ago, in the show of the same name, was atrocious. I think people give bad acting performances from children too much of a pass. And I don't mean that as a slight against the children. I mean that as condemnation of the casting departments who don't put in enough energy to find actually good child actors.

    I suspect that Anubis is in the statue prison.  The kid was really good, especially being able to do a decent British accent.

    • Love 3
  15. 11 hours ago, Sandman said:

    I'm spoiler-free (and behind by an episode) but I'm wondering if the name "Steven Grant" was chosen for (what's looking more and more like) Spector's cover personality because those are Captain America's first and middle names?

    Steven Grant

    Spoiler

    is the name of one of Marc's alters in the Moon Knight comic.  As to why the comic writers picked that name, you might be right.

     

  16. On 4/13/2022 at 12:40 PM, ProudMary said:

    So much drama could have been avoided if Khonshu had just told Layla the date and the location that Senfu looked at the night sky and Layla then used a computer program to recreate the constellations that could be seen at that time.

    What date would that be and using which calendar?  Gregorian?  Julian?  Roman?  Khonshu wouldn't know those things.  He only knows the night sky, so he showed them that night sky.

    • Like 1
    • Love 2
  17. 24 minutes ago, Llywela said:

    Just noting for the record that this episode confirmed there is at least one more personality - a deadlier personality than Marc, which neither Marc nor Steven knew about before, and possibly did not entirely register even now.

    Also, I think Layla is developing a sweet spot for Steven.

    Not surprising.  I'm a straight CiS male but Oscar Isaac as Steven does make me carefully consider the question in greater depth.

    • LOL 10
    • Love 4
  18. 2 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

    Why would Steven know so much more about Egyptian Antiquities than Layla does, I thought Layla found and stole Egyptian Antiquities for a living. Wouldn't she have to know all their legends and be able to verify objects as genuine. 

    Not necessarily.  If I'm a jewel thief, I don't necessarily need to know the history/legends behind whatever thingie I'm swiping.  I just need to know where it is and how to defeat whatever security protects it.  She probably knows some stuff but if Moon Knight somehow crossed over with The Mummy, Layla would be able to identify the Book of the Dead and find a buyer for it.  Steven would be the one who'd be able to understand the spells and send Imhotep back to sleep.

    • Like 2
    • Love 9
  19. 25 minutes ago, AnimeMania said:

    A lot of action, so many dead bodies. Maybe Steven should try to become Layla's conscience, I think she needs you more.

    I can see why Khonshu wants Layla to be the next Moon Knight, she is way more single-mindedly focused and has no qualms about killing whomever to reach her objective. I still can not fathom what is motivating Layla actions or why her interests align with Marc Spector's. Moon Knight and Marc Spector seem more like a tool Layla uses to get what she wants.

    Why would Steven know so much more about Egyptian Antiquities than Layla does, I thought Layla found and stole Egyptian Antiquities for a living. Wouldn't she have to know all their legends and be able to verify objects as genuine. 

    So much drama could have been avoided if actors would has just taken a picture of the cloth pieces held in front of a strong light. So much drama could have been avoided if Khonshu had just told Layla the date and the location that Senfu looked at the night sky and Layla then used a computer program to recreate the constellations that could be seen at that time. Marc might still have a Super Suit, now that it is time to do battle with Harrow.

    Here's hoping that Layla never finds out the name of the person that killed her father, sooooo many secrets.

    Yep, if only everyone everywhere acted in a calm, compassionate, perfectly logical way all problems would be completely solved and we'd all be living in paradise.

    • LOL 7
    • Love 2
  20. 7 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

    It is not necessary to bring the thing itself to distract the bad guys or to get through to Steven.

    Saying "I know where the scarab is and I'll take you there" or any number of lies would do just as well.

    It seems that the scarab has obvious this-will-be-really-bad-if-it-gets-in-the-wrong-hands implications, so anything that would risk putting it in the wrong hands is something to be avoided.

    The subtext of her showing up with the divorce papers was "I absolutely don't want to do this but if this is what you really want, I can't stop you."

    She still loves him. 

    The subtext to his sending the divorce papers and not returning her text is Marc still loves her and is pushing her away to try to keep her safe.

    Two possibilities as to why the Rando Museum Babe was asked out:

    1. Marc is (despite my read of the subtext) willing to move on and is OK with dating around as he is separated.

    2. It was not Marc but yet another alter who asked Rando Museum Babe out. 

    My vote is the second, as Marc seems to be at this point a pretty linear personality (do the bidding of Khonshu to free himself of his obligation and keep Layla safe). He doesn't seem like he would surface to flirt.

    Maybe not necessary but "Hey!  I got your thingie!" while holding up said thingie is probably a better immediate distraction than "Hey, I might possibly perhaps know where your thingie is.  Or not."

    Marc probably didn't ask out the museum girl because Marc clearly has a very different accent than Steven. 

    It would be funny if Layla dumped Marc in favor of Steven.  Hey, MCU, can we get some cloning chambers up in this bitch?

    Meanwhile since Marc/Steven is in Egypt and they don't have the Scarab, figure Steven/Mr. Knight will be coming out a lot more because Steven will likely be the one to have to figure out where Ammit's tomb is.

    • Love 2
  21. 23 minutes ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

    A more relevant question is: why in the world would she bring the scarab to the bad guys' lair and reveal it to the bad guys. I'm pretty good at fanwanking, but I can't think of a good reason that doesn't involve "because the plot needs her to."

    To distract the bad guys from Steven with the thing they really wanted with the expectation that she could get through to Steven to get him to summon the suit and smoke the lot of them if it came to that.

    • Useful 1
    • Love 5
  22. On 3/31/2022 at 4:02 PM, lynxfx said:

    It doesn’t need to be the whole episode but it would show what Marc is up too for multiple day blackouts. That isn't waisted story to show. Plus it would include some cool action pieces during the truck chase for instance.

    Figure there's going to be a lot more action set-pieces featuring Marc in upcoming episodes.  They don't need to re-visit episode one.

     

    17 hours ago, SnarkShark said:

    Of course it's complicated by the fact that Marc seems to pre-exist Steven. Meaning you could argue Steven isn't real.  Ergo, in that sense, nothing from his POV being real, if you believe an Alter isn't a real person.

    You could argue that Steven isn't "real" but I think it's a BS argument.  With the Ammit handshake I think we have something like proof that Steven is a real soul to the point that his presence confused Ammit into retreat.

    • Love 2
  23. 1 hour ago, lynxfx said:

    I thought it was one of the best intros for a character I know zero about. I'm excited to see where this goes. 

    Probably a low chance but I would love if episode 2 shows Marc's side of this episode filling in the blackouts.

    There's six episodes.  I don't want to spend one of them just to see the other side of this first episode.  I like the way it went with poor Steven doing his best, blacking out and finding some problems lethally solved.  I also liked Hawke doing the judgement thing to Steven and then clearly being freaked out himself.

    And the most evil, terrifying villain in the MCU is clearly Donna, the mean gift shop boss.

    • LOL 7
    • Love 5
×
×
  • Create New...