S02.E04: It's Been A While

[AnimeMania]

(Midseason Finale)

Mark answers the call to save an alien species, but the mission has unexpected personal consequences.

Premiere Date: November 24, 2023     Prime Video  

Next New Episode: Sometime in 2024

[ribboninthesky1]

Whew, talk about audacity! Nolan had a lot of nerve.  Asking the son you almost murdered to risk his life to protect the life of your other son because you knowingly entered into a forbidden relationship and put the entire species at risk is....something else.  

Clancy Brown!

Poor Eve. She really needs to cut ties with her parents, her father especially. But I realize that's hard to do, especially if you don't have any other family.  

[thuganomics85]

I know reusing voice actors is common in animation (especially when it comes to supporting characters), but it was kind of funny hearing Clancy Brown as General Cregg since he played Damien Darkblood already last season.  But, hey, there is no such thing as too much Clancy Brown as far as I'm concerned!

So, it took almost murdering his son for Nolan to realize that maybe he and the Viltramites are kind of dicks and maybe change is necessary.  Better than nothing, I guess, but there are better ways to approach things than not only remarrying and having another son with a quickness, but then tricking your other son to come help you fend off the attackers who will be after your ass.  Oh, and putting the entire new species as risk.  Yeah, Nolan won't becoming a hero anytime soon, even if he has acquired more self-awareness and something resembling a conscious.  Granted, he's now been recaptured and scheduled for execution, but I don't this is the last we will see of old Omni-Man!

I guess Eve is giving up on her heroing ways (for now?) after she lets her battle with Killcannon put innocents in harm's way.

Donald is figuring things out!  Watch yourself, Cecil!

At least Debbie has support in the form of Art!

The stuff with the Maulers just seemed like filler for now.

[AnimeMania]

7 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

but there are better ways to approach things than not only remarrying and having another son with a quickness, but then tricking your other son to come help you fend off the attackers who will be after your ass. 

Or, maybe not, if Nolan realizes that the Viltramites are eventually going to come to Earth and kill Mark and enslave most of the people there, then Nolan's plan was probably their best hope. Nolan could train Mark and baby Ant-man to try to have a fighting chance to save Earth and possibly Ant-planet. The plan kind of worked, even though, back-up Viltramites seemed to be waiting to see if they were necessary. The Viltramites seemed to be taking no chances with the restraints even though Nolan had a broken back. Doesn't Nolan have laser eyes, maybe he should have a restraint helmet on as well.

You would think that a short-lived species would have lots children in various stages of development running around.

The people of Ant-planet should have had a better way of evacuating people to the caves in case of emergency, no one else seems to have made it.

Is baby Ant-man still alive, will he be popping up later in the story?

The Viltramites want Mark's help in conquering Earth, yet they don't seem very concerned with treating his wounds or giving him a ride back to Earth.

[ribboninthesky1]

42 minutes ago, AnimeMania said:

Or, maybe not, if Nolan realizes that the Viltramites are eventually going to come to Earth and kill Mark and enslave most of the people there, then Nolan's plan was probably their best hope.

I didn't get the impression that Nolan was being that strategic.  His immediate ask was to save his Thrax (I think??) family. 

I actually wondered if the Viltramites would have bothered with the planet if Nolan wasn't there. 

Even if he had time to train Mark, I don't see how the two of them would have been a match for several Viltramite soldiers. Nolan had the benefit of decades (hundreds of years?) of training, battle, bloodlust and psychopathy.  He still fumbled.  Mark came into his powers maybe 1 year ago (in the show timeline)? And before the truth came out, Nolan was training him to take over Earth, not fight against a Viltrim invasion.  

8 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

but it was kind of funny hearing Clancy Brown as General Cregg since he played Damien Darkblood already last season.

I forgot about that!

[baldryanr]

6 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

Doesn't Nolan have laser eyes, maybe he should have a restraint helmet on as well.

He does not.  If he did I'm sure they we would have seen several victims lasered into pieces.

I have to say, it's very open minded of Mark to be bothered ONLY by Nolan hooking up with a new woman and not seeming to care that she's a giant insect.

[Morrigan2575]

I really liked this one, lots of movement in the story and, some character development.

I don't think I'll ever forgive Nolan but, I'm curious to see where they go with him. The Viltremites are awful people and have little concern for anyone they view as weak...which is pretty much every non Viltremite and probably some of their own kind as well.

I wish we had more time with the Thraxians(?) How did they build cities and develop space travel if they're lifespan is only one Earth/human year.

I hate that we got no development on Allen the Alien. I became very invested in that storyline last week.

I swear, I think they dropped more F Bombs this episode then in an episode of The Boys 🫨

[ursula]

I feel like if I would be interested in Eve's story if it was a completely separate show. As it stands, I find myself taking breaks whenever she's on screen, because it's such a distraction from the main plot. Her screen time would be better served on more relevant arcs: e.g. Angstrom's villain arc, or what happened with Allen.

On 11/24/2023 at 9:08 AM, ribboninthesky1 said:

I actually wondered if the Viltramites would have bothered with the planet if Nolan wasn't there. 

Yep. They specifically went there to hunt him down. They've been hunting him since he abandoned his mission on Earth.

[Chicago Redshirt]

I guess it is somewhat of a spoiler, but what do the Viltrumites want with all the planets in their empire, anyway? Is it just an ideological thing, or are they stripping them for resources or what? Because it seems like enslaving a planet like Earth is probably more trouble than it's worth.

[Chris24601]

On 12/1/2023 at 12:42 PM, Chicago Redshirt said:

I guess it is somewhat of a spoiler, but what do the Viltrumites want with all the planets in their empire, anyway? Is it just an ideological thing, or are they stripping them for resources or what? Because it seems like enslaving a planet like Earth is probably more trouble than it's worth.

If it follows the comics (which it should) then the answer to this and why the Federation of Planets is able to be a thing in the face of the Viltrimite Empire should be answered fairly soon.