Summary: Harrow starts using Ammit’s power and Layla follows him. Harrow revives Ammit and Layla revives Khonshu and refuses to be his avatar. Marc goes back for Steven and they are both saved by Osiris’ gate opening. Khonshu returns to Marc. Layla becomes Taweret’s temporary avatar. Marc and Layla fight Harrow while Khonshu fights Ammit. Ammit is defeated when Marc’s third personality intervenes. Marc doesn’t kill Harrow. Marc refuses Khonshu. The third personality, Jake, kills Harrow and is still working with Khonshu.
The Good: Layla had some good scenes here. I enjoyed her standing up to Khonshu to force him to stop Ammit on his own. Becoming Taweret’s avatar was fun. Taweret is a unique and fun interpretation of a god. Layla’s costume looked great and there was some good action towards the end. The Bad: Naturally the last episode was just a misdirect, and served to have no real purpose in the grand scheme of things. It’s a shame because exploring Marc’s trauma is far more interesting than watching yet another action sequence of good guys beating the bad guys. The only purpose of the previous episode was to be a plot device to bring Marc back to life, which destroys any sense of stakes and consequence knowing that Marc and Steven can just cheat death. Marc somehow saving Steven and himself reeked of plot convenience. Their reunion didn’t have much emotional impact because of how cheesy and rushed it was. Osiris was never even a character, just a plot device to bring them both back to life. The action was honestly quite boring. Harrow stopped being a character the second he became Ammit’s avatar and the fight against him was lifeless and lacking in suspense, drama, and emotion. I did not care for a CGI fight between Ammit and Khonshu. Both are hardly characters and I don’t care about seeing them fighting at all. The CGI was also completely unimpressive. I was curious about the Ammit vs Khonshu scenes earlier in the show, but all they amounted to was both gods screaming their ideologies at each other. Yawn. The Unknown: What is Jake like? Where does he fit in with Marc’s traumatic upbringing? WHy doesn’t Marc know about him? What will Khonshu do with Jake? What happened with Layla? WIll she remain Taweret’s avatar? What became of her relationship with Marc and Steven? Best Moment: I got a good laugh out of Taweret giving away Layla’s position out of pure excitement. Character of the Episode: Layla. Conclusion: This season finale was flat and disappointing, like most of the season finales in the Marvel and Star Wars TV shows. For my thoughts on season 1 as a whole, you can access my review of the entire season here. Score: 46
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Summary: Steven and Marc have met Taweret who is guiding them through the afterlife. They have to balance the scale to succeed so Steven takes an adventure through Marc’s memories and past traumas. They routinely flash back into the psych ward with Harrow. Steven learns that he was created by Marc to cope with his trauma. The scales are not balanced and the unbalanced souls attack. Steven is taken overboard, he freezes in the sands and the scales balance.
The Good: This more than lived up to my expectations from the end of the last episode. The episode constantly bounced between realms in a way that never allowed you to fully figure out what was going on, making for a gripping out-of-body experience. Oscar Isaac is phenomenal here, conveying this confusion in such an emotional journey for two different characters. Steven is facing a harsh reality about his existence while Marc has to drop his cold exterior to face the trauma that he has buried so deeply. Marc’s story is brutally sad with lots of impactful scenes that make you feel for this character. It’s an engaging experience that serves as a sad and realistic reason for Steven’s creation. Marc has been a flat character, but we understand so much more about him after this. These scenes also answered quite a bit, such as by showing us Khonshu manipulating Marc to use him as an avatar, a surprising reveal. I enjoyed Taweret, and her voice and mannerisms were the opposite of what you would expect from a goddess in the afterlife. It was a wonderful subversion. The Bad: The Egyptian themes are used too much here. They never felt fleshed out enough in this series, so it doesn’t work to have an entire episode set in the Egyptian afterlife. Furthermore, you just know that this “afterlife” is going to be a plot device. While much of this episode is emotionally impactful, it is lacking subtlety in a few places. Some dialogue is used for exposition and feels hamfisted. The Unknown: Is Steven dead? We learn that Steven was created by Marc and is a part of him. Does this mean that if Steven dies that Marc will be “cured” of his disease and will embody traits of both characters? It seems that Khonshu manipulated Marc from the beginning. Is he actually an evil force that needs to be taken out? How does this psych ward storyline fit in with everything? Is Harrow somehow causing this? Is this reality? I’m very confused with how the psych ward fits in and I’m curious for answers. Best Moment: Marc’s past traumas were affecting, and the best to experience was Marc’s reaction at his mother’s funeral. He thought he was strong enough to attend but couldn’t do it in the end, and the sense of weakness and disappointment is brilliantly conveyed by Oscar Isaac. Anyone can relate to this. Character of the Episode: Marc. Conclusion: I loved a lot about this episode. Never mind all the plots, villains, and superheroes, what we got here was a powerful look into the mind of a troubled man, and it was great. When the MCU gets out of its own way, it can produce some really compelling storytelling. Score: 70 Summary: Steven and Layla go into Ammit’s tomb and hide from a creature. They split up and Layla kills the creature. Harrow finds her and reveals that Marc killed her father. Steven finds Ammit but is confronted by Layla who forces Marc out. Harrow and his people arrive and Harrow shoots Marc. Suddenly, Marc is shifted into a psych ward. Layla is a kind nurse and Harrow is a therapist. He is confused and runs away, finding Steven in the process. They encounter an Egyptian hippo goddess.
The Good: I loved the ending sequence. It caught me completely off guard and left me stunned trying to comprehend what was going on. This is far better than a by-the-numbers story which is what we had been getting so far. I’m excited to find out what exactly happened at the end of the episode. Prior to that, we had some good stuff. Layla had her best episode yet and she had some fun action scenes. The tomb was nicely realized and the creatures within it were spooky and terrifying. Some of the suspense as Steven and Layla tried to hide was excellent. The Bad: There have been dozens of tomb raider movies, and while I like the homage, it isn’t enough to save this show from its mediocre characters. Steven is fun, but Layla and Marc are still woefully boring. The love triangle that is happening here is a creative take on a trope that nobody likes, but I’m not interested at all. I care even less about Marc having killed Layla’s dad. I know nothing about the relationship between Marc and Layla and what they like about each other, so this reveal meant nothing to me. Harrow was slightly more interesting in this episode, but he remains a huge missed opportunity. Instead of doing anything interesting, here he is manipulating the main characters in a way that every bland moustache-twirling villain does, complete with sloppy writing that doesn’t even make him come off as smart and crafty in the way that the show wants him to. The Unknown: Who attacked Steven and Layla in the desert? What is the significance of Marc being there when Layla’s father died? Why did they get together? What the hell happened at the end of the episode? Is this a real mental asylum or did Harrow somehow bring on this illusion? Did Marc actually die with this all happening in his mind? Who is the weird hippo goddess? I’m very confused. Best Moment: Everything after Marc got shot. Character of the Episode: Layla. Conclusion: This was an average episode of thrills with an excellent ending that opens up the show to much more interesting avenues. Score: 63 Summary: Harrow reaches Ammit’s tomb. Marc gives chase by hunting Harrow’s men but is unsuccessful. Khonshu meets with the gods to accuse Harrow but they don’t listen to him. Hothar, Khonshu’s friend, gives a tip to find Senfu’s sarcophagus which could lead them to Ammit’s tomb. Marc and Layla go there and a fight breaks out when Harrow arrives, but they get the clue they need. Khonshu turns back the sky so that they can track Ammit’s tomb but he is imprisoned in stone.
The Good: Switching to Marc’s POV instead of Steven’s was a nice shake-up. Again, this was a very well-produced episode of television. The action was enjoyable enough and woke me from my slumber throughout the episode. The Bad: This was a snoozefest. The interesting part of the show, Steven and Marc’s conflict, had zero development. We spent most of the time with Marc whose personality I can describe as “flat soda”. Marc is boring and adds nothing to this episode. This is especially problematic because Marc being boring ruins his relationship with Layla. I don’t care about them at all. Harrow continued his descent into being a boring, uninspired villain. The plot in this episode was terrible. It was just a chase for MacGuffins that was entirely uninteresting. Anton was a useless character and the whole trip to Senfu’s sarcophagus was a boring waste of time. The gods were laughably lifeless, and their presence feels like useless filler. I can’t fathom why Khonshu would arrange a meeting without a single point against Harrow to condemn him. It becomes even more baffling when Khonshu manipulating the sky gets him encased in stone later in the episode. If he didn’t do the stupid meeting earlier, he would be fine! It becomes explicitly clear that the story isn’t natural and the writers are simply forcing what needs to happen for the plot. The meeting and the sky manipulation all happened as a forced way to remove Khonshu. Furthermore, Khonshu created several supernatural phenomena in this episode and somehow the world acts like nothing even happened. This should have enormous consequences around the world and it’s ignored. Why should I care about this story if nothing that happens is important? The Unknown: Who is Lagoro, the woman in the opening scene? Is there a third personality outside of Steven and Marc? Why did Hathor help Khonshu? Apparently Marc was in control until recently. What changed? How will Marc/Steven save Khonshu? What will they find at Ammit’s tomb? Best Moment: The action sequence I suppose. Character of the Episode: Steven. Conclusion: This episode was a chore. An uninspired plot filled with sloppy writing, exposition, MacGuffins, and weak characters. I did not enjoy this at all. Score: 41 Summary: Steven is fired from the museum. He goes to a storage locker that he apparently owns and speaks with Marc. He is followed by a creature and runs. He is picked up by Layla and taken home. Cops arrive and Layla runs away with the scarab. Steven is taken to meet Harrow who reveals he is working for Ammit, and that Steven is Khonshu’s avatar. Layla arrives with the scarab and gives it to Steven. Steven hands control to Marc who fights Harrow’s group. Marc and Layla escape but Harrow gets the scarab.
The Good: The tension built nicely throughout the episode. Khonshu is scary and the episode takes on a horror movie atmosphere when he appears. It was good to see Harrow’s neighbourhood, humanizing him a little bit. The show seems to be setting up themes of justice through the Ammit vs Khonshu conflict. The action at the end is exciting. Steven trying to fight in his “suit” was very funny and brought some much needed levity. The entire action sequence at the end was a blast to watch. The Bad: The tension built nicely but I’m disappointed in the result. The show already seems to be simplified into a boring hunt to find Ammit’s tomb. That’s not interesting at all. Harrow lost steam rapidly. He started off interesting, but has rapidly devolved into a generic, boring villain. Murdering the man who happened upon the scarab is such a typical villain scene, it made me roll my eyes. Harrow also looks really sloppy for simply allowing Layla to show up, take Steven, and run without any trouble. Typical writing for a villain by making them competent only when they need to be. The exposition scenes were quite blandly written. They weren’t very interesting and were very uninspired. The Unknown: Why didn’t the hound appear on the footage? What does it mean to be Khonshu’s avatar? What is Harrow’s story? Why did he turn against Khonshu? What is Marc and Khonshu’s agreement? Why does he belong to Khonshu? Whose body are they in right now? Does it belong to Steven or Marc? Best Moment: Steven arguing with Marc was a good spectacle, highlighting the moral differences between them. Character of the Episode: Steven. Conclusion: This episode built well and was entertaining, but it lost some steam with the simplification of the plot. Score: 61 Summary: Steven works at a gift shop but suddenly has his consciousness go elsewhere and he finds himself far away with a gold scarab. He’s hunted down by Harrow, an agent of Ammit. Steven tries to escape but his mind continues to blank out. He eventually wakes up in his own bed but soon discovers that several days have passed. He goes back to the museum and is found by Harrow and attacked. He learns he has another personality “Marc”, and lets him take over to help.
The Good: Steven is introduced well. He’s charming, likeable, and easy to connect to as he tries to get a grasp of what is going on. The multiple personalities are introduced naturally, and I enjoyed the editing throughout the episode. In fact, everything involving directing, editing, music choice, and cinematography was terrific. It’s nice to see this show take a more mature and violent approach, allowing it to stand out from the MCU and forge its own identity. The Bad: But like much of the MCU, this lacked feeling. The plot points were developed without much care for drama, suspense, mystery, or character. The various plots in this episode could have really used more time to breathe instead of trying to throw us from one thrill to the other. Some bad timing for me is that I’m also watching “Mr. Robot” while I watch this show, and “Mr. Robot” has far better themes, ideas, and storytelling with the similar premise of a main character with multiple personalities. Do we really need Steven to spout out every British trope you can think of? The Unknown: Who is Harrow? Why does he put glass in his shoes? Who is Ammit? Why does he support her? What are his goals? Who is Steven/Marc? Who is the person that is narrating in Steven’s head? How long has Steven had these split personalities? Why is he only noticing them now? Why is Steven missing significant portions of his memory? What happened to Gus? Why did Steven/Marc get a new fish? What does Harrow mean when he tells Steven he has chaos? Best Moment: Not much stands out. I’ll go with the craziness of Steven trying to give up the scarab but his body doesn’t let him. Character of the Episode: Steven. Conclusion: A solid enough pilot episode. Score: 60 Summary: Steven works at a gift shop and is gunning for a promotion that he doesn't get. He starts having black-outs and ends up in possession of a scarab. A man he encountered, Harrow, is after the scarab. Steven learns he is sharing a body with Marc who has a wife Layla. He also has special powers as the avatar of Khonshu. Steven gives the scarab to Layla and is captured by Harrow's men. Harrow reveals that he wants to the scarab to revive Ammit. Layla comes to save him but Harrow gets the scarab. Steven and Layla track Harrow to Egypt and they find the tomb, but Khonshu gets sealed away. In the tomb, Marc is shot by Harrow who gets Ammit. Marc dies and traverses the Egyptian afterlife, but he finds a way to come back. Harrow resurrects Ammit and Layla revives Khonshu. Khonshu returns to Marc and Layla becomes Taweret's avatar. Layla and Marc fight Harrow and defeat him. Ammit gets sealed away again. Marc and Steven reject Khonshu, but Khonshu remains with them in their third personality, Jake.
The Good: Oscar Isaac's performance is the best thing about this show. What makes this more impressive is that this is not an easy role to play, but Oscar Isaac nailed it consistently in every difficult scene. He's playing three completely different characters and he shifts between them all seamlessly when he needs to. It's remarkable that just through his facial expressions alone, we can tell which character he is playing. Steven and Marc are brought to life by such a compelling performance and I thoroughly enjoyed these characters. The mystery of who Steven is builds up nicely in the early episodes. It was engaging to learn about Marc, and Steven's confusion and fear upon learning about his other half was terrific. Again, I have to give full credit to Oscar Isaac for portraying this so well. The early episodes were good because of the performance and my genuine interest in uncovering the mystery of what's going on. Things were less interesting once the questions were answered (see: The Bad), but these opening episodes were engaging and fun. Steven and Marc became interesting characters to learn about, and they carried the emotional core of the series, with the best work on these characters coming out in the terrific fifth episode "Asylum". "Asylum" felt like a gamechanging episode. While that did not quite pan out, it remains a gripping experience. Steven has been so likeable with his innocent hopefulness, sense of humour, and nervous body language. But Marc was boring because of his simplistic cold, hard exterior. This episode pulled back the curtain on Marc and reveals to us why this character is so cold and emotionally distant, allowing us to connect more with him. His hidden trauma was beautifully realized and surprisingly deep-rooted. It's easy to feel sympathy for him and understand him as we see the extent of his struggles. This episode was again elevated by Oscar Isaac who had the tough ask of showing the reactions of both Marc and Steven to Marc's traumatic past. Both characters react wildly differently, and Oscar Isaac captured this range tremendously while still maintaining the different ticks of each character. The episode also featured a curious storyline that took place in a psych ward, offering up an interesting alternate reality that made us question what reality even was. This made for an engaging out-of-body experience that was the creative highlight of this series. Another thing that helps this show is how well directed it is. Every episode has great shots, transitions, and editing. There is real creativity in how the show looks and that helps make it much more watchable and interesting. There are some dynamic shots in every episode, and I loved the clever ways that the show illustrated Steven talking to Marc. I also loved the original musical score and the song choices. They fit the style of the show very well and the music always complimented and bettered the story. The Bad: Much of my praise is centered around Oscar Isaac, which means that the natural consequence of that is underdeveloped side characters. Layla has cool moments and May Calamawy does well, but the character is uninteresting and nothing can save that. Her relationship with Marc was never developed and the show did not do anything of substance with her. All she was given was a bunch of half-baked story ideas that were never utilized to the fullest. The story with her father, the weird love triangle with Steven and Marc, and becoming Taweret's avatar were all half-baked ideas that never got the time they needed to stick. The show sloppily hashed these ideas together, and the result is a character that does not have much merit to her. Harrow fares even worse. Harrow is every bit as boring as I had feared. Again, the show touches on unique ideas like Harrow's devotion to Ammit's belief of the scales, and his relationship with Khonshu. But none of these ideas go anywhere, and Harrow gradually devolves as the series goes on, ultimately becoming another uninspired, two-dimensional villain who exists specifically so that Marc and Layla have someone to fight at the end. Action itself is not interesting. We need emotional investment to make the action interesting, and Harrow's boring character never accomplished that emotional investment. On the topic of having too many ideas, the whole show is trying to balance too many ideas and ends up fumbling most of it. The main focus of this show is to be an MCU show (which brings about a host of problems I'll discuss later), but it also tries to parody tomb raider movies, incorporate Egyptian mythology, tell a story about a character with DID, and explore themes of justice, among many other things. This is far too much, and that results in these ideas being half-bakes and uninteresting. The Egyptian mythology especially suffers and can't help but feel tacked on. None of the Egyptian ideas are explored enough to feel meaningful and memorable. It may be cool to see a show with Egyptian themes, but if you take them away, the show won't suffer any loss in quality because of how extraneous these ideas are. The gods are bland, especially Khonshu and Ammit who are significant characters in this story. And yet I felt nothing for them, and the themes of justice that they represented were never explored in meaningful ways. The gods were another flat inclusion into a show that did not need them. It's sad to say that the gods are not necessary in this story because they feel like they should be. But the truth is that they play zero role in the emotional story of the season and are not necessary. I feel the same way about many ideas in this show. There is so much going on here, none of it feels important, and the show fails to establish an identity for itself by failing to manage its ideas properly. Episode 3, "The Friendly Type" is the one that suffered the most from the show not having its own identity figured out. By this point the show was promising to be a mature action thriller with a compelling main character dealing with DID. But this third episode completely screwed that up by introducing too many ideas. It tried to be a fast paced adventure film out of nowhere, and left behind the interesting ideas that had been brought up in the previous episodes. Instead it focused on a silly love triangle story, an adventure movie plot, and played up its campiness rather than the maturity that it was promising. Add in more of those half-baked Egyptian themes and the episode was an uninteresting mess of ideas that went nowhere. This episode encapsulated all of my biggest issues with the show: it was boring, uninteresting, rushed, and packed with far too many half-baked ideas. I feel like a broken record by this point, but another MCU show has fallen victim to the usual trappings. You can read my previous reviews of "WandaVision", "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier", and "Hawkeye" if you don't know what I'm talking about by now, but the same problems persisted in this show. Tonal issues, shallow exploration of themes, over-emphasis of bland action scenes, and a terrible final act all happened again in this show. It's frustrating to watch so many shows that have these exact same issues, and it's like Disney is not even trying to do anything creative or new to improve the boring formulaic nature in these TV shows. I am growing weary of it, and it's frustrating to devote 6 weeks of my time to watching a show that doesn't offer anything that I couldn't have gotten in a 2-3 hour movie. Best Episodes: E04 The Tomb: A fun tomb raider inspired experience with an excellent twist ending. E05 Asylum: This was a unique experience, as we follow Marc and Steven through their confused reality as the show dove deep and found a compelling narrative in Steven learning about Marc's traumatic childhood. This was by far the best content in the show. Worst Episodes: E03 The Friendly Type: This episode felt like a waste of time. It was driven by an extremely bland and generic plot, and offered nothing of substance. E06 Gods and Monsters: A typical, boring MCU finale that failed to satisfy me. We need to have better finales to these shows. Character of the Season: Steven. He's so much fun. Conclusion: This was certainly another Marvel show. Familiar problems and squeezing in too many ideas in too short of a time hurt this show badly and made it nothing special. But there is stuff to enjoy here, particularly Oscar Isaac's outstanding lead performance as Marc and Steven. I had some fun in this show, as is expected of the MCU, but this show doesn't succeed enough at what it tries to do to stand out and be something special like "Loki" was. This is a fine show, and nothing more. |
Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
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