One Good Point (Show) - Invincible, Season 2 Part 2

If you were worried that Invincible didn't have enough characters and storylines going on, don't worry. The delayed second half of season two offered even more complexity, with even more characters getting into even more hijinks. Was it good?

It was... okay.

I would say there are too many characters and happenings for my taste; the wide spread of content means that you might go a full episode or longer between story beats for a particular character. The finale's focus on Angstrom Levy, a character we'd seen for maybe 4 minutes all season, is the most glaring example of this. If you boiled the show down to the Viltrumites (who get shortchanged this season for the most part), two or three secondary characters, and a "monster of the week," I think you'd have a stronger show.

The other side of my frustration with this show comes from the delay. Season 1 debuted in March of 2021. Season two didn't release until the summer of 2023, and only the first four episodes were released; the last four didn't come down until March of 2024. That is simply too long a delay to preserve excitement, and especially frustrating to have such a delay inside the season. The show lost all momentum from Part 1 to Part 2.

Hopefully future seasons don't have such a delay, and are not split. The show suffered a lot because of it.

To find out where you can watch Invincible (all at the same time), click here to check its entry on JustWatch!

One Good Point (Show) - Echo, Season 1

Echo was a show I didn't really think we needed before I watched it, and then I watched it, and I still feel the same way. Story-wise, it serves to tie a little bit of content together between the old Daredevil show (which was phenomenal) and the upcoming series Daredevil: Born Again. I say that without knowing what the new show will be about, but it'll be about Kingpin, and that's the most interesting part of Echo.

But the action is often drawn out and also unbelievable, and the characters just aren't that compelling. Even Kingpin's character feels a little bit restrained. But we do get a glimpse of what might be to come in his future MCU presence, and that's reason for optimism.

My biggest frustration with Echo is that compelling. But when a show isn't very good and it's got a female or minority lead (or both, in this case), the conversation gets skewed by people's reactions to that fact. Sexist folks will say, "Marvel's focus on wokeness is ruining the MCU!" Anti-sexist people will praise the show for its wokeness, without acknowledging its flaws. And the public at large is left with a not-that-great show that people care way too much about.

Echo wasn't that great. It's not the end of the MCU, and it's not because it focused on a girl. Agatha All Along's success is hopefully proving the latter point.

I wouldn't exactly recommend it, but if you want to watch Echo on a streaming service, you can click here to go to JustWatch and find out where you can do that.

One Good Point (Show) - What If?, Season 2

The first time I watched through the first season of What If?, I was not impressed. I was still in my post-Endgame haze when it came to Marvel content, and I wanted stuff to contribute to the "story at large." What If? didn't do that.

But, the second time I watched through, I found a lot of it entertaining. I think having a bit of distance and separation, knowing it wasn't going to be part of the greater story (not really, at least), I was able to just sit and have fun with the show. I also think that mentality has helped me to enjoy X-Men '97 and the amount we've seen thus far from Agatha All Along.

Season two of What If? benefits from the same adjustment of expectations, but it doesn't have quite the same level of charm as the first season. I found myself nodding off as the pace of the episodes felt designed to stretch a fairly small story into something longer, but not necessarily greater. It's not the worst watch in the world, and there are some highlights (the first episode basically puts Nebula into Blade Runner and it's fucking brilliant). Just do like I did, and temper your expectations.

What If? is a Marvel television show, and is probably available on Disney+. But just in case, you can click here to check JustWatch and see where it's streamable.

One Good Point (Movie) - Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Okay, in case you're one of the four people who hasn't already teased me for not being 100% certain that this movie was a musical, get your yuks out now, sunshine. Yes, I saw the episode of The Office that features a Sweeney Todd performance. Yes, that's the only real exposure I've had to the content. Sue me.

Err, wait. Don't, don't sue me.

The film was alright, although this particular musical didn't resonate with me, though that's not necessarily uncommon when it comes to musicals. I'm sure for some people it's perfect. For me, it feels like a little too much time is spent inside these characters' heads, and not enough time is spent actually interacting with the other characters.

That said, Johnny Depp is great, Helena Bonham Carter is great, and it's always nice to find Alan Rickman again. And you can tell objectively that it's a good movie. It's well-executed and sharp, the music and settings give it a true sense of being a stage play brought to life on the big screen. Overall an enjoyable experience, if not an transcendent one.

PS: I'm trying to tighten up these posts, they had gotten a little out of hand there for a while. The whole premise was "one good point," as in, a quick blurb and then we're out. So, shorter posts forthcoming... we hope lol.

If you'd like to watch Sweeney Todd today but aren't sure where you can stream it, click here to go to JustWatch and find out!

One Good Point (Show) - Bonding, Season 2

I mentioned previously that I had watched Season 1 of Bonding last year, and enjoyed it thoroughly. The humor was sharp and clever, and the protagonists (Tiff and Pete) were a lot of fun, both individually and in tandem.

During season 2, the Pete storyline and character feel less relatable, and I found myself either not rooting for him, or actively rooting against him. His point of view and outlook came across a lot less sympathetic, and a lot more entitled. I have to admit though, it's entirely possible that my "straightness" is part of what hinders my ability to appreciate Pete's story. I'm sure there are people who found his experiences a lot more relatable, and felt more empathy for how he interacted with the world. 

But the rest of the season was just as good as the first. The humor stays pretty strong throughout, in a way that Harley Quinn had a bit of trouble with. Tiff is an interesting and complex character, and the whole BDSM scene is given a more substantial presence in the second season of the show. There's more variance in the types of D/s relationships that are portrayed, and Tiff especially has a few different forays into exploring improved sexual health. The second season felt like it was maybe a little more responsible and interested in engaging with human sexuality, and that felt like a logical pivot for this show.

I still love the format of 15-20 minute episodes, and although I kind of wish I had another 20 minutes per episode with these characters and ideas, you'd almost always rather have a show be too tight than too loose. Bonding feels like a show that has a thing it wants to say in each episode, it says that thing, and it immediately gets out upon saying it. I'd be happy to see more of it, but Netflix elected to cancel the series after the second season. And in truth, the ending of the second season felt crisp and complete. As the saying goes, part of the story is the end.

Want to watch Netflix's Bonding, but not sure where to find it? We'll set aside your inability to connect ideas in your mind, and offer you this direct link to the show on JustWatch, where you can see where to stream the show today!

One Good Point (Movie) - Darkman

I remember seeing commercials for Darkman ages ago, except I think they were commercials for the associated Nintendo game. I never played the game, nor did I watch the movie, until now!

Ehh.

Look, you can abide a certain amount of cheesiness or inconsistency from older movies (although Jaws is fucking tight). The film-making world of today offers different sensibilities, different styles, and obviously vastly improved CGI and effects options. Some movies age better than others, and that's understandable. But Darkman has a few other issues to go along with that.

First, the good. As Peyton Westlake, Liam Neeson does a good job, when given lines that sound like something a person might ever say. And I thought Frances McDormand was quite good as the love interest. I also liked the premise of the movie in general: a "superhero" but one who mostly follows the same laws of physics as everybody else, and a protagonist whose first instincts upon getting powers are A) check on the love of my life, and B) fuck up the people who fucked me up.

But the actual execution of the movie just doesn't land for me. Part of it is that I think I just don't like what Sam Raimi puts on the movie screen. I've watched a fair amount of his work, the best of which (according to other people) includes Evil Dead, Army of Darkness, Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2, and I just don't get it. I'm aware that other people like this content, but I just cannot get behind the dialogue in any of these films. It feels so janky and unnatural.

Watch this opening scene from Darkman. It's got five minutes of the most non-human conversation I've ever seen in my life. It's as if the script was written by aliens who are trying to approximate a human conversation, with all the believability of a goo monster writing lines.

The effects are old, and look old, but that's fine, that happens. And in the end, the actual beats of the story are satisfying, and the action is decent. I'm not explicitly upset that I watched the movie, which is a low bar, but hey, it's better than Anaconda.

Anaconda was so bad.

If you'd like to watch Darkman right now, and prove to yourself that Sam Raimi is a genius and Joe doesn't know what he's talking about, click here to check JustWatch and find out where you can stream it today!

One Good Point (Show) - 3 Body Problem, Season 1

Unlike a lot of people, I knew nothing about 3 Body Problem until it came down the pike. I saw it advertised on Netflix once it had been released, and I said oh okay, maybe I'll check this thing out... but probably not. Then I started to hear people talk about it like it's the next Game of Thrones (sometimes using that exact literal comparison), so I felt a bit more compelled to investigate.

One season in, it's a decent show. Game of Thrones, it ain't.

It's a nice little sci-fi show that becomes a massive sci-fi show, as it takes on an interesting idea about how we might encounter beings from another planet. I don't want to go too much into detail about the specifics of the show, because there are a lot of little (and sometimes very big) reveals that you don't want to have spoiled for you. There are some surprising deaths, and some pretty foreseeable deaths, and a couple of massive set pieces that are a spectacle to see.

The characters are... okay? So far I haven't been inspired by any of them, not really. I find that the overall premise is more interesting than the individual character arcs so far, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it puts a lot more pressure on the story. And the story is good, not great.

I will give it this, though. The first season ends with a lot of big moments and a lot of big questions, and it does a good job of piquing interest for future seasons. It's also got two actors who played two of my favorite side characters in the past decade: Liam Cunningham, who played Davos Seaworth in Game of Thrones, and Benedict Wong, who played Wong in Doctor Strange (and subsequent MCU properties).

I'll watch more 3 Body Problem when there's more 3 Body Problem to watch. I'm interested to see where the story goes, particularly the Wallfacer idea. And I'm always interested to see where an alien story ends.

3 Body Problem is a Netflix series, so it's going to be on Netflix. But just in case you live in a weird land where up is down and Netflix is Paramount, click here to check JustWatch and find out for sure!