Chris Hardwick's Blog, page 2300

LUKE CAGE Recap: Luke Searches for Answers, Decides to “Take It Personal”

Warning: This is a recap, and as such, contains spoilers for the Luke Cage episode, “Take It Personal.” Get out of dodge if you haven’t watched the episode yet.

Two notes I need to get out of the way immediately: First of all, Diamondback is crazy and while he still annoys me, his role is pushing several plot beats in wacky/solid/unexpected directions. Secondly, boy, I was wrong about Luke and Claire’s relationship not being flirty. I let the fact that I didn’t want her to like Luke cloud my vision. Their affection for each other was made clear in “Take It Personal”: Claire gave her all to help Luke, and it went beyond her general need to assist others.

In many ways, Claire dominated this episode. As I pointed out in another recap, she has a more prominent role in Luke Cage than any other Marvel Netflix series (so far)—Luke would not have survived the Judas bullet injuries without her. Period. Her MacGyver-like skills seem made for treating characters with super powers. I loved watching the look on Dr. Burstein’s face when Claire electrocuted Luke in a handmade fashion in lieu of using defibrillators. She jumped right into the situation and became the doctor, with Burstein being the nurse handing her tools. It was perfect.

Their combined efforts successfully healed Luke and restored him to his former completely invulnerable status. But like Luke and Claire, I was wary of Burstein. He’s been coming across as more of a mad scientist than a doctor, and he’s eager to use the info from Reva’s flash drive to make more Luke Cages. He professed he wanted to proceed for practical and noble applications—helping soldiers heal faster, curing diseases, etc. But look at this guy: you know the second someone powerful waves money under his nose, he’s jumping for it.

Luke and Claire had the same thought because they decided to take the USB drive and get out of dodge… but not before poking around its contents. No wonder Reva kept Luke from watching the videos. She didn’t just know about the experiments happening at Seagate, she helped with them under the guise of conducting therapy sessions for the prisoners. She knew about Rackham’s plans for Carl/Luke and discussed him as if he were the subject of a scientific study. I would say I can’t imagine how it affected Luke, but it was all over his face as he smashed the computer and most of Burstein’s equipment. To this man that looks out for others and shows his loyalty with a simple but so damn effective, “I got you,” betrayal is one of the worst crimes. Could Luke’s day get worse?

Yes, it can, actually. Shrapnel-free and ready to face Diamondback, Luke decided to visit Savannah where he grew up. He went to the church where his father used to preach and walked backwards through time. As he walked through the shell of the church—it’s a mess now—his memories poured in. He recalled snippets of conversations he heard as a child and suddenly realized Willis Stryker was indeed his half-brother. Willis’ mother was his dad’s secretary. Huh.

I have a couple of issues with this. First of all, how did the truth hit Luke so suddenly? I guess maybe it was a matter of him mentally blocking the evidence, but the pieces clicked into place too fast. The audience could keep up, but it pushed belief—and yes, it pushed belief even though this is a series about an invincible man. Also, bitterness over being pushed aside for Luke is Diamondback’s motivation for being so terrible? Granted, Diamondback is unstable, but it seems like an extreme reaction. Like, the highest of extremes.

While Luke and Claire were away, Diamondback continued to try to solve the Luke Cage problem while moving forward with Mariah’s plan to profit by selling cops guns and weapons to stop people like Luke. He tasked Mariah with creating fear, and when she didn’t step up, Diamondback did. He pretended to be Luke using a device from Hammer Tech and killed a cop. That was a tragedy, obviously, but I couldn’t help but laugh at Diamondback walking away screaming, “I’m Luke Cage.” More cops should have seen through the charade, but with a dead officer and the heightened state, they were blinded. Misty raised an eyebrow, but everyone else stayed focused on looking for Luke.

Mariah being Mariah, she jumped in headfirst. She was angry at Diamondback for stirring up the police into coming down harder on Harlem (her Harlem, mind you), but she spun it. She used the police’s brutality against an innocent kid–mad respect to Lonnie for standing up and pushing back in his interrogation–to spur the community into action. She launched off that board to bring the community on the “get cops weapons to stop Luke and people like him” train. By the way, did you catch the call out to Jessica Jones? She’s too ambitious for her own good. Mama Mabel would be proud.

The rally didn’t only attract hopeful and angry citizens of Harlem. Misty showed up, and Claire and Luke returned in time to drop in. Yeah, they made the drive to and from Georgia without stopping to look at the sights. When Luke walked in, the world exploded in bullets.

What do you think about Claire’s avante-garde techniques? Did you buy that Luke would come to the realization about Willis so quickly? Sound off in the comments.

Images: Netflix

Watch Two SILICON VALLEY Characters Kick Off Google’s Pixel Event

Google just announced a ton of new products at its Made by Google 2016 event, including the VR-ready Pixel phone and the Daydream View VR headset, among a few other very nifty gadgets. And to help kick off the event, the search giant invited Silicon Valley’s Dinesh (Kumail Nanjiani) and Gilfoyle (Martin Starr) to get things started like nobody else could: mainly by acting like the Odd Couple and having Gilfoyle continuously jab at Dinesh for being ostracized by tech insiders and also for being a virgin.

The bit—which is posted above and comes via GeekTyrant—revolves around Dinesh waiting for the Google event’s stream to start. Unfortunately for him, Gilfoyle already knows everything that’s going to happen because he was invited to the beta, and has those sweet sweet blank white boxes (also known as “things”) as proof of his standing amongst “qualified industry professionals.”

The epic dumping on Dinesh continues when Gilfoyle reveals that he’s been invited to a Google afterparty, where Alphabet CEO Larry Page—Alphabet being the umbrella corporation under which Google falls—is set to fire Alphabet president Sergey Brin out of a cannon.

If you didn’t get a chance to see the products unveiled by Google at their event, you’ll definitely want to at least take a look at the Pixel and Daydream View VR headset. That combo—the latter part of which comes with a Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them VR game—is definitely a serious contender against Apple’s recently unveiled iPhone 7.

What do you think about this Silicon Valley bit? Demonstrate your credentials as qualified opinion professional in the comments below!

Images: Google

THE FLASH Recap: “Flashpoint”

Editor’s note: This post contains spoilers for the latest episode of The Flash! Proceed with caution, speedsters. For reals, if you haven’t yet watched this week’s season premiere, “Flashpoint,” we highly suggest you do so before proceeding. Okay? We good? Let’s go.

The world’s most popular superhero TV show is back for its third season. And I’ll admit I was worried. Not so much about what fate would befall Barry and his friends when he altered the timeline in an effort to save his mom at the end of season 2, to save his mom from the Reverse-Flash, but about season 3’s overall direction. The Flash, like most of Greg Berlanti’s productions, has never been afraid to wear its heart on its sleeve. But all too frequently in its first two seasons that emotional honesty was worn thin by one too many tears shed by its hero. With almost all of those crying sessions over the loss of Nora Allen and the resulting imprisonment of Barry’s dad. So when Henry died at the super-speed-vibrating hand of Zoom in season 2’s finale, dread washed over me like a tidal wave. Would we now be subjected to an entire season of Barry mourning his dad?

The answer which immediately followed didn’t offer a much better scenario. By saving his mom, Barry had also saved his dad, which all but guaranteed season 3 would mainly focus on Barry relationship with his parents. Forcing him to remember what they meant to him, and forcing us to endure scene after scene of maudlin anguish when they were inevitably taken from him once more. It might make me sound like a bastard, but I practically stood up and cheered when I realized this would not be the case — When the problems caused by Barry’s decision force him in the season 3 premiere to ask the Reverse-Flash to kill his mom again.

Those problems also account for all of the great character beats in “Flashpoint.” It’s an episode fleeter of foot than one would think given its premise, based on the famed Flash comic book storyline. Described as a “Reverse It’s a Wonderful Life” by the evil Eobard Thawne, Barry’s new reality sees Wally serving as Central City’s champion speedster in the iconic yellow costume of Kid Flash (even if he hates the nom de plume the media has given him). Iris, a stranger now to Barry, is her brother’s partner, which gives her a great deal more agency than we’ve seen her have throughout this series. Meanwhile, Cisco is a billionaire tech mogul running Ramon Industries and Caitlin is happily employed as a pediatric eye doctor who wears flats instead of her trademark heels. Joe, however, always the show’s most sympathetic character, hasn’t been faring all that well; and his attitude towards his kids’ crime-fighting prefigures the new status his relationship with Iris attains in this episode’s closing scene.

For even though Barry restores the timeline before its damage is irreversible, he’s opened up a whole new can of worms. And a new villain, Doctor Alchemy — one of the few remaining members of his rogues gallery who’d not yet debuted on the show — has emerged to threaten his city, allying himself with The Rival. It remains to be seen what personal stakes he’ll present for Barry, but whatever they are, I’m cool with then as long as they don’t prompt our boy to engage in another endless display of waterworks over his folks. Because, as “Flashpoint” so well illustrates, even those defined by a loss as great as Barry’s need to one day accept ther own reality.

Accelerated Particles

— Edward Clariss, a.k.a. The Rival, first appeared all the way back in 1949’s Flash Comics #104, as an enemy of the original Golden Age Flash, Jay Garrick. As much as I appreciate the nod to history, I kind of wish season 3’s first new baddie wasn’t yet another speedster, and a more generic one than Reverse-Flash or Zoom. Plus, his costume makes him look like a fish.

— Carlos Valdes may give his best performance yet as Cisco’s slick counterpart who dates models a foot taller than him.

— “Have I been kidnapped?” “Unclear.”

— “Flashpoint’”s final battle recalls Barry’s first super showdown, in the show’s pilot episode, with the Weather Wizard.

— Can our own Caitlin get herself a pair of sensible shoes to wear now that precedent has been established?

— “Today I get to be the hero.”

What did you think of this week’s episode? Let me know in the comments below or on Twitter (@JMaCabre).

Images: The CW

Netflix’s THE CROWN Has a New Trailer That’s Deeply Conflicted

We’re in the season of former Doctor Who stars leaving the TARDIS to portray famous British monarchs. While Jenna Coleman earned a lot of praise for her portrayal of Queen Victoria in the drama Victoria, we’re gearing up to see Matt Smith—the Eleventh Doctor—portray Philip Mountbatten, the Duke of Edinburgh and husband to Queen Elizabeth II in Netflix‘s new drama, The Crown. The latest trailer for which dropped Tuesday morning, and it looks intense.

While Coleman’s Victoria had a bit more of a soapy spin to it, the new trailer for The Crown seems to be setting up a more intense, political drama like The Queen and Frost/Nixon—incidentally both written by Peter Morgan, the writer for The Crown. The series will focus on post-war Britain and the very delicate position the country (and the rest of the world) found themselves in after such a devastating global war. For context/if you aren’t savvy with the historical timelines of British monarchs, Colin Firth’s film The King Speech takes place just shy of a decade prior to the events in The Crown. 

Queen Elizabeth II was a fascinating, trailblazing monarch. Her story isn’t one of fairy godmothers and magical mice, but a real political figure faced with impossible challenges. In a time where we’re finding more and more stories about kickass women, Claire Foy’s portrayal of the real-life famous monarch will not only be fascinating to watch, but pretty damn empowering. If the newest trailer is any indication, this is going to be a must-see series.

Obviously, since the real Queen Elizabeth II is still alive, her story is going to be a long one to tell. Netflix has six seasons planned, with season one ending in 1955. It’s unclear if the show will get new actors to play the famous faces in the following seasons, but you can be sure that the first season will be stuffed with drama and intrigue. The first season will hit Netflix on November 4, so get your Netflix queues ready!

What do you think of the latest trailer for The Crown? Will you be watching in November? Tell us what you think in the comments!

Feature Image: Netflix

Comic Book Club: Brian Heater and Anthony Ha

Brian Heater and Anthony Ha of TechCrunch join the show to talk about the next evolution of digital comics. Plus reviews of The Mighty Thor #11, BPRD: Hell on Earth #145, Chew #58 and Punisher #5.

Check out the website at comicbookclublive.com to find out how to watch the show live! And follow the show on Twitter: @comicbooklive, @azalben, @jtsizzle, and @realpetelepage

Buy Adorable POKÉMON Donuts at Krispy Kreme South Korea

While Pokémon Go and the 20th anniversary of Pokémon has helped usher in a new golden age for the media franchise, it’s also led to a flourishing emergence of Pokémon-based food, whether it’s Mewtwo cookies or Pikachu cutlets or Luvdisc Pokébowls or Pokémon burgers. The latest addition to the Pokéfood lineup comes courtesy of Krispy Kreme, and as much as we love their donuts stateside, the only place to claim a Pokémon donut of your own is at their South Korean locations.

We wish so badly we didn’t have to fly across an ocean to get to these perfect pastries, because they look delightful. Maybe don’t crack them open from the top, through, because it’ll look like a grisly murder scene:

This wouldn’t be a problem with the Pokéball donut, unless you imagine it as a Voltorb. Aside from Pokéball, they also come in Pikachu and Squirtle, and they’re almost too cute to eat. Still, if you do happen to find yourself in South Korea, you ought to hurry to your nearest Krispy Kreme, because these are only available for a limited time, until the 10th of the month.

Even if you have a gluten allergy or some other dietary restriction that would prevent you from enjoying this beautiful, beautiful thing, it’d still be worth buying some for a friend and keeping the box, because the art on them is gorgeous. One depicts Pikachu holding some sort of blue berry or fruit, while the other features the first-generation starters just palling around.

Images: Krispy Kreme South Korea, 엄상훈, Krispy Kreme South Korea

Extensive SUPER MARIO 64 Hack is an Entirely New Game

Super Mario 64 was released in North America almost exactly 20 years ago, and instantaneously the standards for 3D platforming games were raised. The title has gone on to inform virtually every subsequent 3D game from Nintendo and every other developer, but the original, as glitchy and sometimes imprecise as it may be, has so much charm and is still very playable today.

Super Mario Galaxy got a sequel, so why not Super Mario 64? That’s a question that romhacker Kaze Emanuar didn’t feel had a satisfactory answer, and 4,000 hours of development later, we have SM64: Last Impact (via Kotaku).

As the trailer above shows, Last Impact is more than just a game modification: It’s an entirely new adventure. The game boasts 130 new stars, as well as new areas, bosses, and power-ups, many of which are based on characters from other parts of the Mario universe. For example, the trailer above shows off cloud and bee power-ups (both from Super Mario Galaxy), a paper-thin power-up (Paper Mario), and the frog suit (Super Mario Bros. 3).

Other goodies include a stage seemingly based on Mario Kart‘s Rainbow Road, and a rideable Yoshi complete with a Yoshi’s Island-style trail of eggs. Based on the game titles we’ve dropped so far, it looks like Last Impact has done a marvelous job of making a sort of “greatest hits” game, merging elements from the Mario universe into one gigantic game.

Since romhacks are a bit unstable by nature, it might take a bit of doing to get the game working properly for you, but follow the instructions here (download link also included in the video description) and you should be all set. You can also check out a half hour of gameplay below, which features the first level, based on the “Touch Fuzzy, Get Dizzy” stage from Yoshi’s Island.

Featured image: Kaze Emanuar

LUKE CAGE Recap: Luke Goes Back to the Beginning

Warning: This is a recap, and as such, contains spoilers for the Luke Cage episode, “DWYCK.” Get out of dodge if you haven’t watched the episode yet!

Nine episodes in and Luke Cage trips over a barrier all of Marvel’s Netflix series have faced: the slow burn. These series are constructed more like 13 hour movies rather than episodic television; they’re made to be binged. Most of the time, this is for the best since it allows deeper character exploration and more time for story set up—it’s certainly been beneficial in the arena of developing more complex villains. But, it can also lead to a lull, which is where “DWYCK” mostly landed for me.

It’s a relevant episode that tackled tricky, navel-gazing spots for Misty and dives into social issues with the force of a semi, but even with those elements, the pace was off. Maybe it was because the issues with Luke were so urgent that by the time you cut back to Misty’s interrogation that wasn’t technically an interrogation and Mariah’s entanglements, you’ve fallen out of the fast-paced stream. But hey, let’s review what happened by character.

After she lost patience with Claire, Misty was reprimanded and rightly so. Someone was brought in to more or less assess her and give her the chance to open up. Misty worked through issues from her past and events as recent as Diamondback knocking her out. She found anger within herself for not fighting back against Diamondback and for losing control. She hit her “come to Jesus” moment in the end and got there with minimal pushing from the peer assistance volunteer. It’s been intriguing to watch this self-possessed and straightforward character falter. And I have to say, her not sympathizing with Luke has subverted my expectations. I hope she starts looking forward with a clearer vision.

Speaking of ladies and their visions, Mariah carefully crafted a plan only to watch it shatter. Her path has been my favorite of the show: I don’t necessarily like the character or what she’s doing, but her decisions have driven the narrative in unexpected ways. Like Shades said, we hate to love her. She’s stepped up into the role of Mama Mabel, Jr., and the themes of legacy and family run like undercurrents under her arc.

She continued to eschew Cornell’s business and with the help of Shades—who I’d really like to see more from before the series is over—she formulated a plan. Her idea seemed too good to be true, but we didn’t get to learn about her angle because of Diamondback. He disturbed Mariah’s meeting by taking out most of the bosses of Harlem. He brings a dynamic wholly different from Cornell’s to the table, and he and Mariah don’t seem to have the long and messy family history to color their interactions. Diamondback annoys me with his Bible-quoting speech, but he’s more formidable than Cottonmouth and that’s enough for now. He’s staked his claim in Harlem’s Paradise, and I’m curious about how the chips will fall (I hope Shades betrays him).

Onto our hero. Luke no longer as invulnerable thanks to the wounds inflicted by Diamondback. He’s managing to move forward—thank goodness he found a laundromat dryer with clothes in his size!—but it’s jarring to him and us to watch him struggle. The image of the cops stopping him and giving him a hard time merely for walking down the street in an erratic manner was all too relevant with current events and evoked a powerful image.

When he found his way back to Claire, she realized the only way to assist Luke was to get him back to the man who “created” him. They booked it to Georgia to visit Doctor Burstein. He was cautious at first, but once he saw proof of his successful experiment, he was willing to help. I was amused by how he was impressed by Claire’s knowledge and skills but didn’t quite believe her statements about Luke until he broke a scalpel trying to cut into Luke’s skin. C’mon, bro.

Burstein wasn’t sure what to do to assist Luke, but with Claire’s clever idea for drawing blood and the information on Reva’s USB drive, the doctor was able to piece things together. He conveniently had an area of his barn set up as a laboratory and had the equipment and materials to re-create the experiment that caused Luke’s transformation—except for one tiny bit of information. It was a risk to proceed, but with Luke dying in front of them, Claire and the doctor decided it was worth moving forward. The process of frying Luke like a chicken in a vat of acid shockingly didn’t go well, and I’m unsure of what will happen next. I mean, Luke will survive, but I can’t guess how it will happen.

Do you like Diamondback? How do you rank him in comparison to Cornell? Let me know in the comments.

Images: Netflix

These STAR WARS Beds Will Bring Your Padawan to the Dark Side

There comes a time in every Jedi Master’s life when he or she must watch their young Padawans choose their own path, feel the Force of the Midi-chlorians in their cells, and also sleep in their own beds through the night (hopefully). And while the first two tasks really come down to destiny and how much they like sand, that last problem can be solved with some help from Rooms to Go and their collection of stellar Star Wars-themed beds.

If you’re raising your own little Rebel, he or she will probably find their spirit bed among this collection, which comes via io9. All three beds, which include the Millennium Falcon bed below as well as the X-Wing twin bookcase bed and the Landspeeder bed in the image gallery at the bottom of the page, are perfect for kids who want to spend their dreams cruising across Tatooine, attempting the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs, or battling it out with some TIE fighters in a galaxy far far away.

Speaking of TIE fighters, this collection also offers a TIE fighter desk that’s perfect for anybody who wants to lay out their plans to attack Yavin or a set of math problems—some kids have just been made to suffer.

The beds range in cost from $600 for the single X-Wing bookcase bed and Millennium Falcon bed, up to $900 for the Landspeeder bed and $1,200 for the twin X-Wing bookcase bed. But maybe your Padawan will be able to help with the price by earning some credits from podracing or cleaning up the garage.

What do you think about these Star Wars beds? Is this what you dreamed for when you wished upon a Death Star, or are you going to “stay [purchasing] on Target”? Let us know in the comments below!

Images: Rooms to Go

VOLTRON: LEGENDARY DEFENDER Season 2 Trailer Hints at Big Change for the Team

Fans at San Diego Comic Con got the first glimpse of Voltron: Legendary Defender‘s upcoming second season, and now the sizzle reel has been released online.

ComicBook.com debuted the Legendary Defender footage, which features a pretty big callback to the original Voltron series from the ’80s. While these clips are intentionally vague, there are some potential spoilers ahead. Consider yourselves warned!

If you’re still with us, the video picks up shortly after the season 1 cliffhanger found the Voltron team forcibly separated and scattered throughout the universe. Obviously they’re going to come back together, as Voltron is seen fully formed in this trailer. But what if a member of the team doesn’t survive? Fans of the ’80s Voltron may recall that Sven didn’t last long on the team. From the way that this video was edited, it certainly implies that Shiro, Sven’s modern counterpart, may meet a similar fate.

It’s actually a little frustrating that we don’t get to see more. And so far, there are no indications that Zarkon’s son, Lotor will finally be making his debut on the show. That’s something we want to see, but we’re also very intrigued by Zarkon’s ties to Voltron itself as the original Black Paladin. If that’s true, then who were the other Paladins?

Voltron: Legendary Defender will be the focus of a panel at New York Comic-Con on Friday, October 7 at 1pm. A special print of almost all of the Legendary Defender characters will be given away to all fans in attendance. Presumably we’ll get some season 2 announcements there as well.

 

What do you think will happen in season 2 of Voltron: Legendary Defender? Share your theories in the comment section below!

Images: DreamWorks Animation/Netflix