This is a DynaMic Network podcast.
Hi and welcome to the Dynamic Duel Podcast, a weekly show where we review superhero films
and debate the superiority between Marvel and DC by comparing their characters in stat-based
battle simulations. I'm Marvelous Joe. And I'm his twin brother, Johnny DC. And in this episode,
we are going to review the latest Marvel television animated release, Hitmonkey Season 2. Hitmonkey
Season 1 was a big surprise when we reviewed that, I think back in 2021. And it's not surprising
that the show got a season two and season two, every bit as good as the first, if not even
better. So I'm really excited to talk about it. Yeah, absolutely. Hit Monkey is a vibe
and I was totally there for it. And I can't wait to talk about it. Before that, we're going
to break down the comic book movie news that came out this past week, of which there was
a lot of news that came out from the recent D23 conference. Marvel decided to save like
all their good shit for D23, and they kind of phoned in Comic Con. We're going to be talking
about the Agatha all along official trailer. We're going to describe the footage that came
out for Captain America, Brave New World, fantastic for first steps Daredevil, Bornegan and Ironheart.
And we got the big news this past week that Daredevil and Wolverine has surpassed one billion
dollars at the worldwide box office. So it is just a full on Marvel episode. None of that
DC shit this time. None of that boring news from the shit fucks down the street, as we
like to call them now. She's all Marvel. This is going to be a fantastic episode. I'm so
thrilled. I don't even know why I'm here. Like, I don't need to be here. You can go. You can
go. I'm just here to say things like shit. Damn. And that is whack.
OK, not another teen movie. As always guys, we list our segment times in our episode description,
so feel free to check out the show notes if you want to skip ahead to a particular topic.
Our artificially intelligent duel simulator AJ9K has a quick message for our listeners,
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cheerio. Thanks AJ9K and thanks to everyone who supports the podcast. Guys, be sure to
tune into the other shows in the DynaMic Podcast Network this week, including Max Destruction,
which pits your favorite action heroes from film and television against each other. This
week, hosts Scotty and Gilly are pitting the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles against the Warriors
of Virtue. On the Senjoworld podcast, host Zachary Hepburn speculates on fights between fan favorite
anime and manga characters. This Thursday, Zach's doing an Olympic sports-themed episode. between
Team Berna and Team Mud. Yeah, that'll be an interesting episode. None of the shows on the
network have ever done anything like that, so really excited to see how that sports-themed
episode goes. On the Console Combat podcast, hosts John and Dean find out who would win
in fights between popular video game characters. In yesterday's episode, they determined who
would win between Samus Aran from Metroid and Mega Man. Visit dynamicpodcasts.com or click
the link in our show notes to listen to all the shows. in the DynaMic Podcast Network.
But with that out of the way, quick to No Prize! A No Prize is an award Marvel used to give
out to fans. Our version, the Dynamic Duel No Prize, is a digital award we pushed on Instagram
for the person that we feel gave the best answer to our question of the week. Last week, we
asked, other than Dynamic Duel, what is your favorite podcast in the DynaMic Network and
why? And we only got... one answer, but it was a good answer. This week's no prize goes to
Scott Camacho who said, I'm not biased or anything, but, um, I really like max destruction. Dustin's
cheesiness followed by Ken's quick wit makes for a great show. And I love all the action
stars. I heard there's a new set of twins that is going to be doing it now. So I'm definitely
going to watch out for them. That's the show to watch. Max destruction. Yeah, Scotty is
not biased at all. It's not like he's the new main host for Max Destruction going forward.
That's right. Yeah. Ken, the initial host of Max Destruction, the guy who started the show,
has stepped away from the podcast and Scotty is bringing aboard his twin brother, Gilly,
which means that there are two sets of twins running podcasts in the DynaMic Podcast Network.
And we want to give a quick. Super heartfelt shout out to Ken. We've been a fan of his ever
since he put out the you call those tactics podcast Ken has been a huge supporter of dynamic
duel. He was our very first executive producer He was essentially the guy who started the
dynaMic podcast network because he asked us if he could start his own show and use Our
simulator and everything like that so he's just a fucking legend in the dynaMic network community
and We will always be happy to have him on as a guest Yeah, he's guested on this podcast
before for our Punisher review. The guy is just a genius when it comes to anything military
related, considering he is active military. That was always something interesting that
he brought to Max Destruction, the fact that he's a literal military strategist for the
army speculating on these battles. Now, Scotty, the new host, was also in the military, so
I'm definitely excited for his matches as well. Oh yeah, Scotty has brought a lot to the Max
Destruction podcast over the last few months as he's been co-hosting and he has great chemistry
with his brother Gilly dating back to the womb. So we know that duo will make Ken proud and
really looking forward to seeing what they do with the show in the future. Especially with
their upcoming episode, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles vs. the Warriors of Virtue, that's
going to be a great way to kick off this new era of Max Destruction. So great answer Scotty,
you win this week's No Prize. If you the listener want a shot at winning your own no prize, stay
tuned to later on in this episode when we'll be asking another question of the week. And
now that that's done, onto the news!
Alright, this past weekend we had the D23 event where Disney presents all of the upcoming projects
they have on their slate to investors. They showed a lot of exciting footage at the event,
which good luck finding video clips of those on the internet, but we're going to break down
the clips for you here. The first trailer we're going to talk about is Agatha All Along, which
actually was released to the general public as the official trailer. This wasn't like a
leak or anything, but this is coming off of the teaser trailer that we got just a few weeks
ago. The Agatha All Along series is about the witch getting back her powers that were taken
from her by the Scarlet Witch at the end of Wandavision. That is whack! To do that, she
has to walk the witch's road. So she gets some of her old witch friends to do this with her
and they sing a song. I don't know if this is going to be a musical or not. I guess, you
know, Wandavision had a lot of... musical elements to it and since Agatha all along is kind of
a sequel of sorts to WandaVision, maybe it makes sense that's why there's music, but it reminded
me a lot of the Far Over the Misty Mountains Cold song from the first Hobbit movie as Agatha
starts singing a song called The Ballad of the Witch's Road. All I know is anyone who's looking
forward to this but also trashing the Joker for being a musical is a hypocrite. Damn! The
trailer for Agatha all along does have some interesting moments here. We see a witch that
looks like the wicked witch of the west from the Wizard of Oz. We see some scary moments
where like this witch demon chick is like crucified on fire. It's kind of freaky looking. I don't
know what to make of Aubrey Paz's character. She definitely looks to be like the wild card
of the group, it seems. It'll definitely make for some pretty solid Halloween viewing this
spooky season. There was a line though that I absolutely despise where Agatha tells, I
think, Billy, the Scrawler Witch's son, she says, time to finish the road, last one there's
a good person. It's so fucking cheesy. Horrible delivery, horrible writing. I hope it's not
indicative of some of the cheesiness that may be to come and it's just kind of a one-off
bad joke. Because otherwise, this all looks like a lot of fun and I can't wait for it to
come out next month on September 18th. It's going to be a two-episode premiere. and then
they're going to do one episode a week after that. Blank, blank! That's so stupid. At D23,
Marvel also showed trailers for Captain America Brave New World, Fantastic Four First Steps,
Daredevil Born Again, and Iron Hearts, but none of those trailers were officially released.
I'll just kind of do a quick run through of some of the exciting things that these trailers
showed. On the Captain America Brave New World clip, we saw. President Thunderbolt Ross give
a speech congratulating Sam for his help in acquiring adamantium from the celestial Tiamat
which had sprung out of the Indian Ocean in the Eternals movie. Oh shit! Those rumors are
true. Shut up!
There's just a lot of action in that trailer. We get some lines from Sarbra, who was formerly
an Israeli superhero in the comics, but they're making her a former Black Widow in the movie.
We've already gotten a look at what the Red Hulk looks like in the first trailer for Captain
America Brave New World. Sort of. We saw his back. In this one, we actually get to see the
front of him, Aunt Harrison Ford's face all in red, which was really cool. He would have
made a really good Hulk back in the day when he was younger. It's a great character design.
Yeah, it looks a lot like Harrison Ford as much as you would want it to look like him while
still looking like this raging monster true to the comics. So really looking forward to
seeing Harrison Ford Hulk out. But one of the other really exciting moments we got from this
trailer was when President Thunderbolt Ross asked Sam Wilson to recreate the Avengers.
So it looks like by the end of this movie, we're going to have the new Avengers team solidified,
perhaps. Or maybe he's going to start his quest to form that team. I'd be surprised if we had
an actual solidified team by the end of this. You might be right. I mean, Sam Wilson did
question Thunderbolt Ross. He was like, you destroyed the Avengers when you established
the Accords. And Thunderbolt Ross is basically like, eh, I had a change of heart after the
Avengers saved the world during the events of Endgame. So I guess that's a believable reason
for him to essentially 180 on his position regarding superheroes. Of course, this new team of Avengers...
seems like it would be under official government control, so who knows what's going to happen
with the team. There was some more footage released that I believe came from Comic-Con, although
I think they re-showed it at the D23 event, which was kind of a teaser of sorts for the
Fantastic Four First Steps movie. There was a whole lot of reveals to come out of this
footage, but it definitely set the tone, which is very much in keeping with this 1960s feel.
I can definitely see why Matt Shackman got the job after directing WandaVision, because the
way everybody acts and looks is very much in keeping with how he directed those 60s episodes
on WandaVision. Yeah, the cinematography here is very, very bright, very clean and very in
keeping with this idealistic sci-fi retro 1960s design aesthetic that looks really cool to
see on screen. Yeah, we see the Fantastic Four suit up as astronauts. They go up into space
and it's almost like they're part of a documentary talking to the camera as like a promotional
piece for the general public learning about this space mission that they're about to go
on. Reed Richards is like, this is my buddy Ben. He's the best pilot in the division. And
Ben's like, yeah, best looking, which is interesting because, you know, it's a joke, but it's ironic
that he then turns into the thing who is known for being this hideous rock monster. And there's
a clip here that shows him as part of a dating game show where a female contestant selects
him out of the three possible suitors. The clip showed the fantasticar and the big reveal at
the end was Galactus. He looks exactly like he does in the comic books. He's this giant
figure. You only really get to see his face, but the scale of him is massive, similar to
the size of the celestials that we saw in Eternals. Yeah, he's like Kaiju size, right? Right. And
he's peeking through a window. They did a great job of capturing the look and the scale of
the character for sure. With the square glowing pupils? Yeah, yeah. At D23 they also showed
a trailer for Daredevil Born Again which was really exciting to see. We got news that the
show is going to make its debut on Disney Plus this spring. It looks like a direct continuation
of the Netflix Daredevil series which is all that the fans want, right? But there were some
great surprises to be seen in the footage including our first look at Hector Alaya as the White
Tiger. His costume looked a little bit homegrown because it looks like the premise of the show
is that Matt represents Hector, who believes himself to be a hero and called to fight crime
on the streets as a costume vigilante. But we also get to see other cool characters like
Muse, we see Bullseye, we see the Punisher Maker return. That was really cool to see Jon Bernthal
returning to the character. There's this great diner scene between Matt Murdock and the Kingpin
where Matt's telling him like basically, If you step out of line, I'm going to be there.
And Kingpin, very imposingly, is like, who's going to stop me? Matt Murdock or your other
half? Yeah, that's probably one of my favorite parts of the trailer, too. I saw that and I
was like, oh, shit. There was another great shot where Daredevil opens up his costume closet.
And we see like five different masks of the Daredevil costume, including, you know, his
yellow mask. There's a white one in there and he has like three different variations of red.
Yeah, black one. I was like, blank, blank. Just stop, right? I know you're the token DC guy
in this episode, but you could also try to not be annoying. Damn. The last footage we got
shown at D23 was from Ironheart, the upcoming series for Disney Plus, which looks very different
than what I thought it was going to be. I thought largely it was going to be more like the comics
where we see Riri at MIT building this new suit of armor. But. we learn early on in the trailer
that she actually gets kicked out of MIT for skipping classes and just using the campus
for its facilities to rebuild the armor that she had already constructed in Wakanda in the
Black Panther Wakanda Forever movie. Because Shuri didn't let Riri take the suit with her
at the end of that film. So she's basically back to square one trying to recreate that
she gets kicked out of MIT and she ends up partnering with a gang led by the Hood to steal resources
and money to recreate her suit. So, it all felt very much like set it off. I don't know if
our listeners remember that movie from the 90s with Queen Latifah and like Jada Pinkett where
a group of girls essentially become bank robbers. This is very much in that vein, which is something
that I wasn't expecting. I didn't know that it was going to be like a redemptive arc for
Riri Williams, but it's an interesting take for sure. The hood looks pretty cool. There's
definitely a supernatural element going on there. and the rumor is that Mephisto is going to
appear in Ironheart, so it'll be interesting to see how that supernatural aspect plays into
this more sci-fi tech angle with the Iron Man suit. Yeah, in my opinion, the hood looked
like the most interesting thing in this trailer. Anthony Ramos, I think, gave off the most charisma,
probably even more so than the lead Dominique Thorne, though, you know, she looks like she'll
do a good job as well. I have to say, I wasn't looking forward to this, but the trailer definitely
has me intrigued. For sure. Yeah, me too. I wasn't a big fan of Dominique Thorne in the
Black Panther Wakanda Forever movie, but she impressed me more in this trailer. So yeah,
definitely looking forward to it. Based on all of this footage that we got from D23, I do
have to say that it looks like Marvel Studios is absolutely stepping up their cinematography
for their television series. That's a great take. Yeah, for sure. I noticed that too. But
speaking about all the projects coming out for Marvel that were previewed at D23, that brings
us to our question of the week.
Which upcoming Marvel Studios film or show are you most looking forward to and why? Record
your answer at dynamicduel.com by clicking on the red microphone button in the bottom right
hand corner of the screen, which will prompt you to leave us a voicemail. Your message could
be up to 30 seconds long, and don't forget to leave your name in case we include you on the
podcast. We'll pick our favorite answer and award that person a Dynamic Duel No Prize that
we'll post to Instagram. Be sure to answer before August 17th. And our last bit of Marvel news,
just a short quick headline. Deadpool and Wolverine has surpassed one billion dollars at the worldwide
box office. It's no surprise, I think, to anybody who's seen the film. It is a very fun movie
that you can listen to our review from a few episodes ago. But I think the reason this news
is so important is because a lot of people were kind of down and out on the superhero genre
as a whole. You know, you heard a lot to talk about superhero fatigue from people and. I
don't want to say that superhero fatigue is over and done with, but it's clear that people
are still excited to see quality superhero movies. Now the first two films did not reach a billion,
is that correct? But they got close? Correct. Okay, yeah, that's huge for a rated R film.
I think the Joker is still the highest grossing rated R film of all time. We'll see if Deadpool
and Wolverine can top that. Honestly, I would be surprised if it didn't. Oh, it will. and
super proud of Marvel for bringing the box office in general out of its slump and for bringing
audiences back to the superhero genre. Because we all know that DC wasn't going to be able
to do it. I'm sorry, what? You heard me. Nobody goes to see DC films. Just wait a couple of
months, OK? Joker 1 made a billion dollars. Joker, Vali-Adu could easily make a billion
dollars as well. That would actually be fantastic, because then the studios will see that, you
know, these movies are worth continuing. They'll all be doing this till they're 90. That's right.
But I think that does it for all the news for this episode, so let's go ahead and get into
our main event, where we review the Marvel Television Hulu Original Series, Hitmonkey Season 2.
Hit Monkey Season 2 is a 20th century production on Hulu created by Josh Gordon and Will Speck
and directed by Kevin Mellon. It stars Fred Tataskior, Jason Sudeikis, Leslie Jones, Kristen
Milioti and Nat Faxon. Season 1 was a surprise hit for us, I think both of our expectations
were surpassed. We rated Season 1 4 stars, calling it cool, funny, violent, heartfelt and surprisingly
complex despite its high concept premise. And we weren't alone in being impressed by the
show because it got a season two. And I think season two wraps up all those qualities, except
for maybe the comedy, because the season wasn't very funny. But I think it was even more violent
and more emotionally complex. Because I don't know about you, Jonathan, but I felt fucking
devastated after a few of these episodes. And by the time the season ended, I was kind of
emotionally wrecked. The way the season ended kind of stuck with me a few days after watching
it. Yeah, the way the season concluded was definitely gut-wrenching. But I would disagree with you
in saying that it was not very funny. I thought it was actually very funny. Maybe not as funny
as season one, but I was laughing pretty much the whole time. I guess I should bring up our
spoiler warning. If you haven't watched Hitmonkey seasons one or two, listen no further. Go watch
the show as long as you're of a mature age and you don't have a weak stomach for strong violence
and heavy themes. I liken Hitmonkey Season 2's violence to the invincible animated series
on Amazon, even though I've only seen Season 1 of that show. But things got really gross
and graphic this season. Like, Season 1 was pretty violent, but I think the biggest standout
holy shit death from that season was the old gun supplier woman in the fish warehouse who
fell on the conveyor belt and then got sawed in half. Do you remember that? Yes, yeah. Like...
The shock value of that kill felt pretty tame compared to some of the shit that went down
this season. Like, this season you had people sliced down the middle, ripped apart, hung
on meat hooks and burned, flattened by slow moving vehicles, dissolved, heads were sawed
off, bodies exploded. It was insanity. Like, over time that amount of gore does have a numbing
effect. Well, it was like body horror in a way, especially with the trees and stuff like that.
Mm-hmm. The violence had a unique horror. to it, especially towards the end. Yeah, but what
disturbed me more than the violence were the emotional challenging moments this season such
as Haruka's death, Akiko's backstory, the Shepard's suicide, and Hitmonkey's sacrifice at the end.
Just like the series shows no mercy with the violence, it showed no mercy with my heart.
Which time after time in the latter half of the season just sank into my stomach. It was
tragedy after tragedy after tragedy right up until the very last shot of the season. They're
well-earned moments, but it's a dark show. By far Marvel's darkest project that they could
conceivably ever produce, which is one of the reasons why I think this season was moved to
20th century television, from Marvel television, maybe. And interestingly, none of the other
Marvel characters from the comics, to my knowledge, were in this season. Like the Alderman or the
co-op members, those weren't characters from the comics, they were original here. The only
other Marvel character here was Lady Bullseye, carrying over from season one. Really? I was
going to ask you about that because I figured that all of these characters were from the
comics and I was like, are these, you know, a Marvel version of the Suicide Squad in a
way? Because that's what I was thinking as I was watching it. But I'm surprised to hear
that all of them are original. That's wow. Yeah, the show's kind of like separating itself from
the larger Marvel brand, it feels like even though the show is branded as Marvel. But if
you guys are interested in the comic book character of Hitmonkey, you should definitely check out
our Gleek versus Hitmonkey duel episode. The character in the comics has oftentimes gone
down a comedic route because the premise is comedic, especially in the Deadpool comics
and stuff like that where we see Monkey try to kill Wade. But the show rightfully ignores
the more silly elements of the character and kind of goes all in on its serious approach.
Does it? I don't know if I agree with that. I think the show gets pretty absurd with all
of its characters. I mean, they throw jokes around here and there. The heaviness of the
violence and the darkness are only slightly offset by the fact that we're watching a show
about a Japanese macaque wearing a black suit and sunglasses. I think a better balance of
comedy and tragedy could have been struck if the jokes had been better. Like, I think a
lot of the lines here could and should have probably been workshopped. Which is especially
surprising since you have some comedic geniuses on the show like Jason
Like, I wonder how they were OK with making lame and even dated jokes about Greek yogurt,
Annie Lennox is walking on broken glass or being a duo like Pamela Anderson in that red swimsuit.
Like, I have no idea. I still chuckled at those bits. I don't know. I didn't think it was terribly
unfunny. I did think it was interesting that Jason Sudeikis was a consulting producer on
this show apparently according to the credits. I wonder how much of that had to do with his
line specifically. Yeah, he got the top credit. at the end of every episode, which I thought
was pretty neat. But yeah, I think this season could have been even more palatable with better
jokes. But another reason that I think that season two felt much more visceral than season
one was due to the fact that the animation was better. Like one of our biggest complaints
about season one was that the animation felt largely like a step up from storyboards with
low frame rates, sometimes even missing action scenes. And that was likely due to Marvel television's
transition under the Marvel Studios umbrella in the middle of production, which was something
that cancelled a lot of Marvel's planned shows except for Modoc and Hitmonkey. But you could
tell the animators didn't have any such obstacle with season 2 because the frame rate was better,
you know, you had more subtle facial and body motions that helped sell the characters' emotional
states, and you had beautifully rendered environments, like a lot of them were computer-generated
environments. It was really nice to see the animators be able to execute more fully on
their vision this go around. Yeah, I don't remember hating the animation of season one. I actually
kind of liked the low budget quality because it made it feel like Grindhouse. But I also
really enjoyed the animation for this season. Honestly, it got me kind of jealous how good
the animation was, especially coming off of something like My Adventures with Superman,
which doesn't have bad animation. But when you compare to the quality of Hit Monkey, you could
definitely tell that the artists spent much more time with this. I think my adventures
with Superman has fine animation. I would be more embarrassed about the tomorrow verse,
though. Oh, yeah, especially that. I wasn't even thinking about that because I was trying
to block it. But yeah, I would agree. I thought another improvement over season 1 was the music.
And I'm not talking about the original score because that's always been incredible, but
season 2 featured a lot more licensed music with some phenomenal choices like Bed of Nails
by Patrick Austin, What You Came For by Wallio, True Killer by The Sneaks, and one in particular
that really stuck with me was the beautifully haunting Japanese song from the end of episode
7 when Haruka died called Good Morning by an artist named Yuki. And I have to give a shout
out to Reddit for coming through on that one because that was a really hard song to find.
And I thought it perfectly captured the devastating emotions I was feeling when that episode came
to a close. And I listen to it now and it still makes me sad. So whoever picked the music for
the season did fantastic. Yes, the soundtrack was amazing. I was like, who put this together?
Quentin Tarantino? Because it is perfection. Like, I'm going to need that list of songs
that you have. I have a Spotify link I can send to you, and I'll probably post it in the show
notes if people are curious. Nice, yes please, do that. Let's go ahead and move into the character
breakdown, starting with Hitmonkey who is voiced by Fred Tataskior. Just like season 1, I'm
surprised Hitmonkey was not voiced by an actual monkey, because Fred Tataskior is a genius
voice actor who has also done the voice of the Hulk, he does the voice of Devil Dinosaur in
Moongirl and Devil Dinosaur on Disney+. He is the best voice actor with animalistic sounds.
Yeah, I loved the noises that Hitmonkey made and it was like a good juxtaposition for how
crass Bryce was. Yeah, and there was real emotion behind his sounds too. Like you don't really
need subtitles for the Hitmonkey character, although we did get them in one scene. But
other than that, you know exactly what he's saying. Exactly, yeah. Now Hitmonkey's arc
was difficult and tragic this season. Carrying over from season 1, he was a skilled assassin
who never wanted to kill, but always found himself in situations where he must, like some kind
of cruel fate. At the start of this season, he's lost, unhappy, and feels like the killing
is taking a psychological toll on him. And what he really longs for is a family who can relate
to what he's going through, and he finds that in the assassin's cooperative. He strives to
be one of them, drawn to their family dynamic and their goal of ending violence. and he relates
to Boon and his values. And by showing Hitmonkey his origin as a lab experiment, Boon convinces
Hitmonkey that he's been cursed by mankind's wickedness, and that humanity has always been
only about death. And it shakes Hitmonkey to the core, especially seeing how his actions
affected the person he cared the most about, Akiko, who transformed herself into Lady Bullseye.
In the very end, it seemed like he gave into his despair. thinking about his so-called curse
as he sacrificed himself to kill her. It was a heroic final action rooted in misery and
even when he came back as a ghost tethered to Bryce, he didn't look happy. And I think that
was the real tragedy that stuck with me. And I'm really looking forward to seeing what they
do with Hitmonkey if there is a season 3. Oh, good gosh, please let there be a season three.
I mean, you can't end it with that shot. That would be just so tragic. Yeah, I hope that
this show really finds its audience in the same way that season one did and that they announce
a season three for Hitmonkey because it needs to happen for sure. I did think the revelation
that he was an experimental monkey kind of came out of nowhere in a way for this show. Yeah,
that was something not from the comics. In the comics, he was just this really astute monkey
who was able to pick up the assassin's killing methods really easily. But here it was almost
like they gave him some kind of genetic enhancement superpower or something like that. Right. Yeah,
I didn't care for it. And I think it came a little bit too late. Maybe if it had come earlier
or maybe even in the first season, it would have been more palatable. But I didn't know
if I needed that twist here. Yeah, it did come late so they weren't really able to explore
that origin, which is again why we need a season 3. Yeah, for sure. Let's go ahead and move
on to Bryce Fowler, who was voiced by Jason Sudeikis. I was a little mixed on Bryce this
season because the guy is never consistent, whether it be his humor or his motivations.
At times it seems like he's this plucky, wisecracking badass. At other times he's this depressed,
selfish asshole. And while I'd like to say that just makes him a multifaceted character, what
I really want is to just see Bryce pick a lane, I guess. Well, he has to exist in multiple
lanes in a way because Monkey can't really. You know, in a way, Bryce is the main character
of the show. Yeah, and you know, we may see him kind of pick a lane in this season as he
deals with the guilt over the fact that the devil claimed Hitmonkey's soul due to his own
selfish deals to get out of hell. Again, I hope we... get to see the fallout of that in season
3. The culmination of Bryce's character growth ever since season 1 came at the end of this
season when he tried to console Hitmonkey about his lost family in the co-op, telling him that
Boon was wrong and that humanity isn't all about death, it's about living. And right after that
he used himself as a human shield to save his daughter Iris from Akiko, knowing that turning
corporeal would doom him to hell for all eternity. And this was on top of this season long arc
where he tried to get to know Iris, at first trying to buy her off, and then apologizing
and bonding with her, helping her find herself in this crazy mercenary world he was involved
in, and then actually forming a truly caring relationship by the end. In a way, both Bryce
and Hitmonkey's stories are all about finding their family. The only difference is that Bryce
found his this season, whereas Hitmonkey tragically did not. Well, Hitmonkey took responsibility
in a way for destroying his family from season one. I really liked Bryce this season. I really
liked him last season as well. Yeah, the character is inconsistent, but I loved what they did
with him here, how he could go in and out of his corporeal form with that timer on his hand.
It was a great gimmick that I thought they used to really good effect in this season. I liked
his telekinesis abilities this season. It makes you think that DC should make Deadman even
cooler by giving him telekinesis. Yeah, just make him like more able to affect the physical
world in a way. Yeah, that would be cool. Let's go to move on to Officer Haruka, who was voiced
by Ali Mackie, who gives a great performance again. Her character's always the most morally
good character in the show, serving as a beacon to kind of guide Hitmonkey and Bryce. And because
of that, it was pretty interesting this season that Haruka's journey involved her being tempted
by the power of evil through the Bonsai Master Sword. And she gave into temptation a few times,
ultimately though choosing to reject it and thereby dying at the hands of her friend rather
than the other way around. Super sad. But it was neat that her character drove a lot of
the plot. this time around. You know, she first introduced the alderman sword to Hitmonkey
and Bryce, and then she was the one that discovered the truth about the co-op and decided to steal
back the sword. She really was a great character with tremendous buildup over the two seasons,
which is definitely what made her death so tragic and the emotion around it so earned. Oh yeah,
and especially how she was talking about going back to her father's fishing village and retiring
there only to be buried at sea. Poetry, it was poetry. That whole scene I was like, oh, okay,
someone's gonna die here. I didn't actually think it was gonna be Haruka. So yeah, it was
definitely surprising when it was. Speaking of that, let's move on to Akiko Yokohama voiced
by Olivia Munn. Holy shit, man. I take back everything I said from our season one review
about how it didn't make sense for Akiko to become Lady Bullseye and how they ruined her
arc when she put on the mask. Here she admits that she took on the lady bullseye mantle because
she didn't think she could be strong or vicious enough on her own, which was totally valid
reasoning. I was like, okay, that makes sense. From season one, we saw her as a speechwriter
for her uncle's campaign back in Tokyo and she served as the surrogate family for Hitmonkey.
But what we didn't see was this whole devastating backstory involving the loss of her family
and being bullied and committed to a sanitarium. That whole scene was really fucking heavy.
And the animation for that sequence was just heart-wrenching. Like when she cried out in
the sanitarium and her sadness was depicted as layers and layers of grief within herself,
it was just a really effective moment at showing how broken and devastated she is deep down.
And it was in that emotional flashback where you really sympathized with her, with what
she had gone through. But the thing is they followed that immediately with a scene of her
sawing a dude's head off in a bathtub. And the contrast of those two scenes made it one of
the most challenging moments for me to process in this season. It was like the floor just
dropped out from under me and it completely sold Akiko's complexity and her personal transformation
into Lady Bullseye. So yeah, I take back everything I said. I thought this whole thing was brilliant
with Akiko. Absolutely. It was also interesting to see how Lady Bullseye as a ghost was tied
to Akiko and served as her mentor. Yeah. leading her toward her most violent tendencies. But
even then, Akiko fucking killed Lady Bullseye's ghost right after killing Karuka, so she just
went off the deep end and was really beyond redemption as much as Hitmonkey would have
wished otherwise. Yeah, I would agree. I just think it was interesting how she was sort of
like Hitmonkey in a way. The fact that she had this ghost spirit who followed her. And it
was this somewhat peaceful character who became very violent. She just kind of went the other
direction with it. Right. There's parallels there. The last character I want to talk about
is Boon, who was the leader of the co-op and the main villain for the season, who was voiced
by Nat Faxon. I did not recognize Nat Faxon's voice. It was so hilarious and how douchey
it was. And I think it was pretty clear from the get go that Boon was just too douchey to
stay good. It was probably pretty obvious that he was going to turn evil. But Boon's genocidal
twist was, I think, a welcome one. If only that it meant that you'd see him meet his end by
the hands of Hitmonkey. Yeah, I'm like even more impressed now that you tell me that these
characters were original because the show writers had to have a pretty great imagination for
coming up with some of these characters like Boon and the other members of the Assassin's
Co-op. Like freaking boy band super villains? Hilarious. Totally out of left field, but adds
unique depth to this character, right? Yeah. You know, despite Boon's extreme methods by
the end, the way he described his dream of a perfect utopia, one without violence, full
of plants and animals, like an Eden for the group, his philosophical words were enticing
enough to put Hitmonkey under his spell for a time. You know, he made Hitmonkey question
everything, from his friendships to the nature of humanity. he manipulated him like some kind
of charismatic cult leader, even without using his powers of telepathy and mind control. And
in my book, that made him a fucking solid villain. Oh yeah, no question. He was a great villain.
Some of the best villains are sympathetic or you understand the reasoning behind what they're
doing. And Boon was definitely one of those characters. Like who doesn't want to get rid
of evil in the world? Although you would think, you know, if he could control minds, if his
power was telepathy, Wouldn't he be a little bit more capable in getting the alderman to
give him the relics? That was something I was wondering. Yeah, it's very true. All he really
had to do was encounter them to control them. Like especially with the third eye guy, like
why did they have a history of difficulty with him? Or with the shepherd or the call or any
of them. Any one of them could have been mind controlled because none of them really had
psychic powers. Or a defense against psychic powers. Right. That was just one of the very
few plot holes I spotted throughout the course of the show.
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But speaking of the plot, let's go ahead and get into our episode highlights. Episode 1
was called Return to Sender. In a flashback, Bryce descends into Hell, where he makes a
deal with Mephisto to return as a ghost to assist Hitmonkey in sending souls to Hell. In the
present, the duo travel to New York City and sign up with Eunice Jones, a mercenary agent
who sets them up in Bryce's old apartment.
which she smuggled out of Tokyo after a demonic figure killed all of her fellow officers looking
for it. They visit a rare weapons dealer who identifies the sword as an ancient mythical
weapon and warns them not to wield it to avoid being possessed by it. While Hitmonkey is out
on a hit, which turns out to be a setup, Haruka is chased by a demonic tiger through the city.
She wields the sword in order to kill the cat, temporarily transforming into a supernatural
As they ponder what happened, Bryce observes his daughter Iris from afar. I have to say
that I thought Keith David made an awesome Mephisto or devil. Whatever. I don't know if this was
Mephisto. I like to think that it is, but Keith David was spot on with that voice. Oh, absolutely.
Keith David is a fantastic, not just voice actor, but actor. And, you know, he has a singular
voice that is perfection when it comes to characters like this, because it was really spooky. He's
also going to be voicing Darkseid in the Kite Man Hell Yeah television series. And I'm sure
he's going to kill it. You know, it's going to be good. Did you realize that the tiger
who was chasing Haruka was the weapons dealers cat that was transformed by the shepherd? I
did not. That makes sense now. Episode two was Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. Looking to learn
who ordered the phony hit, Bryce, Hitmonkey and Haruka track down the vetter at a local
library who directs them to Charles Lehigh of the Aldermen before being killed by assassins
that Haruka in turn kills with her sword. The group sneaks into an event at Lehigh's estate
where his necklace charm recognizes Haruka's sword. He turns into a shrieking monster known
as The Call, but is ripped in half by a mysterious young girl named Dot who steals the charm necklace.
Hitmonkey takes Bryce to visit the restaurant Iris serves at, but she rejects anything to
do with her dad. When the pair return to the apartment, they find Haruka transformed and
addicted to the sword's power. Meanwhile, at a secret meeting of the three remaining aldermen,
the ogre vows to take care of Hitmonkey and Haruka. One of the very few plot holes was
regarding the librarian better. I'm not sure why she died, why they killed her. I'm guessing
that since Hitmonkey and Bryce survived the bomb attack from the first episode, it was
likely that the aldermen knew. that they would investigate the vetter, which is why they tried
to kill her. Yeah, I think they were just tying up loose ends. It's possible that they were
staked out at the library waiting for Hitmonkey to show up because we know that the reason
the librarian set up the fake hit was because they tortured her and made her break her code.
So I don't know if it's quite a plot hole. Yeah, I don't think it is. Episode 3 was called The
Rope. The ogre, who is a big giant, snatches Haruka out of their apartment and Hitmonkey
and Bryce chase him across the city. A group known as the Assassin's Cooperative assists
in rescuing Haruka as Hitmonkey goes inside the Giant's head to kill him before passing
out. Hitmonkey wakes up in the co-op's lair where he meets its members, Boon, Slyke, Amara,
Double Tap, and Dot. They explain to him how an ancient relic was divided into eight weapons
wielded by the Aldermen to rule the world from the shadows. They ask Hitmonkey to join their
cause of obtaining and reforging the weapons to restore the relic to heal the world. Contemplating
joining the co-op family, Hitmonkey tries to take Bryce to the restaurant to visit Iris,
but they accidentally get her fired. Upset, Bryce makes another deal with Mephisto for
a physical form, however it comes with a 48 hour time limit. Meanwhile, Akiko shows up
in New York City as Lady Bullseye. I think this was my favorite episode. I really, really liked
the introduction of the Assassin's Co-op, but also the backstory of the aldermen. I thought
that was really well done. Yeah. There was just a lot to like. The whole second deal that Bryce
made with Mephisto you knew was going to end in tragedy and they totally set that up perfectly.
It was just really well written. For sure. Yeah, and this episode had great action too. That
fight against the ogre. Yes. That was really well done with cool ideas. The fact that they
actually went into. ogre's head and started shooting his brain from inside his body. That
was pretty crazy. Yeah, it's the kind of action that I was really looking forward to with this
season. Just seeing monkey swing through New York almost like Spider-Man. And yeah, this
was definitely one of my favorite action scenes from the whole season. Episode four was called
Never Too Late. Bryce visits Iris at her apartment to apologize for abandoning their family, but
she rejects him. Haruka traces the Alderman financials to a hedge fund managed by the third
eye wielder, Yanis Kalamaris. She, Hitmonkey, and Bryce try to fight Yanis, but are unable
to overcome his future sight, and they are saved by the co-op who chastises them for almost
getting killed. Bryce reconnects with a former associate called Snail, who can slow time and
give them a chance against the third eye. Meanwhile... Akiko tries to find Hitmonkey through his old
associates and kills one with the help of the original Lady Bullseye's ghost who was following
her. Hitmonkey, Bryce, and Haruka catch up with the co-op at Yenis' private jet and with Snail's
help they defeat him. Bryce visits Iris again to apologize and this time she gives him a
chance. Meanwhile, in Hell, Mephisto foreshadows that his army is about to grow. Now is the
snail an original character as well? Correct, yeah. I liked the snail here. He was voiced
by Jim Gaffigan. He had a pretty cool, if not gross power set where he gets slow time. But
people who were in contact with his saliva were able to exist outside of the time distortion
effect. Well, it wasn't his saliva. It was his mucus, his snot. Yeah, that's right. You're
right. He was definitely hocking up loogies. He wasn't just spitting. Right. Yeah. I liked
the snail. I thought the nicknames. and the grab-assing between Bryce and him were pretty
funny. Like Snail called Bryce taint because he's somewhere between a dick and an asshole.
And then he like sack tap him, you know, and the Bryce would like call him like old chub
and try to titty twist him. He's like, let me at those little pickles. It's like, what the
fuck is going on here? They just had this hilarious relationship. Yeah, I thought he was going
to reappear in the final episode. I was kind of sad that he didn't, but they also made really
good use of him in this episode. Yeah, it was cool to see Bryce taking on the third eye with
that slow motion effect. It's rare that you see Bryce kick ass in this series, because
usually that's left to Hitmonkey. But when you see Bryce be a badass, you remember exactly
why he's a good mentor for Hitmonkey. Yeah, you remember that he is an accomplished assassin.
Yeah. Episode 5 is called Akiko. In a flashback to Akiko's childhood, we see her family die
in a fire. She is placed in a boarding school by her uncle Shinji Yokohama, where she is
bullied relentlessly and nearly drowned. She lashes out and is placed in a psychiatric ward
before her uncle comes to raise her into a successful writer. In the present, Bryce gets Iris a job
with Eunice as a murder crime scene cleaner, where she learns under another cleaner named
Buddy. Hitmonkey bonds with the co-op and visits Eunice to quit as a mercenary but is ambushed
by Eikiko, who falls off a building during their fight. Hitmonkey takes her to the co-op for
medical care, where Boon tells him that the Akiko he knew is gone, and that his brother
Colt also succumbed to anger and killing. Unable to end Akiko's life, Hitmonkey sets her free.
Meanwhile, the Shepard sends a mutated pigeon after the co-op. I totally thought Akiko initially
died upon her fall. I was like, whoa, really? That's how they're going to wrap up the Lady
Bullseye story? Obviously they didn't do it that way, but it was kind of foreshadowing
her eventual death. in the very last episode. Yeah, through the fall maybe. But what it really
did was give Hitmonkey an opportunity to end her life before things got too severe. He was
contemplating suffocating her with a pillow while she was recovering in the hospital bed
at the co-op's lair. But he didn't do it. Like we all knew that he should have done it, but
he just cared for her too much. And he ended up undoing her handcuffs so that she can leave
when she wakes up. But it really turned out to be a big mistake. Yeah, huge, which is one
of the reasons why I think he decided to take responsibility in killing Akiko in the final
episode in the way that he did. What did you think about Iris? I thought it was hilarious
how she turned out to be really a chip off the old block, you know, getting into the whole
mercenary community. I thought the relationship that developed between her and Bryce felt pretty
organic. It was fast, but it didn't feel too fast just because of how open and honest Bryce
was with his feelings towards her right off the bat at the beginning of the season. And
it was kind of funny to see that, you know, for however much she had hated her father,
she ended up being more like him than she probably realized. And more than he wanted her to. Yeah.
Absolutely. And I love by the end how they formed this bond between a father and daughter that
felt real and felt pure in a way, and how good it was for both of them and how Bryce was even
willing to sacrifice himself for his daughter, which is, you know, what any father should
do. It was a truly redemptive arc for him. Yeah, like I maybe wanted to be annoyed by Iris at
the start of the season, but the relationship between her and Bryce was just too good. and
she was pretty funny too. She was actually voiced by Kristen Milioti, who is going to be playing
Carmine Falcone's daughter in the upcoming Penguin series. Oh really? Okay. I didn't know that.
Episode 6 was called The Estate. The pigeon gives an invitation to Hitmonkey and the co-op
to join the shepherd for dinner at his estate in the desert. As they travel there via jet,
Iris and Eunice throw a retirement party for Buddy. Suspecting a trap at the estate, Bryce
volunteers to scout the situation and he learns at dinner with the Shepard that the alderman
initially wanted to use the relics to heal the world just like the assassin's co-op, before
shooting himself and passing his staff to his wife. She uses mutated scorpions and spiders
to attack the co-op. During the fight, Haruka and Double Tap seek shelter in a cave where
she realizes via his thermal vision goggles that he was the figure who shot up her precinct
in Tokyo looking for the sword. The Shepard mutates Hitmonkey into a giant gorilla, but
with Boon's help, he overcomes his mental control and kills the Shepard, getting the last of
the relics. Back at the co-op's lair, Haruka reveals to Bryce the group's sinister intentions
and they steal Bonsai's master sword, escaping with Eunice to her vacation home in Montauk.
What did you think of the reveal that Double Tap was really the monster-like figure that
killed all of the police officers in Tokyo? I thought it was a little bit misleading because
in the flashback, the demonic figure was largely just walking menacingly toward Haruka as other
mercenaries were doing all the shooting. So it means that Double Tap hired a hit squad
to go after the sword with him. And from what we learn about the character later on, it seems
more like Double Tap is not really the guy who's inclined to work with a lot of other gunmen.
Right, exactly. Like for all the talk he was giving about the team only needing one gunman
and considering how skilled he was with all of his weapons, I thought that felt very out
of character and very out of left field. Yeah, it was a good twist but the way they animated
it and set it up wasn't as successful as it should have been. I haven't gotten your thoughts
on Eunice yet. What did you think of Leslie Jones as Eunice? I loved Eunice. I love Leslie
Jones in general. I think she is hilarious. I thought this was perfect casting for her.
I thought all of her It was just a lot of fun. I think she's a great character addition to
Hit Monkey's cast of allies. Yeah, for sure. I thought Leslie Jones gave the best delivery.
Like, I remember in this episode when she told Hit Monkey to get out of here with your clown
ass friends, get into your clown ass car, and go to your clown convention. Because guess
what? Your ass is a fucking clown. I died. She's so good at lines like that. Yeah, it's like
Leslie Jones never plays characters other than Leslie Jones. She's always playing herself,
but it's just such a great character. Yeah. In this episode, they address the fact that
they're bringing a monkey to a fight against a guy who can essentially control and mutate
animals. But the fact that they address that idea and still do it makes no sense to me.
Yeah, it's like you guys knew this was going to happen. So why did it happen? Right. That
was a fight that they probably should have left Hitmonkey at home for. Or maybe Boon just figured
he could control Hitmonkey. But then again, that brings up the plot hole of why not just
control the shepherd. Right. Exactly. The scene with the shepherd shooting himself at the dinner
table was fucking disturbing. Yes. And weird as hell. Very graphic, like the facial expression
he made right before he shot himself in the head was creepy and scary. I thought his wife
just looking on smiling, even creepier. Yeah, the whole relationship was weird. Which is
why it was appropriate that Bryce was like, what the fuck is going on? Yeah. He was thinking
what we were all thinking. Episode seven was called The Last Supper. Boone reads Hitmonkey's
mind, who deduces where the sword is. The co-op then sends Hitmonkey to Montauk to get it back.
Bryce, Haruka, Iris and Eunice fortify their vacation home to prepare it for battle and
have what they believe to be their last supper. Hitmonkey arrives and the group tries to tell
him of the co-op's intentions, but he doesn't believe them. Bryce and Hitmonkey duke it out
and Bryce admits that he used Hitmonkey's killing to get out of hell. Akiko and Lady Bullseye
intrude on the scene, and though Haruka tries to reason with her old friend, she's forced
to wield the sword again. Hitmonkey tries to shoot Akiko but can't bring himself to do it
and Haruka abandons her sword, resulting in her own death by Akiko's hands. Lady Bullseye's
ghost nearly drowns Bryce in the salty ocean, but the co-op arrives on the scene. prompting
Lady Bullseye and Akiko to flee. The co-op picks up the sword and Hitmonkey as Iris and Eunice
pull Bryce out of the ocean. I gotta give a quick shout out to the state of Colorado in
this episode because Iris makes a reference to Vale during supper and tells them that she
wants to learn how to ski with rich people. And they're like, oh yeah, that's some good
skiing up there. It is. And it's really good skiing. As someone who has skied Vale, I appreciated
that. I really liked this episode. This is another one of my favorite episodes. I just loved the
drama of it, you know, with the last supper where they're eating pancakes and where Bryce
and Hentmonkey are brawling out in the rain. And you understand where both of them are coming
from. It was just, again, a well-written episode. Emotionally devastating episode. I think this
was my favorite episode out of all of them, for sure. Let's move on to episode eight, which
was called Mindmall. The co-op begins the reforging process as Boon admits to Hitmonkey that they
plan on ending global violence by ending global life. They reveal themselves to be working
with Mephisto, who resurrected Bryce to nudge him and Hitmonkey to the Alderman and the co-op
in his scheme to end humanity and build his Hell army. Slyke pulls Hitmonkey into his mind
while Bryce, Eunice, and Iris mourn Haruka back in Montauk. Akiko spies on them from afar and
kills Lady Pulsai's ghost by using their tether to pull her into the salty ocean. Back at the
apartment, Dot warns Bryce, Iris, and Eunice about the co-op's real plans before returning
to their lair and being pulled into Slyke's mind. Secretly harboring Bryce's ghost, Dot
helps rescue Hitmonkey from his chains and directs them on how to escape Slyke's mind. While Dot
is able to get out, Slyke and Boone's brother Colt is revealed to be inside his mind too
and destroys the exit. As Hitmonkey and Bryce flee into Slyke's subconscious, Colt learns
that he was mind controlled by Boon into agreeing to be pulled into his brother's mind. Slyke
enters his own mind to explain his reasoning to his brother, but Colt kills him, giving
Hitmonkey and Bryce enough time to escape before Slyke's mind is eradicated. Witnessing the
tragedy of brothers turning on each other, Bryce and Hitmonkey make amends, just as the co-op
prepares to use the power of the Forged Relic in Times Square. This is another fantastic
episode. This is just like a series of great episodes. I really liked the mind mall setting
that had a very cool eighties retro vibe, very vibrant and creepy. It kind of reminded me
of the original Suspiria film, although that was made in the seventies, but the killer racer
that was chasing him through the mall, I think that was pulled from an eighties movie called
The Wraith, from what I could tell. Really interesting. It was all just very surreal and kind of incorporated
dream logic in this really cool way. Now, I just remembered, are you sure all of the characters
from the co-op were original? Because I remember you having an X-Men comic with a mutant villain
who was also able to warp beings into his mind. Yeah, you're talking about the X-Men 394 issue,
which has Wolverine and Jean Grey kissing on the cover. And in it, they get pulled into
this mutant's mind and his name was Warp Savant. And while they have the same power set, he's
not Slyke. So it's likely that Slyke was influenced by Warp Savant. Although Warp Savant only made
an appearance in one issue. Are you serious? He hasn't appeared since? OK, that's dumb.
OK. But it's interesting that you remembered that pretty good memory there. I just remember
you getting really pissed off because I got chocolate on that comic cover and you've probably
never forgiven me for that. You dumbass. I completely forgot about that, too. Oh, I reminded you.
Out of everyone in the co-op, who would you say was your favorite? Dot because she was
the only one that was good. But like we didn't get really any of her backstory either. Well,
we didn't really get much of any of the co-op's backstories except for Boon. Well, we got the
statue lady. I forgot her name. Amara. Yeah, Amara. I just saw apparently she was voiced
by Stephanie Beatrice. So she has the same voice as Mirabelle from Encanto. Right. Yeah, it's
interesting comparing her voice as that Disney character and then saying Get fucked, Bryce.
You know. But no, we never got more than a few sentences of backstory for any of the co-op
members except for Boon. I don't know why Amara was my favorite. I think I just really liked
her power set. But yeah, Dot was great too. I loved how strong she was. Like that was her
power, right? Just like super strength and durability. It's a great power set for a creepy little
girl because you wouldn't expect it. Right. Episode nine was called the concrete jungle.
Boon unleashes the relic on New York City, transforming the environment and turning people into trees.
Bryce, Eunice, Iris, Dot, and Hitmonkey call in all of Eunice's mercenary contacts to join
their fight. They plan to use Eunice's bomb to blow up the relic, with Bryce's team planting
the bomb in the subway tunnels under Times Square, and Monkey's team triggering the remote detonator.
Both groups get attacked by the co-op, with Hitmonkey weakened after being shot multiple
times by double tap. and Bryce gets turned to marble by Amara. However, Hitmonkey ricochets
shoots double tap, and Bryce phases out of his stone form to trap her on the subway car. Boon
mind controls Dot to attack Hitmonkey, but he survives long enough for Bryce's bomb to get
there, and he blows up Boon and the relic. However, Boon survives as a plant monster with pieces
of the relic embedded in him. I love at the start of the episode Hitmonkey's speech to
the other mercenaries. He's like, I know we all probably need therapy, but we could do
this together. We're a family. And his screech at the end when he's like, now who's with me?
It just crickets. Nobody says anything. But then like somebody starts to slow clap and
then all of a sudden everybody gets super excited and they start shooting their guns in the air
and even hit monkey shooting his gun in the air. It was hilarious. Yeah. And especially
when you find out that they're shooting accidentally hit the bomb in the coffee table. It's like,
of course. The one thing that I hated about these last two episodes was how like at certain
points the main characters would get covered in vines but somehow weren't ripped apart to
pieces or transformed into plants just like everyone else was. It was like if you were
a main character on the show you had plot armor basically. Yeah, pretty much. Pretty convenient
but I don't know. It's not like they didn't meet cruel fates later on. I loved the stakes
of this season as a whole. Like they were way bigger than season one. But the stakes kind
of get ruined once you realize that the main characters aren't susceptible to the bad guy's
final plan. That's not to say that there weren't casualties, because of course you have Officer
Haruka's death and even Hitmonkey dies by the end of the show, but I feel like Iris and Eunice
should have been turned into plant creatures. It's really hard to agree with the whole plot
armor thing considering how everything goes down at the end. sure Bryce lives at the end,
but he's also trapped in a hell of his own making, as it were, because he's without Hitmucky.
Or at least the one that he knows. As far as Eunice and Iris, I'm totally fine with them
having plot armor. You know, after surviving the attack in Montauk, you know, they had already
gone through a lot. It's fine. Plus I want to see them continue on into Season 3.
drive to help rescue Bryce, Hitmonkey, and Dot from the Boon monster. While fleeing in their
van, Iris gets the idea to use Buddy's Bodyburner to destroy Boon, but the monster crashes the
vehicle. The group fights Boon and are overpowered, but they buy enough time for Iris to use Buddy's
Bodyburner, which is only partially effective. Bryce and Hitmonkey yank the relic shards from
the monster's body. which Boon uses to transport them across time to witness humanity's violence
throughout history, from feudal Japan to World War I. They teleport to an animal testing facility
in the past where Hitmucky sees his younger self get rescued from a cage where he and his
parents were being experimented on. Bryce pulls out the last shard, returning them home and
fully killing Boon. As Bryce runs out of time on his corporeal form and says goodbye to Iris,
Akiko returns and tries to shoot Iris, forcing Bryce to take the bullets. Hitmonkey stops
Akiko by tackling her off the Brooklyn Bridge, an act that kills them both. Mephisto claims
Hitmonkey's soul as payment for Bryce's deals, and Bryce returns to life. As Bryce mourns,
he sees Hitmonkey's ghost, who is now tethered to him. This was a fantastic final episode.
I really love how it began with Steve the Cleaver. I don't even know who that dude was and neither
did anybody else. I loved how Steve died trying to be heroic to buy the group sometime. It
was just fucking decimated. He's like, so good. No, go on without me. And Bryce was like, yeah,
OK, fine. Closes the door. Yeah, no, give a shit. The ending was so bittersweet with this
like somber music playing and Bryce just kind of like staring off playing with some salt
in his hand, you know, thinking about everything that happened. And he glances over and there's
just this random monkey ghost staring at him from across the street and he walks over to
him and is like, what took you so long? And that's how the season ended. And I thought
it was so poetic considering both of the characters' journeys, all that they had been through and
how the script was kind of flipped at the very end. The best thing I can say about this season
is that I'm really, really wanting more of this story. Yeah, absolutely. And we're- really
stuck with me at the end too was how Hitmonkey was in a ghost form, but he wasn't like his
old self. Like, he didn't have any of his character. He was like a shell of what he was. So it's
not like they could reunite in some kind of satisfying way. It wasn't satisfying. It was
bittersweet, it was heartfelt, and it absolutely calls for a season three. That brings us to
the end of this review. Overall... The season mixed fun, brutal action with emotionally tragic
moments, and the silly high-concept premise has proven itself as Marvel's darkest and most
challenging project. I'm giving the show 4.5 stars out of 5, a fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Yeah, I think that's totally appropriate. I personally love me a good tragedy. And this
is a tragedy, I would say, in the true sense of the word. and that comedies have happy endings
and tragedies have somewhat sad endings. The fact that this tragedy was also able to make
me laugh for a majority of the season is also a testament to just how well-written it was.
I do think it was better than season one, which we gave four stars. So yeah, I would agree
with that rating. Yeah, season two just hit harder, both emotionally, viscerally, with
the violence. Animation was top notch. Animation-wise. Really good animation, yeah. And the show is
just cool. Like it is so cool. Like I'm trying to think of anything as cool as this show.
Himaki has a vibe to him. You know, it's hard to put into words the idea of cool, but you
could definitely feel it when watching the show. For sure. They knew what the tone was and I
think they nailed it. So kudos to the show runners. But that does it for this review. AJ9K, help
close this out. Thanks for listening to Dynamic duel. Visit the show's website at dynamicduel.com.
and follow us on Instagram at Dynamic Duel Podcast. You can support the show on Patreon at Patreon.com
slash Dynamic Duel and joining a tier that works for you or by rating and reviewing Dynamic
Duel on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Podchaser, or on our website. Don't forget to listen to
the other shows in the DynaMic Podcast Network, including Max Destruction, Senjo World, and
Console Combat. Our next episode is going to be another review. but it's the last one of
the group before we get back to the duels guys. We're going to be reviewing Watchmen Chapter
one, which hopefully the animation is good because it's going to be really hard going into that
coming off of Hit Monkey, just with how expressive and well done the animation was. I have a feeling
it's not going to be as good and I know we already know the Watchmen story, so I'm not sure how
satisfying watching this will be, but we'll let you guys know next week. But that does
it for this episode, we want to give a big thanks to our executive producers Ken Johnson, John
Storosky, Zachary Hepburn, Dustin Balcom, Miggy Mathen-Geehan, Brandon Estregard, Nathaniel
Wagner, Levi Yeaton, Austin Wazilowski, AJ Dunkerley, Scott Camacho, Gil Camacho, Adam Spies, Andrew
Shunk, Dean Maleski, Devin Davis, Joseph Kersting, and Josh Leiner for helping make this podcast
possible. And we'll talk to you guys next week. Up, up, and away, true believers. This shit
is bananas. B-A-N-A-N-A-S.