1 00:00:00,930 --> 00:00:02,957 This is a DynaMic Network podcast. 2 00:00:24,206 --> 00:00:28,527 Hi and welcome to the Dynamic Duel Podcast, a weekly show where we review superhero films 3 00:00:28,928 --> 00:00:33,790 and debate the superiority between Marvel and DC by comparing their characters in stat-based 4 00:00:34,070 --> 00:00:40,332 battle simulations. I'm Marvelous Joe. And I'm his twin brother, Johnny DC. And in this episode, 5 00:00:40,352 --> 00:00:48,136 we are going to review the latest Marvel television animated release, Hitmonkey Season 2. Hitmonkey 6 00:00:48,176 --> 00:00:53,254 Season 1 was a big surprise when we reviewed that, I think back in 2021. And it's not surprising 7 00:00:53,334 --> 00:00:58,277 that the show got a season two and season two, every bit as good as the first, if not even 8 00:00:58,317 --> 00:01:03,219 better. So I'm really excited to talk about it. Yeah, absolutely. Hit Monkey is a vibe 9 00:01:03,840 --> 00:01:07,402 and I was totally there for it. And I can't wait to talk about it. Before that, we're going 10 00:01:07,422 --> 00:01:11,464 to break down the comic book movie news that came out this past week, of which there was 11 00:01:11,804 --> 00:01:17,047 a lot of news that came out from the recent D23 conference. Marvel decided to save like 12 00:01:17,207 --> 00:01:22,710 all their good shit for D23, and they kind of phoned in Comic Con. We're going to be talking 13 00:01:22,750 --> 00:01:27,391 about the Agatha all along official trailer. We're going to describe the footage that came 14 00:01:27,431 --> 00:01:33,313 out for Captain America, Brave New World, fantastic for first steps Daredevil, Bornegan and Ironheart. 15 00:01:33,913 --> 00:01:39,175 And we got the big news this past week that Daredevil and Wolverine has surpassed one billion 16 00:01:39,215 --> 00:01:45,137 dollars at the worldwide box office. So it is just a full on Marvel episode. None of that 17 00:01:45,237 --> 00:01:50,075 DC shit this time. None of that boring news from the shit fucks down the street, as we 18 00:01:50,135 --> 00:01:55,079 like to call them now. She's all Marvel. This is going to be a fantastic episode. I'm so 19 00:01:55,179 --> 00:02:00,882 thrilled. I don't even know why I'm here. Like, I don't need to be here. You can go. You can 20 00:02:00,922 --> 00:02:05,686 go. I'm just here to say things like shit. Damn. And that is whack. 21 00:02:09,128 --> 00:02:15,890 OK, not another teen movie. As always guys, we list our segment times in our episode description, 22 00:02:15,930 --> 00:02:19,876 so feel free to check out the show notes if you want to skip ahead to a particular topic. 23 00:02:20,297 --> 00:02:24,944 Our artificially intelligent duel simulator AJ9K has a quick message for our listeners, 24 00:02:25,285 --> 00:02:32,109 so listen up. Why hello there, do you want even more from this podcast? Then become a part 25 00:02:32,149 --> 00:02:36,893 of the dynamic duel community on Patreon, where you can choose from three tiers. The dynamic 26 00:02:36,933 --> 00:02:41,376 two-oh tier gives you access to our Discord chat server. The fantastic four tier gives 27 00:02:41,397 --> 00:02:46,040 you two bonus episodes each month, and the X-Force tier makes you an executive producer of this 28 00:02:46,060 --> 00:02:51,451 show. Lastly, The Diner Mike podcast network tier lets you create your own podcast using 29 00:02:51,471 --> 00:02:56,033 this Monte Carlo simulator. Johnny and Joe will help you develop your show, provide graphic 30 00:02:56,073 --> 00:03:01,416 support and consultation, and get you simulation results. Pitch the twins your ideas via email 31 00:03:01,456 --> 00:03:07,659 at dynamicduelpodcast at gmail.com. Check it out at patreon.com slash dynamicduel. Pip pip 32 00:03:07,699 --> 00:03:13,994 cheerio. Thanks AJ9K and thanks to everyone who supports the podcast. Guys, be sure to 33 00:03:14,034 --> 00:03:18,476 tune into the other shows in the DynaMic Podcast Network this week, including Max Destruction, 34 00:03:18,837 --> 00:03:23,199 which pits your favorite action heroes from film and television against each other. This 35 00:03:23,259 --> 00:03:29,442 week, hosts Scotty and Gilly are pitting the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles against the Warriors 36 00:03:29,623 --> 00:03:35,886 of Virtue. On the Senjoworld podcast, host Zachary Hepburn speculates on fights between fan favorite 37 00:03:36,006 --> 00:03:42,790 anime and manga characters. This Thursday, Zach's doing an Olympic sports-themed episode. between 38 00:03:42,850 --> 00:03:48,171 Team Berna and Team Mud. Yeah, that'll be an interesting episode. None of the shows on the 39 00:03:48,211 --> 00:03:52,172 network have ever done anything like that, so really excited to see how that sports-themed 40 00:03:52,192 --> 00:03:57,554 episode goes. On the Console Combat podcast, hosts John and Dean find out who would win 41 00:03:57,614 --> 00:04:02,015 in fights between popular video game characters. In yesterday's episode, they determined who 42 00:04:02,035 --> 00:04:08,677 would win between Samus Aran from Metroid and Mega Man. Visit dynamicpodcasts.com or click 43 00:04:08,697 --> 00:04:12,926 the link in our show notes to listen to all the shows. in the DynaMic Podcast Network. 44 00:04:13,286 --> 00:04:20,168 But with that out of the way, quick to No Prize! A No Prize is an award Marvel used to give 45 00:04:20,228 --> 00:04:26,290 out to fans. Our version, the Dynamic Duel No Prize, is a digital award we pushed on Instagram 46 00:04:26,330 --> 00:04:31,771 for the person that we feel gave the best answer to our question of the week. Last week, we 47 00:04:31,991 --> 00:04:38,513 asked, other than Dynamic Duel, what is your favorite podcast in the DynaMic Network and 48 00:04:38,593 --> 00:04:45,147 why? And we only got... one answer, but it was a good answer. This week's no prize goes to 49 00:04:45,767 --> 00:04:53,749 Scott Camacho who said, I'm not biased or anything, but, um, I really like max destruction. Dustin's 50 00:04:53,809 --> 00:04:59,751 cheesiness followed by Ken's quick wit makes for a great show. And I love all the action 51 00:04:59,771 --> 00:05:05,252 stars. I heard there's a new set of twins that is going to be doing it now. So I'm definitely 52 00:05:05,272 --> 00:05:10,930 going to watch out for them. That's the show to watch. Max destruction. Yeah, Scotty is 53 00:05:10,990 --> 00:05:16,314 not biased at all. It's not like he's the new main host for Max Destruction going forward. 54 00:05:16,755 --> 00:05:21,658 That's right. Yeah. Ken, the initial host of Max Destruction, the guy who started the show, 55 00:05:22,039 --> 00:05:27,483 has stepped away from the podcast and Scotty is bringing aboard his twin brother, Gilly, 56 00:05:27,863 --> 00:05:33,548 which means that there are two sets of twins running podcasts in the DynaMic Podcast Network. 57 00:05:34,048 --> 00:05:39,877 And we want to give a quick. Super heartfelt shout out to Ken. We've been a fan of his ever 58 00:05:39,917 --> 00:05:44,381 since he put out the you call those tactics podcast Ken has been a huge supporter of dynamic 59 00:05:44,421 --> 00:05:49,886 duel. He was our very first executive producer He was essentially the guy who started the 60 00:05:49,906 --> 00:05:53,849 dynaMic podcast network because he asked us if he could start his own show and use Our 61 00:05:53,889 --> 00:05:59,814 simulator and everything like that so he's just a fucking legend in the dynaMic network community 62 00:06:00,435 --> 00:06:05,055 and We will always be happy to have him on as a guest Yeah, he's guested on this podcast 63 00:06:05,095 --> 00:06:11,181 before for our Punisher review. The guy is just a genius when it comes to anything military 64 00:06:11,241 --> 00:06:15,766 related, considering he is active military. That was always something interesting that 65 00:06:15,806 --> 00:06:20,650 he brought to Max Destruction, the fact that he's a literal military strategist for the 66 00:06:20,750 --> 00:06:25,695 army speculating on these battles. Now, Scotty, the new host, was also in the military, so 67 00:06:25,735 --> 00:06:30,194 I'm definitely excited for his matches as well. Oh yeah, Scotty has brought a lot to the Max 68 00:06:30,214 --> 00:06:35,537 Destruction podcast over the last few months as he's been co-hosting and he has great chemistry 69 00:06:35,697 --> 00:06:40,839 with his brother Gilly dating back to the womb. So we know that duo will make Ken proud and 70 00:06:40,979 --> 00:06:45,001 really looking forward to seeing what they do with the show in the future. Especially with 71 00:06:45,021 --> 00:06:48,703 their upcoming episode, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles vs. the Warriors of Virtue, that's 72 00:06:48,723 --> 00:06:53,405 going to be a great way to kick off this new era of Max Destruction. So great answer Scotty, 73 00:06:53,445 --> 00:06:57,900 you win this week's No Prize. If you the listener want a shot at winning your own no prize, stay 74 00:06:57,940 --> 00:07:02,383 tuned to later on in this episode when we'll be asking another question of the week. And 75 00:07:02,423 --> 00:07:04,565 now that that's done, onto the news! 76 00:07:10,082 --> 00:07:15,765 Alright, this past weekend we had the D23 event where Disney presents all of the upcoming projects 77 00:07:15,785 --> 00:07:20,309 they have on their slate to investors. They showed a lot of exciting footage at the event, 78 00:07:20,469 --> 00:07:24,692 which good luck finding video clips of those on the internet, but we're going to break down 79 00:07:24,732 --> 00:07:29,655 the clips for you here. The first trailer we're going to talk about is Agatha All Along, which 80 00:07:29,835 --> 00:07:33,658 actually was released to the general public as the official trailer. This wasn't like a 81 00:07:33,738 --> 00:07:38,721 leak or anything, but this is coming off of the teaser trailer that we got just a few weeks 82 00:07:38,761 --> 00:07:44,499 ago. The Agatha All Along series is about the witch getting back her powers that were taken 83 00:07:44,519 --> 00:07:51,926 from her by the Scarlet Witch at the end of Wandavision. That is whack! To do that, she 84 00:07:51,966 --> 00:07:56,771 has to walk the witch's road. So she gets some of her old witch friends to do this with her 85 00:07:57,471 --> 00:08:01,876 and they sing a song. I don't know if this is going to be a musical or not. I guess, you 86 00:08:01,896 --> 00:08:07,120 know, Wandavision had a lot of... musical elements to it and since Agatha all along is kind of 87 00:08:07,200 --> 00:08:12,425 a sequel of sorts to WandaVision, maybe it makes sense that's why there's music, but it reminded 88 00:08:12,465 --> 00:08:18,791 me a lot of the Far Over the Misty Mountains Cold song from the first Hobbit movie as Agatha 89 00:08:18,851 --> 00:08:24,996 starts singing a song called The Ballad of the Witch's Road. All I know is anyone who's looking 90 00:08:25,036 --> 00:08:32,346 forward to this but also trashing the Joker for being a musical is a hypocrite. Damn! The 91 00:08:32,406 --> 00:08:37,070 trailer for Agatha all along does have some interesting moments here. We see a witch that 92 00:08:37,090 --> 00:08:42,154 looks like the wicked witch of the west from the Wizard of Oz. We see some scary moments 93 00:08:42,235 --> 00:08:49,241 where like this witch demon chick is like crucified on fire. It's kind of freaky looking. I don't 94 00:08:49,261 --> 00:08:52,724 know what to make of Aubrey Paz's character. She definitely looks to be like the wild card 95 00:08:52,764 --> 00:08:58,149 of the group, it seems. It'll definitely make for some pretty solid Halloween viewing this 96 00:08:58,189 --> 00:09:05,031 spooky season. There was a line though that I absolutely despise where Agatha tells, I 97 00:09:05,091 --> 00:09:10,433 think, Billy, the Scrawler Witch's son, she says, time to finish the road, last one there's 98 00:09:10,473 --> 00:09:15,614 a good person. It's so fucking cheesy. Horrible delivery, horrible writing. I hope it's not 99 00:09:15,654 --> 00:09:19,775 indicative of some of the cheesiness that may be to come and it's just kind of a one-off 100 00:09:19,895 --> 00:09:23,896 bad joke. Because otherwise, this all looks like a lot of fun and I can't wait for it to 101 00:09:23,936 --> 00:09:28,958 come out next month on September 18th. It's going to be a two-episode premiere. and then 102 00:09:28,978 --> 00:09:36,380 they're going to do one episode a week after that. Blank, blank! That's so stupid. At D23, 103 00:09:36,400 --> 00:09:40,581 Marvel also showed trailers for Captain America Brave New World, Fantastic Four First Steps, 104 00:09:40,741 --> 00:09:45,943 Daredevil Born Again, and Iron Hearts, but none of those trailers were officially released. 105 00:09:46,283 --> 00:09:50,584 I'll just kind of do a quick run through of some of the exciting things that these trailers 106 00:09:50,624 --> 00:09:56,003 showed. On the Captain America Brave New World clip, we saw. President Thunderbolt Ross give 107 00:09:56,103 --> 00:10:02,409 a speech congratulating Sam for his help in acquiring adamantium from the celestial Tiamat 108 00:10:02,570 --> 00:10:08,335 which had sprung out of the Indian Ocean in the Eternals movie. Oh shit! Those rumors are 109 00:10:08,375 --> 00:10:10,557 true. Shut up! 110 00:10:14,578 --> 00:10:20,519 There's just a lot of action in that trailer. We get some lines from Sarbra, who was formerly 111 00:10:20,759 --> 00:10:25,221 an Israeli superhero in the comics, but they're making her a former Black Widow in the movie. 112 00:10:25,701 --> 00:10:30,742 We've already gotten a look at what the Red Hulk looks like in the first trailer for Captain 113 00:10:30,762 --> 00:10:35,823 America Brave New World. Sort of. We saw his back. In this one, we actually get to see the 114 00:10:35,883 --> 00:10:40,105 front of him, Aunt Harrison Ford's face all in red, which was really cool. He would have 115 00:10:40,125 --> 00:10:45,114 made a really good Hulk back in the day when he was younger. It's a great character design. 116 00:10:45,354 --> 00:10:49,336 Yeah, it looks a lot like Harrison Ford as much as you would want it to look like him while 117 00:10:49,376 --> 00:10:54,838 still looking like this raging monster true to the comics. So really looking forward to 118 00:10:54,858 --> 00:10:58,700 seeing Harrison Ford Hulk out. But one of the other really exciting moments we got from this 119 00:10:58,740 --> 00:11:04,202 trailer was when President Thunderbolt Ross asked Sam Wilson to recreate the Avengers. 120 00:11:04,722 --> 00:11:09,124 So it looks like by the end of this movie, we're going to have the new Avengers team solidified, 121 00:11:09,184 --> 00:11:14,682 perhaps. Or maybe he's going to start his quest to form that team. I'd be surprised if we had 122 00:11:15,082 --> 00:11:19,705 an actual solidified team by the end of this. You might be right. I mean, Sam Wilson did 123 00:11:19,765 --> 00:11:23,488 question Thunderbolt Ross. He was like, you destroyed the Avengers when you established 124 00:11:23,508 --> 00:11:29,471 the Accords. And Thunderbolt Ross is basically like, eh, I had a change of heart after the 125 00:11:29,491 --> 00:11:34,094 Avengers saved the world during the events of Endgame. So I guess that's a believable reason 126 00:11:34,134 --> 00:11:39,677 for him to essentially 180 on his position regarding superheroes. Of course, this new team of Avengers... 127 00:11:40,066 --> 00:11:44,689 seems like it would be under official government control, so who knows what's going to happen 128 00:11:44,869 --> 00:11:50,233 with the team. There was some more footage released that I believe came from Comic-Con, although 129 00:11:50,273 --> 00:11:55,317 I think they re-showed it at the D23 event, which was kind of a teaser of sorts for the 130 00:11:55,357 --> 00:12:00,701 Fantastic Four First Steps movie. There was a whole lot of reveals to come out of this 131 00:12:00,741 --> 00:12:05,925 footage, but it definitely set the tone, which is very much in keeping with this 1960s feel. 132 00:12:06,546 --> 00:12:11,748 I can definitely see why Matt Shackman got the job after directing WandaVision, because the 133 00:12:11,769 --> 00:12:16,811 way everybody acts and looks is very much in keeping with how he directed those 60s episodes 134 00:12:16,971 --> 00:12:22,755 on WandaVision. Yeah, the cinematography here is very, very bright, very clean and very in 135 00:12:22,795 --> 00:12:29,919 keeping with this idealistic sci-fi retro 1960s design aesthetic that looks really cool to 136 00:12:29,959 --> 00:12:36,163 see on screen. Yeah, we see the Fantastic Four suit up as astronauts. They go up into space 137 00:12:36,303 --> 00:12:40,587 and it's almost like they're part of a documentary talking to the camera as like a promotional 138 00:12:40,627 --> 00:12:44,492 piece for the general public learning about this space mission that they're about to go 139 00:12:44,592 --> 00:12:49,557 on. Reed Richards is like, this is my buddy Ben. He's the best pilot in the division. And 140 00:12:49,597 --> 00:12:53,801 Ben's like, yeah, best looking, which is interesting because, you know, it's a joke, but it's ironic 141 00:12:53,841 --> 00:12:58,638 that he then turns into the thing who is known for being this hideous rock monster. And there's 142 00:12:58,678 --> 00:13:04,201 a clip here that shows him as part of a dating game show where a female contestant selects 143 00:13:04,261 --> 00:13:09,644 him out of the three possible suitors. The clip showed the fantasticar and the big reveal at 144 00:13:09,664 --> 00:13:14,586 the end was Galactus. He looks exactly like he does in the comic books. He's this giant 145 00:13:14,626 --> 00:13:20,430 figure. You only really get to see his face, but the scale of him is massive, similar to 146 00:13:20,530 --> 00:13:26,433 the size of the celestials that we saw in Eternals. Yeah, he's like Kaiju size, right? Right. And 147 00:13:26,453 --> 00:13:31,083 he's peeking through a window. They did a great job of capturing the look and the scale of 148 00:13:31,103 --> 00:13:37,347 the character for sure. With the square glowing pupils? Yeah, yeah. At D23 they also showed 149 00:13:37,367 --> 00:13:41,909 a trailer for Daredevil Born Again which was really exciting to see. We got news that the 150 00:13:41,969 --> 00:13:46,571 show is going to make its debut on Disney Plus this spring. It looks like a direct continuation 151 00:13:46,632 --> 00:13:51,454 of the Netflix Daredevil series which is all that the fans want, right? But there were some 152 00:13:51,494 --> 00:13:57,317 great surprises to be seen in the footage including our first look at Hector Alaya as the White 153 00:13:57,357 --> 00:14:02,556 Tiger. His costume looked a little bit homegrown because it looks like the premise of the show 154 00:14:02,616 --> 00:14:08,960 is that Matt represents Hector, who believes himself to be a hero and called to fight crime 155 00:14:08,980 --> 00:14:12,802 on the streets as a costume vigilante. But we also get to see other cool characters like 156 00:14:12,882 --> 00:14:17,685 Muse, we see Bullseye, we see the Punisher Maker return. That was really cool to see Jon Bernthal 157 00:14:17,705 --> 00:14:23,088 returning to the character. There's this great diner scene between Matt Murdock and the Kingpin 158 00:14:23,548 --> 00:14:27,499 where Matt's telling him like basically, If you step out of line, I'm going to be there. 159 00:14:27,659 --> 00:14:32,643 And Kingpin, very imposingly, is like, who's going to stop me? Matt Murdock or your other 160 00:14:32,683 --> 00:14:37,067 half? Yeah, that's probably one of my favorite parts of the trailer, too. I saw that and I 161 00:14:37,087 --> 00:14:43,532 was like, oh, shit. There was another great shot where Daredevil opens up his costume closet. 162 00:14:43,812 --> 00:14:47,575 And we see like five different masks of the Daredevil costume, including, you know, his 163 00:14:47,635 --> 00:14:51,979 yellow mask. There's a white one in there and he has like three different variations of red. 164 00:14:52,439 --> 00:14:59,541 Yeah, black one. I was like, blank, blank. Just stop, right? I know you're the token DC guy 165 00:14:59,721 --> 00:15:06,908 in this episode, but you could also try to not be annoying. Damn. The last footage we got 166 00:15:06,948 --> 00:15:14,014 shown at D23 was from Ironheart, the upcoming series for Disney Plus, which looks very different 167 00:15:14,054 --> 00:15:17,797 than what I thought it was going to be. I thought largely it was going to be more like the comics 168 00:15:17,837 --> 00:15:24,422 where we see Riri at MIT building this new suit of armor. But. we learn early on in the trailer 169 00:15:24,502 --> 00:15:29,924 that she actually gets kicked out of MIT for skipping classes and just using the campus 170 00:15:29,944 --> 00:15:36,285 for its facilities to rebuild the armor that she had already constructed in Wakanda in the 171 00:15:36,325 --> 00:15:40,987 Black Panther Wakanda Forever movie. Because Shuri didn't let Riri take the suit with her 172 00:15:41,047 --> 00:15:45,708 at the end of that film. So she's basically back to square one trying to recreate that 173 00:15:46,048 --> 00:15:53,162 she gets kicked out of MIT and she ends up partnering with a gang led by the Hood to steal resources 174 00:15:53,382 --> 00:15:59,527 and money to recreate her suit. So, it all felt very much like set it off. I don't know if 175 00:15:59,567 --> 00:16:04,230 our listeners remember that movie from the 90s with Queen Latifah and like Jada Pinkett where 176 00:16:04,510 --> 00:16:09,234 a group of girls essentially become bank robbers. This is very much in that vein, which is something 177 00:16:09,274 --> 00:16:13,097 that I wasn't expecting. I didn't know that it was going to be like a redemptive arc for 178 00:16:13,177 --> 00:16:17,800 Riri Williams, but it's an interesting take for sure. The hood looks pretty cool. There's 179 00:16:17,840 --> 00:16:21,966 definitely a supernatural element going on there. and the rumor is that Mephisto is going to 180 00:16:22,026 --> 00:16:27,268 appear in Ironheart, so it'll be interesting to see how that supernatural aspect plays into 181 00:16:27,708 --> 00:16:32,609 this more sci-fi tech angle with the Iron Man suit. Yeah, in my opinion, the hood looked 182 00:16:32,649 --> 00:16:38,151 like the most interesting thing in this trailer. Anthony Ramos, I think, gave off the most charisma, 183 00:16:38,431 --> 00:16:42,312 probably even more so than the lead Dominique Thorne, though, you know, she looks like she'll 184 00:16:42,332 --> 00:16:46,313 do a good job as well. I have to say, I wasn't looking forward to this, but the trailer definitely 185 00:16:46,573 --> 00:16:51,267 has me intrigued. For sure. Yeah, me too. I wasn't a big fan of Dominique Thorne in the 186 00:16:51,327 --> 00:16:56,652 Black Panther Wakanda Forever movie, but she impressed me more in this trailer. So yeah, 187 00:16:56,692 --> 00:17:00,755 definitely looking forward to it. Based on all of this footage that we got from D23, I do 188 00:17:00,775 --> 00:17:06,099 have to say that it looks like Marvel Studios is absolutely stepping up their cinematography 189 00:17:06,139 --> 00:17:10,763 for their television series. That's a great take. Yeah, for sure. I noticed that too. But 190 00:17:10,803 --> 00:17:16,808 speaking about all the projects coming out for Marvel that were previewed at D23, that brings 191 00:17:16,848 --> 00:17:18,069 us to our question of the week. 192 00:17:22,562 --> 00:17:28,503 Which upcoming Marvel Studios film or show are you most looking forward to and why? Record 193 00:17:28,523 --> 00:17:32,484 your answer at dynamicduel.com by clicking on the red microphone button in the bottom right 194 00:17:32,524 --> 00:17:36,526 hand corner of the screen, which will prompt you to leave us a voicemail. Your message could 195 00:17:36,546 --> 00:17:40,407 be up to 30 seconds long, and don't forget to leave your name in case we include you on the 196 00:17:40,427 --> 00:17:45,248 podcast. We'll pick our favorite answer and award that person a Dynamic Duel No Prize that 197 00:17:45,288 --> 00:17:51,722 we'll post to Instagram. Be sure to answer before August 17th. And our last bit of Marvel news, 198 00:17:51,822 --> 00:17:57,145 just a short quick headline. Deadpool and Wolverine has surpassed one billion dollars at the worldwide 199 00:17:57,206 --> 00:18:02,949 box office. It's no surprise, I think, to anybody who's seen the film. It is a very fun movie 200 00:18:02,969 --> 00:18:08,472 that you can listen to our review from a few episodes ago. But I think the reason this news 201 00:18:08,512 --> 00:18:13,235 is so important is because a lot of people were kind of down and out on the superhero genre 202 00:18:13,275 --> 00:18:18,386 as a whole. You know, you heard a lot to talk about superhero fatigue from people and. I 203 00:18:18,406 --> 00:18:22,968 don't want to say that superhero fatigue is over and done with, but it's clear that people 204 00:18:23,008 --> 00:18:29,172 are still excited to see quality superhero movies. Now the first two films did not reach a billion, 205 00:18:29,192 --> 00:18:34,256 is that correct? But they got close? Correct. Okay, yeah, that's huge for a rated R film. 206 00:18:34,316 --> 00:18:39,279 I think the Joker is still the highest grossing rated R film of all time. We'll see if Deadpool 207 00:18:39,299 --> 00:18:44,430 and Wolverine can top that. Honestly, I would be surprised if it didn't. Oh, it will. and 208 00:18:44,570 --> 00:18:49,692 super proud of Marvel for bringing the box office in general out of its slump and for bringing 209 00:18:49,772 --> 00:18:53,473 audiences back to the superhero genre. Because we all know that DC wasn't going to be able 210 00:18:53,513 --> 00:18:58,816 to do it. I'm sorry, what? You heard me. Nobody goes to see DC films. Just wait a couple of 211 00:18:58,836 --> 00:19:04,778 months, OK? Joker 1 made a billion dollars. Joker, Vali-Adu could easily make a billion 212 00:19:04,818 --> 00:19:09,080 dollars as well. That would actually be fantastic, because then the studios will see that, you 213 00:19:09,100 --> 00:19:15,399 know, these movies are worth continuing. They'll all be doing this till they're 90. That's right. 214 00:19:22,094 --> 00:19:25,616 But I think that does it for all the news for this episode, so let's go ahead and get into 215 00:19:25,656 --> 00:19:32,341 our main event, where we review the Marvel Television Hulu Original Series, Hitmonkey Season 2. 216 00:19:47,958 --> 00:19:54,501 Hit Monkey Season 2 is a 20th century production on Hulu created by Josh Gordon and Will Speck 217 00:19:54,681 --> 00:20:00,745 and directed by Kevin Mellon. It stars Fred Tataskior, Jason Sudeikis, Leslie Jones, Kristen 218 00:20:00,805 --> 00:20:07,028 Milioti and Nat Faxon. Season 1 was a surprise hit for us, I think both of our expectations 219 00:20:07,048 --> 00:20:14,172 were surpassed. We rated Season 1 4 stars, calling it cool, funny, violent, heartfelt and surprisingly 220 00:20:14,212 --> 00:20:19,683 complex despite its high concept premise. And we weren't alone in being impressed by the 221 00:20:19,703 --> 00:20:24,845 show because it got a season two. And I think season two wraps up all those qualities, except 222 00:20:24,865 --> 00:20:29,967 for maybe the comedy, because the season wasn't very funny. But I think it was even more violent 223 00:20:30,167 --> 00:20:34,569 and more emotionally complex. Because I don't know about you, Jonathan, but I felt fucking 224 00:20:34,609 --> 00:20:39,911 devastated after a few of these episodes. And by the time the season ended, I was kind of 225 00:20:39,951 --> 00:20:44,433 emotionally wrecked. The way the season ended kind of stuck with me a few days after watching 226 00:20:44,493 --> 00:20:49,511 it. Yeah, the way the season concluded was definitely gut-wrenching. But I would disagree with you 227 00:20:49,531 --> 00:20:54,652 in saying that it was not very funny. I thought it was actually very funny. Maybe not as funny 228 00:20:54,873 --> 00:21:00,134 as season one, but I was laughing pretty much the whole time. I guess I should bring up our 229 00:21:00,214 --> 00:21:05,736 spoiler warning. If you haven't watched Hitmonkey seasons one or two, listen no further. Go watch 230 00:21:05,756 --> 00:21:10,297 the show as long as you're of a mature age and you don't have a weak stomach for strong violence 231 00:21:10,317 --> 00:21:16,540 and heavy themes. I liken Hitmonkey Season 2's violence to the invincible animated series 232 00:21:16,580 --> 00:21:20,762 on Amazon, even though I've only seen Season 1 of that show. But things got really gross 233 00:21:20,842 --> 00:21:26,044 and graphic this season. Like, Season 1 was pretty violent, but I think the biggest standout 234 00:21:26,325 --> 00:21:31,527 holy shit death from that season was the old gun supplier woman in the fish warehouse who 235 00:21:31,587 --> 00:21:36,309 fell on the conveyor belt and then got sawed in half. Do you remember that? Yes, yeah. Like... 236 00:21:36,502 --> 00:21:41,444 The shock value of that kill felt pretty tame compared to some of the shit that went down 237 00:21:41,524 --> 00:21:46,326 this season. Like, this season you had people sliced down the middle, ripped apart, hung 238 00:21:46,386 --> 00:21:51,388 on meat hooks and burned, flattened by slow moving vehicles, dissolved, heads were sawed 239 00:21:51,488 --> 00:21:57,810 off, bodies exploded. It was insanity. Like, over time that amount of gore does have a numbing 240 00:21:57,850 --> 00:22:02,892 effect. Well, it was like body horror in a way, especially with the trees and stuff like that. 241 00:22:03,012 --> 00:22:08,667 Mm-hmm. The violence had a unique horror. to it, especially towards the end. Yeah, but what 242 00:22:08,708 --> 00:22:13,611 disturbed me more than the violence were the emotional challenging moments this season such 243 00:22:13,671 --> 00:22:19,395 as Haruka's death, Akiko's backstory, the Shepard's suicide, and Hitmonkey's sacrifice at the end. 244 00:22:19,975 --> 00:22:24,418 Just like the series shows no mercy with the violence, it showed no mercy with my heart. 245 00:22:24,859 --> 00:22:29,262 Which time after time in the latter half of the season just sank into my stomach. It was 246 00:22:29,322 --> 00:22:35,150 tragedy after tragedy after tragedy right up until the very last shot of the season. They're 247 00:22:35,170 --> 00:22:40,433 well-earned moments, but it's a dark show. By far Marvel's darkest project that they could 248 00:22:40,554 --> 00:22:45,777 conceivably ever produce, which is one of the reasons why I think this season was moved to 249 00:22:45,837 --> 00:22:50,701 20th century television, from Marvel television, maybe. And interestingly, none of the other 250 00:22:50,741 --> 00:22:55,624 Marvel characters from the comics, to my knowledge, were in this season. Like the Alderman or the 251 00:22:55,644 --> 00:22:59,727 co-op members, those weren't characters from the comics, they were original here. The only 252 00:22:59,787 --> 00:23:04,682 other Marvel character here was Lady Bullseye, carrying over from season one. Really? I was 253 00:23:04,702 --> 00:23:08,143 going to ask you about that because I figured that all of these characters were from the 254 00:23:08,163 --> 00:23:12,545 comics and I was like, are these, you know, a Marvel version of the Suicide Squad in a 255 00:23:12,565 --> 00:23:16,527 way? Because that's what I was thinking as I was watching it. But I'm surprised to hear 256 00:23:16,567 --> 00:23:21,409 that all of them are original. That's wow. Yeah, the show's kind of like separating itself from 257 00:23:21,449 --> 00:23:26,851 the larger Marvel brand, it feels like even though the show is branded as Marvel. But if 258 00:23:26,871 --> 00:23:30,832 you guys are interested in the comic book character of Hitmonkey, you should definitely check out 259 00:23:30,912 --> 00:23:35,767 our Gleek versus Hitmonkey duel episode. The character in the comics has oftentimes gone 260 00:23:35,787 --> 00:23:40,609 down a comedic route because the premise is comedic, especially in the Deadpool comics 261 00:23:40,629 --> 00:23:46,252 and stuff like that where we see Monkey try to kill Wade. But the show rightfully ignores 262 00:23:46,292 --> 00:23:52,135 the more silly elements of the character and kind of goes all in on its serious approach. 263 00:23:52,355 --> 00:23:56,737 Does it? I don't know if I agree with that. I think the show gets pretty absurd with all 264 00:23:56,777 --> 00:24:00,895 of its characters. I mean, they throw jokes around here and there. The heaviness of the 265 00:24:00,915 --> 00:24:05,577 violence and the darkness are only slightly offset by the fact that we're watching a show 266 00:24:05,617 --> 00:24:10,299 about a Japanese macaque wearing a black suit and sunglasses. I think a better balance of 267 00:24:10,339 --> 00:24:13,920 comedy and tragedy could have been struck if the jokes had been better. Like, I think a 268 00:24:13,980 --> 00:24:18,242 lot of the lines here could and should have probably been workshopped. Which is especially 269 00:24:18,282 --> 00:24:21,504 surprising since you have some comedic geniuses on the show like Jason 270 00:24:25,942 --> 00:24:31,766 Like, I wonder how they were OK with making lame and even dated jokes about Greek yogurt, 271 00:24:32,006 --> 00:24:37,450 Annie Lennox is walking on broken glass or being a duo like Pamela Anderson in that red swimsuit. 272 00:24:37,710 --> 00:24:43,434 Like, I have no idea. I still chuckled at those bits. I don't know. I didn't think it was terribly 273 00:24:43,474 --> 00:24:47,657 unfunny. I did think it was interesting that Jason Sudeikis was a consulting producer on 274 00:24:47,697 --> 00:24:51,820 this show apparently according to the credits. I wonder how much of that had to do with his 275 00:24:51,860 --> 00:24:56,203 line specifically. Yeah, he got the top credit. at the end of every episode, which I thought 276 00:24:56,223 --> 00:25:00,587 was pretty neat. But yeah, I think this season could have been even more palatable with better 277 00:25:00,667 --> 00:25:06,593 jokes. But another reason that I think that season two felt much more visceral than season 278 00:25:06,813 --> 00:25:10,777 one was due to the fact that the animation was better. Like one of our biggest complaints 279 00:25:10,797 --> 00:25:16,482 about season one was that the animation felt largely like a step up from storyboards with 280 00:25:16,603 --> 00:25:22,782 low frame rates, sometimes even missing action scenes. And that was likely due to Marvel television's 281 00:25:22,822 --> 00:25:27,144 transition under the Marvel Studios umbrella in the middle of production, which was something 282 00:25:27,184 --> 00:25:33,005 that cancelled a lot of Marvel's planned shows except for Modoc and Hitmonkey. But you could 283 00:25:33,025 --> 00:25:37,246 tell the animators didn't have any such obstacle with season 2 because the frame rate was better, 284 00:25:37,466 --> 00:25:42,168 you know, you had more subtle facial and body motions that helped sell the characters' emotional 285 00:25:42,228 --> 00:25:47,349 states, and you had beautifully rendered environments, like a lot of them were computer-generated 286 00:25:47,389 --> 00:25:52,240 environments. It was really nice to see the animators be able to execute more fully on 287 00:25:52,260 --> 00:25:56,883 their vision this go around. Yeah, I don't remember hating the animation of season one. I actually 288 00:25:56,903 --> 00:26:01,706 kind of liked the low budget quality because it made it feel like Grindhouse. But I also 289 00:26:01,927 --> 00:26:07,630 really enjoyed the animation for this season. Honestly, it got me kind of jealous how good 290 00:26:07,751 --> 00:26:12,033 the animation was, especially coming off of something like My Adventures with Superman, 291 00:26:12,194 --> 00:26:17,617 which doesn't have bad animation. But when you compare to the quality of Hit Monkey, you could 292 00:26:17,657 --> 00:26:23,535 definitely tell that the artists spent much more time with this. I think my adventures 293 00:26:23,555 --> 00:26:27,779 with Superman has fine animation. I would be more embarrassed about the tomorrow verse, 294 00:26:27,899 --> 00:26:33,043 though. Oh, yeah, especially that. I wasn't even thinking about that because I was trying 295 00:26:33,064 --> 00:26:38,768 to block it. But yeah, I would agree. I thought another improvement over season 1 was the music. 296 00:26:38,788 --> 00:26:42,231 And I'm not talking about the original score because that's always been incredible, but 297 00:26:42,291 --> 00:26:47,275 season 2 featured a lot more licensed music with some phenomenal choices like Bed of Nails 298 00:26:47,395 --> 00:26:53,821 by Patrick Austin, What You Came For by Wallio, True Killer by The Sneaks, and one in particular 299 00:26:53,841 --> 00:26:59,406 that really stuck with me was the beautifully haunting Japanese song from the end of episode 300 00:26:59,446 --> 00:27:05,478 7 when Haruka died called Good Morning by an artist named Yuki. And I have to give a shout 301 00:27:05,498 --> 00:27:09,101 out to Reddit for coming through on that one because that was a really hard song to find. 302 00:27:09,621 --> 00:27:15,886 And I thought it perfectly captured the devastating emotions I was feeling when that episode came 303 00:27:15,926 --> 00:27:20,829 to a close. And I listen to it now and it still makes me sad. So whoever picked the music for 304 00:27:20,869 --> 00:27:25,653 the season did fantastic. Yes, the soundtrack was amazing. I was like, who put this together? 305 00:27:25,793 --> 00:27:31,117 Quentin Tarantino? Because it is perfection. Like, I'm going to need that list of songs 306 00:27:31,137 --> 00:27:35,368 that you have. I have a Spotify link I can send to you, and I'll probably post it in the show 307 00:27:35,388 --> 00:27:40,130 notes if people are curious. Nice, yes please, do that. Let's go ahead and move into the character 308 00:27:40,150 --> 00:27:45,894 breakdown, starting with Hitmonkey who is voiced by Fred Tataskior. Just like season 1, I'm 309 00:27:45,994 --> 00:27:51,497 surprised Hitmonkey was not voiced by an actual monkey, because Fred Tataskior is a genius 310 00:27:51,657 --> 00:27:56,380 voice actor who has also done the voice of the Hulk, he does the voice of Devil Dinosaur in 311 00:27:56,420 --> 00:28:02,052 Moongirl and Devil Dinosaur on Disney+. He is the best voice actor with animalistic sounds. 312 00:28:02,612 --> 00:28:07,335 Yeah, I loved the noises that Hitmonkey made and it was like a good juxtaposition for how 313 00:28:07,395 --> 00:28:12,938 crass Bryce was. Yeah, and there was real emotion behind his sounds too. Like you don't really 314 00:28:13,058 --> 00:28:17,201 need subtitles for the Hitmonkey character, although we did get them in one scene. But 315 00:28:17,261 --> 00:28:22,204 other than that, you know exactly what he's saying. Exactly, yeah. Now Hitmonkey's arc 316 00:28:22,384 --> 00:28:28,620 was difficult and tragic this season. Carrying over from season 1, he was a skilled assassin 317 00:28:28,740 --> 00:28:33,523 who never wanted to kill, but always found himself in situations where he must, like some kind 318 00:28:33,563 --> 00:28:39,087 of cruel fate. At the start of this season, he's lost, unhappy, and feels like the killing 319 00:28:39,127 --> 00:28:44,451 is taking a psychological toll on him. And what he really longs for is a family who can relate 320 00:28:44,471 --> 00:28:49,514 to what he's going through, and he finds that in the assassin's cooperative. He strives to 321 00:28:49,554 --> 00:28:54,998 be one of them, drawn to their family dynamic and their goal of ending violence. and he relates 322 00:28:55,018 --> 00:29:02,084 to Boon and his values. And by showing Hitmonkey his origin as a lab experiment, Boon convinces 323 00:29:02,124 --> 00:29:07,808 Hitmonkey that he's been cursed by mankind's wickedness, and that humanity has always been 324 00:29:08,109 --> 00:29:13,693 only about death. And it shakes Hitmonkey to the core, especially seeing how his actions 325 00:29:13,833 --> 00:29:19,578 affected the person he cared the most about, Akiko, who transformed herself into Lady Bullseye. 326 00:29:20,038 --> 00:29:26,234 In the very end, it seemed like he gave into his despair. thinking about his so-called curse 327 00:29:26,434 --> 00:29:33,757 as he sacrificed himself to kill her. It was a heroic final action rooted in misery and 328 00:29:33,937 --> 00:29:39,339 even when he came back as a ghost tethered to Bryce, he didn't look happy. And I think that 329 00:29:39,359 --> 00:29:44,821 was the real tragedy that stuck with me. And I'm really looking forward to seeing what they 330 00:29:44,921 --> 00:29:50,196 do with Hitmonkey if there is a season 3. Oh, good gosh, please let there be a season three. 331 00:29:50,216 --> 00:29:54,621 I mean, you can't end it with that shot. That would be just so tragic. Yeah, I hope that 332 00:29:54,661 --> 00:29:58,945 this show really finds its audience in the same way that season one did and that they announce 333 00:29:58,985 --> 00:30:04,591 a season three for Hitmonkey because it needs to happen for sure. I did think the revelation 334 00:30:04,792 --> 00:30:10,806 that he was an experimental monkey kind of came out of nowhere in a way for this show. Yeah, 335 00:30:10,826 --> 00:30:16,510 that was something not from the comics. In the comics, he was just this really astute monkey 336 00:30:16,530 --> 00:30:21,473 who was able to pick up the assassin's killing methods really easily. But here it was almost 337 00:30:21,493 --> 00:30:27,157 like they gave him some kind of genetic enhancement superpower or something like that. Right. Yeah, 338 00:30:27,298 --> 00:30:31,821 I didn't care for it. And I think it came a little bit too late. Maybe if it had come earlier 339 00:30:31,901 --> 00:30:36,464 or maybe even in the first season, it would have been more palatable. But I didn't know 340 00:30:36,484 --> 00:30:41,563 if I needed that twist here. Yeah, it did come late so they weren't really able to explore 341 00:30:41,723 --> 00:30:46,546 that origin, which is again why we need a season 3. Yeah, for sure. Let's go ahead and move 342 00:30:46,606 --> 00:30:52,430 on to Bryce Fowler, who was voiced by Jason Sudeikis. I was a little mixed on Bryce this 343 00:30:52,450 --> 00:30:58,474 season because the guy is never consistent, whether it be his humor or his motivations. 344 00:30:58,514 --> 00:31:03,757 At times it seems like he's this plucky, wisecracking badass. At other times he's this depressed, 345 00:31:03,857 --> 00:31:10,078 selfish asshole. And while I'd like to say that just makes him a multifaceted character, what 346 00:31:10,118 --> 00:31:15,562 I really want is to just see Bryce pick a lane, I guess. Well, he has to exist in multiple 347 00:31:15,582 --> 00:31:20,967 lanes in a way because Monkey can't really. You know, in a way, Bryce is the main character 348 00:31:21,007 --> 00:31:26,611 of the show. Yeah, and you know, we may see him kind of pick a lane in this season as he 349 00:31:26,652 --> 00:31:31,095 deals with the guilt over the fact that the devil claimed Hitmonkey's soul due to his own 350 00:31:31,215 --> 00:31:35,639 selfish deals to get out of hell. Again, I hope we... get to see the fallout of that in season 351 00:31:35,659 --> 00:31:41,802 3. The culmination of Bryce's character growth ever since season 1 came at the end of this 352 00:31:41,822 --> 00:31:47,105 season when he tried to console Hitmonkey about his lost family in the co-op, telling him that 353 00:31:47,245 --> 00:31:53,148 Boon was wrong and that humanity isn't all about death, it's about living. And right after that 354 00:31:53,188 --> 00:31:59,272 he used himself as a human shield to save his daughter Iris from Akiko, knowing that turning 355 00:31:59,292 --> 00:32:04,783 corporeal would doom him to hell for all eternity. And this was on top of this season long arc 356 00:32:04,903 --> 00:32:09,625 where he tried to get to know Iris, at first trying to buy her off, and then apologizing 357 00:32:09,665 --> 00:32:14,407 and bonding with her, helping her find herself in this crazy mercenary world he was involved 358 00:32:14,467 --> 00:32:20,230 in, and then actually forming a truly caring relationship by the end. In a way, both Bryce 359 00:32:20,370 --> 00:32:25,212 and Hitmonkey's stories are all about finding their family. The only difference is that Bryce 360 00:32:25,292 --> 00:32:31,226 found his this season, whereas Hitmonkey tragically did not. Well, Hitmonkey took responsibility 361 00:32:31,426 --> 00:32:36,988 in a way for destroying his family from season one. I really liked Bryce this season. I really 362 00:32:37,028 --> 00:32:42,529 liked him last season as well. Yeah, the character is inconsistent, but I loved what they did 363 00:32:42,549 --> 00:32:47,771 with him here, how he could go in and out of his corporeal form with that timer on his hand. 364 00:32:48,031 --> 00:32:53,633 It was a great gimmick that I thought they used to really good effect in this season. I liked 365 00:32:53,673 --> 00:32:59,660 his telekinesis abilities this season. It makes you think that DC should make Deadman even 366 00:32:59,700 --> 00:33:05,503 cooler by giving him telekinesis. Yeah, just make him like more able to affect the physical 367 00:33:05,543 --> 00:33:11,827 world in a way. Yeah, that would be cool. Let's go to move on to Officer Haruka, who was voiced 368 00:33:11,867 --> 00:33:16,870 by Ali Mackie, who gives a great performance again. Her character's always the most morally 369 00:33:16,970 --> 00:33:22,734 good character in the show, serving as a beacon to kind of guide Hitmonkey and Bryce. And because 370 00:33:22,754 --> 00:33:27,375 of that, it was pretty interesting this season that Haruka's journey involved her being tempted 371 00:33:27,415 --> 00:33:32,937 by the power of evil through the Bonsai Master Sword. And she gave into temptation a few times, 372 00:33:33,517 --> 00:33:39,480 ultimately though choosing to reject it and thereby dying at the hands of her friend rather 373 00:33:39,520 --> 00:33:44,421 than the other way around. Super sad. But it was neat that her character drove a lot of 374 00:33:44,441 --> 00:33:48,785 the plot. this time around. You know, she first introduced the alderman sword to Hitmonkey 375 00:33:48,805 --> 00:33:53,889 and Bryce, and then she was the one that discovered the truth about the co-op and decided to steal 376 00:33:53,909 --> 00:33:59,654 back the sword. She really was a great character with tremendous buildup over the two seasons, 377 00:33:59,754 --> 00:34:06,559 which is definitely what made her death so tragic and the emotion around it so earned. Oh yeah, 378 00:34:06,880 --> 00:34:11,523 and especially how she was talking about going back to her father's fishing village and retiring 379 00:34:11,543 --> 00:34:18,120 there only to be buried at sea. Poetry, it was poetry. That whole scene I was like, oh, okay, 380 00:34:18,280 --> 00:34:22,624 someone's gonna die here. I didn't actually think it was gonna be Haruka. So yeah, it was 381 00:34:22,644 --> 00:34:27,888 definitely surprising when it was. Speaking of that, let's move on to Akiko Yokohama voiced 382 00:34:27,908 --> 00:34:33,472 by Olivia Munn. Holy shit, man. I take back everything I said from our season one review 383 00:34:33,673 --> 00:34:38,436 about how it didn't make sense for Akiko to become Lady Bullseye and how they ruined her 384 00:34:38,556 --> 00:34:43,772 arc when she put on the mask. Here she admits that she took on the lady bullseye mantle because 385 00:34:43,792 --> 00:34:47,836 she didn't think she could be strong or vicious enough on her own, which was totally valid 386 00:34:47,896 --> 00:34:53,080 reasoning. I was like, okay, that makes sense. From season one, we saw her as a speechwriter 387 00:34:53,140 --> 00:34:58,525 for her uncle's campaign back in Tokyo and she served as the surrogate family for Hitmonkey. 388 00:34:59,005 --> 00:35:03,709 But what we didn't see was this whole devastating backstory involving the loss of her family 389 00:35:03,929 --> 00:35:08,713 and being bullied and committed to a sanitarium. That whole scene was really fucking heavy. 390 00:35:09,206 --> 00:35:14,148 And the animation for that sequence was just heart-wrenching. Like when she cried out in 391 00:35:14,168 --> 00:35:19,550 the sanitarium and her sadness was depicted as layers and layers of grief within herself, 392 00:35:19,910 --> 00:35:25,613 it was just a really effective moment at showing how broken and devastated she is deep down. 393 00:35:26,093 --> 00:35:31,035 And it was in that emotional flashback where you really sympathized with her, with what 394 00:35:31,075 --> 00:35:35,237 she had gone through. But the thing is they followed that immediately with a scene of her 395 00:35:35,337 --> 00:35:41,316 sawing a dude's head off in a bathtub. And the contrast of those two scenes made it one of 396 00:35:41,336 --> 00:35:46,200 the most challenging moments for me to process in this season. It was like the floor just 397 00:35:46,240 --> 00:35:52,404 dropped out from under me and it completely sold Akiko's complexity and her personal transformation 398 00:35:52,524 --> 00:35:56,427 into Lady Bullseye. So yeah, I take back everything I said. I thought this whole thing was brilliant 399 00:35:56,627 --> 00:36:02,131 with Akiko. Absolutely. It was also interesting to see how Lady Bullseye as a ghost was tied 400 00:36:02,171 --> 00:36:09,015 to Akiko and served as her mentor. Yeah. leading her toward her most violent tendencies. But 401 00:36:09,175 --> 00:36:15,098 even then, Akiko fucking killed Lady Bullseye's ghost right after killing Karuka, so she just 402 00:36:15,138 --> 00:36:20,200 went off the deep end and was really beyond redemption as much as Hitmonkey would have 403 00:36:20,220 --> 00:36:25,523 wished otherwise. Yeah, I would agree. I just think it was interesting how she was sort of 404 00:36:25,743 --> 00:36:31,202 like Hitmonkey in a way. The fact that she had this ghost spirit who followed her. And it 405 00:36:31,222 --> 00:36:35,984 was this somewhat peaceful character who became very violent. She just kind of went the other 406 00:36:36,024 --> 00:36:40,527 direction with it. Right. There's parallels there. The last character I want to talk about 407 00:36:40,807 --> 00:36:45,689 is Boon, who was the leader of the co-op and the main villain for the season, who was voiced 408 00:36:45,729 --> 00:36:52,413 by Nat Faxon. I did not recognize Nat Faxon's voice. It was so hilarious and how douchey 409 00:36:52,453 --> 00:36:56,956 it was. And I think it was pretty clear from the get go that Boon was just too douchey to 410 00:36:57,036 --> 00:37:02,254 stay good. It was probably pretty obvious that he was going to turn evil. But Boon's genocidal 411 00:37:02,295 --> 00:37:06,658 twist was, I think, a welcome one. If only that it meant that you'd see him meet his end by 412 00:37:06,678 --> 00:37:11,722 the hands of Hitmonkey. Yeah, I'm like even more impressed now that you tell me that these 413 00:37:11,762 --> 00:37:17,306 characters were original because the show writers had to have a pretty great imagination for 414 00:37:17,346 --> 00:37:22,710 coming up with some of these characters like Boon and the other members of the Assassin's 415 00:37:22,730 --> 00:37:29,398 Co-op. Like freaking boy band super villains? Hilarious. Totally out of left field, but adds 416 00:37:29,498 --> 00:37:34,740 unique depth to this character, right? Yeah. You know, despite Boon's extreme methods by 417 00:37:34,780 --> 00:37:40,141 the end, the way he described his dream of a perfect utopia, one without violence, full 418 00:37:40,161 --> 00:37:45,803 of plants and animals, like an Eden for the group, his philosophical words were enticing 419 00:37:45,843 --> 00:37:50,544 enough to put Hitmonkey under his spell for a time. You know, he made Hitmonkey question 420 00:37:50,705 --> 00:37:55,919 everything, from his friendships to the nature of humanity. he manipulated him like some kind 421 00:37:55,939 --> 00:38:01,222 of charismatic cult leader, even without using his powers of telepathy and mind control. And 422 00:38:01,262 --> 00:38:07,747 in my book, that made him a fucking solid villain. Oh yeah, no question. He was a great villain. 423 00:38:08,247 --> 00:38:13,511 Some of the best villains are sympathetic or you understand the reasoning behind what they're 424 00:38:13,551 --> 00:38:17,734 doing. And Boon was definitely one of those characters. Like who doesn't want to get rid 425 00:38:17,794 --> 00:38:22,077 of evil in the world? Although you would think, you know, if he could control minds, if his 426 00:38:22,117 --> 00:38:27,512 power was telepathy, Wouldn't he be a little bit more capable in getting the alderman to 427 00:38:27,552 --> 00:38:31,695 give him the relics? That was something I was wondering. Yeah, it's very true. All he really 428 00:38:31,735 --> 00:38:37,119 had to do was encounter them to control them. Like especially with the third eye guy, like 429 00:38:37,499 --> 00:38:42,683 why did they have a history of difficulty with him? Or with the shepherd or the call or any 430 00:38:42,723 --> 00:38:45,965 of them. Any one of them could have been mind controlled because none of them really had 431 00:38:46,165 --> 00:38:51,048 psychic powers. Or a defense against psychic powers. Right. That was just one of the very 432 00:38:51,068 --> 00:38:53,587 few plot holes I spotted throughout the course of the show. 433 00:39:01,134 --> 00:39:06,800 Where fantasies collide and heroes clash, one podcast network rises above the rest. Prepare 434 00:39:06,820 --> 00:39:12,546 yourself for the ultimate showdowns in comic books, video games, movies, and anime. The 435 00:39:12,606 --> 00:39:18,292 DynaMic Podcast Network presents Console Combat, where video game legends brawl every Monday. 436 00:39:21,338 --> 00:39:27,760 Smash every Tuesday, Max Destruction where TV and action heroes battle every Wednesday, and 437 00:39:27,880 --> 00:39:34,102 Sendro World where anime champions clash every Thursday. Join us as we speculate on the matches 438 00:39:34,302 --> 00:39:40,084 and armed with the power of mathematical simulations, discover who will emerge victorious. Visit 439 00:39:40,164 --> 00:39:44,045 dynamicpodcast.com where we settle the debate and settle the score. 440 00:39:48,386 --> 00:39:52,409 But speaking of the plot, let's go ahead and get into our episode highlights. Episode 1 441 00:39:52,449 --> 00:39:57,833 was called Return to Sender. In a flashback, Bryce descends into Hell, where he makes a 442 00:39:57,873 --> 00:40:03,417 deal with Mephisto to return as a ghost to assist Hitmonkey in sending souls to Hell. In the 443 00:40:03,477 --> 00:40:09,081 present, the duo travel to New York City and sign up with Eunice Jones, a mercenary agent 444 00:40:09,141 --> 00:40:11,262 who sets them up in Bryce's old apartment. 445 00:40:16,798 --> 00:40:22,200 which she smuggled out of Tokyo after a demonic figure killed all of her fellow officers looking 446 00:40:22,240 --> 00:40:27,002 for it. They visit a rare weapons dealer who identifies the sword as an ancient mythical 447 00:40:27,022 --> 00:40:32,744 weapon and warns them not to wield it to avoid being possessed by it. While Hitmonkey is out 448 00:40:32,804 --> 00:40:38,447 on a hit, which turns out to be a setup, Haruka is chased by a demonic tiger through the city. 449 00:40:38,927 --> 00:40:44,069 She wields the sword in order to kill the cat, temporarily transforming into a supernatural 450 00:40:45,810 --> 00:40:51,194 As they ponder what happened, Bryce observes his daughter Iris from afar. I have to say 451 00:40:51,254 --> 00:40:56,738 that I thought Keith David made an awesome Mephisto or devil. Whatever. I don't know if this was 452 00:40:56,778 --> 00:41:01,982 Mephisto. I like to think that it is, but Keith David was spot on with that voice. Oh, absolutely. 453 00:41:02,022 --> 00:41:07,826 Keith David is a fantastic, not just voice actor, but actor. And, you know, he has a singular 454 00:41:07,866 --> 00:41:13,110 voice that is perfection when it comes to characters like this, because it was really spooky. He's 455 00:41:13,130 --> 00:41:18,313 also going to be voicing Darkseid in the Kite Man Hell Yeah television series. And I'm sure 456 00:41:18,333 --> 00:41:22,176 he's going to kill it. You know, it's going to be good. Did you realize that the tiger 457 00:41:22,216 --> 00:41:28,641 who was chasing Haruka was the weapons dealers cat that was transformed by the shepherd? I 458 00:41:28,681 --> 00:41:34,505 did not. That makes sense now. Episode two was Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. Looking to learn 459 00:41:34,565 --> 00:41:39,968 who ordered the phony hit, Bryce, Hitmonkey and Haruka track down the vetter at a local 460 00:41:40,008 --> 00:41:45,251 library who directs them to Charles Lehigh of the Aldermen before being killed by assassins 461 00:41:45,551 --> 00:41:51,214 that Haruka in turn kills with her sword. The group sneaks into an event at Lehigh's estate 462 00:41:51,314 --> 00:41:56,696 where his necklace charm recognizes Haruka's sword. He turns into a shrieking monster known 463 00:41:56,776 --> 00:42:02,859 as The Call, but is ripped in half by a mysterious young girl named Dot who steals the charm necklace. 464 00:42:03,359 --> 00:42:07,841 Hitmonkey takes Bryce to visit the restaurant Iris serves at, but she rejects anything to 465 00:42:07,881 --> 00:42:12,417 do with her dad. When the pair return to the apartment, they find Haruka transformed and 466 00:42:12,457 --> 00:42:17,741 addicted to the sword's power. Meanwhile, at a secret meeting of the three remaining aldermen, 467 00:42:18,202 --> 00:42:24,887 the ogre vows to take care of Hitmonkey and Haruka. One of the very few plot holes was 468 00:42:25,188 --> 00:42:30,272 regarding the librarian better. I'm not sure why she died, why they killed her. I'm guessing 469 00:42:30,312 --> 00:42:35,176 that since Hitmonkey and Bryce survived the bomb attack from the first episode, it was 470 00:42:35,236 --> 00:42:39,639 likely that the aldermen knew. that they would investigate the vetter, which is why they tried 471 00:42:39,679 --> 00:42:43,742 to kill her. Yeah, I think they were just tying up loose ends. It's possible that they were 472 00:42:43,782 --> 00:42:48,746 staked out at the library waiting for Hitmonkey to show up because we know that the reason 473 00:42:48,886 --> 00:42:53,589 the librarian set up the fake hit was because they tortured her and made her break her code. 474 00:42:54,009 --> 00:42:59,333 So I don't know if it's quite a plot hole. Yeah, I don't think it is. Episode 3 was called The 475 00:42:59,373 --> 00:43:04,416 Rope. The ogre, who is a big giant, snatches Haruka out of their apartment and Hitmonkey 476 00:43:04,436 --> 00:43:09,715 and Bryce chase him across the city. A group known as the Assassin's Cooperative assists 477 00:43:09,775 --> 00:43:14,798 in rescuing Haruka as Hitmonkey goes inside the Giant's head to kill him before passing 478 00:43:14,898 --> 00:43:20,581 out. Hitmonkey wakes up in the co-op's lair where he meets its members, Boon, Slyke, Amara, 479 00:43:20,721 --> 00:43:26,404 Double Tap, and Dot. They explain to him how an ancient relic was divided into eight weapons 480 00:43:26,484 --> 00:43:31,882 wielded by the Aldermen to rule the world from the shadows. They ask Hitmonkey to join their 481 00:43:31,922 --> 00:43:37,886 cause of obtaining and reforging the weapons to restore the relic to heal the world. Contemplating 482 00:43:38,026 --> 00:43:42,769 joining the co-op family, Hitmonkey tries to take Bryce to the restaurant to visit Iris, 483 00:43:42,909 --> 00:43:48,572 but they accidentally get her fired. Upset, Bryce makes another deal with Mephisto for 484 00:43:48,612 --> 00:43:54,335 a physical form, however it comes with a 48 hour time limit. Meanwhile, Akiko shows up 485 00:43:54,375 --> 00:43:59,999 in New York City as Lady Bullseye. I think this was my favorite episode. I really, really liked 486 00:44:00,059 --> 00:44:05,423 the introduction of the Assassin's Co-op, but also the backstory of the aldermen. I thought 487 00:44:05,443 --> 00:44:10,348 that was really well done. Yeah. There was just a lot to like. The whole second deal that Bryce 488 00:44:10,408 --> 00:44:15,492 made with Mephisto you knew was going to end in tragedy and they totally set that up perfectly. 489 00:44:15,913 --> 00:44:20,677 It was just really well written. For sure. Yeah, and this episode had great action too. That 490 00:44:20,717 --> 00:44:24,800 fight against the ogre. Yes. That was really well done with cool ideas. The fact that they 491 00:44:24,820 --> 00:44:30,284 actually went into. ogre's head and started shooting his brain from inside his body. That 492 00:44:30,304 --> 00:44:34,065 was pretty crazy. Yeah, it's the kind of action that I was really looking forward to with this 493 00:44:34,106 --> 00:44:39,048 season. Just seeing monkey swing through New York almost like Spider-Man. And yeah, this 494 00:44:39,068 --> 00:44:43,210 was definitely one of my favorite action scenes from the whole season. Episode four was called 495 00:44:43,310 --> 00:44:49,333 Never Too Late. Bryce visits Iris at her apartment to apologize for abandoning their family, but 496 00:44:49,353 --> 00:44:55,201 she rejects him. Haruka traces the Alderman financials to a hedge fund managed by the third 497 00:44:55,441 --> 00:45:01,445 eye wielder, Yanis Kalamaris. She, Hitmonkey, and Bryce try to fight Yanis, but are unable 498 00:45:01,485 --> 00:45:06,728 to overcome his future sight, and they are saved by the co-op who chastises them for almost 499 00:45:06,768 --> 00:45:12,512 getting killed. Bryce reconnects with a former associate called Snail, who can slow time and 500 00:45:12,552 --> 00:45:17,991 give them a chance against the third eye. Meanwhile... Akiko tries to find Hitmonkey through his old 501 00:45:18,031 --> 00:45:23,034 associates and kills one with the help of the original Lady Bullseye's ghost who was following 502 00:45:23,074 --> 00:45:29,077 her. Hitmonkey, Bryce, and Haruka catch up with the co-op at Yenis' private jet and with Snail's 503 00:45:29,117 --> 00:45:34,440 help they defeat him. Bryce visits Iris again to apologize and this time she gives him a 504 00:45:34,480 --> 00:45:41,064 chance. Meanwhile, in Hell, Mephisto foreshadows that his army is about to grow. Now is the 505 00:45:41,104 --> 00:45:46,170 snail an original character as well? Correct, yeah. I liked the snail here. He was voiced 506 00:45:46,190 --> 00:45:51,312 by Jim Gaffigan. He had a pretty cool, if not gross power set where he gets slow time. But 507 00:45:51,372 --> 00:45:56,753 people who were in contact with his saliva were able to exist outside of the time distortion 508 00:45:56,793 --> 00:46:02,855 effect. Well, it wasn't his saliva. It was his mucus, his snot. Yeah, that's right. You're 509 00:46:02,875 --> 00:46:08,997 right. He was definitely hocking up loogies. He wasn't just spitting. Right. Yeah. I liked 510 00:46:09,057 --> 00:46:13,939 the snail. I thought the nicknames. and the grab-assing between Bryce and him were pretty 511 00:46:13,979 --> 00:46:18,241 funny. Like Snail called Bryce taint because he's somewhere between a dick and an asshole. 512 00:46:18,401 --> 00:46:22,363 And then he like sack tap him, you know, and the Bryce would like call him like old chub 513 00:46:22,403 --> 00:46:26,745 and try to titty twist him. He's like, let me at those little pickles. It's like, what the 514 00:46:26,865 --> 00:46:31,867 fuck is going on here? They just had this hilarious relationship. Yeah, I thought he was going 515 00:46:31,887 --> 00:46:36,069 to reappear in the final episode. I was kind of sad that he didn't, but they also made really 516 00:46:36,089 --> 00:46:41,024 good use of him in this episode. Yeah, it was cool to see Bryce taking on the third eye with 517 00:46:41,044 --> 00:46:45,709 that slow motion effect. It's rare that you see Bryce kick ass in this series, because 518 00:46:45,769 --> 00:46:51,574 usually that's left to Hitmonkey. But when you see Bryce be a badass, you remember exactly 519 00:46:51,734 --> 00:46:56,919 why he's a good mentor for Hitmonkey. Yeah, you remember that he is an accomplished assassin. 520 00:46:57,259 --> 00:47:03,625 Yeah. Episode 5 is called Akiko. In a flashback to Akiko's childhood, we see her family die 521 00:47:03,685 --> 00:47:08,343 in a fire. She is placed in a boarding school by her uncle Shinji Yokohama, where she is 522 00:47:08,403 --> 00:47:13,365 bullied relentlessly and nearly drowned. She lashes out and is placed in a psychiatric ward 523 00:47:13,705 --> 00:47:19,408 before her uncle comes to raise her into a successful writer. In the present, Bryce gets Iris a job 524 00:47:19,448 --> 00:47:24,130 with Eunice as a murder crime scene cleaner, where she learns under another cleaner named 525 00:47:24,350 --> 00:47:30,412 Buddy. Hitmonkey bonds with the co-op and visits Eunice to quit as a mercenary but is ambushed 526 00:47:30,492 --> 00:47:35,815 by Eikiko, who falls off a building during their fight. Hitmonkey takes her to the co-op for 527 00:47:35,855 --> 00:47:41,098 medical care, where Boon tells him that the Akiko he knew is gone, and that his brother 528 00:47:41,159 --> 00:47:47,743 Colt also succumbed to anger and killing. Unable to end Akiko's life, Hitmonkey sets her free. 529 00:47:48,183 --> 00:47:54,688 Meanwhile, the Shepard sends a mutated pigeon after the co-op. I totally thought Akiko initially 530 00:47:54,768 --> 00:47:58,450 died upon her fall. I was like, whoa, really? That's how they're going to wrap up the Lady 531 00:47:58,490 --> 00:48:02,093 Bullseye story? Obviously they didn't do it that way, but it was kind of foreshadowing 532 00:48:02,133 --> 00:48:07,519 her eventual death. in the very last episode. Yeah, through the fall maybe. But what it really 533 00:48:07,579 --> 00:48:15,101 did was give Hitmonkey an opportunity to end her life before things got too severe. He was 534 00:48:15,141 --> 00:48:19,382 contemplating suffocating her with a pillow while she was recovering in the hospital bed 535 00:48:19,562 --> 00:48:23,423 at the co-op's lair. But he didn't do it. Like we all knew that he should have done it, but 536 00:48:23,463 --> 00:48:28,345 he just cared for her too much. And he ended up undoing her handcuffs so that she can leave 537 00:48:28,385 --> 00:48:33,074 when she wakes up. But it really turned out to be a big mistake. Yeah, huge, which is one 538 00:48:33,094 --> 00:48:37,458 of the reasons why I think he decided to take responsibility in killing Akiko in the final 539 00:48:37,498 --> 00:48:42,683 episode in the way that he did. What did you think about Iris? I thought it was hilarious 540 00:48:42,723 --> 00:48:48,228 how she turned out to be really a chip off the old block, you know, getting into the whole 541 00:48:48,448 --> 00:48:54,308 mercenary community. I thought the relationship that developed between her and Bryce felt pretty 542 00:48:54,348 --> 00:48:59,992 organic. It was fast, but it didn't feel too fast just because of how open and honest Bryce 543 00:49:00,072 --> 00:49:04,334 was with his feelings towards her right off the bat at the beginning of the season. And 544 00:49:04,374 --> 00:49:09,117 it was kind of funny to see that, you know, for however much she had hated her father, 545 00:49:09,497 --> 00:49:15,761 she ended up being more like him than she probably realized. And more than he wanted her to. Yeah. 546 00:49:16,338 --> 00:49:22,059 Absolutely. And I love by the end how they formed this bond between a father and daughter that 547 00:49:22,219 --> 00:49:29,741 felt real and felt pure in a way, and how good it was for both of them and how Bryce was even 548 00:49:29,781 --> 00:49:34,703 willing to sacrifice himself for his daughter, which is, you know, what any father should 549 00:49:34,743 --> 00:49:41,185 do. It was a truly redemptive arc for him. Yeah, like I maybe wanted to be annoyed by Iris at 550 00:49:41,205 --> 00:49:45,150 the start of the season, but the relationship between her and Bryce was just too good. and 551 00:49:45,270 --> 00:49:50,414 she was pretty funny too. She was actually voiced by Kristen Milioti, who is going to be playing 552 00:49:50,614 --> 00:49:56,979 Carmine Falcone's daughter in the upcoming Penguin series. Oh really? Okay. I didn't know that. 553 00:49:57,519 --> 00:50:02,743 Episode 6 was called The Estate. The pigeon gives an invitation to Hitmonkey and the co-op 554 00:50:02,823 --> 00:50:07,767 to join the shepherd for dinner at his estate in the desert. As they travel there via jet, 555 00:50:08,048 --> 00:50:13,039 Iris and Eunice throw a retirement party for Buddy. Suspecting a trap at the estate, Bryce 556 00:50:13,059 --> 00:50:17,721 volunteers to scout the situation and he learns at dinner with the Shepard that the alderman 557 00:50:17,821 --> 00:50:22,584 initially wanted to use the relics to heal the world just like the assassin's co-op, before 558 00:50:22,624 --> 00:50:28,047 shooting himself and passing his staff to his wife. She uses mutated scorpions and spiders 559 00:50:28,107 --> 00:50:33,530 to attack the co-op. During the fight, Haruka and Double Tap seek shelter in a cave where 560 00:50:33,570 --> 00:50:38,312 she realizes via his thermal vision goggles that he was the figure who shot up her precinct 561 00:50:38,352 --> 00:50:44,080 in Tokyo looking for the sword. The Shepard mutates Hitmonkey into a giant gorilla, but 562 00:50:44,120 --> 00:50:49,344 with Boon's help, he overcomes his mental control and kills the Shepard, getting the last of 563 00:50:49,364 --> 00:50:54,828 the relics. Back at the co-op's lair, Haruka reveals to Bryce the group's sinister intentions 564 00:50:55,228 --> 00:51:00,332 and they steal Bonsai's master sword, escaping with Eunice to her vacation home in Montauk. 565 00:51:00,592 --> 00:51:05,816 What did you think of the reveal that Double Tap was really the monster-like figure that 566 00:51:05,856 --> 00:51:10,039 killed all of the police officers in Tokyo? I thought it was a little bit misleading because 567 00:51:10,079 --> 00:51:16,425 in the flashback, the demonic figure was largely just walking menacingly toward Haruka as other 568 00:51:16,465 --> 00:51:22,210 mercenaries were doing all the shooting. So it means that Double Tap hired a hit squad 569 00:51:22,350 --> 00:51:27,494 to go after the sword with him. And from what we learn about the character later on, it seems 570 00:51:27,534 --> 00:51:31,738 more like Double Tap is not really the guy who's inclined to work with a lot of other gunmen. 571 00:51:32,198 --> 00:51:37,026 Right, exactly. Like for all the talk he was giving about the team only needing one gunman 572 00:51:37,226 --> 00:51:42,151 and considering how skilled he was with all of his weapons, I thought that felt very out 573 00:51:42,171 --> 00:51:47,675 of character and very out of left field. Yeah, it was a good twist but the way they animated 574 00:51:47,715 --> 00:51:52,159 it and set it up wasn't as successful as it should have been. I haven't gotten your thoughts 575 00:51:52,219 --> 00:51:56,903 on Eunice yet. What did you think of Leslie Jones as Eunice? I loved Eunice. I love Leslie 576 00:51:56,943 --> 00:52:01,907 Jones in general. I think she is hilarious. I thought this was perfect casting for her. 577 00:52:02,388 --> 00:52:08,300 I thought all of her It was just a lot of fun. I think she's a great character addition to 578 00:52:08,340 --> 00:52:14,064 Hit Monkey's cast of allies. Yeah, for sure. I thought Leslie Jones gave the best delivery. 579 00:52:14,184 --> 00:52:18,807 Like, I remember in this episode when she told Hit Monkey to get out of here with your clown 580 00:52:18,907 --> 00:52:23,850 ass friends, get into your clown ass car, and go to your clown convention. Because guess 581 00:52:23,930 --> 00:52:30,615 what? Your ass is a fucking clown. I died. She's so good at lines like that. Yeah, it's like 582 00:52:30,655 --> 00:52:35,998 Leslie Jones never plays characters other than Leslie Jones. She's always playing herself, 583 00:52:36,038 --> 00:52:41,782 but it's just such a great character. Yeah. In this episode, they address the fact that 584 00:52:41,802 --> 00:52:46,905 they're bringing a monkey to a fight against a guy who can essentially control and mutate 585 00:52:46,985 --> 00:52:51,827 animals. But the fact that they address that idea and still do it makes no sense to me. 586 00:52:52,308 --> 00:52:56,750 Yeah, it's like you guys knew this was going to happen. So why did it happen? Right. That 587 00:52:56,770 --> 00:53:01,013 was a fight that they probably should have left Hitmonkey at home for. Or maybe Boon just figured 588 00:53:01,073 --> 00:53:06,075 he could control Hitmonkey. But then again, that brings up the plot hole of why not just 589 00:53:06,115 --> 00:53:11,699 control the shepherd. Right. Exactly. The scene with the shepherd shooting himself at the dinner 590 00:53:11,739 --> 00:53:18,643 table was fucking disturbing. Yes. And weird as hell. Very graphic, like the facial expression 591 00:53:18,663 --> 00:53:24,407 he made right before he shot himself in the head was creepy and scary. I thought his wife 592 00:53:24,447 --> 00:53:29,426 just looking on smiling, even creepier. Yeah, the whole relationship was weird. Which is 593 00:53:29,466 --> 00:53:34,070 why it was appropriate that Bryce was like, what the fuck is going on? Yeah. He was thinking 594 00:53:34,090 --> 00:53:39,534 what we were all thinking. Episode seven was called The Last Supper. Boone reads Hitmonkey's 595 00:53:39,594 --> 00:53:45,159 mind, who deduces where the sword is. The co-op then sends Hitmonkey to Montauk to get it back. 596 00:53:45,519 --> 00:53:50,043 Bryce, Haruka, Iris and Eunice fortify their vacation home to prepare it for battle and 597 00:53:50,123 --> 00:53:54,907 have what they believe to be their last supper. Hitmonkey arrives and the group tries to tell 598 00:53:54,927 --> 00:53:59,626 him of the co-op's intentions, but he doesn't believe them. Bryce and Hitmonkey duke it out 599 00:54:00,046 --> 00:54:05,888 and Bryce admits that he used Hitmonkey's killing to get out of hell. Akiko and Lady Bullseye 600 00:54:05,948 --> 00:54:10,729 intrude on the scene, and though Haruka tries to reason with her old friend, she's forced 601 00:54:10,869 --> 00:54:15,670 to wield the sword again. Hitmonkey tries to shoot Akiko but can't bring himself to do it 602 00:54:15,870 --> 00:54:21,612 and Haruka abandons her sword, resulting in her own death by Akiko's hands. Lady Bullseye's 603 00:54:21,652 --> 00:54:27,086 ghost nearly drowns Bryce in the salty ocean, but the co-op arrives on the scene. prompting 604 00:54:27,146 --> 00:54:32,810 Lady Bullseye and Akiko to flee. The co-op picks up the sword and Hitmonkey as Iris and Eunice 605 00:54:32,890 --> 00:54:37,693 pull Bryce out of the ocean. I gotta give a quick shout out to the state of Colorado in 606 00:54:37,733 --> 00:54:43,457 this episode because Iris makes a reference to Vale during supper and tells them that she 607 00:54:43,497 --> 00:54:46,860 wants to learn how to ski with rich people. And they're like, oh yeah, that's some good 608 00:54:46,920 --> 00:54:52,504 skiing up there. It is. And it's really good skiing. As someone who has skied Vale, I appreciated 609 00:54:52,544 --> 00:54:58,587 that. I really liked this episode. This is another one of my favorite episodes. I just loved the 610 00:54:58,667 --> 00:55:04,630 drama of it, you know, with the last supper where they're eating pancakes and where Bryce 611 00:55:04,650 --> 00:55:09,892 and Hentmonkey are brawling out in the rain. And you understand where both of them are coming 612 00:55:09,952 --> 00:55:15,295 from. It was just, again, a well-written episode. Emotionally devastating episode. I think this 613 00:55:15,315 --> 00:55:19,777 was my favorite episode out of all of them, for sure. Let's move on to episode eight, which 614 00:55:19,797 --> 00:55:25,559 was called Mindmall. The co-op begins the reforging process as Boon admits to Hitmonkey that they 615 00:55:25,599 --> 00:55:30,340 plan on ending global violence by ending global life. They reveal themselves to be working 616 00:55:30,360 --> 00:55:35,521 with Mephisto, who resurrected Bryce to nudge him and Hitmonkey to the Alderman and the co-op 617 00:55:35,661 --> 00:55:41,283 in his scheme to end humanity and build his Hell army. Slyke pulls Hitmonkey into his mind 618 00:55:41,403 --> 00:55:46,844 while Bryce, Eunice, and Iris mourn Haruka back in Montauk. Akiko spies on them from afar and 619 00:55:46,884 --> 00:55:51,826 kills Lady Pulsai's ghost by using their tether to pull her into the salty ocean. Back at the 620 00:55:51,846 --> 00:55:56,967 apartment, Dot warns Bryce, Iris, and Eunice about the co-op's real plans before returning 621 00:55:57,027 --> 00:56:02,789 to their lair and being pulled into Slyke's mind. Secretly harboring Bryce's ghost, Dot 622 00:56:02,869 --> 00:56:08,491 helps rescue Hitmonkey from his chains and directs them on how to escape Slyke's mind. While Dot 623 00:56:08,551 --> 00:56:13,593 is able to get out, Slyke and Boone's brother Colt is revealed to be inside his mind too 624 00:56:13,953 --> 00:56:18,831 and destroys the exit. As Hitmonkey and Bryce flee into Slyke's subconscious, Colt learns 625 00:56:18,851 --> 00:56:24,413 that he was mind controlled by Boon into agreeing to be pulled into his brother's mind. Slyke 626 00:56:24,593 --> 00:56:29,716 enters his own mind to explain his reasoning to his brother, but Colt kills him, giving 627 00:56:29,756 --> 00:56:34,738 Hitmonkey and Bryce enough time to escape before Slyke's mind is eradicated. Witnessing the 628 00:56:34,758 --> 00:56:39,820 tragedy of brothers turning on each other, Bryce and Hitmonkey make amends, just as the co-op 629 00:56:39,840 --> 00:56:44,602 prepares to use the power of the Forged Relic in Times Square. This is another fantastic 630 00:56:44,642 --> 00:56:49,584 episode. This is just like a series of great episodes. I really liked the mind mall setting 631 00:56:50,104 --> 00:56:55,927 that had a very cool eighties retro vibe, very vibrant and creepy. It kind of reminded me 632 00:56:55,967 --> 00:57:00,709 of the original Suspiria film, although that was made in the seventies, but the killer racer 633 00:57:00,849 --> 00:57:04,610 that was chasing him through the mall, I think that was pulled from an eighties movie called 634 00:57:04,710 --> 00:57:10,373 The Wraith, from what I could tell. Really interesting. It was all just very surreal and kind of incorporated 635 00:57:10,453 --> 00:57:16,279 dream logic in this really cool way. Now, I just remembered, are you sure all of the characters 636 00:57:16,339 --> 00:57:24,161 from the co-op were original? Because I remember you having an X-Men comic with a mutant villain 637 00:57:24,321 --> 00:57:32,463 who was also able to warp beings into his mind. Yeah, you're talking about the X-Men 394 issue, 638 00:57:32,863 --> 00:57:38,405 which has Wolverine and Jean Grey kissing on the cover. And in it, they get pulled into 639 00:57:38,525 --> 00:57:43,975 this mutant's mind and his name was Warp Savant. And while they have the same power set, he's 640 00:57:44,015 --> 00:57:50,498 not Slyke. So it's likely that Slyke was influenced by Warp Savant. Although Warp Savant only made 641 00:57:50,538 --> 00:57:55,141 an appearance in one issue. Are you serious? He hasn't appeared since? OK, that's dumb. 642 00:57:55,641 --> 00:57:59,803 OK. But it's interesting that you remembered that pretty good memory there. I just remember 643 00:57:59,964 --> 00:58:04,006 you getting really pissed off because I got chocolate on that comic cover and you've probably 644 00:58:04,046 --> 00:58:11,794 never forgiven me for that. You dumbass. I completely forgot about that, too. Oh, I reminded you. 645 00:58:12,034 --> 00:58:16,197 Out of everyone in the co-op, who would you say was your favorite? Dot because she was 646 00:58:16,237 --> 00:58:20,420 the only one that was good. But like we didn't get really any of her backstory either. Well, 647 00:58:20,440 --> 00:58:24,983 we didn't really get much of any of the co-op's backstories except for Boon. Well, we got the 648 00:58:25,063 --> 00:58:30,407 statue lady. I forgot her name. Amara. Yeah, Amara. I just saw apparently she was voiced 649 00:58:30,467 --> 00:58:35,991 by Stephanie Beatrice. So she has the same voice as Mirabelle from Encanto. Right. Yeah, it's 650 00:58:36,031 --> 00:58:41,115 interesting comparing her voice as that Disney character and then saying Get fucked, Bryce. 651 00:58:41,135 --> 00:58:47,100 You know. But no, we never got more than a few sentences of backstory for any of the co-op 652 00:58:47,120 --> 00:58:51,084 members except for Boon. I don't know why Amara was my favorite. I think I just really liked 653 00:58:51,104 --> 00:58:55,508 her power set. But yeah, Dot was great too. I loved how strong she was. Like that was her 654 00:58:55,548 --> 00:59:00,373 power, right? Just like super strength and durability. It's a great power set for a creepy little 655 00:59:00,533 --> 00:59:05,197 girl because you wouldn't expect it. Right. Episode nine was called the concrete jungle. 656 00:59:05,666 --> 00:59:10,290 Boon unleashes the relic on New York City, transforming the environment and turning people into trees. 657 00:59:10,790 --> 00:59:16,155 Bryce, Eunice, Iris, Dot, and Hitmonkey call in all of Eunice's mercenary contacts to join 658 00:59:16,175 --> 00:59:21,099 their fight. They plan to use Eunice's bomb to blow up the relic, with Bryce's team planting 659 00:59:21,119 --> 00:59:26,204 the bomb in the subway tunnels under Times Square, and Monkey's team triggering the remote detonator. 660 00:59:26,644 --> 00:59:31,288 Both groups get attacked by the co-op, with Hitmonkey weakened after being shot multiple 661 00:59:31,328 --> 00:59:37,795 times by double tap. and Bryce gets turned to marble by Amara. However, Hitmonkey ricochets 662 00:59:37,835 --> 00:59:43,317 shoots double tap, and Bryce phases out of his stone form to trap her on the subway car. Boon 663 00:59:43,377 --> 00:59:48,058 mind controls Dot to attack Hitmonkey, but he survives long enough for Bryce's bomb to get 664 00:59:48,098 --> 00:59:54,400 there, and he blows up Boon and the relic. However, Boon survives as a plant monster with pieces 665 00:59:54,440 --> 00:59:59,221 of the relic embedded in him. I love at the start of the episode Hitmonkey's speech to 666 00:59:59,241 --> 01:00:03,960 the other mercenaries. He's like, I know we all probably need therapy, but we could do 667 01:00:03,980 --> 01:00:08,103 this together. We're a family. And his screech at the end when he's like, now who's with me? 668 01:00:08,123 --> 01:00:12,947 It just crickets. Nobody says anything. But then like somebody starts to slow clap and 669 01:00:12,987 --> 01:00:16,189 then all of a sudden everybody gets super excited and they start shooting their guns in the air 670 01:00:16,469 --> 01:00:20,252 and even hit monkey shooting his gun in the air. It was hilarious. Yeah. And especially 671 01:00:20,272 --> 01:00:25,496 when you find out that they're shooting accidentally hit the bomb in the coffee table. It's like, 672 01:00:25,516 --> 01:00:31,440 of course. The one thing that I hated about these last two episodes was how like at certain 673 01:00:31,460 --> 01:00:36,723 points the main characters would get covered in vines but somehow weren't ripped apart to 674 01:00:36,743 --> 01:00:41,145 pieces or transformed into plants just like everyone else was. It was like if you were 675 01:00:41,165 --> 01:00:46,988 a main character on the show you had plot armor basically. Yeah, pretty much. Pretty convenient 676 01:00:47,209 --> 01:00:52,712 but I don't know. It's not like they didn't meet cruel fates later on. I loved the stakes 677 01:00:52,852 --> 01:00:57,454 of this season as a whole. Like they were way bigger than season one. But the stakes kind 678 01:00:57,494 --> 01:01:03,877 of get ruined once you realize that the main characters aren't susceptible to the bad guy's 679 01:01:03,917 --> 01:01:09,180 final plan. That's not to say that there weren't casualties, because of course you have Officer 680 01:01:09,200 --> 01:01:14,242 Haruka's death and even Hitmonkey dies by the end of the show, but I feel like Iris and Eunice 681 01:01:14,522 --> 01:01:18,524 should have been turned into plant creatures. It's really hard to agree with the whole plot 682 01:01:18,584 --> 01:01:23,874 armor thing considering how everything goes down at the end. sure Bryce lives at the end, 683 01:01:24,034 --> 01:01:29,037 but he's also trapped in a hell of his own making, as it were, because he's without Hitmucky. 684 01:01:29,277 --> 01:01:34,039 Or at least the one that he knows. As far as Eunice and Iris, I'm totally fine with them 685 01:01:34,059 --> 01:01:38,901 having plot armor. You know, after surviving the attack in Montauk, you know, they had already 686 01:01:38,941 --> 01:01:43,803 gone through a lot. It's fine. Plus I want to see them continue on into Season 3. 687 01:01:49,058 --> 01:01:54,023 drive to help rescue Bryce, Hitmonkey, and Dot from the Boon monster. While fleeing in their 688 01:01:54,063 --> 01:02:01,090 van, Iris gets the idea to use Buddy's Bodyburner to destroy Boon, but the monster crashes the 689 01:02:01,110 --> 01:02:06,475 vehicle. The group fights Boon and are overpowered, but they buy enough time for Iris to use Buddy's 690 01:02:06,515 --> 01:02:11,420 Bodyburner, which is only partially effective. Bryce and Hitmonkey yank the relic shards from 691 01:02:11,440 --> 01:02:17,076 the monster's body. which Boon uses to transport them across time to witness humanity's violence 692 01:02:17,176 --> 01:02:22,720 throughout history, from feudal Japan to World War I. They teleport to an animal testing facility 693 01:02:22,740 --> 01:02:27,282 in the past where Hitmucky sees his younger self get rescued from a cage where he and his 694 01:02:27,342 --> 01:02:32,866 parents were being experimented on. Bryce pulls out the last shard, returning them home and 695 01:02:32,926 --> 01:02:38,649 fully killing Boon. As Bryce runs out of time on his corporeal form and says goodbye to Iris, 696 01:02:39,270 --> 01:02:44,934 Akiko returns and tries to shoot Iris, forcing Bryce to take the bullets. Hitmonkey stops 697 01:02:44,974 --> 01:02:50,738 Akiko by tackling her off the Brooklyn Bridge, an act that kills them both. Mephisto claims 698 01:02:50,798 --> 01:02:56,503 Hitmonkey's soul as payment for Bryce's deals, and Bryce returns to life. As Bryce mourns, 699 01:02:56,863 --> 01:03:02,447 he sees Hitmonkey's ghost, who is now tethered to him. This was a fantastic final episode. 700 01:03:02,627 --> 01:03:09,206 I really love how it began with Steve the Cleaver. I don't even know who that dude was and neither 701 01:03:09,246 --> 01:03:14,989 did anybody else. I loved how Steve died trying to be heroic to buy the group sometime. It 702 01:03:15,009 --> 01:03:20,451 was just fucking decimated. He's like, so good. No, go on without me. And Bryce was like, yeah, 703 01:03:20,491 --> 01:03:27,674 OK, fine. Closes the door. Yeah, no, give a shit. The ending was so bittersweet with this 704 01:03:27,714 --> 01:03:31,855 like somber music playing and Bryce just kind of like staring off playing with some salt 705 01:03:31,875 --> 01:03:36,557 in his hand, you know, thinking about everything that happened. And he glances over and there's 706 01:03:36,617 --> 01:03:41,861 just this random monkey ghost staring at him from across the street and he walks over to 707 01:03:41,901 --> 01:03:46,144 him and is like, what took you so long? And that's how the season ended. And I thought 708 01:03:46,164 --> 01:03:51,287 it was so poetic considering both of the characters' journeys, all that they had been through and 709 01:03:51,307 --> 01:03:55,290 how the script was kind of flipped at the very end. The best thing I can say about this season 710 01:03:55,330 --> 01:04:01,810 is that I'm really, really wanting more of this story. Yeah, absolutely. And we're- really 711 01:04:01,850 --> 01:04:06,935 stuck with me at the end too was how Hitmonkey was in a ghost form, but he wasn't like his 712 01:04:07,155 --> 01:04:13,061 old self. Like, he didn't have any of his character. He was like a shell of what he was. So it's 713 01:04:13,101 --> 01:04:18,526 not like they could reunite in some kind of satisfying way. It wasn't satisfying. It was 714 01:04:18,666 --> 01:04:24,732 bittersweet, it was heartfelt, and it absolutely calls for a season three. That brings us to 715 01:04:24,752 --> 01:04:30,924 the end of this review. Overall... The season mixed fun, brutal action with emotionally tragic 716 01:04:30,984 --> 01:04:36,327 moments, and the silly high-concept premise has proven itself as Marvel's darkest and most 717 01:04:36,387 --> 01:04:45,513 challenging project. I'm giving the show 4.5 stars out of 5, a fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. 718 01:04:45,553 --> 01:04:50,375 Yeah, I think that's totally appropriate. I personally love me a good tragedy. And this 719 01:04:50,415 --> 01:04:56,090 is a tragedy, I would say, in the true sense of the word. and that comedies have happy endings 720 01:04:56,110 --> 01:05:01,932 and tragedies have somewhat sad endings. The fact that this tragedy was also able to make 721 01:05:01,972 --> 01:05:08,553 me laugh for a majority of the season is also a testament to just how well-written it was. 722 01:05:08,773 --> 01:05:14,855 I do think it was better than season one, which we gave four stars. So yeah, I would agree 723 01:05:14,875 --> 01:05:19,336 with that rating. Yeah, season two just hit harder, both emotionally, viscerally, with 724 01:05:19,356 --> 01:05:24,758 the violence. Animation was top notch. Animation-wise. Really good animation, yeah. And the show is 725 01:05:24,798 --> 01:05:29,681 just cool. Like it is so cool. Like I'm trying to think of anything as cool as this show. 726 01:05:30,261 --> 01:05:36,084 Himaki has a vibe to him. You know, it's hard to put into words the idea of cool, but you 727 01:05:36,104 --> 01:05:40,386 could definitely feel it when watching the show. For sure. They knew what the tone was and I 728 01:05:40,406 --> 01:05:45,949 think they nailed it. So kudos to the show runners. But that does it for this review. AJ9K, help 729 01:05:45,969 --> 01:05:52,673 close this out. Thanks for listening to Dynamic duel. Visit the show's website at dynamicduel.com. 730 01:05:53,514 --> 01:05:59,215 and follow us on Instagram at Dynamic Duel Podcast. You can support the show on Patreon at Patreon.com 731 01:05:59,635 --> 01:06:04,317 slash Dynamic Duel and joining a tier that works for you or by rating and reviewing Dynamic 732 01:06:04,357 --> 01:06:09,898 Duel on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Podchaser, or on our website. Don't forget to listen to 733 01:06:09,918 --> 01:06:15,280 the other shows in the DynaMic Podcast Network, including Max Destruction, Senjo World, and 734 01:06:15,320 --> 01:06:22,402 Console Combat. Our next episode is going to be another review. but it's the last one of 735 01:06:22,422 --> 01:06:26,903 the group before we get back to the duels guys. We're going to be reviewing Watchmen Chapter 736 01:06:27,083 --> 01:06:32,985 one, which hopefully the animation is good because it's going to be really hard going into that 737 01:06:33,065 --> 01:06:38,406 coming off of Hit Monkey, just with how expressive and well done the animation was. I have a feeling 738 01:06:38,486 --> 01:06:44,648 it's not going to be as good and I know we already know the Watchmen story, so I'm not sure how 739 01:06:44,748 --> 01:06:49,742 satisfying watching this will be, but we'll let you guys know next week. But that does 740 01:06:49,762 --> 01:06:54,164 it for this episode, we want to give a big thanks to our executive producers Ken Johnson, John 741 01:06:54,204 --> 01:06:58,847 Storosky, Zachary Hepburn, Dustin Balcom, Miggy Mathen-Geehan, Brandon Estregard, Nathaniel 742 01:06:58,867 --> 01:07:05,550 Wagner, Levi Yeaton, Austin Wazilowski, AJ Dunkerley, Scott Camacho, Gil Camacho, Adam Spies, Andrew 743 01:07:05,590 --> 01:07:11,173 Shunk, Dean Maleski, Devin Davis, Joseph Kersting, and Josh Leiner for helping make this podcast 744 01:07:11,193 --> 01:07:16,456 possible. And we'll talk to you guys next week. Up, up, and away, true believers. This shit 745 01:07:16,516 --> 01:07:18,597 is bananas. B-A-N-A-N-A-S.