Marvels Jessica Jones - a solid punch to the gut. (Spoilers… Duh)

So with Netflix rising to become an entertainment giant and Disney want to have their Marvel property in, on and around every place on earth the multi series deal that spawned Daredevil was not unexpected.

What was unexpected was how seriously Netflix took the deal. Daredevil was a very well-produced series that set the new bar for in my mind not only superhero series but any kind of fantasy drama. So when the teasers for Jessica Jones started to drop the “buzz” was real. But as a comics fan and as someone who is fleetingly familiar with the character of Jessica Jones I had some reservations. Mostly because Jones is a broken human being, used and abused in the worst of ways. How would Netflix tell that part of the story? The answer in hindsight should have been clear. They simply told it as it were.

So for the people not familiar with the story it goes thusly. Jessica Jones is a girl with superpowers, flight, super strength and some limited rapid healing. Like most people who get powers in the marvel universe she decides to be a hero. In the comics they wrote her in as a background character, someone who had always been there but never seen. But she had not even taken down her first Batroc before she fell under the control of the villain Purple man (aka Kilgrave/Killgrave). A sadist with mind control powers by the way of pheromones. Both in the series and the comics what follow is a period of mental torture and well… Rape. But it ends with her breaking free of his control and slowly trying to put her life back together. She hangs up her cape and goes in to private investigation and heavy drinking.

The series picks up at this point and tell most of the backstory in flashbacks, including a live action version of the outfit she used in the comics. The series love to toss in this kind of Easter eggs. In fact the very first scene in the series is a picture perfect recreation of the opening scene in the comics.

I mentioned earlier that the series does not pull any punches or really make any excuses for the way Jessica acts. They just drop her there and tell us to deal with it however we like. This is refreshing and lends a certain level of realism to the story. The series also does a very good job I have been told of portraying someone who have lived with abuse and trauma. While I have very little in the way of reference myself it felt very genuine. Now with this being Netflix and thusly not regulated by the American TV-censor board everything is a bit more gritty. While not as in your face gory as Daredevil, Jessica Jones has its fair share of both blood, sex and drugs. But I never feel they go overboard with it. It still fits very well in with the theme and mood of the series.

Now Jessica Jones is backed up by a real nice cast of characters including childhood friend and former childactor-turned-radio host Trish Walker and bulletproof bar owner and sometimes fuckbuddy Luke Cage. Trish in many ways become Jessica´s flip-side. Someone who also have faced trauma and abuse but choose to put on a façade of normality rather than choosing Jessica´s “fuck all” attitude.

As for Luke he does not get as much development, mostly because he is next up for his own series on Netflix but the series do an apt job of making him a believable character and a stellar job of bringing the comic hero to life.  Also the sex scenes between Luke and Jessica are as comedic as they are tragic.

Now it would be a grave error to not bring up perhaps the best portrayal of a villain in the Marvel cinematic universe. Kilgrave is as scary as he is pathetic. The fact that he sees himself as the victim of his own power and honestly do not see any problem in how he bends peoples wills. He simply sees himself as superior. In fact Jessica is the only known case of someone resisting his control. This have made him obsessed with her and the length he goes to in order to play mind-games with her is downright scary. At the same time he is at the core just a very broken and scared man. Afraid to be left alone and forgotten. Like Kingpin his motivations are clear as a character and they are maybe not relatable but at least they are things we can understand. These are the same traits I think made Loki such a good villain, we can all understand rejection and obsession. The seeking of approval and that is what makes it so effective when Kilgrave goes to such extreme lengths, because we all have at one time or another wished we had that very power to bend others to our will.

So I say go watch Jessica Jones and Daredevil on Netflix. It will be worth a month´s subscription. (also if you do, check out Orange is the new Black. A very good series in its own right.) 

The house of El. Supergirl episode 1-9 in review

So the not-superman show that is made by partially the same people that are doing the not-batman show have just come back from its mid-season break and I feel this is a great time to talk a bit about how Superman´s  cousin fair this time around.

Now do note that there will be  spoilers … So if you have not seen the show you have been warned.

The show start us off with a Kara Zor-El hiding her powers trying to fit in, working as the assistant to Cat Grant, as self-made media mogul and “queen of the media”. We quickly get the sory of how Kara was chosen to look over the baby cousin Kal El on earth she is blasted in to the phantom zone and well… arrives a bit late. She is placed with the Danvers family and spends most of her time as a regular person.. as far as one can with near godlike powers. Soon hi-jinx ensues as Kara´s sister is in mortal danger and she have her call to action. She is introduced to a transplanted Jimmy Olsen who we later learn is there on Superman´s behalf to keep an eye on her. We also meet Winn Schott Jr The office tech expert and “nice guy”. We get a really funny montage of her making her costume and then the show sort of goes in to a trifecta of clumsy hi-jinx, workplace comedy and monster of the week. We are also introduced to Alex Danvers, Kara´s sister and secret agent for the government’s alien protection/observation/neutralization unit DEO. A lot of weird things happens and we get the feeling that not everything is as it appears. Now as if the plot was not complex as it is we meet Mex Lord´s. A inventor and xenophobe without a moral compass. The first half of the season was slow and a bit unsure of itself.

Ok last chance… now we go in to real spoilers…

The show wrapped up with some really big hitters… We got introduced to T.O Morrow and Red Tornado in his pre-hero role of angry android and we get a big slew of backstory and super people punching each other in the form of Astra In-Ze the sister to Kara´s mother Alura. A Kryptonian eco-terrorist. And as if this was not enough the show finally revealed that the head of the DEO is no other than the Martian Manhunter. This had been hinted at for a few episodes but it is really going to be interesting to see what one of DC´s real powerhouses as far as well.. power… will do one the current story arc plays out. (for those unaware of the Martian Manhunters powers they include.. Telepathy, flight, shapeshifting, density shifting, super strength and  rapid healing. But he ls pyrophobic.) Now if episode 9 is anything to go by we will soon see another classic Supergirl enemy/allied  Powergirl. A sometimes clone of Supergirl that in the comics and other media tend to be under some kind of brainwashing. This time around she will most likely be. It is that or Bizzaro Supergirl  (Bizzaro is another sometimes clone of superman that looks like a zombie and speaks in opposites as happy meaning angry or sad and friend meaning enemy  and so on… ) or maybe a fuzion of both the characters. It is also going to be interesting to see how Winn will develop seeing how he is the son of DC´s Toyman a very twisted tech genius. It does explain though how Winn is not just a tech expert but almost supernaturally good with tech. I´d love to see him throw down against Felicity. =)

For me this show does share some traits with Marvels Agents of shield that its first season so far is all over the place and have some pacing problems but it does have much more interesting characters 

Running Wild

This is the second in a series of posts that will happen in rapid succession before i settle back in to a more regular posting pattern. I hope you enjoy.

Today we will talk about a subject near and dear to me, namely the Crew. Back in November the game got it´s first major content injections with the Wild Run expansion. With this came three so called extreme specs in the form of Drag, Drift and Monster truck. It also featured a new event called the Summit. This is a set of PvP and PvE challenges themed around things such as a place on the map, a car brand or a nationality. The idea is to compete on a server wide leaderboard and win parts, extreme car kits crew credits or exclusive cars. It is set up in such a way that there are a series of qualifying events throughout the month leading up to each summit. Score at least an overall bronze medal in three qualifiers and you get to enter the summit. This is not hard any anyone one want to can get their medals.

The event has a set list of game modes but the tracks change from event to event. But there will always be one event each for the new extreme specs and two time attack races.  One is open to any car of the corresponding spec and the other is locked to a specific brand of car or bike. Yes bikes have come to the Crew and they use the regular specs such a street or dirt. Each event also have a crew and a regular PvP event. And don´t worry if you do not have a garage rivaling Jay Leno, the game lends you a car for any event that you lack a car for and the PvP event put all players in equally good cars to make things even.

So all in all the Wild Run have given the Crew players something to do once they reach max level. It is still the same game but now at least there is that element of competition that the old PvP system did not deliver. They have also made it easier to connect to a PvP game, something I complained about in my original review.

But all is not sunshine and puppies, a fair number of players who bought the gold edition or the season pass felt that the Wild Run expansion should have been included in the season pass and that the fact that there is now content locked behind a paywall is something unsightly in this day and age. There has also been complaints that the bikes and the drag spec make the game pay to win since a good player can use these to gain an advantage in some races(bikes) and decimate some skills challenges (drag and bike). While this does have merit there is no actual reward beyond recognition topping these things. The final thing that get under peoples skin is the ever current presence of cheaters, previously easy to avoid and with very little impact in the game at large. The new addition of a competitive leaderboard in combination with actual prices for to top players have had them coming out of the woodwork. Ubisoft claims to be working on the issue but only time will tell. For most people the impact is minimal and only the very top percent will ever really run the risk of losing anything from these “players”.

So to cap things off the Wild Run have injected a much needed purpose in to the Crew and with the promise of more varied qualifier tracks and challenges in combination with the continued effort to introduce more cars and ways to customize them the future looks really bright for this game. 

Elementary he said… Sherlock and the abominable bride (spoiler free)

When viewing BBC´s Sherlock one always have to go in with the mindset of enjoying a rare but small bit of bit of confection This modern adaptation of A.C Doyle´s master detective is in many ways one of a kind. Now with that said I do start to wonder if it has not begun to become a tad bit long in the tooth. This episode take place directly after the end of the last season. The season ended with Sherlock putting a permanent end to a particular problem. As a result he was placed on a plane heading for banishment. Only to be recalled about five minutes in as an old foe shows it´s face again. After a quick recap it then sends us off with a nice “what if” scenario set in the 1800´s

The episode is set in the time of the original Sherlock Holmes, as such it takes place in London in the late 1800´s. Holmes and Watson are tasked to solve a very strange murder and we quickly find out that the game is… as it should.. afoot.

The episode plays freely with the classic Holmes tropes and I have to say that I got a tiny thrill form seeing Cumberbatch don the classic outfit. Freeman also fit very well in with the look of the time, complete with mustache and bowler. In fact I think that Watson is the character they have the most fun with out of the main cast. Giving him a bit more attitude and letting him spar much more with Sherlock. Especially as things take the predictable but enjoyable turns, as in you know there will be some twists and turns not that it was a predictable episode. In fact it hits you from left field more than once. The episode does also visit the somewhat darker sides of Sherlock in a very clever way.

The cast and crew as usual is top notch and this time we also add a layer of set and costumes that also feel spot on, even if I have t admit that I am but a novice when it comes to fashion and architecture from the 1800´s. Now a very real problem is that both of the main cast is getting and more big roles and it is kind of unclear as for how long this will be a thing. Now thanks to how compact the show is I guess it would be easier to fit shooting in between other work and it is not like thay have had a regular schedule to begin with. But this would in my mind work very well as a last episode. A nice way to round off a very good series. And that is in a way what ties in to my earlier comment about it getting abit long in the tooth. Some of the luster is in fact gone. And I am in way curious to see where they will take this as they are moving beyond the classic stories and seeking new lands. Now they have not used all the stories but most of the big ones have in one way or another been referenced.

But either way it is still a very enjoyable watch and I highly recommend it to anyone that is a fan of the series or just well produced television in general. 

And so i return to my old haunt.

After a year long sojourn i will pick my posting back up here. There will be some slight changes in posting schedule and content. For an example Loot Crate is out and i am not sure what to replace that unboxing section with but i am sure i will come up with something. I will also make a recap of all the Dr Who stuff that has been going on since i left off as well as Arrow and Flash this will lead in to covering the Flarrows of Tomorrow as they pick back up on the 19-21 of January. Not entirely sure how i will structure it but again i´l work something out.

Beyond that it will be the usual slew of rant´s reviews and general musings that i have grown fond of producing.

check back later today for my take on the long awaited Sherlock winter special.


Until then, take care and be safe.

Agent Carter, a good start. (Spoilers… Duh.)

(and the promised content update.. in the nick of time as usual.)


So Marvel´s next TV series has hit the airwaves and this time we connect with future Alzheimer’s patient and founder of S.H.E.I.L.D agent Peggy Carter. For the full backstory on Peggy Carter in the MCU you have to watch the first Captain America movie. But the long of the short is that she is a British agent attached to the super soldier experiment and later Captain America. Now this series is basically a tall mini-series with 8 episodes and the opening act being a double feature leaves us with six episodes to go.

The Cast
Hayley Atwell is Agent Peggy Carter. Reprising her role from the Cap am movie and marvel one-shot feature Agent Carter is portrayed as a proactive but somewhat naïve junior agent at the Strategic Science Reserve (SSR) a covert department dealing with the fallout of Nazi super science and other oddities. To the world around she is just a switch-board operator.

James D’Arcy is Edvin Jarvis. Jarvis is Howard Starks butler and… well… go to guy it seems as he has Howards full trust and confidence. He is new for this series even if his character is a nod back to the comic-books as Tony Stark used to have a butler before that became “obsolete”. He is also supposedly the inspiration for Tonys A.I. He is a very loving and caring family man who has a strong sense of duty.

Dominic Cooper is Howard Stark. Returning for some more fondue as well as being the main plot point in this series Howard does not get that much screen time and in essence just provide the McGuffin of the day as his super-secret vault of bad stuff was raided, for those familiar with Iron Man comics it is pretty much the armor wars storyline. Still Dominic does a good job as Howard and pull off the loveable douche character well.

Chad Michael Murray is Jack Thompson. This is your average alpha male with a chip on his shoulder. Jack is a war veteran and see the SSR as a way to get up in life. Not much else Is known about him but he bears some resemblance to Eugene “Flash” Thompson of the spider-verse and could very well be said characters future father. Not that the subject will ever be explored due to licenses. =) Any way not much else to say. If you make it through even the first episode without wanting to toss a brick at him you are a better human being then me.

Enver Gjokaj is Daniel Sousa. Another original characters and filling the role of confidant within the SSR. Sousa have a defunct leg and thus preventing him from being an active field agent. Sousa is a desk jockey and take some flak for not being a “real” agent. He seems to have some interest in Carter but feel that he might have a hard time living up to her former fling… Not much else to say about him yet.

Apart from these main players a bevy of secondary characters flash by, the most noteworthy being Anton Vanko.

I am not going to spoil the exact details plot per se but as I mentioned the driving force of the show is someone stealing a bunch of Howard Starks “bad babies” inventions that are too dangerous to let regular people… not to mention military scientists handle them. Howard himself is in a bit of a pickle and it is up to Agent Carter to find the items and untangle the mess Mr. Stark has created. To aid her and keep tabs on her Howard assigns Jarvis as Peggy´s driver/assistant… From there we get a fairly standard procedural drama with a McGuffin… In this case an explosive. But it is still well written and well-acted with set designs and music being very fitting for the era it takes place in, at least to someone who did not live in it. The show does lean a bit heavy on the “convenience” card as things very often just fall in to place for Peggy but at the same time they need to keep the run time of each episode down so it is forgivable. It is also a show with the roots in super hero comics… So one could say they are staying true to the source. Agent Carter did surprise me by being better than I expected but if it simple becomes an “X of the week” show I will be very disappointed. I will do a summary once the show has concluded and give my final thoughts, but for now I say give it a shot. If not for the banter between Carter and Jarvis.

Agent Carter is the first of the new lineup of Marvel series followed by DareDevil in April on Netflix as well as the next season of AoS 2015 is looking to be the definitive Year of Marvel.

War.. War never changes...

But the Soapbox does.

Going forward the soapbox will be part of a new co-operative webspace called Your Gaming Couch. It is still under development but feel free to head over and check it out
@ http://yourgamingcouch.com

Cheers. =)