Speaker 1: Worrying.
Speaker 2: Today's episode contains spoilers for Marvel's third season of its
Speaker 2: animated what If television program on Disney Plus End and
Speaker 2: the fourth episode of the getting increasingly Better Creature Commandos
Speaker 2: HBO and Max You're one. Hello, my name is Jase
Speaker 2: Kencepcion and I'm Rosday Night, and welcome back. Xtra Vision,
Speaker 2: the podcast where we divey bit de your favorite Joe's movies,
Speaker 2: collably some pop culture coming to you from my Heart
Speaker 2: podcast where We'll be you three episodes a week, every
Speaker 2: Tuesday Thursday, with an extra episode every Wednesday.
Speaker 3: In today's episode, we are giving you a reactions to
Speaker 3: what If Season three of the final.
Speaker 4: Season of what If. What If Marvel.
Speaker 3: Made a good cartoon again, I don't know, let's talk
Speaker 3: about it, and we will also be looking at how
Speaker 3: it compares to some of the great animation that we've
Speaker 3: gotten this year, including Creek Commandos, which is getting very good.
Speaker 2: It's getting really good. Okay, first year luck Okay, what If?
Speaker 2: Season three? Let's first just run through the what ifs.
Speaker 2: Episode one is a universe in which Bruce Banner and
Speaker 2: Sam have a relationship that's very similar to Tony and Banner.
Speaker 2: In the MCU main universe, Banner accidentally creates these like
Speaker 2: super Gamma monsters that are like Kaiju's essentially. He then
Speaker 2: goes into hiding. The Avengers have to create giant mech
Speaker 2: suits to deal with the monsters. Many of them die
Speaker 2: in the fight, but they do win, but then the
Speaker 2: monster is re emerged and Banner has to turn himself
Speaker 2: into a Kaiju to deal with them, and then.
Speaker 4: Make like a Kaiju park.
Speaker 2: He makes like a monster like a hulk Monster Island
Speaker 2: where he hangs out with all his little cute little Kaiju.
Speaker 3: Banner's Jurassic Park. Yeah, interesting as well. It's Sam Monica, Rambo,
Speaker 3: shang Chi, Moonnight, Bucky, Red Guardian, Shuri.
Speaker 4: So I'm like, this feels like it.
Speaker 3: Is supposed to be the Phase four Avengers team that
Speaker 3: we were kind of meant to get, you know.
Speaker 2: They seem like that.
Speaker 3: It feels like they're throwing back to that and bringing
Speaker 3: back a lot of old characters.
Speaker 2: Episode two it is Hollywood's Golden eras. I think it's
Speaker 2: like forties fifties. I don't think they ever say the year,
Speaker 2: but it feels like the four. It feels like the
Speaker 2: usby Berkeley era, like classic Hollywood. Agatha is a movie star.
Speaker 2: Kingo also a movie star. She's there Agatha in order
Speaker 2: to like a fight the Eternals does this like massive
Speaker 2: spell using the Hollywood set and all the extras and dancers.
Speaker 4: She wants to like steal the celestial's power.
Speaker 2: To create this entire like huge magic ritual using the
Speaker 2: infrastructure of Hollywood, and at the end, King Go manages
Speaker 2: to convince her that actually movies are better than magic
Speaker 2: and we can do good. Okay. While yeah, episode three,
Speaker 2: it's a Red Guardian Winter Soldier to Hander. They are
Speaker 2: sent by the Red Room to America in order to
Speaker 2: you know, assassinate the Starks. But it goes sideways and
Speaker 2: then you know, Bucky and the Red Guardian like grow
Speaker 2: in terms of their friendship together. But then at the
Speaker 2: end of it, Bucky's recaptured in his mind is wiped
Speaker 2: and he doesn't like remember any of it, and Red
Speaker 2: Guardian just becomes like a Jimmy teacher in the US.
Speaker 3: I will say, I think of all the episodes from
Speaker 3: this season, this is the one that is most akin
Speaker 3: to what the comics do.
Speaker 4: I was going through a bunch of old what if Comics.
Speaker 3: Yesterday, and they had a like what if Rick Jones
Speaker 3: died before he could help in the cree Scroll War
Speaker 3: or something? And I was like, oh, okay, what if
Speaker 3: Red Guardian stopped the Winter Soldier?
Speaker 4: Is actually like an interesting.
Speaker 2: Let's discuss because I think that there is an important
Speaker 2: conversation about this show to be hack yes Episode four, Uh,
Speaker 2: what if Howard the Duck got hitched at a party
Speaker 2: thrown by Thor Darcy His friend Darcy, Our friend Darcy
Speaker 2: meets Howard the Duck, They get.
Speaker 4: Married, They have a egg baby.
Speaker 2: An unhatched egg that becomes like super valuable and gets
Speaker 2: stolen and all this stuff happened.
Speaker 4: Grandmasters to eat the egg.
Speaker 2: The grand a lot of people for a lot of
Speaker 2: different reasons. Dark elves are there anyway, the baby egg
Speaker 2: has powers itself and then everything turns out.
Speaker 3: Great, and the baby egg is played by Natasha Leone.
Speaker 4: But he is who.
Speaker 2: Who is spoiler alert is the very tangential like extremely
Speaker 2: extremely deep deep deep deep deep deep cut Marvel mutant
Speaker 2: character Birdie. Episode five, What if Emersions destroyed the earth?
Speaker 2: Quenton Beck leads the Iron Legion and this is an
Speaker 2: apocalyptic future in which basically Ai and Tech takes over
Speaker 2: the Earth. In this future and versions of this future
Speaker 2: Rearave Williams always stands alone like trying to resist. She
Speaker 2: does resist, and then eventually she does defeat uh Quentin
Speaker 2: Beck aka Mysterio, who was like had become like the
Speaker 2: Singularity and it's like it had nanoparticles that he'd used
Speaker 2: to take over the universe and.
Speaker 4: He has the Iron Legion and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And in this asrary Williams is like on the
Speaker 2: cusp of defeat. Huatu is like kind of puts his
Speaker 2: finger on the scale very slightly, but puts his finger
Speaker 2: on the scale, and the other Watchers are like, oh shit,
Speaker 2: we're gonna have to put in an HR complaint against Watch.
Speaker 3: Is the most interfering of all the Watches, Like he
Speaker 3: does this ship all the time.
Speaker 4: Guys, you should.
Speaker 2: His whole wad is like, well, you know, I guess
Speaker 2: I'm gonna have to get involved this time. Episode six
Speaker 2: is a Western Shang Chi and Kate Bishop in an
Speaker 2: Old West universe. They beat up John Walker to get
Speaker 2: information about the Hood, and the Hood is revealed to
Speaker 2: be Uh sham Chi's sister Jusai Ling.
Speaker 1: Yeah, who they.
Speaker 3: Thought she was kidnapped, but actually she is the Hood.
Speaker 3: Very yeah, very classic noir twist of them that Kate
Speaker 3: Bishop and Chang Chi in the West. I think we're
Speaker 3: going to talk more about these concepts as we go forward.
Speaker 2: Episode seven, What if the Watcher disappeared? Zandar home of
Speaker 2: the Novacore is being attacked by a giant monster squid.
Speaker 2: We see that various members of the Guardians are in
Speaker 2: the Novacore Nebulaus nover Prime. Captain Carter arrives with her
Speaker 2: own team around her. Bertie the duck now hatched and
Speaker 2: grown to adulthood.
Speaker 4: Kahori, who was introduced in season two, was.
Speaker 2: Introduced in season two, who you know, has like the
Speaker 2: cosmic power, natural hours of the universe and storm Thor
Speaker 2: and they save the day, but then they realize that
Speaker 2: the Watcher is gone and they have to figure out
Speaker 2: what's going on. Captain Carter goes off on her own
Speaker 2: to get Ultron to help them with this mission. Bertie
Speaker 2: realizes that happened, and then they all go into the
Speaker 2: fifth dimension to try and fight this thing. That leads
Speaker 2: us to episode eight, in which that group Captain Carter's team,
Speaker 2: Bertie the Duck Stormthoor Ghori all become watchers themselves, take
Speaker 2: the powers of the watchers to fight three other watchers
Speaker 2: who are trying to basically execute Uatu for HR violations
Speaker 2: against Watcher Incorporated.
Speaker 4: And I'm not gonna lie. They are not wrong.
Speaker 3: He is the HR violate thought like, I'm not saying
Speaker 3: it is upstate execute.
Speaker 1: Just keep getting involved.
Speaker 3: That man should be called the interferer instead of the watcher.
Speaker 2: Like just don't do it, don't listen, just don't become
Speaker 2: a watcher if you don't. But Okay, be that as
Speaker 2: it may, but be that as it may.
Speaker 4: We have to critics, but be that as it may.
Speaker 2: Let's go to a regular come back and discuss the season,
Speaker 2: and we're back.
Speaker 4: We're back.
Speaker 2: First, what's your favorite of these episodes? You pick yours
Speaker 2: and I'll pick mine, and then let's talk about this
Speaker 2: this season as a whole.
Speaker 3: I like that if I'm just going by like vibes,
Speaker 3: I do think that the Western episode is like cool.
Speaker 4: Like did it need to be made?
Speaker 3: No?
Speaker 4: But like shan Chi Kate Bishop, that was kind of fun.
Speaker 4: I can't.
Speaker 3: I know, I'm not trying to be a downer, but
Speaker 3: I do kind of find it hard to like pick
Speaker 3: a favorite episode because I don't necessarily.
Speaker 4: Know that the show.
Speaker 3: Is delivering for me on the potential of what a
Speaker 3: what If can be. I think there are fun moments,
Speaker 3: but it definitely feels more like kind of like, hey,
Speaker 3: look all these characters are back. Like it doesn't necessarily
Speaker 3: have like the I do think the first season of
Speaker 3: what If had a lot of narrative theft, and that
Speaker 3: weekly released schedule meant that we were having conversations about it.
Speaker 3: I did find the what If hulk for the Mechavengers
Speaker 3: funny because this was obviously an idea they had for
Speaker 3: a long time, because a couple of years ago they
Speaker 3: did like a toy line called Mech Strike, and it
Speaker 3: was like all these different characters as mechs. So yeah,
Speaker 3: I think probably I'll go for what if Red Guardian
Speaker 3: stopped the Winter Soldier, just because I think that's the
Speaker 3: one that's most like a what if comic.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that is also mine. And here is I agree
Speaker 2: with your critiques of this season very similar to my critiques.
Speaker 2: I think the way I feel about season two and
Speaker 2: season three, and I you know, this is fine. I
Speaker 2: think the animation is good, I think that the everything
Speaker 2: is uh, you know, it's interesting to talk about and
Speaker 2: think about these like alternate dimensions. That said, I think,
Speaker 2: to me, here's the problem for me. What I think
Speaker 2: what if should be and I think you're right is
Speaker 2: to me, the best version of what if execution is
Speaker 2: you take a moment from the MCU and you treat
Speaker 2: it as a sliding doors moment, stop the winter soldier
Speaker 2: from killing the Starks. You know, you could pick a
Speaker 2: million of these. What if Captain America died on a
Speaker 2: mission in World War Two? What if Howard Stark was
Speaker 2: a Nazi spy? What you could pick them?
Speaker 4: There's a million of these.
Speaker 2: And I think doing that gives an anchor point to
Speaker 2: a story like and makes it not just like a hey,
Speaker 2: let's come up with a crazy scenario, yeah, fun like
Speaker 2: and make it mean something, make it uh huh.
Speaker 4: If you do it.
Speaker 2: Where something from the MCU is a sliding doors moment,
Speaker 2: then you add some heft to the MCU storyline because
Speaker 2: you're saying, like, look, how things could have gone? What if?
Speaker 2: What if?
Speaker 1: What if?
Speaker 2: Thanos won like that's a.
Speaker 3: Really exactly the fact that they even like, I think
Speaker 3: something that proves the misunderstanding of this version of what if?
Speaker 3: In my opinion is like one of the things that
Speaker 3: people were most excited about is like Storm as Thor,
Speaker 3: which comes actually from a what if story. What if
Speaker 3: Storm was the goddess of thunder? You know, that could
Speaker 3: have just been its whole own episode. I just want
Speaker 3: to know about how Storm got the hammer. I want
Speaker 3: to know how that in itself. I think sometimes the
Speaker 3: simplicity of the what if is where it's kind of
Speaker 3: joy comes from. And I think you're right, like what
Speaker 3: if Howard Start could help the Red Skull or whatever
Speaker 3: versions you want to do, like, and I do think
Speaker 3: that you're right.
Speaker 4: Hilariously, when I was in London with my nephew, he.
Speaker 3: Was watching a lot of YouTube shorts and a lot
Speaker 3: of the critiques that people were giving before the show
Speaker 3: came out was like, here's five MCU.
Speaker 4: Moments I would want to see turned into a what if?
Speaker 3: And I have to say, I was like, actually, these
Speaker 3: are really smart, Like it was just simple moment, you know,
Speaker 3: what about if you did one where it was like
Speaker 3: what if Colson never got killed?
Speaker 1: This is great?
Speaker 2: And here's the other thing. And part of this is
Speaker 2: like listen, I just I've been playing more of a rival,
Speaker 2: so like in a lot of downtime as getting over
Speaker 2: a cold. I'm still kind of getting over it. I've
Speaker 2: been watching a lot of rewatching a lot of mcu stuff,
Speaker 2: And you know, there's that famous line where Doctor Strangers like,
Speaker 2: there's fourteen million different scenarios. This is the only when
Speaker 2: we went in why and here's and so here based
Speaker 2: off that. Here's another of my critiques. Why do all
Speaker 2: of these end in happy endings? Yeah, there should be
Speaker 2: several ones where it just turns out worse people die.
Speaker 2: It's tragic. That would add some real heft to this
Speaker 2: story if you see how the heroes could feel, how
Speaker 2: actually in the in the MC universe that we're aware of,
Speaker 2: the heroes succeeded, and how rare that is and how
Speaker 2: and how valuable that is. It's it was really strange
Speaker 2: to me that in every single one of these what ifs,
Speaker 2: things turned out Okay, I think that's not I think
Speaker 2: that's I don't think it should be like that.
Speaker 3: When you think about the first season and four if
Speaker 3: and that fourth episode which we you know, everyone talks
Speaker 3: about a lot, the Doctor Strange episode that was like
Speaker 3: a tragic episode, and it's the episode everyone still thinks about.
Speaker 4: And you know, we were.
Speaker 3: Talking about this, we were texting each other about this.
Speaker 3: But I do think as well, like I do think
Speaker 3: the relevance of this show for MCU fans did wane
Speaker 3: once they chose not to use that version of Strange
Speaker 3: in Multiverse of Madness and instead created like a different
Speaker 3: evil Strange.
Speaker 4: I was like, Okay, I feel like you're saying that
Speaker 4: you don't think this show matters, and I do.
Speaker 2: I think the release, I think the release cadence tells
Speaker 2: us that, you know, eight eight episodes in eight days,
Speaker 2: feels like they're kind of just dumping it on us.
Speaker 2: My senses, they probably had a lot of these vocal performances,
Speaker 2: if not the majority in the can five years ago,
Speaker 2: and they're just like, Okay, let's get this out and
Speaker 2: then move on from it. Not that and again not
Speaker 2: that it isn't.
Speaker 4: Good, it's like it's so fun. But yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 3: I think this comes from that is the leftover of
Speaker 3: the era where they were like, the MCU is the
Speaker 3: biggest thing in the world.
Speaker 4: We just got to keep them.
Speaker 3: They make But I'm like, guys, like, what if has
Speaker 3: so much potential, and I think what you could do
Speaker 3: is you could do. I think any one of these
Speaker 3: episodes would have been a good addition to like a
Speaker 3: more EMCU heavy what if, Like a random episode like
Speaker 3: Howard Duck and Howard the Duck and Darcy have a baby,
Speaker 3: or like Shang Chi and Kate Bishop are in the West.
Speaker 3: That's cool, as like the Oh that was a weird episode.
Speaker 3: But to have a whole thing of just kind of
Speaker 3: like no impact, nothing mass. I don't necessarily think that
Speaker 3: it's gonna have the same impact as something like X
Speaker 3: Men ninety seven, which obviously, you know, we saw how
Speaker 3: fantastic and kind of brilliant show was, and also how
Speaker 3: it you know, controlled the conversation.
Speaker 4: They did weekly releases and people talked about it like
Speaker 4: it was a prestige TV show.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I think part of the reason we're being kind
Speaker 2: of tough on what If as we just got off
Speaker 2: covering our Cane, We just got off watching Blue Eyed
Speaker 2: Samurai x N ninety seven, and I just think the
Speaker 2: bar for animation is high, and while this is fine,
Speaker 2: it could have been really good. Here's my pitch for
Speaker 2: a tweak on season three. Yes, maybe makes it better
Speaker 2: I think you open with Uatu in chains before the
Speaker 2: three other watchers they're sitting in judgment of him, and
Speaker 2: then the season is basically a flashback to moments from
Speaker 2: these different what ifs where u Watu increasingly gets involved,
Speaker 2: and I think in there you have to have some
Speaker 2: it just goes really bad, like why would Uatu want
Speaker 2: to get involved? He'd want to get involved because we
Speaker 2: just watched maybe two episodes of this universe gets completely destroyed,
Speaker 2: shreds it down to the to the last atom, the
Speaker 2: hood reigns, Supreme whatever, it is, like something really tragical.
Speaker 2: Then you get to the Reary Williams one and then
Speaker 2: he's like, okay.
Speaker 4: I gotta do something on the scale, and.
Speaker 2: Then you increase it from there because to me, one
Speaker 2: of the things that a little bit of the strength
Speaker 2: of the show and not done enough is it's an
Speaker 2: anthology series, but there is a through line. The through
Speaker 2: line is a watchu Yeah, but that through line doesn't
Speaker 2: emerge until really episode six kind of, and then it
Speaker 2: needs to be there more. And this season should be
Speaker 2: a character art for him.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, And they did set that up in the
Speaker 3: first season too, they said their main character, so I
Speaker 3: also think like, and obviously this is gonna be hilarious
Speaker 3: coming from me, because I am everyone knows I love
Speaker 3: an Easter Egg.
Speaker 4: I love to catch an East Egg.
Speaker 3: And there's all kinds of outrageous samurai ghostwriter like you know,
Speaker 3: Dannos Wolverine, all these different kind of versions of Holka
Speaker 3: is the Sorcerer Supreme?
Speaker 4: Like yeah, bah. I also do feel that.
Speaker 3: This season feels a lot more like they were just
Speaker 3: kind of throwing stuff like that in to be like,
Speaker 3: look at these characters who are back, Like you, you
Speaker 3: don't know if you like the MCU right now, but
Speaker 3: look at all these characters. Look at this at Easter
Speaker 3: Egg here, look at the like characters. But they it
Speaker 3: doesn't feel like they're gonna lead to anything. It doesn't
Speaker 3: really feel like there's necessarily a payoff to the inclusions.
Speaker 3: Like I think that's what's tough, because you know the
Speaker 3: origins of Easter Eggs and the MCU, and the stuff
Speaker 3: that really makes people excited is like when Colson shows
Speaker 3: up and.
Speaker 4: Says the full name of Shield, or you know, when
Speaker 4: you get thors Hammer and people know what that means.
Speaker 3: Like I think that this feels a little bit like Flighty,
Speaker 3: and I appreciate every single person who worked on it,
Speaker 3: like I love it.
Speaker 4: This people's job.
Speaker 3: But also I have to say I do think post
Speaker 3: X Men ninety seven. And this is just because I'm
Speaker 3: in the mid thirties, you know, I have my taste.
Speaker 3: It was hard for me to enjoy this as much
Speaker 3: as the more classic two D animation that we have
Speaker 3: been getting, like with X Men ninety seven, or the
Speaker 3: kind of more inventive animation of Arcane that kind of
Speaker 3: like almost rotoscoped, like heavily cg look that this show has.
Speaker 3: It just isn't my favorite either, So I think it's
Speaker 3: easier for me to kind of feel less engaged.
Speaker 4: And I'm saying this, guys.
Speaker 3: There's a whole episode about the eternals, but it still
Speaker 3: didn't capture me. You know.
Speaker 2: Again, I think it's I do think it's fine, and
Speaker 2: some of the action scenes are very hanime, but it
Speaker 2: does also feel again, and some of this is just
Speaker 2: we just got done watching Hurricane. We just got done
Speaker 2: watch it xtra days Ozo, we just got don't watch it,
Speaker 2: believe it the Samurai. It does feel a little no
Speaker 2: disrespect to anybody who worked very very hard on this
Speaker 2: show a little bland in comparison, and I think when
Speaker 2: you couple that with a storyline that feels like it
Speaker 2: kind of doesn't matter. Yeah it has, it doesn't have
Speaker 2: the impact that I kind of wish it had.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I agree.
Speaker 1: We'll be right back after a quick break.
Speaker 2: And we're back.
Speaker 3: Let me ask you then, Okay, So like, because it's
Speaker 3: also been an unbelievable year for anime.
Speaker 4: Dand Dan just finished which was unbelievable. There's been so
Speaker 4: many great shows.
Speaker 3: Let's talk about before we end this little animation start
Speaker 3: to the new year, Let's talk about Creature Commandos. Because
Speaker 3: we went enjoying Cat but the fourth episode, which when
Speaker 3: we are recording this was the newest episode.
Speaker 4: There will be more. We know.
Speaker 3: We haven't talked about it for a while, but we'll
Speaker 3: be checking in again. That compared to What If, which,
Speaker 3: like you said, very funny, very kind of like light.
Speaker 3: Not a lot of impact going on here in this show.
Speaker 3: It's kind of more just like a few running jokes
Speaker 3: and some outrageous episodes.
Speaker 4: Creature Kimanos episode.
Speaker 3: Four is the opposite, and we finally get some of
Speaker 3: that heartbreaking gun melancholia, and I think it really like
Speaker 3: upped the anti and the impact of the season so far.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the show is really over two episodes. The first
Speaker 2: two I was like, okay.
Speaker 1: This is we get it.
Speaker 2: It's it's episode three about the same episode four. I'm like, okay, wait,
Speaker 2: hold on, this show is getting very very interesting. So
Speaker 2: we open uh every episode and I really love this dynamic.
Speaker 2: Every episode has been as doubled as one. An opportunity
Speaker 2: to move the main plotforward, which is what's going on
Speaker 2: with Circe.
Speaker 4: And why Amanda Walla is after her yeah.
Speaker 2: In this alliance with the Sons of Themyscira, and an
Speaker 2: opportunity to also delve into, you know, the story of
Speaker 2: one of the creature commanders, and this one it is Weasel.
Speaker 2: We learned from episode three that Weasel is stands accused
Speaker 2: and has, indeed, I believe, been convicted of the murders
Speaker 2: of like twenty seventy Yeah.
Speaker 3: In the in and that was first introduced in the
Speaker 3: opening of James Gunn a suicide squad movie, where they
Speaker 3: kind of casually mentioned like, oh he's like is he
Speaker 3: a were wolf? Like, oh no, he's just this guy
Speaker 3: who killed twenty seven kids. So the idea is that's
Speaker 3: why he's in jail. That's how he ended up on
Speaker 3: the suicide squad. But we learn him through like a
Speaker 3: series of really bleak and heartbrending Flashbar really said the reality.
Speaker 4: Of what actually.
Speaker 2: Happened, So it's a tragic misunderstanding. Weasel was kind of
Speaker 2: lurking in the bushes near a school and he befriends
Speaker 2: the school children who then a while playing with Weasel
Speaker 2: and everything is wonderful. They go into the school to
Speaker 2: kind of cause a little like light juvenile vandalism. They
Speaker 2: accidentally set the school on fire. While that is happening.
Speaker 2: An adult who witnessed the kids go into the school
Speaker 2: with Weasel believes that they like he's like a dangerous
Speaker 2: werewolf for some kind of like magical evil animal rabbit
Speaker 2: he basically and he basically calls the cops and then
Speaker 2: starts opening fire on him, and the cops eventually arrive
Speaker 2: in the arrest Weasel. And this is after the deaths
Speaker 2: of many of the children.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but we also learn eight of them died in
Speaker 3: the fire, so even the twenty seven number is not correct.
Speaker 4: But yeah, I thought this was so good.
Speaker 3: This was actually exactly what this show had been missing,
Speaker 3: because I think the stuff that gun does best is
Speaker 3: why is this person perceived as a monster?
Speaker 4: What happened to make them monstrous?
Speaker 3: And is it actually something they did or is it
Speaker 3: the way that they are seen by others?
Speaker 4: And I thought this was really great. I love that
Speaker 4: it adds this.
Speaker 3: Kind of tragic element to Weasel, which we're all going
Speaker 3: to see throughout the series. I'm feeling, especially as we
Speaker 3: go on, that each of the characters have that tragic
Speaker 3: concept of monstrosity he kind of thrust upon them.
Speaker 2: I love. You know, Gunn is the patron saint of
Speaker 2: weirdos and outcasts, and he he displays that so well.
Speaker 2: Here we understand Weasel's backstory because of his lawyer, who
Speaker 2: you know, basically shows up at Belle Reeve to give
Speaker 2: the Creature commandos and Waller shit for their mistreatment of
Speaker 2: her client. Also at Belle Reeve is Circe, who has
Speaker 2: been captured after the battle in Pecola Stan. There's some
Speaker 2: interesting there's some real problems now because Circe is claiming
Speaker 2: that what she was doing was trying to save the world.
Speaker 2: Why is this problem because all the scientists and people
Speaker 2: who have studied Circe at Bell even elsewhere agree that
Speaker 2: she's legitimately able to predict the future with basically one
Speaker 2: hundred percent accuracy. She's very prophetic and if she's saying
Speaker 2: that this, they have to take it seriously. Waller goes
Speaker 2: in and allows Circe to project her vision of the
Speaker 2: future what she's seen into her mind, and what she's
Speaker 2: seen is the princess who flagged Junior has been fucking
Speaker 2: and is incurrent, and who everybody thought was just like
Speaker 2: a very sexually adventurous but innocent, promising, promising and promising
Speaker 2: future leader of Pecolistan is in fact a budding authoritarian
Speaker 2: world dictator in waiting who is biding her time until
Speaker 2: she can invade and you know America destroy the with
Speaker 2: and uh you know, impaled just this league on spikes,
Speaker 2: and not only is she planning to do this, she
Speaker 2: is going to fucking win.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: And when Waller sees this, it shakes her. She's like,
Speaker 2: oh no. She tells Flag, listen, we got to send
Speaker 2: the commandos back to polost and we have to take
Speaker 2: the princess into custody and or just take her out,
Speaker 2: like kill her whatever. So Flag is like, wait a second, wait,
Speaker 2: not the princess.
Speaker 4: That's my goal.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, she would ever have what? So Flag
Speaker 2: now it begins secretly plotting against the commandos and Waller
Speaker 2: because he believes the princesses in this and this is crazy,
Speaker 2: how can we do this? And he allives with none
Speaker 2: other than Eric Frankenstein, who of course is completely obsessed
Speaker 2: in a very very toxic and dangerous way with the bride.
Speaker 2: And we actually watched this play out several times as
Speaker 2: he like kills several soldiers who he believes are like
Speaker 2: mocking his feelings over the bride, and then he at
Speaker 2: one point almost kills Flag because he believes that the
Speaker 2: bride is in love.
Speaker 4: With Frag Yeah, not the princess. Yeah.
Speaker 2: So this sets up in our coming episode is a
Speaker 2: conflict between Flag and the rest of the creature come and.
Speaker 3: Waller and Flag and they kind of team up between
Speaker 3: Flag and Frankenstein.
Speaker 4: And I would also, oh sorry, Eric, I would also say.
Speaker 3: As well, I do I do think that this is
Speaker 3: the magic spice that James Gunn has that in comparison
Speaker 3: to What If three, which, by the way, Marvel could
Speaker 3: have this spice because they are made by the same studios.
Speaker 3: What James Gunn does in this episode is he's like, yeah,
Speaker 3: you know those like big characters the Superman trailer you
Speaker 3: just watched and everything.
Speaker 4: Guess what I'm.
Speaker 3: Gonna do a future where they're all dead and you're
Speaker 3: gonna feel like, oh shit, this is actually those characters.
Speaker 3: Like if we don't stop this thing in the animated series.
Speaker 4: It could impact the real DC universe.
Speaker 3: Yes, And I think that that is added by having
Speaker 3: you know, John Economos show up in this episode. Another
Speaker 3: connection to live action obviously, we have Viola Davis legend
Speaker 3: as Amanda Waller as that anchor. So I feel like
Speaker 3: they make you feel like, oh, this is happening, We're
Speaker 3: just watching it from a different angle.
Speaker 4: And I feel like that is what was missing in three.
Speaker 4: And also, I mean this is just such an unbelievable cast.
Speaker 3: Like Linda CARDLINI shows up, love her obviously, Like we
Speaker 3: get Stephanie Beetris like.
Speaker 4: From Brooklyn nine nine.
Speaker 3: She's playing I think, like a Gotham Academy character, which
Speaker 3: I love because I love that comic Isla Macpherson. There's
Speaker 3: just so many great moments in this episode where I
Speaker 3: was like, Okay, you know what, I take back some
Speaker 3: of my sassier opinions about the first couple of episodes
Speaker 3: because it was fun, it was a little bit light,
Speaker 3: it was a little bit saucy, like it was a
Speaker 3: little bit at G But by four I'm like, okay.
Speaker 2: It's now, it's hitting its stride, and I love that
Speaker 2: it's spent. The first two episodes is basically a fake
Speaker 2: out of what the show was going.
Speaker 4: To be and.
Speaker 2: What it was going to be about. It seemed like
Speaker 2: it was going to be an extremely straightforward show. You
Speaker 2: know about this team of misfits that get sent into
Speaker 2: an impossible mission to do a thing, and it goes sideways,
Speaker 2: but you expect they eventually win. Now it turns out
Speaker 2: that hold On, the bad guy is the good guy.
Speaker 4: The good guy.
Speaker 2: Doesn't believe that the princess is now a bad guy,
Speaker 2: and you've got all these wonderful, really juicy conflicts brewing,
Speaker 2: and man, the show is really good.
Speaker 3: And also, Weasel, the most monstrous character, is actually probably
Speaker 3: the only.
Speaker 4: One who's professional gun.
Speaker 3: Yeah, not a professional killer, and it's probably going to
Speaker 3: be like a save the Day type character.
Speaker 2: Which is absolute, classic, classic, classic gun. Great show, and
Speaker 2: I think you're exactly right underlines what we feel is
Speaker 2: missing from season three of What If. There's not enough heartbreak,
Speaker 2: not enough sadness to make the triumphal victories mean something,
Speaker 2: not enough tie back to the main MCU storyline to
Speaker 2: give us these contrasty different angle perspective moments of like
Speaker 2: these what If sliding door moments to make the main
Speaker 2: mc really feel like it matters more. And all those
Speaker 2: things are things that Creature Commandos right now is giving us.
Speaker 3: Yeah, great show, great show, and especially in a year
Speaker 3: like twenty twenty four when there has just been so
Speaker 3: much incredible animation.
Speaker 4: I mean, I haven't even talked about yet on this series,
Speaker 4: So this is gonna be my my.
Speaker 3: You might not have watched it yet animated offering now
Speaker 3: I will say it's only partially animated because it is
Speaker 3: a live action show with animated characters.
Speaker 4: But the Knuckle Show on Paramount Plus is so fun, Like.
Speaker 3: I cannot tell you even if you don't like those
Speaker 3: Sonic movies, however you feel about them.
Speaker 4: Idris Elbert has.
Speaker 3: Knuckles going on a Kingpin inspired bowling road trip with
Speaker 3: like a do Fust character called Wade Legit one of
Speaker 3: the funniest shows of the year. Like I wrote a
Speaker 3: lot about ign because I just thought it was so good.
Speaker 3: And there's even those elements that we have now of
Speaker 3: this kind of hybrid animation live action that are also
Speaker 3: offering up really cool stuff other things that we didn't
Speaker 3: even talk about Batman, Cape Crusader. It was so fun,
Speaker 3: so beautifully animated, Like it's been a great year. New
Speaker 3: Ninja Turtles obviously iconic, and I just think that, yeah,
Speaker 3: it's a little bit harder for Marvel to just be like,
Speaker 3: let's just make something when we like in the animation, Yeah,
Speaker 3: you know, renaissance essentially. And by the way, we're not
Speaker 3: even talking about some of the biggest animated shows in
Speaker 3: the world, like Rick and Morty, which have already taken
Speaker 3: a lot of the tropes and ideas that Marvel have
Speaker 3: had over the years in the comics and distilled them
Speaker 3: into a very popular reimagining and kind of reconsideration recontextualization
Speaker 3: for modern audiences. So then when Marvel's making something like
Speaker 3: what If or a Man Quantumania as we saw it
Speaker 3: feels derivative of Rick and Morty, even though that stuff
Speaker 3: is actually.
Speaker 4: Being taken from Marble. So there's so many layers to it. Okay,
Speaker 4: Jason did you have any more.
Speaker 3: We talked about Arcane, Blue Eyed Samurai X Men ninety seven.
Speaker 3: Was there any other great animation or animated movies you
Speaker 3: watched this year to recommend before we go.
Speaker 2: Oh, you know what The Terminator? Uh? Yeah, heiro on Netflix.
Speaker 2: It took a little while to get cooking, but when
Speaker 2: it gets cooking, it is it has some surprises for you.
Speaker 2: And you know, we've seen the Ai comes Alive things
Speaker 2: so many times, and so there's some twists in this
Speaker 2: one that really feel shockingly fresh, especially for a Terminator series.
Speaker 2: And of course in terms of the animation.
Speaker 5: I was gonna say production like fucking unreal, gritty, ghost
Speaker 5: in the shell, incredible action like.
Speaker 2: Just unbelievable. Their action has this incredible like loping fast,
Speaker 2: slow rhythm to it that is a cadence to the
Speaker 2: action scene that feels almost like a dance where you
Speaker 2: feel the immense power and speed of some of these
Speaker 2: characters who are doing the thing. But then you also
Speaker 2: feel these moments of like agony where it seems like
Speaker 2: a moment where a hit is like stretched out in
Speaker 2: the most sublime way. Anyway, I really like that one
Speaker 2: as well. Yeah, well that's it for this episode That's.
Speaker 3: Up.
Speaker 2: We're gonna be talking about stuff.
Speaker 3: All kinds of stuff in twenty twenty five Baby Happiner
Speaker 3: Yeah Where twenty twenty five We Can Survives Listening.
Speaker 2: X ray Vision is hosted by Jason Kensupsion and Rosie
Speaker 2: Knight and is a production of iHeart Podcasts. Our executive
Speaker 2: producers are Joelle Smith and Aaron Kaufman. Our supervising producer
Speaker 2: is a Boo Zafar. Our producers are Carmen Laurent and
Speaker 2: Mia Taylor. Our theme song is by Brian Basquez.
Speaker 3: Special thanks to Soul Rubin and Chris Lord, Kenny Goodman
Speaker 3: and Heidi our discord moderator