TV Review: The Penguin (Season 1)

**This review may contain minor SPOILERS**

Watch the SPOILER review on YouTube

Spinning off from “The Batman” with one of the film’s standout characters, “The Penguin” is a surprisingly strong crime drama that focuses on a villain. And while it works on its own merits, the lack of a Batman appearance (or any other major characters from the film) hurts the show by making it feel like a one-off and not part of a bigger franchise.

There isn’t really much of a plot to the show. It’s basically The Penguin’s attempt to rise to the top of the Gotham underworld. While the evens of the Batman film setup a bit of a power vacuum, not much of what happened in the movie is important to the show. (The Riddler’s terrorist attack gets more references, but even that has a limited impact.)

As for The Penguin, he’s a fascinating character to follow. While they do humanize him, he’s clearly a bad person willing to do anything in order to save his skin and grab more power. It’s an interesting dynamic as we alternate between hating him for the evil stuff that he does, but then admiring his tenacity and sympathizing with him. (He also has a bit of sense of humor to him, especially in his reactions to some of the darker stuff happening around him.)

While most of the supporting cast is fine, the two other major leads are a little hit and miss. Victor, a good person who becomes The Penguin’s protege, has a decent arc but it never really gets to develop to its fullest. However, Sofia Falcone is a fantastic addition to the show and often steals the spotlight from Oz. Initially she’s just an unpredictable wild card, but as we learn her back story, we see all the terrible things that turned her into the person she is now and can’t help but want to see her succeed. Unfortunately, she does become less compelling and focused in the final few episodes, so it’s harder to root for her. Despite that, some of the best parts of the season are watching her and Oz constantly trying to out-outmaneuver each other like some kind of mafia version of “Game of the Thrones.”

Overall, “The Penguin” is solid series about some bad people that are fleshed-out so well that you still find yourself rooting for them. And while the show does stand on its own, the lack of any major crossover elements to “The Batman” film hurts the series by making it feel like it’s a standalone project and not part of a bigger story.

***1/2 out of *****

TV Review: Agatha All Along (Season 1)

**This review may contain minor SPOILERS**

Watch the SPOILER review on YouTube

With a good concept and a strong cast, “Agatha All Along” pulls off its basic concept and is a good follow-up to “WandaVision,” however a handful of loose ends and subplots that feel half-baked somewhat deflate the show.

Picking up after the finale of “WandaVision,” (and thankfully only slightly referencing the events of “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness), the plot boils down to Agatha and a coven of witches traveling The Witches Road in order for each of them to gain something that they feel is missing from their lives. The basic structure is after the two-episode premier, each episode is a new trial in a new location with new costumes. Oddly enough, this is where the show is the weakest. Many of the trials don’t seem to make much sense and when they end it just feels like they were arbitrarily solved. Also, each trial is supposed to test a specific skill set, but half the time the challenge seems to have little to do with their area of expertise. Thankfully, after a few huge twists near the end of the season, the real story comes into focus, with all the hints and breadcrumbs along the way expertly planned and executed. But, in the very end the show doesn’t quite stick the landing as the big character arcs don’t really pack a punch and things end in a somewhat mediocre fashion.

While the cast of characters seems a little weak initially, most of them become compelling by the end of the season. (It helps that they’re all very well cast.) The trickiest of them all is Agatha herself, as she is written to straddle the line between selfish and compassionate. This usually works, but then there are times she steps too far over that line, and she loses audience sympathy. Also, the character of the Teen is likable in the beginning, but as he takes a darker turn in later episodes, it’s harder to identify with him. Interestingly, the show really doesn’t have a big bad, and the conflict in the finale feels a little tacked on, especially because some key backstory moments are missing that could explain why these characters are acting like that. (And that’s even with two episodes that are almost entirely flashbacks.)

Overall, the show looks pretty good. The set designs are intentionally somewhat “fake” looking or overly exaggerated. But this works due to the mystical nature of the journey. The costumes are generally fantastic, with each character getting cool makeovers for each trial. There’s not a lot of special effects, and most of them are practical and there’s just a bit of CG.

Thanks to a well planned-out and executed concept, some strong character moments, and a bit of mystery, “Agatha All Along” works for the most part. But some the omission of some critical backstory elements, lead characters that we don’t know if we should root for, and not-so-exciting ending some of the show’s hard work.

***1/2 out of *****

Video Game Review: Star Wars: Outlaws (PS5)

Watch the SPOILER review on YouTube

Star Wars enters the open world view game genre with “Star Wars: Outlaws,” and despite an overall solid game, little new ground is broken…it’s just wrapped up in a pretty Star Wars package.

Cutting to the chase, this game is essentially the Star Wars equivalent of the Red Dead Redemption games, complete with a “Wanted system” and a version of Dead Eye. Since you’re playing as a thief, you’re rewarded for bad behavior as you plunder unsuspecting characters’ hidden treasures and cheat your way to victory playing cards. The most unique feature that the game introduces is the faction reputation system. You’re constantly working with or against one of the four criminal syndicates, double-crossing them whenever it works to your advantage. (Provided you don’t mind losing too much favor with one group and you end up finding guns drawn on you when you get near their territories.) Meanwhile, dealing with the Empire is much more straight forward and crossing them means more elaborate means are needed to get them to back off. The biggest complaint about the Wanted system is that it’s never clear how much trouble you’re in.

The plot is actually pretty simple, and after some stuff goes sideways, you’ll find yourself tasked with putting together a crew for one massive heist. The basic storyline is decent, but most of the crew never really adds all that much meat to it. Once you add them to the team, they’re mostly just hanging out in the background. It’s really only the connection between your character of Kay and the droid ND-5 that adds any depth to game. And while some of the more important NPCs add some flavor to the mix, most of the other characters you encounter are just kind of there to fill out the world like background extras.

The gameplay is fun enough, but there’s a bit of a learning curve. Learning to us Nix initially is confusing, and the game doesn’t really give you much of a tutorial on what the different commands do and how to use them. Other common tasks like using your data spike to picks locks and slicing into computer terminals are just kind of thrown at you and take a bit of trial and error to figure out exactly how to properly pull them off. At least on the main map, there’s a solid fast-travel system, and that even lets you fast travel straight to other planets instead of having to go through the whole space travel sequence.

While in enemy territory or in the middle of a quest, you’re mostly at the mercy of the auto-save feature and are unable to save manually. This can lead to some occasionally having to start over from scratch after spending a ton of time slowly sneaking around only to slip up and either get kicked out or killed and it’s back to square one. The game is heavily stealth-based, and not the “Batman Arkham” or “Spider-Man” fun kind of stealth with flash take-downs and cool gadgets. It’s mostly distraction and trying to sneak past enemies or taking them out and hoping nobody sees you. Another odd choice is that while you can take weapons dropped by your enemies, once you climb a ladder or duck into a vent or jump on your speeder, you’re forced to drop the weapon. As far as space battles go, it just feels like there’s something missing, even after upgrading your ship. Regular combat is not so great. A lot of blasting your enemies and taking a few hits yourself while trying to outlast them. The Adrenaline Rush does help even the odds, but the targeting leaves a lot to be desired.

Overall, “Star Wars: Outlaws” takes a lot from other open world games and adds a Star Wars twists the fans will find immersive. The game has a learning curve, but once you get the basics down and learn some new skills, it’s much easier to navigate. One-dimensional NPCs and glitched quests can really kill the mood, but the main plot does deliver a good story in the end.

*** out of *****