When I was reading through the comics, this entire fight was such a big event. Cutting away from it to Eve, Donald, and even the Maulers feels like it takes away the growing tension of the fight. In the comics it was a big multi-issue event, there is only 1 First time that Mark meets Nolan again after their confrontation on Earth. The first season was entirely devoted to the build-up to their confrontation and received 1 big episode at the end, and I know that the time schedule is tight and there are a lot of storylines to develop, but the only one I felt like it belonged there was Debbie with the same montage that Nolan received at the start of this episode. But even that one could’ve been pushed for next episode.
This is supposed to be huge. This is supposed to be Mark’s big first confrontation with Viltrumites. I understand why people dislike certain lines being cut from the episode, and I do feel like the whole thing should’ve gotten more time to breathe. I really like some changes though. Nolan’s depressive wandering throughout the universe, and him saving a couple Thraxans being the reason he didn’t kill himself is actually insanely compelling to me. Mark being much more ENRAGED (one of the missing lines that I’m actually pissed about) about his father’s deeds makes a lot of sense, especially in the context of the show and damn Steven Yeun kills it. But there should’ve been much more of s fight, much more rage, much more overall emotion. We didn’t even get a proper look at Thraxa being destroyed by the Viltrumites to really hone in what Omni-Man feels when he realises that he cares about these people.
This is the first episode where I’m somewhat underwhelmed by the changes made to the original comic. There is a lot of good stuff though, just… I feel like this episode could’ve been and should’ve been much more special. What do fellow comic readers think about the episode?
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It should have also been the season finale I think. For show viewers, Nolan’s redemption is starting way too soon after we saw him slaughter his way through Chicago. The characters have had months to move on and heal, but for the audience it’s all still fresh. We had eight episodes of Nolan being evil and only three of him being gone. They shuffled things around in season 1 so Nolan would leave at the end of the season instead of earlier, they could have done the same thing here. Maybe let the Angstrom Levy plotline play out first so the audience gets to see another major antagonist besides Nolan.
The fight was the first time in the entire series where I thought the comic was unambiguously better than the show
I just feel like there’s a lot they have to put into this episodes, I wouldn’t even pretend to know how to handle it myself, I will agree though as a comic reader myself it did feel like it almost missed the mark on that one, it felt like a tightly made episode
Yeah, I’ve loved the show so far and the adaption has been great, but the source material is just better for this whole arc.
Really bummed they didn’t really touch on the Thraxan culture and why it was so different for Nolan compared to Earth. Also the fight somewhat suffered from not having the resolution come before. It makes Mark crying out “help” far more powerful as the culmination of the fight.
This was probably the only problem I had with the episode. Every time my investment in Mark and Nolan vs the viltrumites was reaching the peak, they cut away to another story line and kind of took me out of it. I kept going “God damnit I dont wanna see this cut back to my boy Mark!!!”
The pacing was just a little off for me
I’m surprised people think Mark did too well in that fight. He holds his own against the male Viltrumite he fights in the comic. He does eventually lose, but it’s not to the extent people are talking about here.
Everyone gets thrashed in that fight. If Mark was the only one to get destroyed, they would have killed him for his weakness.
Exactly! I blame it on the fact all of Mark’s good hits are in that small collage in the background of the double-punch scene.
No, I agree, cutting away to mundane stuff really undercuts what’s happening
What we actually did get of Thraxa was great, but we needed so much more. Definitely agree that the constant cutaways were totally unneeded. The Thraxan stuff is more than enough for an entire episode, they absolutely did not need to shoehorn in Donald.
Yeah I was just looking at the Donald bits and saying to myself “You really think this is what viewers wants to see right now?”
“You really think this is what viewers wants to see right now?”
raises hand
I do, random big fight vs learning about a plot point, give me the plot every time
If you don’t want to watch fight scenes what in the world are you doing watching a superhero show?
The random big fight can also give plot, and it did.
I think this shows they really mishandled the whole trip there. The fight IS plot. The cut bits of Nolan & Mark’s pre-fight convo shows more of how they’ve changed and the eventual reconciliation. Mark flying away desperately from Lucan trying to protect his brother does advance the plot with how their relationship plays out over time, more than just holding up some falling debris. The way Nolan and Mark fight and their levels of success reveals more about them, the Viltrumites, and sets up future plot events more than Donald (who unless there’s a major change is a pretty irrelevant character) wondering what’s happening with him.
If the animation/choreography was better I could probably have ignored most of the script’s flaws.
Man what I think dont fit is the whole Donald plot.
I think it’s just the adaptation to a different medium really. The pacing of the comics during this part wouldn’t translate well to the screen. There are some parts that just aren’t to going to deliver as much tension due to it being an animation that is passively consumed vs a comic that is actively read. If they followed the comic and gave a whole episode mainly focused on the reunion/fight most people would be burnt out by the time the important story parts happened.
Personally I’m really interested to see where they’re going with Donald, I kind of forgot what happened in season 1 since I read the comic so I didn’t know that no one knew he was a robot. It surprised me in a good way.