Monday Media Musings

One of my writing goals for 2019 was to write something about all the media I consume: books, shorter fiction, TV, movies, narrative games, etc. Books have been going pretty well, as has short fiction, but visual media has been pretty much a loss -- except for the MCU rewatch project and a few other films seen in theaters, I've not really managed to do this at all. So when I set my goals for July, one was to start a weekly media round-up post habit. Although I targeted Fridays in that post, for various reasons I decided to try for Monday instead -- not least the excuse to come up with an alliterative column title. :) So, here goes! Goes back to the first week of July.

Spider-Man: Far From Home: After enjoying Homecoming far more than I had thought possible, and seeing Peter Parker as one of the bright lights of Infinity War, seeing Far From Home on opening weekend was a foregone conclusion. Not quite as delightful as Homecoming, but that's a high bar. I appreciated how it dealt with some of the fallout from Infinity War and Endgame, in particular how they affected Peter, Happy, and Aunt May. Ned and MJ continue to be delightful. Do not miss the post-credits scenes of this one, because they blow the MCU wide open in terms of where Phase 4 might go next. ( This is a mega-spoiler so I will cut it. )

Supergirl, Season 4: I watched the first half of the season pretty much as it aired, then fell out of the habit after the annual Arrowverse crossover. Now that the entire season is on Netflix, I picked it back up with Episode 10 and have now watched through Episode 19. The main theme of this season -- anti-alien sentiment being whipped up out of fear and hatred is wrong and bad -- is not remotely subtle, but I suppose subtle is not what we need right now. It is deeply weird to see Bruce Boxleitner playing a xenophobic president who uses anti-alien rhetoric to consolidate his power. (John Sheridan would have come down to Earth and kicked his ass weeks ago.) I adore Nicole Maines as Nia Nal, who I'm pretty sure is the first out trans actress playing an out trans superhero in mainstream media, and the romance they're setting up with her and Brainy is adorable. I only have a few episodes left, so I hope to finish it soon.

...And I'm probably forgetting some things, which is why it's a good idea to write these on a weekly basis. But that's all that comes to mind, so I'll wrap up now. See you next Monday!