owlmoose | Monday Media Musings: 08/29/22

Only Murders in the Building, Season 2: Through most of the first season of this show, I had no idea how they were going to make a second season work, but the turn in the final episode set it up so well that I wasn't particularly worried. And they did, indeed, manage to capture the magic twice, with wonderful chemistry among the actors and a plot that kept me guessing until almost the very end. And we're getting a third season; once again, they presented a fantastic twist in the last episode, and I'm now officially willing to go wherever this show takes me.

She Hulk: Attorney at Law, Episodes 1-2: It's nice to get a pure comedy out of the MCU. Early Wandavision had some comedic aspects, as did Hawkeye, but the former showed its underlying darkness early on, and the latter was more of an action-comedy (like the Ant Man movies). Tatiana Maslany is clearly having a lot of fun in the role, and I'm excited to see where the story goes.

Lightyear: I didn't have many expectations for this, so I found it a fun watch. I do have questions, though, about positioning it as movie beloved by six-year-olds in 1995 that was designed to sell a ton of toys to children. The time travel aspects are a bit confusing, and I don't know how a young child would relate to the set-up, with the idea that the life of the world is passing by Buzz as he focuses on his mission, a clear metaphor for letting yourself become too consumed by your work. It's also interesting to reconsider the world-building of Toy Story's setting as a culture where a kids' movie can have a background same-sex relationship and an out lesbian character (when Alisha tells Buzz she's getting married, he asks "what's her name?" without missing a beat) and no one treats it as remarkable. (Note that, in our world, this wasn't even really possible in 2022, much less 1995, given that even a movie as mild as this got homophobic backlash).