Picking right up from last week Black Bolt has just been broken out of jail with Medusa commandeering the recently fired NASA analyst, Louise, to follow their escape helicopter. Crystal and Lockjaw have just teleported to Hawaii, Karnak is hold up with a decidedly un-chill group of sticky icky farmers and Gorgon is in retreat with his band of surfers who also happened to be spec ops commandos….still not sure I’m following that particular plot line. Meanwhile back on Attilan aka the dark side of the Moon Maximus has begun laying waste to those who oppose his coup in an effort to change Attilan from a mining meritocracy to a military threat capable of launching an offensive to take Earth from the humans…which is ironic when you consider the reveal that Maximus’s Tera genesis transformation made him, genetically, human.
The first major curve ball of the episode hits when we rejoin Black Bolt who is hold up with Dr. Declan, who brought the helicopter that broke him out of jail. After some back and forth about BB’s perfect genetic make up Declan steps out to call Maximus, turns out the good doctor is a double agent. Over to the weed farm where Karnak, using the farming techniques learned on the decidedly water-free moon, teaches the ganja growers how to maximize their crop…really not sure where that story line is going, God I hope it’s not just their attempt to be topical and/or “hip”. Back on the moon, Maximus is consulting the genetic counsel where it becomes clear that his mutation into a human is the driving factor behind his anger, not in the sense that he now hates Inhumans because he’s human but because of simple jealousy, he thinks what happens to him was a mistake. He threatens the council with death when they deny his request to go through terragenesis again. What follows is honestly a bunch of nothing until the end of the episode. Crystal and Lockjaw are run into, quite literally, by a guy named Dave on a four-wheeler when they transport down, injuring Lockjaw in the process. Of course Dave’s ex-girlfriend is a vet, so she comes to check out the gigantic bull dog followed by a number of bad “damn that’s a big dog” jokes and a sprinkling of forced romance topped off by as much fish out of water humor as they could fit in. Gorgon has pretty much nothing to do this episode with only a few minutes of screen time during which he tells his black ops surf boarding squad that he has to go on alone. Karnak brings the second dose of forced romance when, literally out of nowhere, Flora the only girl on the ganja squad, takes him to the beach where she proceeds to strip and asks him to do the same. There’s some telegraphing of jealousy and danger from Reno, the groups leader, as he creepily watches from the shadows. His intentions become more clear at the end of the episode when Flora invites Karnak to share her tent and “christen” his trip to earth, it then cuts to Reno digging a grave next to the dead body of the groups third member. I’m hoping this is just the start of something that’s going to make sense because right now I can’t see the forest through the trees to figure out how this could possibly fit into the story. A final check in with Attilan finds Maximus banishing all but one of the genetic counsel, and by banishing of course we mean having his thugs beat them and drag them off, presumably to their deaths.
The episode steps up whenever Black Bolt is on-screen, I have to give it to Anson Mount for his portrayal. It can’t be easy to act when you’re portraying a mute but he brings a strong regal aura to the character and does an impressive amount of emoting with just his eyebrows. The episodes only real action beat comes at the climax when Auran and her team show up at the warehouse where Black Bolt is hiding out. Just as a side note Mortis, who was introduced last episode as the second most powerful inhuman next to Black Bolt, has been a total let down in everything but visuals. He looks cool, but I don’t know what possessed them to make the voice decision they did…it doesn’t fit at all and makes him infinitely less intimidating. Anyway, BB is cornered when Medusa and Louise show up to run over Mortis with their car which causes Mortis, who’s power is to shoot a plasma beam from his face when his mask is removed, to inadvertently blow up a gas container knocking everyone out. Black Bolt and Medusa throw a member of Auran’s team, who can help them locate the rest of the royal family, in their trunk and take off. All in all a pretty uneventful episode. I know a lot of people have written this show of already but not me. I don’t think it’s going to ever be great but it is good enough to have me wanting to come back for the next week and, I dare say, even look forward to it. Maybe next week we’ll finally see Trident…there’s no way they really killed off the coolest member of the Attilan royal family in the opening minutes, right?
Picking right up from last week Black Bolt has just been broken out of jail with Medusa commandeering the recently fired NASA analyst, Louise, to follow their escape helicopter. Crystal and Lockjaw have just teleported to Hawaii, Karnak is hold up with a decidedly un-chill group of sticky icky farmers and Gorgon is in retreat with his band of surfers who also happened to be spec ops commandos….still not sure I’m following that particular plot line. Meanwhile back on Attilan aka the dark side of the Moon Maximus has begun laying waste to those who oppose his coup in an effort to change Attilan from a mining meritocracy to a military threat capable of launching an offensive to take Earth from the humans…which is ironic when you consider the reveal that Maximus’s Tera genesis transformation made him, genetically, human.
The first major curve ball of the episode hits when we rejoin Black Bolt who is hold up with Dr. Declan, who brought the helicopter that broke him out of jail. After some back and forth about BB’s perfect genetic make up Declan steps out to call Maximus, turns out the good doctor is a double agent. Over to the weed farm where Karnak, using the farming techniques learned on the decidedly water-free moon, teaches the ganja growers how to maximize their crop…really not sure where that story line is going, God I hope it’s not just their attempt to be topical and/or “hip”. Back on the moon, Maximus is consulting the genetic counsel where it becomes clear that his mutation into a human is the driving factor behind his anger, not in the sense that he now hates Inhumans because he’s human but because of simple jealousy, he thinks what happens to him was a mistake. He threatens the council with death when they deny his request to go through terragenesis again. What follows is honestly a bunch of nothing until the end of the episode. Crystal and Lockjaw are run into, quite literally, by a guy named Dave on a four-wheeler when they transport down, injuring Lockjaw in the process. Of course Dave’s ex-girlfriend is a vet, so she comes to check out the gigantic bull dog followed by a number of bad “damn that’s a big dog” jokes and a sprinkling of forced romance topped off by as much fish out of water humor as they could fit in. Gorgon has pretty much nothing to do this episode with only a few minutes of screen time during which he tells his black ops surf boarding squad that he has to go on alone. Karnak brings the second dose of forced romance when, literally out of nowhere, Flora the only girl on the ganja squad, takes him to the beach where she proceeds to strip and asks him to do the same. There’s some telegraphing of jealousy and danger from Reno, the groups leader, as he creepily watches from the shadows. His intentions become more clear at the end of the episode when Flora invites Karnak to share her tent and “christen” his trip to earth, it then cuts to Reno digging a grave next to the dead body of the groups third member. I’m hoping this is just the start of something that’s going to make sense because right now I can’t see the forest through the trees to figure out how this could possibly fit into the story. A final check in with Attilan finds Maximus banishing all but one of the genetic counsel, and by banishing of course we mean having his thugs beat them and drag them off, presumably to their deaths.
The episode steps up whenever Black Bolt is on-screen, I have to give it to Anson Mount for his portrayal. It can’t be easy to act when you’re portraying a mute but he brings a strong regal aura to the character and does an impressive amount of emoting with just his eyebrows. The episodes only real action beat comes at the climax when Auran and her team show up at the warehouse where Black Bolt is hiding out. Just as a side note Mortis, who was introduced last episode as the second most powerful inhuman next to Black Bolt, has been a total let down in everything but visuals. He looks cool, but I don’t know what possessed them to make the voice decision they did…it doesn’t fit at all and makes him infinitely less intimidating. Anyway, BB is cornered when Medusa and Louise show up to run over Mortis with their car which causes Mortis, who’s power is to shoot a plasma beam from his face when his mask is removed, to inadvertently blow up a gas container knocking everyone out. Black Bolt and Medusa throw a member of Auran’s team, who can help them locate the rest of the royal family, in their trunk and take off. All in all a pretty uneventful episode. I know a lot of people have written this show of already but not me. I don’t think it’s going to ever be great but it is good enough to have me wanting to come back for the next week and, I dare say, even look forward to it. Maybe next week we’ll finally see Trident…there’s no way they really killed off the coolest member of the Attilan royal family in the opening minutes, right?
