Gonna have to disagree on Invincible S4 being weak. I do think Season 1 was the best, but Season 4 gives it a run for its money.
I will concede that the pacing was a bit off in the mid season (wtf with the Hell storyline?), but the story hits hard when its focused on the Viltrumite drama.
I appreciate that they decided to come back to the Viltrumites after dicking around with the Multiverse and the B-Team relationship drama. But I’m mostly hung up on the endless appetite for gore, particularly when they’re so queasy about letting any given character die. You can only have so many Viltrumite Fights before ten minutes of two guys punching each other in the face runs thin. And when there’s no consequences to these fights, no significant emotional growth, and no plot advancement… I’m just watching an animated snuff film.
Powerplex was just the same tired extended slugfest minus the Viltrumite story arc. This, after they set up some genuinely curious plot hooks in the Nolan Sci-Fi books he left with Art. So much of that plot is just left on the floor, so we can have more extended scenes of people disemboweling each other.
It’s the same problem that The Boys runs into. It’s what made the conclusion of the Angstrom Levy arc so disappointing. The writers are so focused on doing Clockwork Orange style ultra-violence, intercut with awkward dinner scenes with people’s parents, that they forget to move the plot in any interesting direction.
Hardly a problem unique to Invincible or The Boys. It feels like every superhero show can run through the initial premise quickly and keep falling back into its own self-defined tropes to juice content. But Powerplex, as a character, is one more retread that Aaron Paul’s voice acting can’t save.
You say those story elements, like the stuff in Nolan’s books, were left unattended, but in season 4 that’s exactly where they pick up. Being able to look back on the show as a whole right now, I don’t think there’s much of any plot point that’s been introduced that hasn’t been explored in some way. I remember the ending for season 1 teasing a bunch of cool shit that we didn’t end up seeing until season 3, but now that it’s all out there I feel perfectly fine with the pacing.
Also, from what I’ve seen online, the show (for the most part) still follows the timeline of the comics. So far the only thing that was out of order that I know of is Mark helping Titan in season 1, as in the comics that whole fight happens after he and Nolan fight. The Invincible War (the multiverse arc at the end of season 3) happens before the Viltrum War in the comics anyway.
So nothing is really out of order, and they haven’t really forgotten anything.
I can agree with the reliance on gore and violence, but imo that’s just what would happen if you had these indestructible objects colliding damn near constantly.
I def get what you mean with the ultra-violence. I think there’s points in the story that warrant it, but I do agree its over played. I would probably enjoy it more if they did it less / more sparingly / not at all.
That said, definitely the parts that hit the hardest are the emotional inter-character drama in the nonviolent scenes. When Debby sees Nolan again - man, I was in the edge of my seat. Cecil (who basically hasn’t been in any of those scenes) is by far the most interesting and compelling character to me.
I don’t think it’s a one trick pony of a show with ulta-violence as its one trick.
That said, definitely the parts that hit the hardest are the emotional inter-character drama in the nonviolent scenes.
Absolutely. It’s a very good drama. And I don’t even mean to shit on the action scenes or the high fantasy, because they do that well, too.
The blue clone guys and they’re dynamic is a really compelling high concept with a lot of opportunity for both comic relief and dramatic dialogue.
But eventually this one good idea gets played out. You’ve got deadlines to hit and no more juice in the lemon. So you fill time by having someone punch people’s heads of for five or ten minutes.
I don’t think it’s a one trick pony of a show with ulta-violence as its one trick
I agree. I just found the violence excessive. And Aaron Paul’s character was emblematic of the turn to ultra-violence over the clever storytelling that helped launch the series.
Gonna have to disagree on Invincible S4 being weak. I do think Season 1 was the best, but Season 4 gives it a run for its money.
I will concede that the pacing was a bit off in the mid season (wtf with the Hell storyline?), but the story hits hard when its focused on the Viltrumite drama.
I appreciate that they decided to come back to the Viltrumites after dicking around with the Multiverse and the B-Team relationship drama. But I’m mostly hung up on the endless appetite for gore, particularly when they’re so queasy about letting any given character die. You can only have so many Viltrumite Fights before ten minutes of two guys punching each other in the face runs thin. And when there’s no consequences to these fights, no significant emotional growth, and no plot advancement… I’m just watching an animated snuff film.
Powerplex was just the same tired extended slugfest minus the Viltrumite story arc. This, after they set up some genuinely curious plot hooks in the Nolan Sci-Fi books he left with Art. So much of that plot is just left on the floor, so we can have more extended scenes of people disemboweling each other.
It’s the same problem that The Boys runs into. It’s what made the conclusion of the Angstrom Levy arc so disappointing. The writers are so focused on doing Clockwork Orange style ultra-violence, intercut with awkward dinner scenes with people’s parents, that they forget to move the plot in any interesting direction.
Hardly a problem unique to Invincible or The Boys. It feels like every superhero show can run through the initial premise quickly and keep falling back into its own self-defined tropes to juice content. But Powerplex, as a character, is one more retread that Aaron Paul’s voice acting can’t save.
You say those story elements, like the stuff in Nolan’s books, were left unattended, but in season 4 that’s exactly where they pick up. Being able to look back on the show as a whole right now, I don’t think there’s much of any plot point that’s been introduced that hasn’t been explored in some way. I remember the ending for season 1 teasing a bunch of cool shit that we didn’t end up seeing until season 3, but now that it’s all out there I feel perfectly fine with the pacing.
Also, from what I’ve seen online, the show (for the most part) still follows the timeline of the comics. So far the only thing that was out of order that I know of is Mark helping Titan in season 1, as in the comics that whole fight happens after he and Nolan fight. The Invincible War (the multiverse arc at the end of season 3) happens before the Viltrum War in the comics anyway.
So nothing is really out of order, and they haven’t really forgotten anything.
I can agree with the reliance on gore and violence, but imo that’s just what would happen if you had these indestructible objects colliding damn near constantly.
I def get what you mean with the ultra-violence. I think there’s points in the story that warrant it, but I do agree its over played. I would probably enjoy it more if they did it less / more sparingly / not at all.
That said, definitely the parts that hit the hardest are the emotional inter-character drama in the nonviolent scenes. When Debby sees Nolan again - man, I was in the edge of my seat. Cecil (who basically hasn’t been in any of those scenes) is by far the most interesting and compelling character to me.
I don’t think it’s a one trick pony of a show with ulta-violence as its one trick.
Absolutely. It’s a very good drama. And I don’t even mean to shit on the action scenes or the high fantasy, because they do that well, too.
The blue clone guys and they’re dynamic is a really compelling high concept with a lot of opportunity for both comic relief and dramatic dialogue.
But eventually this one good idea gets played out. You’ve got deadlines to hit and no more juice in the lemon. So you fill time by having someone punch people’s heads of for five or ten minutes.
I agree. I just found the violence excessive. And Aaron Paul’s character was emblematic of the turn to ultra-violence over the clever storytelling that helped launch the series.