I didn't expect much going into this show but I ended up loving it! Definitely a huge win that MCU's D+ series desperately needed and I'm saying this is in the top 3 of all the D+ shows. Glad I ignored the promotion of the show since it really had nothing to do with superhero fatigue and reminded me more of things like Robert Altman's The Player. This was the right choice, a character study in a MCU show that doesn't lean too much into the MCU. Phenomenal!
It dug deep into its two main characters with their personalities, their fears, their flaws, their wants. The show was really about both Simon and Trevor going from selfish to selfless people. Power of friendship, lol, but just really the luck of meeting the one right person who points you to the right direction in life. Trevor was truly trying to start over but gets wrapped in a government op and ends up really liking Simon and doing the selfless thing of taking the blame and going to DODC prison instead of Simon because his life is just starting out and he admits to having wasted a lot of chances in his life. Or with Simon, is inability to connect with people, anxiety at a family gathering, coming off as a self-centered jerk, falling in love with cinema. Even Eric, the older brother that had to be the good son and live a rigid life, got the boring 9-5 insurance agent job, following all the rules knowing that their mom would still dote on the baby who gets to screw up and pursue his dreams with his parents' unwavering support. I even felt for Chuck Eastman and his family's problems and he only appeared in the final third of the last episode!
The Hollywood satire (the p.a. , breathing exercise, the day player with too many notes on the script. trial and tribulations actors go through, journalists and character assassination, going method and embedding in a family (anyone see Dickie Roberts?), etc.) were fine and all but focusing on those two characters was the right choice and the show shines. Amazing chemistry. Didn't cling to being in the MCU but when it did, usch great powerful moments like Simon texting Trevor it must be fate and shares a photo of Von Kovak's star which turned out to be right in front of the Chinese Theatre, which Trevor had a part in in Iron Man 3. It was a good swing on Marvel Studios' part. I'd love to see more from Destin Daniel Cretton. I'm a bit more hyped for Brand New Day now.
Doorman was an interesting cautionary tale mid-season. The format reminded me of when
Atlanta did a standalone episode. I totally gasped when I saw the Roxxon branded dumpster. heh heh. They unknowingly created another teleporter linked to the Darkforce Dimension, heh. Poor Josh Gad. But gotta wonder if Simon's powers are tied to Roxxon, too. That kitchen fire when he was 13 was the earliest we know of his powers manifesting so Roxxon doing a small town dirty in the 90s sounds about right. Seems all they do is cause environmental disasters. I know the buzz online is 'he's a mutant' but I'm not so sure.
They also portrayed Damage Control a bit better than Ms. Marvel. It's interesting that at this point, DODC is in the crosshairs of federal oversight because their supermax isn't filled to capacity - so they could be facing big budget cuts and layoffs if they don't find the next big threat. Cleary, the only other character besides Trevor to have been from a previous project, is chomping at the bit for a get, he bags Trevor, and gives him a deal he can't refuse. Feels like they're being set up to come into prominence in the next saga when Mutants become commonplace.
The comedy was really on point. Found Footage demonstrated that well - the Go pro blackmail, that sounds like something technology could do, finding out the query is an ex-partner, all they're doing is making candy, Trevor's old dealer finds them, the nosy neighbor calls the cops, the one girl tells them the truth about Go Pro, gunshot, they all run out the back. Then learn the callback was moved up to now.
Or them wondering what did Joseph Gordon-Levitt do to that pigeon, lmao.
But what next. Simon is now a fugitive on the run with Trevor. I mean, I hope this somehow leads to West Coast Avengers but realy in the embryonic phase of that if at all. Unless I missed it, in addition to not stating the origin of Simon's powers, they didn't explain how his father died either which was intriguing.
