Category: TV Show Analysis

Why Star Wars Fans Think They Can Bully the Franchise’s Actors

SPOILERS for pretty much ALL of Star Wars, including and especially Obi-Wan Kenobi through the fifth episode.

NOTE: Bullying Moses Ingram and any other Star Wars actor (or anyone else at all) is wrong. I do not condone that kind of behavior, especially since I’m a survivor of years of bullying and verbal abuse from my peers growing up. However, the responses from Lucasfilm and Ewan McGregor and other actors out there seem to treat this as a problem and an experience unique to Moses. It’s not. That’s why I’m writing this post.

The Star Wars fandom has a problem. Or at least, a certain segment of it does. Whenever a piece of Star Wars content drops and that segment of the fandom doesn’t like it, they flip out and attack anyone they can. They often attack the actors who play the characters they don’t like. The latest actor to deal with this behavior is Moses Ingram, who plays Reva/Third Sister on Obi-Wan Kenobi. She recently posted to her Instagram story about how racist Star Wars fans/trolls have been sending her direct messages (DMs) full of racist slurs and hurtful comments.

However, she’s not the first Star Wars actor to endure such horribly charged ire. Both Kelly Marie Tran and John Boyega faced racist attacks when they appeared in the Sequel Trilogy. But this type of actor bullying goes further back than the sequel trilogy. Ahmed Best (the Black man who played Jar-Jar Binks), Jake Lloyd (the white kid who played nine-year-old Anakin Skywalker), and Hayden Christensen (the white man who played Anakin as a young man and now plays Darth Vader in Obi-Wan Kenobi).

Continue reading “Why Star Wars Fans Think They Can Bully the Franchise’s Actors” →

Moon Knight, Ep. 5: Character Study, Ahoy!

MAJOR SPOILERS for Moon Knight Episode 5, “Asylum.”

CONTENT WARNING: This post discusses the trauma and abuse featured in this episode.

Wow, okay. This episode. THIS EPISODE. See, the reason that I love Moon Knight is that it’s a superhero show that isn’t really about being a superhero. It’s about a person with mental illness struggling to get through life and figure out what’s happening to them. The superhero genre is just a backdrop for all that. The story is really intriguing, but not in the usual, plot-ish way. This is a story about a person, a character. No, not all the things with the Ammit cult and the Ennead are going to make sense, but they’re not here to make logical sense. They’re here to facilitate Marc and Steven’s personal journey together.

Here are my reactions for this very intense episode:

Steven and Marc are just out here, staring into your souls.
Continue reading “Moon Knight, Ep. 5: Character Study, Ahoy!” →

Moon Knight, Ep. 3: Let’s Have a Random Solar Eclipse

SPOILERS for Moon Knight Episode 3, “The Friendly Type.”

Alright, the story’s moving forward. And as always, I have thoughts and feeling about it. If you haven’t read my other two reactions to Moon Knight, please expect personal reactions and not any predictions for future episodes. I prefer to let the story unfold rather than predicting that something has to happen. Anyway, here’s how I feel about the third episode of Moon Knight:

We’re gonna party like it’s…the Middle Kingdom, I think?
Continue reading “Moon Knight, Ep. 3: Let’s Have a Random Solar Eclipse” →

Moon Knight, Ep. 2: We Don’t Talk About Khonshu

SPOILERS for Moon Knight Episode 2, “Summon the Suit.”

We don’t talk about Khonshu-u-u-u!!! WE DON’T TALK ABOUT KHONSHU!!!!!

(Thirteen-foot frame, moonlight on his back, when he calls your name, it all fades to black…)

Okay, I didn’t think I was going to do another reaction post about Moon Knight, but here we are. I have more reactions and thoughts. So let’s get into them!

Marvel asks the question: What if Batman…had MORE mental problems? And was way less predictable?
Continue reading “Moon Knight, Ep. 2: We Don’t Talk About Khonshu” →

Moon Knight: I Just Really Need To Write Down My Thoughts

SPOILERS for Episode 1 of Moon Knight, “The Goldfish Problem.”

Well, the first episode of Moon Knight was an experience. And I mean that in the best way possible. It’s a bit darker than the usual MCU fare, but not as grim as Marvel’s recent Netflix shows. It’s trippy, but not so nutty that general audience members can’t follow it. And it’s just so much fun.

Since we only have one episode so far, I’m going to put my thoughts down here in list form because I don’t really have one theme or character to write about more fully yet.

There’s just a whole lot going on here.
Continue reading “Moon Knight: I Just Really Need To Write Down My Thoughts” →

How To Improve The Book of Boba Fett

SPOILERS for The Book of Boba Fett.

Okay, so the finale of The Book of Boba Fett was fun, but that’s mainly because of the other characters in the story. Boba’s actual character arc still left a lot to be desired, and the finale helped me figure out what the story was missing.

Here’s what would have made The Book of Boba Fett a much stronger narrative:

Continue reading “How To Improve The Book of Boba Fett” →

Book of Boba Fett: Not All Characters are Protagonists

SPOILERS for Episodes 5 and 6 of The Book of Boba Fett.

Before I start writing this, I need to say that this post is not a knock on Temuera Morrison or his performance in this show. It’s about the limitations of Boba Fett’s character, and those limitations probably hinder the performance that Temuera can give. I think he’s doing his best with the writing he’s given!

Okay, so I was going to blog about how boring and surface-level The Book of Boba Fett. I made myself watch the first four episodes of this show, and they were so dull! When I was watching those episodes, my sister would occasionally poke her head in and say, “NO ONE ASKED FOR THIS!”

And she’s partly right. Most Star Wars fans did not ask for The Book of Boba Fett. But Boba has this weird cult following of people who REALLY want to watch and/or read about Boba having various adventures. Those people read a bunch of novels about Boba during the ’80s and ’90s, and they’ve been clamoring for a Boba Fett movie. So this show exists to placate them. I hope they enjoy it.

Look! It’s a man in a helmet, and he’s sitting on a crime lord’s throne!

The thing is, Boba’s not meant to be a main character. He works best as a flashy visiting character because that’s what he’s always been. Boba shows up, looks cool, and does badass stuff. Then he leaves or falls into a Sarlacc pit. I think Boba should show up every so often in things like The Mandalorian, but he doesn’t have enough of an interior (or exterior) struggle to warrant an entire show about him.

That’s why I loved Episodes 5 and 6 of The Book of Boba Fett. Instead of focusing on the (honestly rather dull) underworld of Mos Espa, it revisits characters that we love and that have some sort of struggle going on. Our friend the Mandalorian is missing his adopted child Grogu and struggling with the fundamentalist ideas of the rather extreme Mandalorian culture he was raised in. Cobb Vanth struggles to keep his town safe on a planet that inherently attracts dangerous criminals and outlaws.

Best budding bromance in a galaxy far, far away.

Boba Fett, on the other hand, wants to be a respectful crime lord because…why not? And he went native with the Tuskens. Okay? That’s not an interesting struggle. The only interesting things was that the Tuskens were yet again humanized after years of George Lucas treating them as a violent “other” type of people. (Newsflash: George Lucas has never been good at representation.)

Anyway…

Continue reading “Book of Boba Fett: Not All Characters are Protagonists” →

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier: Why We Hate John Walker So Much

SPOILERS for The Falcon and The Winter Soldier through Episode 4, “The World is Watching.”

Note: When I talk about how much we hate John Walker and why, I’m talking about the character, not his actor, Wyatt Russell. Some people online cannot distinguish between character and actor in this case. Please don’t attack Wyatt Russell as a person.

Okay, if there’s one MCU character we all despise right now, it’s John Walker, the Captain America impostor on The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

Captain America or Captain ‘Murica? You be the judge of that.
Continue reading “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier: Why We Hate John Walker So Much” →

WandaVision: Why Wanda Maximoff Shouldn’t Be Punished

SPOILERS for WandaVision. And everything in the MCU that relates to Wanda Maximoff.

CONTENT WARNING: This post has mentions of verbal and sexual abuse and women’s trauma in general.

WandaVision was a fun, fascinating ride, and I enjoyed every minute of it, even the emotionally tough bits. I loved everything about it: the sitcom parodies and references, the cast’s performances and chemistry, the balance of comedy and drama, all of it. I felt a little let down by the final episode, but finales are hard to nail, especially when you build up a show as much as this show was built up week after week. Overall, it’s a great show.

My favorite part of the show, though, is Wanda Maximoff herself. Elizabeth Olsen gives a fantastic performance, of course, and that’s part of why I love Wanda so much. But Wanda’s whole journey through her grief and trauma resonated with me a lot on a personal level.

Ladies and Gentlemen: Wanda Maximoff, the Strongest Avenger
Continue reading “WandaVision: Why Wanda Maximoff Shouldn’t Be Punished” →