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It's finally here. Seven years. Seven seasons. The end of an era. This is a bittersweet episode. The Super Tuesday Recap podcast exists because of Agents of SHIELD. We called it "Super Tuesday Recap" cause AoS used to come on Tuesday along with The Flash. Seven years later and while the show has switched days multiple time, we've been there to review and discuss for every episode. So while we loved this season and these last two episode are absolutely fantastic, there's still a little sadness that this is the end. At the same time, we have to celebrate the way this show goes out. It plays on our emotions and still gives us the happy ending. There are payoffs from season 1 that clearly make this a love letter to the fans that have been there since day one. 

Kriss and Dpalm are joined by Karen from The Black Guy Who Tips to give a finale "Spy's Goodbye" to the Agents of SHIELD. We talk about these two episodes and some of our favorite moments, why Agents of SHIELD felt different from any other show on TV, our favorite season/episode and more. Give it a listen.

 

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The biggest story in sports is college football players finding their voices and their power amidst the pandemic. We talk about the fight for rights, starting in the Pac 12 and sweeping the nation. Baseball keeps hustling backwards, the NBA might have cracked this thing, and the WNBA keeps leading the way.

Guest: Cam - @CeeHawk

 

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The end is almost here and we're definitely not ready for it. This week it was announced that there will be a prop auction for Agents of SHIELD and that suddenly made it real that the show is finally coming to an end. But we're not there just yet. This week, Iain De Caestecker finally makes his season 7 appearance and we get a few more hints as to the whereabouts of Fitz but it doesn't feel like we're going to like the answers. On top of that it seems that Sybil and Nathan have finally gotten what they wanted and destroyed SHIELD. But we also get confirmation that this is definitely an alternate timeline (we have thoughts on when the split actually happened and its before this season). So while it seems like the bad guys have won right now, we see some openings for the team to right everything. And we know when they do it, they'll do it as a family.

We'll be watching the series (still hard to say this) finale live on Wednesday. Then the final MTR Network Agents of SHIELD review will have our friend and special guest, Karen from the Black Guy Who Tips Podcast on. 

 

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Hitmen, streaming service Peacock's latest addition, not only hits all the right comedic notes, it keeps the episodes short, the drama high and the relationship between the main characters as ridiculous as it is relatable. 

While the humor (dry and pithy) won't be to everyone's taste, this show about best friends Jamie (Mel Giedroyc) and Fran (Sue Perkins) as the most unlikely pair of hitmen makes the most of its talented leading ladies.

HITMEN -- "Birthday" Episode 101 -- Pictured: (l-r) Mel Giedroyc as Jamie, Sue Perkins as Fran -- (Photo By: Sky UK Limited)

 

 

The plot is a blend of sweet and silly as this comdey duo shows it's possible to build a buddy comedy around to women without ever making them the but of the joke.

Misadventure Is The Name of The Game 

Jamie and Fran are the prefect odd couple. Each supports the other - even when perhaps that's not the best move - through relationships, clashing personality quirks, and mishaps that seem to plague them at ever turn. The laughs are often unexpected but always earned by the end. It shouldn't be possible to describe a pair of contract killers as adorable..and yet here we are. 

The script makes the most of Giedroyc and Perkins (The Great British Baking Show) long relationship and obvious chemistry to build a great launching point for a show about women of a certain age whose lives are clearly a hot mess making their way in the world by applying their unconventional skill-set. It shouldn't work but their oddball antics and clear love for one another keeps it all together. 

Finding the comedic sweet spot on a television show is no small feat. Not only does the timing need to be right, the characters often need to be just this side of unbelievable. Listen to Kriss and Ro discuss why Hitmen is not only worth a watch but is a savvy addition to the lineup of Peacock's original shows.

Hitmen, the six episode series debuts on Peacock August 6, 2020. 

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Covid made the release of comics a little wonky. But we're finally getting back to a normal schedule so the Pull List is back. We actually have a lot of books to talk about. One thing we do ask though is...when the hell is Saga coming back? It's been almost two years since we got an issues and it really drives home the fact that when it comes to independent books, nothing is guaranteed...even if it's super popular.

Outside of the big 2, Dpalm sings the praises once again of the Power Ranger books and he might have even convinced Kriss to pick it up. Over at DC, we really need to talk about how great the Flash run of Williamson has been. We know he's coming to the end of his time on the book and of course like everything with Barry, Eobard Thawne is proving why he is the Flash's greatest enemy. 

For Marvel, the Star Wars books are still great but the biggest thing right now is the Empyre event that's going on. While it seems to really be an Avengers/Fantastic Four event, X-Men #10 involves Vulcan and ties into Empyre while also setting up for the big X-Men even coming this fall. Also, if you've been reading X-Force then you know there's a lot of similarities between what that team has been dealing with and the Cotati threat in Empyre.  

Issues:

* Power Rangers

* Ranger Slayer

* Ninja Turtles

* Star Wars

* Star Wars: Darth Vader #3

* Star Wars: Doctor Aphra

* Star Wars

* DC

* The Flash

* Latest #758

* Young Justice

* Legion of Superheroes

* Deceased

* Marvel

* X-Men #10

* X-Factor #1

* X-Force

* New Mutants

* Venom

* Amazing Spider-Man

* Fantastic Four

* Empyre

 

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Baseball is trying a dumb thing, NBA is trying a smart thing, NFL is trying nothing, and the children are leading the way. When the Pac-12 players released their unified statement, the run down for this week's show went into the garbage. But what came out was a much needed celebration of the power of collective action, the power of the voice of the players, and the power to leave the mark of real change on what ever comes next. #WeAreUnited

Guest: The Homie Mike

 

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P-Valley (a.k.a Pussy Valley) premiered July 12th on Starz with a whisper campaign already in progress. What many thought would be -at best- a higher class episodic version of the Player's Club was instead, a vividly nuanced world built on the Mississippi Delta region's nightlife and strip clubs wrapped in a crime-novel-worthy mystery. 

P-Valley is far more than just a look beyond the pole and into the dressing room. It's the slow burning - gorgeously lit - journey of women on a hustle to fund (or save) their own lives.  This show has LEVELS. Just as soon as one twists unravels there's a turn to keep it unpredictable. 

When Film Noir and Strip Culture Collide...

Creator and Showrunner Katori Hall (Tina: The Tina Turner Musical) assembled an all-women team of directors and writers to develop her stage play into a dynamic neon-drenched drama. P-Valley pours the moral ambiguity and cynicism of sex work into a gritty film noir mold. The end result is a intricate plot-driven by the titillating and traumatic (with a side of ambition) all set to a mood-altering blend of the blues and trap music. And with that decision, Delta Noir was born. With every reveal from inside The Pynk, the more riveting each club performer's subplot becomes.   

The Pynk 

The writer's room gave a subtle hat-tip to noir archetypes, like the girl-next-door, the femme fatale, and the good-bad girl crafting characters that subvert narrative expectations with a hefty dose of existential angst. The savvy story direction and spot-on casting infuses each character with trope-defying authenticity. The women of P-Valley are the living embodiment of "classy, bougie, ratchet, sassy, moody, and nasty" in the best and most savage of ways (Megan would be proud). 

These aren't, however, hollow caricatures as is often the case when a story centers Black women. The P-Valley writers built these women with depth. Each capable and fully embracing their agency.

Crafty writing shows them leveraging their personal power at work then juxtaposes those moments with the complicated personal lives each struggles with daily. Each theme-driven episode runs the gambit of family issues, domestic violence, colorism, racism, betrayal, and other oft mishandled issues festering within portrayals of the Black community. Hrere, every story arc's told with an eye always towards honesty and handled with a deft touch.

P-Valley constantly up-ends presumptions about what "kind" of woman dances for a living (and why). 

But, this Delta Noir set to destigmatize more than just stripping. Although it definitely accomplishes that with wit and gritty honesty. So, expect P-Valley to put subtly center body-positivity, addiction, PTSD, toxic mother-daughter dynamics right next to deconstructing masculinity, and embracing one's sexuality. The apologeticness of it all is gratifying.

Like In Any Good Noir Drama, Trouble Comes To The Delta... 

Life in a small town is never simple. And in Chucalissa, the same people throwing dollars until dawn at The Pynk on Saturday are seated in the pews of churches on Sunday. The hypocrisy is real. 

Club owner Uncle Clifford (Nathaniel Nicco Annan) needs revenue streams to ensure The Pynk survives. He's determined to preserve his family land and see his club thrive. So he plays the game. Clifford's (and The Pynk's) place in the community (and importance to the plot) is constantly evolving. Because thankfully, in P-Valley, The Pynk doesn't exist in a vacuum.

This former(ish) plantation town is due a massive face-lift. Enter the mysterious Andre Watkins (Parker Sawyers) and his client gobbling up real estate all around town. Watkins believes he's on the cusp of breathing new life (and jobs) into the area. But his interests are certain to clash with Uncle Clifford's.

We're only three episodes away from the series finale of Agents of SHIELD. And technically we're only 2 away because the finale episode is always 2 episodes. When we say it out loud it makes us both sad and very, very afraid. It's sad that we're so close to the end of this great series. It's frightening because we can only imagine how this show is going to wrap everything up and the fate of these characters.

This episode proves that the "ripples not waves" rules are completely out of the window at this point. While the team stopped the majority of the Chronicoms, Sybil and Nathan (along with some choices made by the team itself) have clearly changed the timeline. The question then becomes, how does all this get wrapped up and what happens now? Also, where is Fitz and what has he done? We've gone 10 episodes without seeing  him and for a moment, this episode even makes us wonder if he's even alive. But Sybil seems to think he is and Simmons is clearly the key to finding him. 

We have some theories on what is going to happen next and Kriss seems to make a surprise promise that is years in the making (Of course he could just be trolling everyone).

 

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The Boundary Breaking Go-Go's 

Ro and Joi freely admit to liking documentaries. They're a great way to dip a toe in to messiness without the need to invite it into real life. Documentaries also provide an meaningful way to expand the elements of history to properly capture the zeitgeist of a decade. 

The latest entry in documenting music history on film is The Go-Go's from director Alison Ellwood (History of the Eagles). Ellwood gathered all the members of the ground-breaking girl group together for open honest discussion about their rise to fame. This group created an entire zeitgeist altogether. It's worth knowing about. 

The women were frank about their ambitions, honest about their missteps, and real about the challenges to breaking into the music scene. 

Respect the Game But Smashing the Mold 

Prepare for a rather comprehensive oral history. Ellwood's directorial style blends live interviews and archival footage to present a seamless look at the journey of a rock band. There's sex, drugs, grit, grime and glamour. 

(L-R): Charlotte Caffey, Gina Schock (drums), Belinda Carlisle, Kathy Valentine (bass, behind Belinda Carlisle's head), Jane Wiedlin. 1981. Photo credit: Cassy Cohen/Courtesy of SHOWTIME.

The Go-Go's hold the title as the first (and last) all female rock group to play their own instruments, sing original songs (that they wrote) to have a number one album. It doesn't take more than a downbeat to identify a song by The Go-Go's. Their style was distinct and trendsetting. Learning what it took to get them to the top and what toppled them reveals the strange chemistry likely at the heart of every successful group. 

Watching this band of badasses grow from punk devotees into stadium-filling rock stars was a wild and engaging ride. The pieces slowly fall into place as they grow into themselves (and out of the punk scene). Their coming of age crashed through the gates of the industry; swiftly dispelling the longstanding belief that 'girl bands don't sell records.' 

This clear-eyed look back chronicles a journey that's unparalleled in terms of success and unflinching (for the most part) in terms of confronting the band's weaknesses and egos. The darker side of fame, personal demons, and crushing schedules only touches on the subjects discussed. It's a raw look behind the curtain that informs, entertains and sends you away wondering: 

What exactly will it take to get The Go-Go's into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? 

"The Go-Gos" premieres July 31 at 9 p.m. on Showtime. Listen as Ro and Joi's spoiler-free discussion about this documentary about a group that paved the way for generations of musicians. 

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Kriss is back with another episode of the Insanity Check to cover this month's dose of insanity in the world. This week he's joined by Jeff. There's a lot to talk about this month. We have Trump bragging about "passing" a cognitive test, we're finally getting death panels, the Feds crack down in Portland and so much more.

Topics:

* Trump brags about passing a cognitive but maybe we're all looking at this wrong

* Obama Promised, Trump Delivered: Death Panels

* The Department of Homeland Security shouldn't exist

* This Vet gets it

* DHS employees are apparently demoralized over what's happening in Portland

* DOD is worried about law enforcement using army uniforms. What could go wrong?

* Great Moments in White Privilege

* Tom Cotton and his very punchable face have an issue with the 1619 Project

Guest: Jeff - @JeffJSays - Pass the Message

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