Swamp Thing: Long walk home

July 26, 2019 9:18 PM - Season 1, Episode 8

Avery has visions. Abby goes into the office.
posted by sardonyx (3 comments total)

Okay, first off, sorry for not posting this last week. Work has been ridiculous and I'm way behind in recreational TV viewing (among other things). I doubt I'll get around to this week's episode until next weekend, so if somebody else wants to post The Anatomy Lesson (borrowing the title from the most famous issue in series history), go ahead.

I'm going to keep this brief.

I don't like the way Swampy moves. It's too fast and too fluid and too easy, especially at this point in his existence. I want to see a Swampy weighed down by his bulk and his existential crisis.

I didn't like Avery's flip to "Swampy saved my life so I owe him to save his" territory. Sure, Jason talked him out of that mindset, but it felt like a really false character note while it was happening.

I find it hard to believe Alec and/or the Green didn't sense the hit team that accompanied Avery and Jason.

The comic book reader in my was surprised to see daddy Sunderland meet his end that way. Usually the equation of swamp + fire = new Green elemental. I guess he was on dry enough land to have a variable inserted into the equation.

The next episode should be fun.
posted by sardonyx at 9:29 PM on July 26, 2019 [2 favorites]

I liked the suggestion here that in this universe, the CDC is actually composed of professional scientists and doctors, and Abbey Arkane is just an outlier on the competence scale.
posted by whir at 4:33 PM on July 27, 2019 [2 favorites]

I was wondering whether the CDC was okay with Abby taking a vacation to her hometown and just wandering the swamp on their dime for days on end. Plus: Adrienne Barbeau! That's a nice touch. I have a feeling we may not see her again before the show ends, but nevertheless.

Dan, Madame Xanadu and the Phantom Stranger all seem to have dropped out of the story. I suspect their plotlines were edited out because their twists wouldn't pay off, in light of the abruptly abbreviated season. I guess we'll see.

Slightly off-topic, but I saw that DC Universe's wonderful Doom Patrol is being renewed for a second season. The weird part is that it apparently will simultaneously run on DC Universe and the upcoming HBO MAX streaming service. Many people have speculated that the shock cancellation of Swamp Thing was a sad portent for the future of DC Universe; I'm not sure how to interpret this new development. If Doom Patrol is going to be on HBO MAX, why do you even need a DC Universe service? Couldn't all the DC shows just go there? Again: I guess we'll see.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 11:56 PM on July 27, 2019 [1 favorite]