STRANGE LOG: The Last To Know, First To Return, Second To Do Whatever...

I've been away for a bit Boys and girls and while I feel like I'm not 100% back, I am dipping a toe in a return more or less. The truth is there really isn't much going on worth writing an entire article about. Entertainment has hit a massive low in my opinion. I could write an article on all the L's the entertainment industry is taking right now (and trust me, it's a lot) but there are more than enough YouTube channels out there that are doing the work for me. That said there are a few things worth discussing and we'll take a look at those below. Let's dive in;

Let's start with TV and oh my goodness (read that in a Negan voice) do we have issues! Showtime and Hollywood writ large are showcasing their complete and utter lack of ideas by once again dusting off the corpse of everyone's favorite killer of killers Dexter Morgan by creating a completely ill-advised prequel series called "Dexter: Original Sin": showcasing Dexter's life after college graduation. Is there any world in which this show is good? There are several things this show cannot do and very little it can do. For starters Dexter can't know about his origins, he remembers the trauma he experienced in the 1st Season because of his brother Brian and therefore this can't be explored. Next, Dexter can't have a relationship, prior to having a relationship Dexter was afraid of getting into one because they'd see him for who he really is and ultimately Dexter was not interested in sex.

That face you make when someone has a bad idea.

Furthermore, he can't have any contact with the guys who killed his mom, Dexter didn't remember her at all prior to Brian. The tension of this prequel is completely void because we know exactly what happens to all of these characters. Harry commits suicide, Debra gets killed by The Brain Surgeon, and Dexter gets shot by his son Harrison, there is nothing this series can offer us in a way that tells the story of Dexter Morgan in a new and engaging way. Speaking of new and engaging Showtime is also apparently working on (to their ever-loving shame) a prequel series about Arthur Mitchell...yeah, The Trinity Killer because that's exactly what we need right now. We know his origin story and everything we need to know about him we got from the show.

I'm sorry I was a fan of "Dexter" I liked it, even watched it until the bitter end, and even enjoyed "Dexter: New Blood" for the most part but "Dexter" is NOT the franchise Showtime thinks it is. There is very little that warrants itself to continue the story and very few characters engaging enough within the story to follow. Not even Frank Lundy can warrant a story being told about him because ultimately it'd end up being a police procedural show. This is why "Gotham" sort of worked, Batman has a rich mythos of villains all of whom are interesting in their own right to warrant being able to carry their own stories BUT no one in "Dexter" mythos is able to do the same and that includes Dexter himself. We got the "Dexter" story from start to finish to finish again, if we're going back to when Dexter graduated what can he possibly do in the way of character development that wouldn't undo the development he went through in his own series. And no, we're not interested in Harry or a young f*ckin' Debra. This has bad idea written all over it and far be it for me to take a massive dump on a series before it even comes out BUT this is bad, "Many Saints Of Newark" bad. Even worse is that we're trying to bring Dexter back with "Dexter: Ressurection" and I am praying this is just a very late April Fool's Day joke but good gravy this is beyond the pale of bad ideas.

Let's talk about "Deadpool & Wolverine", and while this is Deadpool's debut into the MCU in reality it was most certainly not. The MCU has always teased the X-Men, with Professor X appearing in "Doctor Strange and The Multiverse Of Madness", Beast appearing in "The Marvels" and now Wolverine and Deadpool appearing in an MCU movie. I will give The MCU tons of credit because just like actual comic books, the movie universe is getting pretty screwy, and at most "Deadpool & Wolverine" established that all Marvel movies are canon now and can be considered pruned timelines, giving them the ability to reference those movies or have those actors reprise those roles. No spoilers but the movie didn't change anything in The MCU at all or give a clear direction of where The MCU is going. Ultimately, it's a strange wrap-up to The Deadpool story (if this is a wrap-up) but can be ignored if you're looking for something to further the overarching MCU storyline.

No real impact on The MCU

Since we're talking about The MCU and Lord how I hope this is another late April Fool's Day Prank, it was announced that Robert Downey Jr. was going to play Doctor Doom in what was announced as "Avengers: Doomsday" which was originally planned to be "Avengers: The Kang Dynasty". So who killed The MCU? It was The MCU itself because as much as I like Robert Downy Jr. unless he's masked 100% of the time HE SHOULD NOT BE PLAYING DOCTOR DOOM! Unless he's playing a Tony Stark variant that becomes Doctor Doom (and they've all but destroyed any opportunity to use variants) he shouldn't play him. Just like Pedro Pascal shouldn't play Reid Richards, but that's another topic. I am happy it's a white guy playing Doctor Doom as I was worried they'd get Giancarlo Esposito to play him and as much as I like him...that'd be a solid "No." from me.

In case MCU is Flailing add one mixture of Robert Downey Jr.

However, Doctor Doom is a handsome, blonde-haired blue-eyed white dude, I'd hope Ed Speleers or Dan Stevens, someone young with some gravitas...Robert Downey Jr. is such as freakin' fanservicey move by Marvel that they might as well add jiggle physics to every female character they have. Furthermore, why the sudden pivot to Doctor Doom? Why not re-cast Johnathan Majors? There are hundreds of Black actors who can play Kang, Damson Idris, and John David Washington (and he'd have killed it). Ultimately, with the introduction of variants and from what the previous movies established not all variants look alike so they could have stayed on course with "The Kang Dynasty". What payoff they're gonna give to the post-credit scene of "Ant-Man: Quantumania" is anyone's guess...and more than likely they're gonna pretend it never happened...which...is...well...*sigh*

Massive waste.

Guys, The MCU is dead, dead as Dillinger at this point if they're 100% serious about bringing Robert Downy Jr. back as Doctor Doom, this will literally be one of the dumbest moves in cinematic history. And again this wouldn't even work if he were Tony Stark variant. Good gravy I hope they're kidding, I REALLY hope they're kidding with this nonsense otherwise I'm freakin' done.

Moving right along, let's talk about "Creature Commandos"...right.

Continuing the vein of offering more game later, NetherRealm has decided to release an epilogue chapter to "Mortal Kombat 1" similar to "Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath" titled "Khaos Reigns", which sees Havik make good on his plan to start a new war of variants that's bigger and badder than the previous war. "Mortal Kombat" is in a very weird place now as now they're paying homage to the 3D era of their games while still maintaining the multiverse (which they introduced in this game) and the new story they're telling after having rebooted the franchise. I have never cared for the character Havik, I think his look is terrible and his character is terrible, his move set is interesting and makes for a lot of interesting and cool animations but overall he's a character I can do without. And the fact that they combined Havik and Dairou just reveals how lame both characters are. That said I am interested to see how Havik gets destroyed in Khaos Reigns and if that will lead to Hotaru or possibly Onaga being introduced. "Mortal Kombat" has really tied itself in a knot with the power scaling here.

Seriously, who wanted you back?!

We're being reintroduced to Sektor and Cyrax as females this time, not sure and not sure how they tie into things but we'll see and we're being introduced to Noob Saibot again, this time a creation of Havik rather than Quan Chi. I'm so confused as to where "Mortal Kombat" can go from here, I'm waiting for Shinjuko to be introduced and let's be honest there is a possibility that there is a universe out there where Onaga or something worse is a Titan. The "Mortal Kombat" mythos is so vast and wide that just about anything is possible now. While I'm done playing the games for the most part, I'll be sticking around for as long as they have their cinematics. Ghost Face is a DLC Character now and I'm excited for that, really looking forward to that fatality and animality. Thus far they have a really good DLC roster this time minus Sektor and Cyrax (who are already kameo characters, but I digress).

Conan and Ghostface about to have the coldest fatalities ever. Sektor's Scarecrow Fatality is where he peaked.

Switching gears to talk about wrestling, Bo Dallas is back this time honoring his brother's wishes and carrying on the Uncle Howdy gimmick this time with a few others backing him known as The Wyatt Sicks, which features Dexter Lumis, Erick Rowan, Joe Gacy, and the stunningly beautiful Nikki Cross. I haven't watched wrestling in a dog's age and nor do I plan to start again BUT, with what's going on and with Triple H being the master behind creative I am very much so looking forward to seeing how this develops. Thus far The Wyatt Sicks, despite being creepy and dark are being booked as Faces (good guys) going after people who abandoned or betray family and their current target is Chad Gable, who is doing a phenomenal job of bringing himself heat similar to how Kurt Angle did the early 2000s.

Just posting this beauty right here because Scottish women...am I right?

The WWE are really smart to book The Wyatt Sicks as faces because people obviously wanna cheer for Bo Dallas as the story behind him is very relatable and inspiring, so as long as they keep Uncle Howdy and the others shrouded in mystery until it is time for them to be unleashed they'll keep the engagement. The real danger here is 2 possibilities overexposure or lack of direction. The nWo died due to overexposure, it got to a point where there were so many members of The nWo they were able to have B-Team and you never wanna be a member of The nWo B-Team. Aces and Eights and The Ministry Of Darkness had no direction and thus fizzled out after a while. In order for The Wyatt Sicks to really last each member has to be working towards a goal that Uncle Howdy is directing them to, that goal could be title belts, revenge, whatever. The point is once they achieve that goal they're allowed to leave The Wyatt Sicks because they're no longer sick. Thus any feud they have should be individual feuds with Uncle Howdy acting as a mentor in the background.

I don't know anything about Bo Dallas's wrestling acumen but Uncle Howdy should wrestle as little as possible and when he does it should only be to wreck people and leave, any long drawn out match should be done under the guise of Bo Dallas, Uncle Howdy should be that last ditch effort to make everyone pay. But I digress, I really hope this keeps building steam and stays going strong for a good long time, Bo and Bray deserve a fair shake, and with Trips looking over things I have confidence that it'll work out.

Concluding this article I'll talk about the upcoming "The Penguin" show. *sigh* I liked "The Batman", I think Robert Pattison did a good job as both Batman and a young Bruce Wayne but the movie left a bit to be desired and one of those desires was The Penguin. Up until I stopped watching "Gotham" I actually enjoyed Robin Lord Taylor's portrayal of The Penguin as I thought he had the speaking patterns down (using flowery words and speaking as if he's a nobleman) and he wasn't ugly just strange-looking but I can easily see him becoming The Penguin from "Batman: The Animated Series". Say what you will but while I loved Danny DeVito's Penguin, The Penguin for me will ALWAYS be "Batman: The Animated Series" interpretation of the character. Colin Farrel does an impressive job as a mobster but I didn't get that he was The Penguin and I don't think I ever will. If I had my druthers and he was still alive I'd love to see Phillip Seymour Hoffman as The Penguin as I feel he'd be better as a character who is a soft-spoken, eloquent, gentleman but more than willing to tear your eyes out if you cross him. The Penguin should be Niles Crane if he were corpulent and a criminal. 

Dapper Dan, right here.

Colin Farrel plays The Penguin as just a mobster. Don't get me wrong, The Penguin is a mobster but he's the freakin' Penguin, a man who has a taste for the finer things in life. They don't call him The Penguin JUST because of his appearance but BECAUSE of his appearance, his suits, and his manner of dress, the man is never caught looking less than dapper. I can see Colin Farrel's Penguin in a wife beater and boxers shouting at some bukyak Silvio style. The fact that The Penguin now has a show chronicling his rise to power is 1) an indictment on how much "Gotham" has dropped the ball and 2) a showcase in the complete lack of ideas DC/Warner Bros. has and 3) once again another reliance on Batman or Batman adjacent properties to draw attention to DC/Warner Bros. At this point DC/Warner Bros. should just replace the symbol on Batman's chest with the words "Male Prostitute" with the way they whore him and his Rogues Gallery out. Will I be watching "The Penguin", "No." as I've said I'm done with DC/Warner Bros. until I see a trailer for "Superman" and even then I'm not 100% sold on a James Gunn-led DCEU...but only time will tell...

He'd have definitely been a member of The Lupertazzi Family

To conclude, I don't know gang, media has been at an all-time low, at least in my humble opinion, there are no new TV shows I'm looking forward to, everything is getting rebooted or revived, "The Librarians" is getting revived on The CW, nothing new coming out on Netflix, really just waiting for "Stranger Things" and the 2nd Season of "Squid Game", but that's about it. This is sad really because there was a time when TV was in its golden age and now "Grey's Anatomy" is in its 21st Season and "American Horror Story" is still ongoing...(no doubt from a pact with Satan). Movies aren't looking too good either, as it stands I'm just waiting for "Metaphor Re: Fantazio", "Control 2" and whenever "Persona 6" drops and they're all video games. Oh well here's a GIF of my reaction to everything that has been going on media wise, until next time.