Season finale time! This episode features some epic clashes, big reveals, and major developments that stand to offer some big change-ups in season 4, all while delivering some amusing comic-book goodness.
Andrew discovers an important secret on the night of the play, and in the morning, realizes he’s developed superpowers. He now possesses farting-activated invisibility – not the most exciting or glamorous power, but a power none the less. However, when he gets to school, he learns that all the kids have newly-acquired powers (possibly related to the freak storm the night before? Who knows?) The kids use their powers to address their private concerns, from dealing with lies and betrayal to seeking acceptance from their loved ones.
The superpowers stuff is fun. I enjoy seeing all the kids’ powers and learning their superhero names. There are some strong, funny character bits – Jay’s powers are just so perfect for him – and good comic-book tropes – Missy’s moniker is “The Her-ricane” because “female superhero names have to include their gender.” Also, Jay’s sadistic older brothers serving as Joker and Bane analogs is as awesome as it is fitting.
As usual, there’s also some good emotional content. There’s a nice demonstration of how love polygons often wind up treating any girls involved as objects (or, to quote Princess Jasmine, as “a prize to be won,”) and as the boys fight over a girl, they start to lose sight of just how important their friendship is to them; there’s a pivotal confrontation towards the end that’s really excellent.
I also like watching Missy navigate things with her Hormone Monstress, Mona (voiced by Thandiwe Newton!) While it’s clear that Mona’s lust and desires reflect Missy’s own – we’ve seen for quite a while how attuned Missy is to her desires – expressing them in the context of reality rather than fantasy is something new for her, and she’s caught between her usual inclination to be nice/likeable and her new impulses to demand what she wants.
A handful of good bits for Matthew, although he definitely stays in more of an ensemble position here. With the school news show he hosts, he’s the one to introduce most of the kids’ new powers, which offers up some good lines and sight gags, and while using his own powers (which are a little obvious but fitting) to excel in gym class, there’s a funny moment where he just dramatically cries, “Spooorts!!”
As far as Matthew/Andrew Rannells goes, this season was a little disappointing for me, if only because I expected more. With his prominent roles in the Valentine’s Day special and episodes 3-4, I thought we’d be seeing more of Matthew, both in terms of his friendship with Jessi and getting plots of his own. However, after “Obsessed,” he disappears for a while, and when he returns, he’s more in the background for the rest of the season. Even in “Disclosure the Movie: The Musical,” where he gets a bit more to do, he’s basically a rider in a secondary plot. I mean, good on the show for including more storylines for Matthew early in the season, but it did get my hopes up in ways that the rest of the season didn’t deliver.
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Press-junket stuff for Shang-Chi is starting to come out. I’ve only just started to sift into it, but a YouTube search is showing me lots of videos of cast members and Destin Daniel Cretton being interviewed against the same Shang-Chi backdrop. Unsurprisingly, Tony Leung Chiu-wai isn’t there. Still, I’ll be curious to see if the others talk much about him. Certainly, the reviews have been hardcore about Leung, but we’ll see how many journalists ask about him in interviews (or which folks will bring him up regardless of being asked – I still love this one Henry Golding interview where he’s asked about working with Constance Wu and Awkwafina, and he’s immediately like, “Don’t forget about Michelle Yeoh!”)
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