Amen. I partially wonder if the precise number of episodes wasn't baked into production deals (even if it didn't make sense). Obviously Iron Fist Season 2 made it to the network with a reduced episode count and Defenders was planned to be shorter... but neither of those are shining examples of well-crafted seasons of television.

I'll never NOT take a pot shot at Jeph Loeb, and I wouldn't put it past his "executive producer" role to pad episode counts for his own nefarious reasons. (fair, maybe not!) As much as I like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., until the final seasons it was hard to not see padding... even in the explicitly shorter "arcs".

I overall loved Agents of SHIELD, warts and all, because for all of its flaws, its core cast of characters were interesting and engaging and easy to invest emotional energy into.

But yeah, it definitely got a little meandery at times.

But it felt all the more egregious with the Netflix shows because by their nature they should have been tightly focused and efficient. They didn't have to fill a traditional network season like Agents did. Like, I think back to season three of Daredevil, grinding the entire forward momentum of the season to a screeching halt so we can spend a WHOLE EPISODE on a flashback to Karen's troubled past. A whole darn episode. Seriously.

I'll say this about AoS, I know Quake rode into the sunset of sorts, but if she resurfaced hardened and cold in the MCU as part of a Secret Warriors group... I mean... that would be really enjoyable to see and I hold out hope for more Hickman influence in the MCU.

The Batman
This is the Batman movie I've been waiting at least 17 years for. Go see it.

I binged all of The Book of Boba Fett. I liked it. I suppose it should go without saying that you need to have watched both seasons of the Mandalorian first. I have to admit I was disappointed in myself that it took me an entire episode to get the Quadrophenia in-joke.

The After Party series on Apple was a good time and fun mystery with a strong comedy cast.

I just can't get myself excited for The Batman, honestly. Everything about it just feels... been there, done that, ya know? Oooh, a grim and gritty realistic take on Batman, where everything is dark and serious and "important".

The more and more grim the world gets with Batman, the more I pine for Adam West.

I saw an excellent comic of Dr. Manhattan on Mars in 3 panels musing:
It's 1989 and I am seeing a new darker Batman movie.
It's 2005 and I am seeing a new darker Batman movie.
It's 2022 and I am seeing a new darker Batman movie.

It just feels like aside from Lego, everybody has had the exact same idea for a new Batman movie for a very long time now. Make it darker. Make it grittier. Make it more grounded. Make it more serious.

Well over twenty years later, and Joel Schumacher is still dictating the creative direction of Batman movies, even if it's to make a direct opposite to what he did.

My reaction to the original round of accolades piled on TDKR was that a LOT of fans who got some measure of enjoyment from the Adam West and Superfriends TV shows could now be vocal about how "Batman deserved to be in the Justice League all along!" To be fair, there were a small number of (surprisingly young, at the time) fans who were clamoring that a more "realistic" (hah!) Batman was reaching back to some (apocryphal) time when he was a "serious detective".

Don't get me started on all the fanboys who thought that Legends of the Dark Knight was going to be the next "forever" Batman title (like Detective Comics). The 1980s was a weird time when comic fans were given endless series showing just how bad-### so-and-so is. I long for the days when Wolverine was defeated by things being stored on the top shelf of the cupboard (or being dropped in a swimming pool).

My wife and I saw Free Guy over the weekend. We both enjoyed it a lot.
It felt to me like it was a kind of a cross between Tron and Ready Player 1, in a way.
Anyway, I love video games, my wife hates 'em, but we both like Ryan Reynolds and the story was fun.

Yeah, Free Guy was fantastic. My wife and I loved it, convinced my parents to watch it and they loved it - sometimes, it doesn't matter if you're into the media a movie is based on so long as the story itself is engaging and fun.

That's why the superhero movie has become such a mainstream success despite so many of the same people who love them being the ones who told us that comics were stupid kids' stuff and we were stupid kids for still liking them way back when.

Very true.

The Batman is the best live action DC film since The Dark Knight to me. It’s about damn time they emphasize the detective aspects of the character for the whole movie.

Wholeheartedly agree. We finally got the Dark Knight Detective. I also love how they leaned into the horror element too. Batman Begins had that with Scarecrow, The Dark Knight had the "nah man, not tonight" moment. But The Batman leans into criminals being afraid of the shadows because Batman may be there, and the Batmobile's reveal was like a demon staring from an abyss.