The Magnus Protocol Reviews: “Dependents”
Apr 30, 2025
Doctor Who Episodic Coverage: “The Well”
Apr 28, 2025
Friday Fiction: The Last Flight
Apr 25, 2025
The Magnus Protocol Reviews: “Circling Back”
Apr 23, 2025
Doctor Who Episodic Coverage: “Lux”
Apr 21, 2025
Friday Fiction: Literally All The Knowledge In The World
Apr 18, 2025
The Magnus Protocol Reviews: “Scrutiny”
Apr 16, 2025
Doctor Who Episodic Coverage: “The Robot Revolution”
Apr 14, 2025
Friday Fiction: Monstrous Overlap
Apr 11, 2025
Daredevil: Born Again Episodic Coverage: “With Interest”
Apr 9, 2025
The Magnus Protocol Reviews: “Out of the Box”
Apr 7, 2025
Friday Fiction: Hop Tester
Apr 4, 2025
Daredevil: Born Again Episodic Coverage: “Sic Semper Systema”
Apr 2, 2025
The Magnus Protocol Reviews: “Terms and Conditions”
Mar 31, 2025
Friday Fiction: We Are Nothing But A Pulse Wave
Mar 28, 2025
“Dependents” is a sad, brutal exploration of trauma with excellent and heartbreaking acting from several of the voice actors. It’s shorter than a lot of other episodes but has managed to get a much deeper emotional response out of me than any other in the series. I am bummed out right now.
“The Well” is kind of everything I want from a spooky Doctor Who episode. It’s a classic science fiction horror scenario—abandoned, hostile location—with a pinch of cosmic unknowableness, and a slower pace to build that dread. It’s a shame that a few moments brought down the otherwise excellent experience slightly.
Welcome to the far, far future.
Every species in the universe has been at war with a single, pure-evil entity of impossible power. Every option has failed. The war will end with us losing.
Well, somehow I predicted right. “Circling Back” contains a standard horror story. The fact it also has a pretty strong push on almost all overarching plotlines was just a bonus.
Alright, “Lux,” I’m onto that game. Having canonical critics in the episode point out its flaws to prevent people from considering them flaws is a fun trick. Hilariously, I hadn’t been bothered—or even noticed, honestly—that Lux changed his plan halfway through. I had long ago just accepted that this was going to be a surreal episode that wanted to really play with the fourth wall and that it wouldn’t have much of a true story.
Imagine, dear reader, if you could know all there was to know about a planet. What would you do with such knowledge? What might you think of the universe?
“Scrutiny” is a lore dump episode for fans of The Magnus Archives, that also happens to contain one of the most emotionally brutal statements in the whole season. It’s barely even supernatural.
“The Robot Revolution” has given me a bit of a theory about Doctor Who as a series—at least lately. I don’t think its runtime allows it to satisfactorily run two simultaneous plotlines well. Something’s going to give.
It’s time for another story about games. Last week, we took a look at someone having fun and enjoying a future where hyper-advanced games are commonplace.
This time, we see how it can go wrong. How a similar—but not exactly the same—technology can be used for other purposes.
“With Interest” finally gives us a superhero episode. I said last review that I wanted the pot to boil over, and it basically did. Daredevil locks in, even if the mask hasn’t come on. I hadn’t expected the episode to break the seal being a very trope-heavy, classic superhero scenario, but, hey, it was a ton of fun.
“Out of the Box” is perhaps the first comedy episode in this series and the second in Magnus as a whole. Maybe that’s just because of me being exposed to some much horror content, and not being bothered by the body horror, but I chuckled multiple times.
Gaming is a lot of fun. It’s a favorite pastime of so many people. And the technology is getting better all the time.
In this version of our future, it’s gotten very, very good. Possibly beyond what is actually possible—but, hey, this is a science fiction story. Let’s roll with it.
