“Dead End Job” is kind of a bad episode. Surprisingly, it’s subpar. I had been all geared up for a big reveal, an answer for what is happening. A nice little exposition moment. And while we got one—and I didn’t guess it beforehand—it wasn’t even that big of a revelation. Also, it’s not a revelation I particularly like.
“Keyed In” is a weird episode. Not a lot of it is explained or even seems to follow much of a plot. I more mean this for the anthology story, but even the other stuff is kind of odd for a Magnus Protocol episode.
Tales of the Empire Tells Us Parts Of A Whole Story After having such a good time reviewing Tales of the Jedi, I figured that Tales of the Empire would be similar. That it would also contain a bunch of interesting looks at the history of various familiar characters. But I wouldn’t call these characters…
Artificial Condition continues my internal war with how I feel about The Murderbot Diaries. Despite it being more technobabble than almost anything else, the story remains intriguing and engaging off the back of the main conceit: what if a rogue AI designed to kill wanted to be left alone to watch television?
“Interruptions” doesn’t interrupt in the way I had expected. Given that the episode, for a time, kept flitting to different moments around the office, I had assumed that the entire runtime would take place there. No statement. No anthology elements. A true interruption from the status quo.
“Driven” is such an interesting episode because of how much it’s a different subgenre than is typical of The Magnus Protocol. Yes, the events are horrific in concept. Yes, there are some obvious parallels to the very first episode of Archives. Yes, it has cosmic elements. But the nature of the narrative is more like reading a paranormal investigation story.
“Catching Up” is such an improvement from the last two episodes. It’s weird and horrific and takes its time to build to the horror. And the horror story both informs the overall story and works on its own. It’s an excellent entry.
I didn’t like “Gut Feelings” all that much. I can’t say since “Pet Project” has an episode been this much of a dud. The premise is strong, the ideas—in theory—scary, and the writing certainly got across the ideas the episode wanted to achieve…but I just didn’t like it.
“Raising Issues” has three parts, and none of them feel all that connected to each other. The main thing is that they, yes, involve characters “Raising Issues.” I’ve been amused by the pun titles of The Magnus Protocol throughout, but this might be the most creative use of it.
“A New You” is, ultimately, a familiar trope played mostly as expected. But it’s also somehow a lot bleaker in its implications and uses the multi-media format of The Magnus Protocol to add subtle storytelling. This may be my favorite use of the “social media post” format.
Batman: Caped Crusader is incredible. A throwback that doesn’t seem redundant. Each episode of the first three introduces us back to one of the classic villains and manages to set up even more of them without detracting from the immaculate pacing. Somehow, these half-hour episodes are more engaging, better written, and feel more thoughtful than most one-hour episodes of a show I’ve seen.
It’s been a few weeks since I reviewed another episode of The Magnus Protocol and I’m so glad that “Mixed Signals” is the one I returned to. This episode is fantastic, and it’s mainly due to such an interesting, novel, and evocative horror concept.
