WONDER MAN Review Episodes 5-8

0:00 Hello wonderful people. Today on a bite of We're talking about Wonder Man episodes 5 through 8. Finally talking about the second-half of Wonder Man, I lots of thoughts about this series, especially going into the second-half. This is a fun ride that I can't wait to get into. Before we get into that, make sure you're following. Subscribe, send a little review, you know, all those wonderful little things that you can do that helps support indie shows like ours. Spoilers ahead for Wonder Man as a character, as a series. So go watch the episodes and then come back. Let us officially take a bite of Wonder Man episodes 5 through 8, created by Destin Daniel Cretton and Andrew Guest.

0:43 Trevor's past catches up with him, leading Simon to super slam some slimeballs. The call back they've been waiting for finally comes, but Simon's past packs a punch to his creative flow. The pair's dreams come true, but a pesky paper reporter puts it in peril. Finally, Simon creates a role for himself that becomes a breakout. Wow, those are so fun. Wonderful. All right, so this is the second-half of the season or season series question mark. We'll get into that. I think this episode is really going to be, it's not so much how we focused really heavily on the 1st 4 episodes in the first time are Part 1, right? I think this will be more of a general where do we see Wonder Man going and some of the under unanswered questions that we still have about the series. All right, so now that we've seen the second-half of season 1, hopefully it's Season 2.

1:37 How did you feel about these 4 episodes compared to the 1st? And then I guess just as a package deal. It's interesting, I actually thought, I don't know if weaker is necessarily the right word for these four. Maybe the build up of the character and trying to piece things together is where more fun was for me. The second-half I felt like confused me a little bit. I think it confused me a little bit about Simon as a character, as a person, and kind of where this is leading them. What did you think? Can we talk about what confused you? Yeah, I think that as far as Simon as a character, I kind of there there in the episode where the New York Times reporter is coming to do a profile piece on him. I was kind of losing track of whether or not he was a good person or not.

2:25 I think that's on purpose, Yeah, yeah. I mean, Simon isn't, he's a good guy, obviously, and he has good intentions. But I think what this show was trying to do was he had to play specific roles and that's how he can determine to fully go into that role or not. And I think by the end of this, these 4 episodes and by the end of the season, he accepts the role that accepts the bad and good consequences of his actions and just actions around him. I don't think we were supposed to be like he is a superhero because he's not a superhero yet until he actually accepts the role as Wonder Man fictionally and in real life, right? So I think there was a personally, I think there was a point to that. Like, I didn't really think he was like a great person in the first half and the second-half you can really see him struggling with a lot of that stuff. Yeah, I guess, I don't know.

3:17 I guess that's what it was in the first half. I thought that he was definitely flawed, but I didn't think that he was necessarily a jerk. But I think that in the episode, like I said with the New York Times reporter, the way he's seen on set, he's kind of a diva right in like not knowing people's names and wanting his order just right from crafty and, and like, is it because he's just so into being an actor that he doesn't even realize it, or is it that he doesn't care about those people? Well, I do think that we had talked a little bit in our first part about him possibly being on the spectrum or divergent in some way. Then I think in these 4 episodes it does show a little more to that again like when he goes to Von Kovacs house to do the auditions and the script that he had really doesn't matter.

4:08 And so when he's presented with like oh this plan doesn't matter, you have to improv and how he just couldn't really handle that right when he's going to the house in his shoes, his shoes or is there shoes on shoes off house. So he's really focused on some of these things that, like, are impeding him of performing well or, you know, acting a certain way in a situation. And I think when he is on that movie set, he's like, this is who I'm supposed to be. I'm now taking the role of a movie actor, and this is what you do. But I think being confronted by Kathy Fieldman and having to be like, oh, no, you have to like, be a good person, but are you actually a good person on set? And I think that's him showing. Oh, maybe I do need to understand that these are people doing the same thing that I'm doing. Right.

4:53 And it but it's interesting, interesting because ultimately by the end, we see him make a selfless choice. We see him, you know, kind of really assume this role of wonder man in real life. So that episode with Kathy Friedman, I thought was just interesting and trying to piece together who he is. And so, you know, I was really kind of the I was very much thinking that he was on the spectrum. And then we got to to that episode. I was like, is he on the spectrum? Yes, maybe no. Maybe it's just those social situations that he just doesn't know how to be a person. But when we see him have that conversation with his ex, right? Because what he's really afraid of is that everybody is either going to reveal his secret or tell the reporter that he's a basically a jerk, you know?

5:40 And he almost thinks the worst of everyone. And as he's going through it, everyone's like, no, yeah, well, you're a jerk and you're selfish, but I would never do that to you. Yeah. And I think that's again, his part of who he is as a character of not fully trusting people and understanding that like not everybody is out to get you, right. And yes, you have multiple secrets that you're trying to hide of you as a person. And unfortunately, like your career path in your in society have made you feel that way, but you can't treat everybody that way, especially people that have always been there for you and maybe just have a conversation. Yeah, just once or twice. But I think again that that does tiptoe into the territory of like, is he little narrow divergent? And I don't want to keep saying that, but I do think it's interesting that I he, you know, has a lot of traits that somebody that would.

6:31 So it's it's an interesting balance between the two. Sometimes it's like, oh, is he hiding his powers or he's hiding how he is socially. And I like that it conflated both of those a little bit, because now it's just kind of up to us to dissect that and talk about it, hence the show. What, you know, one of the things I was thinking about is we, we learn a good amount, not a good amount, but we learned about his past. And so I'm trying to figure out what happened to him that led him to this place of needing to be so secretive about himself, about his superpowers, and so 'cause there was never really a thing where someone really did him wrong in a way, it's just something that he put upon himself, which is kind of sad. Well, I think, OK, let's get into the DODC because I think this is playing into it.

7:19 I part of the reason why I think that we didn't see his origin of his powers is because 1, he is being set up to be some type of mutant, right? And the DODC is very much being set up to be the government backed agency to round up mutants in some way. You know, we heard, I think it was in episode 3 of like, you know, half of the the cells are filled and like we're running out of money. So we have to justify why we have this big fancy facility, but it's only being filled to half capacity. And so like, how do you fill those cells quickly and easily? You would still fear into people. And so I think that's where Doorman came in. And that was a very important part of not only you can't have powers while you're on set, but they also took away Josh Gad national treasure. Josh Gad, who is missing.

8:04 I don't think he's still missing. And if he is missing, we know he's alive just because of the showrunners have said that he's alive. But I'm actually more in the side of they have Josh Gad. They're able because they're experimenting on doorman. We we, we can infer that I think they might have Josh Gad and they're more they're fueling the machine the the fear machine of see people with powers that are unchecked can cause harm. Yeah, I mean, this entire situation, it's, it's blackmail with Trevor and then it's almost like entrapment, you know, in a way with Simon that they're trying to get him to use his powers so they can hold it against him and then they can put him in one of these cells, you know, so I I just, obviously the DODC is just a bad, bad organization.

8:52 Well, they. Did say that he was a threat or an asset. So I do think that's going to come into play later and exactly where that's going to fall, I think it's going to really depend on Simon. And what is an asset mean for the DODC, right? Doesn't necessarily. It's like you're not playing for the good guys. No, no, I do want to say that the the second-half had some of my favorite like episodes and scenes. I love when they were finally getting the call back to things like all was hit in the fan. They had to run from like people are trying to get money from Trevor and also the cops and everything like that. That was really funny. And then the we got to the point in the series or the character arc where Trevor and Simon kind of had a falling out and we find out that Trevor was lying the entire time. And how Simon deals with that is literally exploding with emotions and destroying sound sage. The one person he put his trust into ended up doing him dirty. And I think that, but if you look at it like maybe this has happened to Simon a lot because his brother doesn't seem like he really can trust him or his brother, even though he supports him and he loves him, I don't think that he's been there how Simon needed.

9:58 He doesn't get him. No, and I don't think he wants to get him, which like he's not putting forth the effort. It's like, I don't know, maybe just stop getting on him so much about not having these big roles. He's obviously trying, right? And because of who he is as a person, it might just take a little. Longer, well, because it it seems like for his brother, the way to be successful is to have money and to be able to take care of your family. And right now Simon doesn't have either of those things. But holding him up to your own standards of what a person should be, well, that just breeds contempt. Yeah, I did really like the sign though, with the scene where he blew up the sound stage that just visually looked amazing and I think really showcased his power. Like, I mean, he wasn't even really at full capacity I would say.

10:44 Well, I mean we need to talk about the gotcha moment in the callback scene when we all thought that he punched a hole through that guys head. Yo jaw on the floor, gasping for breath, completely gagged, I mean. When that happened, I was like, there's no way he can get past this. This is. I was like, oh, he's real fucked. And then it. Wasn't. Yeah, it was totally a gotcha moment for us as audience members. It was definitely effective. But I think that, I mean, look at the way that his powers can manifest. I I mean, he obviously is capable of that. He can blow up an entire sound stage. He could truly punch a hole through someone's face. And just being upset about friends falling out like that's so I'm really curious to see how far it can go. The episode with von Kovac and his house. I, I just again, I love this and how they crafted this entire series of like what an actor goes through an audition process and how there's like Francis Ford Coppola type directors that are like super method and like a little too much. I do want to say that I did like von Kovac's kind of protectiveness of Simon a little bit when some, I can't remember which one of the actors was kind of like, oh, OK with Simon and he's like, no, no, no, don't do that. So I did like that he had a softer side as opposed to like just being very weird.

12:07 Well, you know, he does say, ultimately say to Simon that Simon, it was always you. I just needed you to rise to the occasion. I knew it was going to be you. So sweet. Oh my God, that's so sweet. You were always my wonder. Me, Hun. So let's talk about Trevor's decision to cover for Simon as taking on the mantle. Mantle again as the Mandarin, right? I think that this spells trouble for Shang Chi and his sister because she's now the leader of the Ten Rings. And now this terrorist. I'm putting that in quotes is back with the imagery of the Ten Rings everywhere and saying that like this is what he's doing and that Hollywood is brainwashing you, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It kind of echoing the far right a little bit. But now doing that to cover for Simon for blowing up that sound stage, which I think is the best form of friendship that you could possibly do by sentencing yourself to just forever being locked.

13:03 Up. That's going above and beyond, yeah, But I. It's going to be really interesting to see if this comes back in some sort of way. Yeah, I mean, it would be cool to get more Shang Chi in our lives. You're telling me? It's been years, but I think that it's the ultimate selfless moment. I think that so many of his decisions in his life were completely selfish, were to get more money, to get more drugs, to try and survive. He was willing to kind of do whatever it took. And so I think that being with Simon, although it started as a way to save himself, ended up being a way to for him to discover himself and to make up make amends for his past.

13:51 It very much was like friends of the craft became friends in real life. Yes, it was very sweet. Actors. Loving actors. And not actors on actors, actors loving actors. Yeah, I, I think the their trajectory of friendship and just, I mean, what an amazing story arc for Trevor, Ben Kingsley being able to like, play this role and then fully come full circle and redeem himself in some sort of way. His decision to do that is was great, but now there's huge targets on both of their backs. Well, and if we look at that episode, what's interesting is that we see Trevor kind like really kind of saving Simon throughout the entire period of them being on set, whether it's how he's talking to people.

14:36 There's that whole thing where Trevor cannot get over just this one line in a scene. And excuse me, Simon can't get over a line in the scene. And Trevor has to step in and kind of smooth it over between him and Kovacs because he's like, I think in a way you could ruin this for yourself. And so he ultimately has to save him again. It's mirroring the American Horror Story situation where he could have been going too far. And if Ben wasn't there and you see this really highly codependent relationship between them specifically in the episode. And then it just boils down to like, once Simon finds out that twist or finds out that he's been, you know, getting information on him and it wasn't truly his friend, even though he was, that's when just the everything kind of crumbles right together. But you can see that Trevor did really care about him regardless.

15:27 He destroyed the the wire. He kept trying to like play both sides and ultimately didn't work out. But then it was up to Simon of accepting that role as Wonder Man to save him. And and then we see that the the movie's a hit and Simon is a star. So what makes Simon then give it all up to save Trevor? I think he had sucked. I think he upset. I think he accepts the role of Wonder Man like fully. Like I have these powers. I can be a real life Wonder Man and also play the role of Wonder Man. Well, he looks so good in the suit, so of course he's going to accept the role. So incredibly cool.

16:12 From head to toe, Yeah, I mean, do you want to? OK, yeah, so friends over at POC Culture, Ron Shadow, I did win. It was a little bit away and I, I, I do feel a little bad for winning, but I also don't because I mean just Wonder Man, like official Wonder Man glasses, which I cannot wear for long. If this is what Scott Summer sees constantly, I I I would be upset. Those glasses always the the Scott Summers glasses always amaze me because his his beams, what, what are his beams called? They're concussive blasts. There you go. His concussive blasts. They're just like always going right. Yeah, I know.

16:52 His glasses stare on his face. There's like, it's like a certain type of quartz or something like that. There's, there's science, there's an encyclopedia right there. We can pick it up. We're. Going to Yeah, we're going to do some. Deep research, I mean, but just so cool look. At this cool guy. Him, him getting the actual like Wonder Man glasses, the original ones. I think that's what really sold him. We have that whole moment where you see him in the suit and he's coming into that role of Wonder Man. And these are the real ones from set. These are from Yaya's face. No, they're not close enough though. Close. Enough. They are very much going to sit high in your collection of goods. I'll probably. Put them over here, yeah. Yeah, we have this nice little red shelf going here on the top that's. Perfectly things that we've covered shelf but yeah, I mean going to the end of wonder man right I'm just going to keep this on because I'm not going to take them off and.

17:41 I'll they look cool. Going to the end of Wonder Run, right? Yucca Valley, we see after he's successful and everything and he gets to talk to his agent and be like, you did it, we did it, we're finally here. Your your movie star. You have the choice of whatever you want to do. This is what you've been working for. Your father would be so fucking proud, which is amazing. He makes a decision to take on the role of a security guard to the DOCDODCDOCDODC prison right to break Trevor out. I really loved the scene where he was getting to know the security guard. Yeah, I thought it would like most shows wouldn't care.

18:23 It was another moment where we in the audience were sort of, we're in the dark because we didn't necessarily know what was going on. Who is this guy? You know, we know that Simon, he's method, right? So he wants to dig deep now he's a big star, he's getting a gritty role. He's playing every man, not Wonder Man, but actually it's all farce, right? And so. I also, but I do want to say though, like we spent like what, 15 minutes with him getting to know that like he didn't really even want this job, but because of where he lives and because of money and everything, he has to kind of do it. We even go from like him with his workout routines to eating dinner with his family. So like again, we're in the dark of like what is happening? Like why are we? I guess he is with the role.

19:06 But I do love like all that work for him to just be like, no, I'm not the guy who you think I am. And then just gets Trevor out. It's like all of that training was like, why? He had to trick him. He had to. He only talked to two people. He needed to gain his trust in order for him to get through the doors. Well, I guess if you didn't see the karaoke at the local bar, he wouldn't have been able to get past that second guard. That's right, He needed to know. He just really needed to ingrain himself in that life in order to get through the doors. Because I think that, yeah, he could have probably blasted through the doors, but would he have made it to Trevor in time? So he needed to be able to go through undercover. I feel for the guard and his family who think that there's going to be some sort of movie based on him or something.

19:50 I. Think he knows now that like it's not like it was all for that. He doesn't even care about that place anyway. Like, I don't think he fully believes in that place or I think he'll be fine. I just thought he was going to see himself on the big screen. No, no, unfortunately. So sad So. He breaks Trevor out amazing saving the damsel scene and he pulls Trevor in close which I was like. Love that. And then they kiss. And then they kissed and flew off. No. OK, so this brings us to the part in this episode of Do you think we will see Wonder Man again? And when do you think we will see him? We. Better. I mean, what is he going to do, just be flying through the air forever with Trevor? Yeah. Forever with Trevor, you guys, people, let me tell you about my best friend. Yeah, I mean, it would be such AII honestly think it would be a waste of this character.

20:42 I OK, so do you think we will see him in doomsday? Because this is this is where a lot of them Marvel Cinematic Universe is going right now because we only really have I think Spiderman before we have Doomsday. So he's either going to show up in Spiderman or Doomsday or just not until the mutant. Saga. I mean, can someone tell me what doomsday is about? No, exactly. Do you think we'll see him though? I. I would hope so. I, I, I honestly would hope so. I really liked Simon as a character. I think it really worked in his favor to be able to get to know him before he's the hero. Well, I that I think is the point of these spotlights. I think they're starting to understand like, oh, we can do this type of origin where it's self-contained in a way. Echo and Wonder Man are very much like this. Without worrying about the greater MCU, without putting a timestamp on things, without doing all this stuff and just tell the story to.

21:41 Then once they are introduced again, it's a bigger impact instead of wasting that time. I mean, do you think you'll see him again? We'll see him again. I do, but I don't think in these Avengers movies. No, no. And I I almost don't want him to show up because there are so many moving parts with these two movies, so many characters that are involved in this that I think to have him kind of thrown in there. I don't know. I will say though, I don't think that Marvel banked on the success of this show. This show is beloved. Like I don't see any critiques. Nobody's like trolling, nobody's doing. I mean, there's the occasional like this show is boring, whatever, but there's like, I think everybody Unitedly is being like, this is a great show.

22:27 The show was really good. This is what I want from this. And so I don't think that they expected the type of reception that it got. So who knows, maybe they're going to put him in there some way. But exactly where does he fall in, right? He is in California. So we do know that there's quite a lot of heroes and people there, everybody from like Jimmy Wu to the Pins to Chung Chi and Katie. So they're all there. But he kind of can't stay in California. Well, I think that's the the big question, right, is like he's globally known now as his character, his face, Trevor is now globally known again as in quotes terrorist. So like, what do they do?

23:09 Are they going to somehow be on the run more? I don't know. Yeah, I think it's really interesting. I mean, I think there's also something to be said about will eventually the DODC be brought down? Oh. Not for a while, I think. I mean, but is that maybe a mission of Wonder Man is to bring them down, the people that were trying? And also, maybe he needs to save Doorman, Find out where Doorman is, Find out where Josh Gad is. I think. Olaf, 1000. Three, I think, yeah. I, I mean, it would actually be kind of cool if after the dust settles or even maybe in between, who knows, because we have Kate and Kamala Khan recruiting people, right? But what are they recruiting them for? They're all kind of in the same area as well. So maybe it is to start some type of resistance that's under the radar because like, again, Simon's going to have to be under the radar or he's not.

24:01 I mean, are they going to be able to prove that this beloved action star is the one that broke him out? Do you know what I mean? Like, can they prove that? Probably because they're like, best friends. But I think it would be harder for the DODC to try to get the public's opinion to hate Simon versus the other way. OK, so we have Simon and Trevor. We need some sort of hacker character that can get into the DODC and find their files. Who will that be? That could be Rhode Island Rhode. Island right and then. Riri's going through it. I don't know. Oh. My gosh, that's right. So OK, what we really need to do is we need to break down the where are they now characters of Marvel? Not obviously now, but I think there needs to be some research of like these characters that were introduced but have been nowhere as far as in the main MCU timeline.

24:50 I think it's going to be interesting to see going into Spider Man and going into Avengers, Doomsday, Doomsday, Doomsday, and what time are we at? Are we at current time? Are we a little further? Because they do like to do time jumps a little bit and I think to serve some sort of purpose, they could easily do that. So I think with that, where does that leave us? Because I know that Shengshi and Wonder Man, so we're kind of developed around the same time. Hence we have Trevor involved and he's not with Morris or anything like that. So I do think it's interesting we got it so far after the fact from 2021 to now. So I don't know, I don't think that we will see Wonderland for a while, unfortunately.

25:32 Like he could probably pop up in some smaller things, but I almost want his like reintroduction with the bigger stuff to be a little more impactful instead of just being like, oh, there's wonder, there's Simon, and then that's it, you know? So I don't want him to be kind of a throwaway. I don't think that we're going to get vision quest stuff because there's no way they can do the brain wave patterns with him. And I don't know. It's definitely a big question mark for sure. I, I think that this, this wonder man I was going to like as a season, I think it told a complete story. I'd obviously think it leaves it open for more. Where you could easily get a season 2. Absolutely, absolutely.

26:12 Of of maybe them just trying, like I said, bringing the DODC down or just trying to be on the run or whatever it is. Make it oh, you know what would be OK? You know it would be so cool. Tell me first season 2 of Wonder Man is if Ivan Kovac, so he wants to work with him again, right? Ivan Kovac does like a documentary style thing of Simon making the West Coast Avengers, but it's like in the form of a documentary. I think that would be really fun. So you get the whole like industry kind of behind the scenes stuff that you got with the first season, but a little more meta without doing the same formula again. There's going to be a goofy cameraman character in that.

26:52 It would be fun. He's like, whoa, whoa. This is so. Wild for sure. You know it. OK, come. On sure. OK, I'm casting it. I'm I'm building out your idea here. Yeah yeah, I think that could be really cool. I yeah, I I think that the question is where are we going to see him? But I think that we should hope we we should most definitely see him again. It would be a waste. Let us know what you think when you think we will see Wonder man again. When would you like to see him? I I think it would be kind of hard to see him in spider man just because one where it takes place and how big that movie's going to be. Doomsday maybe easily depends on how many people are involved, right? Secret Wars maybe, but I don't think doomsday. I think there's a very particular vision for that and I don't see Simon Fid I.

27:40 Think it's Fantastic Four forward. Oh yeah, for sure. I can't wait. So excited for that. Yeah. All in all, loved it. I want more of this type of thing. If this is how they do origin stores, which we were already kind of getting with Miss Marvel, Moon Night, all of that, I think we should do that more. It's felt. Elevated. Yeah, in some way, yeah. I really, I really liked it. It was a little meta. More fun. Yeah. Two thumbs up. Yeah, all right. Well, two thumbs up from Wonder Man and we'll be back with something else. I'm sad to see Simon go but hey, we we squeezed like 2 weeks out of talking about this so I'm happy about that. Yes, we're celebrating Simon flying through the air with Trevor in his arms. Yeah, All right.

28:22 I need to take these off because I don't know what colors are anymore. You're. So dizzy. All right, Bye, bye.