Hit-Monkey Season 2 Review

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
This is a DynaMic Network podcast.

(00:24):
Hi and welcome to the Dynamic Duel Podcast,a weekly show where we review superhero films
and debate the superiority between Marvel andDC by comparing their characters in stat-based
battle simulations. I'm Marvelous Joe. And I'mhis twin brother, Johnny DC. And in this episode,
we are going to review the latest Marvel televisionanimated release, Hitmonkey Season 2. Hitmonkey

(00:48):
Season 1 was a big surprise when we reviewedthat, I think back in 2021. And it's not surprising
that the show got a season two and season two,every bit as good as the first, if not even
better. So I'm really excited to talk aboutit. Yeah, absolutely. Hit Monkey is a vibe
and I was totally there for it. And I can'twait to talk about it. Before that, we're going
to break down the comic book movie news thatcame out this past week, of which there was

(01:11):
a lot of news that came out from the recentD23 conference. Marvel decided to save like
all their good shit for D23, and they kind ofphoned in Comic Con. We're going to be talking
about the Agatha all along official trailer.We're going to describe the footage that came
out for Captain America, Brave New World, fantasticfor first steps Daredevil, Bornegan and Ironheart.

(01:33):
And we got the big news this past week thatDaredevil and Wolverine has surpassed one billion
dollars at the worldwide box office. So it isjust a full on Marvel episode. None of that
DC shit this time. None of that boring newsfrom the shit fucks down the street, as we
like to call them now. She's all Marvel. Thisis going to be a fantastic episode. I'm so

(01:55):
thrilled. I don't even know why I'm here. Like,I don't need to be here. You can go. You can
go. I'm just here to say things like shit. Damn.And that is whack.
OK, not another teen movie. As always guys,we list our segment times in our episode description,

(02:15):
so feel free to check out the show notes ifyou want to skip ahead to a particular topic.
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cheerio. Thanks AJ9K and thanks to everyonewho supports the podcast. Guys, be sure to
tune into the other shows in the DynaMic PodcastNetwork this week, including Max Destruction,
which pits your favorite action heroes fromfilm and television against each other. This

(03:23):
week, hosts Scotty and Gilly are pitting theTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles against the Warriors
of Virtue. On the Senjoworld podcast, host ZacharyHepburn speculates on fights between fan favorite
anime and manga characters. This Thursday, Zach'sdoing an Olympic sports-themed episode. between
Team Berna and Team Mud. Yeah, that'll be aninteresting episode. None of the shows on the

(03:48):
network have ever done anything like that, soreally excited to see how that sports-themed
episode goes. On the Console Combat podcast,hosts John and Dean find out who would win
in fights between popular video game characters.In yesterday's episode, they determined who
would win between Samus Aran from Metroid andMega Man. Visit dynamicpodcasts.com or click

(04:08):
the link in our show notes to listen to allthe shows. in the DynaMic Podcast Network.
But with that out of the way, quick to No Prize!A No Prize is an award Marvel used to give
out to fans. Our version, the Dynamic Duel NoPrize, is a digital award we pushed on Instagram
for the person that we feel gave the best answerto our question of the week. Last week, we

(04:31):
asked, other than Dynamic Duel, what is yourfavorite podcast in the DynaMic Network and
why? And we only got... one answer, but it wasa good answer. This week's no prize goes to
Scott Camacho who said, I'm not biased or anything,but, um, I really like max destruction. Dustin's

(04:53):
cheesiness followed by Ken's quick wit makesfor a great show. And I love all the action
stars. I heard there's a new set of twins thatis going to be doing it now. So I'm definitely
going to watch out for them. That's the showto watch. Max destruction. Yeah, Scotty is
not biased at all. It's not like he's the newmain host for Max Destruction going forward.

(05:16):
That's right. Yeah. Ken, the initial host ofMax Destruction, the guy who started the show,
has stepped away from the podcast and Scottyis bringing aboard his twin brother, Gilly,
which means that there are two sets of twinsrunning podcasts in the DynaMic Podcast Network.
And we want to give a quick. Super heartfeltshout out to Ken. We've been a fan of his ever

(05:39):
since he put out the you call those tacticspodcast Ken has been a huge supporter of dynamic
duel. He was our very first executive producerHe was essentially the guy who started the
dynaMic podcast network because he asked usif he could start his own show and use Our
simulator and everything like that so he's justa fucking legend in the dynaMic network community

(06:00):
and We will always be happy to have him on asa guest Yeah, he's guested on this podcast
before for our Punisher review. The guy is justa genius when it comes to anything military
related, considering he is active military.That was always something interesting that
he brought to Max Destruction, the fact thathe's a literal military strategist for the

(06:20):
army speculating on these battles. Now, Scotty,the new host, was also in the military, so
I'm definitely excited for his matches as well.Oh yeah, Scotty has brought a lot to the Max
Destruction podcast over the last few monthsas he's been co-hosting and he has great chemistry
with his brother Gilly dating back to the womb.So we know that duo will make Ken proud and

(06:40):
really looking forward to seeing what they dowith the show in the future. Especially with
their upcoming episode, Teenage Mutant NinjaTurtles vs. the Warriors of Virtue, that's
going to be a great way to kick off this newera of Max Destruction. So great answer Scotty,
you win this week's No Prize. If you the listenerwant a shot at winning your own no prize, stay
tuned to later on in this episode when we'llbe asking another question of the week. And

(07:02):
now that that's done, onto the news!
Alright, this past weekend we had the D23 eventwhere Disney presents all of the upcoming projects
they have on their slate to investors. Theyshowed a lot of exciting footage at the event,
which good luck finding video clips of thoseon the internet, but we're going to break down

(07:24):
the clips for you here. The first trailer we'regoing to talk about is Agatha All Along, which
actually was released to the general publicas the official trailer. This wasn't like a
leak or anything, but this is coming off ofthe teaser trailer that we got just a few weeks
ago. The Agatha All Along series is about thewitch getting back her powers that were taken
from her by the Scarlet Witch at the end ofWandavision. That is whack! To do that, she

(07:51):
has to walk the witch's road. So she gets someof her old witch friends to do this with her
and they sing a song. I don't know if this isgoing to be a musical or not. I guess, you
know, Wandavision had a lot of... musical elementsto it and since Agatha all along is kind of
a sequel of sorts to WandaVision, maybe it makessense that's why there's music, but it reminded

(08:12):
me a lot of the Far Over the Misty MountainsCold song from the first Hobbit movie as Agatha
starts singing a song called The Ballad of theWitch's Road. All I know is anyone who's looking
forward to this but also trashing the Jokerfor being a musical is a hypocrite. Damn! The
trailer for Agatha all along does have someinteresting moments here. We see a witch that

(08:37):
looks like the wicked witch of the west fromthe Wizard of Oz. We see some scary moments
where like this witch demon chick is like crucifiedon fire. It's kind of freaky looking. I don't
know what to make of Aubrey Paz's character.She definitely looks to be like the wild card
of the group, it seems. It'll definitely makefor some pretty solid Halloween viewing this

(08:58):
spooky season. There was a line though thatI absolutely despise where Agatha tells, I
think, Billy, the Scrawler Witch's son, shesays, time to finish the road, last one there's
a good person. It's so fucking cheesy. Horribledelivery, horrible writing. I hope it's not
indicative of some of the cheesiness that maybe to come and it's just kind of a one-off

(09:19):
bad joke. Because otherwise, this all lookslike a lot of fun and I can't wait for it to
come out next month on September 18th. It'sgoing to be a two-episode premiere. and then
they're going to do one episode a week afterthat. Blank, blank! That's so stupid. At D23,
Marvel also showed trailers for Captain AmericaBrave New World, Fantastic Four First Steps,

(09:40):
Daredevil Born Again, and Iron Hearts, but noneof those trailers were officially released.
I'll just kind of do a quick run through ofsome of the exciting things that these trailers
showed. On the Captain America Brave New Worldclip, we saw. President Thunderbolt Ross give
a speech congratulating Sam for his help inacquiring adamantium from the celestial Tiamat

(10:02):
which had sprung out of the Indian Ocean inthe Eternals movie. Oh shit! Those rumors are
true. Shut up!
There's just a lot of action in that trailer.We get some lines from Sarbra, who was formerly
an Israeli superhero in the comics, but they'remaking her a former Black Widow in the movie.

(10:25):
We've already gotten a look at what the RedHulk looks like in the first trailer for Captain
America Brave New World. Sort of. We saw hisback. In this one, we actually get to see the
front of him, Aunt Harrison Ford's face allin red, which was really cool. He would have
made a really good Hulk back in the day whenhe was younger. It's a great character design.
Yeah, it looks a lot like Harrison Ford as muchas you would want it to look like him while

(10:49):
still looking like this raging monster trueto the comics. So really looking forward to
seeing Harrison Ford Hulk out. But one of theother really exciting moments we got from this
trailer was when President Thunderbolt Rossasked Sam Wilson to recreate the Avengers.
So it looks like by the end of this movie, we'regoing to have the new Avengers team solidified,
perhaps. Or maybe he's going to start his questto form that team. I'd be surprised if we had

(11:15):
an actual solidified team by the end of this.You might be right. I mean, Sam Wilson did
question Thunderbolt Ross. He was like, youdestroyed the Avengers when you established
the Accords. And Thunderbolt Ross is basicallylike, eh, I had a change of heart after the
Avengers saved the world during the events ofEndgame. So I guess that's a believable reason
for him to essentially 180 on his position regardingsuperheroes. Of course, this new team of Avengers...

(11:40):
seems like it would be under official governmentcontrol, so who knows what's going to happen
with the team. There was some more footage releasedthat I believe came from Comic-Con, although
I think they re-showed it at the D23 event,which was kind of a teaser of sorts for the
Fantastic Four First Steps movie. There wasa whole lot of reveals to come out of this

(12:00):
footage, but it definitely set the tone, whichis very much in keeping with this 1960s feel.
I can definitely see why Matt Shackman got thejob after directing WandaVision, because the
way everybody acts and looks is very much inkeeping with how he directed those 60s episodes
on WandaVision. Yeah, the cinematography hereis very, very bright, very clean and very in

(12:22):
keeping with this idealistic sci-fi retro 1960sdesign aesthetic that looks really cool to
see on screen. Yeah, we see the Fantastic Foursuit up as astronauts. They go up into space
and it's almost like they're part of a documentarytalking to the camera as like a promotional
piece for the general public learning aboutthis space mission that they're about to go

(12:44):
on. Reed Richards is like, this is my buddyBen. He's the best pilot in the division. And
Ben's like, yeah, best looking, which is interestingbecause, you know, it's a joke, but it's ironic
that he then turns into the thing who is knownfor being this hideous rock monster. And there's
a clip here that shows him as part of a datinggame show where a female contestant selects
him out of the three possible suitors. The clipshowed the fantasticar and the big reveal at

(13:09):
the end was Galactus. He looks exactly likehe does in the comic books. He's this giant
figure. You only really get to see his face,but the scale of him is massive, similar to
the size of the celestials that we saw in Eternals.Yeah, he's like Kaiju size, right? Right. And
he's peeking through a window. They did a greatjob of capturing the look and the scale of

(13:31):
the character for sure. With the square glowingpupils? Yeah, yeah. At D23 they also showed
a trailer for Daredevil Born Again which wasreally exciting to see. We got news that the
show is going to make its debut on Disney Plusthis spring. It looks like a direct continuation
of the Netflix Daredevil series which is allthat the fans want, right? But there were some

(13:51):
great surprises to be seen in the footage includingour first look at Hector Alaya as the White
Tiger. His costume looked a little bit homegrownbecause it looks like the premise of the show
is that Matt represents Hector, who believeshimself to be a hero and called to fight crime
on the streets as a costume vigilante. But wealso get to see other cool characters like

(14:12):
Muse, we see Bullseye, we see the Punisher Makerreturn. That was really cool to see Jon Bernthal
returning to the character. There's this greatdiner scene between Matt Murdock and the Kingpin
where Matt's telling him like basically, Ifyou step out of line, I'm going to be there.
And Kingpin, very imposingly, is like, who'sgoing to stop me? Matt Murdock or your other
half? Yeah, that's probably one of my favoriteparts of the trailer, too. I saw that and I

(14:37):
was like, oh, shit. There was another greatshot where Daredevil opens up his costume closet.
And we see like five different masks of theDaredevil costume, including, you know, his
yellow mask. There's a white one in there andhe has like three different variations of red.
Yeah, black one. I was like, blank, blank. Juststop, right? I know you're the token DC guy

(14:59):
in this episode, but you could also try to notbe annoying. Damn. The last footage we got
shown at D23 was from Ironheart, the upcomingseries for Disney Plus, which looks very different
than what I thought it was going to be. I thoughtlargely it was going to be more like the comics
where we see Riri at MIT building this new suitof armor. But. we learn early on in the trailer

(15:24):
that she actually gets kicked out of MIT forskipping classes and just using the campus
for its facilities to rebuild the armor thatshe had already constructed in Wakanda in the
Black Panther Wakanda Forever movie. BecauseShuri didn't let Riri take the suit with her
at the end of that film. So she's basicallyback to square one trying to recreate that

(15:46):
she gets kicked out of MIT and she ends up partneringwith a gang led by the Hood to steal resources
and money to recreate her suit. So, it all feltvery much like set it off. I don't know if
our listeners remember that movie from the 90swith Queen Latifah and like Jada Pinkett where
a group of girls essentially become bank robbers.This is very much in that vein, which is something

(16:09):
that I wasn't expecting. I didn't know thatit was going to be like a redemptive arc for
Riri Williams, but it's an interesting takefor sure. The hood looks pretty cool. There's
definitely a supernatural element going on there.and the rumor is that Mephisto is going to
appear in Ironheart, so it'll be interestingto see how that supernatural aspect plays into
this more sci-fi tech angle with the Iron Mansuit. Yeah, in my opinion, the hood looked

(16:32):
like the most interesting thing in this trailer.Anthony Ramos, I think, gave off the most charisma,
probably even more so than the lead DominiqueThorne, though, you know, she looks like she'll
do a good job as well. I have to say, I wasn'tlooking forward to this, but the trailer definitely
has me intrigued. For sure. Yeah, me too. Iwasn't a big fan of Dominique Thorne in the
Black Panther Wakanda Forever movie, but sheimpressed me more in this trailer. So yeah,

(16:56):
definitely looking forward to it. Based on allof this footage that we got from D23, I do
have to say that it looks like Marvel Studiosis absolutely stepping up their cinematography
for their television series. That's a greattake. Yeah, for sure. I noticed that too. But
speaking about all the projects coming out forMarvel that were previewed at D23, that brings

(17:16):
us to our question of the week.
Which upcoming Marvel Studios film or show areyou most looking forward to and why? Record
your answer at dynamicduel.com by clicking onthe red microphone button in the bottom right
hand corner of the screen, which will promptyou to leave us a voicemail. Your message could
be up to 30 seconds long, and don't forget toleave your name in case we include you on the

(17:40):
podcast. We'll pick our favorite answer andaward that person a Dynamic Duel No Prize that
we'll post to Instagram. Be sure to answer beforeAugust 17th. And our last bit of Marvel news,
just a short quick headline. Deadpool and Wolverinehas surpassed one billion dollars at the worldwide
box office. It's no surprise, I think, to anybodywho's seen the film. It is a very fun movie

(18:02):
that you can listen to our review from a fewepisodes ago. But I think the reason this news
is so important is because a lot of people werekind of down and out on the superhero genre
as a whole. You know, you heard a lot to talkabout superhero fatigue from people and. I
don't want to say that superhero fatigue isover and done with, but it's clear that people

(18:23):
are still excited to see quality superhero movies.Now the first two films did not reach a billion,
is that correct? But they got close? Correct.Okay, yeah, that's huge for a rated R film.
I think the Joker is still the highest grossingrated R film of all time. We'll see if Deadpool
and Wolverine can top that. Honestly, I wouldbe surprised if it didn't. Oh, it will. and

(18:44):
super proud of Marvel for bringing the box officein general out of its slump and for bringing
audiences back to the superhero genre. Becausewe all know that DC wasn't going to be able
to do it. I'm sorry, what? You heard me. Nobodygoes to see DC films. Just wait a couple of
months, OK? Joker 1 made a billion dollars.Joker, Vali-Adu could easily make a billion

(19:04):
dollars as well. That would actually be fantastic,because then the studios will see that, you
know, these movies are worth continuing. They'llall be doing this till they're 90. That's right.
But I think that does it for all the news forthis episode, so let's go ahead and get into

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our main event, where we review the Marvel TelevisionHulu Original Series, Hitmonkey Season 2.

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Hit Monkey Season 2 is a 20th century productionon Hulu created by Josh Gordon and Will Speck
and directed by Kevin Mellon. It stars FredTataskior, Jason Sudeikis, Leslie Jones, Kristen
Milioti and Nat Faxon. Season 1 was a surprisehit for us, I think both of our expectations
were surpassed. We rated Season 1 4 stars, callingit cool, funny, violent, heartfelt and surprisingly

(20:14):
complex despite its high concept premise. Andwe weren't alone in being impressed by the
show because it got a season two. And I thinkseason two wraps up all those qualities, except
for maybe the comedy, because the season wasn'tvery funny. But I think it was even more violent
and more emotionally complex. Because I don'tknow about you, Jonathan, but I felt fucking

(20:34):
devastated after a few of these episodes. Andby the time the season ended, I was kind of
emotionally wrecked. The way the season endedkind of stuck with me a few days after watching
it. Yeah, the way the season concluded was definitelygut-wrenching. But I would disagree with you
in saying that it was not very funny. I thoughtit was actually very funny. Maybe not as funny

(20:54):
as season one, but I was laughing pretty muchthe whole time. I guess I should bring up our
spoiler warning. If you haven't watched Hitmonkeyseasons one or two, listen no further. Go watch
the show as long as you're of a mature age andyou don't have a weak stomach for strong violence
and heavy themes. I liken Hitmonkey Season 2'sviolence to the invincible animated series

(21:16):
on Amazon, even though I've only seen Season1 of that show. But things got really gross
and graphic this season. Like, Season 1 waspretty violent, but I think the biggest standout
holy shit death from that season was the oldgun supplier woman in the fish warehouse who
fell on the conveyor belt and then got sawedin half. Do you remember that? Yes, yeah. Like...
The shock value of that kill felt pretty tamecompared to some of the shit that went down

(21:41):
this season. Like, this season you had peoplesliced down the middle, ripped apart, hung
on meat hooks and burned, flattened by slowmoving vehicles, dissolved, heads were sawed
off, bodies exploded. It was insanity. Like,over time that amount of gore does have a numbing
effect. Well, it was like body horror in a way,especially with the trees and stuff like that.

(22:03):
Mm-hmm. The violence had a unique horror. toit, especially towards the end. Yeah, but what
disturbed me more than the violence were theemotional challenging moments this season such
as Haruka's death, Akiko's backstory, the Shepard'ssuicide, and Hitmonkey's sacrifice at the end.
Just like the series shows no mercy with theviolence, it showed no mercy with my heart.

(22:24):
Which time after time in the latter half ofthe season just sank into my stomach. It was
tragedy after tragedy after tragedy right upuntil the very last shot of the season. They're
well-earned moments, but it's a dark show. Byfar Marvel's darkest project that they could
conceivably ever produce, which is one of thereasons why I think this season was moved to

(22:45):
20th century television, from Marvel television,maybe. And interestingly, none of the other
Marvel characters from the comics, to my knowledge,were in this season. Like the Alderman or the
co-op members, those weren't characters fromthe comics, they were original here. The only
other Marvel character here was Lady Bullseye,carrying over from season one. Really? I was
going to ask you about that because I figuredthat all of these characters were from the

(23:08):
comics and I was like, are these, you know,a Marvel version of the Suicide Squad in a
way? Because that's what I was thinking as Iwas watching it. But I'm surprised to hear
that all of them are original. That's wow. Yeah,the show's kind of like separating itself from
the larger Marvel brand, it feels like eventhough the show is branded as Marvel. But if
you guys are interested in the comic book characterof Hitmonkey, you should definitely check out

(23:30):
our Gleek versus Hitmonkey duel episode. Thecharacter in the comics has oftentimes gone
down a comedic route because the premise iscomedic, especially in the Deadpool comics
and stuff like that where we see Monkey tryto kill Wade. But the show rightfully ignores
the more silly elements of the character andkind of goes all in on its serious approach.

(23:52):
Does it? I don't know if I agree with that.I think the show gets pretty absurd with all
of its characters. I mean, they throw jokesaround here and there. The heaviness of the
violence and the darkness are only slightlyoffset by the fact that we're watching a show
about a Japanese macaque wearing a black suitand sunglasses. I think a better balance of
comedy and tragedy could have been struck ifthe jokes had been better. Like, I think a

(24:13):
lot of the lines here could and should haveprobably been workshopped. Which is especially
surprising since you have some comedic geniuseson the show like Jason
Like, I wonder how they were OK with makinglame and even dated jokes about Greek yogurt,
Annie Lennox is walking on broken glass or beinga duo like Pamela Anderson in that red swimsuit.

(24:37):
Like, I have no idea. I still chuckled at thosebits. I don't know. I didn't think it was terribly
unfunny. I did think it was interesting thatJason Sudeikis was a consulting producer on
this show apparently according to the credits.I wonder how much of that had to do with his
line specifically. Yeah, he got the top credit.at the end of every episode, which I thought
was pretty neat. But yeah, I think this seasoncould have been even more palatable with better

(25:00):
jokes. But another reason that I think thatseason two felt much more visceral than season
one was due to the fact that the animation wasbetter. Like one of our biggest complaints
about season one was that the animation feltlargely like a step up from storyboards with
low frame rates, sometimes even missing actionscenes. And that was likely due to Marvel television's

(25:22):
transition under the Marvel Studios umbrellain the middle of production, which was something
that cancelled a lot of Marvel's planned showsexcept for Modoc and Hitmonkey. But you could
tell the animators didn't have any such obstaclewith season 2 because the frame rate was better,
you know, you had more subtle facial and bodymotions that helped sell the characters' emotional
states, and you had beautifully rendered environments,like a lot of them were computer-generated

(25:47):
environments. It was really nice to see theanimators be able to execute more fully on
their vision this go around. Yeah, I don't rememberhating the animation of season one. I actually
kind of liked the low budget quality becauseit made it feel like Grindhouse. But I also
really enjoyed the animation for this season.Honestly, it got me kind of jealous how good

(26:07):
the animation was, especially coming off ofsomething like My Adventures with Superman,
which doesn't have bad animation. But when youcompare to the quality of Hit Monkey, you could
definitely tell that the artists spent muchmore time with this. I think my adventures
with Superman has fine animation. I would bemore embarrassed about the tomorrow verse,

(26:27):
though. Oh, yeah, especially that. I wasn'teven thinking about that because I was trying
to block it. But yeah, I would agree. I thoughtanother improvement over season 1 was the music.
And I'm not talking about the original scorebecause that's always been incredible, but
season 2 featured a lot more licensed musicwith some phenomenal choices like Bed of Nails
by Patrick Austin, What You Came For by Wallio,True Killer by The Sneaks, and one in particular

(26:53):
that really stuck with me was the beautifullyhaunting Japanese song from the end of episode
7 when Haruka died called Good Morning by anartist named Yuki. And I have to give a shout
out to Reddit for coming through on that onebecause that was a really hard song to find.
And I thought it perfectly captured the devastatingemotions I was feeling when that episode came

(27:15):
to a close. And I listen to it now and it stillmakes me sad. So whoever picked the music for
the season did fantastic. Yes, the soundtrackwas amazing. I was like, who put this together?
Quentin Tarantino? Because it is perfection.Like, I'm going to need that list of songs
that you have. I have a Spotify link I can sendto you, and I'll probably post it in the show
notes if people are curious. Nice, yes please,do that. Let's go ahead and move into the character

(27:40):
breakdown, starting with Hitmonkey who is voicedby Fred Tataskior. Just like season 1, I'm
surprised Hitmonkey was not voiced by an actualmonkey, because Fred Tataskior is a genius
voice actor who has also done the voice of theHulk, he does the voice of Devil Dinosaur in
Moongirl and Devil Dinosaur on Disney+. He isthe best voice actor with animalistic sounds.

(28:02):
Yeah, I loved the noises that Hitmonkey madeand it was like a good juxtaposition for how
crass Bryce was. Yeah, and there was real emotionbehind his sounds too. Like you don't really
need subtitles for the Hitmonkey character,although we did get them in one scene. But
other than that, you know exactly what he'ssaying. Exactly, yeah. Now Hitmonkey's arc
was difficult and tragic this season. Carryingover from season 1, he was a skilled assassin

(28:28):
who never wanted to kill, but always found himselfin situations where he must, like some kind
of cruel fate. At the start of this season,he's lost, unhappy, and feels like the killing
is taking a psychological toll on him. And whathe really longs for is a family who can relate
to what he's going through, and he finds thatin the assassin's cooperative. He strives to

(28:49):
be one of them, drawn to their family dynamicand their goal of ending violence. and he relates
to Boon and his values. And by showing Hitmonkeyhis origin as a lab experiment, Boon convinces
Hitmonkey that he's been cursed by mankind'swickedness, and that humanity has always been
only about death. And it shakes Hitmonkey tothe core, especially seeing how his actions

(29:13):
affected the person he cared the most about,Akiko, who transformed herself into Lady Bullseye.
In the very end, it seemed like he gave intohis despair. thinking about his so-called curse
as he sacrificed himself to kill her. It wasa heroic final action rooted in misery and

(29:33):
even when he came back as a ghost tethered toBryce, he didn't look happy. And I think that
was the real tragedy that stuck with me. AndI'm really looking forward to seeing what they
do with Hitmonkey if there is a season 3. Oh,good gosh, please let there be a season three.
I mean, you can't end it with that shot. Thatwould be just so tragic. Yeah, I hope that

(29:54):
this show really finds its audience in the sameway that season one did and that they announce
a season three for Hitmonkey because it needsto happen for sure. I did think the revelation
that he was an experimental monkey kind of cameout of nowhere in a way for this show. Yeah,
that was something not from the comics. In thecomics, he was just this really astute monkey

(30:16):
who was able to pick up the assassin's killingmethods really easily. But here it was almost
like they gave him some kind of genetic enhancementsuperpower or something like that. Right. Yeah,
I didn't care for it. And I think it came alittle bit too late. Maybe if it had come earlier
or maybe even in the first season, it wouldhave been more palatable. But I didn't know
if I needed that twist here. Yeah, it did comelate so they weren't really able to explore

(30:41):
that origin, which is again why we need a season3. Yeah, for sure. Let's go ahead and move
on to Bryce Fowler, who was voiced by JasonSudeikis. I was a little mixed on Bryce this
season because the guy is never consistent,whether it be his humor or his motivations.
At times it seems like he's this plucky, wisecrackingbadass. At other times he's this depressed,

(31:03):
selfish asshole. And while I'd like to say thatjust makes him a multifaceted character, what
I really want is to just see Bryce pick a lane,I guess. Well, he has to exist in multiple
lanes in a way because Monkey can't really.You know, in a way, Bryce is the main character
of the show. Yeah, and you know, we may seehim kind of pick a lane in this season as he

(31:26):
deals with the guilt over the fact that thedevil claimed Hitmonkey's soul due to his own
selfish deals to get out of hell. Again, I hopewe... get to see the fallout of that in season
3. The culmination of Bryce's character growthever since season 1 came at the end of this
season when he tried to console Hitmonkey abouthis lost family in the co-op, telling him that

(31:47):
Boon was wrong and that humanity isn't all aboutdeath, it's about living. And right after that
he used himself as a human shield to save hisdaughter Iris from Akiko, knowing that turning
corporeal would doom him to hell for all eternity.And this was on top of this season long arc
where he tried to get to know Iris, at firsttrying to buy her off, and then apologizing

(32:09):
and bonding with her, helping her find herselfin this crazy mercenary world he was involved
in, and then actually forming a truly caringrelationship by the end. In a way, both Bryce
and Hitmonkey's stories are all about findingtheir family. The only difference is that Bryce
found his this season, whereas Hitmonkey tragicallydid not. Well, Hitmonkey took responsibility

(32:31):
in a way for destroying his family from seasonone. I really liked Bryce this season. I really
liked him last season as well. Yeah, the characteris inconsistent, but I loved what they did
with him here, how he could go in and out ofhis corporeal form with that timer on his hand.
It was a great gimmick that I thought they usedto really good effect in this season. I liked

(32:53):
his telekinesis abilities this season. It makesyou think that DC should make Deadman even
cooler by giving him telekinesis. Yeah, justmake him like more able to affect the physical
world in a way. Yeah, that would be cool. Let'sgo to move on to Officer Haruka, who was voiced
by Ali Mackie, who gives a great performanceagain. Her character's always the most morally

(33:16):
good character in the show, serving as a beaconto kind of guide Hitmonkey and Bryce. And because
of that, it was pretty interesting this seasonthat Haruka's journey involved her being tempted
by the power of evil through the Bonsai MasterSword. And she gave into temptation a few times,
ultimately though choosing to reject it andthereby dying at the hands of her friend rather

(33:39):
than the other way around. Super sad. But itwas neat that her character drove a lot of
the plot. this time around. You know, she firstintroduced the alderman sword to Hitmonkey
and Bryce, and then she was the one that discoveredthe truth about the co-op and decided to steal
back the sword. She really was a great characterwith tremendous buildup over the two seasons,

(33:59):
which is definitely what made her death so tragicand the emotion around it so earned. Oh yeah,
and especially how she was talking about goingback to her father's fishing village and retiring
there only to be buried at sea. Poetry, it waspoetry. That whole scene I was like, oh, okay,
someone's gonna die here. I didn't actuallythink it was gonna be Haruka. So yeah, it was

(34:22):
definitely surprising when it was. Speakingof that, let's move on to Akiko Yokohama voiced
by Olivia Munn. Holy shit, man. I take backeverything I said from our season one review
about how it didn't make sense for Akiko tobecome Lady Bullseye and how they ruined her
arc when she put on the mask. Here she admitsthat she took on the lady bullseye mantle because

(34:43):
she didn't think she could be strong or viciousenough on her own, which was totally valid
reasoning. I was like, okay, that makes sense.From season one, we saw her as a speechwriter
for her uncle's campaign back in Tokyo and sheserved as the surrogate family for Hitmonkey.
But what we didn't see was this whole devastatingbackstory involving the loss of her family

(35:03):
and being bullied and committed to a sanitarium.That whole scene was really fucking heavy.
And the animation for that sequence was justheart-wrenching. Like when she cried out in
the sanitarium and her sadness was depictedas layers and layers of grief within herself,
it was just a really effective moment at showinghow broken and devastated she is deep down.

(35:26):
And it was in that emotional flashback whereyou really sympathized with her, with what
she had gone through. But the thing is theyfollowed that immediately with a scene of her
sawing a dude's head off in a bathtub. And thecontrast of those two scenes made it one of
the most challenging moments for me to processin this season. It was like the floor just

(35:46):
dropped out from under me and it completelysold Akiko's complexity and her personal transformation
into Lady Bullseye. So yeah, I take back everythingI said. I thought this whole thing was brilliant
with Akiko. Absolutely. It was also interestingto see how Lady Bullseye as a ghost was tied
to Akiko and served as her mentor. Yeah. leadingher toward her most violent tendencies. But

(36:09):
even then, Akiko fucking killed Lady Bullseye'sghost right after killing Karuka, so she just
went off the deep end and was really beyondredemption as much as Hitmonkey would have
wished otherwise. Yeah, I would agree. I justthink it was interesting how she was sort of
like Hitmonkey in a way. The fact that she hadthis ghost spirit who followed her. And it

(36:31):
was this somewhat peaceful character who becamevery violent. She just kind of went the other
direction with it. Right. There's parallelsthere. The last character I want to talk about
is Boon, who was the leader of the co-op andthe main villain for the season, who was voiced
by Nat Faxon. I did not recognize Nat Faxon'svoice. It was so hilarious and how douchey

(36:52):
it was. And I think it was pretty clear fromthe get go that Boon was just too douchey to
stay good. It was probably pretty obvious thathe was going to turn evil. But Boon's genocidal
twist was, I think, a welcome one. If only thatit meant that you'd see him meet his end by
the hands of Hitmonkey. Yeah, I'm like evenmore impressed now that you tell me that these
characters were original because the show writershad to have a pretty great imagination for

(37:17):
coming up with some of these characters likeBoon and the other members of the Assassin's
Co-op. Like freaking boy band super villains?Hilarious. Totally out of left field, but adds
unique depth to this character, right? Yeah.You know, despite Boon's extreme methods by
the end, the way he described his dream of aperfect utopia, one without violence, full

(37:40):
of plants and animals, like an Eden for thegroup, his philosophical words were enticing
enough to put Hitmonkey under his spell fora time. You know, he made Hitmonkey question
everything, from his friendships to the natureof humanity. he manipulated him like some kind
of charismatic cult leader, even without usinghis powers of telepathy and mind control. And

(38:01):
in my book, that made him a fucking solid villain.Oh yeah, no question. He was a great villain.
Some of the best villains are sympathetic oryou understand the reasoning behind what they're
doing. And Boon was definitely one of thosecharacters. Like who doesn't want to get rid
of evil in the world? Although you would think,you know, if he could control minds, if his

(38:22):
power was telepathy, Wouldn't he be a littlebit more capable in getting the alderman to
give him the relics? That was something I waswondering. Yeah, it's very true. All he really
had to do was encounter them to control them.Like especially with the third eye guy, like
why did they have a history of difficulty withhim? Or with the shepherd or the call or any

(38:42):
of them. Any one of them could have been mindcontrolled because none of them really had
psychic powers. Or a defense against psychicpowers. Right. That was just one of the very
few plot holes I spotted throughout the courseof the show.
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(39:48):
But speaking of the plot, let's go ahead andget into our episode highlights. Episode 1
was called Return to Sender. In a flashback,Bryce descends into Hell, where he makes a
deal with Mephisto to return as a ghost to assistHitmonkey in sending souls to Hell. In the
present, the duo travel to New York City andsign up with Eunice Jones, a mercenary agent

(40:09):
who sets them up in Bryce's old apartment.
which she smuggled out of Tokyo after a demonicfigure killed all of her fellow officers looking
for it. They visit a rare weapons dealer whoidentifies the sword as an ancient mythical
weapon and warns them not to wield it to avoidbeing possessed by it. While Hitmonkey is out

(40:32):
on a hit, which turns out to be a setup, Harukais chased by a demonic tiger through the city.
She wields the sword in order to kill the cat,temporarily transforming into a supernatural
As they ponder what happened, Bryce observeshis daughter Iris from afar. I have to say
that I thought Keith David made an awesome Mephistoor devil. Whatever. I don't know if this was

(40:56):
Mephisto. I like to think that it is, but KeithDavid was spot on with that voice. Oh, absolutely.
Keith David is a fantastic, not just voice actor,but actor. And, you know, he has a singular
voice that is perfection when it comes to characterslike this, because it was really spooky. He's
also going to be voicing Darkseid in the KiteMan Hell Yeah television series. And I'm sure

(41:18):
he's going to kill it. You know, it's goingto be good. Did you realize that the tiger
who was chasing Haruka was the weapons dealerscat that was transformed by the shepherd? I
did not. That makes sense now. Episode two wasGuess Who's Coming to Dinner. Looking to learn
who ordered the phony hit, Bryce, Hitmonkeyand Haruka track down the vetter at a local

(41:40):
library who directs them to Charles Lehigh ofthe Aldermen before being killed by assassins
that Haruka in turn kills with her sword. Thegroup sneaks into an event at Lehigh's estate
where his necklace charm recognizes Haruka'ssword. He turns into a shrieking monster known
as The Call, but is ripped in half by a mysteriousyoung girl named Dot who steals the charm necklace.

(42:03):
Hitmonkey takes Bryce to visit the restaurantIris serves at, but she rejects anything to
do with her dad. When the pair return to theapartment, they find Haruka transformed and
addicted to the sword's power. Meanwhile, ata secret meeting of the three remaining aldermen,
the ogre vows to take care of Hitmonkey andHaruka. One of the very few plot holes was

(42:25):
regarding the librarian better. I'm not surewhy she died, why they killed her. I'm guessing
that since Hitmonkey and Bryce survived thebomb attack from the first episode, it was
likely that the aldermen knew. that they wouldinvestigate the vetter, which is why they tried
to kill her. Yeah, I think they were just tyingup loose ends. It's possible that they were
staked out at the library waiting for Hitmonkeyto show up because we know that the reason

(42:48):
the librarian set up the fake hit was becausethey tortured her and made her break her code.
So I don't know if it's quite a plot hole. Yeah,I don't think it is. Episode 3 was called The
Rope. The ogre, who is a big giant, snatchesHaruka out of their apartment and Hitmonkey
and Bryce chase him across the city. A groupknown as the Assassin's Cooperative assists

(43:09):
in rescuing Haruka as Hitmonkey goes insidethe Giant's head to kill him before passing
out. Hitmonkey wakes up in the co-op's lairwhere he meets its members, Boon, Slyke, Amara,
Double Tap, and Dot. They explain to him howan ancient relic was divided into eight weapons
wielded by the Aldermen to rule the world fromthe shadows. They ask Hitmonkey to join their

(43:31):
cause of obtaining and reforging the weaponsto restore the relic to heal the world. Contemplating
joining the co-op family, Hitmonkey tries totake Bryce to the restaurant to visit Iris,
but they accidentally get her fired. Upset,Bryce makes another deal with Mephisto for
a physical form, however it comes with a 48hour time limit. Meanwhile, Akiko shows up

(43:54):
in New York City as Lady Bullseye. I think thiswas my favorite episode. I really, really liked
the introduction of the Assassin's Co-op, butalso the backstory of the aldermen. I thought
that was really well done. Yeah. There was justa lot to like. The whole second deal that Bryce
made with Mephisto you knew was going to endin tragedy and they totally set that up perfectly.

(44:15):
It was just really well written. For sure. Yeah,and this episode had great action too. That
fight against the ogre. Yes. That was reallywell done with cool ideas. The fact that they
actually went into. ogre's head and startedshooting his brain from inside his body. That
was pretty crazy. Yeah, it's the kind of actionthat I was really looking forward to with this
season. Just seeing monkey swing through NewYork almost like Spider-Man. And yeah, this

(44:39):
was definitely one of my favorite action scenesfrom the whole season. Episode four was called
Never Too Late. Bryce visits Iris at her apartmentto apologize for abandoning their family, but
she rejects him. Haruka traces the Aldermanfinancials to a hedge fund managed by the third
eye wielder, Yanis Kalamaris. She, Hitmonkey,and Bryce try to fight Yanis, but are unable

(45:01):
to overcome his future sight, and they are savedby the co-op who chastises them for almost
getting killed. Bryce reconnects with a formerassociate called Snail, who can slow time and
give them a chance against the third eye. Meanwhile...Akiko tries to find Hitmonkey through his old
associates and kills one with the help of theoriginal Lady Bullseye's ghost who was following

(45:23):
her. Hitmonkey, Bryce, and Haruka catch up withthe co-op at Yenis' private jet and with Snail's
help they defeat him. Bryce visits Iris againto apologize and this time she gives him a
chance. Meanwhile, in Hell, Mephisto foreshadowsthat his army is about to grow. Now is the
snail an original character as well? Correct,yeah. I liked the snail here. He was voiced

(45:46):
by Jim Gaffigan. He had a pretty cool, if notgross power set where he gets slow time. But
people who were in contact with his saliva wereable to exist outside of the time distortion
effect. Well, it wasn't his saliva. It was hismucus, his snot. Yeah, that's right. You're
right. He was definitely hocking up loogies.He wasn't just spitting. Right. Yeah. I liked

(46:09):
the snail. I thought the nicknames. and thegrab-assing between Bryce and him were pretty
funny. Like Snail called Bryce taint becausehe's somewhere between a dick and an asshole.
And then he like sack tap him, you know, andthe Bryce would like call him like old chub
and try to titty twist him. He's like, let meat those little pickles. It's like, what the
fuck is going on here? They just had this hilariousrelationship. Yeah, I thought he was going

(46:31):
to reappear in the final episode. I was kindof sad that he didn't, but they also made really
good use of him in this episode. Yeah, it wascool to see Bryce taking on the third eye with
that slow motion effect. It's rare that yousee Bryce kick ass in this series, because
usually that's left to Hitmonkey. But when yousee Bryce be a badass, you remember exactly
why he's a good mentor for Hitmonkey. Yeah,you remember that he is an accomplished assassin.

(46:57):
Yeah. Episode 5 is called Akiko. In a flashbackto Akiko's childhood, we see her family die
in a fire. She is placed in a boarding schoolby her uncle Shinji Yokohama, where she is
bullied relentlessly and nearly drowned. Shelashes out and is placed in a psychiatric ward
before her uncle comes to raise her into a successfulwriter. In the present, Bryce gets Iris a job

(47:19):
with Eunice as a murder crime scene cleaner,where she learns under another cleaner named
Buddy. Hitmonkey bonds with the co-op and visitsEunice to quit as a mercenary but is ambushed
by Eikiko, who falls off a building during theirfight. Hitmonkey takes her to the co-op for
medical care, where Boon tells him that theAkiko he knew is gone, and that his brother

(47:41):
Colt also succumbed to anger and killing. Unableto end Akiko's life, Hitmonkey sets her free.
Meanwhile, the Shepard sends a mutated pigeonafter the co-op. I totally thought Akiko initially
died upon her fall. I was like, whoa, really?That's how they're going to wrap up the Lady
Bullseye story? Obviously they didn't do itthat way, but it was kind of foreshadowing

(48:02):
her eventual death. in the very last episode.Yeah, through the fall maybe. But what it really
did was give Hitmonkey an opportunity to endher life before things got too severe. He was
contemplating suffocating her with a pillowwhile she was recovering in the hospital bed
at the co-op's lair. But he didn't do it. Likewe all knew that he should have done it, but

(48:23):
he just cared for her too much. And he endedup undoing her handcuffs so that she can leave
when she wakes up. But it really turned outto be a big mistake. Yeah, huge, which is one
of the reasons why I think he decided to takeresponsibility in killing Akiko in the final
episode in the way that he did. What did youthink about Iris? I thought it was hilarious
how she turned out to be really a chip off theold block, you know, getting into the whole

(48:48):
mercenary community. I thought the relationshipthat developed between her and Bryce felt pretty
organic. It was fast, but it didn't feel toofast just because of how open and honest Bryce
was with his feelings towards her right offthe bat at the beginning of the season. And
it was kind of funny to see that, you know,for however much she had hated her father,

(49:09):
she ended up being more like him than she probablyrealized. And more than he wanted her to. Yeah.
Absolutely. And I love by the end how they formedthis bond between a father and daughter that
felt real and felt pure in a way, and how goodit was for both of them and how Bryce was even

(49:29):
willing to sacrifice himself for his daughter,which is, you know, what any father should
do. It was a truly redemptive arc for him. Yeah,like I maybe wanted to be annoyed by Iris at
the start of the season, but the relationshipbetween her and Bryce was just too good. and
she was pretty funny too. She was actually voicedby Kristen Milioti, who is going to be playing

(49:50):
Carmine Falcone's daughter in the upcoming Penguinseries. Oh really? Okay. I didn't know that.
Episode 6 was called The Estate. The pigeongives an invitation to Hitmonkey and the co-op
to join the shepherd for dinner at his estatein the desert. As they travel there via jet,
Iris and Eunice throw a retirement party forBuddy. Suspecting a trap at the estate, Bryce

(50:13):
volunteers to scout the situation and he learnsat dinner with the Shepard that the alderman
initially wanted to use the relics to heal theworld just like the assassin's co-op, before
shooting himself and passing his staff to hiswife. She uses mutated scorpions and spiders
to attack the co-op. During the fight, Harukaand Double Tap seek shelter in a cave where

(50:33):
she realizes via his thermal vision gogglesthat he was the figure who shot up her precinct
in Tokyo looking for the sword. The Shepardmutates Hitmonkey into a giant gorilla, but
with Boon's help, he overcomes his mental controland kills the Shepard, getting the last of
the relics. Back at the co-op's lair, Harukareveals to Bryce the group's sinister intentions

(50:55):
and they steal Bonsai's master sword, escapingwith Eunice to her vacation home in Montauk.
What did you think of the reveal that DoubleTap was really the monster-like figure that
killed all of the police officers in Tokyo?I thought it was a little bit misleading because
in the flashback, the demonic figure was largelyjust walking menacingly toward Haruka as other

(51:16):
mercenaries were doing all the shooting. Soit means that Double Tap hired a hit squad
to go after the sword with him. And from whatwe learn about the character later on, it seems
more like Double Tap is not really the guy who'sinclined to work with a lot of other gunmen.
Right, exactly. Like for all the talk he wasgiving about the team only needing one gunman

(51:37):
and considering how skilled he was with allof his weapons, I thought that felt very out
of character and very out of left field. Yeah,it was a good twist but the way they animated
it and set it up wasn't as successful as itshould have been. I haven't gotten your thoughts
on Eunice yet. What did you think of LeslieJones as Eunice? I loved Eunice. I love Leslie
Jones in general. I think she is hilarious.I thought this was perfect casting for her.

(52:02):
I thought all of her It was just a lot of fun.I think she's a great character addition to
Hit Monkey's cast of allies. Yeah, for sure.I thought Leslie Jones gave the best delivery.
Like, I remember in this episode when she toldHit Monkey to get out of here with your clown
ass friends, get into your clown ass car, andgo to your clown convention. Because guess

(52:23):
what? Your ass is a fucking clown. I died. She'sso good at lines like that. Yeah, it's like
Leslie Jones never plays characters other thanLeslie Jones. She's always playing herself,
but it's just such a great character. Yeah.In this episode, they address the fact that
they're bringing a monkey to a fight againsta guy who can essentially control and mutate

(52:46):
animals. But the fact that they address thatidea and still do it makes no sense to me.
Yeah, it's like you guys knew this was goingto happen. So why did it happen? Right. That
was a fight that they probably should have leftHitmonkey at home for. Or maybe Boon just figured
he could control Hitmonkey. But then again,that brings up the plot hole of why not just
control the shepherd. Right. Exactly. The scenewith the shepherd shooting himself at the dinner

(53:11):
table was fucking disturbing. Yes. And weirdas hell. Very graphic, like the facial expression
he made right before he shot himself in thehead was creepy and scary. I thought his wife
just looking on smiling, even creepier. Yeah,the whole relationship was weird. Which is
why it was appropriate that Bryce was like,what the fuck is going on? Yeah. He was thinking

(53:34):
what we were all thinking. Episode seven wascalled The Last Supper. Boone reads Hitmonkey's
mind, who deduces where the sword is. The co-opthen sends Hitmonkey to Montauk to get it back.
Bryce, Haruka, Iris and Eunice fortify theirvacation home to prepare it for battle and
have what they believe to be their last supper.Hitmonkey arrives and the group tries to tell

(53:54):
him of the co-op's intentions, but he doesn'tbelieve them. Bryce and Hitmonkey duke it out
and Bryce admits that he used Hitmonkey's killingto get out of hell. Akiko and Lady Bullseye
intrude on the scene, and though Haruka triesto reason with her old friend, she's forced
to wield the sword again. Hitmonkey tries toshoot Akiko but can't bring himself to do it

(54:15):
and Haruka abandons her sword, resulting inher own death by Akiko's hands. Lady Bullseye's
ghost nearly drowns Bryce in the salty ocean,but the co-op arrives on the scene. prompting
Lady Bullseye and Akiko to flee. The co-op picksup the sword and Hitmonkey as Iris and Eunice
pull Bryce out of the ocean. I gotta give aquick shout out to the state of Colorado in

(54:37):
this episode because Iris makes a referenceto Vale during supper and tells them that she
wants to learn how to ski with rich people.And they're like, oh yeah, that's some good
skiing up there. It is. And it's really goodskiing. As someone who has skied Vale, I appreciated
that. I really liked this episode. This is anotherone of my favorite episodes. I just loved the

(54:58):
drama of it, you know, with the last supperwhere they're eating pancakes and where Bryce
and Hentmonkey are brawling out in the rain.And you understand where both of them are coming
from. It was just, again, a well-written episode.Emotionally devastating episode. I think this
was my favorite episode out of all of them,for sure. Let's move on to episode eight, which

(55:19):
was called Mindmall. The co-op begins the reforgingprocess as Boon admits to Hitmonkey that they
plan on ending global violence by ending globallife. They reveal themselves to be working
with Mephisto, who resurrected Bryce to nudgehim and Hitmonkey to the Alderman and the co-op
in his scheme to end humanity and build hisHell army. Slyke pulls Hitmonkey into his mind

(55:41):
while Bryce, Eunice, and Iris mourn Haruka backin Montauk. Akiko spies on them from afar and
kills Lady Pulsai's ghost by using their tetherto pull her into the salty ocean. Back at the
apartment, Dot warns Bryce, Iris, and Euniceabout the co-op's real plans before returning
to their lair and being pulled into Slyke'smind. Secretly harboring Bryce's ghost, Dot

(56:02):
helps rescue Hitmonkey from his chains and directsthem on how to escape Slyke's mind. While Dot
is able to get out, Slyke and Boone's brotherColt is revealed to be inside his mind too
and destroys the exit. As Hitmonkey and Bryceflee into Slyke's subconscious, Colt learns
that he was mind controlled by Boon into agreeingto be pulled into his brother's mind. Slyke

(56:24):
enters his own mind to explain his reasoningto his brother, but Colt kills him, giving
Hitmonkey and Bryce enough time to escape beforeSlyke's mind is eradicated. Witnessing the
tragedy of brothers turning on each other, Bryceand Hitmonkey make amends, just as the co-op
prepares to use the power of the Forged Relicin Times Square. This is another fantastic

(56:44):
episode. This is just like a series of greatepisodes. I really liked the mind mall setting
that had a very cool eighties retro vibe, veryvibrant and creepy. It kind of reminded me
of the original Suspiria film, although thatwas made in the seventies, but the killer racer
that was chasing him through the mall, I thinkthat was pulled from an eighties movie called

(57:04):
The Wraith, from what I could tell. Really interesting.It was all just very surreal and kind of incorporated
dream logic in this really cool way. Now, Ijust remembered, are you sure all of the characters
from the co-op were original? Because I rememberyou having an X-Men comic with a mutant villain
who was also able to warp beings into his mind.Yeah, you're talking about the X-Men 394 issue,

(57:32):
which has Wolverine and Jean Grey kissing onthe cover. And in it, they get pulled into
this mutant's mind and his name was Warp Savant.And while they have the same power set, he's
not Slyke. So it's likely that Slyke was influencedby Warp Savant. Although Warp Savant only made
an appearance in one issue. Are you serious?He hasn't appeared since? OK, that's dumb.

(57:55):
OK. But it's interesting that you rememberedthat pretty good memory there. I just remember
you getting really pissed off because I gotchocolate on that comic cover and you've probably
never forgiven me for that. You dumbass. I completelyforgot about that, too. Oh, I reminded you.
Out of everyone in the co-op, who would yousay was your favorite? Dot because she was

(58:16):
the only one that was good. But like we didn'tget really any of her backstory either. Well,
we didn't really get much of any of the co-op'sbackstories except for Boon. Well, we got the
statue lady. I forgot her name. Amara. Yeah,Amara. I just saw apparently she was voiced
by Stephanie Beatrice. So she has the same voiceas Mirabelle from Encanto. Right. Yeah, it's
interesting comparing her voice as that Disneycharacter and then saying Get fucked, Bryce.

(58:41):
You know. But no, we never got more than a fewsentences of backstory for any of the co-op
members except for Boon. I don't know why Amarawas my favorite. I think I just really liked
her power set. But yeah, Dot was great too.I loved how strong she was. Like that was her
power, right? Just like super strength and durability.It's a great power set for a creepy little
girl because you wouldn't expect it. Right.Episode nine was called the concrete jungle.

(59:05):
Boon unleashes the relic on New York City, transformingthe environment and turning people into trees.
Bryce, Eunice, Iris, Dot, and Hitmonkey callin all of Eunice's mercenary contacts to join
their fight. They plan to use Eunice's bombto blow up the relic, with Bryce's team planting
the bomb in the subway tunnels under Times Square,and Monkey's team triggering the remote detonator.

(59:26):
Both groups get attacked by the co-op, withHitmonkey weakened after being shot multiple
times by double tap. and Bryce gets turned tomarble by Amara. However, Hitmonkey ricochets
shoots double tap, and Bryce phases out of hisstone form to trap her on the subway car. Boon
mind controls Dot to attack Hitmonkey, but hesurvives long enough for Bryce's bomb to get

(59:48):
there, and he blows up Boon and the relic. However,Boon survives as a plant monster with pieces
of the relic embedded in him. I love at thestart of the episode Hitmonkey's speech to
the other mercenaries. He's like, I know weall probably need therapy, but we could do
this together. We're a family. And his screechat the end when he's like, now who's with me?

(01:00:08):
It just crickets. Nobody says anything. Butthen like somebody starts to slow clap and
then all of a sudden everybody gets super excitedand they start shooting their guns in the air
and even hit monkey shooting his gun in theair. It was hilarious. Yeah. And especially
when you find out that they're shooting accidentallyhit the bomb in the coffee table. It's like,
of course. The one thing that I hated aboutthese last two episodes was how like at certain

(01:00:31):
points the main characters would get coveredin vines but somehow weren't ripped apart to
pieces or transformed into plants just likeeveryone else was. It was like if you were
a main character on the show you had plot armorbasically. Yeah, pretty much. Pretty convenient
but I don't know. It's not like they didn'tmeet cruel fates later on. I loved the stakes

(01:00:52):
of this season as a whole. Like they were waybigger than season one. But the stakes kind
of get ruined once you realize that the maincharacters aren't susceptible to the bad guy's
final plan. That's not to say that there weren'tcasualties, because of course you have Officer
Haruka's death and even Hitmonkey dies by theend of the show, but I feel like Iris and Eunice

(01:01:14):
should have been turned into plant creatures.It's really hard to agree with the whole plot
armor thing considering how everything goesdown at the end. sure Bryce lives at the end,
but he's also trapped in a hell of his own making,as it were, because he's without Hitmucky.
Or at least the one that he knows. As far asEunice and Iris, I'm totally fine with them
having plot armor. You know, after survivingthe attack in Montauk, you know, they had already

(01:01:38):
gone through a lot. It's fine. Plus I want tosee them continue on into Season 3.
drive to help rescue Bryce, Hitmonkey, and Dotfrom the Boon monster. While fleeing in their
van, Iris gets the idea to use Buddy's Bodyburnerto destroy Boon, but the monster crashes the

(01:02:01):
vehicle. The group fights Boon and are overpowered,but they buy enough time for Iris to use Buddy's
Bodyburner, which is only partially effective.Bryce and Hitmonkey yank the relic shards from
the monster's body. which Boon uses to transportthem across time to witness humanity's violence
throughout history, from feudal Japan to WorldWar I. They teleport to an animal testing facility

(01:02:22):
in the past where Hitmucky sees his youngerself get rescued from a cage where he and his
parents were being experimented on. Bryce pullsout the last shard, returning them home and
fully killing Boon. As Bryce runs out of timeon his corporeal form and says goodbye to Iris,
Akiko returns and tries to shoot Iris, forcingBryce to take the bullets. Hitmonkey stops

(01:02:44):
Akiko by tackling her off the Brooklyn Bridge,an act that kills them both. Mephisto claims
Hitmonkey's soul as payment for Bryce's deals,and Bryce returns to life. As Bryce mourns,
he sees Hitmonkey's ghost, who is now tetheredto him. This was a fantastic final episode.
I really love how it began with Steve the Cleaver.I don't even know who that dude was and neither

(01:03:09):
did anybody else. I loved how Steve died tryingto be heroic to buy the group sometime. It
was just fucking decimated. He's like, so good.No, go on without me. And Bryce was like, yeah,
OK, fine. Closes the door. Yeah, no, give ashit. The ending was so bittersweet with this
like somber music playing and Bryce just kindof like staring off playing with some salt

(01:03:31):
in his hand, you know, thinking about everythingthat happened. And he glances over and there's
just this random monkey ghost staring at himfrom across the street and he walks over to
him and is like, what took you so long? Andthat's how the season ended. And I thought
it was so poetic considering both of the characters'journeys, all that they had been through and
how the script was kind of flipped at the veryend. The best thing I can say about this season

(01:03:55):
is that I'm really, really wanting more of thisstory. Yeah, absolutely. And we're- really
stuck with me at the end too was how Hitmonkeywas in a ghost form, but he wasn't like his
old self. Like, he didn't have any of his character.He was like a shell of what he was. So it's
not like they could reunite in some kind ofsatisfying way. It wasn't satisfying. It was

(01:04:18):
bittersweet, it was heartfelt, and it absolutelycalls for a season three. That brings us to
the end of this review. Overall... The seasonmixed fun, brutal action with emotionally tragic
moments, and the silly high-concept premisehas proven itself as Marvel's darkest and most
challenging project. I'm giving the show 4.5stars out of 5, a fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

(01:04:45):
Yeah, I think that's totally appropriate. Ipersonally love me a good tragedy. And this
is a tragedy, I would say, in the true senseof the word. and that comedies have happy endings
and tragedies have somewhat sad endings. Thefact that this tragedy was also able to make
me laugh for a majority of the season is alsoa testament to just how well-written it was.

(01:05:08):
I do think it was better than season one, whichwe gave four stars. So yeah, I would agree
with that rating. Yeah, season two just hitharder, both emotionally, viscerally, with
the violence. Animation was top notch. Animation-wise.Really good animation, yeah. And the show is
just cool. Like it is so cool. Like I'm tryingto think of anything as cool as this show.

(01:05:30):
Himaki has a vibe to him. You know, it's hardto put into words the idea of cool, but you
could definitely feel it when watching the show.For sure. They knew what the tone was and I
think they nailed it. So kudos to the show runners.But that does it for this review. AJ9K, help
close this out. Thanks for listening to Dynamicduel. Visit the show's website at dynamicduel.com.

(01:05:53):
and follow us on Instagram at Dynamic Duel Podcast.You can support the show on Patreon at Patreon.com
slash Dynamic Duel and joining a tier that worksfor you or by rating and reviewing Dynamic
Duel on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Podchaser,or on our website. Don't forget to listen to
the other shows in the DynaMic Podcast Network,including Max Destruction, Senjo World, and

(01:06:15):
Console Combat. Our next episode is going tobe another review. but it's the last one of
the group before we get back to the duels guys.We're going to be reviewing Watchmen Chapter
one, which hopefully the animation is good becauseit's going to be really hard going into that
coming off of Hit Monkey, just with how expressiveand well done the animation was. I have a feeling

(01:06:38):
it's not going to be as good and I know we alreadyknow the Watchmen story, so I'm not sure how
satisfying watching this will be, but we'lllet you guys know next week. But that does
it for this episode, we want to give a big thanksto our executive producers Ken Johnson, John
Storosky, Zachary Hepburn, Dustin Balcom, MiggyMathen-Geehan, Brandon Estregard, Nathaniel

(01:06:58):
Wagner, Levi Yeaton, Austin Wazilowski, AJ Dunkerley,Scott Camacho, Gil Camacho, Adam Spies, Andrew
Shunk, Dean Maleski, Devin Davis, Joseph Kersting,and Josh Leiner for helping make this podcast
possible. And we'll talk to you guys next week.Up, up, and away, true believers. This shit
is bananas. B-A-N-A-N-A-S.

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