TL;DR – A solid follow-up that delved deeper into the lives of the characters while mudding the waters on many moral issues.

Disclosure – I paid for the Binge service that viewed this series.

Warning – Contains scenes that may cause distress.

Creature Commandos Review –

In many ways, the first episode is the easier one to pull off because the audience is prepared for the fact that you are mostly setting the scene. But it is the ones that follow, especially episode two, that doesn’t get a free pass and needs to be able to stand on their own feet, and here is where many falter. Will that happen today? Let’s take a look.

So, to set the scene, a long time ago [1831], in a land far, far away [Pokolistan], a bunch of body parts are being fused together in a lab. For you see, Frankenstein (David Harbour) wants a bride, and even though Dr Victor Frankenstein (Peter Serafinowicz) has reservations, he relents when Frankenstein finds the perfect skull. But back in the present, the castle is a ruin of what it once was, with graffiti on the walls. But there is one thing that The Bride (Indira Varma) needs to feel whole again. Unfortunately, everyone with issues with Creature Commandos now knows that two of them are by themselves. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

This was an interesting follow-up episode because, on the one hand, it helps codify how the flow of an episode will run as we hit some of the same beats as The Collywobbles. However, it completely shifts gears in parts of the narrative, making this a murkier endeavour for all involved. While the first episode was more of an introduction to the team, this was The Bride’s episode because we spent most of our time exploring her back story and the things that motivate her. The reason she is who she is is because her first love was murdered by the person who thinks they own her and who has spent their life mission trying to hunt her down and bring her home. It is as uncomfortable as it sounds, and not even a montage fight through the ages can undercut that. I think this is a good thing because you should not undercut that kind of coercive control.  

While Flag (Frank Grillo) is distracted by more … um … more pressing matters, this gives Circe (Anya Chalotra) a chance to catch The Bride and Nina (Zoe Chao) unprepared and thus starts the significant action set piece of this episode as The Bride dismantles an army, one incel at a time. Okay, sometimes a group at a time. It was slightly amusing watching Circe’s sheer indifference to her minions getting slaughtered. Cerce’s pink energy weapons/magic make for a good visual counterpoint to the yellow explosions. But it is during this fight that we get a couple of sex scenes that raise issues of consent, informed or otherwise. While one of these was played almost for a laugh, and you kind of got away with it, given the context. But the other is between a teacher/creator/father figure and a student/daughter/child-ish creature, and in at least this episode, that was not addressed.       

In the end, do we recommend Creature Commandos: The Tourmaline Necklace? Well, while it was still a fascinating episode, and maybe it is just suffering a bit from middle-episode syndrome. However, this one did not work as well for me, but it will be interesting to see if they are able to wrap the story up or if we will be in Pokolistan for the whole season.

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

Have you seen Creature Commandos yet ?, let us know what you thought in the comments below, feel free to share this review on any of the social medias and you can follow us Here. Check out all our past reviews and articles Here, and have a happy day.    

Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Creature Commandos
Directed by – Sam Liu
Written by – James Gunn
Created by – James Gunn
Based On – DC Comics
Production/Distribution Companies – Troll Court Entertainment, The Safran Company, Lorey Stories, WB Animation, DC Studios, HBO & Binge
Starring – Indira Varma, Sean Gunn, Alan Tudyk, Zoe Chao, David Harbour & Frank Grillo  with Maria Bakalova, Anya Chalotra, Peter Serafinowicz & Julian Kostov