We reach the end of the first season of Creature Commandos. It is about as shocking as you would expect it to be. Our “very funny monster” of focus this week ends up being Nina Mazursky. However, labeling her as such seems unfair given her circumstances, especially compared to someone like Doctor Phosphorus.
Revenge of Graphic Content #11: Creature Commandos – S1E7 – “A Very Funny Monster”
The final episode of the first season of Creature Commandos, “A Very Funny Monster,” continues the streak of strong episodes throughout the season. But it does feel a little lacking as a season finale as the pacing problem from the first episode rears its head.
However, the focus on a tragic backstory does a lot to elevate the material. Overall, “A Very Funny Monster” delivers a memorable, if not a little lacking, conclusion.
The Good – Nina Mazursky’s Tragic Hour
The episode has two tasks: the first is to create a good episode that spotlights the show’s remaining monster, Nina Mazursky. The second is to create a conclusion that pulls the threads of the season together. “A Very Funny Monster” does well on the former and less so on the latter.
The core of the episode is a race against time as Task Force M approaches the goal of killing Princess Ilana Rostovic. This is as Waller and Enonomos try to piece together exactly what Flag, Sr. mentions as he briefly comes out of a coma. All the while, the episode presents flashbacks to the tragic story of Nina Mazursky and her even more tragic fate.
As a whole, the episode works quite well with the ticking clock element. The slow ramp-up to Nina needing to be the one to kill the Princess is also well handled, as the flashbacks create a great deal of tension. The fallout of the attempted assassination is brutal and nobody wins, least of all poor Nina.
Nina Mazursky: A Victim of Circumstance
Nina is the show’s most tragic character. Even with Weasel and G.I. Robot, there is a killer streak to both of them and they are undoubtedly dangerous. It doesn’t excuse how society in the DCU has treated them for their monstrosity, but it does make sense.
This is not the case with Nina, however. Zoë Chao did a great job all season making Nina an endearing character through her voice acting. She does so here, as well, underscoring the tragedy our favorite fish-girl faces. Added to the mix is Gregg Henry, a long-time Gunn collaborator, who plays the role of Nina’s scientist father, Edward.
Edward’s loving devotion to Nina is heartwarming and ultimately heartbreaking. His struggle to spare her a life of trauma due to a rare birth defect only creates more problems for her. As a toddler, she is forced to wear an iron lung as a suit, and then his later experiment mutates her into the form we see in Creature Commandos.
She loses any sense of having a “normal” life at his instances of trying to foster it upon her. She eventually chooses to live in isolation among the sewers and ponds of Star City, but because of her appearance, she is captured; she is a monster, after all. And in a final gesture of love, Edward reunites with his daughter, only to be killed advocating for her.
The Fate of Nina Mazursky
I am, of course, omitting some details. All of this tragic background is meant to connect us to Nina even further as she ultimately commits to doing explicit harm for the first time in her life: assassinating the Princess as she is taking her morning swim. Nina becomes something akin to the monster she has always been labeled as for the first time, and as a result, she loses her life when the assassination fails due to Princess Ilana being more than she seems.
Did Nina need to die? Yes. The world of the monsters has been largely unfair to them, and its moment is used to solidify the character of The Bride. Nina is a victim, through and through. She was never fit for an A.R.G.U.S. task force, but what could she do to advocate for herself? The minute she attempts to fit into the model of the monster she has had thrust upon her, she loses her life.
It is unfair and tragic. It’s by far the most unfair existence among the members of Task Force M. It will be something that likely haunts The Bride for a long time, as her genuine, growing affection for Nina was one of the highlights of the show.
Nina Mazursky: A tragic life, cut short, in service to making a monster better.
The Bad – Despite the Excellence of Nina Mazursky’s Story, Pacing Problems, Yet Again
As fascinating and affecting as everything surrounding Nina in the episode, the show suffers from pacing issues, again. Narrative threads are pulled together, but less successfully and less organically than they should have. The show has been hampered by the limited runtime of the season. Given shows in the streaming landscape tend to have 8 to 10 episodes, the 7-episode order for Creature Commandos seems incredibly limited given what the show is. At around 23 minutes for each episode, the show only allowed us to spend around 160 minutes with the characters and tell its story.
This was certainly not enough. The show could have benefited from at least an eighth episode to space out some of the reveals and backstories. The confluence of events and schemes presented in Pokolistan are laid out pretty succinctly by the end of this seventh episode, but to tap into another James Gunn project, It feels very Scooby-Doo.
Further, the runtime did affect character development quite a bit. It is impressive that we ended up getting enough time with each monster to get a sense of who they are and their unique circumstances. However, relationships ended up lacking. As nice as the beginnings of a real friendship between The Bride and Nina were, we don’t get enough of it for the loss of Nina to truly land. We get that The Bride is hurt by this, and why she opts to kill the Princess herself. Yet, the friendship should have been developed further to make the horror of everything more effective.
And while the show has done a lot of interesting work with Eric Frankenstein, the finale leaves very little development on that front, which feels like an issue.
The Monstrous – Nina Mazursky
Of the various members of Task Force M depicted in the show, Nina Mazursky is among the most changed. Created by Jeff Lemire and Ibraim Roberson in the Flashpoint era (2010s), her most recent incarnation begins in Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E. by Jeff Lemire and Alberto Ponticelli. Nina is absolutely a newer character among those who make up the team on the show.
Her comic counterpart is a scientist and former mother who loses their child. In trying to find some purpose, she ends up forming the Creature Commandos and willingly subjecting herself to amphibious mutation.
All in all, she ends up being a somewhat noble mad scientist, which is quite a departure from what people will experience with the show’s take on her.
Continuity Notes
Some notes on this week’s episode.
- We get a glimpse of the season two lineup of Task Force M – Bride, Weasel, and Phosphorus to start. However, we also see Nosferata, Khalis, King Shark, and a rebuilt G.I. Robot.
- It appears the Commandos will be given a little more autonomy going forward. At least based on the way Economos treats the Bride in the lead-up to the reveal.
- Flag, Sr. is probably going to be less in the field for a while, which might explain his role going into the upcoming Superman film.
- Our final tracks for the ongoing playlist include The Dead Brothers’ “I Am All I Got,” Johnny Hollow’s “People Are Strange,” and Juke Baritone’s “Hey God.” I hope this weekly playlist is something that continues into season 2.
- King Shark showing up means Polka Dot Man is probably dead, but we’ll see what happens.
- I laughed when Phosphorus called Weasel “Fruit Brute” as I love my monster cereals.
Mission Rating
As a singular episode, a lot of “A Very Funny Monster” works well. The backstory of Nina is among the most tragic in the series, and the revelation of Princess Ilana’s scheme mostly works. The loss of Nina is a cruel, but pointed commentary about monstrosity and how others are punished for imagined slights. But, it should do a lot to develop The Bride as we go forward. But as a season finale, the show suffers the pacing issues that were present in the first episode. With luck, maybe season 2 will have an extra episode.
Creature Commandos – “A Very Funny Monster” gets three ghost emoji. A solid story, and a decent job of tying together loose threads, but ultimately harmed by pacing issues.
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Creature Commandos is currently streaming on MAX.
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