So, this is “The Bride backstory” episode. The formula has landed, and it’s going to help out quite a bit.
My first review of Creature Commandos went a little long because there was a lot to discuss. I was a bit more critical of it than I was on this second episode, but there are still elements that prove to be an issue and I am hoping the series manages to address them to some degree.
I believe “The Tourmaline Necklace” is a great step in that direction. Anyway, welcome back to Revenge of Graphic Content. Here are my thoughts on the second episode of Creature Commandos.
Creature Commandos Season 1, Episode 2 – “The Tourmaline Necklace”
My main complaint regarding the first episode of the two-episode premiere of Creature Commandos revolved around pacing and run-time. While this episode is an improvement, the pacing is still dragging down the overall experience. A 22-minute runtime is a serious problem given the type of work that the show is doing.
However, “The Tourmaline Necklace” does a lot to set up the next few weeks of monster action, comedy, and drama. It’s an improvement and creates some breathing room for character development given the “monster of the week” structure it seems to imply about the upcoming episodes.
The Good – The Bride in Focus
As much of an IP garden as the big two comic publishers can be, I always find it interesting to see how they repurpose the public domain. This episode of Creature Commandos focuses specifically on the DC Comics interpretation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and raises some uncomfortable questions while still delivering a fun 20+ minutes of action and comedy. As a whole, it’s a good episode with plenty to enjoy and some significant reveals about the Bride.
The nature of the Creature’s request for a Bride is the central moral conflict between Victor Frankenstein and his creation in the original novel. Later, the film The Bride of Frankenstein (1935) would create a Bride character, and in the way popular culture influences, DC Comics would have its take on all of this. This episode is a couple of centuries of storytelling tucked into less than half an hour but still manages to retain the central elements necessary while creating a modern spin that provides a contemporary form of horror.
The majority of the episode weaves Nina and The Bride’s story, a fight with Circe, with the traumatic backstory of the Bride. Meanwhile, the rest of the Commandos are dealing with two things; the fallout of Doctor Phosphorus trying to steal the control device from Flag, and Flag growing very, close to the princess. Intimately close. Problematically close, given what appears to be an apparent age gap. Flag may very well fit in with his monsters, a macho relic of outdated masculinity This feels intentional. I am curious where the show is going to go with this.
Eric Frankenstein
We also get a full introduction to Frankenstein’s monster, who appeared at the end of the first episode. Eric Frankenstein’s characterization, the attitude and view of a petulant child, makes a lot of sense. One interpretation of the central conflict in the original novel is one of responsibility; Victor fails to take responsibility for the life he creates, and that child lashes out. Eric Frankenstein in Creature Commandos is in line with that reading.
I am not sold on David Harbour’s performance, however. The opening scene of the episode, where he confronts Victor over the unfairness of his being alone borrows heavily from the dialogue in the novel, but the performance just isn’t there; the cadence feels wrong.
However, the more contemporary Eric Frankenstein that we’ve heard works well enough. I wish Harbour would have put a little bit of that Shakespearean slant on the Eric of the flashbacks to indicate the change of centuries the character faced. Otherwise, I appreciate the approach to the character.
The Bad – The Bride’s Trauma, Glossed Over
The episode, while more even, is still suffering from an issue of pacing. Breaking up the creature backstories into different episodes makes a lot of sense and I think is a great move. But, an unfortunately timed needle drop undercuts the tension and drama of a key moment of the Bride’s backstory. We do not get to sit with the revelation of the exploitative nature of her Victor, the impact of Eric’s actions, or the toll it takes on the Bride (who really does need a name by the end of this).
We are hit with a very problematic relationship between the Bride and Victor, one that is a literalized representation of grooming. Victor is very much raising a child, only in the body of sewn-together parts of adult women. Developmentally she is probably less than a couple of years old, but that does not stop him from positioning himself as her advocate, guardian, and father. Then we see the result of his grooming – Victor and his second Creation, having sex.
It’s gross, exploitative, and traumatic. The Bride’s fixation on it and what the tourmaline necklace represents makes sense as a focus for processing grief. Meanwhile, Eric’s actions are toxic and he is complicit in the abuse that the Bride encountered and normalized. After all, Victor had set out to make an object for his “son.” Eric’s pursuit of her is horrific in so many ways. The Bride’s existence is one of abuse, objectification, and displacing trauma by pushing people away. It’s pretty uncomfortable and powerful stuff.
Alas, the Needle Drops
But the Gogol Bordello needle-drop brushes a lot of that aside in the montage over the centuries. I enjoy a good needle drop, and James Gunn’s projects do them quite well. But here, instead of being able to sit with the moment and unpack the horror and trauma of the Bride’s past with a little more gravitas, we kick off into a funky montage.
The montage itself, and the grimly comedic tone have their place, but the episode run-time mashes it against a moment that deserves more breathing room.
The Monstrous – The Bride
The Bride, also known in the comics as Lady Frankenstein has had two major takes as the DC Comics universe has revamped itself more than a couple of times. Creature Commandos seems to be borrowing heavily from New Earth, given her inherent rejection and antagonism toward Eric. The Bride of Prime Earth emerged in the 2010s and has a more equitable relationship with Frankenstein’s monster. I think there is potential for Eric and The Bride to achieve something akin to a more healthy relationship – I don’t know if outright romance – the balance of power is so very tainted for that to work without some serious development.
The big note on how the Bride is handled here is the fact she lacks an entire second set of arms. In the comics, she was modified by a supervillain and given extra arms to evoke the goddess Kali. The extra arms were interesting and I miss them in the show. I understand why the choice was made, but I do hope we may get those extra arms back at some point in the new DCU.
After all, who wouldn’t want to see an undead woman go guns-akimbo with four pistols?
Continuity Notes
- I’ve not mentioned much about big plot beats. I am keeping my focus to broad strokes here, but I appreciate the way Circe is being handled, down to the costume. It feels like the DCU is going to lean more into iconic looks as opposed to the more tacti-cool looks of most hero franchises these days.
- Yes, that was Shaggy from the Scooby-Doo franchise in the montage sequence. I firmly believe Mystery Inc. should be DC canon.
- The Gunn show continues with Peter Serafinowicz voicing Victor. Serafinowicz played Garthan Saal in Guardians of the Galaxy.
- We get a tease of Nina’s origins and her actual human status. Even among monsters, she is an outsider. In some comics continuities, she tended to be one of the principal organizers in the formation of various Creature Commando teams; working under S.H.A.D.E., the organization, not the Changing Man.
- I’m pretty sure they are going to invert some elements of Nina’s story in the comics; rather than losing her daughter, Nina is going to be the daughter with a terminal disease who is experimented on by a parent, resulting in her fish-person transformation.
- Given Flag’s sex scene with Princess Illyana and the problematic nature of the apparent age gap, I also am leaning further into my theory that the Princess we’ve seen is Clayface. That’s gonna render that whole scene a whole lot more problematic and feels very Gunn.
- With that said, Phosphorus being a wingman after trying to kill Flag was pretty funny.
- Hey, that’s Golgo Bordello on stage during the montage.
Mission Rating
“The Tourmaline Necklace” is a marked improvement in the pacing of Creature Commandos through presenting the backstory of the Bride. While other elements of the plot are moving forward incrementally, the monster focus in the episodic structure should help the existing pacing issues.
However, those pacing issues are persistent and undercut one of the most interesting elements of the episode.
Episode two is four out of five ghost emoji.
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Creature Commandos is currently streaming on MAX.
Thanks for reading. Let me know what you thought of the episode or the review. I want to find a balance between writing just enough and too much. In the meantime, if you enjoyed the review or any of the other writing on my site, please consider supporting what I do on Ko-Fi.
