First Things First…
I’ve never played the video games this series is based on. And I don’t know a whole lot about it. But I saw a lot of ads for the show while watching WWE because it airs on Peacock. Ironic, though, since AEW’s Samoa Joe is one of the stars. He’s also one of the main reasons I want to check it out. He’s been one of my favorite wrestlers for almost 20 years.
I also love Anthony Mackie. I’m one of the biggest Falcon apologists you’ll find. Now I want to see what he can do leading his own show outside the MCU.
5 Things I Like
5. Police as Dangerous as the Vultures
Thomas Haden Church plays Agent Stone, a sadistic cop with a couple of brutal henchmen.
As I understand their world, there’s no federal government anymore. The cities all fend for themselves. So I think these guys are trying to bring the law back on their own. But they’re a real threat. We see it for ourselves when they basically force the brother to kill himself so his sister can live, and they then brand her with their insignia. Plus we see their junkyard filled with cars that all have the word “Resisted” on them.
We also hear from Tommy, John’s map-selling pal, who says, “Even the people trying to bring the law back are just as dangerous.”
THC is always good in everything, and he’s menacing here, despite being much older than he was in the movies I really know him from, Sideways and Spider-Man 3. And I like the idea of there being threats around every corner outside.
4. Mythologizing the East and the Vegas Clown
“The roads out east aren’t like the roads here. You won’t be dealing with your run of the mill vultures. These boys are predators… there’s chaos out there, John.”
Tommy
Up until this this conversation, I thought John was driving all over the country. But apparently he sticks to California, and it’s bad enough there. It sounds like it gets worse the farther east you head, and New Chicago—where he’s hired to go pick up a package from—is pretty damn far.
As John is leaving, Tommy also says…
“You’re gonna have to go through Vegas, John. We both know who rules Vegas.”
He’s referring to the clown—my Samoa Joe character—who looks absolutely psychotic. I wish this short glimpse we get of him in his ice cream truck is where they would’ve left it for this episode, but I like how they establish just how much bigger the threats will get, after we’ve already seen how chaotic John’s day-to-day life as a milkman is.
3. The Ruse
“John, if you do this run, you won’t be returning with a package. You’ll be coming home.”
Raven
They establish a main conceit for the show in this episode. John is hired to travel to New Chicago, pick up a package, and bring it back to New San Francisco in less than 10 days. His reward will be citizenship in New SF.
It’s all a ruse, though. Raven, the COO of New SF, played by Neve Campbell, is the one who hires him. And all the ways she manipulates him to take the job—by showing him her family life, which he could have a chance at—are immediately proven to be false. She doesn’t really have a husband or baby, they were just part of the ruse.
The ruse is so obvious that I’m glad they reveal it the second John takes off. There was no need to try to play it off as a twist later on that her offer wasn’t real.
But this is a good way to give the show structure. And though we don’t know what Raven’s play is, we see who John is up against and that, provided he overcomes all the obstacles outside to make it back with the package, maybe the biggest threat of all will be waiting for him.
2. Outside
“So, cities put up walls to protect themselves and threw the criminals out into the chaos so they could fight over what was left, which was not much, mostly cars and guns… It’s not an easy road because all these assholes want what I got. And that’s where the cars and the guns come in.”
John
I love this world they’ve built. The anarchy, the cars, the milkmen, the violence… all of it is super fun and crazy.
1. Irresistible Protagonist
Anthony Mackie is just as awesome as I hoped for. He’s cool and charming, and he’s really good at his job…
But there’s also a naivete I wasn’t expecting. We learn he’s never really left California and doesn’t actually drive in the worst parts of the outside. And though we see him smoothly take out a bunch of attackers like a badass, without even breaking a sweat, he doesn’t know how to parallel park… he’s never met a baby… he doesn’t know what Jell-o is… he doesn’t even know how to hold utensils. He’s not the superhero type I first thought he was.
There’s also an emotional core to John. That’s what Raven uses against him. We see it in the way he looks longingly at the picture of himself as a kid with his parents, and the way he looks at the baby, and even in the way he looks at the family of seals (before clubbing one of them to death for his steak dinner, I’m assuming).
It sure seems he wants family, and a home, and not to be a milkman stuck on the outside forever.
1 Thing I’m Mixed On
1. John’s Nemesis
I recognize Stephanie Beatriz but haven’t seen her in much. I was anticipating liking her, but so far, I’m a little mixed. I know that her being forced to watch her brother kill himself so she can live is supposed to make her sympathetic despite being at odds with John, but I didn’t see them together enough to care about their relationship, or her loss. Intellectually I get it, but it didn’t hit me emotionally at all. I’ll need more time with her.
1 Thing I Don’t Like
1. Too Much Clown
I know, he’s barely in the episode. And even though I’m excited to see this character, I felt we just should’ve gotten the first quick glimpse of him right after Tommy references the person who rules Vegas. I’d rather not have John and his nemesis already facing this threat at the end of the first episode.
It’s just a quibble, but I’d rather end this episode with this greater threat still looming, not already barreling down on them.
Tim Matassa
