Episode
2: “What if Chadwick Boseman was awesome?”
Well,
any discussion of this episode is probably going to be overshadowed by the fact
that it was the last performance of beloved actor Chadwick Boseman, appearing
here as the beloved superhero T’Challa, prince of the beloved fictional kingdom of
Wakanda.
While
I remain deeply suspicious and cynical about the type of person who has the,
hm, immense self-belief it must take to become a famous actor, I won’t try to
deny the online outpouring of love that met the news of Mr. Boseman’s death.
Again, the Internet does love to go crazy over its Keanu Reeveses and Brendan
Frasers, its Bob Rosses and Steve Irwins, so I take the flood of messages with
a grain of salt, but I figure there’s still gotta be a grain in there
somewhere, and that’s no small thing.
It
does mean that T’Challa, the character, has been utterly overshadowed by
Chadwick Boseman, the actor, probably to the detriment of the character. T'Challa is
awesome because Chadwick Boseman is awesome. To be anything less would be an
insult to the dead, but honestly, that does not make for interesting writing or
a great character. T’Challa cannot fail or be afraid or get angry or make
mistakes or doubt himself, because he isn’t T’Challa he’s Chadwick Boseman.
That
said, this was a fun episode, at least at the start, as it kind of leans into
the meme of Chadwick Boseman’s awesomeness with a replay of the opening scene
of the first “Guardians of the Galaxy” movie between Star-Lord (now Chadwick
Boseman instead of Chris Pratt) and Djimon Hounsoun’s character: When Star-Lord
introduces himself, instead of asking "Who?" Djimon instantly
recognizes him and falls over himself fangirling over Chadwick. “Should we be bowing? I feel like we should be bowing.”
Similarly,
there’s a kind of cute scene where we learn Thanos the Mad Titan decided to
give up his plan to wipe out half of all sentient life in the universe after
talking to Chawick Boseman for five minutes. Ha ha. Chadwick Boseman is
awesome, am I right?
The
rest is just kind of filler, tbh. Once they’ve set up and made the joke about how
awesome Chadwick Boseman is, there isn’t much point to the rest of it except to
reiterate how awesome he is a couple more times.
As a
tribute, it’s nice. Touching. Just the right send off probably, as fitting a curtain-closer as one could hope for. Raul Julia's last film was "Street Fighter" and if I had to choose between going out as a martial artist who is awesome and a martial artist in a 90s video game, I pick the awesome. As entertainment, the episode is, well, it’s not really answering any
of the questions it appears to raise.
Q:
What is more important, your nature or the nature of your environment?
A:
Your nature.
Q:
Wow, you didn’t even hesitate. Which is odd because this is an ongoing and
complex debate within a number of scientific fields such as psychology, genetics, and neuroscience. Are you sure?
A:
Yep.
Q:
Oh come on, not even a hint of doubt?
A:
Nope.
Q:
So you’re saying that a man raised as the son of a king, accustomed to
authority and obedience, pampered in comfort and luxury, destined for absolute
rule over a peaceful and highly advanced kingdom would have turned out exactly
the same had he been an orphan raised by space pirates?
A:
Exactly.
Q:
Well, that’s, ah, very. Okay, explain.
A:
Easy. He’s Chadwick Boseman.
Q:
And?
A:
That’s it. That’s all. He’s Chadwick Boseman.
Q:
So, the original Star-Lord (Peter Quill, played by Chris Pratt) was kind of a
roguish asshole in the Han Solo mode not because Peter Quill had been
raised by a single mother crazier than a sack full of weasels who then died of
cancer leaving the young boy wholly and utterly bereft and alone and then in
that single moment when he was at his lowest he was kidnapped by space child
traffickers who intended to sell him to a godlike planet-being as psychic food, not any of that, but because Peter Quill was a dick?
A:
Well, he was no Chadwick Boseman, am I right?
Q:
I see. Okay, try this then: Is there any conflict or tension between one’s
loyalty to the family one creates through friendship and shared experiences, and
loyalty to one’s genetic family, who have not shared those experiences?
A:
No.
Q:
So if you lived most of your life believing your family was dead, then 20 years
later found out they were still alive, you would not feel torn between staying
with the family you had built for yourself on the one hand, and returning to a
family you barely know or remember on the other?
A:
Nah. They'd love each other.
Q:
Because…?
A:
Because he’s Chadwick Boseman.
Q:
Uh huh.
A:
Chadwick Boseman is awesome.
Q:
Not to disagree here, but it seems to be we’ve set up two juicy sources of
potential conflict that might actually explore the concept we’ve introduced
here, then immediately resolved both of them without even the slightest pause
because …
A:
Chadwick Boseman is awesome.
Q:
… because Chadwick Boseman is awesome, exactly. And—not to take away anything
from Mr. Boseman’s state of awesomenity, awesomeitude, awesomeosity—perhaps
also because Marvel is nervous about its viewers being even slightly
uncomfortable or conflicted or thoughtful for even a sliver of a nanosecond?
A:
These are kids’ shows, you know.
Q:
The way children’s entertainment has gradually overtaken more and more of the
market as western society psychically retreats for the hellworld we have
created into comforting nostalgia and fantasy has not gone unremarked, no. Nor
has the fact that the actual target audience of such entertainment is most
definitely and emphatically not kids entirely escaped notice. Yes, these are
fun little throwaway morsels designed to do nothing more than distract us for a
moment and fill the idle times in our lives, but I think it’s fair to sigh over
the way they steadfastly refuse to even hint at any kind of conflict that does
not involve punching things.
A:
Chadwick Boseman punches Benicio del Toro in this one.
Q:
He sure does. He also exhibits an awareness of the history of slavery in the
United States despite never having visited there, being raised in a position of
incredible privilege from a young age, and then spending the overwhelming
majority of his life hundreds of lightyears away from Earth.
A:
What are you talking about? Chadwick Boseman knows all about the history of the
United States.
Q:
We really have conflated the character with the actor haven’t we?
A: Chadwick Boseman is awesome.
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