Marvelous TV Club

Hi all! The MTVC has been an incredible ride, and I don't think it's over yet. But for now, I gotta press pause. 

I'm so grateful to each and every one of you for taking this journey with us. Kristine, Maeve, Jesse, and Amanda have been relentlessly awesome, and I've had so much fun, but life has conspired to make it tough to fit all this fun into my schedule every week.

BUT. I hope to bring the team together now and again to check in. So much is happening in the MCU that I need to know what my besties think about it all. So don't take us out of your feeds yet! Just look for us in concentrated doses vs. every week.

Thank you to my fearless co-hosts and to each of you. Keep your ears peeled for some fun in the future, though. MTVC forever!

-Marc

We began this series with a messy character in Marc/Steven, but in a good way! We end this series with a messy finale, and that's...a little more complicated.

So what went right in this last episode? What could have gone better and how?

Our Charactercast team of Kristine Kippins, Jesse Taylor, and Marc Faletti assemble to balance the scales of Moon Knight, its finale, and the arcs of its characters. 

 

We all like to think we know the difference between a good person and a bad person. But the penultimate episode of Moon Knight challenges that assumption. Along the way, it reckons with the question: what is justice without mercy or compassion?

Our Storycast team of Amanda Marcotte, Maeve Adams, and Marc Faletti dissect this episode's nuanced examination of human nature and accountability. 

[Content note: we get into some heavy topics on this episode, including sexual assault. Just a heads up!]

It's the ultimate showdown between Marc and Layla, then Marc and Harrow, then Marc and Steven and...a hippo goddess in a psych ward?

Kristine Kippins, Jesse Taylor, and Marc Faletti grab their bingo cards and take stock of what the eff is going on, whether Layla's involved in TV's most complicated romance, and if Moon Knight's character tropes are working.

Won't you join us for some jell-o?

It's not just the cult of Ammit that has a problem with blind faith in Moon Knight. Marc Spector, Steven Grant, and most of western science (yeah, you heard us!) fall into their own faith-based traps, and this third episode challenges all of them. 

Storycast's Amanda Marcotte, Maeve Adams, and Marc Faletti break down this episode's theme of blind faith, related works and influences ranging from Shirley Jackson to James Bond, and more!

If you want to support the MTVC, consider giving our sponsor Latchkey a follow on Insta: https://www.instagram.com/shoplatchkey/

...be Steven Grant or Marc Spector? Be *with* Steven or Marc? Follow Khonshu or Ammit? Wear a snappy three-piece suit or cool robes? 

And those are just the beginning of our conundrums!

After another thrilling episode of Moon Knight, Jesse Taylor and Kristine Kippins join Marc for a Charactercast breakdown of our heroes, villains, outfits, and lust objects through a little game known as Would You Rather.

If you wanna join in on the discussion, follow us on Twitter or Insta @marveloustvclub! 

Lots of superhero shows explore identity, but Moon Knight asks really interesting questions about what *defines* identity. Is it how we see ourselves? How others see us? What our job is? How much good or bad we do—or will do? 

We assemble our Storycast crew of Amanda Marcotte, Maeve Adams, and Marc Faletti to examine how the show's themes, plot, and costuming all interrogate these ideas and more. 

Just release your body and mind to us, we'll take it from here. 

Egyptian mythology. Moon gods. Split personalities. And Batman?

We're a week away from Moon Knight, and that means our Storycast crew is back to explore the symbols, themes, and famous works of literature that might influence the series. 

Join Amanda, Maeve, and Marc for all of that and more on the Marvelous TV Club!

 

The multiverse has gone mad. The Netflix shows are on Disney+. And wildest of all, DC finally released something that gives Marvel a serious run for its money.

As we enter a new era full of new characters on Marvel TV, this felt like the perfect time for Jesse Taylor and Marc Faletti to take stock of the MCU. Are we at the peak of its glory? What storm clouds might be on the horizon? And, of course, who should play Reed Richards?

Get into all of that and more with us on the Marvelous TV Club!

Happy Wandaversary! A year ago—Jan 15, 2021—the first two episodes of WandaVision dropped and blew our minds.

On this special episode of the Marvelous TV Club, Kristine Kippins and Maeve Adams join forces with Marc to analyze the show with all the perspective we've gained over the past year. How does it hold up? Which episode is the best of the series? Who's the real villain of the show? Where do Wanda, Agatha, and the rest go from here? And so much more.

Buckle up for a journey through character, theme, philosophy, and the cringeworthiness of child actors on the MTVC!

Did Clint Barton truly reckon with his past as Ronin? Is Kate Bishop a bad daughter? Can the Kingpin really be dead? And does Marvel struggle with satisfying finales?

A flash-bang finale of Hawkeye left us gasping for air, but also left us with a lot of questions about our favorite characters. Join Kristine Kippins, Jesse Taylor, and Marc Faletti as we dive into all the unresolved issues big and small. And SPOILER ALERT: we get into some Spidey talk, too, so fair warning to all. 

Last but not least, we end the first year of Marvel TV with some surprise cameos and reflections on our favorite shows of the year. Onward to 2022 and more Marvelous TV Club!

 

Once someone has serious red in their ledger, can they ever hope for a chance at redemption? Yelena and Maya have a very different answer to that question than Clint and Kate, and that battle takes center stage in the penultimate episode of Hawkeye. 

Meanwhile, Eleanor does her best to re-establish some control over the life of her daughter just as Kazi tries to do the same over Maya. 

These ideas of control and redemption tie into everything from Arrival to A Christmas Carol (and, of course, The Royal Tenenbaums). Join our Storycast crew of Amanda Marcotte, Maeve Adams, and Marc Faletti as we break all of that down and more!

What was up with Clint's "Thanos Was Right" mug? Whose watch has everybody been hunting? Is Kate in a healthy place with Clint? What's Yelena's game? And are Eleanor and Jack really in love, or are they playing each other? 

Join Jesse Taylor and Marc Faletti as we untangle the webs that weave together the characters of Hawkeye on this week's MTVC Charactercast!

We're at the halfway point of Hawkeye, and the primary themes of the series are starting to emerge! The MTVC Storycast team assembles to break down the subtly complex ideas driving the series thus far.

What makes someone a superhero, and is it a choice or a destiny? What are the risks and benefits of a more expansive definition of family? And is the Hawkeye series reframing what it means to tell a Christmas story?

Join Amanda Marcotte, Maeve Adams, and Marc Faletti for answers to all of those questions and more on the Marvelous TV Club!

Charactercast is back with a deep dive into faces new and old from the first two episodes of the Hawkeye series!

Is Clint Barton dealing with his trauma or hiding from it? Is Kate Bishop in the hero game for the right reasons? What's Jack Duquesne really up to? And is Kate's mom a heckuva lot more sinister than she appears?

These may seem like unrelated questions, but two threads tie them together: parenting and privilege. We explain it all on the latest release from the Marvelous TV Club, starring Kristine Kippins, Jesse Taylor, and Marc Faletti.

The MTVC is back! Our Storycast crew breaks down the themes, archetypes, and big ideas of the Hawkeye comic series that inspired the TV show.

You don't have to have read a single page to enjoy this conversation. But by the time we're done, don't be mad if you wind up wanting to grab the issues for yourself!

Join Amanda Marcotte, Maeve Adams, and Marc Faletti for a trip through Matt Fraction's world of Clint, Kate, Pizza Dog, goofy Russian gangsters, and so much more!

We're three episodes into "What If?" and that means it's time to unite a few timelines of our own to discuss what's working, what isn't, and where it's all headed. 

Amanda Marcotte and Jesse Taylor join Marc for a discussion of our favorite characters, the biggest missed opportunities of the series, and how "What If?" will impact the future of the overall MCU. Oh, and we talk about Thanos's butt, too. So settle in, because we're as excited as a wild-eyed, serial-killing Hank Pym to dissect "What If?" on the MTVC!

Kang/He Who Remains was full of surprises. And lies—at least if you ask Sylvie. She and Loki began the final episode closer than ever, only to find themselves multiverses apart in the end. Meanwhile, the TVA as we knew it seems gone. And in its place...well, we probably won't know for sure until season 2 just how different the new TVA is. But we definitely have some ideas.

On our final Charactercast of Loki season one, Kristine Kippins and Marc Faletti discuss the finer points of Loki's growth, Kang's plan, Sylvie's revenge, Mobius's new form, and Ravonna's past. 

The Marvelous TV Club: For all time. Always!

The possibilities within the MCU literally exploded out of the Loki season finale, and the implications are almost impossible to comprehend. But that is exactly the kind of problem space we love here at PonderVision! 

If you want to know how time works now, what happened to the TVA at the end of the episode, the potential origins of Kang's tech and plans, and where the MCU might go from here, we've got you covered.

Join Jesse Taylor and Marc Faletti for the kind of branching discussion through the exciting possibilities that we specialize in here at the Marvelous TV Club!

What a barnburner! What a mind-twister! What a cliffhanger!

The end of Loki's first season had it all -- well, except pat answers. Those were in short supply. But that's what makes it so fun to unpack and explore thematically, which is what we specialize in here at Storycast.

Join Maeve Adams, Amanda Marcotte, and Marc Faletti for a look at two primary themes of the finale: 1) that we do not need to invent an oppressive god to save us from ourselves, and 2) despite what many other stories have told us, love and war are fundamentally incompatible.