I think the difference is Jackman said what he said in the vacuum of Fox owning X-Men. His calculus changed after the Disney buyout and expanded possibilities for his old franchise within the MCU.

It wasn’t bad. It wasn’t super good. It was just kinda there.

It’s a bunch of things. Diminishing returns from other recent MCU movies not named Guardians of the Galaxy burning out even faithful fans; the SAG strike limiting how it could be promoted; misogynist fans who legitimately dislike a film led by not just three women, but two of them being POC; and a lackluster marketing…

Yeah, I’ve had Tasha and Dan pegged for the final since the beginning, with Josh and Cristy as the swings. (I never thought Matty would get this far.)

Sad to see Tasha go. She had a bad week at the wrong time, just as Jurgen did.

No disrespect toward Matt, but I’m glad he’s out. It’s been better this season without him. I do miss Sandi, though. She was so dry and amusing.

Jurgen! None of us could believe it when the idiosyncratic German bit it in the penultimate episode. The man seemed like a lock for the final from the beginning.

I know Lori wasn’t there in S2, but... no mention of Lori? The core gang is going from six to five, not five to four. (But you could argue the only real “core” that’s almost always there is Mark, Kevin, and Lori while the others switch.)

I’m surprised there’s no mention of the obvious: Cuban’s clear political…

Right? Some MCU projects come in a bit below the curve. Some above. Even with all the variables you outlined, it’s weird to see something bomb this hard. A softer opening weekend could be attributed to many things, but the second weekend crash means word of mouth is also bad, apparently, which is a shame.

Yeah that’s fair. I added my last statement in haste. I think Peyton Reid had to bow to producers more than someone like Waititi, who has a stronger brand ID as a director and proved himself by “saving” Thor with Ragnarok. But then Waititi just went in and amped up all of his worst impulses with Love and Thunder. What…

She was easily the best part of the film. Teyonah Parris and Brie Larson seemed to be sleeping through their parts.

This looks atrocious. Dakota Johnson seems like she’s on valium.

It seems like it could, but I’d struggle to see how it would have been planned that way since Loki filmed before Majors’ legal troubles surfaced. 

Best thing Marvel’s done since Endgame, hands down.

If I had submitted this article in college, I would have received poor marks for not supporting my thesis in any measurable way.

But why isn't it a shawarma restaurant?!

Really curious. All episodes at once. “Ground-level” focus. TV-MA.

Yeah, if we’re going to call out LGBT content on AD that hasn’t aged well... MAYBE Barry’s assistant? Network TV loved the flamboyant, overly gay gay character back then. It’s still played for great laughs, but you could make the case against it.

I don’t understand the question, and I won’t respond to it.

I don’t always appreciate AVC “reviews” nowadays, but I appreciate that your coverage does actually review the merits (or not) of an episode instead of just a recap.

Yeah, the reorganized one has basically become canon on Netflix. You can still watch the original release arrangement if you poke around, but the redo works better overall. And you aren’t stuck watching an episode missing 60% of the main cast at a time.

S5 starts off with some promise - more cast together, some tighter scripting. But the back 8 episodes, which Netflix released with minimal fanfare after all the Jeffrey Tambor drama, are nearly unwatachable. And the show gets mean in a dark way, not a funny way.