Creature Commandos streams new episodes every Thursday through January 9, 2025 on Max. UK airdates are yet to be confirmed.
Review
Finally, with just two more episodes to go, it’s turn of the brilliant Eric Frankenstein (David Harbour) to have his backstory explored in the latest episode of Creature Commandos. As the series looks to its endgame we get our first buddy-comedy as Harbour partners with Frank Grillo’s Rick Flag Sr. for a fun and completely unexpected caper.
So it turns out Creature Commandos has been hiding a pivotal subplot in plain sight all along. After glimpsing Eric Frankenstein in the first episode and following it up with some moments of serious light relief. It’s finally time to get to the bones of his character and how he may impact on the final two episodes of the season.
We’ve seen glimpses of the Frankenstein story throughout the season. But here Gunn offers us to chance to see a little more of those moments from his perspective rather than that of The Bride (Indira Virma). We know he created her out of love. But to experience his heartbreak first hand when she sleeps with Victor (Ben Serafinowicz) is enlightening in bringing us up to date with who he is in the present day. His present day storyline has seen the character used as light relief amongst what has been some heavy storytelling. His blind devotion to The Bride, even though she clearly does not reciprocate his feelings, is something many of us will identify with. But as the comedy scene partner he hasn’t had too much to do.
Pairing him with Rick Flag Sr. is unexpected but by now we should have come to expect the unexpected from this show. Bringing the two of them together opens new avenues for storytelling. Frankenstein is able to bring a little light in to Flag’s story giving Frank Grillo the chance to be a little funnier. Whilst the reverse is also true, Harbour is able to be just a tiny bit more serious by putting Frankenstein on the trail of a real investigation. What the two of them uncover have the chance to flip the story on its head once again and so the rollercoaster of Creature Commandos continues in to the final two chapters.
It also seems that James Gunn really did take a lot of inspiration from his time voice acting on Harley Quinn as Alan Tudyk pulls double-duty (or probably triple duty) this episode by also playing Clayface. Another legendary DC character who has now made their DCU debut. This version isn’t quite the eloquently spoken thespian he is in Harley Quinn but with Tudyk taking in a secret role in Superman perhaps this version of the Bat-villain has bigger plans in the DCU’s ongoing story.
The rest of Team Task Force M is back in Pokolistan and deep in to their mission to kill Princess Ilana (Maria Bakalova). They take a little bit of a backseat whilst events are unfolding elsewhere but that just makes “The Iron Pot” a strong example of how the series is able to work as an ensemble piece.
Verdict
A tonally interesting episode which feels a little like the calm before the finale storm. With just two episodes left in the season Creature Commandos is still experimenting with its formula. It’s also still able to pull the rug out from under the audience, consistently turning the story on its head and keeping us guessing on just where it’s going to go next.
⭐⭐⭐
