Creature Commandos streams new episodes every Thursday through January 9, 2025 on Max. UK airdates are yet to be confirmed.
Review
Just two episodes remain in Creature Commando’s debut season and that means today’s brand new episode is the penultimate. If you know us here at GYCO then you know we love a penultimate episode. It’s fair to say they quite often end up surpassing even a strong finale. So will James Gunn’s animated monster-fest be able to stick the landing? With Flag off the board, Waller clueless as to Circe’s plans and Frankenstein rushing to Pokolistan, will anyone be able to stop Task Force M from making a fatal mistake?
I’ve been thinking a lot about the pacing of Creature Commandos coming in to these final two episodes. There’s a sense of urgency to the story as we enter “Priyatel Skelet” which certainly sets it up to be an exciting conclusion to the season. But in reality the entire seven-episode arc has been moving at a pretty stable speed right from the outset. We don’t have a true grasp on the amount of time which has elapsed from start to finish but putting the pieces together this has really only been a matter of days, at most a couple of weeks. But a huge benefit of Gunn having written the entire season is that the story is completely watertight. There are no moments when it really drags. Whilst some episodes are more successful than others its certainly a testament to Gunn’s strong writing that there’s no stinker in the bunch.
“Priyatel Skelet” puts the focus on Dr. Phosphorus (Alan Tudyk) for the first time. At this stage only Phosphorus and Nina (Chloe Tao) have remained a little underused in the story. We’ve seen Nina become somewhat of a central figure for the group, like a child everyone wants to protect. Whilst Phosporus has been more of the muscle. He’s show himself capable in a fight. But until now we’ve yet to scratch the surface and explore who he is. But boy oh boy is it a story worth telling.
In comics the character first appeared by in 1977 in the pages of Detective Comics where he was created by Steve Englehart and artist Walt Simonson. Gunn takes a few liberties with Phosphorus’ origin but in doing so is able rebuild the character in a more tragic light which fits alongside other members of Task Force M. In this origin Phosphorus is a scientist experimenting with nuclear fission in the search for potential medical properties. He’s also married to a Biyalian refugee, a brief moment to setup another fictional nation in the DCU. It transpires his work is being funded by none other than Rupert Thorne (Benjamin Byron Davis) and that sets in motion a series of tragic events which lead to his transformation.
There’s no escaping the fact I’ve just mentioned one of Gotham’s most notorious crime bosses as well as linking Dr. Phosphorus to his history in Detective Comics and that means only one thing. We’re taking a trip to Gotham in this week’s flashbacks. We don’t get a strong sense of city but it does feel darker than other locations we’ve been to. Its design feels inspired by Batman: The Animated Series but that could be down to it taking place at night. Either way there’s an early sense that Gotham will be a strong character in the DCU. But yes it does also mean there might be a silent cameo from one of Gotham’s most famous residents too…
What’s great about these flashbacks is that even when they visit one of the most famous locations in all of fiction, it doesn’t drown out the story Gunn is trying to tell. Dr. Phosphorus has been a stalwart member of Task Force M from the outset. Never having stepped out of line or even caused trouble for the group along the way. His flashbacks setup a man with genuine intentions who simply gets caught up with the wrong people leading him down a bad path. That characterisation follows through to who he is in the present day and it feels like there’s a really strong definition of who he is.
The dual race to kill and also stop the killing of Princess Ilana (Maria Bakalova) neatly steers itself back towards the forefront of the episode in time for the finale. Gunn is keeping the tension fraught ready for the pot to boil over next week. We’re left hanging not knowing the consequences of what will happen if The Bride (Indira Virma) or one of the team kills the princess. So in true penultimate episode fashion Creature Commandos manoeuvres all the pieces to exactly where they need to be to allow the finale to focus on the task at hand.
Verdict
A brilliant penultimate episode for Creature Commandos. James Gunn’s script is able to explore the history of Dr. Phosphorus without it swallowing up the airspace needed to progress the main arc of the season to allow next week’s finale to focus on Task Force M’s mission to kill Princess Ilana.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
