Jupiter’s Legacy “How It All Ends”

Well, that’s all over now.  Sort of.  Mostly.  I think.

As I have said before, I came into this show knowing Netflix gave it the axe before it got too far.  So, all there is are eight episodes, more than one of which clocked in at under 40 minutes, of superhero origin story combined with modern day questions about whether or not the ideals of the heroes are outdated or not.  There weren’t really any substantial flashbacks, only a pair of quick ones showing the first meeting of the Union and the establishment of the Code (which, apparently, is just “no killing and stay out of politics”), and a quick side scene where it comes out that Sheldon and Walter can go out in public without being recognized in their street clothes.

Now, I have read Mark Millar’s original story…well, most of it as the long promised final part showing, I am guessing, what the original team’s grandkids are going to do hasn’t come out yet.  I know, more or less, what this final episode is promising will come to pass:  Walter will make a move to become a more proactive hero, something of akin to a benevolent dictator who may or may not be all that benevolent, and it would ultimately be up to Chloe and Hutch to defeat him, particularly after Sheldon, Grace, and the returned George had all died.  Yes, we see here that Walter did set the whole season in motion, that he could seduce Brandon to his side, and he is ruthless enough to murder his own daughter to keep what he is doing a secret.  But how that would come to pass is anyone’s guess since, well, that’s it for this show.

Even if a supervillain based live-action show set in the same universe may already be in the works…

So, what to make of Jupiter’s Legacy?  Good question, and I do not know that I can answer that.  Despite the title perhaps referring to the next generation of heroes, this first and only season did focus much more on the team’s founders.  Fitz, for example, was always there and may not have had much to do, but the actor’s name was listed in the opening credits, so there was an idea to do something with him.  Instead, this was mostly about Sheldon, the Code, and whether or not the Union needed to update its policies for a more complex modern world, a concept I talked about before since I think the whole “life is more complex today” is probably a load of bull.

As a superhero show, it often did the weird and the cool fairly well.  This episode showed a nearly silent fight scene as Hutch teleported into a room with low oxygen, meaning he couldn’t teleport out again because there wasn’t enough air to make sounds, but that stopped the instant Chloe crashed through the roof.  You know, as it should.

The show often had an overexagerrated look, appropriate given the Millarworld origin, but the special effects, especially the old age make-up on my 4K TV, never quite worked as well as they could have.  If anything, the show felt like it was maybe just getting started, but then the whole thing ended and while Sheldon and Brandon may have made up after Brandon managed to not murder the real Blackstar, there was clearly more story to tell that now we’ll never see.

Again, probably.  Netflix might just do a series of movies and mini-series or something for all I know.  But this was a fun if not particularly deep show…kinda like most Mark Millar comics actually…

8 out of 10 romance novel-reading archvillains.

OK, now I need something else for Fridays.  Doom Patrol is coming back soon, but I am not 100% certain about the timing, so how about another mini-series where I make good on my Showtime subscription and knock out The Good Lord Bird and get some look into the fictionalized life of radical abolitionist John Brown?

I mean, Ethan Hawke with a crazy beard.  What’s not to like?