Marvel Brings Back Long Dead SPIDER-MAN Character

Welcome to your mid-week edition of Comics Relief, comics fans! To start our collection of comics news off this week, we have the scoop on a long gone character from Spider-Man’s past that I’m not entirely sure anyone was really clamoring to have back. But they are back anyway, like it or not. Read on for all the details!

Proving that absolutely no one stays dead in comics forever, even characters no one really liked in the first place, Marvel Comics revealed Wednesday as part of their ongoing Spider-Man-centric >Clone Conspiracy storyline that the mastermind villain behind Peter Parker’s current drama is none other than Ben Reilly, the infamous Spider-Clone who also once went by the name the Scarlet Spider.

Dan Slott’s The Clone Conspiracy has had Spider-Man dealing with a medical tech company called New U, which was producing “miracles”, bringing people who were once believed to be fatally sick or gravely wounded back from the brink of death. Peter naturally thought this all too good to be true, and he was right â€" turns out the people “saved” go a wee bit crazy.

But the leader of New U wasn’t Peter’s old nemesis Miles Warren, AKA the Jackal, as he once thought. Turns out it’s none other than Ben Reilly, the Spider-Clone was was once thought to be the real Peter Parker himself. Last time we saw him was 20 years ago, where he literally melted away in front of Peter. But what’s a little disintegration between clones? The new Clone Conspiracy story is only half over, so we’ll see if Ben Reilly sticks around this time. If he does, I hope he gets a better costume and name than “the Scarlet Spider.” [Comic Book]

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Another Marvel event coming soon is >Monsters Unleashed, a five-issue miniseries which hits stores in January, which features Marvel’s heroes fighting off the giant monsters who ruled at the publisher before the era of super-heroes. Now Marvel has released a special behind-the-scenes video detailing the event, and giving fans a sneak peek at the artwork. You can watch the full video above.

Frank Miller is still knee-deep in >Dark Knight III: The Master Race, but it seems he won’t be done with DC Comics once that story has concluded. During a panel featuring Miller at the recent Brazil Comic-Con Experience, the >Sin City creator revealed plans for what he hopes will be his next DC project, saying “I have a fixation by World War II and I’m talking to DC on a project with their heroes at that time.” Could this be the big >DC Rebirth version of the Justice Society of America relaunch that’s been hinted at? Or a Superman story set in WWII? Only time will tell. [CBR]

Aside from the JSA, another missing team from DC’s history that might be making a comeback soon is the Legion of Super-Heroes. Although the team has always had strong ties to the Superman family, they are now being teased by writer Tom King in the pages of >Batman.

In recent issues of Batman, we see Legion founder Saturn Girl is, for some reason, in Arkham Asylum. In an interview, King said “We saw one of the pieces in Batman #9 with Saturn Girl, who was also in DC Universe: Rebirth #1 and plays a role in the story going forward. She’s in Gotham City, and she is in Arkham Asylum… We’ll see what that means both to her and the Legion of Super-Heroes.” [CBR]

Last week, Valiant Comics released a teaser image for their new >X-O Manowar relaunch, and now we have the details on this new series. According to the official description, writer Matt Kindt will begin this new iteration of the character “by separating Aric from his armor and sending him to a far-flung alien planet and continue into a yearlong science-fiction epic split into different arcs.”

Each of these arcs will be drawn by a separate rising star artist, with each artistic interpretation meant to reflect the different stages of Aric’s latest journey. We’ll go  from “Soldier” to “General” to “Emperor” to “Visigoth.”  X-O Manowar #1 is set to hit stores March 22, 2017, and for more info on the new series, be sure to click on the following link: [Entertainment Weekly]

When most people hear the name Jack Kirby, they think of the man who co-created the bulk of the Marvel Universe icons, like The Fantastic Four, the X-Men, Thor, Iron Man, the Hulk, etc. And while he did work at DC for a time, and created their vast New Gods mythology, he isn’t known for any significant runs featuring their iconic characters like Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman.

Except once. In 1984, as a tie-in to their >Super Powers toyline, DC produced a series of mini-series featuring the Justice League under the Super Powers banner, and drawn by the legendary Kirby. This is the only time Kirby drew characters like the Flash, Green Lantern or Wonder Woman, and they are all now finally being collected in hardcover format after thirty years. The collection will come out on August 29th for $34.99, and it will collect Super Powers Vol. 1 #1-5, Super Powers Vol. 2 #1-6 and Super Powers Vol. 3 #1-4. [Bleeding Cool]

Brian Michael Bendis’ current crossover epic >Civil War II got an extra issue to wrap up from Marvel, but artist David Marquez is getting some help to wrap this sucker up. Seven additional artists are joining Marquez to complete the delayed final issue.

Civil War II #8 will now have 32 pages by Marquez with eight additional pages, which are being described as a “special top secret interior sequence”, will be drawn by artists Esad Ribic, Leinil Yu, Adam Kubert, Alan Davis, Mark Bagley, Marco Rudy, and Daniel Acuna. The release date for Civil War II #8 remains set at December 28, an eight-week delay from the originally solicited November 2 release date. [Newsarama]

Images: Marvel Comics / DC Comics / Valiant Comics 

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James Chen on Marvel vs Capcom Infinite:

James Chen is one of the FGC's most widely known personalities. He's been an avid competitor, the author of countless fighting game guides, a tournament organizers, and he now regularly commentates at high-profile events.

With such a rich portfolio, how could we possibly pass up the chance to get his thoughts Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite? As you've discovered from our recent featured player interviews, avid fans are ready for Mahvel to be reignited in 2017. Here's what he had to say.

There was a real air of shock with the Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite reveal. WHat was your reaction to the announcement trailers last weekend?

I was just surprised. There was no way, in my mind, that they could have a game in any form of present-ability in the time frame that I'm picturing in my head, unless they've been working on it long before Disney announced that they would stop making games in-house.

So it was a shock to me. I was one of the super skeptical people, but all the leaks and talks definitely tempered the complete shock value. Which makes me sad in a way. I would love for it to have been announced with no idea it was coming, because that would have seriously blown my mind!

Infinite looks like it will be the first crossover fighting game that’s more accessible for casual players. What do you think the game’s biggest challenge will be in maintaining enough depth for veteran players?

It's a funny question in the first place, because the Marvel games are DESIGNED to be beginner friendly, they always have. One button special moves (assists), easy Chain Combos, hitting two buttons to unleash three Supers at the same time, etc. Marvel vs. Capcom 2 is arguably one of the most beginner-friendly intended games ever made.

Having said that, it's the players who really broke the games wide open, and hopefully they leave a lot of room for creativity open. Marvel games are great examples of easy to pick-up yet still high levels of execution, and I do hope they maintain that idea. That's a key factor, IMO.

If the game ends up being too watered down, it won't be "Mahvel."

How important is it that Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite includes the X-Men and other popular mutants?

I would be very sad if X-Men weren't in the game, but I don't think they are crucial. The MCU is wildly popular right now, so if they bank on that, MvCI will be perfectly successful without the X-Men.

However, what would be sad for me personally is that Wolverine is the ONLY character who has been in 100% of the Marvel games by Capcom. If he was not in MvCI, that would be a really shame to break that streak!

Do you believe that Infinite will create the same following from the community?

I believe it will, largely because the Marvel community now has experience jumping from game to game. Marvel vs. Capcom 2 veterans were really cautious and wary about going to MvC3, but MvC3 players will understand it a bit more, especially now having gone through a lot of the resistance from MvC2 players.

I think many MvC3 players will be willing to move forward to MvCI so that they can continue to build their scene. But they should definitely NOT stop playing UMvC3. Keep that community alive as much as possible as well.

As a caster, do you personally find it more challenging to commentate a crossover title than say, Street Fighter V?

It can be tougher, but really you just have to be faster and concentrate less on minor details. Also, you do have to be more energetic and hype for Marvel games, it's just their nature. I never really got to commentate UMvC3 late in its life because I just never kept up with it enough to be a good commentator for it, so I'm not sure how it would have turned out if I were still commentating it today.

But I definitely know I would approach it entirely different than how I commentate Street Fighter V, definitely trying more to be energetic and more briefly analytical.

Any chance that you'll consider potentially getting back into the competitor's seat to play Infinite?

Doubtful. [laughs]

I'll play it, for sure, so I can be a good commentator for it. But there's very little possibility of me becoming a competitor again. Commentary is my focus, and it's hard for me to play games in a casually competitive fashion. I get too angry when I play, so I'd have to dedicate every bit of my faculty to playing if I were a competitor, so my commentary would suffer greatly.

Many seem concerned about the lack of X-Factor and the assist system. What are your thoughts on Infinite reintroducing the Gems to be used as a groove a la CvS2?

I think Gems are a cool idea, but I am VERY wary about lack of Assists. Assists are what make team composition really important. The combo tagging is neat and all, but really the "team synergy" that makes Marvel so special isn't as important in that regard.

A lot of people have made Street Fighter x Tekken comparisons, and it's a good one because SFxT combos weren't as reliant on synergy as Marvel games. The synergy also goes beyond combos and plugs holes in your character's game.

Having Doom Missiles or Doom Beam really changes the way a character plays. Without Assists, that will be lost. I'm hoping they can find a good way to make up for that with the Gems, so I can't wait to see what they have in store.

What features do you feel Infinite must include to guarantee it will resonate with veteran players and new players alike?

Franticness. Energy. Speed. Crazy Combos. Hype.

If they can pull that off regardless of what characters or game systems are in place, that will be important to pull from the existing fanbase. Interestingly, just judging by how the UMvC3 community has grown and changed over time, they seem really open to playing a different game so long as those things are intact.

Are there any creative, special modes that you’d like to see included along with the confirmed Story and Mission Modes?

Proper tutorial modes done through mini-games. A really robust online mode, with progress beyond some arbitrary ranking points.

What additional characters would you like to see added to the roster?

From Capcom: I've been wanting Linn Kurosawa of the Alien vs. Predator games forever, but she's a tough one due to licensing. From the Marvel side: Black Panther would be sick.

Some purists are still on the fence about supporting Infinite following its debut. What insight would you offer for anyone that feels skeptical?

Every game is different, and they should be. If they made Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite just a clone of Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, I'd think it'd be boring. We already have Marvel 3. Players have been going through this forever now, with huge changes between games.

Alpha 3 was VASTLY different than Alpha 2. UMvC3 was different than MvC2 which was different than MvC. Street Fighter V is very different from Street Fighter IV. It's part of the circle of Fighting Game life. Embrace it, and you'll actually find that you'll have MANY fighting Games you love to play and enjoy.

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Fox Sets Release Dates for Two Secret Marvel Movies; Pushes ‘Kingsman 2’ to October 2017

In addition to moving up the release date of Ridley Scott’s highly anticipated Prometheus follow-up >Alien: Covenant from August 2017 to May 2017, 20th Century Fox also shuffled another film and set release dates for a pair of unspecified Fox/Marvel movies. First the known: the sequel >Kingsman: The Golden Circle has been pushed out of the Summer 2017 corridor from its previous release date of June 16, 2017, and will now open in theaters on October 6, 2017. That’s quite a different landscape as the film will now be squaring off directly with the sequel >Blade Runner: 2049, but one imagines Fox will be playing up the action-comedy angle of the Kingsman follow-up in contrast to Denis Villeneuve’s sure-to-be serious tone for the Blade Runner sequel. Still, that’s one heck of a choice you’re asking the audience to make, and one wonders if Blade Runner might shift a bit in the wake of this news.

Kingsman: The Golden Circle is no half-assed follow-up either, as Matthew Vaughn returns to direct with an all-star cast that includes returning members Taron Egerton and Colin Firth alongside newcomers Julianne Moore, Channing Tatum, and Elton John. The first movie opened in February 2015 and grossed $414.3 million worldwide, which is incredibly solid for an R-rated action romp. I’ll be interested to see if the sequel can find similar success in the fall season.

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Image via 20th Century Fox

The October 6, 2017 release was actually previously occupied by an untitled Fox/Marvel film, which many believed was pegged for >Gambit. Filming on that X-Men spinoff starring Channing Tatum was supposed to begin in Fall 2015, but the project subsequently lost two directors and is undergoing script rewrites, so the delays plus the fact that it still has no director makes that October 2017 date impossible.

But not to fearâ€"Fox is still bullish on churning out features based on the Marvel properties it owns the rights to, as the studio has now dated Untitled Fox/Marvel films for release on November 2, 2018 and February 14, 2019. One of these dates could be for >Deadpool 2, which just landed John Wick co-director David Leitch to take the helm after Tim Miller dropped out over creative differences with star Ryan Reynolds. This sequel is a priority for Fox given that the first filmâ€"a modestly budgeted R-rated superhero movieâ€"grossed an insane $782.6 million worldwide. Production is expected to begin sometime next year as casting was well underway when Miller left, so really Deadpool 2 could be ready for release either in November 2018 or February 2019. It depends on how long Fox wants to wait and what kind of launch they want to give the follow-up. Deadpool surpassed all expectations with some solid counter-programming over the Valentine’s Day weekend of this year, so they could simply follow the same formula and release on Valentine’s Day 2019. Or the film could get a splashy holiday season superhero debut in November.

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Image via 20th Century Fox

Or, what’s more likely, Deadpool 2 could take the previously announced March 2, 2018 “Untitled Fox/Marvel Film” release date and February 14, 2019 is being eyed for the >Deadpool 3/X-Force movie that’s already in the works. Fox is reportedly already trying to nail down a director for >Deadpool 3, so the timeline would work out so that Deadpool 2 shoots in 2017 for a 2018 release and Deadpool 3/X-Force shoots in 2018 for a 2019 release.

That November 2, 2018 date is currently home to Disney’s live-action Mulan as well as an untitled Paramount Event Film, which is likely a Transformers movie. February 14, 2019, meanwhile, is currently empty.

So if one of these movies is Deadpool 3, what’s the other one? The most likely candidate is >New Mutants, which has Josh Boone (The Fault in Our Stars) writing and directing and is planned as a YA-skewing X-Men spinoff. Or it could be Gambit, if that movie finally gets off the ground. The main X-Men franchise is at a bit of an impasse as writer/producer Simon Kinberg is expected to try and jump-start things after the lackluster reception of X-Men: Apocalypse, but director Bryan Singer is not returning and the contracts for Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, and James McAvoy have all been fulfilled. The plan now, reportedly, is for Kinberg to take a stab at writing a new X-Men film that assumes Lawrence, Fassbender, and McAvoy re-up their contracts, but with so many unknowns it’s unlikely that film would be ready for a November 2018 release.

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| Sets | Release | Dates | Secret | Marvel | Movies; | Pushes | ‘Kingsman | 2’ | October | 2017 | addition | moving | release | date | Ridley | Scott’s | highly | anticipated | Prometheus | follow-up | Kingsman: | Golden | Circle | been | pushed | Summer | corridor | from | previous | June | 2017, | will | open | theaters | 2017. | That’s | quite | different | landscape | film | squaring | directly | with | sequel | Image | 20th | Century | Fox The | actually | previously | occupied | untitled | Fox/Marvel | film, | which | many | believed | pegged | Deadpool | just | landed | John | Wick | co-director | David | Leitch | take | helm | after | Miller | dropped | over | creative | differences | star | Ryan | Reynolds. | This | priority | given | that | first | filmâ€"a | modestly | budgeted | R-rated | superhero | movieâ€"grossed | insane | $782.6 | million | worldwide. | Production | expected | begin | sometime | next | year | casting | well | underway | when | left, | really | could | ready | either | November | 2018 | February | 2019. | depends | long | wants | wait | what | kind | launch | they | want | give | follow-up. | surpassed | expectations | some | solid | counter-programming | Valentine’s | weekend | this | year, | simply | follow | same | formula | splashy | holiday | season | debut | November. Deadpool | 3/X-Force | movie | that’s | already | works. | reportedly | trying | nail | down | director | timeline | would | work | shoots | 2019 | release. That | currently | home | Disney’s | live-action | Mulan | Paramount | Event | Film, | likely | Transformers | movie. | 2019, | meanwhile, | empty. So | these | movies | what’s | other | one? | most | candidate |

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“Rectify” Is a Quiet Marvel

> Daniel was convicted of a brutal but ambiguous crime. Now that he’s out of prison, everyone wants clarity. Credit Illustration by Tomer Hanuka In the first episode of “Rectify,” Daniel Holden (Aden Young) is released from death row, and he gives a speech to journalists and protesters gathered outside the prison. Rather than assert his innocence or talk about justice, he offers a zigzagging meditation on the nature of fatalism. “I had convinced myself that kind of optimism served no useful purpose in the world where I existed,” he explains, in an underwater monotone, as the protesters look on, baffled. “Obviously, this radical belief system was flawed and was, ironically, a kind of fantasy itself.” Humbly, as if ending a philosophy seminar, he concludes, “I will seriously need to reconsider my world view.” For three years, “Rectify” has been a small marvel, an eccentric independent drama, filmed in Griffin, Georgia, and airing off the beaten track as well, on Sundance. With its skewed insights into carceral cruelty, “Rectify” took the slot that “The Wire” used to occupy: it’s the smart crime drama whose fans have trouble persuading others to watch, because it sounds too grimâ€"or maybe too good for you. It’s a frustrating dynamic that has haunted other dramas without cowboys or zombiesâ€"“The Leftovers” and “The Americans” come to mindâ€"but “Rectify” ’s reputation for difficulty is misleading. The show’s dreamy pace makes it a satisfying high, like a bourbon-soaked bob down a river on a humid day. It’s a show about the way that time gets distorted; it’s one that distorts time, too. As with many structurally daring series, it’s joyful, because its insides match its outsides. It’s also, more straightforwardly, a gothic mystery about small-town secrets. When Daniel was in his late teens, he was convicted of the rape and murder of his sixteen-year-old girlfriend, Hanna. He served nineteen years, most of them in solitary confinement. The crime itself was a foggy, ambiguous incident that involved psychedelic drugs; two boys testified against him, and, under pressure, Daniel confessed. DNA cleared him of the rape but not of the murder, so plenty of localsâ€"and, at times, Daniel himselfâ€"suspect that he did it, because he was found cradling Hanna’s naked corpse, which he’d decorated with flowers. But Daniel’s younger sister, Amantha (Abigail Spencer), never lost faith in his innocence, and she’s been sleeping with the liberal Jewish lawyer she lobbied to work on his behalfâ€"the big-city Reuben to her Norma Rae. Everyone involved wants clarity, now that Amantha’s faith has paid off. No one gets it. The murder case is reopened and leads down alarming paths. Few people want to face the uglier facts, including the knowledge that Daniel was raped in prison, multiple times. While he was on death row, his father died and his mother remarried, so he has two new stepbrothers, Ted, Jr., and Jared, who is still in his teens. In some ways, Daniel is himself an adolescent, prone to self-indulgent, self-destructive whims. In isolated Paulie, Georgia, he’s a distinctly odd figure, a socially awkward autodidact who meditated and read obsessively in his cell. He speaks in an off-kilter, whispery style, making even sympathetic neighbors uncomfortable. His mannered intellectualism marks him as an outsider, queer in several senses, as much as any suspicions of criminal guilt do. The one person who truly gets him is Ted, Jr.,’s wife, Tawney, a sweet born-again Christian who is desperate to save Daniel, and with whom he develops a dangerous chemistry. Their flirtation takes place, however, largely through elevated conversation about Thomas Aquinas and Buddha, forgiveness and humility. And, in fact, a lot of the pleasure of the show is in the dialogue, which favors the stuff that Daniel jokes is not “gallows humor” but “lethal-injection humorâ€"it’s more humane but less funny.” “It felt good to use the telephone that wasn’t smarter than me,” Daniel tells his sister, about a pay phone. His companion on a road trip tells him, “Everything that happens between men and women is written in mud. And butter. And barbecue sauce. Paula Deen said that to me in a dream I had one time.” Ted, Jr.,’s boozy koan: “First you hate it. Then you like it. It’s called beer.” While the talk takes its time, the plot moves fast. The first season covers six days in six episodes, and climaxes in two crimes, one committed by Daniel, one against him; by the fourth and final season, currently airing, only a few months have passed. Several of the best episodes are one-offs, featuring characters we never meet again. In one, Daniel drifts into the orbit of an antique dealer named Lezlie, a Pan-like anarchist, who invites anyone who is not a gentrifying yuppieâ€"the class he regards as ruining Paulieâ€"to party at his ramshackle house. In another, Daniel gets a ride from a stranger and steals some goats. There’s a strong sense in “Rectify” that, when your memory has been rendered spongy and your safety shattered, each event might last forever or be gone in a flash. Perhaps the standout episode is “Donald the Normal,” from Season 2. In it, Daniel finally leaves town. He takes a bus to Atlanta, then puts on nice clothes and goes to a museum to see a beautiful painting that he knows only from a book. Throughout “Rectify,” the claustrophobically close-knit Paulieâ€"where the local waitress sleeps with both Daniel and the politician who framed him, and where Hanna’s brother glares at Daniel’s family in the supermarketâ€"is portrayed as near-enchanted in its isolation. Any mention of a larger Southern city (even from the former Atlantan Amantha, who has a liberal hipster’s condescension for her home town) makes it sound as distant as Mars. At the museum, Daniel is approached by an attractive older woman, played by Frances Fisher. “What do you think?” she asks. “I think I’ve looked at this painting in a book for so long that somehow my brain has trivialized it,” he says. “And as I stand here in front of the real thing I feel, if anything . . . disappointed.” She’s charmed by the alien quality that others find so creepyâ€"his formal speech, his lack of boundaries. She invites him to lunch with her book-club friends. These are sleek, rich city women. He tells them that his name is Donald and that he owns a bookstore in Alabama. This experiment in reinvention falls apart fast. Daniel has cuts on his forehead and cheeks, the remnants of a beating that put him in a coma. And, bright as he is, he can’t improvise a life he never had. He finds himself faking a conversation about a book he hasn’t read, something with a “pitiful” protagonist. “This bread, um, is excellent,” he says, trying to change the subject. “The panini bread?” one of the women asks. “Yes, um, the pallini bread,” he responds. “It’s . . . unusually fresh.” It’s a heartbreaking slip, a class error that locks him out of a whole world. The book-club women get into a conversation about a story that Daniel >has read, Tobias Wolff’s “Bullet in the Brain,” and which he’s memorized. His lunch companion can’t believe it: “It would be torture to memorize.” No, he explains: it was a calming task, back during “a period in my life when I was having some difficulty dealing with the passing of time in a traditional sense.” Because Wolff’s story deals “with the bending of time,” memorizing it helped him bend time as well. References like this get at the show’s fearlessness in taking art seriously, not merely as a distraction but as a bridge between strangers, a way of reframing the world. Still, it would be an exercise in solipsism without the larger, more grounded ensemble, particularly Daniel’s opposite number, Ted, Jr., who becomes both his bully and his victim. As played by Clayne Crawford, Ted is a strutting, insecure shit-kicker, a high-school tough kid gone to seed. A salesman at the family car dealership, he’s the yuppie type Lezlie disdains, or, at least, he aspires to be: he and Tawney share a McMansion decorated in pastels. When the bank won’t give him a loan for a sketchy scheme involving leasing auto rims to black customers, he mortgages the house, despite Tawney’s resistance. When things fall apart, he gets scary. In another story, Ted might be a cartoon villain: the abusive husband who, at one point, confesses to something so close to date rape that it’s a distinction without a difference. (Crimes on “Rectify” are like that: violence so ordinary that no one reports itâ€"and, when someone does, the justice system makes it worse.) But the show sees Ted’s side, too. Like Daniel, he is a man humiliated by loss of control, with few coping skills when he’s been abandoned. In “Rectify,” anyone who feels something for others, however painful, must be redeemable. In the final season, Tawney and Ted, Jr., go to therapy, heading toward divorce. Daniel, who has been legally “banished” to Nashville, lives at a halfway house and gets an artist girlfriend. The crime is on the verge of being solved. If “Rectify” has a flaw, it’s one that so many humane shows develop in their final stretchâ€"a Tawney-like desire to save everyone, simply because these are characters we’ve loved for years. In one scene, Amantha, recognizing that an old enemy is helping solve the mystery of Hanna’s murder, asks, “Is there anyone left to hate?” Daniel wryly refers to himself as Humpty-Dumpty, but he’s often more like Kimmy Schmidt: he’s strange not because his capacity for wonder has been shut down but because it’s almost too open. As the finale approaches, it’s not the show’s problem that I’ve found myself wanting some ugly to stay ugly. Perhaps I will seriously need to reconsider my world view. >♦ "

| “Rectify” | Quiet | Marvel |

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