Creature Commandosjust wrapped up its first season on Max, marking the (sort of)first official entry in the new DCUoverseen by James Gunn. The seven-episode season offered everything fans could want from a Gunn-penned DC project, with plenty of over-the-top violence, smartass humor, and character development that humanized its inhuman antiheroes. So how did Gunn and the team wrap up the season, and where does the ending leave the characters?
Note: spoilers forCreature CommandosEpisode 7, “A Very Funny Monster,” below
Creature Commandos
Episode 7’s Character Focus
Early on in its run,Creature Commandosestablished the format of breaking up its main plot to go into extended flashbacks of its main characters' lives before they were taken to Belle Reve, with each character getting their own spotlight. In Episode 7, “A Very Funny Monster,“the spotlight falls on Nina Mazursky, the aquatic woman who has to wear a water suit in order to breathe.
Episode 7 gives viewers a glimpse at Nina’s upbringing. The daughter of a prominent scientist named Edward,she was born with her lungs outside her body. Rather than let their child die, Edward builds a special suit that will allow her to breathe, but the apparatus is heavy and causes undue stress on her tiny body. Trying to remedy the issue,Edward then injects Nina with DNA from amphibious creatures, which has the unfortunate (though totally forseeable) side effect of turning her into a sort of human/fish hybrid unable to breathe water.
Now forced to live in a watersuit, the flashbacks go on to show Nina’s childhood and adolescence, placed in a private school whereshe’s relentlessly bullied by her classmates, leading her to run away from home and seek a life in the city’s waterways. She’s eventually discovered and captured, and Edward is tragically shot dead by a police officer when trying to get close to her through the throng of onlookers. Nina is taken away, presumably to Belle Reve.
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Nina Must Carry Out a Mission
Back in the show’s present day,Episode 7 brings the season’s arc to a close, as the Commandos (minus Flagg) make their way inside the castle to carry out their mission of assassinating thePokolistani princess Ilana. They’re operating on intel from the Themysciran sorceress Circe that Ilana will bring about the end of the world, though Flagg is convinced this may all be an elaborate hoax. Unfortunately, he’s too badly injured from his fight with Clayface in Episode 6 to get to Pokolistan himself and stop them.
The Commandos find Ilana taking a swim in a pond, and they decide the best way to kill her is for Nina to swim up beneath her and take her out. Reluctantly, Nina agrees. The other Commandos look on anxiously, particularly Weasel, who doesn’t want to see Ilana killed after their game of fetch in Episode 1, reminding him of the little girl he used to play with in his ownflashback in Episode 4.
As the Commandos come closer to their goal, Amanda Waller looks into Flagg’s story, going to the home of Dr. McPherson, the Themyscira scholar that helped verify Circe’s vision. They discover her dead body and the remains of Clayface, andWaller finally believes Flagg that the whole thing was a setup to murder the princess. She tries to call the order off, but she’s too late; Nina’s already in the pond with a knife at Ilana’s back. Everything seems to be about to go according to plan, until Weasel blows it by jumping into the water to warn Ilana. She sees Nina creeping up from below, and the two engage in a fight that ends with Ilana grabbing the knife and stabbing Nina dead.
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The Commandos Were Tricked
So it seems that a crisis has been averted, albeit with the unfortunate sacrifice of Nina. Weasel gets pets from the soldiers for his heroism while the Bride confronts Ilana with the truth.She reveals that Ilana is who Circe said she was, and that the whole thing with Clayface was a ruse to make the Commandos think she’d been set up. The fact that they saw her meeting with Clayface on security footage definitely supports this theory. Ilana tries to pull a gun on The Bride, but she’s not quick enough, andThe Bride puts a bullet in her head. The Commandos then quickly leave the palace before the soldiers discover the truth.
Back at Belle Reve, The Bride talks with Agent Economos, who tells her that Waller isn’t afraid to show her gratitude when it’s deserved.He reveals Task Force M’s new home base, a slightly more cushy wing of the prison where the team have a few more creature comforts. It also appears there may be a fewnew members, like the vampiric Nosferata, ancient Egyptian Khalis, and everyone’s favorite King Shark, making a return appearance afterThe Suicide Squad.Best of all, she’s greeted by a much larger, rebuilt version of G.I. Robot, though it’s unclear if his previous memory is intact.
And with that, Season 1 ofCreature Commandoscomes to a close. Fans will have to wait until Season 2 to find out what kind of fallout The Bride’s killing of Ilana will have, if the team truly avoided Armageddon or maybe inadvertently pushed it forward. The series wasrecently renewed for a second season, so luckily this isn’t the end for this merry band of misfits.
All episodes ofCreature Commandosare streaming on Max.
