Summary
The finale of Creature Commandos pulls no punches and delivers deaths, cameos and post-credits scenes. It isn’t the happiest of endings, but it offers plenty of hope for the future.
James Gunn isn’t pulling any punches in the finale of Creature Commandos. Episode 7, “A Very Funny Monster”, has everything you’d expect from the first climactic closer of a nascent new DCU, including shocking deaths, post-credit scenes, and teases for second seasons. It’s an ending that excitingly reminds us that this new era of DC storytelling, shepherded by a creative who clearly knows and understands the material, is just beginning.
But it also largely works on its own terms as a payoff to the season-long Pokolistan plot and the culmination of several character arcs. It might not be the happy climax one would expect from a comedic animated show, but it has always been Gunn’s modus operandi to find the heart in even the most ridiculous concepts.
RIP Nina, We Hardly Knew Ya
Like all of the previous episodes, this one alternates its present-day scenes with explanatory flashbacks cracking a window into a different member of Task Force M, and here it’s Nina Mazursky’s turn for a little backstory. But her sad origins are mostly deployed to make her death later in the episode sting all the more.
Following on from the end of the previous episode, Nina, the Bride, Weasel, and Dr. Phosphorus all infiltrate Princess Ilana Rostikov’s compound, still under the belief that assassinating her will prevent the end of the world. But thanks to the security provided by the Amethyst Knights and the fact that Ilana is partial to long swims, the only way the team can get to her is via the water, which is where Nina comes in.
Nina’s flashbacks reveal that she was incarcerated in Belle Reve purely for her nature; she has never killed anyone or committed any real crimes. She’s unsuited to being an assassin, but with some prompting from the Bride and Dr. Phosphorus, she prepares to swim up below Ilana and kill her from the depths.
It all goes awry, though, thanks to Weasel. Since Ilana was kind to Weasel and played with him in the premiere, Weasel is excited to see her and is itching to save her from the planned assassination. He’s also probably having flashbacks to his own tragic origin in Creature Commandos Episode 4. So he causes a distraction, and the distraction gives Ilana time to stab Nina to death.
Ilana Was the Villain After All
The Bride kills Ilana in Creature Commandos | Image via DC/MAX
In the wake of Nina’s death, the Bride is as heartbroken as the monstrous wife of Frankenstein can realistically be, but she’s also angry. She knows that Ilana isn’t the damsel in distress we have been led to believe.
After seeing Ilana meeting with Clayface on the security footage, the Bride puts the pieces together. Circe’s vision was accurate, and Ilana really did have world-conquering ambitions. She seduced Rick Flag to get him on-side, sent one of her soldiers to spy on Task Force M at Belle Reve, and had Clayface impersonate Dr. MacPherson to cast doubt on Circe’s accusations. And she would have gotten away with it too if it wasn’t the Bride shooting her fatally in the head.
This adds an even sadder contour to Nina’s death, which turns out to be have been pointless and to have particularly stung for the Bride, who had earnestly befriended her and considered her the only morally “good” person on the team. Without that anchor to decency, Task Force M will be a very different kind of unit, one that will likely give Gunn the freedom to explore some of his darker ideas.
The Fate of Frankenstein
Eric Frankenstein in Creature Commandos | Image via DC/MAX
At the start of the episode, Eric Frankenstein finally makes it back to Pokolistan and catches up to his Bride after scaling the castle walls. Their reunion is short-lived – the Bride shoots him several times and he falls through the window.
Luckily – he’s my favorite character by far – he survives this ordeal, though we don’t see him again in the finale. However, Creature Commandos has a post-credits scene, which reveals that Frankenstein has survived and is taking refuge with another kindly old woman in the woods. Naturally, he believes that the Bride shooting him only proves her love for him. Go figure.
Initially, I thought this woman was Bogdana, and Eric braining her in Episode 5 was just misdirection. However, this doesn’t seem to be the case, which makes one imagine that Eric’s new savior won’t have much time left to make him bad soup.
Task Force M 2.0
The Bride returns to Belle Reve not just a hero but also the leader of a slightly expanded Task Force M, now missing Rick Flag Sr. – who’s still in the hospital after his tussle with Clayface – and Nina. One of the prison’s swankier wings has been converted into the team’s new headquarters, and it’s already populated by the group – including some new additions.
The Bride, Weasel, and Dr. Phosphorus all survived and are present, obviously. GI Robot has also been updated despite his apparent death in Episode 3. She-Bat – the wife of odd Batman villain Man-Bat – is playing table tennis, a mummy-looking dude who I think is Aten is there, and in the corner is the most exciting arrival – King Shark, from Gunn’s take on The Suicide Squad.
Despite the ending of Creature Commandos perhaps being not quite as happy as some may have hoped for, there’s still plenty to be excited about based on all this.
