While Creature Commandos might not technically have been the tantalisingly accurate first glimpse of the new DCU some where hoping for, it’s still been a hell of a fun ride as the show’s twisted characters gave mastermind James Gunn ample opportunity to indulge his his usual themes of extreme gore, razor sharp wisecracks and giving plenty of misunderstood outcasts the floor to show their more human, relatable sides. OK, so anyone coming to the show hoping to get the inside track on what exactly Gunn and Peter Safran were going to bring to their new take on the iconic comics universe were probably left more confused than sated (so are The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker cannon or what?), but as a stand alone show, it brought all the thrills, spills and surprisingly moving moments that usually comes with Gunn’s work. But can he sustain this streak when the final episode is centred around the Creature Commandos’ most quiet and timid member?
The Creature Commandos have reunited and are about to storm the Pokolistan castle of Princess Rostovic with the express intention of murdering her to prevent her causing the end of the world. However, the twist is that there’s actually a very good chance that the Commandos have been bamboozled and that the princess is actually innocent. While Rick Flag Sr. was hoping to shed some light on the conspiracy, getting beaten into a coma by Clayface has proven to be something of an inconvenience, so the violently delusional Eric Frankenstein has flown over to stop them primarily in a misguided and controlling attempt to make team leader, the Bride, fall in love with him.
Upon arriving, the Bride rightly repays him by emptying a full clip of ammunition into his gargantuan chest, but unfortunately ends up is none the wiser about the validity of her mission. As Rostovic swims in a lake within the grounds of her castle while surrounded by guards, the Commandos realise their best shot is to get their aquatic member, Nina Mazursky, to sneak into the lake and stab her from below.
However, as she wades deeper toward her fate, we wade deeper into her past to find an unsurprising abundance of tragedy as she was born human, but with her lungs on the outside of her body. While her scientist father, Edward manages to invent various breathing apparatus for her, that doesn’t stop her horrified mother from leaving – however, when his attempts to manipulate her DNA transforms her into a fish mutant who can now only breathe water. After finding that trying to live a normal life is just a neverending parade of pain and bullying, Nina eventually chooses to ditch a normal life altogether and goes to live a solitary life in the sewers of Star City. However further tragedy – both in the past and the present – still awaits her as Task Force M make their fateful decision.
With secrets to be revealed and plot threads to be tied off, it’s initially puzzling that the final episode of Creature Commandos chooses to focus so much on its most timid member, but as Gunn is renowned for deploying some typically nasty surprises at a moments notice, expect to be shocked. However, because the writer loves keeping an audience off balance with his work, there’s a tendency to think that some aspects of “A Very Funny Monster” jettisons some cohesive writing in favour of some on-brand, vicious twists that is admittedly tough to see coming.
For a start, Nina Mazursky’s origin story, while obviously cruel and tragic, isn’t really that surprising and follows the standard deformed-at-birth story right to the bitter end. But as the story checks off all the usual boxes (mother leaves, intolerance from normal people, father dies in tragic misunderstanding), it’s still tough to get a feel for Nina as a character as she still struggles to come out of her aquatic shell, however, Gunn’s plan is revealed in the most brutal way when it come down to Nina’s abilities being the best tactic to assassinate Rostovic.
As the naive and shy mutant sets her jaw, takes a knife from the Bride and enters the lake, it seems we’re about to get a formative moment in Nina’s arc where she finally takes a life and emotionally joins Task Force M for real, but after some gorgeous imagery that plays off of a famous scene from Creature From The Black Lagoon, Gunn gives us an almighty rug pull that will probably split viewers right down the middle.
Essentially, the entire origin story for Nina (and technically the entire origin story format for the whole series) proves to be one big narrative red herring to catch us off guard by having her murdered by Rostovic in an underwater knife fight. It’s a shocking revelation that comes completely out of left field and while it feels like Nina’s story is horribly left unfinished, this blatently seems to be Gunn’s entire point. It’s a good one too and even though some may feel short changed that not everyone survives to get to see their arc fully realised, this is fundamentally a Suicide Squad format after all – i mean it’s in the name, for a start.
Elsewhere, Gunn keeps the twists coming. After seven whole episodes of building up Eric Frankenstein attempts to get back to the Bride, the script amusingly doesn’t even let him get a word out before the she drills him with a clip full of hollow points in utter disgust at the sight of him. Meanwhile the whole riddle of whether Rostovic does actually want to conquer the world is finally answered with a resounding yes, but not quite in the way you think. To be fair, I’m not exactly sure if the whole Circe/MacPherson/Clayface subplot comes off quite as well as it should, mainly because Rostovic’s motivations aren’t really clearly defined other than just being a mystery villain.
However, it’s still worth it to see the Bride reveal that she’s figured out the subterfuge and put a bullet into the brain of someone the Commandos have tried so hard to both save and kill and its a good moment to show that she’s finally taking this whole team thing seriously by avenging Nina.
So as the show closes out, we get a sneak tease at what the future holds if the Creature Commandos scores another mission and while the team will undoubtedly swell (King Shark cameo!) and a post credit sting reveals that Eric is alive and still as mindlessly toxic as ever, I have to say I’ve enjoyed my time spent with the misshapen members of Task Force M.
The action has been fierce, the gore has been plentiful, the wit has been sharp and when it’s called for it, the origin stories has managed to bury some geniune emotional barbs deep into the heart in a way that’s proved to be textbook Gunn. Was it the opening salvo that showed up that the new DCU is going to be something to be reckoned with? Technically no, as this really is a job for Superman to tackle in theatres in July; but as a prologue for what is to come, the Creature Commandos are well worth saluting.
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