Whoever’s masterminding this show is very likely making a very involved
joke at our expense. You kids would call it ‘trolling,’ I guess. Whatever it
is, it’s making me think of those times when a prog rock band puts out an album
of radio-friendly singles that are actually supposed to parody the sound
of ‘selling out.’ Most of the audience just eats it up anyway without giving it a
second thought, but the band hopes there’s at least a certain segment of their
fanbase that gets the joke and enjoys the album ironically.
I say this because we’re seeing an awful lot of screen time here that doesn’t
seem to be so much about parodying tokusatsu as totally embodying those
shows. Aside from the jokes about everybody wanting to be the Red Ranger, this
episodes just straight-up turns SAMURAI FLAMENCO into an iteration of SUPER
SENTAI. We know something’s fishy here because Red Ax keeps dropping rather
blatant foreshadowing with his line about “beautiful lies,” the bigger bad
guys literally call themselves “FROM BEYOND” and they express their villainy through
video packages that might as well have been produced by Paul Heyman.
The show’s on noitaminA, so we know a twist is coming, but it’s taking
a really long time to get to it.
To draw another pop culture
comparison, it’s making me think of how Andy Kaufman would trick audiences
expecting a stand-up show from him by reading THE GREAT GATSBY to them in full instead. The wider audience, outside the theater, was supposed to be laughing
at the audience in the theater. And I can’t help but think we’re still sitting
inside the theater, at the moment.
So the question is… what joke is being played on us?
Watch, "From Beyond” and decide for yourself, then
read my comments about the previous episode.
About the Author
 | Tom Pinchuk’s a writer and personality with a large number of comics, videos and features like this to his credit. Visit his website - - tompinchuk.com - - and follow his Twitter: @tompinchuk |
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