Creature Commandos Episode 2
"The Tourmaline Necklace"
Writer: James Gunn
Director: Sam Liu
Cast: David Harbour, Indira Varma, Peter Serafinowicz, Frank Grillo, Alan Tudyk, Maria Bakalova, Sean Gunn, Zoë Chao
After the beautiful Golden-Age-Superman-breaking-chains animated title card, which still makes me cry, we're thrown into a flashback that illuminates the relationship between Frankenstein (David Harbour) and The Bride (Indira Varma), with the addition of Victor Frankenstein (The Tick's Peter Serafinowicz).
The year is 1831. The Bride's parts are scattered about Victor's lab, as he promises to build Frankenstein a partner, mirroring the classic Bride of Frankenstein film. Her head has rolled off the table, but Frankenstein picks it up and declares it beautiful.
Back at the royal castle, in present day, we see the aftermath of the Rick Flagg Sr. (Frank Grillo)/Dr. Phosphorus (Alan Tudyk) fight. Flagg's arm is burned and Princess Ilana Rostovic (Maria Bakalova) is tending to his many wounds. Again, she comes onto him by touching his scars and cooing, "I suppose tonight was not your first battle." Meanwhile Dr. Phosphorus, Weasel, and G.I. Robot (the latter two voiced by Sean Gunn) listen in from the hallway.
We cut back to Frankenstein's castle, the same castle that The Bride and Nina Mazursky (Zoë Chao), the demure fish-woman, snuck to in the previous episode. They walk around the abandoned castle, with The Bride commenting that it was her father's house. And no, his family didn't live there with them, Victor kept this part of his life separate from his home life. The Bride explains that she is searching for an old memento from her life in the castle, a tourmaline necklace.
There is a touching moment when The Bride, confident in the monster she is, chastizes Nina for trying to relate. "I'm a monster," she says. "You're a human with gills." Nina snaps back with, "The world doesn't see it that way," to which The Bride responds with, "When has the world ever been right?"
There is another flashback to The Bride's reanimation, with both Victor and Frankenstein there to see her awaken. Frankenstein has picked her a bunch of flowers and he's very proud of it, but she is terrified of him. Victor tries to explain that, like when a baby is born, it comes into the world knowing nothing, which is the same with The Bride. But Frankenstein is hurt by her rejection. We see Victor teaching The Bride to speak by showing her an apple, a hat, and the tourmaline necklace.
Back at the royal palace in the present day, the Princess succeeds in getting Flagg's shorts off and they get loudly amorous in the bathroom. The guard rushes to the door and tells the assembled monsters that two of their lot, Nina and The Bride, have left the castle. Dr. Phosphorus suggests that they give Flagg another 30 seconds, because have you seen the Princess? You think he can last longer than that? Weasel, in his own shriek-y way, suggests that they wait a minute, because Flagg's an older guy, he probably has been around the block a bit and can last longer.
This is contrasted with another flashback to The Bride and Frankenstein. He comes on way too strong and she's terrified, wanting nothing to do with him. Victor pulls him away but is gifted with a powerful punch that sends him reeling. The Bride goes to Victor and he says he is fine, but obviously in pain.
We cut to the present, as Nina finds the necklace and gives it to The Bride, who is now crying at her memories. She claims it was a stupid thing to deflect her real feelings, but we learn it was a gift from Victor. But this is when Circe attacks with brilliant magenta magic blasts.
Flagg and the rest of the team head out to Frankenstein's castle to more great Gogol Bordello music. Check out the soundtrack on streaming platforms. It's a joy to listen to.
Like the Flagg/Dr. Phosphorus fight last episode, this is another one of those "only in animation" battles that combines physical beat downs with plenty of magic special effects. Nina and The Bride make their way out of Victor's lab, but the army of incel bros are there as well. Lots of great fighting, including the classic "head through the porcelain toilet" gag. It's beautifully brutal. They get outside, but Circe dodges everything the super-strong Bride throws at her (her army isn't so lucky, as The Bride takes them all out with a machine gun). Circe gets The Bride back in the castle, while Nina runs to call Flagg for help.
During a particularly painful beatdown on the lab's table, we're treated to a fairly graphic cutaway to The Bride and Victor having sex on the same table … while Frankenstein watches from the shadows. Between Flagg's butt in the bathroom while he's slamming the Princess, the exposed nipples during the opening body parts scene, and now this missionary position activity in the lab … this isn't for kids. Just so you know.
Just as The Bride looks like she's about to get the upper hand, Circe magically changes her arms into wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tube men (you have to use the entire name), causing The Bride's blows to bounce off ineffectively. The Bride is beaten and then thrown off the castle tower, just as the incel army shoots Nina's water tank. They collapse together at the base of the castle. The Bride, with what's left of her strength, apologizes, but Nina replies with a gasping, "Go … fuck … yourself …"
As a coda to the episode, we learn of Victor's fate. The Bride walks in on Frankenstein twisting his limbs off and hanging him from the vertical lab table. Enraged, she charges at him, causing the classic spontaneous lab fire that covers her escape.
For the next hundred-plus years, we get snippets of her perpetual escape from Frankenstein. In 1852, she sells fruit at a stand, only to be assailed by Frankenstein. In 1880, they're battling in a saloon in the old west. 1895, she's in the desert, riding a horse away from him. In 1912 they're both in diving suits, fighting underwater, maybe near the wreck of the Titanic. In 1923, she's a flapper and he's a dandy, but she wallops on him. 1941, WWII, 1964, mod Britain, 1991, a grunge concert. And now? Frankenstein hasn't entered the fight against Circe, but it's all but assured next episode.
