Marvel's Hit-Monkey

[Small Man Big Horse]

Yup, it's another Marvel series, but this one has mild swearing (shit, prick, ass, etc) in it and a fair amount of bloody violence, so it's hidden away on Hulu. Jason Suedekis is the lead, a perky, chatty and very friendly type who kills people for money, so it initially does feel like "What If Ted Lasso was an assassin?". But then - twist -

Spoiler alert

he's betrayed by one of his employers, ends up badly wounded, and then, er, is saved by some weird super smart monkeys. and then, well, a whole load of stuff happens until at the end of the first episode only one monkey remains, and he's learnt how to shoot people and stuff.

[close]

I'd heard good things about this but it did absolutely nothing for me, I've seen this sort of nonsense in comics before and I just found this really tedious, perhaps it improves as it goes on (something which the other Hulu Marvel series, M.O.D.O.K., did) but unless someone claims it suddenly becomes amazing I've no plans on watching any more of it.

[bgmnts]

Fair play that is some comic book bollocks by anyone's standards.

But it IS a macaque assassin, almost H.S Art level, so I am somewhat intrigued as my well of love for apes and monks draws deep.

[Mister Six]

Lolrandom monkey assassins are SO 2005. Is there a pirate ninja too?

[Ant Farm Keyboard]

I'm up to episode 6, and it's getting repetitive, relying far too much on very narrow kinds of comedy (the gory stuff and Jason Sudeikis trying to be an edgy smartass but getting ridiculous in the process) and as Monsieur Six said, it's very mid-2000s in tone.
MODOK had some of the same issues. Patton Oswalt had some fine one-liners, particularly alluding to him getting destitute, and the show loved to reference a ton of half-forgotten minor characters from other Marvel comics, but it didn't take as many creative risks as I would have hoped, while the whole concept called for something bolder. Neither MODOK nor Hit-Monkey has indeed achieved the sweet spot of Harley Quinn, for instance.

[madhair60]

shit-monkey

[Glebe]

This is one Marvel series I couldn't be arsed with, not even looked at trailers or that.

[Ant Farm Keyboard]

I've reached the end.

Spoiler alert

It's still shit.

[close]

The dynamics between the monkey and the ghost never really evolve, apart from very predictable beats (they fall out, they reconcile, etc.)
Apparently, comic book Hit-Monkey never took off after the 2010 limited series about him, then after another story where he would fight Deadpool, but is still used as a supporting character in other oddball comics. That Marvel Television assumed that this could make a compelling show with potential for many seasons (plus the "Offenders" crossover event) while it's a novelty character is a little surprising. And there's no way (despite the new story lines introduced a couple of minutes before the ending) that it would return for a second season. It's more likely that at the point in production Marvel Television was shut down and left way to Marvel Studios, it would have been more expensive to cancel the show than to release it on Hulu.

I've also noticed that, in spite of the show's attempts to rely on voice actors of Japanese extraction (apart from Olivia Munn, who's part-Chinese), they haven't really done any homework on Japanese culture. At some point in the show, all the goodies prepare for a big mission and wear assorted sunglasses. If there's one thing I've learned from playing Resident Evil games, it's that all characters wearing shades in Japanese culture turn out to be traitors or criminals.