With the chicken ban temporarily ignored in the face a possible alien Apocalypse, Tony Chew investigates a former agent whose food-related abilities have taken a grotesque turn.
The Good
We're introduced to another agent with a new kind of eating talent (or is that a disorder? Take your pick,) adding a twisted spoke into this wonderful wheel of culinary fantasy. The confrontation in his apartment was wonderfully bent, just as I've come to expect, and I was impressed with the creativity of his powers and their graphic representation; as well as in the way Chew defeated him and then later found a very good reason NOT to eat him.
The Bad
It's a small criticism, but I've never felt like Chew's partner's cybernetic face has quite jibed within the logic of this particular world. Sure, you've got things like aliens writing threats into the sky, now, but it just seemed a little too sci-fi, maybe even cyberpunk, for a setting where most suspensions of disbelief stem from food-related magic.
The Verdict - 4.5/5
As I said last month, I've been doubly-pleased to see
Guillory and
Layman getting some room to get a little more experimental with the storytelling as this series goes along. Particularly, the
Miller-esque sequence of splashes showing the gradual dilapidation of Mother Pluckers and then the split-screen of Tony's sister chattering while his investigation goes on -- they so arresting as to make this feel alive. You really feel like the title isn't bound by the same restrictions you typically see in a title with this kind of high level of production value, and I'm eager to see what unpredictable new directions Flambe will go in.
