‘Creature Commandos’ Made a Big Mistake With That Major Death, But It Can Be Fixed

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‘Creature Commandos’ Made a Big Mistake With That Major Death, But It Can Be Fixed

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Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for the Creature Commando Season 1 finale.Creature Commandos features the usual hallmark of a James Gunn project: a collection of misfits who are carrying around some immense trauma but manage to band together to either save others – or save themselves in the process. It’s the same approach that powered his previous DC Comics projects The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker, as well as his Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy for Marvel Studios. Commandos takes it one step further by dedicating each episode to exploring the backstories of its titular monsters, which adds some much-needed emotional depth — especially when it comes to G.I. Robot and Weasel (both voiced by Sean Gunn). The same approach is taken for the Season 1 finale, “A Very Funny Monster,” though the outcome leaves a lot to be desired.

“A Very Funny Monster” shifts its focus to Nina Mazursky (Zoe Chao), the Commandos’ aquatic member. When the Commandos are literally trapped between a rock and a hard place — the hard place being the castle of Pokolistan’s princess Illana (Maria Balakova). Nina is tasked with killing Illana as the sorceress Circe (Anya Chalotra) had a vision of her killing every superhero on Earth, kickstarting World War III — but she fails, and Illana stabs her to death. While this is a genuinely shocking turn, it feels like it’s cutting Nina’s story short — especially with how her backstory played out.

‘Creature Commandos’ Was at Its Best When It Let Nina Bond With the Others

The thing that made Nina stand out from the rest of Creature Commandos‘ cast was that she wasn’t really a hardened killer, criminal or sociopath. Dr. Phosphorus (Alan Tudyk) was transformed into his radioactive state when he double-crossed crime boss Rupert Thorne; it’s also confirmed that the experience drove him mad. The Bride (Indira Varma) had to deal with the unwanted advances of Eric Frankenstein (David Harbour) for close to 200 years, which left her rather jaded about life. And Weasel’s backstory doesn’t just paint a tragic picture — it completely recontextualizes his appearance in The Suicide Squad, which was mostly played for laughs. Nina tries to find non-violent solutions to their problems, and though those solutions usually go south, it shows that despite not being fully human, she has a truly human spirit. Gunn’s work florishes when he focuses on characters like these; Ratcatcher II (Daniela Melachor) from The Suicide Squad and Groot (Vin Diesel) from Guardians of the Galaxy are key examples.

Creature Commandos also created a great dynamic between Nina and the Bride, as well as Nina and G.I. Robot. In G.I.’s spotlight episode, “Cheers to the Tin Man”, it was revealed that he was locked in Belle Reve after gunning down a meeting of neo-Nazis; Nina seems to be the only person who he can actually have a conversation with, as he refers to her as “Friend Nina”. It makes it all the more tragic when Circe destroys G.I. in battle, and Nina is left cradling his head. She also seems to rub off on the Bride, and vice versa — when their return to Pokolistan finds them taking refuge in a brothel, Nina attacks one of the metahuman clients when he assaults one of the workers; prior to this, the Bride brutally beat down a prisoner who harrassed Nina at Belle Reve. Nina’s death only shuts the door on these budding relationships, which feels like a shame.

There’s Still Potential for Us To See Nina Again in ‘Creature Commandos’

The cast of 'Creature Commandos'
Image via DC Studios

“A Very Funny Monster,” like most flashbacks, dedicates its time to showcasing Nina’s life prior to ending up in Belle Reve. After she was born with her lungs on the outside of her body, her father attempted to experiment on her to save her life — but instead transformed her into her aquatic state. Things quickly go from bad to worse, resulting in her being carted off after watching her dad getting shot in front of her…but it still feels like part of her story is missing. The rest of the Commandos had clear ends to their stories explaining why they were in prison, and it feels like Nina didn’t. Again, how did seemingly peaceful women end up in one of the worst prisons in the DC Universe?

Even with Nina’s death seemingly coming out of the blue, there might be a door open for her return. The Bride is given command of a new team that includes the mummy Khalis, who has the power to heal the dead. In Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E. by Jeff Lemire and Alberto Ponticelli, which serves as one of the major inspirations for Creature Commandos, Khalis was able to save Nina from a fatal wound. Whether or not he’ll use this power in future episodes of Creature Commandos remains to be seen, but Nina Mazursky definitely deserved better. The Bride put it best: out of all the Commandos, she was the most human.

Creature Commandos is available to stream on Max.

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