‘Creature Commandos’ Episode 1 & 2 Breakdown And Recap

The DCU has officially begun, with the release of James Gunn’s Creature Commandos’ first two episodes. What exactly happens in those episodes? Find our Creature Commandos episode 1 & 2 breakdown below. 

As part of the series’ release schedule, DC Studios released the first two episodes of seven on the streaming service Max. The first episode served as an introductory episode into the plot, the characters and the world, while episodes following will centre on the origins and backstories of the Creature Commandos team.

The show’s synopsis reads as follows: 

Creature Commandos tracks a secret team of incarcerated monsters recruited for missions deemed too dangerous for humans. When all else fails… they’re your last, worst option.

This article contains spoilers for the first two episodes of Creature Commandos.

‘Creature Commandos’ Episode 1 “The Collywobbles” Breakdown & Recap

The series premiere opens with a news report concerning a rogue faction, led by Amazonian sorceress Circe (Anya Chalotra) and consisting of several incels, as they infiltrate the border of Pokolistan aiming to topple the ruling monarchy. From afar, at Belle Reve prison in Louisiana, ARGUS operatives Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) and Rick Flag Sr. (Frank Grillo) watch the news via television. The GBS news program confirms that the authenticity of Themyscira as a location, let alone a country, is in doubt. Soon, Waller pronounces that Pokolistan is “friends” with America, and to preserve America’s hold on the oil and petroleum industry in that foreign space, the situation must be stabilised. 

To establish stability, Flag must lead a team of operatives in a black ops mission to protect the royal family of Pokolistan. So he and Waller venture through Belle Reve (with a similar design to the prison seen in The Suicide Squad), and recruit a group of monsters knowing that they can no longer recruit humans Members of this team are The Bride (Indira Varma), Nina Mazursky (Zoe Chao), Dr Phosphorus (Alan Tudyk), G.I. Robot (Sean Gunn), and Weasel (also Sean Gunn). All of these monsters are chosen for specific abilities that could help on their mission. When Weasel is considered, he is specifically chosen due to having good survival instincts following the death of almost every other operative on Corto Maltese in the events of The Suicide Squad. Waller follows up the claim with her condolences surrounding Flag’s son’s (Joel Kinnaman) death. 

The team takes an Osprey to Pokolistan, where they’re met with a welcoming party of Pokolistan Royal Knights. In the comics, Pokolistan is a relatively new location, first debuting in a Superman comic back in 2001. Since then, the country has largely been tied to Lex Luthor’s presidential administration, but remains to be seen if the country shares the same ties in the DC Universe. The ride in the Osprey also lays down a dynamic between team members, marking G.I Robot as trigger-happy, suspecting Nazism in people around him, Dr Phosphorus as smug, and Weasel as nervous regarding his previous Osprey trip. The Bride looks out of the window and sees what country they’re in and groans, indicating a possible connection. As the team takes armoured vehicles towards the castle where the royal family lives, Circe’s incel supporters see them and confirm that the Princess has imported security. 

At the castle, the Creature Commandos are met with Princess Ilana Rostovic (Maria Bakalova) and her right-hand man Alexi (Julian Kostov), who threatens the team with death as a joke. The team are invited to join a banquet as honoured guests, where they meet the Queen of Pokolistan, Ilana’s mother, who is quite sickly and dozed off in her chair. We don’t get a name, but to me, it’s clear the inspiration behind this choice of character is reminiscent of King Theoden in Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, who is trapped under a spell that sucks his life force and forces his surrounding staff to do his bidding. It remains to be seen if that’s the case here, but it’s an interesting inclusion nonetheless.

Now outside, Princess Ilana is playing fetch with Weasel while Flag enjoys a beer and explains some of his backstory to the monarch. When asked if he was married, Flag admits he previously was married and had a child as a young man when he was 18. He would soon join the military to make money to support the family and Flag Jr would follow in his footsteps. This is where it is confirmed that Creature Commandos season 1 takes place about 2 years after The Suicide Squad. Ilana invites Flag inside and attempts to seduce him but Flag quickly denies and leaves the room, leaving GI Robot and Weasel to stand guard. 

At night, under the cover of darkness, The Bride slips away while Nina follows her. They leave the palace and soon get in a taxi headed towards a location where the only discernible English word mentioned is “Frankenstein”. While driving, Nina witnesses sex workers and gangsters sitting on the sides of the streets. Back in the palace, Flag is awoken by Dr Phosphorus who is going through Flag’s drawers looking for the remote system that activates the shock implant that was placed in Task Force M’s heads. The two fight, with them destroying a whole floor, and landing in the kitchen. Meanwhile, Nina and The Bride arrive at their location and an old woman (also played by Maria Bakalova) grabs a phone with a hilarious home screen of Zac Efron, and contacts Eric Frankenstein (David Harbour), alerting him to The Bride’s arrival.

Creature Commandos episode 1 was directed by Matt Peters and written by James Gunn. Alongside the series’ main cast, Alan Tudyk played an additional role as a Surfer Son of Themyscira (one of the members of Circe’s followers), with Tony Cavalero playing an Incel Son also. Also starring in the episode was Jake Tapper as the reporter in the opening scene, and Nickolai Stoilov as the cab driver. Episode 1 is now streaming on Max. 

‘Creature Commandos’ Episode 2 “The Tourmaline Necklace” Breakdown & Recap

The show’s second episode, titled “The Tourmaline Necklace”, begins with a scene in 1831 detailing the creation of The Bride at the hands of a man named Victor (played by Peter Serafinowicz). He creates The Bride at the request of his original creation, Eric Frankenstein, who has the temperament of a child and wants love, even threatening Victor’s wife if he does not follow through. Back in the present day, The Bride and Nina are still in the castle, but it’s confirmed that this is the same castle in which she was born. 

At the palace, Ilana cleans up Flag Sr. who is still injured following his fight with Dr Phosphorus. The Bride reminiscences at Frankenstein Manor and explains some of Victor’s characteristics to Nina while they wander the abandoned palace, calling him a “renegade”. In another flashback, Victor does indeed follow through and creates The Bride, comparing her creation to the birth of a human child, while Eric waits close by brandishing a bouquet. Eric’s ghastly presence startles The Bride and traumatizes her. Switching back to the present day, Bride searches for a tourmaline necklace, a gift to her from Victor. 

A Themysciran Son follows The Bride and Nina to the manor and reports back to Circe saying that there are only two of them, hinting that Circe is aiming to eliminate the threat the Creature Commandos pose to her agenda. While Ilana tends to Flag’s burns, she attempts to seduce Flag once again, this time being successful with the two getting intimate in the bathroom. Phosphorus, Weasel and G.I. Robot stand outside the bathroom, joking with Alexi and preventing Flag from knowing that Bride and Nina left the palace grounds. Back at the mansion, The Bride’s memories show how scary and tormenting Eric really is, showing that his love really knows no bounds, for better or for worse.

They find the tourmaline necklace, and at that moment, Circe arrives at the manor ready to put an end to The Bride and Nina. Flag finds out and assembles the team, ready to go find and possibly rescue The Bride and Nina. The Bride and Circe fight, while the Sons of Themyscira infiltrate the building from downstairs. The fight spills outside at one point before The Bride instructs Nina to leave and The Bride 1v1s Circe back into the building, where another flashback is beaten into the audience member. This time, it’s The Bride getting intimate with Victor, with Eric watching sneakily in the background. Back in the present, the fight continues, and The Bride’s arms are turned into inflatable balloons at a point. She gets thrown off a building and lies next to a suffocating Nina before falling into another flashback, where Eric has killed Victor out of jealousy, and The Bride runs away in fear, forever fleeing Eric, even across eras. The episode ends with a Son of Themyscira knocking the two out. 

Creature Commandos episode 2 was directed by Sam Liu and written by James Gunn. No other cast members were revealed in the episode. Episode 2 is now streaming on Max. 

Up Next On ‘Creature Commandos’

Next episode we can expect another backstory for another character, highlighting the humanities and inhumanities of another member of the Creature Commandos task force. Who will it be? Find out next week in episode three of Creature Commandos. 

Creature Commandos episode 3 will debut seven days after the release of the first and second episodes, on Thursday, December 12th at 12AM PST. It will be titled “Cheers to the Tin Man”, written by James Gunn, and will have a runtime of 21 minutes.

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