The 60 Second Update, our weekly segment highlighting the latest ABAC News.
For my last time, Hunter Holton, reporting.
Stand ready for the arrival of “Invincible” Season 3
The latest season of “Invincible” brings an invigorating return of Mark Grayson, questioning what is right and wrong and for the greater good. This adult-style animated show is an adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s comic books and mimics DC’s Justice League characters. Mark’s character development and the overall plot make the third season of “Invincible” the best one yet.
This review is solely based on the television series and not the comics.
The first two seasons of “Invincible” display the Grayson family: alien father, Nolan Grayson, otherwise known as Omni-Man; human mother, Debbie Grayson; and their hybrid son, Mark Grayson, better known as Invincible. Unknown to the family—and even the rest of the world—Nolan has some underlying interests on Earth, which are covered up by his apparent good deeds.
Nolan comes from the planet Viltrum, with Viltrumites being one of the strongest and most enhanced beings in the universe. The planet sends Viltrumites to other worlds to breed, conquer, and bring them into their empire. Falling in love with Debbie and raising Mark leads Nolan to some unexpected humanity in his life that Viltrumites are instructed not to experience.
Earth sees the supposed hero, Omni-Man, in a new light whenever he dukes it out with Invincible. Nolan took it upon himself to go off-world after this physical father-and-son fight that almost killed Mark. He travels to a distant planet and has another Viltrumite hybrid son named Oliver that Mark later brings back to Earth.
Mark’s experience of protecting and thwarting off his Viltrumite lineage, among other threats from conquering Earth, leads into the third season, where the cliché line “With great power comes great responsibility” is really put to the test.
The Earth that we see in the show leads the majority of superpowered beings through the Global Defense Agency (GDA). Cecil Stedman is the cut-throat leader of the GDA, making decisions that no one else can apparently do in protecting Earth’s well-being.
Cecil’s actions cause Mark to truly wonder whether he’s fighting for the good guys or the bad guys. In efforts to utilize resources, Cecil rehabilitates people who have committed crimes such as murder and puts their skills to good use. Mark sees them as the criminals they once were without question, which leads him not to put up with the GDA any longer.
Mark trying to find his place in the world and deciding whether killing enemies is the best route causes major internal conflict within his relationships.
Samantha Eve Wilkins, otherwise known by her superpowered alias Atom Eve, is Mark’s long-awaited girlfriend this season. They’ve had emotional tension throughout the first two seasons and finally decided to commit to each other and prove that their superpowered lives make them the most compatible. Eve brings a calm state over Mark through any problem he has, reassuring him that he has control over his life.
Mark’s little brother, Oliver, is a newly introduced character in the series and is a fully coherent child with superpowers in season three. Mark’s powers didn’t even come to fruition until he was older, so trying to teach Oliver the ropes of being a superhero at such a young age is very trying for Mark as Oliver is an impressionable child.
The most trying period of all for Mark in this season comes at the end with the arrival of Conquest, a Vilrtumite, with the sole mission of ensuring Mark prepared Earth for Viltrum’s arrival by whatever means necessary. Conquest pushes Mark to the limit, almost killing him with a ruthless battle, killing a multitude of civilians and bringing in help from both Atom Eve and Oliver, which almost kills them, too.
Mark gathers his strength from the extra help in the battle against Conquest, gaining a new outlook on life. Throughout his challenges this season, he learns that not everyone deserves second chances and that some people will never change.
The ending of the season draws on Mark’s newfound outlook on killing or sparing the lives of villains and foreshadows how he’ll act in future seasons. Post-credit scenes speculate his challenges to come and put his mental state to new extremes.
“FAITH: The Unholy Trinity” Review
Retro, simple, but unpredictably sinister, “FAITH: The Unholy Trinity” pays tribute to a bye-gone era of video games by possessing it with evil. It’s a very difficult experience that charmingly portrays the horror trope of using religion against the supernatural, echoing films like “The Exorcist” across all three of its episodes. This horror game is best entered blindly, but if there’s anything you should know—what you are about to do has not been approved by the Vatican.
Strange things have happened in Connecticut. On Sept. 16, 1987, John Ward, a Catholic priest, travels by car to finish an exorcism after a past one had gone awry under mysterious circumstances.
Guide him well, for this is anything but hallowed ground.
Immediately praiseworthy is the nostalgic style that presents the intriguing plot. “FAITH” is displayed through pixelated outlines of color on a black background, sandwiched between artwork of John confronting a demon. It emulates the feeling of playing in an arcade cabinet.
Don’t let that fool you—“FAITH” is pretty scary, and its jump scares surprisingly work, even from a top-down perspective. The icing on the cake is the cut scenes that blend motion capture and dated graphics in an unsettling fashion.
All three episodes of “FAITH” send John into different locations to save those that have fallen victim to the roots of all evil. The journey gradually becomes more unholy as you progress and learn more about John, fellow priests, and Satan’s wrath.
Navigating rural Connecticut is interesting, but it sometimes becomes a slog in outdoor areas. “FAITH” lacks definitive instructions, presumably because there are multiple endings per chapter that are affected by your choices. However, the game isn’t afraid to let you travel the wrong way, so you might waste valuable time walking towards absolutely nothing until you finally get tired of it and turn around.
Everything amps up when you’re inside a building. Interiors are more detailed, usually housing something malevolent, but some of the puzzles spawn confusion. Do note that four walls and a roof mean less wiggle room or places to run. Running doesn’t solve problems, though. That’s where your trusty crucifix comes in.
Flash your crucifix, and the pesky spirits will stay at bay. Exorcisms double as a way to conjoin the narrative since using your crucifix on specific objects summons notes of lore for you to read.
Moving and wielding a crucifix are John’s only moves, which sounds boring, but it makes sense. After all, you’re controlling a priest. The limited move set toughens encounters with the damned.
When it’s exorcism time, the demonic creatures and possessed entities will not hesitate to violently eviscerate you. I’ll go ahead and warn you: Prepare to see “MORTIS” on your screen frequently because you will die several times.
To expel a spirit, know when to fight or flee. Using your crucifix freezes you in place as you’re facing that specific direction, but if that doesn’t get you killed, it’s John’s insanely slow speed or his sometimes-questionable hitbox. Each battle may take a hot minute before you finally prevail.
It’s up to you to save everyone in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, but what happens if you don’t?
John Ward is a flexible character depending on your survivability and choices. Missing encounters or not defeating specific bosses will affect your ending, so exploration is key. There are plenty of secrets to find in addition to the many identical notes you collect. In the end, I was still intrigued about who John really was as a person rather than as a priest.
On a similar note, there are sections where “FAITH” makes you feel truly frail, particularly sections that emphasize the use of other tools besides your cross.
Demonstrating your weakness early on in episode one is when John gets his hands on a rifle with only one bullet loaded. Walking back to point A is intense, because what are you about to shoot? When do you fire? The only question you don’t want answered is: What happens if you miss?
Sections engulfed in darkness are also entertaining. A memorable moment began with John being forced to surrender his cross, only to leave him in a blacked-out building with nothing to light his way but the flash of a camera he finds.
Completing “FAITH: The Unholy Trinity” felt like I had been through hell because, technically, I had been. Facing behemoths feels difficult, almost to a fault, but by the time I reached the end, I felt relieved. That’s an emotion a horror game should elicit when you finally escape its terror.
RATING:
Spongebob and Procrastination
Schoolwork: Nobody wants to do it. After all, you might have a lot to do, but it might not be due immediately, so why rush? Procrastination is a college student’s worst enemy, and you realize you’ve fallen victim to it when it’s too late.
Funnily enough, a classic episode of Spongebob, aptly named “Procrastination,” captures this phenomenon in a hilariously creative fashion. It arguably becomes funnier when you realize how relatable it is.
The plot of “Procrastination” is simple: For homework, Spongebob must write an essay of no less than 800 words on what not to do at a stoplight and turn it in the next morning. However, this is Spongebob we’re talking about, so he makes it way more difficult than it must be.
If this premise sounds oddly familiar, it’s because we as students also dread writing essays. It doesn’t matter what the assignment is about, when it’s due, or what the word limit is—it’s embedded in our brains that essays are travesties.
Throughout the episode, Spongebob gets sidetracked by random distractions. First, he limbers up, and when he scoots his chair forward, he makes music out of the squeaking the chair makes. Then Gary appears, prompting Spongebob to feed him, but Gary makes a mess that Spongebob immediately cleans, and what follows gets sillier. While it’s hyperbolic at times, that only helps to paint the message accurately.
Notice that Spongebob verbally calls out chores before tackling them. If you listen carefully, you’ll recognize a pattern: He’s prioritizing secondary tasks, making them sound preliminary to the essay. He doesn’t say “I’m going to clean the kitchen,” he says, “I can’t work on my essay knowing there’s a mess in the kitchen!” Spongebob does this again when he claims he “can’t write on an empty stomach” or “can’t write with eraser shavings all over [his] paper.” However, this could also represent the removal of distractions by feeding into them.
Then, there’s showing restraint. Before chaos ensues, Spongebob basically gets taunted by people outside having fun, especially his best friends, Patrick and Sandy. It’s hard to not goof off, especially when you know what your friends are doing, which arguably makes it harder to resist out of envy.
Most people probably remember the scene where Spongebob actually does work on his essay for the first time… or at least it looks like it. To recap: a montage ensues with Spongebob going to town on his essay, screaming, “And some of these!” Alas, the ugly truth gets revealed: All he was doing was writing the word “The” in fancy detail.
Doing little and claiming it as a lot is another part of procrastination. You could write the introductory paragraph to an essay or acquire the data for an informational paper, but you’re only a step closer. The more you wait, the closer the deadline gets.
That’s where the clock comes into play. Every so often, Spongebob glances at the clock to reassure himself about how much time he has, and the more he procrastinates, the more intense the situation becomes. We do the same thing in real life, using what large amount of time we have as our own excuse and wasting seconds every time we glance back at it.
However, your worst-case scenario is if you lose track of time, and there’s one bad way that can happen: falling asleep. Spongebob inferably dozed off after writing the first word of his essay, which becomes a plot twist towards the end of the episode to explain the crazier occurrences like how he burned his house down.
Sleep is important to college students, because we need it to function, more so as we receive bigger projects that may bend our sleep schedule. Although, sometimes, we might try to sleep on our work instead of getting it out of the way and sleeping afterward.
Hints to the twist of Spongebob falling asleep are also significant. Spongebob acknowledges how Patrick, a mailman, and a news anchor all knew about his essay. They symbolize that internal urge to resist procrastinating. We experience it when we tell ourselves mid-distraction, “I should really work on my assignment.”
“Procrastination” as an episode really speaks to me as a college student who deals with this problem frequently, and it probably does to you, too. No, you don’t want to write your essay or do your assignment, but you have to. It takes restraint and perseverance. Sure, the episode ends with Spongebob’s assignment not even mattering, but it’s better safe than sorry, because you never know what might come up.
60 Second Update 04/22/25
The 60 Second Update, our weekly segment highlighting the latest ABAC News.
Anthony Baisden, reporting.