Title: Never Stop Blowing Up
GM: Brennan Lee Mulligan
Players: Ally Beardsley (they/them) as Russell Feeld (he/him) / Jennifer Drips (she/her). Ify Nwadiwe (he/him) as Wendell Morris (he/him) / Vic Ethanol (he/him). Isabella ‘Izzy’ Roland (she/her) as Paula Donvalson (nee Buocadifuoco) (she/her) / Jack Manhattan (he/him). Rekha Shankar (she/her) as Usha Rao (she/her) / G13 (he/him). Alex Song-Xiao (they/them) as Liv Skyler (she/her) / Kingston (he/him). Jacob Wysocki (he/him) as Andy ‘Dang’ Litefoot (he/him) / Greg Stocks (he/him).
Streaming Service: Dropout
If you missed it, catch our review for the first, second, and third episodes.
Vic Ethanol’s plot takes the lead as the gang heads to the Long Beach 5000. To add a terrifying twist to the fast end of the furious, the winner is the first person to reach 5000 miles per hour, which is about Mach 6.5. That’s just 0.2 below the fastest flight, which was done by Maj. William J. Knight in an X-15 where he reached Mach 6.7 in 1967. While travel up to Mach 9 is theoretically possible, it hasn’t been publicly reported.
But if Fast & Furious 9 putting a car in space taught us anything, it was that action movies don’t need to obey the laws of physics. Admittedly, that lesson had a solid foundation of support from the first several movies in the franchise.
As our players suspected, Damian Bane (a.k.a. Barsimmeon Higgs) shows up at the race, arguing semantics until he recognizes Wendell’s voice in Vic’s body. Paula sneaks into Barsimmeon’s tank with a magnetic vest curtesy of Usha, but her attempts to slow him down fail. Having failed to sneak his Adrenanoxinil Plutonium Sulfate, Paula pistol-whips Barsimmeon, but his toughness check results in the blow being returned and he breaks Paula’s wrist.
While many would predict Vic Ethanol to be in the lead, Wendell hits a titanium mailbox, which vivisects his car and leaves him driving half of a car. Ethanol’s hemispherical engine permits him to continue driving despite the circumstances.
Tearing through Long Beach, Russell aids his nephew as clown riders come up alongside them. Dang leans into the spy genre once more, activating an oil slick, quipping, “Those guys seem tired.” The pair work in perfect unison.
Usha channels the light of the moon, leaning fully into the action genre’s scientific insanity. Her lunar panels put her in the lead. However, this doesn’t long. Barsimmeon anchors his tank to Usha’s Moonrider, so that he can confront Paula.
Panicking, Paula pulls out her walky-talky, calling for back-up, but stuck in the tight quarters of the tank, Barsimmeon knocks her gun away. Hopped up on Adrenanoxinil Plutonium Sulfate, he’s rolling D20s like the Nordic action monstrosity he is. Paula manages to avoid injury, but she’s clearly outmatched.
Wendell overhears the call for help, guiding his half of the car to the tank. However, the tank’s automated weapons’ system activate. He manages to avoid the attacks. Simultaneously, Dang launches Russell onto the tank and heads to the airport, trusting Wendell and his uncle can get Paula out of trouble.
Liv stays behind, hoping to use Kingskin’s connections to get some answers. A run-in with an ex ends with Doug Meat chasing a duffle, but eager to go after her friends, Liv soothes the rough edges of another of Kingskin’s exes, Simon Steel.
Picking up Doug Meat, Liv activates a missile launcher, managing to take out one of the Apache helicopters and taking out four of Barsimmeon’s men. She goes on to take out another four while saving a plane full of orphans.
As Wendell attacks Barsimmeon, Paula takes advantage of the distraction to steal and drink the bottle of Adrenanoxinil Plutonium Sulfate. Wendell and Russell hold Barsimmeon as Paula shoots him. La Familia saves the day, but Barsimmeon manages to punch his wound closed before he blacks out. How that works, I couldn’t say. It must be some sort of barbarian healing.
Highlights
The pure outrage that spun around the table when Ify reminded Brennan that Izzy’s character was severely injured and, therefore, couldn’t explode her roll as two tokens counted as one might’ve been the highlight of the episode.
Brennan handled it masterfully. He explained the explosion by involving another character, helping a struggling player as Izzy teetered into hysterical laughter.
Jacob continues to embrace the spy cliches, rolling into a Santo Patron hanger and facing the sabotage by the Shadow Falcons with aplomb. He’s always one step ahead. The other players also stretch, pushing the boundaries of the action genre for all it’s worth, but Jacob hit that cool-headed pragmatic stride that makes even the most outrageous assertions sound reasonable in the world of secret agents like James Bond.
My favorite episodes often feature Ally Beardsley as a voice of reason. While a natural agent of chaos, they aren’t just incredibly lucky with season defying rolls. Ally understands tabletop roleplaying games. They’re a master of strategy. Of course, they’re also very much willing to embrace the madness, but hearing them try to talk Rehka down must be cathartic for the more level-headed of the Intrepid Heroes crew.
Final Score (4 out of 5 Stars)
From the first episode, this season had chaos in its blood. Action movies build on impossible assertions and high-risk/high-rewards, but I doubt even Brennan expected some of the madness he fielded in this week’s episode.
Dang and Russell remain my favorite duo. They’re interesting characters within the action alter world, but both Ally and Jacob keep hitting it out of the park.
There were fewer drawings and animations this week than previously. I’d love to see more going forward, but Melina Caron, Sander Goldman, and Cait May are doing fantastic work.
If you have any predictions, tropes or parody cameos, let us know in the comments below or go over to our Discord channel to join the conversation.
Featured Image: Dimension 20
The Boss Rush Podcast: The Flagship Podcast of Boss Rush Media and the Boss Rush Network
The Boss Rush Podcast – The Boss Rush Podcast is the flagship podcast of Boss Rush Media and the Boss Rush Network. Each week, Corey, Stephanie, LeRon, and their friends from around the internet come together with other creators, developers, and industry veterans to talk about games they’ve been playing, discuss video game and entertainment based topics, and answer questions solicited on social media and the community Discord.
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