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, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh episodes.

Looking all the more harried and injured, Brennan opened this week’s episode of Never Stop Blowing Up with the harsh intensity of an action hero headed into the climax after no less than six near death experiences. If we don’t get a behind the scenes on his make-up designs post-series, I’d be shocked. The fact that no one has pointed it out or discussed it during the Adventuring Parties is an absolute shame.

We join the players as Doug Meat weeps in unnecessary fear for the party’s lives. Only Usha faces any need for intervention. After Liv’s skull-crushing intervention, G13’s cranium has to be put back together. Everyone recovers a bit, and Dang finds a meter to measure radioactivity, discovering that those who took the Adrenanoxinil Plutonium Sulfate are slightly radioactive.

Paula reaches out to Chief Lieutenant Kosciusko, but growing suspicious, she questions him, leading to the reveal that Oksana has taken the officer captive and trying to hit her with a blow dart through the walky-talky. Sending Doug to protect Lucy, Jack, and Vicky Manhattan, the party rolls up on Lord’s Cocktail Lounge on their own. As Vic Ethanol, Greg Stocks, and Jennifer Drips previously frequented the bar, the group decides to split up, angling to give Liv and Wendell some one-on-one time.

Paula and Russell enter first. A gruff but surprisingly kind bartender connects with Paula on divorce as Russell scopes out the area. They eventually head down to Jennifer Drips’ room – 777. Overwhelmed by how underwhelming and impersonal the decor is, Russell deflates. Jennifer’s paranoia even removed all adornments, leaving the room more like a place to store something rather than a place where someone lived. They pair find Jennifer’s laptop. Logging in, Russel uncovers that Wendell’s dynamite is actually a nuclear bomb.

However, Brennan drops that tidbit only to reveal the nuclear bomb is hiding an EMP, which will short-circuit the global computer mainframe. Strings of impossible code tie together. From Belgian Mafia to Santo Patron, Russell uncovers a letter from Matilda Drops, Jennifer’s former lover.

As Russell wrestles with his loneliness replicated in the action world, Paula digs deeper, discovering the Shadow Falcons planned to inject Adrenanoxinil Plutonium Sulfate into the EMP.

Meanwhile, entering the Lord’s Cocktail Lounge with an incredible hot roll, Wendell consults the bartender about his stick of dynamite. The pair head to the Silas Snake-Eye Memorial Montgomery Craps Table.

Brennan has a selection of accents, but with a guy named Pommes Frites who sounds somewhere between Baron from the Baronies and Viscount Thaddeus Strongpit, he seemed to be struggling more than usual to stick the landing on this one. His enthusiasm to see Kingskin and Vic kiss also undermines his accent, but with so many international NPCs in the game, we’ll give him a break.

Pommes Frites uses the kiss as a distraction, making his escape with his killer clown posse bringing up the rear.

The crew of the Lord’s Cocktail Lounge come to Vic’s aid. They recover Vic’s dynamite, handing it back.

While the other two talked their way inside, using their prior familiarity with the place, but Jacob has Dang as Greg Stocks use an insignia, which goes all the more serious when the concierge reveals himself to be a Shadow Falcons. Per his advice, the two head to the chapel. St. Jude reveals himself. Concerned, Dang uncovers St. Jude is part of the Shadow Falcons. After getting his card backs, Dang shoots St. Jude, killing him.

As Dang freaks out at St. Jude’s clear certainty that he isn’t dead even in his last moments, I couldn’t help but think that G13 might not have been the only one trying to get out of the movie from the action film world. Rekha out-crazies Jacob’s panicked Dang. Somehow, Usha’s calm insanity brings Dang back down. In the end, all six have their MacGuffins once more.

With all MacGuffins account for, our awesome action heroes have reached the end of their Jumanji storyline. However, when Barsimmeon goes to release them from the movie, the process fails. Dave is in the show, and without him, nobody leaves. In a dramatic finale, a bullet through his head puts Barsimmeon in the ground.

Highlights

With the Bustin’ Makes Me Feel Good pack active, the excited tension every time one of the players rolled a D20 ramped up, but coming in at the 45-minute marker, Ify had the chance to steal the DM seat first.

Ify has the guards outside Lord’s Cocktail Lounge fanboying over Vic Ethanol, having a promise made that the employees of the establishment will have the group’s back. My immediate thought when he had them say that they would kill anyone who comes looking for them was that Doug was bringing Lucy and the kids, leaving the door open for Brennan to do some major damage Monkey’s Paw style.

Luckily, Ally and Izzy quickly called him out, noting that all their names were announced over the intercom. Somehow, this doesn’t come back to haunt them, and it’s honestly what ensures they have all their MacGuffins.

Final Score (4.5 out of 5 Stars)

Up until the last five minutes or so, this was an incredible episode, but one of the largest plot holes noted during the series has now become a major plot point. When our crew attempts to leave, Barsimmeon claims that it fails because Dave, who has entered the world as the President, isn’t present. However, if that were the case, how did Wolfman Ann stay? How can Barsimmeon have brought other people into the movie who ended up being trapped?

I’m holding out faith that Brennan will weave this back together, but the pure chaos of the season leaves me uncertain. Even in the Adventuring Party, the group touches upon the problem without connecting that Barsimmeon left the movie after one of his guests died.

Either someone is lying, or there’s something missing. If you understand the math for this, 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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