REVIEW: ‘Suicide Squad ISEKAI’ — Episode 8

The gang is still kicking around in their Isekai world, but Harley Quinn and friends need might be closer to finding a way home. They’ve defeated The Thinker and freed the elves, but will it be enough to secure their freedom in Suicide Squad ISEKAI Episode 8?

The Suicide Squad is fighting against two different jailers. You have Amanda Waller, who sent them there, more on her later, and then you have the Kingdom that is keeping them imprisoned within the Isekai world. They had to break out of prison to defeat The Thinker, but afterward, they returned to the Queen, hoping to be praised as heroes. It doesn’t work out too well for them.

The Kingdom has always been shown as a dysfunctional place, and the people who run it are weak and cowardly. They are so high on their own supply that they refuse to ever really do the right thing. It is no surprise, then, that they are not prepared to give the Suicide Squad any real credit. King Shark is kept as a captive of the Kingdom while the others are sent into exile.

What do villains do when they are down on their luck? They drink, of course. Instead of a celebratory trip to the bar, the remaining members wallow in their own pity. This is the Suicide Squad in its purest form. None of them want to openly admit how they feel, so they project it onto others while downing drink after drink. That drinking inevitably turns into violence. It isn’t the same sharply focused fighting we’ve seen in previous episodes. Instead, it is sloppy and just purely violent.

Within all of this is the realization that, no matter what they do, they will never be heroes. They are destined to be villains, and that will never change. When a bard steps up to sing about them, you can hear complaints that they aren’t heroes; they are villains—even when they save lives. That can be hard to process, so it makes sense that the answer is to just drink and not actually deal with their feelings.

After all of this, Suicide Squad ISEKAI Episode 8 brings the story back to the whole “bombs inside of your head” thing. The Suicide Squad heads back to the gate to communicate with Waller. They have to keep in touch with the real world in order to reset the bombs, so this scene makes sense. It just feels like every episode follows the same pattern. The Suicide Squad does something; they don’t get what they want out of it, and then they go slinking back to reset the bombs.

The major difference here is we finally get to see the bombs in action. Waller orders Rick Flag to return and tells him she will handle the Suicide Squad. A countdown ensues before Clayface’s head is blown right off. The stakes that have been simmering underneath the surface finally come out and we see Waller was never bluffing.

This causes Flag to stand up to Waller in one of the better scenes of the series. He is shaken by her willingness to kill the people helping them with their goals. She does not just want to abandon them; she wants to wipe out any trace of them. Watching Flag confront her on this in the face of Clayface’s death is an emotionally charged moment that absolutely delivers.

The problem is, all of that goes away when Clayface pops right back up like nothing happened. The reactions from the Suicide Squad are funny, but it sucks all of the air out of the room and ruins a great narrative moment. Just when it feels like the group is rallying around a common cause, it turns out it is all pointless. The bombs are a plot device used in every single episode, but once again, there is no real payoff.

All of this just sets up the next mission. They have 24 hours to save the Kingdom and its burning capital. There is a really intriguing moment right at the end with the Queen where her true nature is revealed, so hopefully, that plays a bigger role. It should also let Princess Fione shine since she is one of the better characters in the series but has been relegated to the background in recent episodes.

Suicide Squad ISEKAI Episode 8 has some great narrative moments but also holds itself back at several key points. The stakes just don’t feel meaningful, but the Suicide Squad has another 24 hours to live to prove that the stakes really do matter.

Suicide Squad ISEKAI Episode 8 is streaming now on Max and Hulu.