Dadnology Week 39: Neagley, the Joker, and a LEGO Deadline
Neagley earns a 4.5 with no book behind it, Batman: Caped Crusader finally brings the Joker, and LEGO's biggest Star Wars set has a 7-day free gift window.
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🧭 The Week That Was — Better Than the Headlines Said
A Reacher spin-off with no book to adapt, a Supergirl movie that flopped at the box office, and a Batman villain two years in the making all land in the same stretch — and all three turn out to be better than their headlines suggested. Neagley didn’t need Alan Ritchson to carry it, Supergirl’s mixed reception says more about a mismatched marketing campaign than the film itself, and the Joker’s long-awaited first appearance in Caped Crusader was worth the wait. If a LEGO habit runs in the house, there’s also a real clock this week: October’s Star Wars flagship ships with a free lightsaber attached, and the window closes after seven days. Add a first official look at LEGO Dragon Ball, a Rayman trailer that runs six minutes deep, and a new Google laptop that complicates an otherwise simple Apple-household decision, and it’s a week worth the full read rather than just the headlines.
Streaming has its own share of the week too: LEGO ONE PIECE premieres, Netflix drops its entire Bourne Collection alongside a wall of Halloween-timed horror, and Lanterns quietly wraps its whole run on HBO Max. Pretty Woman also gets a rewatch, thirty-plus years after Touchstone Pictures first released it, from someone who doesn’t usually go looking for the genre.
Jump to: 🍿 Watch This Week · 🎮 Play This Week · 🎬 Movies & TV · 🎮 Gaming · 🧱 LEGO & Family · 🏠 Smart Home, Camera & Tech
🍿 What to Watch This Week
Top Tip: LEGO ONE PIECE
LEGO ONE PIECE — Netflix, Tuesday. LEGO’s own One Piece theme launched this summer, so an animated tie-in three months later reads as either very good timing or a fairly obvious one.
For the Whole Family: Toy Story 5
Toy Story 5 — Disney+. A week old now, so the premiere-night queue has cleared. No verdict from us yet, but the series hub runs the first four films in order for anyone catching up first.
Once the Kids Are in Bed: Mayday
Mayday — Apple TV+. Ryan Reynolds at full motor-mouth against Kenneth Branagh’s ex-KGB agent playing it dead straight. Ninety minutes, streaming-only, and better than that pitch usually promises. If Neagley or Caped Crusader’s new season is more the plan, Prime Video’s 30-day trial covers both.
AdPrime Video (30-Day Free Trial) (opens in a new tab)
Neagley and Batman: Caped Crusader Season 2 are both new this week, and the 30-day trial covers catching up on either.
The Classic: The Bourne Identity
The Bourne Identity — Netflix, 4.5/5. Netflix just added the entire Bourne Collection, two weeks after we ranked all five films against Robert Ludlum’s novels. Still the only one that borrows anything real from the books.
Also landing this week
- East of Eden — Netflix, Thursday. Florence Pugh leads a new limited-series adaptation of Steinbeck’s novel, the streamer’s own headline drop for the month.
- War — HBO Max, Thursday. Dominic West and Sienna Miller, two rival London law firms, one defamation case — eight episodes, weekly through November.
- Coven Academy — Disney+, Friday. A new witch-school series, all episodes streaming day one — a family-friendly alternative to the Netflix horror drop landing the same week.
- Netflix’s October 1 catalogue drop — the Twilight Saga, the Psycho trilogy and a wall of Halloween horror land alongside the Bourne Collection, one of the biggest single-day catalogue dumps of the year.
Still running
- Ted Lasso season 4 — Apple TV+, Wednesday. Ten episodes, back to the tighter season-one shape.
- Slow Horses season 6 — Apple TV+, Wednesday. Six episodes into Joe Country and Slough House, and it has never had a bad season yet.
- Lanterns — HBO Max. Wraps its whole eight-episode run on Sunday, October 4 — last call to catch up before the finale is common knowledge.
The full arrival list, every date and platform, is in What to Watch This Week.
🎮 What to Play This Week
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — Remastered Finally Gets Switch 2 Right
What to Play This Week has the full list — The Witcher 3’s native Switch 2 release leads it, free if you already own the game, Minecraft Dungeons II is the easy four-player co-op pick landing the same day, and Resident Evil 4 Remake covers the backlog while the Resident Evil movie reboot is still packing theaters.
🎬 Movie & TV News This Week
Neagley Doesn’t Need Reacher, and That’s the Whole Point
Neagley – Season 1 is a 4.5/5 — the first Reacher-universe season built with no Lee Child novel behind it, and it’s a genuine peer to the flagship show rather than a lesser spin-off. Maria Sten carries a tight, well-plotted case as Frances Neagley, and Alan Ritchson’s guest appearance is exactly that: a cameo, not a rescue mission. For prep, Bad Luck and Trouble is the Lee Child novel where Neagley is a genuine co-lead.
AdBad Luck and Trouble (Paperback) (opens in a new tab)
The Lee Child novel where Neagley is a genuine co-lead — not the source for the new show, but the best prep for the character.
The Joker Finally Shows Up in Caped Crusader
Batman: Caped Crusader Season 2 lands a 3.5/5 — a bolder, reimagined rogues gallery (a plague-doctor Scarecrow, a Riddler-and-Poison-Ivy outlaw pairing), a cast that’s found its rhythm, and House of the Dragon’s Matthew Needham voicing the Joker in a two-part finale that was worth the two-year setup. Darker than Season 1, with a bio-weapon plot that pushes the TV-14 rating harder than the first run did, and not every reinvention lands — but it holds the same rating for the same reason: this is still a genuinely good, different Batman.
Supergirl Deserved Better Than Its Box Office
Supergirl (2026) made $126.4 million against a reported $170-186 million budget and got quietly written off as James Gunn’s first real DCU stumble. Watching it doesn’t back that up: Milly Alcock’s Kara is a genuine discovery and Jason Momoa’s Lobo is one of the funniest things the DCU has produced so far. A 4/5, and now streaming on 4K Ultra HD, it’s a far easier recommendation than it was at $16 a ticket.
Pretty Woman Still Works, Three Decades Later
Pretty Woman (1990) earns a 4.5/5, from someone who doesn’t usually reach for romantic comedies. Julia Roberts and Richard Gere carry a simple premise on pure chemistry, and the Roy Orbison needle-drop still lands exactly the way it’s supposed to, three decades on.
🎮 Gaming News for Dads
Rayman Legends Retold Shows Its Hand in 6 Minutes
Rayman Legends Retold’s new overview trailer reveals a hidden new realm and fresh story content ahead of its December 3 release on PS5, Xbox, Switch 2 and PC — built on the 2013 original rather than just repackaging it, and shaping up as a genuine four-player couch co-op pick for the holidays.
🧱 LEGO & Family Round-up
LEGO Finally Says “Dragon Ball” Out Loud
LEGO officially confirmed a Dragon Ball theme is coming, teased via Instagram with Toei Animation attached. LEGO hasn’t confirmed a set number, piece count or price yet — rumors point to an 18+ Icons Shenron set around 1,760 pieces and roughly $200 — so treat those numbers as unconfirmed until LEGO says otherwise.
October’s LEGO Wave Has a 7-Day Deadline
New LEGO Sets October 2026 rounds up the month at 4/5: the 6,130-piece Executor Super Star Destroyer — the longest LEGO Star Wars set ever built at 136cm — the Avengers: Doomsday movie tie-in wave (a four-level New Avengers Tower, an Epic Battle set with a fully articulated Sentinel, a budget Quinjet, and BrickHeadz that include the only LEGO Gambit currently sold), and LEGO’s first-ever Wednesday Addams sets, led by the 890-piece Nevermore Academy. October is a smaller month by set count, but it’s a display-and-fandom month rather than a volume one, and the guide picks what’s actually worth shelf space. The one to act on fast: order the Executor Super Star Destroyer between October 1 and 7 and Darth Vader’s Lightsaber comes free. After that, it’s full price with nothing extra.
AdLEGO Star Wars Executor Super Star Destroyer (75457) (opens in a new tab)
6,130 pieces, the longest LEGO Star Wars set ever built, and a free Darth Vader's Lightsaber if you order between October 1 and 7.
🏠 Smart Home, Camera & Tech Round-up
A New Google Laptop Complicates an Easy Apple Decision
Google’s Googlebook launch starts shipping October 4 — five launch machines from Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP and Lenovo starting at $899, Gemini built into the operating system instead of bolted on as an app, and a promised 10 years of software updates. For a household already running Apple gear, the pitch mostly works as a second device, and two of its best tricks — pulling files and casting apps straight from a phone — need an Android phone in the house to function at all. If the actual want is just a cheap, durable second laptop for homework or the kitchen counter, Apple’s own $599 MacBook Neo answers that without adding a second ecosystem to the house.
Dadnology Take
This is a week of second impressions: Neagley didn’t need the Reacher name to work, Supergirl didn’t deserve its box office, and the Joker was worth two years of Caped Crusader setup. If nothing else lands this week, don’t skip the LEGO Executor — a free lightsaber attached to a set this good, gone after seven days, is the rare LEGO deal actually worth planning a purchase around.
The Dadnology Week archive: missed last week? Catch up with Dadnology Week 38.
❓ FAQ
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Disclaimer: This review and its visuals were created with the help of AI. Some links may be affiliate links – we may earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no extra cost to you.
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