Creature Commandos S01e06 Msv May 2026
We learn that Flag Sr., after the death of his son (Rick Flag Jr., the ill-fated soldier from The Suicide Squad ), has taken to submerging himself in water to trigger the near-death sensation of drowning. It is a form of self-flagellation—a way to feel something other than the hollow numbness of loss. The episode draws a direct parallel between this ritual and the creation of a monster: just as Frankenstein’s creature was born in a bath of amniotic fluid and electricity, Flag Sr. attempts to rebirth himself in a tub of stagnant hotel water and cheap booze. But instead of a monster, he remains a man—which, the episode argues, is far more terrifying. A recurring motif in James Gunn’s work is the flawed, absent, or abusive father figure (from Ego in GotG Vol. 2 to Rick Flag Sr. here). Episode 6 reveals that Flag Sr.’s entire stoic, military-hardened persona is a performance built on the corpse of his parenting.
By the episode’s final shot—Flag Sr. draining the bathtub and stepping, trembling, into the cold light of dawn—Gunn and company deliver a profound truth: The opposite of monstrosity is not humanity. It is presence . To be a creature is to be made of parts. To be a commando is to fight. But to be a man is to get out of the bathtub. creature commandos s01e06 msv
The episode is, on its surface, a flashback bottle episode centered on the Commandos’ de facto leader, Rick Flag Sr. But beneath the WWII trappings and the whiskey-soaked melancholy lies a profound meditation on survivor’s guilt, the illusion of control, and the fine line between a broken man and a monster. The episode’s title is deliberately absurd—a classic Gunn signature—but “The Merry Little Bathtub” is a misnomer. There is nothing merry about Flag Sr.’s drowning ritual. The bathtub in his seedy hotel room is not a place of cleansing; it is a self-made confessional and a drowning machine. We learn that Flag Sr
The flashback to WWII-era Pokolistan is not just a mission briefing; it’s a haunting. We see a younger Flag Sr. receiving the news of his son’s death while in the field. His reaction is not tears or rage—it is a glacial shutdown. He doesn’t go home. He doesn’t bury his son. He buries the feeling instead. This decision is the episode’s tragic fulcrum. By refusing to grieve properly, Flag Sr. became a “creature commando” in the emotional sense—a weaponized human who functions perfectly in chaos but is utterly inert in the face of personal love. attempts to rebirth himself in a tub of
